unclean persons who have frequented the House of the strange Woman have found that her House inclineth Prov. 2. 18. to death and her path unto the Dead Ah wretched men sottish sinners What do they do but violently break the thred of Life When it might have been spun out to a further length by sinning against God they murder their Bodies as well as damn their Souls send one to the Grave and the other to Hell before the time Infinite folly But yet the most holy and righteous have the seeds of corruption in them and are mortal as the Garment breeds the Moth which frets it So we the Diseases which sooner or later will send us to our long home The righteous Eccles 12. 5 are subject to the same sicknesses and diseases as others are to burning Feavers pining Consumptions and to Old Age which is attended with 100 and 100 infirmities and is of all diseases the most incurable Life is a Candle which if no Stormy and ill-natur'd Winds blow out when it is burnt down into the socket will go out of its self a thred which if no scorching Feaver burn time will wear and old age will fret asunder This body tho' there be an Holy Soul inhabiting in it is such an house that if it be not pulled will tumble down of it self Tho' Wisdom hath length of days in her right hand Prov. 3. 16 many of her Children go to Bed late yet an immortality here is not in her power to confer upon any they may hope for it in another World but they cannot have it in this this is a priviledge peculiarly belonging to the future State Now righteous men undergo Death upon a double account 1. As the fruit and consequent of sin Immortality was the priviledge of Innocent Death is become the punishment of faln man If we search the Sacred Records we may easily find from what and whence to derive Death's Pedigree sin ah cursed evil ushered Death into the World That threatning In the day thou eatest thereof Gen. 2. 17. thou shalt surely dye upon the Apostacy of our first Parents was turned into a standing sentence involving them and their whole Posterity for by one man sin Rom. 5. 12. entred into the World and death by sin and so death passed upon all men in that all have sinned Death is not owing to an irresistible Fate to the weakness of our primary constitution but to Sin as the deserving cause it was sin set Death upon its Pale Horse and nothing now can dismount him as the Tree brings forth fruit as the seed sown brings forth Corn so sin when Isa 1. 17. it is finished brings forth death Sin open'd the Door and then Mortal Sicknesses Deadly Distempers Killing Diseases and Death it self entered in Sin draws Death after it as the Needle doth the Thred and attends on it as the Shadow doth upon the Body Could all Graves be open'd could we stand in some convenient place and at one view behold the many thousands Death hath captivated and slain could we see all the Carkasses that have dropt into and are now rotting in dust we might say Lo all these were first the spoils of sin and then the Trophies and Triumphs of Death This is the account Scripture gives of Deaths Universal Empire Sin cursed Sin oh what Fools are we to be fond of it oh what infinite and unaccountable madness is it to lay and hug that hissing Serpent in our Bosoms which will sting us to Death is the cause of all those Funerals which have been are or shall be in the World Now tho' the Righteous are renew'd and sanctified they are so but in part they have sin in them the meritorious and deserving Cause of Death and therefore that Sentence that carries Death in it DUST thou art and to Gen. 3. 19. DUST THOU SHALT RETURN must be executed even upon them Tho' they are pardon'd yet their Pardon runs with an exception of Death 'T is true for Christ's sake upon the score of that painful shameful death he in their place and stead underwent upon the Cross the SECOND Death which is Death with an Emphasis shall have no power over them but notwithstanding all he hath done and suffered because they are sinners the FIRST must and will How far death to good men is a penal evil and yet retains the nature of a punishment I shall not in this wrangling age offend any by attempting to determine It may suffice that sin brought death into the World and furnished it with those Weapons wherewith it wounds and kills all If any say since the death of Christ and the effusion of his blood upon the Cross Death is rather an advantage to his followers I grant and thanks be to God it is so but may not death be the Wages of sin tho' a good and kind God makes it the path to Heaven and this leads me 2. To consider the death of the righteous as a Means of their deliverance from sin and the appointed way to the glorious Mansions which are above 'T is true God could make us perfectly holy take away the life and destroy the very being of sin the first moment of our conversion when we have done his will served the purposes of his Grace and attain'd the end of our being born by an happy pleasant and easie translation he could take us up Body and Soul to Heaven but he hath otherwise determin'd and made Death necessary in order to both According to the Divine Constitution they must first dye and then be perfectly holy and finally happy Do you ask why the righteous die why that sin might be destroyed as Sin brought Death into the World so Death shall excellent contrivance of Infinite Wisdom for ever abolish Sin tho' death had its sting strength power nay its very being from sin yet it proves by the ordination of God the destruction of it Those Arrows of Death which kill the Christian strike thro' the very Heart of his Sins and Lusts and they both die together A Saint puts off the Garments of Mortality and his filthy Raiment at once the sin that was born with them and lived with them and accompany them from place to place in their last moments takes leave of them for ever The Christian dies that Sin may do so too To this more will be said hereafter Moreover the Righteous here are Strangers and Pilgrims this is their Character and it is expressive of their Frame and Temper While they live they are in a strange place among a strange People and at a distance from their own Oh! How do they wish long pant desire and groan to be elswhere They are born from Heaven belong to it and wish to be there They are Citizens of the new Jerusalem in it are Mansions designed purchas'd prepared and standing empty for them but they must dip there feet in the cold fatal stream that runs beween this World
Righteous as interested in the perfect Righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ Christs Righteousness was not only for himself but for his members though this be inherent in the Person of the Mediator yet we have as much benefit by it as if it were Subjectively in us The Sufferings and Death of Christ were not for his own Sin but ours He was made Sin 2 Cor. 5. 21 for us i. e. our Propitiatory Sacrifice and We are made the righteousness of God in him we have the fruit of his bitter sufferings and cruel death He fulfilled the Law satisfied Justice and paid our Debt and for his sake God looks upon and deals with believers as righteous persons As the disobedience of the first Adam makes us Sinners so the perfect and sinless obedience of Christ the second makes us Righteous As our sins were laid upon Christ in order to his bearing the punishment so his righteousness by a gracious and favourable act of God our Supream Judge is made ours in order to justification Our own righteousness is both a filthy and ragged garment through this God our final Judge will spy the deformity and nakedness of our Souls and Christ our Elder Brother infinite grace covereth us with the unspotted robe of his own Christ took our sins and gives us his righteousness blessed Exchange From Adam our natural Root and Father we derive Guilt Weakness and Death from Christ our Spiritual Head we have Righteousness Strength and Life Isa 45. 24. and therefore he is stiled THE LORD Jer. 23. 6. OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS This is the only Righteousness we must make mention of when judged according to the Law given to Adam in innocency A Penitent and believing Sinner that receiveth Christ Jesus the Lord is for Christs sake esteemed reckoned accounted and dealt with as a righteous Person Though this righteousness be of a peculiar consideration and cannot be thought to be meant in all those places where this word righteous occurreth yet it is absolutely necessary for Christ and what he hath suffered and done is the Spring Cause and Foundation of our hope The immediate and doleful consequent of being without Christ is to be Eph. 2. 12. without hope in the World This fruit grows no where but upon Christs Cross it is his Death that made Heaven possible to a fallen and Apostate creature and it is the sprinkling of this Blood that revives our languishing withering and dying Hopes Oh! Blessed are they who having no righteousness or at least but a maim'd defective and imperfect one of their own are interested in the Righteousness of Christ in the Righteousness of God! III. A man is Righteous and may be denominated so from that personal Evangelical righteousness that is inherent in himself We must not only be interested in the Righteousness of another without us but have one that is really subjected in our selves Or which is all one we must not only have Righteousness imputed but Holiness imparted Christ doth not only cover our running sores and ulcers but undertakes as our Physitian to cure them All Righteousness as hath been already hinted consists in a relation to some Law and that we might truly State what this Evangelical Righteousness is that hath so great a Privilege entail'd upon it as this in the Text I hope none will be offended if we distinguish as we find the Apostle Paul doth of the Law of Works and the Rom. 3. 25. Law of Faith the one framed to the State of an Innocent the other adapted to the condition of an Apostate Creature According to this latter it is that those who have once been Sinners may be made and denominated Righteous That part of the Gospel revelation which contains and discovers our Duty what we are to be and do in order to our Blessedness being as to the matter of it the whole Moral Law before appertaining to the Covenant of Works attempered to the State of fallen Sinners by Evangelical mitigations and indulgence by the Super-added Precepts of Repentance and Faith in a Mediator with all the other duties respecting the Mediator as such and cloathed with a new form as it is now taken into the Mr. How 's Blessedness of the Righteous p. 26. constitution of the Covenant of Grace is the rule of this righteousness He that solemnly repents of his wretched Apostacy from God and all the sins that have followed thereupon he that is united to Christ by Faith and yields sincere though imperfect obedience from an active and living principle within he that is renewed and changed turned from the love of sin in his heart and the practice of it in his Life he that hath solemnly and deliberately sincerely and unfeignedly covenanted with God and dedicated himself to the Sacred and Glorious Trinity Father Son and Spirit and lives suitably to such a devoted State He that is born of God bears his Image lives in communion with and walks in conformity to him is righteous Though his bloody issue may not be wholy dried up though there be indwelling sin in the heart and some sins and falls in the Life though no grace be perfect as to degree yet if there be SINCERITY and UPRIGHTNESS Oh! look after that he is a righteous man The Law calls for perfection but the Gospel Oh! thanks be to God we are under such a merciful favourable and gentle dispensation accepts sincerity This righteousness is not meer morality a being just and honest in our dealings this is the righteousness of an Heathen It is not an external observation of the Letter of the Law this is the righteousness of a Pharisee and ours must exceed his or we cannot Enter into the Kingdom Mat. 5. 30. of Heaven It is not a single act but a stated temper it is not an obedience that Proceeds from rotten but what flows from sincere and gracious Principles denominates a man Righteous A wicked man may do some acts of Devotion and Piety Charity and Justice Sobriety and Temporence but because the setled bent and inclination of his will is another way he is not righteous And though a good man may be guilty of some Errors and miscarriages in his Life yet while this living Principle remains and is not extinct we may and if we will speak in the Language of the Gospel we must call him a righteous Man This Righteousness is nothing but a transcript of the blessed Gospel a conformity in the inward and outward man in spirit and practice to the Divine Revelation made by Jesus Christ A renewed and vital principle in the heart exerting its self in suitable deportments to God and man In summ Repentance from dead Works and new Obedience impregnated by Faith and Love are the two essentiating and constitutive parts of this Gospel Righteousness For the establishing of this notion it is not necessary to insist on any laborious Proof when a great part of the Bible speaks to this purpose Hear once
dear Relations in their sickness I have seen them sick weak and full of pain I have seen their cold sweats their mortal tremblings and heard their last and dying groans and now it 's my turn to be sick and my time to die Die how hard and difficult a work is this of what great concern and everlasting importance Die who does or can know what it imports but those who are dead and gone I thought it hard to see my Friend my Father my Mother dye but shall I not find it more difficult now I am to dye my self the Messenger of Death has laid hold on me I believe this sickness will be my last I have no hope of recovery I have been sick and God hath recover'd me at the Mouth of the Grave and God hath brought me back I have gone from my Sick-bed and Chamber to my Shop and Trade but now I verily believe I shall do so no more my Sun is setting my Glass is run there are but a few remaining Sands the Grave with open mouth is waiting for me and in a little time I shall drop into it Most Holy Lord assist me now and leave me not through thy Grace I have lived help me Lord help me now to dye as a Christian in these hours and moments prepare me more and better for my last I have lived Rom. 14. 8. Rev. 14. 13. to oh that now I might die in the Lord and fall asleep in Jesus Preparation for Death Judgment and an Eternal World thanks be to God I have not neglected I did not in health adjourn this work to a time of sickness in order to this I have made many a Prayer shed many a Tear abstain'd from sin and crucified the Flesh I spent much of my time in trying my self searching my Heart and examining my State in repenting of and amending what I found amiss I was convinc'd a few death-bed Tears and languishing Prayers extorted by fears of Death and Hell would not make amends or be a sufficient compensation for the sins of a wicked Life and therefore through the Grace of God assisting me I made it the business of my Life to prepare to dye But something more is to be done that I may glorify God in my Death and be for ever happy after it what remains and is now to be done in this my last sickness instruct me Lord and help me to do it I now stand at the Mouth of the Grave upon the Threshold of Time and at the Door of Eternity Lord increase strengthen and quicken all those Graces which are proper to be acted in a time of sickness and on a death-bed Oh! that now I am a sick oh that now I am a dying man my Faith Love and Hope my Repentance Humiliation and Sorrow my desires and breathings after God my joy and delight in him may be more lively and active than ever oh that this last work of my Life may be done best my sick bed joys may be the greatest and my dying comforts most abundant through these painful hours and days this dark and narrow gloomy and frightful passage guide direct and lead me Lord The exercise of some graces the performance of some duties are peculiarly seasonable in a time of health and life and others are so in Sickness and at Death Thou hast helpt me to live and now Lord help me to die If I have made any preparation for such a time and hour as this If I have done any of the work of my Life and conversed in this World as an expectant of a better if I have any grace and at any time have been able to act it if my love has been 〈◊〉 my zeal flaming my heart softned â—umbled broken and melted and mine eyes a fountain of tears to bewail the slips and falls I have been guilty of if I have delighted in God through Christ as my reconciled Father Portion Happiness and End if I have exercised self-denyal in keeping under the flesh restraining its appetites and denying its cravings in contemning the World and slighting those adored vanities which bewitch charm and intangle so many if at any time my hope of Heaven hath been lively my longing panting and breathing after it strong and warm if I have mortified any sin resisted any temptation performed any duty with success so as to profit my self and please God if I have done any thing whereby the glory honour and interest of God and Christ has been advanced if I have imployed improved my talents and gained more if I have brought forth fruit done any work and service in my generation and place Lord it is owing to thee to the assistances of thy grace and the influences of thy Holy Spirit and I desire to acknowledge it is so saying with thy holy Apostle by the grace of God I am what I am Not I but the 1 Co. 15. 10. grace of God which was with me Oh for the same grace and mercy aid and help now I am a sick and dying man Oh that God would help me in these painful days and sorrowful hours to glorifie him yet more by doing the work which is proper to such a time that my present sickness and death may be for the glory of God the honour of Religion the good of my self and others Particularly help me Lord to be truly thankful for all thy mercies for those innumerable favours confer'd on such a worm such a wretch as I am bring them to my remembrance and enable me unseignedly to bless thee help me O my God to exercise a serious solemn and particular repentance for my past sins Let Oh! let this heart of mine be more humble broken and penitent than ever Finally help me Lord with patience and calmness submission and resignation to submit to thy holy will to be willing to die now with faith and hope trust and confidence to commit my Soul to the care of my dear and blessed Jesus And to these ends Lord bless the following meditations to me and let neither my Eye nor Tongue out-run or leave my Heart behind II. God's goodness is to be acknowledged though he afflicts us at present An enumeration of past mercies temporal and Spiritual And solemn thanksgiving for both God is good and doth good freely constantly and unweariedly and I am fully convinced of both My faith and reason prove the former my very sense and long experience the latter And though now I am sick and weak afflicted and pained though I feel the weight of his hand and the smarting of his rod neither Flesh nor Devil shall persuade me to think otherwise Though he afflicts me now yet hath he not done me good all my days and shall not I bless him for his mercies Mercies that are more than I can number greater than I can value and far beyond my deserts Shall the afflictions of a few days the pains of a few hours make me O my Soul forget slight or
a doleful sound does it make in the Ears of those who are yet alive Death the more we muse and meditate upon it the more doth it amaze and scare A short glance a fleeting thought makes poor mortals tremble a fixt and solemn a deep and serious meditation fills with shivering horror Death how do the thoughts and prospect of it damp our Joys spoil our Mirth imbitter our Life and infuse Wormwood and Gall into our sweetest Cup How do the near approaches of it cast us into cold clammy sweats and mortal tremblings How doth every day when we give our selves the liberty of thinking partake of the horror of our last Death what a serious useful and awakening Argument is this and yet how seldom do busie mortals entertain themselves with the thoughts of it Every Corps that is carried along the streets every Coffin and Death's-head we behold every Funeral we attend every Grave that is digg'd with open mouth tells us we must die We may read our own fate on every Tomb-stone Oh! how many and what powerful Preachers have the Living and how many Lectures of Mortality are daily read and yet is there not need that almost every Preacher and every Sermon should mind us of what is sure and near at hand a dying hour Death what a mournful word what a melancholy Theme is this Dead unwelcome message sad news heavy tydings to the surviving Relations is he or she dead What! an old Friend a loving Father a tender Mother dead doleful hour dismal spectacle Dead what do you now see their charming Beauty marr'd their Eyes closed their Teeth set their Countenance chang'd and the Man turn'd into a lifeless breathless Corps Anon you see him nailed up in a narrow scanty Coffin and after a few days when we have fed the sorrow of our hearts with the sight of our eyes we lodge them in a cold and deep dark and silent Grave And must we leave the delight of our hearts the desire of our eyes those whom Nature and Grace made dear to us those whom we loved even as our own Souls among an Army of crawling Worms and among the cold Clods of the Valley Must we see their faces enjoy their company and converse with them no more no more sad thought no more killing word O Death Death what a cruel Enemy art thou to Mankind What dark and gloomy what sad and melancholy thoughts are these especially when Death hath set a pattern of Mortality before our eyes and we are but lately come from the HOUSE of MOURNING upon such an occasion David burst out into tears and spoke in all the figures of a sorrowful Rhetorick O my Son Absalom my Son my Son Absalom â— Sam 11. 33 would God I had died for thee O Absalom my Son my Son These Arrows of Death that kill one wound the many that are left behind and the wound is so deep that many times it proves mortal They only live to weep sigh and groan to bury their dead and then they come home and die too and those that lived are content to die together Life how sweet pleasant and delightful is it Life how amiable and desirable is it with what earnestness and passion is it courted by most how willing are poor Mortals to tear out their Bowels with Vomits to punish the flesh with fasting and abstinence and tie themselves up to the tedious and troublesom prescriptions of Physitians how willing are they to take the bitter Potion they loath and how patient under the cutting of the Lance and teeth of the ragged and torturing Saw how willing are they to lose a dear Member that Life might be preserved Men stick at nothing to preserve this dear thing we call LIFE How chearfully do men die daily that they may not die once for good and all Life how excessively fond are most of it Life gives us the opportunity of enjoying those pleasures that are soft and charming but Death renders us uncapable of any and who almost doth not live in bondage thro' fear of it But tho' there are many great and terrible evils in this one frightful thing DEATH yet thanks be to God we Christians are not left without something to mitigate and allay our sorrow for the death of our godly Friends and holy Relations who are gone the way of all the Earth before us and to fortifie and arm us against a tormenting and slavish fear of our own who in a little time must fall asleep too With a design to help my self and others against both these I have chosen these words to insist on But the Righteous hath hope in his death In handling of this Argument which may contribute very much to the support of living and comfort of dying Saints I intend to proceed in this Method I shall First Open and explain the Character of the person here spoken of and who is to be the Subject of our present discourse Secondly Consider what is here supposed and taken for granted with reference to this Righteous man and that is he must die Thirdly Consider and amplifie the priviledge of such an one as having hope in his death Fourthly Make some practical improvement of the whole in applying all to our selves who are yet alive but must certainly and quickly die First I shall consider and explain the character of the Person who is intended in these words and who hath some priviledge beyond the rest of mankind Here is mention made of a very great benefit and that none might think it promiscuously belongs to all the Holy-Ghost gives us the character of the Person concerned in it the Righteous for opening and explaining the character I have not time neither is it necessary to give an account of the several acceptations of the word it is sufficient to take notice that this word Righteousness which peculiarly qualifies and distinguishes the subject of our discourse is frequently used in a twofold sense First In a more limited and restrained sense and so it is no more than a particular Vertue which inclineth and disposeth a man to give to every one his right When a man doth not by any little tricks or cunning artifices which the Wits of our Age call mysteries of Trade go beyond defraud over-reach or wrong another he is Righteous this is a considerable branch of morality a duty belonging to the Law of Nature and hath its proper place among the duties of the second Table Were this Virtue more common we might deal with our fellow Creatures with more openness and freedom with more plainness and less fear we might trust another without surmise suspicion and jealousie This vertue is famous and renowned and that justly too among Heathens and would God there were more of it in the Christian World Were all men just and upright honest sincere and plain hearted in their commerce as unwilling to impose upon and wrong another as they are loth to be deceiv'd and cheated themselves did
for all what the Apostle saith He that doth 1 Joh. 3. 7. Righteousness is righteous What can be the meaning what can be the import what sence can with any tolerable shew of reason be assigned but what suiteth with our present notion He that doth Righteousness i. e. He that perfectly obeys fulfils the whole Law is righteous Is this the meaning Then God help and pity us where shall we find a righteous man Is it He that doth righteousness that is he that being in a State of grace lives up to the rules of the Gospel is guilty of nothing but what is consistent with sincerity and is continually labouring after perfection is righteos Is this the import and gennine sense of this phrase Then thanks be to God some such are to be found And thus much for the first General the Character of the person here spoken of Secondly We are to consider what is here supposed and taken for granted with reference to this righteous man and that is he must die It may be you may think such an one as I have described should have a Protection be privileged from that which is the common lot of others be wafted over to Heaven from one World to t'other and not see Death be caught up to Paradise and not be put to the pain of dying But it is supposed and taken for granted in the Text that the righteous man must die 'T is true indeed our Lord Jesus the Captain of our Salvation hath perfum'd the grave conquered death and destroyed him that had the power of it He encountered this enemy conquered and triumphed over it and every righteous man shares in that victory and triumph Christ hath destroyed the power chang'd the nature pluckt out the sting of death and disarm'd it of its terrors and the righteous may boldly challenge it and with an exuberant joy triumph over it in the words of the Apostle O Death where 1 Cor. 15. 55. is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory The Sting of Death is Sin and the strength of sin is the Law But thanks be to God v. 57. which giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Thus O happy men may they triumph over death But yet their righteousness cannot shall not deliver them from the stroke of it No no Saints and Sinners Good and Bad the Holy and Prophane the Righteous and the wicked are under the same uncontroulable necessity of dying Though they shall not be damned yet they must die Though they shall not be sent to Hell yet they must go to the Grave Though they shall be saved from that hot fiery furnace yet not from the cold dark and silent Pit Though their Souls shall not become a Prey to Devils yet their Bodies must become a Banquet for Worms Though the Soul shall not be rackt and tortured in the dismal Regions below yet the flesh must see Corruption Though they have Mansions in Heaven yet Sickness will shake shake Alas Death will pull down the Walls and tear up the very Foundations of their Earthly Tabernacle Though they shall go to Heaven yet death will carry them thither in its cold Arms. Because Christ who is their Head and Husband Lives they shall Live also Live Where Joh. 14. 19 shall they live In Yonder glorious Heavens in Yonder blessed abodes in Mansions of light far above Yonder shining Sun there there it is these righteous ones shall live But alas They must die first Death hath been is and will be the passage to eternal Life And the Grave is in our way to Heaven As Death spares none for their tenderness and Beauty honours none for their wealth and grandure fears none for their strength and power reverences none for their Grey Hairs and Hoary Heads reprieves none for their flowing tears and passionate entreaties So neither will it pass by any for their Piety Religion and Righteousness With death there is no respect of Persons all must become a sacrifice to and lye Wounded Bleeding and Slain at the foot of it Holy Job cries I know thou wilt bring me to Death and to Job 30. 23. the House appointed for all the Living And David I go the way of all the Earth This 1 King 2. â— is among the Decretals of Heaven For Heb. 9. 27. it is appointed for men once to die Righteousness is no Armour against the arrows of Death No they will strike through and through and stick in our Hearts What is become of the holy Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles of our Lord Jesus Where are they Where Dead and Gone Where are they Their Souls are praising God in Heaven and their bodies sleeping in the dust of the Earth Your holy ancestors and progenitors that were the friends of God where are they Where Alass They are dead and gone and their Sepulchers are with us to this day Aâ—t 2. 19. they served the Will of God in their Generation and then died and after the experience of many Ages may we not ask and easily answer that Question of the Psalmist What man is he that liveth and Psa 39. 48. shall not see death Had we the meekness of Moses the Faith of Abraham the Integrity of Caleb the Patience of Job the Piety of David the Wisdom of Solomon yet we must die for lo these Men of God are gone before us for how many Ages have these righteous ones been sleeping in the bosom of the Earth our first and common Mother When we read in the Sacred History of the Holy Lives eminent Graces of Gods dear Saints how useful and serviceable they were in their time and place where and how long they lived do not we find and then he 〈◊〉 5. â— died concludes the History and makes up the Period Oh! how vast are the Dominions how extensive is the Empire of the King of Terrors In the Sacred Story we read but of two only viz. Enoch and Elias who by an especial grant and priviledge were exempted from this Law of Death they went immediately from Earth to Heaven when all others except those who shall be found alive at the end of the World must take the Grave in their way they were like living plants transplanted to the Heavenly Soil when our Bodies like Corn that is Sown must first rot and dye and then spring up again Death as things now stand is a debt that we all owe to Nature and will not be remitted no not to the Friends of God themselves The Saints are originally out of the same dust they as well as others dwell in Houses of Clay and Earthly Tabernacles and tho' they may be repaired by Food and Physick yet at last they will tumble the Body of a Saint is not made of more lasting Dust and durable Clay than the Body of a Sinner I grant that Sinners may impair their health and weaken nature by gluttony and drunkenness and other acts of intemperance how many
and that before they can get thither Faith may and very often does give them a refreshing ravishing and transporting prospect of Heaven Oh! How oft after such a view does the Soul flutter in the Christiâ—ans breast clap its wings and would â—in be gone But Death only can wast us over to and give us the possession of it In short Gods Children die that they may go home I might further add there seems some necessity of dying upon the account of the Body What should this terrene dull and heavy Body do in Heaven How unsuitable is it as it is now to that Place and State to that Company and Work and to be the Instrument of a glorified Soul It must undergo a change that it may be capacitated for this We must be Vncloathed of this Earthly that we may 1 Cor. 5. 4. Be cloathed upon with a Spiritual Body And we must die that Mortality may be swallowed up of Life These Old Houses that are ever and anon tottering and shaking must be pulled down by the hands of Death that we may have new and better This Body must be sown in the dust that it may Spring up more Beautiful Fresh and Comely our Bodies like foul Waters by running through the Earth are Purged and Purified God will not put his New Wine into these Old Mat. 9. 17. Bottles And indeed if he should they would quickly burst and therefore he suffers Death to break that he might have an opportunity to new make them It is to no purpose to say that God can make what alteration and change he pleases and is necessary in the very instant of Translation and what need is there the Body should Die lie in the Grave so long Rot and Putrifie in the Dust For though God can do it in this way he willeth to do it in the other and Who art thou O MAN that thou repliest Rom. 9. 20. against God Upon these accounts Death seemeth necessary to Good Men And that we might not live in continual Fear in Slavish Bondage and a perpetual Torment because of this necessity I now proceed Thirdly To consider what and how great the Priviledge of the Righteous is when he comes to the last Scene of his Life and Death is about to turn him off the Stage We have seen the dark side of the Cloud The Righteous die Let us now turn our Eye and view the bright side The Righteous hath hope in his death Sweet words comfortable thought glorious priviledge with this hope Lord how Psa 23. 4. comfortably may they walk thro' the Valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil You have heard heard You have seen seen Oh how often have you seen that the Righteous die as well as the Wicked that Death preys upon and the Grave swallows up one as well as the other Have you not many and many a time visited them when sickness had lodged them in their Chambers and confin'd them to their Beds Have you not heard their last sobs and groans seen their dying pangs and agonies Have you not clos'd their Eyes laid them in their Cossins and often attended their Funeral followed them to their long Home and lest them in dust and darkness Behold the Righteous die but how dieth the Righteous as the Wicked no verily as they do not live so neither do they die as the Wicked A righteous man may have the same disease be exercised with the same pains and feel the same pangs in a dying hour But upon a spiritual account the difference is vastly wide and great he hath hope in his death Before I distinctly consider what is the Object of this Hope to prevent any mistake it is necessary to premise these two things 1. Every righteous person every man that falls within the already-mentioned Character i. e. every sincere and upright Christian hath ground of hope in his death This does not only belong to some special favourites but is common to all who have God for their Father The Promises which are the foundation of a Christian Hope are not made only to Apostles and eminent Saints to men of renown in the Church but they belong to nay are the Birth-right of even those who are but Babes in Christ All that are born again tho' all are not of the same growth stature and strength are Children Rom 8. 17. and therefore Heirs They have right Col. 1. 12. to and may live and die in hope of the Inheritance of the Saints in light Heaven is sure to them by the Promise of the Father the Purchase of the Son and the In-dwelling of the Holy Spirit who is the Earnest and Pledge of it And the weakest Believer the least of Saints hath ground to hope The Gospel is so ordered the Covenant is so methodiz'd God hath made such ample Provision that every one may have good hope thro' 1 Thes 2. 16 Grace and all that bear this Character are allowed encouraged nay commanded to hope Their hoping is as mighty a pleasure to God as it is a comfort to themselves Hath the blessed Jesus poured out prayers and tears and blood did he groan and die on the Cross that they might have a Mansion above Hath the Holy Spirit in pursuance of the same blessed design been at the pains to renew convert and change them Hath he restor'd them to the image and likeness of God that they might be capable of the enjoyment of him Is he daily forming and attempering their spirits more and more for the heavenly state and employment Hath God the Father in his Eternal Counsels design'd Heaven for them Hath he made them many express and plain Promises of it and can he take it ill they live and die in hope Lord how infinitely unreasonable are we and how do we discourage the Death of the Son the work of the Spirit and the Promises of the Father nay not only naked Promises but Promises repeated over and over seal'd and confirm'd with an Oath by encouraging our doubts and fears all these may and ought to hope May I says many a doubting Christian hope I am but weak in Grace and but a Babe in Christ I have done but little for God and Christ I have but few Talents and them I have not employed and improved as I should and might I was the chiefest of Sinners and now am the least of Saints the very meanest among my spiritual Brethren there are none but love God more and serve him better and bring a greater Revenue of Glory to him than I either do or can or shall while others shine as the Sun in the Firmament of the Church I am but as a poor small and twinkling Star and may I hope to be saved is not Heaven and the happiness thereof too great too glorious a Reward for me Oh! had I the Grace the Faith and Love the Humility and Meekness the Self-denial and Patience the Zeal and Courage c.
we are encompass'd with evil every one hath his share of the bitter Cup though some drink deeper and larger draughts than others But the righteous man when Death comes hath hope of a perfect freedom from those many evils he himself had been strugling and those who survive his Death and Funeral must conflict with He hopes that Death will be the Funeral of all his sorrows and of those evils which were the cause of them Here I will mention some of these evils First He hopes at Death to be delivered from all bodily afflictions and outward sufferings So long as we are here we shall need the corrections of Heavens and must be under the Discipline of our Father's Rod Our good God sees that some afflictions are necessary for us and in the best and fittest season he sends them And by our own sin and wickedness indiscretion and folly obstinacy and peevishness we create many more to our selves What crosses and disappointments what hatred from Enemies and unkindness from Friends what disdain and contempt from Superiours what slander and reproach from Inferiours do we meet withall in this wretched World To how many weaknesses and lingring sicknesses to what acute diseases and corroding pains are we subject insomuch that Life is often loath'd and Death desired every vein and membrane every nerve and fibre every muscle and artery every part and member may be afflicted with pain and be the instrument of our sorrow Oh! what wearisome hours restless days and sleepless nights have the afflicted Whose heart doth not bleed within him to hear them in the morning crying out Would God it Deut. â—8 67. were evening and in the evening disappointed of the rest they expected would God it were morning What is this World but an Hospital where many are sick weak pain'd and dying What is it but a Golgotha a place of Graves dead mens Skulls and Bones Go to the darken'd and silent Chambers of the sick and you may hear one crying out O my head my head another Oh my bowels my bowels and some Oh that God would take away my life Some you may see shivering with Agues and some shaking with Palsies some benumm'd with Lethargies and others rackt with Gout or tortured with the Stone some scorcht with burning Fevers and others delug'd with the waters of a Dropsie some stopt with Phlegm crying out Oh for air and breath and others pining away with Consumptions and many so weakened and bowed down to the Earth with the manifold infirmities of OLD AGE that the Eye is dim the Ear deaf the Hands shake the Legs the Pillars of this Earthly Tabernacle tremble insomuch that a poor Grashopper is too heavy a burden for them See how they are stopt up with Catarrhs and Coughs and have not strength to get rid of that Phlegm which is ready to strangle them These these are the sights oh what a diseased World what a dying Life is this you may see in the Chambers of the sick But besides these evils that are common to men to how many more and greater are we expos'd as Christians as poverty and want disgrace reproach and shame imprisonment and banishment a violent torturing and lingering death upon the account of which a man feels and undergoes the pains of many deaths in one and only lives to be the laughter of his Enemies the sport of Death and a terrour to his Friends But the Righteous man at death hath hope to be delivered from all evil of this kind And his Language on his Death-bed may be to this purpose tho' I was born to trouble and have had my share of it tho' I have long wept sigh'd and groan'd under my own personal afflictions and have been a sorrowful spectator of those calamities which have befaln the publick tho' now I am a sick weak pain'd and languishing man and every part of me is rackt and tortur'd tho' my pulse be weak my breath short my strength wasted and my spirits fail and I am no more able to conflict with my disease it is but dying and I shall be perfectly well Death can and will cure what my Physitian cannot after a few more struglings and mortal pangs all my pains and sorrows will be over after the Agony O my weeping Friends that you will shortly see me in is over I shall feel none of these racking grinding and torturing pains any more for ever Heaven is a healthful place there oh there none are sick or weak but all are perfectly well I cannot be well while I live but when I die I hope I know I shall Lo this is one branch of a Righteous man's hope But have not wicked men this hope too 'T is true they have Death puts an end to the miseries of this Life but Lord what a sorry support is it to go from less to greater from temporal to eternal pains from Friends who are ready to Pity Assist and Comfort to Devils that will Scorn Insult and Triumph over them from a sick and uneasie Bed to a lodging among infernal fiends from the Flames of a Feaver to the more Scorching Burning and Lasting Flames of Hell Good God! What a sad what a wretched Exchange is this 2. He hopes for Deliverance from Sin Good men are already freed from the power and guilt of Sin it hath not Dominion over and it shall not Condemn them But they are not neither can they be freed in this Mortal State from the residence of Sin and remainders of Corruption Sin may be mortified subdued and brought under Glorious conquest but it will not give up the ghost and die till we do tho sin doth not rule and govern the believer as a Lord yet oh how doth it vex torment him as a Tyrant Tho' he hath given the Body of Sin many a Wound and Stab with the Sword of the Eph. 6. 17. Spirit though he hath drag'd it to the Cross of Christ and hath driven nail after nail into it yet he always finds it alive and sometimes very active and strong He finds himself very oft bafled worsted and conquered in some particular conflicts he finds by sad and woful experience that indwelling sin indisposes and unfits him for Spiritual duties damps his Spirit cools his Zeal and abates the fervour of his Soul in the most Heavenly exercises this is a certain truth and what Christian does not find it to be so How oft with tears in his eyes and sorrow in his heart is he forc't to groan forth this sad complaint Wo is me I have a wicked Heart a filthy Nature unruly Thoughts and ungoverned Passions my Flesh is so weak the Spirit so frail Indwelling Corruption so strong and the Snares of the World so many that I often fall I thank God I don't wallow like a Swine in the Mire but I must and do own I too frequently defile my garments I Sin and Repent Repent and Sin there is sin in my Heart and Life Sin in my
sloth and negligence by our omissions of duty or trifling in it by too great a conformity to the World and too easie a compliance with the men fashions and customs of it by listening to Temptations and running upon the occasions of sin by the immoderate use of things lawful or venturing upon what is unlawful really in its self or at least so to us because doubtful how oft by going contrary to the light of our Minds the checks of Conscience the Motions of the Holy Spirit the Directions of the Word and the rebukes of Providence do we even the best of us displease God grieve his Spirit break our peace disquiet our Minds and wound our own Consciences and how soon doth God by frowns and rebukes by withdrawing himself hiding his face denying a sense of his love and suspending in part or in whole the witnessing and comforting presence of his Spirit tell us he is displeas'd and make us sensibly know find and feel he is so are we not hereupon on a sudden left in darkness to be scared with our own melancholy guilty thoughts and the blacker suggestions of Satan the accuser of the Brethren Are we not bowed down greatly and our Souls not only Rev. 12 1â— disquieted but cast down within us Is not the day gloomy the cloud thick the night very dark and does not the poor deserted Soul with warm affection and passionate longing cry out Oh! that I could see him Don't we at such a time mourn and complain and cry out of the sadness of our Case to God and Man Are we not forc't in the bitterness of our Souls and anguish of our Spirits to say Oh! that it were with me as in months past when the Light of Gods Countenance was bright and shining and I convers'd with the Majesty of Heaven as a Man with his friend but it is not wo is me It is not so now oh that it were Lord when shall it be How oft do the Children of Light walk in darkness question their Adoption and Sonship their Covenant-Interest in and Relation unto God! How oft is there a Curtain drawn between Them and Heaven the Face of God Vail'd and the Light of his Countenance Eclips'd How oft does he withdraw and they cannot find wrap himself up in Clouds and Darkness and they cannot see him with what a pained heart grieved Soul with what an accent of sorrow does such an one cry out My God My God 〈◊〉 hast thou forsaken me I was 〈…〉 wonted to have Communion with God in Prayer to see him at a Sacrament I have had that enjoyment of God which 〈◊〉 would not have been without for all the 〈◊〉 Time was the Sabbath was my best day I long'd for the dawning of it and with joy welcom'd the Morning Light 〈◊〉 Ordinances where my delight 〈…〉 has often said how amiable are 〈…〉 〈…〉 O Lord of Hosts My Soul 〈…〉 yea even fainteth for the Courts of 〈…〉 Heart and my Flesh drieth out 〈…〉 God but now O my Soul what a change is this I pray but he giveth 〈…〉 answer I go to his Table with this Wish Let him kiss me with the 〈…〉 kisses of his Mouth but even there month after month I do not see the King's Face if he be my God my Father and Friend why is it thus with me from how many may we hear such bitter complaints as these But the Righteous at Death hath hope of deliverance from these inward spiritual and therefore most afflictive evils and such an â—â—e in the Evening of Life may say after a â—â—â—tle while and I shall no more offend grieve or displease my heavenly Father and he will always look upon me with a smiling Face a favourable Eye and a pleased Countenance I shall noâ— see him as I now do in a Glass 1 Co. 13. 1â— darâ—ly but Face to Face I shall dwell in his Presence stand before his Throne and enjoy his Favour which is better than Life I shall love God and feel that I love him God shall love me and make me know it and tho' I have often questioned both yet then I shall douâ—t of neither I have had many cloudy days disconsolate hours and dark nights many sad thoughts perplexing doubts and tormenting fears as to my spiritual and eternal state O ETERNITY ETERNITY how have the thoughts of it amaz d troubled me and sometimes made me even tremble but in this sickness I am better satisfied than ever now my fears are gone my doubts in great part resolv'd Now Evening is come and it is neither day nor night the light of Gods Countenance â—â—ch 14. 7. shines upon me Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his Psal 103. 1. Holy Name this is but the pledge of those more full and lasting Beams which shall scatter all my Clouds what I now feel is but a little a very little to what I shall Are the shadows of the Evening stretched out upon me Is night coming It is day the light of Gods Countenance makes it day and blessed be God this is but the dawning of that everlasting day which now is near hand and which will perfectly and for ever scatter all my fears Thus the Righteous hath hope in his death of an absolute freedom and final deliverance from these great and almost insuppâ—rtable evils we wretched mortals we who yet dwell in flesh are exposed to he can and he does hope that after a few hours he shall be afflicted pestered with sin buffeted by Satan deserted by God no more for ever tho' he cannot see his Lusts actually giving up the Ghost and dying yet he hopes he and his sins shall dye together tho' Satan may Dog him to the utmost borders of time yet he hopes he shall not follow him into Eternity that tho' some scruples may remain and his afflictions and pains will not be over 'till death hath done its work yet he hopes death will put an end to all Secondly The Righteous hath hope in his Death what hath he then hope of of a Convoy of blessed and holy Angels to secure his passage to the other World Man consists of a Body and Soul when he dies a separation is made the body is left the Soul is gone friends take care of the Body that it may have a decent Burial and truly some respect and honour is due to the Corps to the very dust of them who sleep in Jesus and even after death remain united to him as to this the dying Christian is not much concern'd for he knows his Lord will find it at his coming where-ever it be laid but the Soul being more noble his great care is for that and he hopes Angels will be ready to conduct in to the glorious and eternal Mansions above Holy and confirmed Angels who have as much good nature in them as they have strength and power are very serviceable to us men especially to
and live Oh let me die for then I hope I know I shall I have heard of Christ I have talkt of Christ and blessed be God I have met with Christ in Prayer Sermons and at a Sacrament But now I am going to see this dear and blessed Jesus This this Oh! This is my hope and now O DEATH DEATH I challenge I dare thee to do thy worst Sixthly The Righteous man at Death hath hope of the Resurrection of the Body and of a Body a thousand times more glorious than that which is put off at Death and laid in the Dust The Kesurrection of the dead is a main Article of our Christian Faith and without this Hope we Christians â— Co. 15. 19. should be of all most miserable Christs Resurrrection is the Reason Pattern Proof and Pledge of ours As sure as he is risen so sure is it we shall the Lord will come the Trumpet sound Arise ye dead shall be spoken with that Power Majesty and Authority that all shall obey that Summons the bands of death shall be loosed the doors of the grave opened the dead raised and then shall death be fully conquered and mortality be swallowed up of Life Christ sees where every member of his is laid â— Col. â— 4 watches over their dust and wâ—ll quicken and raise them Put dost thou say with what body shall they rise What body A very glorious body the glory of the latter Iâ—ay 2. â— House shall be greater than the glory of the first That Body which now is like a dull dark clod of Earth shall then shine sparkle and glitter with a brightness like to that of yonder Sun at noonday That Body that now is weak shall then be perfectly well strong and healthful That Body that now is sown in corruption 1 Co. 15. 4â— shall then be raised in incorruption live and die no more for ever The Resurrection is an Article of a Christians Faith and that he in particular shall rise to a blessed Immortality is the object of his hope 'T is true to quicken and raise a dead body a body that for many Ages has been rotting in the grave a body which has been devoured by an Army of Crawling and â—â—ngry Worms a body which has been dissolved into a thousand particles and infinite Atoms of Dust requires an Almighty power but yet notwithstanding the laughter of an Atheistical Sadducee and the little objections which now and then may be mustered up though carnal reason be ready to say how can these things be Yet Joh. 3. 9. he believes and hopes it shall be so Holy Job when the morning was but newly dawn'd had the knowledge and hope of this I know saith he that my Job 19 25. Redeemer â—iveth and that he shall stand at the latter day on the Earth and though after v. 26. my Skin Worms destroy this Body yet in my Flesh shall I see God Whom I shall see v. 27. for my self and mine Eyes shall behold and not another though my reins be consumed within me The Righteous sleep securely in a bed of dust in the bosom of the Earth they are not terrified with Dreams nor scared with any frightful Visions of the night and after a sweet repose and a long sleep a powerful and Almighty Jesus will awake and raise them and give them a Body like to his own most Glorious Body in exchange for that Weak Vile and Contemptible Body Death laid in the grave This is a fundamental Article of our Faith And why should it seem to any a thing incredible Acts 26. 8. that God whose power is unlimited should raise the Dead I go may the dying believer say the way of all Flesh Abraham Isaac and Jacob are gone before me and though I shall return to my House no more yet my dust shall be quickned revived and raised The sound of the last Trumpet the voice of the Arch Angel and the louder and shriller voice of my powerful Saviour will awake me out of my dead sleep I see the shadows of the evening are stretched out and night is coming but I believe and hope the morning will also come and the day of my redemption quickly dawn I fall asleep with hope that when day breaks my Lord will give me a call and bid me rise Though this Flesh of mine must moulder into dust yet it shall be quickned and spring up again at the resurrection of the just My dead Body shall live again those dry Bones of mine which may be tumbled up and down and lookt upon with contempt and scorn shall again be cloathed with Flesh and a Spirit of Life shall enter into me O Death now 's thy time thou wilt conquer and captivate me this Body must be thy Prisoner but my time will come in the morning I and all that sleep in Jesus shall Psal 49. 14. have Dominion over thee After I have lain a while bound and fetter'd in a dark and silent Grave my Lord my Victorious Jesus will rescue me and all the Prisoners of hope Christ is the Resurrection and Joh. 11. 25. the Life and believing in him I shall live methinks with sensible joy I hope I know I shall live tho' I die Lo O my Christian friends this is my hope in a dying hour and thanks be to God it is unshaken Seventhly The Righteous hath hope of a publick Absolution and a sentence of life at the day of the last and general iudgement The Resurrection of the Dead is in order to Judgment Men must leave their Graves to come to the Bar Christ shall sit down on the Judgment-Seat and a Universal Summons being given all the Children of Adam shall be gathered before him for we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ that everâ— one may receive the things done in hiâ—â—ody according â— Cor. 5 10. to that he hath done whether it be good or bad This Judgment will be solemn and awful dreadful and terrible impartial and righteous final and decisive for after a fair trial that sentence shall be past which will determine our everlasting state Then shall the Righteous be own'd and acknowledg'd be acquitted and absolved be sentenc'd and adjudged to Eternal Life in the face of that vast and awful assembly of Angels and Men and when that reviving sentence Well done good and faithful servant enter thou into the joy of thy Lord shall be prononc'd by 〈…〉 Christ with an audible voice a smiling countenance in the hearing of the whole Court Lord what a triumphant and transporting joy will they be filled with methinks I see their chearful looks their smiling Countenances and a pleasant Air in every Face with what a mighty nimbleness and sprightful vigour does the newly restored blood dance along their veins how do the Heavens Eccho with their Acclamation of Joy methinks I hear them saying with a loud and chearful voice AMEN HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH I
shame and at last die in horror and despair Sickness and Death O vain man will shake thy hopes The Sentence of thy Judge and and the Flames of Hell will dash them Hope may accompany thee while thou livest go with thee to the very borders of the Eternal World and then at farthest it will bid farewel to thy amazed and trembling Soul The time will come believe it Sirs the time will come when you shall hope no more no more no more for ever This hope is worse than none for it hinders Mens repentance and all the kindness it does them is first to hood-wink and then damn them How fatal is this hope A wicked man can have no good hope either living or dying and that false hope he maintains and cherishes in health when sickness comes many times takes the wings of the morning and flies away In an hour he must remove out of one World into another but he hath no hope it shall be into a better He bequeaths his body to the dust his Estate and Goods to his surviving friends but he can not Lord what an Agony must the departing Soul be in with confidence commend his Spirit into the hands of Jesus He may hope his Friends will give his body a decent burial but he has no hope alas he has no hope Angels will conduct his Soul to glory Oh Death Death how terrible is it when there is no hope of a better life To awaken such let me add to die without good hope though it be bad is not all For the wicked as it is in the former part of this verse is driven away in his wickedness Sad words miserable ends Prov. 14. 32. Ere long Sinners Death will grasp thee in its cold Arms ere long Pale Death will sit in that face of thine that now is Fair and Ruddy and the seat of a Charming Beauty ere long Death will shackle those feet which brought thee to this assembly shut those eyes which are a window to let in vanity into thy mind stop those ears which have been delighted with filthy and unsavoury discourse ere long Death will drive thee out of the World thou must be confâ—â—ed to a narrow Coffin sleep in a Bed of dust under a coverlet of crawling Worms but this is not all no nor the greatest part of thy misery for thou shalt be driven away in thy wickedness Go out of the World guilty and accompanied with the sins of thy whole Life Death unties the knot and thy Soul is gone gone Whither is it gone Into the invisible World to the illightned Tribunal of a Just Impartial and Inexorable Judge Death sets open the Door and thy immortal Spirit immediately flies away and all thy sins like so many black and frightful Devils hasten and post after Thy Sins O man thy sins mount and ascend as fast as thy Spirit and will be at the Judgment-seat as soon as it Methinks a thought of this should make thine heart ake thy lips quiver rottenness enter into thy bones and force thee to cry out Good God! Whatever becomes of me let me not die in my sins An impenitent sinner goes into Eternity dogg'd by Devils and his own impure Lusts When he dies that hope which with artifice and cunning he maintain'd in his life-time forsakes his wretched and trembling Soul In one instant it is gone and gone for ever follow him from one World to to'ther from his sick-bed to the Bar of God Doleful Hour Infer II. Do and must the righteous die Then how does it concern us to make a good use of them while they live The righteous are the lights of the World like the Sâ—â— in the Firmament profitable and beneficial to all Though hereafter these wise Virgins cannot supply us with Oyl out of their Vessels to recruit our Lamps and maintain the expiring Flame yet at present they may like the Sun communicate of their light and heat to us How much Spiritual good may we receive by them and how careful should all be to make a wise improvement Have you an Holy Father a Godly Mother who pray for weep over and daily instruct you Hearken to their instructions follow their example take their counsel for they must die That Holy Father of thine who with compassion and tenderness begs of thee to remember God and thine own Soul that Godly Mother of thine who brought thee forth with pain and sorrow and is in travel with thee again till Christ be formed in Gal. 4. 19. thee must die And if thou dost not hearken to and improve their serious reproofs godly counsels and wholesome advice what a torment may the thought of it be when they are dead and gone Methinks I hear a negligent and careless Son being lately come from the grave of his holy Father or godly Mother in bitterness crying out God in giving me such holy Parents gave me a great mercy but I Oh wretched man that I am neither valued nor thankfully improved so great a blessing as should and might have done My Father my Mother that is now dead very often and that with tears told me of my sin and danger with abundance of kindness in the Spirit of meekness reproved me for my youthful follies and vanities with much Plainness and Holy Zeal they instructed and counselled informed and directed me they brought me to the Solemn Assembly and taught me at home they wept over me and prayed to God for me and put me upon secret Prayer and reading the Holy Scriptures but all this labour in whole or at least in great part has been lost as to me Might I not have been much better might I not have had more grace and holiness had I improved this blessing I had the same advantage may the wicked and disobedient Son say but I slighted the instructions of my holy Father and contemned the counseâ—â— of my godly Mother and now they are dead and gone how likely am I to die in my sins having not the same helps and advantages as I had when they were with me Such reflections Conscience being awakned by the hand and rod of God may be made when such holy Relations are taken away to prevent which let all especially the Children of Holy Parents improve the lives and company of such The like might be said as to Husbands and Wives Masters and Servants c. Labour to get as much good as you can by holy Relations Christian Friends and Acquaintance for these you shall not have always with you Infer III. How great is the mercy and goodness of God to his People though they are not exempted from Death Death sounds harsh the Grave is very frightful When we think the Friends of God the Members of Christ the Favourites of Heaven and the Followers of the Lamb must die are we not sometime posed and almost at a stand Are we not puzzled to reconcile the Death of such men with the goodness and love of God and those
Christians who were never called out to endure the Fiery Tryal who never had the honour of Pet. 4 12. Martyrdom conferred on them have been fill'd with the greatest joy in their last moments how many have discours'd of their death given command concerning their Burial and taken their leave of this World with joyful hearts pleasant looks and chearful countenance how many have gone to Heaven not only with quiet still and silent affection but with acclamations of Joy and with verbal Praises of God in their mouths have not their comforts been strongest when Nature has been weakest Have not their Death-Bed Joys exceeded all that they ever felt before and has not their last breath been employed in praising God Did you never hear a dying Christian express himself to this purpose I thank God I am as willing to die as others are to live the thoughts of my Coffin and Grave don't trouble me trouble me They are as sweet as the thoughts of my Bed wont to be after the Toil and Labour of the day Is my end drawing on Must I now die Welcome News Joyful Tidings Weep O my dear Friends weep no more for me for nothing troubles me but your excessive grief and sorrow I am willing to die and do you be willing I should I am willing to wait with patience till Gods time is come but I could be very well contented now even now this hour this moment to be gone I see nothing in this Vain Sinful and Wretched World that should make a wise man fond of it but on the other side the grave what great what blessed Lord What glorious things do I see See so much that I am willing to die that I might see and enjoy more The blessed and loving Jesus has purchased and prepared a mansion for me and now he calls me to come to it and shall I be loth backward and unwilling If I should wou'd not my Saviour take it ill Unwilling to die What 's that but to be unwilling to be happy There will be joy in Heaven when I am there and I would there should be joy on Earth now I am going thither Though all cannot thus Triumph over Death and the Grave yet thanks be to God some can and what is the ground of all this but that lively hope their departing Souls are inspired with Without hope how impossible were any thing of this kind Hope attends them in their last sickness hope shoots the gulf with them carries them to the gates of Heaven and never leaves them till they take possession of the immortal and undefiled inheritance and this hope is the reason of that peculiar joy other men are strangers to in a dying hour What great things can hope do Infer VIII How carefully should every righteous man endeavour that his hope may be strong vigorous and lively in a dying hour Ere long God in whose hands is our time our Life and Breath will grant Death a commission Ere long Death inexorable Death impartial Death Death that has conquered all who lived before us will enter our Chamber lay close seige to our hearts the secret spring of Life rend and tear us from the embraces of our dearest Friends who shall have nothing to do but to behold and lament the victory And what shall we then do if we have no hope or but a weak one There is a very great difference in the Death even of righteous men themselves Some go weeping others triumphing through the dark valley Some excellent Christians have many doubts and fears in that hour Death terrifies though it cannot hurt them They have only some secret support but have not the joy of hope Since the righteous may have hope and such hope to be a cordial to them in their last and most sorrowful moments Oh how greatly does it concern us to look to our selves and use our utmost endeavours that we may have hope and not only so but that our hope may be strongest when Nature is weakest and lively in our dying Agony and that our best richest and sweetest Wine may be reserved to the Last Hope how can we live without it Hope what shift can we make to die without it Hope how insipid are the pleasures of Life Hope how uncomfortable are afflictions how overwhelming are the terrors of Death without it Hope how does it lighten every Burden sweeten every Cup and make every Cross the more easie Hope what safety may we have from it in every conflict as it is our Helmet what security in every storm 1 Thes 5. 8. Heb. 6. 19. as it is our Anchor Hope how does it raise our Spirits warm our Affections invigorate our Endeavours encrease our Love inflame our Zeal Hope how does it enable men to contemn flight and despise all the admired and adored vanities of an empty and perishing World Hope what a pleasing relish does it give of every promise What a sprightful accent to all our praises and what a captivating power to every thought and prospect of Heaven Hope how doth it make us more moderate in our desires more modest in our requests and more indifferent in our endeavours after these mean and little things here below Of what use and benefit is this hope to us A strong and confirmed hope will be of great use when a weak and wavering one will do us but little service And how careful should you Righteous one 's be to get and keep cherish and maintain a good hope How industriously should you endeavour to live in Hope and above all to die in hope That you may have this hope and the comfort of it too when your Sun is going down and night is coming You should labour after this lively hope 1. For God's sake The infinite doubts fears and jealousies which many sincere Christians cherish their drooping and desponding complaints their melancholy walking and uncomfortable lives reflect on that God they serve as if he were unkind and disgrace that best of Religions which they have espous'd as if it were good for nothing but to make men dull sad and mopish Men see so little pleasure in Religion because they see so little comfort in the lives of its Votaries and if an uncomfortable Life do so much will not an uncomfortable Death do much more For such men to be dejected and cast down in sickness to shiver and tremble when death approaches to question their right and title to Heaven when they are going to it may very much dishonour God reflect upon Religion and prejudice the Wicked should any of these men be in the Chamber of such a dying Christian how would they at least secretly pity him for his easiness and credulity deride Religion and scorn an holy life with what disdain would they be ready to say See what all his Religion is come to what is the fruit of his praying and hearing his precise and circumspect walking Death is as terrible to him as it would be to
us he talkt of Heaven all his Life-long but now where is his hope what is become of his confidence When he had heated his brain and phansie with some religious exercises how pleasantly could he talk of Heaven But now Death is approaching what little support has he from those thoughts Thus may your doubts and fears strengthen the hands and harden the Hearts of the wicked and tell me Christian is it not a trouble to thee to think thou shouldest dishonour God and discredit Religion and that Religion which should be dearer to thee than thy Life in the very last part and concluding act of it Can the thought of it be tolerable to thee Therefore for God's sake and Religions sake get HOPE for if you be comfortable and joyful then and if your hope be lively you may and will be so you may convince however you will silence These foolish men and perhaps after your decease they may bethink themselves and say surely Religion is no vain thing there is more in it than we know of for how â—as this man filled with joy when grim death stared him full in the face Such a death commends Religion more than an hundred Panegyricks written in the praise of it having this hope by your death-bed carriage and dying speeches you may bring more glory to God honour to Christ and credit to Religion at your death than you did in your Life 2. For your own sake Is not death tertible and do you want nothing to arm and fortifie you against it but what will or can if you have no hope Death how cold do the thoughts of it strike to our Hearts especially when we see the departing pangs hollow eyes pale looks ghastly countenances short breath trembling limbs and clammy sweats of our dying frends and then think one day this will be our own â—aie when we walk thro' Church-yards and see rotten Skulls scattered Bones what a frightful thought is it to think ere-long it will be so with us but when death really comes to act all this over upon us what a difference shall we find between seeing another die and dying our selves will you need no support at such a time will you want no cordial in such an hour will you need no refreshment when Heart Flesh and strength and all does fail Will you want nothing to help you when you come to grapple with this huge Goliah this mighty Conquerour DEATH verily you will and what can succour support and help you in that hour but a lively hope Would you not have your Hearts sink and die within you Would you be able to receive the Sentence of Death in your selves with a quiet and calm submission to God's Will Would you die in peace and go off with triumph then get and maintain a lively hope 3. For the sake of those Relations you shall leave behind Whenever you die you will leave them in Tears it will trouble them to think that you are dead but they will sorrow most of all to remember you did not die in hope Out of respect and pity to them get this lively hope that they may have this to comfort and support them when you are dead and gone That they may be able to say my Husband my Wife my Father my Mother my Son my Daughter is Dead but thanks be to God they died with a living with a lively hope If they have any love for you any sense of Religion any belief of another World nothing will be so serviceable as this to check their immoderate sorrow If you have no hope or but little tho' it is not their place to sit as judges upon you yet may they not fear the worst may they not take up a bitter lamentation at the Mouth of your Grave and say My loving Father my dear Mother my Son my Child is dead alass here is the breathless Carkass that is left behind but woe is me woe is me what is become of the Immortal Soul Oh! get this hope that you your selves and others too may know where death will Land you why should you be ambitious of going to Heaven incognito and as it were by stealth Why should you not let all know that that is the blessed Port you are bound for before you go off from Land That when you are praising God in Heaven your surviving Friends may be giving Thanks to God on Earth for your safe arrival Now that you who are Righteous may have a lively hope in your Death I shall lay down and do you practise these following directions First Get and maintain a firm and setled belief of a future happiness Content not your selves with the guesses and conjectures of an Heathen with a cold and naked opinion that is easily shaken with the breath of the next Temptation with a Faith which is the fruit of a Religious and Virtuous Education and is only the consequent of having been born and brought up among a sort of men called Christians an avowed Article of whose Creed is the Life everlasting but let your Faith be built upon sure Grounds Divine Revelation and let it be quickned and rais'd to that degree that it may presentiate the future glory to you that it may stand as a Rock unmoveable in the midst of Storms and like a brazen Wall blunt and beat back all those Arrows of Temptation which are shot against it Faith lays the Ground-work and Foundation for hope the Creed of a Sadducee and the hopes of a Christian are not reconcileable if I believe there is no other World but this how can I have hope of any thing beyond the Grave and if my Faith be weak and wavering a dead and lifeless thing will not my hope be so too As the Lamp goes out unless there be Oil to feed it so hope will wither languish and die except Faith maintain it Hope springs from Faith is nourished by and is in proportion to it In order to a lively hope it is necessary we conquer our infidelity and watch strive and pray against an evil Heart of Vnbelief Hope Heb. 3. 12. will not indeed none of the Fruits of the Holy Spirit can thrive or flourish while this root of bitterness is in the Heart Let us then use all the means appointed that we may be strong in Faith the life of our Rom. 4. 20. hopes nay the life of all our Religion depend's upon the certainty of a future state blot this Article out of our Creed and you stab Religion to the Heart the whole of Religion in a manner depends on the truth of this one single Article a life to come and thanks be God we are not left without plain abundant and sufficient proof of it and they who are Insidels in this age and in this part of the World they are so not out of necessity but rather out of choice Let us then with the greatest seriousness of Spirit intention of mind apply our selves to consider the many
expiated our sins conquered the Devil and disarmed Death he paid our Ransom Redeem'd us from Hell which we can hardly think of without horrour and trembling and purchased Heaven where we long and desire to be he hath opened the Gates of Heaven and invites and beckons us to enter in and oh how powerful are the thoughts of a weeping bleeding groaning and dying Jesus to revive and recover the dying hopes of poor Sinners Do I stand amaz'd at the thoughts of my guilt overwhelm'd with the sight of my sins terrified with apprehensions of Divine Severity and Justice Do I in the depths of a melancholy grief cry out my hope is gone woe is me my hope is gone can there be any happiness any Heaven for such a wretch as I am how can I how dare I hope oh that I could hope but alass the Law Curses and Condemns me and I O miserable man have little or no hope I would think of Christ our Passover 1 â—or 5. 7. Sacrificed for us In this case what is to be done Shall I sink under the burden abandon all hope indulge my sorrow and fear and give way to a self-tormenting despair No I would go to mount Calvary and set my self at the foot of my Redeemers Cross I would often look up to a bleeding and dying Jesus think what he suffered for whom and for what end and then I would embrace this dying Jesus in the Arms of my Faith and after this how soon would hope begin to stir Christ dying on the Cross and Christ living in the Heart is the foundation of our hope and thanks be to God 't is such a Foundation as cannot be shaken I add further it is infinitely useful to consider and act Faith in Christ as risen from the Dead Had our Lord Jesus onely died and not risen again had he been yet sleeping in the Grave as Death's Eternal Prisoner had he not after a little time reviv'd and rose and lâ—v'd again all our hope must have been buried with him in the same Grave but tho' he was Dead he is Alive and lives for evermore Rev. 1. 18. and to Eye him as risen is very serviceable to quicken our hope how fully even beyond all possibility of doubting does the Resurrection of Christ assure us that his Death was valid his Sacrifice accepted our debt paid and justice satisfied that he did all that was necessary to expiate our sins and finished the work of our Redemption before he gave up the Ghost and Died on the Cross with his last with his dying Breath he cried out It is finished and is not his Resurrection Joh. 19. 30. a full convincing and undeniable evidence of the truth of that saying did Justice release and Divine Power bring him out of Prison Did God give him an open and publick acquittance And is there any ground to suspect the payment of what we ow'd and he undertook to satisfie for may we not from hence conclude to our unspeakable comfort incouragement and joy the efficacy of his Death the validity of his sufferings and the perfection of his sacrifice Moreover does not the Resurrection of Christ discover the possibility of ours nay is it not the cause and reason the earnest and pledge of it Did he roll away the Stone from his own Sepulchre and can he want power to roll it away from the Graves of his People Is the Head Risen and now in Heaven and shall the Members always be the Prisoners of Death is he Risen as the First 1 Co. 15. 23. Fruits and shall there not be an Harvest at the end of the World Oh what influence hath the Resurrection of Christ upon our hope as we are Christians therefore we are said to be begotten again 1 Pet. 1. 2. to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead and God raised him 21. up from the Dead that our Faith and Hope might be in God A daily and lively exercise of Faith in Christ as Crucified and Risen would contribute very much to the Strength Life and Vigour of our Hope Fifthly Beg of God to fill you with and give you his Holy Spirit to beget and nourish it in you We can have no good and solid well-grounded and lasting Hope except it be given us from above we cannot get it our selves we must be begotten to it it does not grow and spring up of it self but must be planted in us by a Divine Hand and if it be not watered too by the same Hand how soon will it wither and die if we have good 2 Thos â— 16. Hope we have it thro' Grace and as God's gift It is nothing but the Breath of God can scatter those Fogs and Mists which darken our Souls and cloud our Hopes If we are without Hope let us look up to God for it if our Hope decline and wither if that which remains be ready Rev. 3. 2. to die let us beg of him his Holy Spirit to quicken and recover it The Spirit of God Works Grace and then enables the Soul to see it and then helps him to rejoice in Hope of the Glory of God Oh Rom. 5 2. how soon can he scatter those fears that torment us answer those doubts which for many years have been unresolved and fill that Heart with Hope which was almost swallowed up of Despair How necessary is frequent fervent Prayer to keep our Hope alive If you want go to God for it fall on thy Knees and say I have heard and Lord I believe there is an Heaven and thro' Grace it is possible to me even to me I see many of my fellow Christians with whom I pray hear and daily converse living in the joyful hope and expectation of it but I am full of doubts and fears Lord I have little or no hope and if Death should come while matters are thus with me how should I ever be able to die it is bad to live but Lord it's worse to die without hope oh for hope oh for a lively hope of Heaven oh that on my Death-bed when I shall have no hope of Life I may have hope of Glory oh give me thy holy Spirit to scatter my fears resolve my doubts calm my Conscience and enliven my hope whatever I am deny'd while I live Lord let me have hope at last let this Prayer be heard now and fully answered when a dying hour comes Sixthly Frequently and seriously examine the groâ—â—â— and reason of your Hope Many take up their Hope upon very slight and insufficient grouâ—ds and the least blast of affliction blows down these Castles thâ—y build in the Air many times their hope is like Jonah's Gourd which Joâ— 4◠〈…〉 sprung up at night and withered the next Morning A sound hope is the fruit of many Prayers and Tears much watchfulness and holy walking and we have reason to suspect that hope we come easily and quickly by Such an
all their sins set in order before them Are they filled with horror and anguish Is some of the everlasting fire flasht in their Faces Does the Devil begin to torment them before the time Is God a terror to Mat. 8. 29. them and they a terror to themselves Are they weary of Life and yet afraid of Death Are they rackt and tortured and do they speak nothing but the language of Hell before they come there Are they cast at the Bar of Conscience before they are condemned at the Tribunal of their Supreme Judge Do they sensibly feel what horror attends the final doom Depart from me ye cursed Mat 25 41. Do they cry out and tremble as if they now heard it pronounced by their eternal Judge Does a righteous God commission Conscience to witness against Judge and Condemn them to sting and lash them in their last hours for the sins of their past Life And ought we not to take notice of and improve all this May not such a sight the remembrance of what we saw and heard in that hour awaken our Consciences startle our Spirits affect and warm our hearts May it not tend â—â—â—hew us the Justice of God the evil of 〈◊〉 and the infinite danger of neglectinâ— to hearken to the voice of God while it is câ—â—led to day May it not excite our diligence quicken our repentance and assist our preparations for Death and judgment May it not Arm us against the World the Flesh and the Devil and make us more resolved to hearken to the voice of the Spirit the checks of our own Conscience and the compassionate calls of mercy Would it not make us know the worth of time and put us upon husbanding redeeming and improving it to the best ends the Glory of God and Salvation of our Souls Would it not make us love Christ prize his sacrifice and value his blood more Would it not put us upon reviewing our lives searching our hearts and examining our state and amending what has been amiss Oh how much good may we get by the death of poor awakned sinners and how great is our folly and sin in case we don 't And can it be unprofitable and useless to mark observe and remember the more happy and comfortable end of the Righteous Shall we take no notice what is the end issue and conclusion of an Holy Life We should remember how they lived and how they died Did God in their sickness furnish them with patience and calmness submission and resignation to his Holy Will Were their Thoughts compos'd Minds setled Spirits calm their peace undisturb'd their Joy great and their Hope lively Was there a willingness to die and a desire to depart that they might be with Christ did God resolve their Doubts scatter the Clouds and help them to overcome their fears Has such an one been enabled to say Lord I am thine I lye at thy Foot here I am do to me dispose of me remove or continue my pains as thou wilt let me be well or sick live or die be recover'd or remov'd as thou pleasest Lord if thou hast any more Work for me to do I am willing to live and content my happiness should yet be deferr'd and I 'll acknowledg thy Grace if thou wilt yet use me and make me an Instrument of thy Glory but if my work be done and the number of my years be accomplisht I am willing Lord I am willing now to die if it be thy pleasure now to remove me if this sickness must be my last and end in death if to die now be really best for me and most for thy glory I will not draw back I am ready at thy call command and pleasure to lay down this Body and thanks be to God I can heartily say the Will of the Lord be done Have any of your Christian Friends or Holy Relations died thus Heavenly frame Blessed end Glorious triumph over Death and the Grave Ought we not and may it not be infinitely useful to mark and remember this How much may it contribute to maintain the Life of Religion and the Power of Godliness in us may not the memory of what we observ'd and saw at such a time confirm us in our holy Choice strengthen our Faith and throughly convince us Religion is not a vain thing Will it not recommend the Holy Ways of God set off Religion and make all holy exercises more sweet and pleasant to us but in particular may not an observing how they died afford matter of encouragement and support to us when we have sad and melancholy Thoughts as to our own departure how oft does many a poor sincere Christian in bitterness cry out How shall I with a Christian Patience an humble submission and an entire resignation bear long painful and tedious sickness how shall I be able to conquer the fear and submit to the stroke of Death How shall I be able to grapple with that Enemy and encounter the King of Terrors How shall I be able with joy and chearfulness without murmuring and repining to obey my Summons to Death and Judgment When I do but suppose my self sick weak and full of pain when I seriously think of my Coffin and Grave I tremble but Lord what shall I do when it comes to the trial thus it is with many and has it not been so with you at one time or other and may it not be so again and if it should how may the memory of the happy end of holy friends and relations administer to your support when thou hast the Death of such an one fresh in thy thoughts thou mayst say why art thou cast down O my â—sal 42. 5. Soul and why art thou thus disquieted within me Is it because this body must die How many holy ones are dead before me They were weak frail and imperfect as I am but God furnished them with patience courage and strength quieted their Mind calm'd their Spirits and husht their ruffling passions and when my hour comes I hope God will help me to die too Have not I the same God to depend upon the same promises to encourage me the same Jesus to stand by me and the same Holy Spirit to assist me I remember my holy Father died with comfort my holy Mother made an happy and peaceable End and why may not I Death is conquered it is conquer'd And the fear of it may be overcome I have seen it may and why should the fear of it keep me in a perpetual bondage How serviceable may it be to remember how other holy Men and Women have died before us Secondly Another duty with reference to those who died in hope is to give thanks to God for those assistances and that Grace which was vouchsafed to them â—â— a dying hour Surviving Relations who were Eye-witnesses of God's goodness to them who are departed should own acknowledge and praise God for it when they are dead and gone The dead cannot
Isal 38 19. praise God but the living the living they should When they were sick you did I am sure you should pray for them and being dead and having died in hope you should give thanks to the Father of Mercies for his Mercy to them for his goodness to them in the close in the evening in the concluding act of their lives Tho' thanks be to God we know nothing of praying for the Dead yet we may and ought to praise God for his Grace to them and especially for that Grace which enabled them to go off and die so well Did God in the evening visit their Souls speak peace to their Consciences publish their Pardon and carry them beyond the fear of Death and the Grave Did the Comforter come and did they find and feel he was before death did did God open the Eyes of the Soul to read their Evidences for Heaven before death closed those of the Body did God shine in upon their Souls and in the evening-time was it light did you hear them speak Zech 14. 7. of their departure without Tears and Groans nay with Joy and Triumph did you see a Calm upon their Spirits did you see them compose themselves to die in the same manner they were wont to do when they went to sleep with little or no difference only an unusual coldness and did they thus die Lord what praise is due to Free Grace Is it not the duty and interest of the Husband to bless God for his mercy to his departed Wife Is it not the duty of Children to offer up a Sacrifice of praise to their God and their Fathers God for the seasonable help the gracious supports and the suitable comforts afforded to a Father to a Mother in a dying hour should not as many praises be given to God for his mercy to their Souls as Tears shed over their Coffins and Graves what praises oh what hearty praises are due to God that they set sail with a fair Wind an happy Tide and got safe to Shore is it not melancholy and sad to see such near Relations full of doubts and fears crying out I cannot die I dare not die and did God prevent all this by giving them hope and the joy of hope too before they left us to go to him and should not God have the Glory that is due unto his name Our sacrifices of praise should mount up to Heaven in a pure and bright flame and there meet the Souls of our deceased Relatives Thanksgiving and Praise is a debt which holy persons who were thus priviledg'd in their last moments would have their surviving Relations pay to God in their name and stead Thirdly Another Duty is a careful imitation of their holy Lives This is a special branch of that Communion we have with departed Saints and the nearer they were to us in the flesh the more careful we should be to imitate them How does it concern Children who are left behind to follow the example tread in the steps of an holy Father or a godly Mother oh how should they endeavour to be the living Images of their deceased Parents gone from them to God! how greatly doth it concern such to labour after the same Vertues and Graces to accustom themselves to the same holy practices and religious exercises to keep up the old friendship there hath been between God and their Family that the Covenant Relation might not be broken in them Were they humble and meek quiet and patient holy and heavenly were they devoted to God and to the service of the Redeemer and did they live walk and act as such did they slight the World and all the gay and charming vanities of it and fill up every Relation with duty were they given to secret Prayer did they keep up Communion with God adorn their holy profession and live suitably to it at all times did they carefully husband and redeem their Time wisely imploy and improve all their Talents were they kind and merciful liberal and charitable and did they live as Heirs of the Grac of God and Candidates for Immortality and the expectants 1 Pet. 3. 7. of a future Glory were they burning and shining lights an honour to their Profession a credit to Religion and a peculiar Grace and Ornament to the particular Churches they were Members of did they carry it towards God and Man according to the rules of their holy Religion did they converse with God live in Heaven and prepare for Death and Judgment oh how worthy is this the imitation of them who are left behind How oft is wickedness and vice profaneness and irreligion transmitted from Father to Son and how do their Children act as if they were only born to perpetuate the War against Heaven and were only left to fill up the measure of their Father's iniquities how oft do some particular Vices or Vice run in a blood and are propagated from generation to generation till the whole family of these accursed Sinners is extinct and oh what a shame and pity is it that Piety and Religion which are the honour and glory of a Family which make a man excellent while he lives and render his memory precious when he is dead which render us dear to God and useful to others should not outlive the present Generation See more of this in the Epistle To stir us up to a careful imitation of such holy relations what argument can be more prevalent than this before us To consider what is the happy conclusion of an holy life viz. hope in Death At such a time every one is ready to cry out with Balaam Oh that I might die the death Numb 23. 10. of the righteous and my latter end might be like to his but what a vain wish is this if our lives be unlike to theirs the Children of holy Parents more especially should strive to be followers of them and keep God among them Was God should such an one say my Fathers God and my Mothers God and shall I forsake or cast him off Oh what a sin and shame is this have I such a fair Copy to write after and will it not greatly reflect on me if mine be full of blots and blurs When you are tempted remember you are the off-spring of them who were the friends and lovers of God that you are come of an holy stock and then say would my holy Father my godly Mother who are now with God have done thus and thus Are they acting the part of holy Angels in Heaven and shall I the Son the Daughter of such Religious Parents be acting the Devil upon Earth Will not the very dust of these holy Relations rise up in Judgment against and condemn me O my Soul let me remember with what comfort they lived with with hope they died with what joy they shall rise again what foretasts of Heaven how much of their reward they hadon a death-bed and let me charge it upon
thought my Soul must go to judgment stand at the Bar of that God whose purity is untainted whose holiness is unspotted whose justice is impartial whose power is irresistible whose truth is invariable whose anger is as a flaming Fire whose glory is amazing whose Majesty is tremendous and whose sentence will be righteous final and irreversible and shall I be vain and worldly slothful and negligent careless and secure merry and sportive when I may have such a speedy summons Shall I dare to be so with the last groans of my dying Father or Mother in mine Ears when the language thereof was O my Children prepare to follow me When Ienter'd the dark and silent Chamber stood by the Bed-side of my dying Father of my departing Mother when I saw the last breath and what a change one minute made when I heard the last sob and groan the sight of mine Eyes and the hearing of my Ears did affect my Heart every thing I then saw and heard made some impression upon me my thoughts of Death Eternity and a World to come were more serious affecting and moving than at other times when I saw with what peace and comfort hope and joy they died then thought I with my self Lord what is Grace Christ and Pardon of sin thy favour love and hope of Heaven worth oh that I might thus die and shall these thoughts die and come to nothing when my dead are buried out of my sight shall I forget their hopes and my own wish purpose and resolution when their Funeral is over shall my care to provide for my own be over too Lord revive these thoughts and let them not wear off having seen the happy death the comfortable end of so near and dear a Relation I hope I shall wisely improve this Memento of my own Mortality be more speedy and solemn in making preparation for my own Change assist and help me Lord Fifthly Another duty is to moderate sorrow for the death of such holy Relations and Friends who died in Hope Mourning for the dead is neither uncomely nor unlawful Nature commands and Religion allows us to pay this Tribute at the Grave of deceased Relatives Religion only corrects it does not root out natural affections it is only a Pruning Knife to cut off the luxuriant Branches not an Axe to cut down this Tree at the Root Religion is a Bridle to curb and restrain but not an Opiate to stupifie We are not required to cease to be Men when we become Christians Grace and good Nature are not such Enemies that they cannot dwell together nay usually the former thrives and flourishes best where there is most of the latter We may lawfully shed some Tears over the Grave of deceased Friends upon such occasions have not holy men had their set and appointed days of mourning To die unlamented to be thrown into a disconsolate hole of the Earth without the solemnity of a sigh groan or tear is it not a sign there was but little worth in the dead or a great deal of ill nature in the living nay is it not threatned as a punishment Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Jehojakim the Son of Josiah King of Judah they shall not lament for him saying Ah my â—rother or ah my Sister they shall not lament for him saying Ah Lord or ah his glory Jer. 22. 18. Holy Job mourned for his Children when Dead he met with many trials and afflictions before the Sabeans and Chaldeans had rob'd and plunder'd him Fire from Heaven had destroyed his substance and yet he bore this with an heroick patience and a noble greatness of mind we don't find he utter'd a groan or dropt a tear upon this account but when he received the heavy tydings that his Sons and Dâ—â—â—hters were dead then he arose and renâ— his Mantle and shaved his head the usual signs of a solemn mourning in this he was not guilty for God himself bore him â—itness that in all this he sinned not Job 1. 20 22. To cry out at such a time Alass my Father alass my Mother alass my Brother is but to speak in the language of a Prophet 1 Kin. 13. 30. A Father dead a Mother dead and may we not be sensible of such a stroke and mourn for such a breach Are they dead who under God were the Authors of life to us and ought we not to mourn mourning at the Funeral of such Relations was permitted even to the Priests Lev. 21. 1. David when he would express the greatness of his sorrow sets it out by this I bowed down heavily as one that mourneth for his MOTHER All funeral Psal 35. 14. sorrow is not unlawful Shall death pale cold grim and frightful death knock at our door enter our house come into our family captivate and snatch away a principal member of it shall death turn the desire of our Eyes into a breathless corps spoil the beauty tâ—e the Tongue close the Eyes stop the Ears Fetter the Hands and shackle the Feet of a dear Relation is their life gone and breath stopt and are they turn'd into cold clammy Earth must we see their faces hear their voices enjoy their company which many and many a time we have with so much delight and pleasure no more must we have the benefit of their instructions and counsels prayers and tears no more are they who a while ago were many ways useful to us now in one single moment become like to the Heathen Idols which have Eyes and See not Ears and Hear not Noses and Smell not a mouth and Taste not Hands and Handle not Feet and Walk not and have we not cause to mourn what can we see our dear friends those whom we laid in our Bosoms and Loved as our selves become the spoil and triumph of our common Enemy Death and not weep what can we thrust a Wife a Mother into a scanty Coffin croud them into a narrow Grave without a Tear Solomon tells us there is a time to weep and a time to mourn is not such a time as this the season for Ecles 3. 4. both But tho' we may and ought to mourn yet we Christians who are acquainted with that life and immortality which is brought 2 Tim. 1. 10. to light by the Gospel should bound our grief and moderate our funeral sorrows especially with reference to such as died in Hope How many with Rachel mourn for their Children and will not be comforted because they are not how many upon such sad occasions abandon themselves to an obstinate sorrow lay the reins loose upon the neck of their head-strong passions and then foolishly cry out they cannot bridle them how many have weaken'd Nature destroyed their Health and hasten'd their own Death by excessive grief for that of another when these Waters swell too high o'reflow the Bank and threaten to Deluge us it is time to sink them Now to check an immoderate sorrow what can be more useful and
Providences And what relief might we have during the days of our mourning from these and the like considerations And Thanks be to God we upon whom Death has lately made a breach have this to comfort us Concerning this Relation of ours and Servant of God I will not say any thing the secrecy she always affected and my relation to her forbids me to blow the Trumpet at the mouth of her Grave She is Dead dead She is faln asleep in Jesus the Will of the Lord is done God grant that I in particular and the rest she has left behind who a while ago had a loving careful and tender Mother but now have none may SO Live and SO Die For blessed Rev. 14. 13. are the Dead which die in the Lord they rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them THE END DEATH-BED Reflections DEATH-BED Reflections Suitable to the preceding DISCOURSE And Proper for a RIGHTEOUS MAN in his Last Sickness I. This World and all in it is changeable Man in particular is so Death is certain and unavoidable What is to be done by a Righteous Man in his Sickness supposing it to be his last ALL things under the Sun are subject to change and what is so sooner or later will have an end THIS World and the fashion thereof 1 Cor. 7. 31. and all that is in it is passing away God is the same yesterday to day and for Heb 13. 7. ever but nothing else is or can be so Nothing here below is like a Mountain which cannot be moved by those mighty and sportive Waves which beat and dash against it but like a Feather which is driven hither and thither with the smallest Breath This World of ours tho' vain Mortals are foolishly fond of and excessively dote upon it as it had a BIRTH so it shall have a FUNERAL day the World's Morning and Noon is past and the Evening is at hand All these things shall be dissolv'd Nature groan 2 Pet. 3. 11. die and give up the Ghost Lord how quickly shall the Angel lift up his hand and swear by him that liveth for ever and ever that time shall be no more the old World was drowned with Water this v. 6. v. 7. shall be destroyed or resined by Fire tho' according to his promise we look for New Heavens v. 13. and a new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness In this mutable World nothing is more sickle and inconstant frail and uncertain vain and changeable than Man and what belongs to and makes up his Earthly happiness How uncertain are Prov. 23. 5 Riches may they not make themselves Wings and fly away and have they not often done so may not what we have been toiling labouring and sweating for many years be gone from us in a few hours Tho' Riches and Wealth Descend from Father to Son yet how oft doth Providence cut off the entail and he never enjoy what he was born to tho' a careful and provident Father may leave his Son a fair Estate and a good Inheritance he may live in want and die a Begger and not leave enough to buy a Cossin and purchase a Grave some unhappy accident or other may strip him naked before death does How uncertain is health and strength without which all other comforts are insipid if I am strong one day may I not be weak the next if I am well in the morning may I not be sick before evening if I am at ease to day may I not be rackt tortur'd and pain'd to morrow Lord when thou with rebukes correctest Psal 39. 11. man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth surely every man is vanity All these changes are but melancholy presages of and preparatory to our great and last when we shall be changed from living Dust into breathless Clay There is a time to die Since the first Age the first Man Adam Eccl. 3. 2. death has been reigning and yet death is not satisfied nor the Grave yet glutted with Carkasses This Earth oft changes its Inhabitants one Generation comes and Eccle. 1. 4. another goes our Ancestors moulder into Dust croud closer together and at length become Graves to bury us LIFE what is it A shadow which quickly vanishes a Vapour which suddenly disappears a Flower that fades and Grass which quickly withers and dies LIFE what is it a Candle that lies at the mercy of every stormy and blustering Wind a Lamp that burns a while but will go out for want of Oil to maintain the languishing and expiring flame If we search the Records of the Grave we shall find as many proofs and witnesses of our mortality as there are rotten Bones and Skulls How many Infants are only born live weep and die So that even out of the Mouths Psal 8. 2. of these Babes and Sucklings we may learn this sad and certain truth a time to die How many young Men has Death mowed down in the Morning how many of these has the cold hand of Death undrest before Evening and laid them to sleep in a Bed of Dust even at Noon-day and do not they cry in the Ears of the living there is a time to die Does not every Feaver that scorches us every fit of the Stone Gout and Cholick that puts us on the Rack every Ague that shakes the Walls and loosens the Pins of this Earthly Tabernacle every Dropsie that threatens to Drown us every Palsie that benum's every Lethargy that lulls us asleep repeat over this melancholy and awakening truth There is a time to die verily O my Soul every Man in his best estate is altogether vanity What is true concerning all and every one of Adam's Posterity Lord help me to apply to my self in particular to believe consider weigh and work upon my Heart this common truth I must die Let me not only have some general notional and speculative knowledge but a particular serious warm and practical one a knowledge that may be useful and serviceable to the best purposes a knowledge that may awe my Conscience warm my Soul and powerfully influence my Heart and Life It is impossible to be ignorant of this but Lord how cold unactive dull and ineffectual were all thoughts of this kind when I was well and strong oh that they may make more powerful and abiding impressions upon my Heart now I am sick and weak These very pains I now feel this disease this present affliction which makes me sigh and groan this sickness which I suppose will be my last tell me I must die and call upon me to prepare for such a time that now cannot be far off Lord help me in this my great and last work oh that sense and feeling might help my Faith this fire warm my Heart and what I now feel prepare me for my last pains pangs and conflicts which are like to be much sharper I have visited others some of them my near and
be unthankful for the mercies of many For the mercies of my whole life Oh how evil and criminal would this be my flesh is pain'd my affliction great my sick-bed uneasie and the hand of God presseth me sore my tears and sorrows my innocent groans which I hope are only the voice of oppressed nature pierce the hearts and draw tears from the eyes of my dear Relations but yet O my Soul I charge thee by all that is solemn and sacred let there not be a murmuring thought a repining word or any peevish carriage Remember remember the days of Old the mercies of former times and be thankful Thy God hath been good is and will be so and be thou ALL LOVE and PRAISE Was it not God who form'd and fashion'd me in the Womb and brought me forth into the light with an entire and perfect body Were not all my members Ps 139. 16. written in his book and did not he watch over my substance while it was yet imperfect and did not he take care I should not be be born out of due time Was it not 1 Cor. 15. 8. he who appointed when where and of whom I should be born and did not he order all the circumstances of my birth in the best manner When I was a poor helpless infant when I hung on my Mothers breast and lay in my cradle did not he take the care of me Did not his providence watch over me in my Childhood and prevent many unknown and unseen dangers Did noâ— he in my youth keep me from the many evils which in that ungoverned age I was exposed to and might have brought upon my self Has not his careful eye been upon me from my first moments even until now how pretious are thy thoughts unto me O Ps 139 17. God! How great is the sum of them Was it not of God I had the happiness to be born of Religious Parents who set before me a good example wept over and prayed for me That I had seasonable instructions wholsome counsels and the benefit of a vertuous education in my first and early years Was it not he that restrained and with-held me from those sins and lusts which many are overtaken withal and I my self was in danger of in that age of folly and vanity Hath not he fed and cloathed provided for and defended me Been my refuge in a storm my sanctuary in a time of danger my deliverer in an evil day and my Physitian in sickness How oft hath he brought me out of the fiery furnace raised me from a sick bed renewed my strength and saved me from going down to the pit when in my own and others apprehension I was at the mouth of and ready to drop into it hath not he supplied my wants increased my substance blest my endeavours and given me a considerable portion of this Worlds goods Is it not of him I have Friends and Relations to be a comfort to me while others have none or such as are worse than none even a cross and a scourge to them Hath not his Arm upheld his power defended his mercy succoured his bounty supplyed his treasuries enricht me Hath not his providence been ever watchful over me and his holy Angels my constant and perpetual life-guard When in my affliction and pain I have cryed to him hath he not heard my groans regarded my tears answered my prayers in the fittest season and best manner eased or supported me removed my burden or given me strength and so ordered the affliction from first to last that I have been forc't to say Lord it is good for me I have been afflicted Psal 119. â—1 I have not only had the mercies of the left hand but those of the right not only temporal but Spiritual not only for a perishing body but more and greater for an immortal Soul Thanks be to God that he quickened and raised me when I was dead in Trespasses and Sins Eph. 2. 1. that he brought me to hear his Holy word and made it effectual for my conviction and conversion that the same word which was to others the savour of Death unto Death to me was the savour 2 Cor. 2. 16. of Life to Life That the same Word the same Blessed Gospel which blinded them enlightned me which left them in their sins and under the power of Satan brought me home to God for this thy special grace and mercy to my Soul Lord I do I will and hope I shall for ever bless thee Who or what am I What have I done or what can I do That I should be chosen and effectually called when others are not Lord Why didst thou call and convert me and not another me and not my Neighbour me and not him who sate in the same pew heard the same Sermon and for many years attended upon the same ministry Free grace distinguishing mercy differencing love Am I converted changed sanctified and pardon'd Lord I do I will admire and adore thy powerful and victorious grace Awake O my Soul awake prepare a song Oh love and bless and praise thy God I was an Apostate wretch a stubborn enemy a disloyal Rebel and it was a long time before I would lay down my weapons return to my duty and yield patience waited mercy invited ministers exhorted the Spirit pleaded conscience urged God expostulated with yearning bowels the Blessed Jesus called to me from Heaven and beseeched me by his wounds and tears blood-shed passion and death to be reconciled to God but I vile wretch that I was did not hear How many reproofs and counsels warnings and exhortations earnest pleadings and pathetick Sermons were lost upon me And blessed be God all were not that one did the work Did God convert me after many Sabbaths enjoyed and many Sermons heard in vain Infinite kindness Lord I bow and worship before thee and with all the powers of my immortal Spirit bless and praise thee Was it not God pityed me when I did not pity my self Who called after and stopt me when I was running head-long to Hell Who loosed my chains broke my bonds knockt off my setters and brought me out of the House of bondage Was it not he who with a mighty power and stretched-out arm delivered and rescued me when sin ruled and govern'd and Satan led me in triumph as his vassal and captive And shall not I though a sick and pained man adore and bless him Bless him I do I will Bless the Lord O my Soul Ps 103. 2. And all that is withim me bless his Holy Name Since my Conversion and becoming a new man since God took me into his family adopted and made me his Son how much and what great things have been done for me what sweet and ravishing Communion have I had in holy duties publick and private in the assembly of Saints and in my Closet what large speedy and remarkable answers of Prayer what a ravishing sense of Divine Love and Favour
pardon and save yonder penitent sinner and shall my prayer backt with the pleadings of that blood be shut out I have now but a little time my glass is almost run the day is far spent the shadows of the evening are stretched out the night will quickly come Lord be not angry if I renew my request urge thee with thy promise and lie at thy foot till I obtain my pardon and Conscience be enabled and authorized to read it I am miserable and without thy pity must be so for ever and Lord I cannot I will not take a denyal I am thine save me In this sickness I have Ps 119 94. been examining my heart searching my ways and I have done it seriously and impartially what sins I have found out I heartily bewail pardon these and those I have not Who can understand his Ps 19. 12. Errors Lord cleanse thou me from secret faults Blessed Jesus thou great friend and lover of Souls from this my sick and death-bed I look up to thee for help and mercy Oh stand my friend now plead my cause now and let me have the pardon thy blood did purchase thou didst die for me thou wast crucifyed for me and thy blood was shed for me and carest thou not if I now perish May thy Tears Mark 4. 38. Wounds and Blood speak and plead for me for I am sure they will be heard if mine cannot within a few days within a few hours I must appear before an Holy Just and Terrible God and I tremble O my Saviour I tremble to think any one unpardoned sin should meet me at that Tribunal Oh procure my pardon for me before I die if Satan meet me there to accuse me I know thou wilt answer him and plead for me But if any one unpardoned sin meet me there it will condemn me and I am lost and lost for ever I am not sinless I have not perfectly obeyed the Law but I am not impenitent To exercise repentance for my sin has been my daily work ever since my first conversion and it has been so particularly in this present sickness My heart hath been turned from the love of sin and now I loath it more than ever there 's nothing troubles afflicts and grieves me so much as sin vile sin cursed sin thou hast cost me more tears sighs and groans than all my pains have done I Repent I Repent Lord I do repent Oh! pity and spare spare and pardon pardon and love love and save me for ever Have mercy upon me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies and blot out Psal 51. 1. all my sin Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not Psal 32. 1 2. iniquity Blessed he and only he is the blessed man though he be a poor man a pained man a sick man a dying man yet he is a blessed man Oh that this blessedness might be mine I am now sick and I have no hope of recovery my body grows weaker and weaker and nature sensibly decays this earthly Tabernacle shakes and it will quickly tumble Death Pale and Grim Death is posting towards me I am near unto eternity but I cannot die I dare not step into the other unseen Eternal World with out a pardon Believing O my God that word of thine that word which to me is of more worth than a thousand Worlds Let the wicked forsake his way and the Psal 55. 7 unrighteous man his thoughts And let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon I beg and through the mediation of thy Christ and my Jesus will expect the pardon of all my sins Let it be unto me according to thy word in which thou hast caused thy Servant to hope Amen IV. Of submission to the Divine will as to the time of our Death Many reasons to persuade to such an holy frame and resigning temper Objections Answered Suitable Petitions The Triumph and last work of FAITH I am now on my last bed this sickness for ought I do or can understand will be unto Death The warrant is issued out the commission sealed I am a dying man every moment that passeth away every clock that strikes every breath I draw every pulse that beats tells me death is near at hand and having given thanks to God for all his mercies having unseignedly repented of all my sin and begged pardon in the name and through â—he blood of Jesus and having now some hope and assurance of it what have I further to do What becomes me as a Christian as a righteous man that hath hope of great and glorious things beyond the grave but to submit to the divine good pleasure and saying The will of the Lord be done What language becomes Acts 21. 14. such an one but this O Lord who art the fountain of Life to all thy Creatures I am thine to live or die when and as thou wilt thou gavest me my Life and it is fit thou shouldst take it from me when thou wilt and as thou pleasest I submit to thy will obey thy summons and I would not live a day an hour a moment longer than God would have me God hath ordered the various circumstances of my Life in the best manner things have been much better with me than if I had been left to my own will and choice and I leave it to this wise and good God to order the circumstances of my Death To die now may be better for me than to live longer and if infinite wisdom judge it so I will readily comply and chearfully put off this Earthly Tabernacle Submissive language happy frame blessed temper thus it ought to be with all but alas how few attain to this nay how do the most even of Christians come far short of it how willing are they to live how loth to die how extremely desirous to stay here how loath to depart how passionately desirous to have a new lease granted when the old one is exspiring and almost out For one that in good earnest says I long I long to die I am willing even now to be dissolved how many with tears in their eyes cry not yet Lord not yet Oh spare me that I may recover Ps 39. 13. strength before I go hence and be no more Thus with shame and sorrow must I confess it hath been with me but in this my present sickness Lord help me to overcome my fears of Death wean me from this vain World mortify my fond affection to this present Life and oh raise and quicken in me holy earnest desires after a better Holy Paul had a desire to depart and be with Christ Oh that Phil. 1. 23. now it might be so with me let me be able to say Lord I accept the punishment of my sin I kiss the rod lie at thy foot submit
to thy holy pleasure and am entirely willingly to die now if thou think it best and most convenient my slavish fears of Death have been a pleasure to Satan a torment to my Self a dishonour to God a blemish to my Profession a disgrace to my Hopes Lord at last help me to overcome them Oh! that I could passionately long that Death would come and waft me over to yonder pure and blessed undefiled and eternal Regions while I am so excessively fond of this vain sinful and wretched life while I stand trembling and shivering on the confines of time and am loth to enter into a blessed Eâ—ernity how may all the Inhabitants above wonder at my folly Oh that my Faith Love and Hope might be increas'd and strengthned that I might pant and long wish desire and groan to be in Heaven What abundant reason O my Soul have I to be willing to dye and dye now if God so please have I not met with those crosses and disappointments with those troubles and miseries which are sufficient to wean me have I been tossed on the Waves driven by the Winds endangered by many a Storm and should I not rejoice I can see Land and am so near a quiet Harbour how oft upon the account of Temptations from â—atan Afflictions from God the Rebukes of his Providence the Hidings of his Face and the withdrawings of his Spirit have I complain'd groan'd and wept and shall I be unwilling to have my burdens removed my sorrows ended and all Tears wiped from mine Eyes is not the World mine Enemy and has it not really been unkind to me and shall I be loth to leave it amazing folly if I should live longer even till the Almond does flourish to extream Eccl. 12. 5. old Age should I not be unprofitable to others and a burden to my self and only an insignificant Cipher among my Fellow Creatures is it not better for me to die now than to live till the World is weary of me and I am weary of my self too Am I not O my Soul a Stranger and Pilgrim upon Earth am I not born from above and do I not belong to another Countrey and should not my temper be suitable to my character that is should I not be weary of my Pilgrimage and long to be at home are not Strangers and Pilgrims wont to be so our Journey say they is long and tedious oh that we were at home in our own Countrey among our own People and Kindred a stranger that hath a Journey to go would pass over it as soon as he can his thoughts mind and heart are set upon home and he longs to be there notwithstanding the conveniences and accommodations of his Inn the pleasantness of the Countrey c. yet he longs to be at home And shall I desire to be a wandring Pilgrim in this World when I might and God would have me be a setled Inhabitant in the other oh how becoming my character is it to send sighs groans and prayers as Harbingers to Heaven to tell my God I would fain be there Why do I not cry out here Woe is me I am a stranger and sojourner when shall I come to my own Countrey my Eternal Home to my Elder Brethren and Spiritual Kindred many are gone before and I follow after but blessed Jesus when shall I come to thee my God my Saviour my Hope my Treasure my Happiness my All is in another Countrey oh that I were there too how should the hardships and difficulties the ill usage and sorry entertainment I meet with in my Pilgrimage make me long for home and willing to go whenever my Heavenly Father sends for me Have I not O my Soul been pestered with sin all my life long has it not cost me many a sigh and groan tear and prayer how oft have I offended my God displeased my Father grieved my Redeemer wounded my Conscience and defiled my Heart and if I live longer shall I not sin more is there any hope sin will dye till I do and can I bear the Thought that I should for so many years yet to come offend so good a God hath not this flesh been a snare to me and this body an instrument of much evil and shall I be loth to put it off is not sin my heaviest burden my sorest Enemy have I not often said so and often cried out O wretched man Rom. 7. 23. that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death and shall I be unwilling to be delivered now Criminal Hypocrisie hath not sin defiled all my powers and faculties wounded my Conscience harden'd my Heart dampt my joy disquieted my mind disturbed my peace and brought many an affliction upon my Body hath it not eclipsed the light of Gods Countenance and caused my God and Father my Redeemer and Saviour to stand afar off and shall I not be willing to dye now that I may sin no more Have not I O my Soul been designing Heaven and Praying for Heaven what is the end of all my Sacred Duties Holy Services and Religious Worship but that I may be Saved and get to Heaven and is God calling me to Heaven and shall I be loth to go and all this because this Body must dye first Heaven O my Soul what a sweet and charming word is it and what a pleasant sound does it make Heaven what an happy and desireable place is it Heaven what a delightful and ravishing Theme is this Heaven is not one Thought one single view enough to Transport with Joy and make a Man cry out oh that I were there is God now calling me to Heaven to Heaven the Throne of Divine Majesty the Presence Chamber of the Eternal King to Heaven where I shall have the Vision of God ravishing sights of the Blessed Jesus and the Company of Holy Angels and blessed Souls to Heaven that for Beauty and Glory Transcends not only all that has been seen but all that can be imagin'd shall I refuse and draw back how beautiful are these lower Heavens which are but the Porch and outward Court to the other and how much must the Third Heaven the Temple of the Divine Majesty the Habitation of Glorious Angels in â—eauty and splendor excel these is this the place I shall go to when I dye and can I with any tolerable shew of reason be unwilling to dye now ah sinful silly Soul dost thou draw back art thou unwilling to leave this body what to go to Heaven What! to go to such a glorious happy World Art thou indeed unwilling and art thou not to be blam'd Blam'd thou art for what egregious folly is this can I thus slight Heaven and not blush to think I do Moreover O my Soul If I am a Christian I have solemnly taken God for my only Portion my Ultimate End and Soveraign Happiness I love him and my Saviour above all more than Father or Mother House or Land Estate or
had a sufficient time to prepare for Death and Judgment Have not I lived long enough to make an experiment of what the World can do for me Long enough to confirm that old maxim Vanity of vanities all is vanity and is not my unwillingness to die now Eccl. 1. 2. inexcusable How shameful O my lingering Soul is it for me an old Disciple after I have been trained up in the School of Christ so many years after I have heard so many plain and convincing Lectures of the vanity of the World the certainty of Death the glory of Heaven and happiness of eternity to shrink and draw back when so many younger have chearfully submitted to the will of God! Dost thou not O my Soul by this time see there is reason why thou should'st be willing now to put off this earthly Tabernacle Let me now hear what thou canst object against this which is thy duty honour and interest Am I loth to die now because I shall leave relations who have their dependance on me and to whom I have been useful Foolish talk cannot God who provided for 'em by take care of them without me And if they are his will he not Cannot God who is the Fountain be better than I who am but a Cistern and a broken Cistern too May I not leave my solitary Widow and Fatherless children with God Am I loth to die now because I must take my final leave of Friends and Relations whom I have lov'd with whom I have liv'd and conversed with much delight Foolish Soul loth to leave them what to go to God Christ and company infinitely better to enjoy which for one hour is much better than to enjoy theirs for an age Am I unwilling to die now because of those pains and pangs those sharp conflicts and agonies I must endure before body and Soul do part Fond reasoning must not these pains be endured at one time or other will not Death be Death that is be attended with some pains whenever it comes Had I not better take heart and undergo them once and that now than be terrified many years longer with the fears and melancholy prospect of them Will not these pains be my last and when they are over and in a few hours they will shall not I be at perfect ease and rest Hath God done and the blessed Jesus suffered so much for me Is Heaven so blessed and glorious a place that it transcends all I can imagin And shall I make excuses and frame Apologies resist and struggle be backward and unwilling to endure a little pain that I might go to God and Christ and be in Heaven Have not many endured more and greater pain in hope of less advantage Have I not a Saviour who experimentally knows what it is to be pain'd and die to stand by succour support and assist me in this terrible passage from Time to Eternity Finally O my trembling Soul may not the pains of that hour be much less than I fear think and apprehend they will be Am I loth to die now because this body must go to the grave rot and putrifie and lie a long time among Worms Fond affections to a lump of Clay is this the reason of my unwillingness O wretched sinful Soul where 's thy Faith concerning that fundamental Article the Reâ—urrection of the Dead Is not Christ risen and shall not they that sleep in Christ rise too Will not the glorious morning quickly dawn Will not the day of redemption of the body ere long come And shall not this Body this very Body of mine be quickned raised and in all respects be much better than now it is Will it not be a Beautiful and Comely a Strong and Healthful a Powerful and Active a Spiritual and Immortal Body Will not a time come when our last enemy DEATH shall be destroyed and mortality be swallowed up of LIFE When I shall sleep in the dust I shall not think the time long and when my Lord shall come and the trumpet sound and arise ye Dead shall be spoken by the mighty and powerful Jesus shall I not live and dye no more Therefore let me be willing to die once and since I must once let me be willing to die now What is there O my Soul in this vain wretched and sinful World that I should desire to stay yet longer in it What is this Flesh this Body that I should be loth to lay it in the grave What can be frightful and terrible in death since Christ hath conquer'd disarm'd it and taken out the sting What is there in the other World I am so loth to go unto it Have not I sinn'd and suffer'd sorrow'd and griev'd groan'd and wept long enough already Have I not been afflicted tempted and buffeted long enough already Why do I not long for deliverance Look O my Soul Heaven is prepared the gates are open and there 's a mansion for thee Hearken listen thy God thy Jesus calls saying come Christian come away from a dark and sinful miserable and defiled World to this World of Life Light and Love Angels and Saints O my Soul are longing for thy arrival with one consent they wish thee safely landed The former are ready to be thy convoy to yonder glorious World the latter with a triumphant joy will welcome thee as soon as ever thou comest thither Linger no longer but go out O my Soul go out with Joy and Triumph My God hath prepared Heaven for me an happiness beyond infinitely beyond all my thoughts hopes and wishes an happiness that will amaze and transport me as soon as ever I am landed on that blessed shore an happiness that is perfect without any defect and eternal without any end My blessed and loving Jesus hath by his sufferings blood-shed and Death purchased Heaven and a Mansion for me What a glorious blessed Heaven must that be which was the purchase of such sacred pretious and invaluable blood is Heaven the purchase of my Saviours warmest blood Excellent place This all this am I now called to take possession of but oh how loth and unwilling am I to go it is my sin my shame and folly that I am so pardon pity and help me Lord I have been speaking to my self chiding reproving blaming and persuading this sinful silly and backward heart of mine but to what little purpose And now dear Lord I turn my self and speak to thee for I shall never be willing except thy Spirit and Grace make me so I see that Heaven is on the other side but yet how loth am I to step into a dark cold and solitary grave I am convinc'd that Heaven is better than Earth that it is worth a dying to go to God and Christ and yet I cannot ah what a sinful wretched heart have I I cannot long and wish to die Oh pardon my lothness and backwardness and give me a more humble obedient submissive and resigning frame that if this Cup