all else fails you Psalm 73.26 When the Onset is vigorous and begins to impress be then strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Eph. 6.10 To that End remember whose Cause you plead and who employs you Read oft your Commission where you will find a promise fit to revive your very fainting Spirit Matth. 28.20 Lo I am with you to the end of the World One less faithful and compassionate than our Saviour is if possessed of Power would not suffer any Servant he employed to sink in a Business wherein himself hath the greatest concernment If your Hearts be upright and you have God's Work in hand the more eminently you are employed the greater Supports you 'll find and in the most difficult Enterprize he is careful to give the greatest assurance Ier. 1. 7 8 18. Ezek. 3. 8 9. One promise he can so spirit and fill with Power that it shall set thy Soul above all Fears and cause Strength to advance to thy own feeling in very extremity above what it appeared in the easiest of thy ways Trust then in him with thy whole Heart And because what repels our Fears tends to encourage us it 's not improper oft seriously to think what far greater mischiefs we escape by not drawing back or doing the work of the Lord deceitfully than what can attend a faithful discharge of our work which hath so great a reward when finished Heb. 10.38 Rev. 3.5 Herewith I have finished an Account of what 's necessary to support us under the Difficulties attending publick Usefulness viz. Humility mortifiedness to the World and Christian Fortitude 3. Several things are needful as tending to secure or at least facilitate the success of your Work persisted in Herein we should be solicitous that as much as in us lies the End we propose may not be defeated but that those receive that profit which we sincerely conduce to by our Endeavours whereby we may eventually prove Blessings to them To this End 1. You must duly address your selves to God to engage his Help Be much in Prayer to and dependance on God through Christ our Mediator Look to him for Direction that you may not mistake your Work nor the best way to perform it Seek to him for abundant Anointings that you may not be unqualified in proportion to your Undertaking His constant Assistance and Blessing must be fervently implored Neh. 1.11 without which your most probable Attempts will be vain yea turn to your reproach and shame And that you may be in the likelier posture for a gracious Return keep all clear between God and your own Consciences regard to iniquity in your heart Psal. 66.18 Rely on Christ's Merits and Intercession and be always ready to ascribe to God the entire Glory of all your serviceableness and success for he is a jealous God and generally blasteth that wherein he is not acknowledged we must make God all in all if we would signifie any thing 2. Be careful of your own Behaviour before those to whom you endeavour to be profitable that it conduce to and do not hinder your Usefulness Prevent all Prejudices gain their Affection and Esteem possess them with a sence of your Kindness to them good Designs towards them and your own Belief of and earnestness of Soul for the matters you call them to entertain and submit to exercise great Patience Meekness and Tenderness and see that your whole Behaviour be circumspect and your Life exemplary 1 Pet. 5.3 that they may find no just Exception against your Doctrine or Endeavours If they take occasion unjustly or that by wicked persons you are falsly slandered you may better hope God will prevent the unprofitableness of your Labours or at least accept them Neither is it unfit to be cautious how you dispute with them concerning Secular Interests avoid also fondness of External Respect and yet be as jealous that you forfeit not an Internal Reverence nor prostitute your Authority as you are Christ's Embassadours Rom. 11. 13 14. 3. Labour to attain and use true Wisdom in the ordering of your Endeavours that they may be apt to real Publick Usefulness 1. I call it true Wisdom not only to oppose it to Folly and Indiscretion but also to all Knavish Craftiness God's Cause needs no base Tricks upright Men abhor the use of them Christ seldom prospereth such to serve his Interest but if he over-rule them to any common Good as sometimes he doth other pieces of Wickedness yet he will never justifie or accept such Methods but condemn those ways and them who use them But indeed as base Tricks consist not with sincere Designs of a Publick Good so they are never used with that intention No no let Men's pretences be never so sacred it 's to serve a carnal selfish turn to propagate or uphold some private Faction in opposition to the true Extensive Interests of Christ in the World The eminently Useful could not die in peace if they must not say with the Apostle Our rejoycing is this the Testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly Wisdom but by the Grace of God we have had our Conversation in the World 2 Cor. 1.12 They were wiser than to think that will be accounted a service to Christ in life for which without Repentance he will cast them into Hell at their death This Text may assure us that Paul's Guile with which he caught these very People 2 Cor. 12.16 was not any thing contrary to godly Sincerity which in this Epistle the fore-cited place he had with more than usual care instanced towards them it was therefore no other than honest Wisdom or godly Prudence even that which I have said is so needful to advantage the Success of your well designed Labour it was an instance of his Self-denial not his Self seeking He used his sparing their Purses as a help to save their Souls upon finding their Temper such that the Gospel was like to be less profitable to them if he subsisted by it This was far enough from any misrepresenting and undermining cheating dividing imposing ensnaring and intangling Arts or Methods ways so abominable in the most ordinary Affairs between Man and Man that you should tremble at a thought of using them in matters enstamped with the Name of God yea tho' it were but in defending a Publick Good and your self from the dangerous attempts of such as practise them 2. Yet true Wisdom and Prudence be very needful to direct your just Endeavours in the greatest aptness to succeed with all those whom you design to benefit A true Judgment of Persons and Seasons with a direct regard to the End and an exquisite understanding of the nature of the various lawful Means will qualifie you to chuse the fittest Means to that End with those Persons God's Word Prayer Consideration and Experience must be your helps to arrive to Wisdom and be sure to exercise and apply to all your Endeavours the
or ascribed the honour of past successes or performances to your selves Pour out your complaints and your apprehensions of your own weakness before the Lord who is full of pity and faithful and whose strength is manifest in our weakness 2 Cor. 12. 8 9. Be much in the contemplations of Heaven review your own experiences of seasonable sufficient supports when your fears were as great as at present and attentively think it 's but a little while and my work is over He that shall come will come and will not tarry and all the promises of perseverance were made to Souls in Eminent Service by doing and suffering which you may safely apply to your selves expecting those greater Consolations and Supplies which God will not disappoint you in 4. To useful Persons inclining to Remisness in the Service of their Generation The greatest part of this Discourse being so much directed to your Case I shall only advise you to renew your Covenant with God in Christ. Reflect on your selves what you found when vigorously useful and what you feel now in this declining Frame Enquire what forfeitures you have made of the Spirits quickening influences or what lust begins to invade your Souls or what Carnal thing is setting up for an Idol Pray earnestly for exciting Grace and be much in such Soliloquies as these Am not I a Redeemed Sinner and shall I neglect the interests of my Redeemer Shall I disregard the end of my Being break my Vows be false to my trust Is it not in well-doing that I grow weary Are my Talents less accountable for than they were or have I now more reason to think that my Abilities were not given for Publick use Where shall I stop if I recover not What shall I be doing the residue of my time if I cease to be useful What may I meet with to awaken me out of this slothful Sleep Do others less need my help or have I the leave of God to be remisser Can I think Christ a worse Master than before or Heaven less worthy of my pains Dare I commend the unprofitable part of Mankind that I am thus about to justify or condemn the eminently useful whom now I seem resolved to censure Must not I shortly on a Death-bed reflect on what a barren life I am going to live and the blessed Courses I put a stop too Have I done more already than Christ deserves at my hands who died for me or would I be content he should now more remissly intercede in my behalf Plead such things closely and frequently with your Hearts and force a deliberate answer that all may issue in fresh resolves to be more vigorous than ever and in shame and grief that you could be inclinable to remisness in Publick Service I shall conclude the whole with three cautions to all who are willing to serve their Generation 1. Equal nothing with the Publick which is short thereof especially your selves Let every thing have its due regard and no more Our esteem of things should be according to their value and our concern is irregular if dissonant from our just Esteem Moses words Exod. 32.32 If not blot me out of thy Book and St. Paul Rom 9.3 For I could wish that my self were accursed from Christ for my Brethren were not Absolute Desires but the regular indications of a Publick Spirit adjusting things as compared together A Common good is above a Particular and the more common still the more Estimable The very Reason why Divine Worship is proper to God is because he is Author of all above all and infinitely more than the whole Creation yea and we cannot but most intend his Glory in our undertakings as our regards are most extensive and make every thing a selfish Idol as we Postpone what 's more Publick to it Nevertheless the true Order is generally inverted Most Men do not account a Mischief or Benefit to be greater or less as they affect the Publick but as they affect themselves we begin and end at the wrong Point and Erect a false Standard when our main concern is how will such Publick Affairs Profit or Damage First My own Person then my own Family then my own Party then my own Nation if at all it will reach so far be warned against this preposterous course look at your selves but as small parts of the whole and to signifie no more than as the Publick is advantaged by you Acknowledge the interest all have in you according to their True Order and your Capacity and obligation to be serviceable to each Be uniform in your Course and let God in a Common good as such be your Governing end Fill up each Place and relation you stand in let each have a due regard and no more Your own Families the particular Church you belong to and the Catholick Church above that also your own City and Nation and the World let all these have their due and this in just order and proportion not exclusively of each other Your Prayers must reach the World your Mental Communion the Catholick Church Occasional Communion to others then that wherein you are stated Members tho' in many things they differ from you In short confine not your Care Estate or Advice below or otherwise than that Mind will dictate which accounts the Body more valuable than a Member and a common Good than a particular If you are Ministers abhor a thought that your Office obligeth you to mind no more Souls than your own Flocks 2. Neglect not your selves whiles you mind the Publick Do not disregard your own Soul no nor Body neither keep the last in a fitness for Service and be ever watchful that the first be in a meetness for Glory and improving for it Work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2.13 Receive your selves the Christ and Mercy you offer to others look not so Abroad as to forget you have a Home yea labour to affect and profit your own Souls by all your endeavours to profit others to walk in the light you give and to grow in Grace by doing all the good you can If you are Ministers oft think of 1 Cor. 9.27 I keep under my Body and bring it into subjection lest that by any means when I have preached to others I my self should be a cast away 3. Disregard not the first or least declinings in those Graces that are the springs of publick Service but be intent to get their vigorous Exercise restored as soon as you perceive abatement Very imperfect Actings will follow decaying Graces and strengthening the last is the way to perfect the first Rev. 3.2 As Ephesus decayed in her first love she abated her first works Rev. 2.4 5. which were Labours and Sufferings for publick use v. 3. Unbelief enmity to God and Man and a narrow Spirit grow as Faith Love and a publick Spirit weaken and those will as much obstruct your Usefulness as these contribute to it they will pervert your
and tended to make him a successful Blessing or his Heart and Hands had failed He was a Man of great uprightness he squared not his Profession by his Secular Interest tho' he had a large Family yet he quitted a full Maintenance rather than sin against God by Conformity Before then he was turned out of his Lecture and kept out a while because he could not comply with some Extravagancies of the late Times and since hath he suffered because he must witness for the Old Truth against Antinomianism His Integrity made him a Stranger to all Tricks and sometimes his Charity betrayed him to be impos'd on by such as use them His Humility was signal he seemed to have the meanest Opinion of his own Gifts and Labours highly esteeming others and envying none no not the acceptance of our promising young Ministers He might say with David I prayer as if made up of that Every Day he prayed twice in his Family to the last moment that he was capable His usual way was to pray 3 or 4 times a day in his Study Upon every extraordinary Occurrence in his House he kept a Fast. Under every Affliction before he would speak of it or pitch on means to redress it he spread it still before God in Prayer which brought him tho' a most affectionate Husband to bear the News of his Wives death with that composure as calmly to say The Lord gave the Lord hath taken away blessed be the Name of the Lord. And after the greatest Losses he was used to speak of them with an unconcernedness as if anothers not his own In Prayer he was mighty and the returns remarkable and frequent He could trust God with all and was still resigned to his Will His solicitous concern was that God might not be dishonoured When he lay Sick this was oft repeated Oh! that I may not dishonour God in my last moments whom in my poor manner I made it the business of my Life to honour Oh! that I may not dishonour my God by my impatience Being one Night under exceeding torture he called his Daughter then present and charged her not to entertain one hard thought of God by any thing he felt but be assured he is infinitely Merciful and none are happy but those that serve him he gives peace of Conscience that 's beyond all the World can give none can die cheerfully but a Christian he shines on my Soul through Christ. God and Heaven were so habituated to him that in some disorder in his Head by his Distemper fixing there he still kept the same Savour breathed the same Spirit and spake of Divine Matters most consistently His Head was not free of those Projects for God which in Health it was ever full of I 'll end this with Mr. Baxter's who knew not how to flatter or fear any Man Account of him Dr. Annesley is a most Sincere Godly Humble Man totally devoted to God Mr. B's Life Having hinted some things that respect the Excellency of this Person some may whisper but what Tokens of God's Favour had this useful Man more than others he had many Troubles and Exercises God testified his Favour to him in Instances which he most esteemed and pursued above all things yea dispised and renounced all compared therewith which is enough to testifie him a happy Man what ever he endured or wanted God kept him faithful in his Work to the last for which he thus thanked God on his Death-Bed Blessed be God I can say I have been faithful in the Work of the Ministry above 55 Years He had great success in his Work many called him Father as the Instrument of their Conversion the worthy Mr. Brand was one many called him Comforter In all his sufferings he found supports which kept him as chearful as his Office and Age allowed under all yea 17 weeks pain without a discontended Word or Thought Signal returns of Prayer he frequently had and very close Communion with God in Christ. His Charity and Care wanted not comfortable Effects How many whom he contributed to the Education of are useful Ministers In how many Places doth Religion flourish by his means God gave him a great Interest in the Hearts of most Ministers and serious People How oft and long did they pray for his Life as a publick Blessing And how generally is his Death lamented He thankfully owned God in all He signally witnessed for him in his Judgments on several of his Persecutors One died signing a Warrant to apprehend him Many might be instanced but it 's fit we cover such in acknowledgment of present Quiet He had uninterrupted peace and assurance of God's Covenant-Love for above 30 years last past It 's true he walked in Darkness for several years before that which is common to those who are converted in Childhood their change not being remarkable and so apter to be questioned and they oft make up in a long time by frequent returns the sad hours that others have pressing in at once But God had a further design viz. The fitting and enclining him to relieve wounded Consciences by his Ministry and Discourse wherein he was so Eminent that most troubled Souls resorted to him He used to say that this made him unable to preach a Sermon without some Word to them This Assurance had not one Cloud in all his Disease He oft said I 've no doubt nor shadow of doubt all 's clear between God and my Soul he Chains up Satan he cannot trouble me To conclude all He had an abundant entrance into God's Kingdom He was reconciled to Death yea so desirous of it as hardly induced him to have his Life prayed for But hearing some Ministers had been servently praying for his Life he replied I 'm then more reconciled to Life than ever for I 'm confident God will not give a Life so eminently in answer of Prayer as mine must be if he would not use it to greater purposes than ever before Yet some little time before his change his desires of Death appear'd strong and his Soul filled with the foretasts of Glory oft saying Come my dearest Jesus the nearer the more precious the more welcome Another time his joy was so great that in an extasie he cried out I cannot contain it what manner of Love is this to a poor Worm I can't express the thousandth part of what praise is due to thee we know not what we do when we offer at praising God for his Mercies it 's but little I can give but Lord help me to give thee my All. I 'll die praising thee and rejoice that there 's others can praise thee better I shall be satisfied with thy likeness satisfied satisfied Oh my dearest Jesus I come Now do not you think Christ is worth the faithfullest Service which ends in this manner To you of this Congregation for whose Salvation he was so concerned shall I say bewail the loss of him when you are so sensible Yet that 's but Just. Bless God for your enjoying his faithful Labours so long see that none of you perish after such pains to save you be established in the Truths you have heard which you see governed his Life to such great purposes and helped him to die with sure Triumph Shew your regard to his Memory by kindness to his Family and by not breaking off from this Church that he may not be reflected on by your giddiness as if he Taught you no better or Established you no more than to be deluded to serve a Carnal Turn in pretence of greater Purity You his Children live your Fathers Advice and Example or what a Witness will he be against you Let us all go hence with a due sence of it The World hath lost a Blessing the Church hath lost a Pillar the Nation hath lost a Wrestler with God the Poor have lost a Benefactor You his People have lost a Faithful Pastor his Children a Tender Father we in the Ministry an Exemplary Fellow Labourer FINIS There is now in the Press A COMPLEAT HISTORY of the most Remarkable Providences both of Iudgment and Mercy which have happened in this present Age Extracted from the best Writers the Authors own Observations and the numerous Relations sent him from divers Parts of the Three Kingdoms To which is added whatever is Curious in the Works of Nature and Art The whole digested into one Volume under proper Heads being a Work set on foot 30 Years ago by the Reverend Mr. Pool Author of the Synopsis Criticorum and since undertaken and finished by William Turner M. A. Vicar of Walberton in Sussex Recommended as Useful to Ministers in furnishing Topicks of Reproof and Exhortation and to private Christians for their Closets and Families Proposals and Specimens giving a fuller Account of it are to be had of I. Dunton at the Raven in Iewen-street and of Edward Richardson near the Poultry Church There is newly Published ⸫ The Character of Dr. Sam. Annesley by way of Elegy with a Preface written by one of his Hearers Price 6 d. Sold by E. Whitlock near Stationers-Hall ⸪ The whole Parable of Dives and Lazarus Explain'd and Apply'd in several Sermons preached in Cripplegate and Lothbury Churches by Ioseph Stevens Lecturer at both Published at the Request of the Hearers and recommended as proper to be given at Funerals Price bound 2 s. Printed for I. Dunton ⸪ The Secret History of White-Hall from the Restoration of Charles II. down to the Abdication of the late King James Writ at the Request of a Noble Lord and conveyed to him in Letters by late Secretary-Interpreter to the Marquis of Louvois who by that means had the perusal of all the private Minutes between England and France for many years The whole consisting of Secret Memoirs c. Published from the Original Papers by D. Iones Gent. Sold by R. Baldwin in Warwick Lane ⸪ The Dying Pastor's last Farewell By Mr. Allyn Printed for I. Dunton Price 1 s.