the swiftest and strongest of wing Isaiah 40.31 they shall mount up with wings as Eagles which soar aloft in the Air so high that the eye of man cannot see them yet themselves are so quick-sighted that they can discern their prey at that vast distance and sowce down upon it like a Thunderbolt hunger adding swiftness to their wings therefore Job makes use of that Emblem to set forth the shortness of the life of man Among the Evangelical Writers we find St. Paul comparing it to a Race And to the end we may perform our Christian Course well he adviseth us to imitate the Roman and Grecian Racers who when they were to run for the Prize put off their cumbersom cloaths that they might run with briskness and agility so as to obtain the reward which was a leafy Crown made up of Bay's or Lawrel c. A fading corruptible and perishing one but we Christians run for an incorruptible Crown 1 Pet. 1.4 an immortal Inheritance that sadeth not away laid up in store for us Wherefore we are the more obliged to lay aside every weight Heb. 12.1 and the Sin which doth so easily beset us and run with patience the Race that is set before us for it is but short and will soon be over Behold saith David Thou hast made my days as an hand breadth which is one of the least measures whether we take it in the largest dimension and expansion of the hand or in the more restrained limitation the breadth only of the hand in both which respects it is very short an inch long saith * In Carmine Lyrico Plutarch Seneca Alcaeus much shorter yet in the grave Moralists Opinions who stile it but a Point Punctum est quod vivimus adhuc puncto minus But St. James who spake by a more excellent spirit Ch. 4.14 Job 14.1 represents it more diminutively in that he calls it a meer Appearance What is your life it is even a Vapour that appeareth for a little while and then vanisheth away Man that is born of a woman is of few days Few in comparison of the Antidiluvian Patriarchs from Adam to Noah who lived near a thousand years fewer yet in regard of the years of Abraham whose life was prolonged but to one hundred threescore and fifteen years Gen. 25.7 8. and yet Moses saith of him that he died in a good old Age an old man and full of years In Moses's time it was limited to threescore years and ten Ps 90. A Psalm of Mâ—ses c. and if by reason of strength men come to fourscore years which is a singular and extraordinary favour yet is their strength then but labour and sorrow and through weakness and infirmities of Age they are a burden to themselves unable to bear the aches and pains and indispositions and diseases incident to their sickly natures and unfit to perform the acts and offices of Religion and Repentance towards God and in a little time they are cut off and gone to their long homes where they can never have any more opportunities of Repentance In a moment which is the shortest parcel of time that we can imagine they go down to the Grave and on a sudden vanish away Lo this is the length of the short life of man and since we must shortly put off this Tabernacle of Flesh and Bones it concerns us as much as our Souls are worth to prepare them with grace and holiness that they may be fit for the appearance of Christ and be precious and lovely in his eyes and that we may not be terrified and affrighted at his coming as those Kings of the Earth and great Men and rich Men and chief Captains and mighty Men whom St. John speaks of in the Revelation Ch. 6.15 16 17. Who shall then hide themselves in the Dens and in the Rocks of the Mountains and say to the Mountains and Rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand 2. It is very uncertain Man knoweth not his time as the Fishes that are taken in an evil Net and as the Birds that are caught in the snare so are the sons of men snared in an evil time Eccles 12.9.12 when it falleth suddenly upon them Death often comes when persons are most secure and careless and least expect it Dives the representative of the Voluptuous World promised himself long life secular prosperity and the fullest satisfactions that the creature could afford To that end he resolved to make the largest preparations for many years Festival living He said to himself This will I do I will pull down my Barns Luke 12.18 19. and build greater and there will I bestow all my Fruits and my Goods and I will say to my Soul Soul thou hast much Goods laid up for many years take thine ease eat drink and be merry But alas all his projects failed him and his designs were disappointed for he never saw the light of another day God said unto him thou fool this night thy Soul shall be required of thee Then whose shall all those things be which thou hast provided And for ought the wisest of us know this may be our own case while we are seeking after the fulness of earthly contentments and delights our Souls may be separated from the embraces of their Bodies and all our hopes perish Do not our lives depend upon many uncertainties diseases and fatal accidents See we not Epist 120. saith Seneca to Lucilius How many incommodities do torment us sometimes we complain of our heads then of our breast and throat sometimes we are pained in our Nerves and vexed in our feet to day the Flux to morrow a Rheum disturbs us sometimes too much blood sometimes too little every way we are troubled Nihil satis est morituris nihil morientibus There is nothing that contenteth us that are to die nay that die every day for we daily approach our last hour and there is not a day or hour that driveth us not into the Grave where we must rest It is observed by Gallen and Hippocrates that Man is more liable to diseases and distempers and his life is more endangered by them then any other Creature Rom. 5.12 the reason may be because he hath sinned more then they for by sin Death with all its antecedents fore runners and harbingers entred into the world and so passed upon all men for that all have sinned There is not the least disease incident to our frail nature but hath been armed with power sufficient to conquer and overcome Some die by Fevers as Vespasian Antonius Julius the 2d and Boniface the 9th Platina Riâ—aut in vit others by Apoplexies as Valentinian the Emperor Pope Paul the 2d occasioned by his intemperate eating of Melons Sometimes
Tribulations and Persecutions which were too great for human patience to bear Our rejoicing is this 2 Cor. 1.12 the testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world A good Conscience is a continual Feast a Jubilee Pro. 15.15 in that dark dismal time when Death is breaking that Vital Union and making a separation between Soul and Body and the man is walking through the valley of the shadow of Death Ps 23.4 which is very full of terrors and dangers this will relieve his fears fill him with unspeakable Joys and enable him to grapple with the King of Terrors with courage and constancy of mind and to say with the blessed Apostle 2 Tim. 4.6 7 8 The time of my departure is at hand I have fought the good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith upheld and maintained it in and by my Ministry and lived in the exercise of the grace of Faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me of his free grace at that day My Soul shall enjoy it at my dissolution my whole man at the general resurrection Such a comfortable departure as this free from the stings accusations of Conscience is worth the most solicitous care earnest endeavour of a Christians whole life for when he comes to die Conscience will administer unspeakable Consolations to him make him lift up his head with joy and with a cheerful countenance to stand before the Son of Man and to say with Hezekiah Remember now o Lord Isa 33.3 I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight But on the contrary the case of a wicked man will be very deplorable when he falls into any calamity or affliction Job 15.24 pain or Sickness when the days of darkness are at hand Conscience is then most active upbraiding him with the greatness multitude and aggravations of his sin Guilt lies throbbing on his Soul Trouble and anguish make him afraid they shall prevail against him as a King ready to the Battle Who goes forth to fight with all the strength and power of his Kingdom attended with his Guards and Battalions of disciplined Soldiers and with all his Engines and Military preparations for slaughter and destruction which strikes a dread and terror into his Enemies which fills them with fears and anxious thoughts what the event issue may be Such are the troubles and agitations of Conscience in wicked men and that not only of the weaker fort but of such also as are cloathed with Purple and invested with Imperial Power The mighty Monarchs of the world such as Nero Tyberius Caligula c. who are above the reach of human Justice these are not exempted from the disquiets and stings of Conscience the Gripes and Convulsions of Self-conviction and the apprehensions and fears of a Caelestial Tribunal which they shall not escape tho' they have derided and laughed at it in the day of health But the dread and horror thereof encreaseth upon them as they draw near to the end of their days and this will be the case of every one of us if we do not now get our Consciences purged from dead works and the guilt of all our sins cancelled by a cordial sorrow for and moral revocation of it Therefore it very nearly concerns us to make a strict and severe inspection into our Consciences to state our Account right between God and our Souls For if any sin remain uncrossed it concerns us as much as our everlasting happiness is worth to set about it with all possible speed and diligence to give no rest to our Eyes nor slumber to our Eye lids till we have by an actual repentance and revocation of all that we have done amiss totally discharged them and gotten all our sins blotted out that they may not be found upon record against us When the times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord Jer. 17.1 For Conscience registers all that we do be it good or evil And when the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father and the Book of Conscience shall be opened and according to what is found written therein we shall be judged sentenced and rewarded for Conscience will be with us in Death and Judgment either to comfort justifie and acquit us or to terrifie accuse and condemn us 6 That we may be ready for the coming of our Lord it is necessity that we bear with patience and constancy the various troubles and tryals which we may meet with in this Life for as Job saith Affliction cometh not forth of the dust Chap. 5.6 neither doth trouble spring out of the ground but Man is born unto trouble as the sparks flie upward Crosses and Troubles befall us not by chance or accident but are fore-ordained by the Wisdom and dispenced by the providence of God or by his allowance Can a bird fall in a snare upon the Earth where no Gin is for him Amos 3.5 John 16.33 nor industriously prepared and laid to take him in the World we shall have tribulation reproach and injuries from Men the loss of Goods and good Name disappointments in Children Friends and Relations provocations to anger and revenge sickness and distempers in our Bodies troubles within disquietudes anxieties of mind which are little Deaths not only prologues but preparatives to Death Acts 14.22 We must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God even as the Israelites went through many hardships in their peregrination through the Wilderness to the Land of Canaan so must we in our Pilgrimage through this World to the Inheritance which is above reserved in Heaven for us Therefore patience is absolutely necessary for us to enable us to bear our burdens to persevere in our Duty and to wait for our promised reward We have need of patience that after we have done the will of God Heb. 10.36 we may receive the promises Now many of the promises are of a long date and distance from us the reward is given to those that hold out unto the end wherefore the Apostle adviseth us To strengthen our selves with all patience and long suffering with joyfulness Coloss 1.11 Heb. 12.1 2.3 and to run with patience the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our Faith who for that joyful and glorious state which was faithfully promised by his Father to be the reward of his Sufferings endured the Cross with all the concomitants of it despifing the shame and disgrace poured on him by his Enemies and is set down as a glorious and triumphing conqueror over Sin and Satan Death and Hell at the Right Hand of the Throne
The Great Necessity of Preparation for Death and Iudgment A SERMON Preached in the Parochial Chappel OF MACCLESFIELD In the County Palatine of CHESTER AT THE FUNERAL OF Mr. John Corker al 's Cor Cor of HURDESFIELD on the Eleventh Day of November 1693 and since Revised and Enlarg'd at the Request of the Relations of the Deceased By Samuel Corker al 's Cor Cor M. A. Rector of Alderley in the County aforesaid and sometime a Student in Trin. Coll. in Cambridge Behold the Bridegroom cometh go ye out to meet him Mat. 26.5 Be ye therefore ready also for the Son of Man cometh c. Luke 12.40 Veniet fratres veniet sed vide quomodo te inveaiet Aug. Ser. 140. de Tempore DUBLIN Printed by Joseph Ray 1695. TO HIS TRULY HONOURED AND MUCH VALUED COUSIN Edward Corker al 's Cor Cor Esq The Authour wisheth Grace Mercy and Peace THE death of Friends who were loving and amiable in their Lives and Encouragers of Vertue is very piercing and grievous but most of all pensive and afflictive when they are taken away as your dear Brother and my truly loving Kinsman was by a sudden surreption without a foregoing Visitation and Sickness which severe and startling Providence made a very great breach in his Family and Neighbourhood and a deep impression upon my Thoughts But the Great and Wise God in whose Hands our Lives are hath a Sovereign Right to dispose of and put a period to them when and in what manner his Infinite Wisdom seeth meet without being accountable to his Creatures for his Actions Our Duty is humbly to submit to his Holy Will and with good Old Eli to say It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good When Your Affectionate Brother had paid that Debt which We yet owe to God and Nature His mournful Relict desired that I would perform the last Ministerial Office for him at his Interment I had not power to deny her Request altho at the same time I was sensible he deserved a better Orator to commemorate his Vertues The Discourse I then made and here present to You Revis'd and Enlarg'd is plain not cloathed with pomp of Words and tunable Expressions which in Sermons and Books of Divinity are like Paint laid upon Pearls which shine best in their native lustre Flourishes of Wit and fine Phrases may tickle Mens Ears and please their Fancies but rarely convince them of the important necessity of preparing for Death and Judgment or prevail with them to live holily that they may die happily The Text it self is very momentous and the subject matter of the Comment is salubrious and may claim attention and regard from all Orders and Degrees of Men who by the eternal and unchangeable Decree of God must once die and appear in Judgment But if it meet with unkind entertainment from some persons of corrupt Principles and profligate Lives who atheistically droll upon and ridicule every thing that is serious yet it may be beneficial to others who are really solicitous to know what they must do to obtain Salvation and to inherit Eternal Glory That the God of Mercy and Consolation would sanctifie and sweeten to you this sharp and afflictive Providence that he would work in your Soul a cheerful resignation to his Holy Will and enrich you with all the Blessings of Heaven and Earth is the dayly fervent Prayer of Your most affectionate Relation and very humble Servant Samuel Corker al 's Cor Cor. A SERMON Preached at the FUNERAL of Mr. John Corker of Hurdesfield November the 11th 1693. Mathew 24.44 Therefore be ye also ready for in such an Hour as you think not the Son of Man cometh THese Words are part of a Sermon Preached by our Blessed Lord and Saviour to his Disciples the Occasion was this They were all met together at the Temple of Jerusalem admiring the Magnificence Firmness and Stateliness of it and highly commending the Beauty and Order of the Fabrick which was Adorned * Luke 21.5 with goodly Stones and sumptuous Mate rials set off with all the Advantages and Curiosity of Art Pains and Industry which Josephus calls a Work of all that we have ever seen or heard the most Admirable both for the greatness of the Pile the sumptuousness of the Edifice and the Riches of the inward Furniture in which respect Tacitus calls it a Temple of Immense Riches Immensae Opulentiae Templum suitable to the Majesty of God who was therein to be Adored and Worshipped Our Lord to take off his Disciples Eyes from beholding those Gay and Stately Things with so pleasing Admiration foretold the Destruction of it and the utter Ruin of the City that it should come to pass according to the Predictions of the Prophets Jer. 26.18 Zion for your sakes shall be Plowed as a Field and Jerusalem shall become Heaps and the Mountain of the House on which the Temple Micah 3.12 one of the Wonders of the World did stand as the high places of the Forrest i. e. shall be demolished and become so desolate that Trees shall grow there as in a Wilderness See ye not all these things Verily I say unto you there shall not be left one Stone upon another that shall not be thrown down Lib. 7. de Belle Jud. cap. 10. which was fulfilled as Josephus Reports by the Roman Army who burnt all of it that was of combustible Nature expresly contrary to the command of Titus Vespasian who would have saved it but could not restrain the fury of his Souldiers tho' he charged Liberalis the Centurion of his Guard to beat them that would not Obey him and to drive them away and the Foundation which the Fire consumed not was Ralsed by Turnus Rufus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the General of the Roman Army there who at his departure thence drew a Plow over it as God had said And after this when Julian the Apostate out of spight and opposition to the Christians gave all manner of Encouragement to the Jews to Rebuild their Temple Re-edifie their Altar and Restore their Sacrifices and the Solemnities of their Worship and appointed Alypius of Antioch to over-see and carry on the Work with all possible Briskness and Activity hoping by that means to evidence to the World that our Saviour was a false Prophet and an Impostor in pronouncing the final and irrevocable Dissolution of that Church and State Heaven was pleased on a sudden to baffle the whole Undertaking and by many Illustrious and Miraculous Instances of God's Displeasure Viz. Violent Hurricanes dreadful Earthquakes and Eruptions of Fire which brake as it were under the Foundation and seized upon the Work-men and Spectators burnt their Tools and Instruments and made the place inaccessible for any such Attempts for the future A more full Relation hereof is given by the Learned Dr. Cave from Socrates Philostorgus Rufinus Am. Life of St. Cyril of Jerusalem Sect. 9th Marcellinus and others where the
Herald and in the Text proclaimeth the certainty of his coming but from the uncertainty of the time when presseth his Disciples to rouze up themselves and to stand perpetually upon their Watch looking for and awaiting the coming of the Lord either by Death or Judgment for it is all one in effect whether he come to us or we go to him whether the World endeth to us or we to it for when we die we then part with all our dear Delights and sweet enjoyments of this Life and go to Judgment for as Death leaves us Judgment will find us as soon as ever the Soul is separated from the body it is winged by the holy Angels to the Tribunal of God to receive its definitive Sentence to Joy or Misery according to its Works done in the body in this Life So that we had need to be ever waiting and prepared for that hour Therefore be ye also ready for in such an hour as you think not the Son of Man cometh Which Words were spoken by our Lord particularly to his Disciples but are of Universal concern to all Christians and do as much belong to Vs in our days as to Them in theirs and therefore I shall look upon them with particular Application to our selves they do contain two General Parts I. Our Blessed Saviours seasonable and serious Advice solemnly to prepare our selves for Death and Judgment Be ye also ready II. A powerful and cogent Motive enforcing this good Advice For in such an hour as you think not the Son of Man cometh I. The first thing to be considered is our Saviours serious Advice solemnly to prepare our selves for Death and Judgment therefore be ye also ready for this Reason because ye must die and come to Judgment and the time when is unknown be ye ready the Original imports set in the way as all those are whom God hath set in the Path of his Commandments Psal 85.13 Righteousness shall go before him as his Harbinger and shall set us in the way of his Steps i. e. in the path wherein he walketh and which he hath prescribed and appointed us to follow him in The Vulgar Latine reads it Parati made fit Now for as much as this is a long and difficult work and requires many Acts and Duties to be performed by us to dispose and qualifie us to meet our Lord with Joy and Comfort I will therefore shew i. Wherein this Preparation does chiefly consist ii Manifest the urgent necessity hereof and the many Obligations which we lie under to be always prepared for Death and Judgment i. My first work is to shew wherein this Preparation does chiefly consist this I shall do two ways Generally and Particularly 1. Generally This preparation does consist in the constant course of a Religious Holy and Heavenly Conversation and in the daily practice of Universal Purity 1. For this end the great and wise Creator did make us noble and reasonable Creatures Neh. 5.9 to walk in the fear of God to approve our selves by a blameless and harmless life Phil. 2.15 the Sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a perverse Nation among whom we being enlightned by the Son of Righteousness shine as lights in the World that others may see our good works the beauty and splendor of our Gifts and Graces Mat. 5.16 Joh. 15. â—8 and glorifie our Father which is in Heaven For herein is he glorified if we bring forth much fruit of Righteousness and true Holiness Not that it is in our power to add any thing to the essential glory of God but only contribute to the manifestation of his Glory and Majesty 2 This he doth command and require from us as we are his Creatures When God had chosen the Seed of Abraham and had separated them from all Nations and from all Impurities and Idolatries and set them apart for himself a peculiar People an holy Nation a chosen Race a People purchased to himself by Temptations by Signs and by Wonders and by War and by a mighty Hand and by a stretched out Arm and by great Terrors Deut. 4.34 according to all that he did in Aegypt He charged them thus Levit. 20.7 8. Sanctifie your selves and be ye holy for I am the Lord your God and ye shall keep my Statutes and do them We are the Seed of Faithful Abraham Gods peculiar People his proper portion and possession he hath brought us into a state of Salvation Tim. 1.9 and hath called us with an holy Calling not according to our works nor for any merit of ours but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began and as he that hath called us is holy so should we be holy in all manner of conversation 1. Pet. 1.16 for it is written be ye holy as I am holy Now there is a two fold likeness to God in holiness viz. a conformity to his nature and will in reference to which we are engaged to crucify the old man with his deeds to mortify the corruption of nature with all those sinful affections and actions which flow from it and to put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness 3 Cor. 5.17 2 Pet. 1.4 Which is called by St. Paul the new Creature and by St. Peter the divine Nature which consists not in any communication of the divine Essence to us but in our partaking of those divine Qualities and dispositions of knowledge righteousness and holiness which do express the perfections of God and in our analogical resemblance to him in his Attributes of Meekness Humility Patience Long suffering Justice and Faithfulness Mercy and Charity Love and Purity and in our sincere endeavour to please him to do his Will and keep his Commandments which require us to do justly to love mercy Micah 6.8 and to walk humbly with God To love him with all our hearts and soul and strength and might to discharge all the Duties that we owe to his Divine Majesty and to be fervent in spirit in his service To abstain from all injurious practices against our Neighbours to perform all kind and friendly offices to all men to bear good will to them to rejoyce at their happiness to pity their miseries and commiserate them in adversity to pay all due respect to them sutable to their degree and quality to shew all meekness to all men candidly favourably to interpret their words and actions mildly to reprehend their faults and sparingly relate their miscarriages forgiving and forgetting their greater offences and conniving at their lesser injuries which make no great breach upon our interest or reputation studying by all fair means as much as lieth in us if it be possible to live peaceably with all tho we we may sometimes sail in our purposes because some men are of such a turbulent fiery and malicious spirit and such profest enemies to
peace and love that it is scarce possible to obtain their good-will or to maintain a friendly correspondence with them In regard to our own persons the holy God commands us to depart from all iniquity to put away the evil of our doings Isaiah 1.16 17. to cease to do evil to learn to do well to watch and be sober to cast off the works of darkness and to walk as children of the light Rom. 13.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 honestly and decently as becometh those to whom the glorious light of the Gospel hath appeared shunning all those vices of Gluttony and Drunkenness Whoredom and Uncleanness all lustful and lascivious dalliances Strife and Envy which are a stain and blemish to our Nature and to our holy Profession and to live in the constant practice of universal Purity Psal 37.24 2 Tim. 2.19 Jam. 4.8 which obligeth us to depart from evil to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts i. e. to reform and amend our lives and actions out thoughts and affections and through the assistance of Divine Grace which is never wanting to those that endeavour to obey God 2 Cor. 7.1 and do his Will to cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit i. e. from all bodily pollutions such are sins of Intemperance Fornication Uncleanness c. in respect of which it becomes the duty of a Christian to learn and exercise that holy skill 1 Thes 4.4 to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour for such sins as these are a real dishonour to the body Rom. 1.2 And since God hath shewed his Art in the curious workmanship of it Os homini sublîme dedit coelumque tuerj jussit c. Materiam superabat opus Ovid. Met. which was not at first made without a consultation of the whole Trinity after what eminent manner and majestick form they should make it the rare and admirable structure whereof Gen. 1.26 being exquisitely composed of Bones and Muscles and Sinews of Veins and Arteries and variety of members excellent both for beauty and use filled David's Royal Soul with such admiration of God's infinite Wisdom and Power that when he contemplated his own Body he praised God Psal 139.14 and said I am fearfully and wonderfully made and curiously wrought with various embroidery and since God I say hath bestowed so much pains and cost upon the workmanship of the Body and that it is a part of Christ's purchase and together with the Soul is become a member of his and a Temple for the Holy Spirit of Purity to reside and dwell in it is principally incumbent upon us to keep it pure and clean chast and holy and free from all carnal pollutions We ought to have a greater regard to our noble Souls which are of an heavenly Original to purify and preserve them from spiritual wickedness from extravagant passions inordinate affections and desires from Pride and Covetousness rash Anger and Contention Envy Hatred Malice and all Uncharitableness for these Sins and Vices defile our Souls and make us both afraid to dye and unfit for judgment Therefore the Apostle calls upon us to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord and assures us that this is the revealed will of God 1 Thes 4.3 even our sanctification that we should be holy both in our hearts and lives inwardly in our thoughts and affections outwardly in our words and actions both intensively and extensively holy 3. For this end and purpose the Lord of Glory sent his beloved Son into the World in great humility to carry on this work of making us holy by his exemplary and virtuous life and by his patient and meritorious death First By his virtuous and exemplary life he hath given us the most illustrious pattern in his own person in all the parts of holiness and set us the fairest copy of the most sublime and perfect virtue For which cause we find him in Scripture dignified with eminent Titles as of a Prince and Captain a Master and Guide of holy life and obedience he voluntarily undertook to subdue our Enemies and hath encouraged us with a most bountiful promise of a glorious reward a Crown of Righteousness to follow his heroick Conduct in a holy warfare against Sin and Satan to fight manfully under his Banner against all the Enemies of our Souls as Plutarch saith Caesar's Souldiers did when his presence and unparallell'd Gallantry inspired them with Courage and Valour extraordinary Fortis in armis Caesareis Labienus erat Example hath a great influence and efficacy for as Pliny the younger hath observed Melius hominis exemplis docentur qua imprimis hoc boni habent qua approbant quae praecipiunt fieri posse Men are better instructed by Examples which have in them chiefly this advantage that they do prove the things may be done which they enjoyn And as Seneca tells Lucilius Homines plus Oculis quà m auribus credunt Epist 6. Men give greater credit to their Eyes than to their Ears to what they see than to what they hear The more Eminent any persons are that give Examples the more readily are they imitated Et in vulgus manunt exemplâ— Regentâ—um Such as sit in the Gate as all uppermost in the world have many followers that conform to their manners and practice When the King of Nineveh put on Sackcloath Jonah 3.6 his Courtiers and Citizens complied with the fashion When Constantinus Mag. embraced the Faith of Christ Heathen Superstition began to creep into holes and corners and Christianity overspread the face of the Empire Now our dearest Lord being the greatest and wisest person that ever lived and his example the most perfect and transcendent that ever was we should endeavour if we would live happily and die comfortably to conform our practice to his because he was the most exact mirrour of true Goodness and Virtue of general Kindness and Charity Patience and Contentedness Meekness and Humility which he most lovingly inviteth us to imitate him in Matth. 11.29 Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart His Patience in bearing the Affronts and Indignities of Sinners his Contempt of all the Glories of this World his Self-denial and Submission to the will of God his unwearied diligence in his Service his Peaceableness and Gentleness to all men and readiness to perform all kind Offices to men especially to their Souls was written for our Admonition to influence our practice and lead us in the paths of Righteousness and to make us partakers of his Holiness 2dly Our Blessed Lord Saviour's patient and meritorious Death and Sufferings were primarily intended to work Holiness in us The design of his coming in the Flesh was not only as the Socinians say to give us an example of Christian Purity but to lay down his life for us We are assured of this from his own sacred lips Matth. 20.28 The Son of Man came not to
be the lights of the World ought to take heed to themselves that their lives and actions may command a reverence from men 1 Tim. 4.16 and induce them to conform to their pattern and practice a holy life being a great advantage to Religion and the best preparation for Death and Judgment 2. Particularly The readiness and preparation I am speaking of does consist in the several acts and duties of the Christian Religion which must be performed by us with all diligence zeal and vigour viz. in the speedy setling our domestick concerns and moderating our affections to this world in making our peace and reconciliation with God and Men in doing all the good we can whilest we live in keeping Conscience clear and free from offence in bearing with patience the troubles we meet with in living under a constant sense of Gods all-seeing Eye and inspection over us and possessing our selves with frequent thoughts of Death and Judgment So that duly to dispose our selves for a blessed Eternity does not consist in one transient act but is to commence as soon as we come to a consistency of reason and understanding Eccles 12.1 and must be carried on through the several periods of our lives till God is pleased to dissolve the vital union between the Soul and Body and make a separation between them 1 The speedy settling of our domestick concerns and disposing of our temporal affairs while we have opportunity to do it deliberately and advisedly with prudence and discretion is one part of this preparation for Death and Judgment Death is a debt which we all owe to God and Nature and which we are sure to pay whensoever it pleaseth the God of Nature to require it from us But since we know not the time when nor the manner how we shall die and depart this life Omnibus est eadem lathi via non tamen unus est vitae cunctis exitiique modus it is not only wisdom but our duty to dispatch this work lest we should be taken away as experience shews us many are by some sudden casualty or unexpected surreption But suppose we go off the Stage of this world deliberately and by slow degrees some previous sickness or sensible decays of Nature forewarning us of our approaching dissolution 't is not fit then to have the disposition of our secular affairs upon our hands to disturb and disquiet our Minds and to rob us of our precious time every minute of which must be bestowed to the best advantage and to the true interest of our Souls for what they are when they leave the body and enter into a state of separation from it that they shall be to all eternity therefore it should be our chiefest care to get them washed clean in the blood of the immaculate Lamb from all their impurities that whatsoever defilements they have contracted during their union with their Bodies through the lusts of the flesh within or the wiles of Satan from without these being purged away they may appear spotless before the great Tribunal and stand with exceeding great joy before the Impartial Judge It is not fit when we come to die to have the settlement of our Estates then to take up our last moment which ought to be employed in renewing our repentance and in making our peace with God and solemnly preparing for a comfortable passage into the eternal world There are very sew if any of us whose outward circumstances are so mean and low but that we have some of the Gifts of Fortune to dispose of at our death Some Estate more or less to bequeath among our Friends and Relations when we leave the World Those of us that have the fairest Inheritances the fullest Baggs and Barns can take nothing away with us when we die but are at the courtesie of our surviving Friends for a Shrowd and a Coffin to intomb us in the Earth For as Job said when the Chaldaean and Sabaean Robbers had taken away all his goods Naked came I out of my Mothers womb Job 1.21 and naked shall I return So may we say with the Son of Syrac As we came forth of our Mothers womb naked shall we return to go as we came and shall take nothing of our labour which we may carry away in our hands Holy David affirms the same of the rich man tho the glory of his House is increased when he dieth Psalm 49.17 he shall carry nothing away his glory shall not descend after him All his Wealth and Power and Grandure shall die with him Nudos fudit in lucem Nudos recepit terra Seneca Epist VVe must carry out no more than we brought in So that it concerns us to make our Wills with great Justice and Piety and to take care that they be penn'd with clearness and plain expressions to prevent all Animosities and Incumbrances Wranglings and Suits of Law amongst our Children and Legatees For we are obliged to provide for the Quiet Peace and Prosperity of those that are to succeed us in our Possessions that it may go well with them when we are dead and gone Now forasmuch as Solomon saith Eccl. 3.1 To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under Heaven The most proper and convenient season for the dispatch of this weighty Affair is the day of Health while we have our wits about us while our understanding is clear and our memory perfect and that we can duly consider which way God may be best served by our Bequests Vertue encouraged and Justice may be done to every man and the Poor in some measure be provided for according as God hath enabled us ever remembring that what we have comes solely from his bounty who is the Soveraign Lord and true Proprietor of all that we have We but Stewards only and the Poor his Proxies and Receivers therefore we must not forget them in our Wills but remember that Precept of Solomon With hold not good from them to whom it is due Prov. 3.27 when it is in the power of thy hand to do it because such actions are works of Charity and Bounty to the Poor and acts of Righteousness to God and they that give nothing at their departure hence Luke 16.9 betray their trust for the good things of this life are committed to their care and management upon such conditions and reservations that they should use them comfortably while they live and dispose of them wisely and charitably when they die lest they give a bad account of their Stewardship and have reason to expect a severe sentence from their Lord Jam. 2.12 August For he shall have judgment without mercy who shewed no mercy Desideravit guttam qui non dedit micam This piece of Wisdom we may learn from the Example of Abraham who did dispose of his Estate among his Children some time before his death reserving only the enjoyment of it to himself during his
the most sweet and melodious Voices and all other delightful things as Musical Instruments of all sorts he denied not himself any thing that was pleasing to his Eyes or grateful to his Senses or that his heart desired neither was he hindred from the free and comfortable Enjoyment of all his Labours either by Wars abroad or Tumults at home or personal Afflictions or any outward Calamity or imbittering Occurrents and he had a heart to use and taste the sweetness of all his labours which the eager covetousness of wretched Misers will not suffer them to do who reap no more benefit by their Riches than to look upon them and to say the property thereof is Mine So true is that of the Royal Preacher He that loveth Silver Eccl. 5.10 11. shall not be satisfied with Silver nor he that loveth abundance with increase When Goods increase they are increased that eat them and what good is there to the Owners thereof saving the beholding them with their Eyes Which is a poor benefit indeed unable to make the Worldling compensation for his cares of getting and fears of losing them a Priviledge which is common to all others who may every day see more goodly sights the radiant lustre of the Sun adorned with Light as with a beautiful Garment and smiling upon the Earth with a most pleasant and amiable Countenance the sparkling Glories of the heavenly Bodies in their Constellations the lovely and fragrant Flowers of the Field the Rarities and Treasures of Nature and all the Pomp and Gallantry of Princes and Nobles all which are more pleasing sights to the Beholders But mark what Character he gives of all outward things after that he had taken a serious Review of all his Wealth and Labour and found himself disappointed in them Eccles 2.11 I looked saith he on all the labours that my hands had wrought and on the labour that I had laboured to do and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit a disappointment of all my hopes and desires of satisfaction This was my portion of all my labour Alas all things here below are of too narrow an extent to satisfie the vast and capacious Desires of our Souls which are enlarged with enjoying and therefore the inspired Pen men of the holy Scripture have advis'd us That we labour not to be rich Prov. 23.4 Mat. 6.19 Colos 3.2 nor lay up for our selves Treasures upon Earth but that we set our affections upon things above 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace and Glory and the Inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled and fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for us and not on things on the Earth the Pleasures Honours and Profits of this World which we are prone to desire inordinately and to pursue immoderately tho' we are charged to the contrary Love not the World 1 John 2.15 neither the things that are in the World if any Man love the World the love of the Father is not in him Know ye not that the Friendship of the World is enmity with God James 4.4 whosoever will be a Friend of the World is the Enemy of God in open hostility with him and unfit to see his Face in Death or Judgment therefore our Saviour warned his Disciples to take heed and beware of Covetousness Lake 12.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or an inordinate desire of earthly things a Mans Life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth he may live as easily and comfortably without it Nature is content with little and Grace with less Abundance is not necessary to render our Lives happy the Poor are as merry and chearful as vigorous and healthy as well satisfied and contented with a small pittance as the Wealthy and Opulent with their Superfluity which serves only to administer to Pride and Vanity Prov. 23.11 to make them wise in their own conceit to puff them up with Haughtiness and Arrogancy Insolency and Imperiousness of Spirit and to betray them to sin and solly They that will be rich fall into temptations and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts 1 Tim. 6.9 which drown men in destruction and perdition which take up their time and fill their heads with solicitous Cares and Fears engross their Affections encumber their Lives with toilsome Labours about them expose them to a great many Sorrows which pierce their Souls and render Death and Judgment exceeding formidable to them Therefore since the love of this World is so dangerous a thing let us not with Martha be careful and troubled about many things and leave Mary's Vnum Necessarium wholly unregarded but rather spend our Days and Years in this mortal state in adorning our Souls with Evangelical Graces and Vertues to fit us for Heaven for if we had the Riches of both the Indies we can take nothing away with us when we depart hence Job 1.21 Naked came we out of our Mothers Womb and naked shall we return We must everlastingly part with all that we have when we dye and leave it as Solomon saith to the Man that shall come after us and who knoweth whether he shall be a wise Man or a Fool Ecoles 2.18 19. yet shall he have rule over all our labour and gather all that we have heaped up but works of Righteousness will accompany us into the other World and now is the time for us to be rich in good Works to grow in Grace and Holiness To give all diligence to add to our Faith Vertue to Vertue Knowledge to Knowledge Temperance to Temperance Patience to Patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly Kindness and Charity for if these things be in us and abound and our Minds fit loose to the Affairs of this Life we shall be ready and willing to leave them whensoever our Lord shall please to call us hence 3. This Readiness and Preparation for Death and Judgment does confist in making our Peace and Reconciliation with God and Men. 1. With God which is a thing of infinite moment for so long as we continue in enmity with him and maintain a Rebellion against his Crown and Dignity he is engaged for the Vindication of his own Soveraign Power and Justice to be our Enemy and to execute his severe Judgments upon us and we have no Security that he will not do it speedily without giving us farther time to consider our ways and throw down our Arms of Hostility against him For the Psalmist assures us Psal 7.11 12 13 That God is angry with the wicked every day even while his Providence seems to smile upon them and they think themselves most secure and confident If he turn not he will whet his Sword he hath bent his Bow and made it ready he hath prepared for him the Instruments of Death God is loth for the Glory of his Patience and Long suffering forthwith to proceed against us For my Names sake Isa 48.9 will I defer mine
by forgiving injuries are very considerable such are freedom from all those unreasonable Passions of envy hatred malice and desire of Revenge which are continually fretting and vexatious to our Spirits and eat out the peace and comfort of our Lives whensoever we do cordially forgive a Trespass we find a great Calm on a sudden in our Bosoms our Souls are at ease and our Thoughts are no longer disturbed with meditating of Revenge the offence is to us as if it had never been committed Envyings Strife and Contentions cease together with the sources of them anger malice pride emulation in the room whereof springs up charity kindness gentleness meekness humility long sufferings patience and other God like Vertues which are the Riches and Beauty the Glory and Ornament of a Christian and render him lovely and amiable in the Eyes of his Enemies and Venerable in the esteem of all good Men and all his Duties and Services pleasing and acceptable to God and greatly contribute to the obtaining remission of his sins with God as our Saviour himself certifies us Mat. 6.14 If ye forgive Men their Trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you not that our forgiving our Brethren without the concurrence of other divine Graces and holy Duties is alone sufficient to entitle us to the remission of our Sins but to shew us that without this forgiving of our Brethren Almighty God will not forgive us as also to represent the excellency and necessity of this Duty which is very grateful to him and of great Power in order to the commending us to his Grace and favourable acceptance and a principal part of that Obedience which we owe to him Psal 32.1 2. and which he will reward with eternal Blessedness Blessed is he whose Transgression is forgiven whose Sin is covered blessed is the Man unto whom the Lord imputeth not Iniquity and in whose Spirit there is no guile 2 The inconveniencies which do attend the neglect of this Duty are very dangerous and hurtful the implacable and irreconcilable Person encreaseth his own sorrows vexeth and cruciateth his own Soul makes his anguish more sharp and piercing To use the words of a great and good Man Arch Bp. Tillotson's Sermon on Mat 5.44 The very design of Revenge is troublesom and puts the Spirits into an unnatural fermentation and tumult the Man that meditates it is always restless his very Soul is stung swells and boiles is in pain and anguish hath no ease no enjoyment of it self so long as this passion reigns It entails enmitie and mischief upon him that is guilty of it from his Adversaries who will not fail to add weight unto his shoulders and multiply fresh injuries and affronts upon him which will gall his very Soul and make his Life painful and uneasie to him and which is most of all afflictive and deplorable he puts a bar to the remission of his own sins If ye forgive not Men their Trespasses Mat. 6.15 neither will your Father forgive your Trespasses one Man beareth hatred to another and doth he seek pardon of the Lord Ecclus. 28.3 4. he sheweth no mercy to a Man which is like himself and doth he ask forgivness of the Lord God will surely keep his sins in remembrance Mat. 7.2 and repay him in his own kind and measure he that is pitiful and merciful to his offending Brother shall find mercy from God he that will not forgive shall not be forgiven but shall be judged with impartial justice according to the severity of the Law without the least mixture of Mercy he shall have Judgment without mercy Jâ—m 2.13 that hath shewed no mercy God will deal with him according to the demerit of his sins and appoint him his portion with the reprobate Angels whose example he imitated in implacable malice and revenge this will be the dreadful sentence of malediction Mat. 25.41 depart from me thou cursed Sinner into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels miserable companions for distressed Souls but their condemnation is just and agreeable to their own requests for as oft as they said the Lords Prayer they in effect prayed for their own Damnation and besought God to forgive them their Debts as they forgave their Debtors i. e. that he would not forgive them because they will not forgive their offending Brethren Upon the whole then it does appear that as abiding anger malice and uncharitableness renders us unfit to die and to appear in Judgment so forgiveness and mercy dispose and prepare us for the coming of our Lord let us therefore take the Wise-Mans advice Ecclus 28.6 7. Remember our End and let enmity cease remember Corruption and Death and abide in the Commandments and bear no malice to our Neighbour tho' our Blood flows now warmly in our veins and our spirits are brisk and we enjoy a perfect state of Health and therefore delay and put off many things that are necessary to fit us for our final change yet it will not be long but we must put off this tabernacle and put on corruption when Death approacheth us we shall then with Balaam desire to die the death of the Righteous and that our latter End may be like his peaceable and happy that we may see the Felicity of Gods chosen and the glory of his Saints in Heaven the which we shall never attain unto unless we quit our selves of all uncharitableness and root out the malignant distemper of mind and all those bad dispositions those keen and tumultuous passions which hitherto have rufled us and disturbed the tranquility and repose of our Souls therefore the great Men of the World who have been prone to remember affronts and injuries with the highest resentments when they come to Die look upon Forgivness and Charity as necessary preparations for their change do give their general Amnesty to all that have offended them either out of Fear or Obedience to him who is the fountain of Love and Goodness who passeth by innumerable indignities and poureth down showers of bounty and mercy upon them that provoke him to wrath and indignation against them every day A chief part of our readiness and preparation to meet our Lord consists in doing all the good we can while we live with unwearied diligence and expedition For there is no work Eccles 9.10 nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the Grave Now is the season for us to lay up for our selves Treasures in Heaven for if once Death put a period to our Lives the time of our preparation for Eternity is at an end our Souls will be for ever what they are when they leave the Body so that it ought to be our chiefest care to improve the present seasons of Grace and to secure to our selves a right and title to that exceeding great and eternal weight of Glory which is reserved in Heaven for all those that are rich in works of Piety Justice and Charity
is a visible instruction to me really to converse with sickness and weakness and to think that it will not be long but I shall feel and endure mortal pains and the miseries of a Death bed I shall breath short feel cold sweats dying pangs My Body which I am now so indulgent and tender of shall be wrapped in a Shroud be nailed up in a Coffin Luk. 7.12 and carried forth as the Widow of Nain's Son was upon the shoulders of men to be intombed in the Grave the House of all living and my immortal Soul shall expire and go to God who gave it to be rewarded and sentenced according to the things done in the body Such serious thoughts as these will be a sovereign Antidote against all Sin and Wickedness and dispose and prepare us before hand that when the critical moment comes we may not run the great hazard of miscarrying for ever For in the day of Death we play the last Game for everlasting Felicity or endless Misery so that we had need to do it wisely and warily because an uncorruptible Crown of Life and Glory depends upon it the winning whereof will make us unspeakably happy and the losing of it eternally miserable beyond all humane apprehension Thus have I shewed at large both generally and particularly wherein this preparation does consist because the burden of the Text lies upon it II I proceed now to the second thing in order of method which is to manifest the urgent necessity of this readiness and the great obligations which lie upon us to be always prepared for death and the Son of Mans coming The omniscient God who certainly knows what is best for our present good and future happiness hath very warmly pressed it home upon our hearts by many Precepts and Commands the work it self is difficult the time allotted us to do it in is very precious life it self is very short and uncertain and Death inevitable and if we be not prepared for our change by inherent holiness and sanctification we shall fall short of happiness So that upon these accounts it is absolutely necessary that we be always in readiness 1 The omniscient God who certainly knows what is best for our present good and future happiness hath very warmly and earnestly pressed it home upon our hearts by many precepts which he hath inculcated in the Scriptures that we knowing our Duty may yield a cheerful and and filial obedience Throughout this whole Chapter of the Text we are taught that the coming of our Lord will be very sudden like Lightning which in the twinkling of an eye Verse 27. darts through the Air and surprizes the Inhabitants of the Earth before they are aware of it or can avoid it that it will be at a time when the spirit of security hath seized the hearts of Men and they are given up to sensuality and debauchery wholy unconcerned at all Gods invitations and warnings and unmindful of the great things which belongs to their everlasting Peace This was the case of the old World and of Sodom and Gomorrah Verse 37 38. Luke 17.28 29 30. in the day of Noah and Lot They did eat they drank they bought they sold they planted they builded they went on securely in their luxurious courses and lived in a careless regard of their Duty till the day that Lot went out of Sodom when God rained down fire and brimstone from Heaven upon them and destroyed them all even so shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed Now the time of his coming being concealed from us lays the greatest obligation upon us to be Vigilant watch therefore saith Verse 42. Mark 30.33 c. our Saviour watch and pray for ye know not when the time is for the Son of Man is as a Man taking a far journey who left his House and gave authority to his Servants and to every Man his work and commanded the Porter to watch watch ye therefore for ye know not when the master of the House cometh at even or at midnight or at the cock-crowing or in the morning lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping and what I say unto you I say unto all watch The design of which precept is to engage all of us to abstain from all sin and to be diligent and industrious in doing of our duty that at what time soever our Lord cometh we may be ready Luke 21.34 35 36. Take heed to your selves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with Surfeiting and Drunkenness and the cares of this Life and so that day come upon you unawares the day of particular or general Judgment For as a snare it shall come upon all that dwell on the face of the Earth watch ye therefore and pray always that ye may be able to stand before the Son of Man to stand with cheerfulness and confidence without fear of condemnation in the last Judgment for the ungodly shall not stand in judgment Psal 1.5 nor be able to lift up their heads before the presence of the severe Judge because they have not been diligent to be found of him in peace without spot or blemish The design of our Lord in the Parable of the Ten Virgins is to press upon all Christians the urgent necessity of a constant preparation for his coming and not to content themselves with having Lamps and making a bare profession of Religion but to keep Oyl in their vessels with their Lamps i. e. truth of grace fruits of the spirit and works of mercy To have their Lamps trimmed their Loins girded about and their lights burning as those that look for their Lord. Herein lay the Wisdom of the prudent Virgins they provided Oyl in store to replenish their Lamps a good stock of faith and love and other divine graces to feed and maintain their profession and they trimmed their Lamps and took care to prepare themselves for the Bridegrooms coming by which means they being found ready were at his coming admitted by him into the place of Nuptial entertainments But the indiscretion of the improvident and formal Professors lay in pleasing themselves with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a false Vnction they traded for the goodly Pearl the rich Treasure hid in a Field but they did it so unseasonably and coldly that they were not sensible of their mistake till it was too late to retrieve and amend it The Bridegroom came when they were not in a readiness to receive him and so the door was shut against them and tho' they cryed with earnest intreaties and ingeminations Lord Lord open to us yet there was no admission for them they were for ever excluded Which dismal Fate of theirs teacheth us this useful instruction To improve the present seasons of Grace and to work while it is to day For when the Night cometh no Man can work John 9 4. as the Tree falleth so it lieth if it fall toward the South
or toward the North in the place where the Tree falleth there it shall lie which Scripture is thus interpreted by a learned Author Olympiodor in Eccles. In whatsoever place therefore whether of light or darkness whether in the work of wickedness or vertue a Man is taken at his death in that degree and rank doth he remain either in light with the just and Christ the King of all or in darkness with the wicked and Prince of the World There is no rectifying the errors of this Life in the next the day of Grace ends with this Life here all the Evidences and Graces of a Christian are to be acquired in the future state he shall receive his reward according to the things done in the Body Vid. Victoris Erabdum whether they be good or bad After we are gon from hence There remains no place for repentance no effect or benefit of satisfaction here Life is either lost or obtained and at the moment of death thou hast a passage hence to immortality So that whatever is done by us to obtain the favour of God and a blessed immortality must be done in this World The time of this Life Dr. Sherlock upon Death is all the preparation time that ever will be afforded to us to work out our Salvation There is no middle state or place as they of the Roman communion do fondly fancy to do it in we consist but of two parts Body and Soul and Solomon hath assured us that when we die Eccles. 12.7 the body returns to the Earth from whence it originally came Fundamentum ex pulvere et in pulvere finis ejus and the Soul to God that gave it The holy Angels conveyed Lazarus his Soul at his death into Abraham's bosom immediately upon its separation from the Body so saith the Spirit from henceforth from the instant of their dying the dead are blessed and rest from their labours from all the labours of their Christian calling their Race is at an end their course is finished and the crown is to be received All the Divine graces and Religious dispositions of mind which are requisite to fit the Soul for Heaven and make it happy when it leaves the Body must be obtained and exercised in the Body So that to day whilst it is called to day we must seriously mind and prosecute the things which belong to our peace and give obedience to the Commands of God which are reasonable and easie advantagious to our interest and do claim a Priority in our affections and endeavours for so we are directed to remember now our Creator and to seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness in the first place for by so doing we not only secure to our selves the temporal Emoluments of this Life so far as the wisdom of God seeth them good for us but dispose and prepare our selves for eternal Glory and our obedience shall not miss of a suitable reward ii The solemn work of preparation for Death and Judgment is difficult it is not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of his Father which is in Heaven that sincerely endeavours to fulfil the whole will of God by faith and holyness The truth power of piety lies not in a mouthful of good words be ye warmed be ye filled be ye cloathed nor in a meer outside Form of worship but in practice 't is not enough for us to live inofsensively and harmlesly to abstain from that which is evil but we must actually do good and abound in fruits of righteousness 'T is a great work to die well and unless we do lay up an ample stock of spiritual preparations we shall never be able to go safely through the dark passage of death to Eternity Assure your selves dear Souls that a few penitent resolutions forced promises death-bed sorrows mournful tears melancholy looks formal prayers and crying God's mercy and asking him forgiveness will not serve the turn and prove effectual no we must put forth the most painful efforts of our Souls in mortifying our earthly Members in conquering vicious habits in regulating disordered appetites in governing according to the Laws of reason and religion all the faculties of our Souls in eradicating strong prejudices from our Understanings in bending our obstinate and rebellious Will in regulating unruly Affections in taming wild extravagant Passions in guarding our Hearts from vain Thoughts and inordinate Desires in subduing powerful Lusts which war against the Soul in resisting temptations and repelling the fiery darts of the professed Enemy of our Salvation in fighting manfully under Christ's Banner against Sin the World the Devil and the rebellious Flesh in curbing its impetuous and eager desires in bridling our Tongues from idle obscene and unsavoury talk in directing our steps in the straight path of holiness in sustaining Crosses Afflictions and Troubles with a generous patience and unshaken constancy doing our duty faithfully to God conscientiously waiting upon him in his Ordinances studying to know his Pleasure to do his Will to obey his Commands to promote his Interest advance his Glory in the World We shall have need of sincere Repentance Faith unfeigned unshaken Patience universal Charity seraphyck Love invincible Constancy an humble submission to the Will of God to bring down the Joys of Heaven into our Souls perseverance unto the end and a well grounded hope of partaking with the Saints in joys unspeakable and full of glory unless our Souls be habited and attired with these goodly vertues we shall be very unfit to die and to appear in Judgment Now to obtain these heavenly Graces is the work which we are to apply our selves unto with diligence and vigour For every Vertue hath its peculiar difficulty 2 Thes 1.11 1 Thes 1.3 Faith is called the work of Faith 'T is a difficult thing to believe the Existence of things which eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither is the heart of man able to conceive the immortality of the Soul and the existence of it in an immaterial world It 's hard to believe firmly all the promises and threatnings of the Word to rely upon Christ alone for Salvation perfectly to submit our Understandings and to resign our Wills to his holy will Repentance is a work not easily wrought upon the Soul though it be highly reasonable that when we have done contrary to our duty we should be cordially sorry for it resolve to do so no more and labour to undo what we have done amiss by godly sorrow and compunction of heart humble confession to God and restitution to Men yet experience sheweth that it is very hard to do this Gan the Aethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots Jer. 13.23 then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil Hence it is called renovation a new creation regeneration a new birth in which there is pain and difficulty Charity
is a laborious exercise of many good works it consists in the performance of several kind Offices The Christian must exert that labour of love mentioned by the Apostle 1 Thes 1.3 Temperance is a vertue not easily attained it requires presence of mind and great wisdom to regulate unruly Appetites and to govern unnatural Lusts which are fired by a small spark of temptations and to withstand the allurements of pleasure to refuse the courtships and solicitations of jolly Companions to shun the snares of their wild examples and to bear with evenness and equanimity of mind the scoffs and sarcasms of those patrons and encouragers of Vice and Vanity who can have no kindness for those that will not run with them the same risk of madness and extravagance The like might be shewed concerning meekness humility self-denial and resignation to the Divine Will patience contentedness and all other Divine Graces which are from above from the Father of Lights who is the giver of Grace and Glory and hath placed them out of our reach that we might take pains to acquire them by fervent Prayer and Devotion and exert great diligence in the practice of them For since it is appointed for Men to die but once we should do all we can to prepare our selves to die happily and as St. John saith in the Lord that we may live for ever with the Lord. iii. The time allowed us to prepare for Eternity is precious for it is very short if we measure time according to the largest extention of it for all that space of this present life which is allowed us to do the works of our Callings in is exceeding short but if we take it for the opportunity of time or the proper season for the making our Calling and Election sure and securing our everlasting state 't is much shorter Of all the outward blessings and comforts which God is pleased to bestow upon us in this life he is not so frugal and provident in any of them as he is in the distribution of our time He confers upon us the comfortable accommodation of this world in great abundance but Time he proportions to us in a continual succession of days and hours and minutes so that we never enjoy two of them together but as one passeth away he gives us another and yet how profuse and lavish are we in the expence of them A considerable part of our time we have wasted in childish vanities and when we came to maturity of years and consistency of reason we spent no small part of it in gratifying inordinate appetites and in sensual pleasures So that before we seriously consider the end for which we were created the major part of our time is elapsed beyond revocation and we croud up this solemn work of preparation for Eternity into a narrow compass It concerns us therefore to redouble our diligence to redeem the time and to encrease in all Graces adding to our faith vertue and to vertue knowledge c. 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7. To reach forth with the blessed St Paul unto those things that are before Phil. 3.13 14 to stretch as hard as we can after that measure of holiness which we have not yet attained to press toward the mark that we may win the prize of eternal Glory and the rather should we exert the greatest vigour because we have but little time to do the work of him that sent us 1 Cor. 7.29 30 31. in The time is short furled like Sails when the Mariner hath finished his Voyage and is come into the Haven so that we should be careful to improve it to our best advantage which is a special point of wisdom commendable avarice as Seneca saith Nulla nisi temporis honesta est avaritia We are allowed to covet earnestly the best things amongst which this precious jewel of time may be reckoned and therefore not to be wasted in fruitless pastimes and carnal contentments in earthly pleasures and overmuch secular negotiations of this life much less in wicked projects or sinful practices but in adorning our Souls with such virtuous dispositions as will fit us for the presence of God and the society of the Saints in the future state of Glory When we come to die one of those days or hours which we have vainly wasted will be of more value to us then all this world It is scarce possible for us in the day of health and prosperity to conceive how valuable Time will then appear to us We shall sadly repent that we have spent any part of it in worldliness ambition idleness sensual gratifications or sinful lusts We shall heartily wish that we had improved every minute of it in the spiritual and everlasting concernments of our Souls and to be sure if we have any presence of Mind and the use of our Reason we shall then imploy every minute of it which is free from disturbances and interruptions in finishing our last preparatory work on Earth in order to our appearing before our great Judge It will be our wisdom to do that now with all our might which we shall then be so intent upon because a few sands more will bring us to that state in which we shall remain for ever and leave us in Eternity iv The urgent necessity of such a solemn preparation as I have described will farther appear if we consider that life it self which is the most valuable treasure the richest Jewel in this World is very short and uncertain and Death inevitable 1. Life is very short The most fading and vanishing things in Nature are made use of by the Penmen of the Holy Scriptures to set forth the brevity of the life of man 'T is represented by a Dream which for a little while affects the Fancy Job 20.8 but when the man awakes if not before it vanisheth away By a Flower of the Field or the Grass of the Earth Ps 73.20.90.6.103.15 which in the Morning is green and flourishing but in the Evening is cut down dried up and withered As for man his days are as grass as a flower of the field so he flourisheth Job 14.2 he cometh up like a flower and is cut down he fleeth as a shadow and continueth not His life slips away suddenly like a Tale that is told his beauty strength and all his excellencies consume away like a Moth Ch. 13.28.7.6.9.25 26. which by eating and fretting a Garment spoils the glory of it Sometimes the life of man is compared to a Weavers Shuttle which is an Instrument of a very swift motion and passeth the Loomb or Web speedily Sometimes it is compared to a swift Post which rideth upon fleet Horses and hasten his speed by land To swift Ships of Ebeh a River in the East where Job lived which by the force and strength of its Current added swiftness to the Vessels which sailed fast upon it And forasmuch as an Eagle of all the Fowls of the Air is
by Gouts as Septimius Severus Julius the 3d. Sozimus the Syrian and Sixtus the 4th others by the Stone and Cholick as Gregory the 11th and Pius the 5th Some by Plurisies as Gelasius the 2d c. others by violent pain and anguish as Crassus the Orator some have ended their days in transports of Joy as Philippides the Comedian when his Lauriat Poems were preferred and Diaggoras of Rhodes Bp. Taylor 's great Ex. part 3. disc 20. and Chilon the Philosopher embracing their Sons crowned with Olympick Lawrels others have expired in excess of sorrow Many have lost their lives by overmuch fulness repletion and ingurgitation of meats and drinks but more have perished by pinching Famine O the havock and desolation which it made at the Sieges of Jerusalem and Samaria 2 Kings 5.25 Joseph de bello Jud. l. 7. c. 7 8. when the poor miserable Jews did for very penury eat their Girdles Shoes and the Skins that covered their Shields and an Asses Head which hath but little meat upon it and that also both unwholsome and unclean by Law was sold for 80 pieces of Silver which amount to about 5 l. of our Money a vast price for so small a pittance Mille modis lethi miseros 〈◊〉 una fatigat and the 4th part of a Kab or quart of Pease for 5 pieces of Silver Death is every day making its approaches near to us with speedy and undiscerned steps it follows us and will arrest us e're we be aware of it but when or how we know not every breath we draw may be our last and the next step we take may be into the Grave Who sees not then the absolute necessity of being always ready for his departure hence No man dies so cheerfully as he that hath prepared and composed himself for it by a foregoing preparation Death will not wait for us one moment and therefore it is extremely dangerous to flatter our selves with hopes and expectations of long life and that we shall repent hereafter for we have not one day or hour or minute at our disposal Qui poenitenti veniam spospondit peccanti crastinum diem non promisit Death spares none neither for age nor manners We see the Rose-buds are gathered as well as the ripe Roses Many young persons are snatched away in the flower of their time and strength Job 10.22 ch 3.19 The Grave is without order there are small and great in it Goliah not too bigg David's Child not too little to fill a Tomb. So that upon this account we ought to live in a constant expectation of Death and the coming of our Lord and to dispose of every day in such sort as if it did lead to the consummation of our lives Luke 12. Blessed are those Servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find so doing 3. As Life is very short and uncertain so Death is inevitable and therefore the preparation for it is indispensibly necessary the very Heathens wondred not to see Bodies composed of earthly materials dissolve into dust and ashes What man is he that liveth and shall not see death Ps 89 48 There is an Erotesis in the words a Figure peculiar to the Idioms of the Hebr. and Greek Tongues we frequently meet with it in the Scriptures as in Isaiah 58.3 Who can declare his Generation i. e None can Heb. 1.13 because he is eternal Again To which of the Angels said he at any time thou art my Son c. i. e. He never said so to any of them So in these words of the Psalmist the interrogation bears the force of a positive affirmation There is no man living shall escape death Job 3.13 14 15. for it is the end of all men Of Kings and Counsellors of the Earth of Princes and great Warriors of Oppressors and Prisoners of Captives and mean Persons of Masters and Servants of Small and Great all go to the place of Silence where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary be at rest 17 v. Your Fathers that have been in all Ages before you where are they Zech. 1.5 and the Prophets that Preached to you and warned you of your danger do they live for ever These are all laid down in the dust and we must all follow in our order i. e. Heb. 9.27 It is appointed unto men once to dye none shall escape the irreversible decree save those that shall be found alive at the coming of Christ 1 Cor. 15.51 52. Behold I shew you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last Trump for the Trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed which change shall be either by their dying for a short time and then reviving again as the Sleep there mentioned seems to imply or else by the mighty power of God their natural and corruptible bodies shall be changed into spiritual and incorruptible bodies which change shall be equivalent to death but all other persons shall see death and undergo the common fate of all mankind Neither Achitophel's Policy nor David's Piety nor Solomon's Wisdom nor John Baptist's Zeal for God nor Tertullus his Silver Tongue nor Aristotle's Philosophy nor Demosthenes his Oratory nor Bathsheba's Beauty nor Sampson's Strength nor Orpheus his Harp could charm Death nor prevent its all-subduing Conquests Death knocks at the Palaces of Princes as well as poor mens Cottages What is become of all the Egyptian the Persian the Grecian and the Roman Monarchs the Renowned Cesars Julius and Augustus celebrated in History for War and Peace Where are the Egyptian Ptolomies the Syrian Antiochus's the Theban Labacides's the famous Constantines the pious Theodosiis's and all those Religious and Valiant Kings that have filled the Brittish Throne and awfully sway'd the Scepter of this Kingdom in their several Ages from William the Conquetor to William our glorious Deliverer all that remains of them is an imperfect Historical account of all their Vertues and Heroick Acts recorded in our English Annals What is become of those wise and experienced Generals Joshua Othniel Ehud Barak Gideon c. Achilles Hannibal c. whose noble Exploits we read of in the Book of Judges in Josephus's History and in Plutarch's Lives they have all been conquered by the King of Terrors Where are now the Seven Angels of the Asiatick Churches the Bishops of Ephesus Smyrna Pergamos Thyatira Sardis c. where Christianity was once in its zenith and flourished most gloriously What is become of those extraordinary Lights of the African Churches Panaenus Clemens Alex Origen c. incomparably furnished with divine and human learning as also the rest of the Fathers of the Greek and Latin Churches Irenaeus Tertul. Chrys August Jerom. and multitudes more who enlightned the World with the knowledge of divine things and shined as lights in their lives and conversations These
our selves ready to meet him in these words For in such an hour as you think not the Son of Man cometh wherein we may observe three things to hasten and invigorate our preparations 1 The designation of the person to whom the administration of the last Judgment is committed the Son of Man 2 The certainty of his coming he cometh 3 The assignation of the time when he will come in such an hour as you think not These three things being duely considered wil make us very zealous in our preparations for the coming of Christ i. The designation of the Person to whom the administration of the last Judgment is committed is a very proper motive to quicken us in this important work The Son of Man who is no other then the Lord of Glory who in obedience to his Fathers will and an ardent desire of our happiness was pleased to take upon him our nature and to be born of a pure Virgin Joseph being his reputed Father in whose Womb and of whose substance he was conceived by the Holy Ghost and by a real and proper parturition was born into the world in the fulness of time Gal. 4.4 and at the very season which God had appointed for the redemption of Men in respect whereof he stiles himself The Son of Man The original power of Judgment doth certainly belong to God who hath an absolute sovereignty over his Creatures he as grand Lord of all the world hath intrusted us with various gifts and talents an improvement whereof he will require from us and exact an account of our obedience But such is the brightness and glory of his Majesty Exod. 33.20 that we poor mortals are unable to behold him If he should display the Beams of his glory to us we should certainly be astonished and overwhelmed with his dreadful presence It hath therefore pleased him to constitute the Son of Man to execute that last and grand trust of his Mediatory Office because he is capable by reason of his human nature which he assumed from his Mother of being visible to an eye of flesh The father judgeth no man Joh. 5.22 27. but hath committed all judgment unto the Son and hath given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man This Doctrine of his second coming our Saviour before his ascension into Heaven gave in strict charge to his Apostles principally and publickly to preach unto the People Acts 10.42 That it was he which was ordained of God to be judg of the quick and dead To him the Father delegated his power and commissioned him to be his Agent in performing this great work ch 17.31 He hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world with righteousness by a man Dan. 7.13 14. that peculiar man mentioned in Daniel's Vision whom he hath ordained and confirmed under the broad Seal of Heaven John 6.27 to judg the world The Lord himself shall descend from heaven the Mediator between God and Man shall come in his own person and not by a representative every eye shall see him tho to agrandize his Advent all the holy Angels shall attend him 2 Thes 1.7 8. He shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire to take vengeance of them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Now if the Judg be appointed and that the Son of Man is the person to whom the office of executing judgment is consigned that the Divine Goodness hath committed it into his hands who hath taken upon him our nature hath born our griefs hath felt our infirmities and undergon those chastisements by which our peace of reconciliation with God our salvation and happiness were purchased and effected The consideration hereof should deeply engage us to make our selves ready to meet our Sovereign Lord For what can we wish more in our own favour than this that he shall be our Judg who hath been touched with a fellow feeling of our miseries and can have compassion of our infirmities For his coming we should be always ready because none but such as are in a prepared state shall pertake of the joys which God hath laid up for those that love him ii It is certain that the Son of Man will come he is about it upon the point of coming As for those persons that have the impudence and impiety to redicule and deride this fundamental Article of our Christian Faith they are generally such as deny the Being and Providence of God the immortality of the Soul and future rewards and punishments Men of Atheistical principles and dissolute lives whose interest it is that this Doctrine should not be true because it lays a great restraint upon their Lusts and fills them with fears and terrors and dreadful expectation of fiery wrath and indignation which shall be their portion if in the end they should prove mistaken but their judgment is not to be relied upon against the consentient belief of men of all Ages and Nations to the contrary for not only the Greeks and Romans persons among whom Arts and Sciences Learning and Policy have been improved to a considerable degree but also the rude and barbarous people among whom little of Policy or Religion or good Manners are to be met with have been of this perswasion That the Soul is immortal and destined to a future life in joy or misery according to its demerits in this life and that there shall pass future scrutinies after death upon the actions of this life That there are places of rest and pleasure provided for good men Some Paradysical Gardens and Elizian Fields where they shall partake of purer joys and sweeter delights then the finest sensitive pleasures On the other hand that black and dismal Regions are assigned for wicked men ubi fera regnat Erinnys where they shall be tormented by infernal Furies frightful Officers and grim Judges and dreadful punishments such as Ixion and Titius suffered who are said to have a Vulture perpetually gnawing his Vitals But suppose that this sort of men were wiser then all the world besides yet it is a great piece of rudeness and incivility to maintain a Position contrary to the sentiments of all mankind and their deriding the Doctrine of Christs Advent and scurrilously sporting with that which we account an essential principle of the Christian Religion is a clear agument of the truth and verity of it and of the near approach of his coming So St. Peter affirms that there shall come in the last days a little before the Son of Man appeareth Scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying 2 Pet. 3.3 4. where is the promise of his coming for since the Fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the Creation They observed no discernible change or alteration saving that men die and others succeed in their room and so for ought they know may continue for
life This preparation for death in the day of Sickness and Visitation is not to be then neglected 'T is advised by Jesus the Son of Sirac My Son according to thy ability do good to thy self Ecclus 14.11 12 13. and give the Lord his due offering remember that death will not be long in coming and that the Covenant of the Grave is not shewed unto thee Do good to thy friend before thou dye Put not off to thy Will and Testament but according to thy ability stretch out thy hand and give unto the Poor Thus in the day of health it is most convenient to dispatch this work but in the day of Visitation and the approaches of Death Ecclus 33.23 't is an indispensible duty not to be neglected At the time when thou shalt end thy days and finish thy work distribute thine Inheritance Gen. 48.22 ch 49. 1 K. 2.1 2 3 4 So did Jacob in that prophetical Testament of his And David also when his days drew nigh that he should die he disposed of his Kingdom to his Son Solomon and charged him saying I go the way of all the Earth i. e. I die be thou strong and shew thy self a man of Wisdom Courage and Constancy and keep the charge of the Lord thy God to walk in his ways and to keep his Statutes c. that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest and whithersoever thou turnest thy self that the Lord may confirm his word which he spake concerning me saying If thy Children take heed to their ways to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul There shall not fail thee a man on the Throne of Israel Verse 13. And when David had finished his charge he slept with his Fathers and was buried in the City of David And after him this was expresly commanded by God himself to the good King Hezekiah as a preparation for death In those days was he sick unto death 2 Kings 20.1 and the Prophet Esay said unto him Thus saith the Lord Set thine house in order for thou shalt die and not live i. e Make thy Will and settle the Concerns both of thy Family and thy Kingdom to prevent all Contentions and Quarrels after thy decease for thy Disease is mortal in its kind if God do not by his power prevent it therefore dispose of thy temporal Affairs and as for the spiritual Estate of thy Family imitate the example of David and Abraham advise instruct Gen. 18.19 exhort and admonish them to keep the way of the Lord and to do Justice and Judgment There are some Divines who give this relation of our Lord and Saviour's last Will and Testament that upon the Cross a little before he gave up the Ghost he bequeathed his Soul into the hands of his Father his holy Mother to his beloved Disciple St. John his Body to Joseph of Arimathea Paradise to the penitent Thief that was to die with him and to his Crucifiers his heartiest Prayers and Intercessions Rom. 15.4 Now these things were written for our learning and instruction to teach us to imitate them and to prevent the ill consequences of intestate Estates to settle our minds at ease and free from disturbance and to put our Souls into a prepared frame and disposition for our departure Thus by discharging a good Conscience we may be ready to meet our Lord and freely depart in peace 2. This readiness doth consist in moderating our love 〈◊〉 affection to◠this World and not overvaluing any earthly comfort We serve a very liberal and bountiful Master 1 Tim. 6 17. Who gives us richly all things to enjoy and with holdeth no good thing from us but that which would be a temptation and a snare unto us only he hath not allowed us to set our affections upon this world nor any of the enjoyments of it for this is not our place of rest and abode Whilst we are at home in the body 2 Cor. 5.6 we are absent from the Lord may better be rendred Whilst we converse or sojourn in the body So long as we tabernacle in the flesh we are but like the Israelites in the Wilderness Strangers and Sojourners passing to the Heavenly Canaan detained from the blessed Vision and Fruition of God Heb. 13.14 and the possession of that happiness which makes Heaven Here we have no continuing City no settled abiding place This notion the wiser Heathens had of this present World who looked upon it as an Inn not as their home Nature having designed it to us as a Diversory to lodge Commorandi enim natura diversorum nobis non habitandi locum dedit but not to dwell in For it is not a fit place for us nor can our stay in it be very desirable because it is fleeting and vanishing full of vanity and vexation all its splendor and glory depends meerly upon our fancy Our Historians tell us that the Peruvian Mines of Gold and Silver their precious Stones and Pearls were of such low and mean esteem with those barbarous Indians that they preferred our trifling Bawbles before them and made that their valuable Treasure which we make little or no account of In the Reign of the Great and Wise Solomon Silver which is now the adored Idol of the World and for which men venture not only their dearest lives but even pawn their precious Souls to obtain was not at all regarded 2 Chron. 9.20 it was not any thing accounted of it was but as Stones in his days This glorious Prince surpassed all the Kings of the Earth in Riches 1 Kings 4.22 23 26. and Wisdom He had the greatest flow and confluence of this World His Provisions for one day were 30 measures of fine flower 10 fat Oxen and 20 Oxen out of the Pastures besides Harts and Roe Bucks and Fallow Deer and fatted Fowl he had 40000 Stalls of Horses for Chariots and 1200 Horsemen for the Guard and preservation of his Person for the defence of his people and for the grandeur of his Government The yearly income of his Traffick be-besides that which Merchants imported and the Kings of Arabia brought to him was six hundred and threescore and six Talents of Gold 2 Chron. 9.13 many of his Shields and Targets and all his Drinking Vessels were of pure Gold He resolved to gratify himself with delicious Meats and pleasant Wines and if it were possible for him to arrive at satisfaction in this mortal state he made magnificent Works for delight Eccles 2.3 4 5 7 8. and erected stately Houses and planted Vineyards and made Gardens of pleasure and planted Orchards and Trees in them of all kind of Fruits for profit he gathered himself Gold and Silver vast Riches and the peculiar Treasures of Kings and of the Provinces i. e. the most valuable Jewels and Rarities both of other Princes and of his own Dominions he gat him Men singers and Women-singers
of God the extraordinary example of so innocent and eminent a Person ought to be regarded by us and engage us to comply with duties of this Nature His whole Life was one continual exercise of meekness and patience and that we might not be discouraged from doing our duty and faint in our mind the Apostle directs us to consider him that endured the contradiction of sinners i.e. of the Instruments and Abettors of his miseries who reviled his person slandered his Doctrine and blasphemed his Miracles yet he did obediently submit himself to the will of God patiently endured what was his Fathers good pleasure to impose upon him and did mildly bear the injuries and reproaches of his Enemies without any inward fretting or vexing his Spirit without any immoderate anger hatred or revenge towards them And all this to leave us an Example that we should follow his steps as in all other Graces so especially in this of patience which is the best remedy to ease us under our burthens and to deliver us from them for they cannot be very injurious to us if we calmly and mildly bear them Horace Levius fit patientiâ quicquid corrigere est nefas This carried the noble Army of Martyrs through their bitter sufferings without discovering the least sign of impatience and enabled them to bear the calamities and miseries of this Life while they waited for the rewards and felicities of another World for if God in his Providence is pleased to order us our Portion of troubles here his design herein is to exercise our Graces to wean us from the World to prepare us for Death Luk. 21.19 Rom. 12.12 2 Tim. 2.3 Chap. 4.5 and fit us for Heaven therefore we should possess our Souls in patience be patient in Tribulation endure Afflictions as good Soldiers of Jesus Christ and endure unto the end for he that bears troubles patiently is well prepared to die peaceably and to meet his Soveraign Lord and Judge comfortably I conclude this point with St. Peters Counsel Beloved think it not strange concerning the fiery Tryal 1 Pet. 4.12.13 which is sent by God for the tryal and exercise of your Grace but rejoyce in as much as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings and made conformable to him your head that when his Glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy 7 A brisk and lively apprehension of God's all seeing Eye upon and inspection over us in all our ways will conduce much to the fitting us for our great change It was Seneca's Advice to Lucilius whatsoever he was doing to imagine that Cato or Scipio or Loelius or some of the Roman worthies did behold him and then he would do nothing dishonouraable Epist Do all things said he as if another looked on it is undoubtedly very profitable to have a Guard over a Mans self and to conceive that some vertuous and excellent person whom we have an high esteem and reverence for is a spectator of our actions and hath an insight into our very Thoughts such an apprehension as this would be a great awe upon us to speak and act wisely and worthily Moses his person and presence was very awful to the Aegyptians Ahab stood in fear of Elias Joash was good as long as Jehojada lived John the Baptist's piety sanctity and graces commanded regard and reverence from Herod Mark 6.20 He feared John as knowing that he was a good man and a holy and observed him i. e. behaved himself reverently in his presence and studied to please him in his demeanor and respectful carriage was careful to avoid all occasions of his discontent and was very much delighted with his preaching Heard him gladly and did many things in obedience and conformity to his Doctrine both in his private conversation abstaining from several sins and impieties and in his administration of publick Government enacting several good Laws for the regular ordering of his Kingdom and the reforming of abuses and for correcting and restraining of several Vices and Immoralities And St. John the Apostle by his gravity presence and ghostly advice and counsel wrought so effectually upon a common Thief and Cut-throat that he laid down his weapons of hostility trembled and wept bitterly Euseb Eccl. Hist and in the words of my Author was re-baptized in his own tears and becomes a Convert a publick Minister of the Church of God and an Instrument of much good Now if the presence of a vertuous person whom we venerate hath so great an influence upon mens practice certainly the belief of Gods observing Eye upon us will be of greater force to make us stand in awe and sin not Now that he is thus present with us we are Infidels if we believe it not because it is confirmed to us by plentiful testimonies The Scripture assures us That his Eyes are upon all our ways Ps 4.4 they are not hid from his face neither is our iniquity hid from his eyes That no man can hide himself in secret places that he shall not see him Some indeed have flattered themselves with the hopes of secrecy and impunity As particularly the Adulterer Jer. 16.17 Chap. 23.24 Who saith in his heart no eye seeth me Ecclus. 6.23 I am compassed about with darkness the walls cover me 18.19 and no body seeth me what need I to fear the most high will not remember my sin such a man only feareth the eyes of men Job 24.15 The eye of the Adulterer waiteth for the twilight saying no eye shall see me No common eye of men shall take notice of me being under a cover of darkness No eye of the Magistrate who is a Minister of Justice to punish evil doers No not the eye of God himself shall see me But He knoweth not that the Eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter then the Sun beholding all the ways of men and considering the most secret parts Pro. 5.21 Job 31.4 All the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord and he pondreth all his goings he seeth all our ways and counteth all our steps the very secrets of our heart are not hid from him much less our secret actions every thing that we do be it never so retiredly Heb. 4.13 is naked and open to his eyes which pierce to the very marrow of our bones and penetrate to the bottom of our intrails and clearly and fully discern our secret atheism and unbelief our hypocrisie and dissimulation our affections inclinations and the bent of our Natures The beauty and comliness the defects and blemishes of a naked body are not more plain and visible to an accurate observer neither were the interior parts of Beasts offered in Sacrifice when they are excoriated imbowelled and divided per spinam Dorsi more obvious to the heathen Magicians whose duty it was to observe the colour shape defects and other circumstances whereby they might know how to order their Divinations