commands not practicable by men of their blood and Spirits Religion now adays is thought to emasculate men and render them tame and cowardly Basely to submit themselves to their own unruly passions with these is Courage To be Bears and Tygers is accounted Gentle and Manly These are the Lordly creatures that are so tender of their Honors that they will rather violate the Laws of the great God than the least Punctilio of it To humour or win a Fantastical Mistresse 't is well they are not in hearing when I call her so they durst venture upon the wrath of their maker For the wall or the way for a wry word or a straw they durst venture their necks to the Halter and their souls to the Devil Are not these the true Sons of Valour Such that even in cold blood and upon sober deliberation dare damn themselves And why because forsooth they are afraid of being call'd Cowards and abus'd by every body else should they have past by one injury They could tell what this was but what the Hell they leapt into was they knew not till they found themselves there and by that time poor wretches how was their courage cool'd And now at length you valiant Fighters wonder not if God himself be stept into the Field against you What do you think you have met with your match yet Nay but he hath not yet appeared with all his strength He hath only sent one of his Warriours Death sitting upon the Pale-Horse but see what a terrible Second there is Hell follow'd after him Rev. 6. 8. But come try your Manhood upon this first The hour he appoints is when he pleaseth the Weapon he now chiefly fights with is the Plague take you what you will the Place is London What Cowards do you turn your backs now Are you afraid to Dye and yet are not afraid to be Damn'd What will you laugh at Hell and now quake at Death and flie from it But think not your heels can secure you nor any place you can flie to sooner or later be sure hee 'l find you out What did you challenge God to the Combat and now do you run for 't Can you deny it What else meant all your open impudent wickednesse but to bid God do his worst For to fin you were resolved let him right himself how he could God threw down his Gauntlet when he said The Soul that sins shall dye You took it up when y ou rush't upon those sins What you miserable Caitiffs you Children of the Devil who is a Murderer must you stand upon your terms and command observance from your Companny and will draw at the least Affront and shall God be carelesse of his Honour Was it not present death for a man to throw a Glasse of Liquor in your face And have you done lesse against God one day after another by pouring down your superfluous Glasses Did the Lye deserve the stab and shall you go Scot-free who have so often given the Lye to God himself speaking to you by his Word and Ministers his Spirit and your own Consciences Nay what you count the most unsufferable Reproach have you not been ready to interpret Gods Patience for Cowardice Well you are wont to call your selves Gentlemen Know then That for these and a multitude of such Affronts God demands Satisfaction and have it he will one way or other Your speedy Repentance and believing recourse to the blood that speaks better things than that of murdered Abel may appease him otherwise when he makes Inquisition for blood hee 'l take the proudest of you by the Throat and cast you to the Tormentors and verily you shall not come thence till you have paid the utmost Farthing 8. Another very heinous sin amongst us is Prophanation of the Lords Day and neglect of the Worship of God How many are idling away their time at home or which is worse sinning it away in Tipling-houses whilest they should be attending the Publick Service of God Or if they afford their bodily presence there for an hour or two how soon after do they betake themselves to their pleasures as if the rest of the day were their own Or as if when they had prayed to God to keep them that day without sin they might boldly commit it As if when they had beg'd of God to teach them to keep amongst the rest the Fourth Commandment they might then take Liberty to break it And by their after-practice one would judge their prayer had been Lord have mercy upon us and give us leave to break this thy Law Some go to their Drunken Companions some to their Sports others to walk idly in the streets or fields and the most to their common vain and worldly discourse To any thing rather than to private meditation or Family-repetition of what they have heard How far are men from spending this day as beseems those who have Immortal Souls to care for and can spare but little time on week-dayes for such employments Oh how exceeding few are there that are willing rightly to inform themselves of the nature use and end of this day and accordingly to improve it As it is a day set apart to commemorate not only the work of Creation but chiefly of Redemption by Christ our Lord and especially his Resurrection that being to him as a kind of rest from his Labours And moreover as it may be to us a Type and a Resemblance of the Eternal Sabbatism we shall enjoy in the Heavens When we shall rest from all sinful troublesom and bodily works and be wholly employ'd in the admiration and praise of that Divine Love which contrivâ—d and wrought our Redemption and Salvation To have leave thus to spend a day with and for God would be sufficient to engage holy and ingenious Souls with all alacrity and thankfulnesse to embrace the opportunity Such would be asham'd to stand reasoning and enquiring whether they might not halve it with God and rob him and themselves of a good part What a strange tedious thing is it for poor Creatures that know not God nor their own necessities to be obliged to consecrate One day in Seven to spiritual Services for which awakened and experienc't Souls think their whole Life-time little enough How many have we had crying like those Amos 8. 5. When will the New Moon be gone and the Sabbath over That they might again to their pleasures or enjoyments Nay our People have been in more haste than so they could not stay till the Sabbath was over but must to their bargaining their buying and selling How frequent is this with many Shop-keepers in the City when no necessity requires it Well if indeed you are so eagerly bent on your business that you will not keep a Sabbath which God commands you hee 'l force you to another kind of Sabbath than this which you shall have more reason to cry out When will it be over You shall be made to rest from
against an overflowing torrent of wickedness what can I a weak and single person do for the advancement of Holiness against a wicked raging multitude what canst thou do why thou canst strive and dye canst not But what then shall no-body do any thing because every man is but one and hath many difficulties to encounter Or wilt thou therefore do nothing because thou canst not expect a successe answerable to thy desires Or may we not joyn and unite our strength and all set to a shoulder for the carrying on of the work of the Lord Be sure thou shalt always have difficulties to try thee for 't is thy heart God calls for he needs not thy hands Why Man if thou wast alone in all the World having such a Leader and Captain as Christ wouldst thou not stick to his Cause and keep to his Colours and die fighting If not thou deservest not the name of a Christian And if there be so few who seek the things of Christ with how much more vigour and resolution ought those few to bestir themselves and not also forsake their Lord because the rest of the world do but still they should imagine they hear the awakening words of Christ to his Disciples sounding in their ears What will ye forsake me also But this was a digression Let not then I say the consideration of thy being a single person abate any thing of the measures of thy Sorrow for Sin for if all do thus as all may have the same ground there will be none found to charge sin on themselves and acknowledge Gods Justice in all his sharp dispensations Wherefore whoever thou art into whose hands these lines may fall my earnest request to thee yea my strict Injunction is this that thou presently get alone and soberly sit down to the intent study of thy self Beg of God to help thee in this work and do thou endeavour with all faithfulnesse as in his sight who will shortly Judge thee before all the world to rip open to thy self all the baseness that hath been lodg'd in thy heart all the lusts that have been entertained there And Consider well thy Life what known Sins thou hast been guilty of what Duties thou hast omitted And then with all speed and seriousnesse betake thy self to God acknowledg thy own vileness plainly confess that 't is this or that thy sin thy loosness thy covetousness thy pride idlenesse or voluptuousnesse that may have helpt forward his anger And own it as a token of undeserved Grace that all manner of woes have not seiz'd upon thee in thy own person that whilst so many are Afflicted and taken out of the world before thee thou hast warning and leave to prepare for what may befall thee And see that thou labour to represent sin to thy self with all its heightning circumstances and aggravations that the review of it may more deeply affect thee help thy Meditations with those doleful miseries so many now lie under and that in part for thy sins which yet are but the beginning of woes to the impenitent and then think if these are no jesting matters what is the sin that procur'd them Think of that matchless Love that continued Patience that clear Light those great Engagements Purposes and frequent Promises that thou hast sinned against till at length these Considerations work thee to such an apprehension of sin that thou canst not conceive of any suffering suited to its demerit but the everlasting wrath of the most dreadful Majesty and till thou acknowledge not only thy contributing to the present calamity but that if the rest of the Nation had been like thee it would surely have been all in flames before now Be sincere and thorow in this humiliation of soul and take heed of neglecting any such Consideration as may help on the same Review thy Self thy Place and Relations and what in them was expected from thee which thou failedst in performing and accordingly lay it to heart and judge and condemn thy self and behaviour If in any place of Honour and Service thou hast not improved thy interest for the rooting out of Sin and advancement of Holiness account thy negligence aggravated by the greatness of the Talents thou wast entrusted with Wast thou a man of Wealth Wit Power a Magistrate a Minister a Master of a Family Take a strict account of and humbly bewail thy unfaithfulness to thy several Trusts and thy carelesness of those duties which thy place did peculiarly engage thee to And do not think when thou hast discovered and confess'd sin that then thy work is over as if by thy formalities thou hadst purchased to thy self a dispensation to continue in it like many that think they serve God sufficiently by going to Church and saying their Prayers and in the mean while make this their serving him but a kind of indulgence for their sinning against him But when thou hast made this progress thy next work in order to the obtaining of a Pardon is seriously and deliberately to resolve upon the putting away far from thee every known sin upon mortifying thy dearest lusts and upon a faithful performance of those duties common to all Christians and those thy Talents or Relations call for If thou hast been a debauch't or covetous Person a careless Mispender of thy money or time an Extortioner or Oppressour a racking Landlord or cheating Tradesman a Sabbath-breaker and Neglecter of Duty to God publick or private or hast liv'd in any the like sins enter now into a solemn Covenant with God that by the assistance of his Almighty Grace thou wilt never more allow thy self in such a course of Impiety If thou hast abused thy Riches and laid them out only in making provisions for thy own or others lusts If thou thoughtest thy Dignity above others did dispense thee a liberty of sinning without controll and accordingly hast misimprov'd it If thou hast been unfaithful in the execution of Justice with which thou wast entrusted neither looking after sin to punish it nor punishing it when it was revealed to thee but hast rather been a Terrour to good works than to evil If as a Minister thou hast been regardless of the souls of those committed to thy oversight only striving to enrich thy self not better thy people practising those sins thou hast preach'd against Or if as Ruler of a Family thou hast been negligent not setting up the Worship of God in thy House but gone from one day to another without so much as a serious Prayer nor hast instructed thy Children nor Servants in the fear of the Lord whatever in a word thy trust and unfaithfulness to it hath been confess and lament the same and resolve for the future to do thy utmost to discharge thy duty to answer and fill up thy several Relations And here again let not any insist on that silly Objection before mention'd What can my repentance do to the diverting of Judgments that flow in upon us like a deluge
your works longer than this comes to if you cannot afford God that small space of time he affords you And you that were wont to be so weary of the Prayer and Sermon and shift postures first up and then down peeping at the Glasse or your Watch Is it not equal that you should be held with those pains which shall make you weary for somewhat when you shall turn from side to side but get no ease and count all the tedious hours of the night expecting every moment to sink into that woful state where are no more dayes or nights or hours where you shall never have a moments rest through a whole Eternity And then say whether the Service of God or the Sufferings you feel from God be the more tedious If wicked wretches thus loosely encroach upon the Lords own day may we not well fear lest God should depopulate our Land that so at length it may enjoy its Sabbaths And is it not just they should be seized with a disease which admits not of a Minister to visit them who in the time of life and health did so little care for their Minister How many who have been shut up from all converse with men were wont formerly to excommunicate themselves from the Publick Congregation And if they would not stir over their Threshold to the Church 't is just they should not stir out at all And may we not see many doors praying now whose owners were not before wont to pray either in Publick or with their Families on the Lords Day or any other time Nay perhaps might be deriders of all serious praying and only use to take Gods Name in vain with their Formalities Is it not just then that those who were utterly unacquainted with and it may be jeer'd at praying by the Spirit should be taught by the feeling of their flesh to groan out an hearty Lord have mercy upon us 9. Another very common sin somewhat related to the former is the contempt and abuse of the Ordinances of Christ especially the Lords Supper whilest so many partake of the Table of the Lord and in some sense of the Table of Devils which what is it but to provoke the Lord to jealousie as if we were stronger than he 1 Cor. 10. 21 22. Many there are indeed whose Hypocrisie and Treachery is only known to God and though the Minister cannot yet these he will find out To vow obedience to God whil'st we intend and perform nothing lesse this is such a wickednesse so solemnly to mock him as he will not bear at his creatures hands And how many Thousands are guilty of such falshood and perjury For the breach of these Oaths be sure the Land mourns When each member of the Church thus Covenants to Reform himself and yet still continues in wickednesse How is the receiving this Sacrament made a meer matter of course And if it be remembred for a day it 's well but the engagement then made is presently forgot But believe it God will not forget it so How many have we that are Celebrating the remembrance of Christs death to day who are Crucifying him again to morrow And such as these I chiefly intend who whil'st they customarily renew their obligations to live to the honour of their Lord do what in them lies to put him to an open shame And where is the place where difference is put betwixt the precious and the vile and any scruple made of casting Pearls before Swine Childrens bread to Dogs Whosoever's fault this is that it is a fault and a very heinous one too can hardly be denied by any that use to read what Qualifications Scripture requires of all that are admitted not only to some more solemn Ordinances but into Church-communion If covetous persons Drunkards Swearers Whoremongers and all disorderly Walkers are to be noted withdrawn from and not to be eaten with take the word in what sense you will then let the most impartial charitable person judge what a vast and sad difference there is betwixt the precept and our practice Si hoc sit Evangelium non sumus Evangelici Where are they that walk after this Rule And 't is not likely that this very sin which brought sicknesses and death upon the Corinthians should have lost its provoking nature by the tract of time or any difference of circumstances betwixt us and them It cannot surely be thought that the Commonnesse of this miscarriage nor yet the difficulty and seeming impossibility which some are apt to pretend of having it remedied should render it lesse displeasing to that Holy God who is so jealous about his Sanctuary If Vzzah was smitten for his too bold officiousnesse in staying the tottering Ark and 50070 men of the Bethshemites for their curiosity in prying into it how shall they be able to stand before the Lord in the day of his vengeance who have so profan'd his holy Ordinances Interest sometimes restrains men from punishing a crime that is universal but believe it this takes no place in God No to his mercy we owe it only that our punishment is not as extensive as our guilt But surely this his Besom of destruction with which he sweeps away multitudes clearly speaks it self sent to scourge a general sin and I know none more than this we are now upon And it is not mens Lazinesse or carnal interests their lothnesse to displease either the Vulgar or Great Ones by whom they live that shall here or in the day of their appearance before the great Law-giver and Judge excuse their disobedience to his so expresse and peremptory Injunctions To tell them then that his Commands were inconsistent with their ease or the favour of men which is the voyce of their present negligence will hardly excuse them who have so often told others That no man can be Christs Disciple much less then a Minister without very great measures of Self-denial If any of those whom they now please by their cowardice and compliance will then bear them out they are safe enough but if that is not to be expected they had best bethink themselves in time how to give a comfortable account of their Stewardship Though private members performing their duty may not justly pretend the Pastors negligence to justifie a Separation yet how far others assuming a power to themselves if they execute it not will excuse those who are deputed to dispense these mysteries when they shall deliver them to such whom they have good reason to think unworthy it behoves them who are concerned well to consider The unworthy receiver himself it may be hath some pretence or other to shift the blame from off him as that he was never admonished nor suspended but all these evasions will be too gross to pass for current with a just Judge I hope 't is no scandalous thing to bewail the want of and earnestly desire a Discipline amongst us as guilty as the word is grown By whom or with what
and there one in a Town and these even as the Remnant of the Faithful amongst the Israelites have been the wonder and scorn of the rest These have been the Song of Drunkards and they together with that Word they walk by have been the sport of those whose hearts have been merry as Sampson was to the Philistine Lords They and their Scripture serve the profane Gallant to shew his Wit and help the Poet to Matter for his Play These for the most part are looked at as the most pernicious to the Places where they live And upon them Malice hath its narrowest eye He that departs from Evil makes himself a Prey they have hated and put to silence him that hath reproved in the Gate and abhorred him that spake uprightly and after all wiped their mouths and said Let the Lord be glorified Were not we arriv'd to a most doleful state when the most exact obedience to the Laws of God was accounted less disgraceful than the most open violation of them and few durst plead for and practise Holiness with that confidence that others durst commit and own known Sins How hath God waited long and made the Power of his Long-suffering to appear striving with us in the ways of Love and mingling Corrections with his Mercies that he might prevail with us to pity our selves but all in vain He punish'd us with the Sword and kep't us long in the Furnace and we are com'n out less refined Again he tried us with mercies but we improved them not He hath threatned when he might have destroyed and born with us long to prevent our ruine and yet nothing would work But we have prest him with our iniquities and even made him to serve with our sins we have grieved his Spirit by our stubborness and rebellion and have began to think because he kept silence he was such one as we and liked well enough of our ways and because his Judgments were not speedily executed our hearts have been fully set to do evil And when we were come to this pass and God was even weary with withholding and there were so few to stand in the gap to turn away his wrath and even of them many in a great measure thrust out of it Were we not ripe for destruction Was not our Ephah full Is it then any wonder if at length God be risen to plead with us in a manner that shall make us know and feel that he ruleth in the World who will by no means acquit the impenitent who though he bear long yet will not always bear wit h a stiff-necked Generation Could we expect any other than that God should make bare his Arm and visit us for these things and ease himself of his Adversaries and avenge himself of such obstinate Contemners of his Laws and Authority And what Shall the Lion roar and not the Beasts of the Forest tremble Is God angry and shall not we fear Doth he shake his Rod over us nay lay it upon us so that Thousands feel it in their flesh and all hear the sound of its terrible lashes and yet do we not tremble Shall not our haughty countenances change and the joynts of our loins be loosed now there is an Invisible hand come forth writing such bitter things against us Hath God such a sore Controversie with us Hath he done so much and yet will he yet do these and these things against us and wilt thou not yet prepare to meet thy God Oh England Oh the dreadful senslessnesse and stupidity of the hearts of our People How few are yet careful to learn Righteousnesse by the Judgments that are amongst us Notwithstanding this day of Adversity how few will be brought to Consider Is not this a direful presage of farther Wrath And that it is even an utter Destruction that is coming upon us Oh what a spirit of slumber and sottishnesse hath possest the most If it is not so with those about thee Reader thou dwellest in a happy place Though people hear of Thousands Dying about thee and have daily reason to expect their turn should be next yet how regardlesse do they appear of all due preparations for it as ever They flatter themselves with a conceit that yet they may escape and that Death shall not come nigh their Dwellings and so post off all thoughts of it taken up with the very same businesses designs and pleasures they were always wont But what should we say can Sword or Famine or Plague or any outward Affliction work on them who have been nothing bettered but rather hardned by Commands Promises and Threatings Can the Rod plead with and importune them so as the Word hath done Will Sickness inform command argue and beseech so affectionately as the Minister was wont Where Moses and the Prophets might not be heard what can prevail If hewing them with the Prophets and slaying them with the words of his mouth would not affect them Hos 6. 5. Shall the Execution of his Judgments bring light Why yes no doubt God hath his Chastisements which setting on and enforcing his Word do often humble and reform Souls and he hath also those Punishments by which he Destroys And if men will will strive against his Spirit and resist it's workings shut their eyes against the light contemn Instruction yea harden themselves under Correction and rather hate the God who makes them smart than the sins that procure it like those in Rev. 16. who blasphemed God when they were in anguish what can be expected but the final ruine of the People or Persons that are guilty of such Stubbornnesse and Impenitency And oh that this were not the case of multitudes amongst us The Lord awaken those that are yet in a capacity to a timely prevention of such a doleful misery And thus I have given an account of those Crying Sins that are to be found amongst us which belong to the first Branch which comprehended under it those sins that were more evident and notorious And by this we have made way for the Second to discover some such miscarriages which may be lesse evident but no lesse hainous than these as being indeed in a great measure productive of them and therefore I thought it methodical enough to proceed from the sensible effects to the somewhat more latent Cause All that I shall speak of the latter Branch I shall reduce to this one Head namely That it may very justly be presumed to have a great Influence in the procuring our Miseries that so many able Ministers of Christ have of late been silent and in a manner useless compared to what they might have been had they continued their Publick Employments Thus far I hope none will be offended For if it be granted de facto that there are many whom God had furnished with abilities to serve him in the Ministery which he had called them to that have not exercised those abilities to the best advantage in that Function and I think
Day that deserves to be wrote in Black Letters in England's Calendar Grant this Oh my God for thy Son Christ Jesus sake I beseech thee and let all that seek thy Glory and the Prosperity of thy Church say Amen If any upon the reading of this should argue me either of too great confidence in making such an attempt or want of judgment to conceive there was any probability of the success when much more likely endeavours have been uneffectual Let such know That when I had designed to do my utmost towards a discovery of those Sins which have provoked Gods anger against us I should have thought my self unfaithful to the Cause I undertook had any fear or pretence of Reason prevailed with me to pass silently over a miscarriage of such a nature as I have manifested this to be so fruitful of and complicate with many others And if any thing unequal to be framed by a Law I hope that alters not the nature of it so far as to make it above a Subject to call things by their own names Had an Act pass'd for the toleration of Drunkenness or any the like Sin I should have taken the boldness to represent the ill nature and consequences of it And though it is not impossible but prejudice may spy out very great faults yet I hope both as to the matter and manner of Discourse I have not transgress't the bounds of sobriety modesty nor that duty which I owe my Superiours Moreover I conceived That now God calls us all to search our hearts and review our ways they who themselves put us upon this work and exhort us to Repentance and Prayer will not be unwilling to reflect upon themselves and their own actions as remembring they are men subject to the same mistakes and frailties that the rest of the sons of lapst Adam are And if indeed it be made evident That amongst other Errands one voice of the Rod now upon us is Let my people go that they may serve me Let my faithful Ministers have liberty to advance my Gospel I hope those who are particularly called to from Heaven will not be disobedient Again I was willing so far as was consistent with my main Design to represent to the World if any yet be ignorant of it the nature of the difference betwixt us however to manifest thus much how willing yea how earnestly desirous some if not all of those suspended from their Ministerial Employments are to be re-admitted to the same and what reasonable terms they beg and readily offer a submission to if they might be heard that so they who are so forward to condemn them all as obstinate and perverse may be more wary of their censures and confine them to those only whom they know so guilty And I hop't I might do something to quicken all those whose hearts are affected with the Concernments of the Church to more earnestness in their Addresses to God That he in whose hands the heart of Kings and all men are would incline our Superious to hearken to the Requests and graciously to regard the Cause of so many of the Servants of Christ who when his Church so much needs their labours and they would so willingly spend themselves in the service of souls are to the sadning of their hearts in a great measure rendered unserviceable in their Generations And lastly Thus much however I shall attain viz the satisfaction of my Conscience in the discharge of my Duty that I can herein approve my self to God and my own soul that I have done what in me lies toward the procuring of my own and others Liberty that if it shall still be denied I may have nothing to charge my self with in this respect and may comfort my self in this that the improvement of such a Liberty shall no more be required of me by the righteous Judge of Heaven and Earth than the improvement of a great Estate or a place of Honour or some such Talent with which I was never entrusted And if I obtain but thus much though I strongly hope for more I shall be far from repenting of my undertaken labour for I must confess that seems not to me a small thing which any way conduceth to my having of boldness before my Lord at the day of his appearing A word or two more I shall take Liberty to add upon this Head before I relinquish it If the removal of so many Labourers out of the Lords Harvest is so grievous a Sin both in its self and the sad consequences of it then all others and even they themselves so far as they have contributed to this their removal or have not since endeavoured to prevent those consequences have cause to be greatly humbled And first Even all the People who have sinned their Teachers into corners by their Pride Wantonness and Unfruitfulness under the Means of Grace But especially those private Persons who by their malice either did or at least endeavoured to contribute to their ejection or to the hastning of it What Volumns might be composed even another Book of Martyrs or Confessors rather of the Sufferings many of these Servants of Christ have met with from the Arbitrary violence of unreasonable men For I speak not of what the Law hath imposed on them How have some been toss't from place to place their Houses searched and they confined and all this either upon groundless suspition or false accusations for where was the man of them that hath yet been proved guilty of Treason or Sedition Oh the notorious gross Lyes and Perjuries that some of their People have been guilty of both before and since their ejection And yet how readily accepted by many And what 's the ground of all Why alas they had got many Hearers the Great-ones especially who were scandalized at the strictness of their Doctrines and Lives and angry that they might not go to Hell quietly who studied to be Revenged on them for the disturbance they had received from them in their Sins Thus I dare confidently say it hath been with many And though such may have thought they have been doing God good service whilest they have been persecuting his Ministers yet believe it they shall have small thanks from him that sent them upon that Errand the delivery whereof may have brought them so much trouble and that they shall find to their smart without true repentance if many of them have not already What could not men be content to reject the Embassy God sent them but they must injure and abuse his Embassadors too Shal not God proclaim war against that people that have thus violated the Law of Nations They would scarce have done thus to an Embassadour sent from the Turk to perswade us to exchange Christ for Mahomet and the Gospel for the Alcoran But Oh let let them alone they are safe enough 'T is the Factious Non-conformist not the Christian Minister they have medled with Not the Holy Jesus that came from
flesh shall never trouble you more for ever Now shall your Prayers at length be all heard your Complainings ended your Expectations and Longings satisfied and accomplished Chear up chear up brave Souls but one step more and then you are at your Fathers house Methinks I see the Arms of Christ stretcht out to receive you and Angels waiting to conduct you to his Arms. Fear not nor be dismaid confidentlie resign your Souls to him who laid down his life for you The darknesse lasts but a little while and presentlie you will come into the open light oh the difference you will in a moment find betwixt your dark and silent room and the mansion that shall be assigned you in your Fathers house To which the stateliest Palace is a loathsom dungeon Oh what Acclamations and Hallelujahs what crying Holie Holie Holie what Glorious Praises and loud noises What Crowns and Scepters what Riches and Beauties will your ears and eyes be presentlie stricken with So that you will be amazed and wonder whether you are come and where you have been all this while that you never heard nor saw these things before So infinitelie will they exceed your highest thoughts when Faith helpt you to the clearest views But all your strangenesse and amazement will soon be over Surprisals of joy will dissipate and succeed them This is the Glorie the hopes whereof upheld you all your daies and the glimmerings and fore-tasts did so oft revive you Now you shall at length see the Lord who lov'd you and gave himself for you and whom your Souls have loved Oh is there not life in his smiles And if he smiles upon you all the Angels and Saints will bid you welcome For his beck and pleasure it is that rules all There you shall be entred into that throng of Blessed Spirits yours shall their Employments be their Priviledges shall be yours Then shall your understandings be enlightened your affections raised and all your capacities widened and all be fill'd with suitable truth and goodnesse the latent powers of your souls shall then be awakened into that high Celestial Life Then shall you be nearer to your Saviour than John when he leaned on his Bosome and shall taste the full fruits of his dear and costlie love Then then blessed Soul thou shalt know and see and feel and enjoy thy God and be brought as near to him as thy Soul can desire and receive as much from him as thy nature is capable The Lord thy Redeemer having by his Blood and Spirit accomplished his whole designe upon thee and fitted thee for will lead thee into the Fathers presence and so thou shalt enter upon the state of constant and full communion with him And shall be always spending an Eternitie in Contemplating and Admiring his Excellencies and Glories and singing his Praises in the warm-breathings and out-goings of thy heart after him and in the ravishments of highest mutual Love and dearest Complacency betwixt thy enlarged Soul and infinite essential goodnesse even the God of Loves This thou shalt have but what this is though I had leasure and skill to say ten thousand times more then I have done thou couldst not know the thousandth part till thou doest enjoy it Wherefore with an holy impatience and eager joy enter upon the possession of all the Treasures of Love which Death comes to Translate thee to Bid it heartily welcome open thy breast and let it strike 'T is but the prick of a Pin the smarts ceast assoon as its in the Pangs of it are gone in a trice See they are over already all pain was expired with that last groan and now thou art entered upon thy Joy Farewell Blessed Souls whom I hope shortly to follow and with you to celebrate an Everlasting Communion in the Presence Praise and Love of the Great Jehovah and his Son Christ Jesus to whom in the Vnity of the Spirit be rendred all Honour Power and Glory now and Eternally Amen FINIS