the swiftest and strongest of wing Isaiah 40.31 they shall mount up with wings as Eagles which soar aloft in the Air so high that the eye of man cannot see them yet themselves are so quick-sighted that they can discern their prey at that vast distance and sowce down upon it like a Thunderbolt hunger adding swiftness to their wings therefore Job makes use of that Emblem to set forth the shortness of the life of man Among the Evangelical Writers we find St. Paul comparing it to a Race And to the end we may perform our Christian Course well he adviseth us to imitate the Roman and Grecian Racers who when they were to run for the Prize put off their cumbersom cloaths that they might run with briskness and agility so as to obtain the reward which was a leafy Crown made up of Bay's or Lawrel c. A fading corruptible and perishing one but we Christians run for an incorruptible Crown 1 Pet. 1.4 an immortal Inheritance that sadeth not away laid up in store for us Wherefore we are the more obliged to lay aside every weight Heb. 12.1 and the Sin which doth so easily beset us and run with patience the Race that is set before us for it is but short and will soon be over Behold saith David Thou hast made my days as an hand breadth which is one of the least measures whether we take it in the largest dimension and expansion of the hand or in the more restrained limitation the breadth only of the hand in both which respects it is very short an inch long saith * In Carmine Lyrico Plutarch Seneca Alcaeus much shorter yet in the grave Moralists Opinions who stile it but a Point Punctum est quod vivimus adhuc puncto minus But St. James who spake by a more excellent spirit Ch. 4.14 Job 14.1 represents it more diminutively in that he calls it a meer Appearance What is your life it is even a Vapour that appeareth for a little while and then vanisheth away Man that is born of a woman is of few days Few in comparison of the Antidiluvian Patriarchs from Adam to Noah who lived near a thousand years fewer yet in regard of the years of Abraham whose life was prolonged but to one hundred threescore and fifteen years Gen. 25.7 8. and yet Moses saith of him that he died in a good old Age an old man and full of years In Moses's time it was limited to threescore years and ten Ps 90. A Psalm of Mâ—ses c. and if by reason of strength men come to fourscore years which is a singular and extraordinary favour yet is their strength then but labour and sorrow and through weakness and infirmities of Age they are a burden to themselves unable to bear the aches and pains and indispositions and diseases incident to their sickly natures and unfit to perform the acts and offices of Religion and Repentance towards God and in a little time they are cut off and gone to their long homes where they can never have any more opportunities of Repentance In a moment which is the shortest parcel of time that we can imagine they go down to the Grave and on a sudden vanish away Lo this is the length of the short life of man and since we must shortly put off this Tabernacle of Flesh and Bones it concerns us as much as our Souls are worth to prepare them with grace and holiness that they may be fit for the appearance of Christ and be precious and lovely in his eyes and that we may not be terrified and affrighted at his coming as those Kings of the Earth and great Men and rich Men and chief Captains and mighty Men whom St. John speaks of in the Revelation Ch. 6.15 16 17. Who shall then hide themselves in the Dens and in the Rocks of the Mountains and say to the Mountains and Rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand 2. It is very uncertain Man knoweth not his time as the Fishes that are taken in an evil Net and as the Birds that are caught in the snare so are the sons of men snared in an evil time Eccles 12.9.12 when it falleth suddenly upon them Death often comes when persons are most secure and careless and least expect it Dives the representative of the Voluptuous World promised himself long life secular prosperity and the fullest satisfactions that the creature could afford To that end he resolved to make the largest preparations for many years Festival living He said to himself This will I do I will pull down my Barns Luke 12.18 19. and build greater and there will I bestow all my Fruits and my Goods and I will say to my Soul Soul thou hast much Goods laid up for many years take thine ease eat drink and be merry But alas all his projects failed him and his designs were disappointed for he never saw the light of another day God said unto him thou fool this night thy Soul shall be required of thee Then whose shall all those things be which thou hast provided And for ought the wisest of us know this may be our own case while we are seeking after the fulness of earthly contentments and delights our Souls may be separated from the embraces of their Bodies and all our hopes perish Do not our lives depend upon many uncertainties diseases and fatal accidents See we not Epist 120. saith Seneca to Lucilius How many incommodities do torment us sometimes we complain of our heads then of our breast and throat sometimes we are pained in our Nerves and vexed in our feet to day the Flux to morrow a Rheum disturbs us sometimes too much blood sometimes too little every way we are troubled Nihil satis est morituris nihil morientibus There is nothing that contenteth us that are to die nay that die every day for we daily approach our last hour and there is not a day or hour that driveth us not into the Grave where we must rest It is observed by Gallen and Hippocrates that Man is more liable to diseases and distempers and his life is more endangered by them then any other Creature Rom. 5.12 the reason may be because he hath sinned more then they for by sin Death with all its antecedents fore runners and harbingers entred into the world and so passed upon all men for that all have sinned There is not the least disease incident to our frail nature but hath been armed with power sufficient to conquer and overcome Some die by Fevers as Vespasian Antonius Julius the 2d and Boniface the 9th Platina Riâ—aut in vit others by Apoplexies as Valentinian the Emperor Pope Paul the 2d occasioned by his intemperate eating of Melons Sometimes
are all extinct in the Dust and mouldred to Atoms as are also those Triple Mitred Popes that from the time of Gregorius Magnus the last of the good and first of the bad to this day have filled the Roman Chair and affected the Title of Oecumenical Bishops and claimed an exorbitant Power and Supremacy over the Church of Christ and made Europe to tremble with their dreadful Fulminations But they have all found that there is a Hell for the Unrighteous and a Heaven for the Just but no Purgatory save that of the Blood of Christ which purgeth from all sin These are manifest proofs that Death is not to be avoided 'T is our wisdom then to prepare for it for by that means tho it be formidable to Nature yet the sting thereof is taken away and we may be rather said to fall asleep then to die to sleep in Jesus and go to a blessed and glorious immortality v. Holiness which is the best preparation for Death and Judgment the noblest qualification for Happiness is absolutely necessary for none but holy Souls shall stand with comfort before the Judgment Seat of Christ only they that have walked uprightly and wrought righteousness shall stand in God's presence Ps 15.1 2.24.3 4 5. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord who shall stand in his holy place he that hath clean hands and a pure heart whose life and actions are holy and unblamable who hath not lift up his eyes to vanity nor sworn deceitfully he shall receive the blessing from the Lord Grace and Glory and all other good things which are promised to them that walk uprightly and Righteousness together with the blessed fruits and rewards of it and those benefits which flow from it from the God of his salvation Mat. 5.8 Our Saviour pronounceth Holy Men blessed Blessed are the pure in heart who are they who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin The very best of Christians are not able to say sincerely and truly that they are free from all guilt and pollution of sin in heart and life Such only then come under this denomination who being purified from all filthiness in the precious Blood of Christ are of a sincere and upright heart and conversation though they be not legally pure and free from all sin yet the bent of their heart is after holyness or to speak in the words of a Reverend Divine upon this Beatitude Mr. Norris They are such as relate not only to the external conduct of their lives but also the inward frame and habitude of their mind and conform not only their actions but their wills and desires thoughts and affections to the rule of the divine Law and to the dictates of the internal light of God in the Soul Such as sanctifie the Lord in their hearts and compose the inward recesses of their Souls into an awe and reverence of the Divine Presence set a law to their intellectual powers and suffer not the least thought or passion to violate the order either of Reason or Grace Such holy Souls as these shall have the happiness to see God in the Beatifical Vision of him in Glory They have an imperfect view of him in his Creatures and in his Ordinances They now see as St. 1 Cor. 13.12 Paul saith through a Glass darkly but hereafter they shall see him face to face and be abundantly satisfied with his presence and glory to all eternity and their joy shall no man take from them Joh. 16.22 neither shall any be sharers with them in it but such only as are qualified for heaven by universal holiness Rev. 21.27 for there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth it no close Hypocrite no scandalous Sinner no unclean person that hath not by a holy life separated himself from all sin and wickedness and dedicated himself to God shall enter into that holy place 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolators nor Adulterers nor effeminate persons nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Extortioners Gal. 5.19 nor any other sinners that are guilty of the works of the flesh shall without sincere repentance enter into the Kingdom of God of which I tell you before before the day of Death and Judgment come when you will experimentally find what is here said to be true Eph 5.5 Col. 3.6 That no such workers of Iniquity shall have any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God But suppose they should be admitted into that blessed place they would there find nothing that would be grateful to them For the joys of Heaven are all pure and spiritual and upon that account cannot possibly afford any satisfaction to their carnal minds The immaterial felicities of the upper world agree not at all to their sensual desires neither would they find any complacency in those pure and refined delights because there is no suitableness in them to their constitutions and inclinations which are wholy bent to the gross and transient satisfactions of this world which perish in the using like crackling of Thorns under a Pot that make a blaze for a little while and then suddenly vanish away All the Beatitudes of Heaven both in their nature and degree are congruous only to the dispositions of the Saints and suitable to their natures to the divine principle of purity communicated to them by God they are not at all agreeable to the minds of wicked men and it is as unreasonable to think that such men can enter into heaven without vertuous habits and holy dispositions and divine graces as to think that a Lamp can burn without Oyl to maintain the flame Heaven is the habitation of the Holy God of spotless Angels and glorified Souls 't is the Region of the purest Vertue and the most perfect Holiness If ever therefore we desire to enter into it and to enjoy God in that blifsful place we must make it our chiefest business to purifie our selves even as he is pure for there is no enjoying him but by becoming like him Heb. 12.14 without holiness no man shall see the Lord. We can have no union to no communion with or enjoyment of God either in Grace or Glory without Holyness that we may therefore be ready to meet our Lord we must follow i. e. vigorously pursue Righteousness 2 Tim. 2.22 1 Thes 5.15 Faith Charity Peace and that which is good for so an entrance shall be administred unto us abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Having thus shewed wherein this preparation and readiness for Death and Judgment doth consist and also manifested the indispensible necessity of it I proceed to consider 2. The cogent Motive or Argument which our Lord propounds to quicken our zeal and diligence in making
be the lights of the World ought to take heed to themselves that their lives and actions may command a reverence from men 1 Tim. 4.16 and induce them to conform to their pattern and practice a holy life being a great advantage to Religion and the best preparation for Death and Judgment 2. Particularly The readiness and preparation I am speaking of does consist in the several acts and duties of the Christian Religion which must be performed by us with all diligence zeal and vigour viz. in the speedy setling our domestick concerns and moderating our affections to this world in making our peace and reconciliation with God and Men in doing all the good we can whilest we live in keeping Conscience clear and free from offence in bearing with patience the troubles we meet with in living under a constant sense of Gods all-seeing Eye and inspection over us and possessing our selves with frequent thoughts of Death and Judgment So that duly to dispose our selves for a blessed Eternity does not consist in one transient act but is to commence as soon as we come to a consistency of reason and understanding Eccles 12.1 and must be carried on through the several periods of our lives till God is pleased to dissolve the vital union between the Soul and Body and make a separation between them 1 The speedy settling of our domestick concerns and disposing of our temporal affairs while we have opportunity to do it deliberately and advisedly with prudence and discretion is one part of this preparation for Death and Judgment Death is a debt which we all owe to God and Nature and which we are sure to pay whensoever it pleaseth the God of Nature to require it from us But since we know not the time when nor the manner how we shall die and depart this life Omnibus est eadem lathi via non tamen unus est vitae cunctis exitiique modus it is not only wisdom but our duty to dispatch this work lest we should be taken away as experience shews us many are by some sudden casualty or unexpected surreption But suppose we go off the Stage of this world deliberately and by slow degrees some previous sickness or sensible decays of Nature forewarning us of our approaching dissolution 't is not fit then to have the disposition of our secular affairs upon our hands to disturb and disquiet our Minds and to rob us of our precious time every minute of which must be bestowed to the best advantage and to the true interest of our Souls for what they are when they leave the body and enter into a state of separation from it that they shall be to all eternity therefore it should be our chiefest care to get them washed clean in the blood of the immaculate Lamb from all their impurities that whatsoever defilements they have contracted during their union with their Bodies through the lusts of the flesh within or the wiles of Satan from without these being purged away they may appear spotless before the great Tribunal and stand with exceeding great joy before the Impartial Judge It is not fit when we come to die to have the settlement of our Estates then to take up our last moment which ought to be employed in renewing our repentance and in making our peace with God and solemnly preparing for a comfortable passage into the eternal world There are very sew if any of us whose outward circumstances are so mean and low but that we have some of the Gifts of Fortune to dispose of at our death Some Estate more or less to bequeath among our Friends and Relations when we leave the World Those of us that have the fairest Inheritances the fullest Baggs and Barns can take nothing away with us when we die but are at the courtesie of our surviving Friends for a Shrowd and a Coffin to intomb us in the Earth For as Job said when the Chaldaean and Sabaean Robbers had taken away all his goods Naked came I out of my Mothers womb Job 1.21 and naked shall I return So may we say with the Son of Syrac As we came forth of our Mothers womb naked shall we return to go as we came and shall take nothing of our labour which we may carry away in our hands Holy David affirms the same of the rich man tho the glory of his House is increased when he dieth Psalm 49.17 he shall carry nothing away his glory shall not descend after him All his Wealth and Power and Grandure shall die with him Nudos fudit in lucem Nudos recepit terra Seneca Epist VVe must carry out no more than we brought in So that it concerns us to make our Wills with great Justice and Piety and to take care that they be penn'd with clearness and plain expressions to prevent all Animosities and Incumbrances Wranglings and Suits of Law amongst our Children and Legatees For we are obliged to provide for the Quiet Peace and Prosperity of those that are to succeed us in our Possessions that it may go well with them when we are dead and gone Now forasmuch as Solomon saith Eccl. 3.1 To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under Heaven The most proper and convenient season for the dispatch of this weighty Affair is the day of Health while we have our wits about us while our understanding is clear and our memory perfect and that we can duly consider which way God may be best served by our Bequests Vertue encouraged and Justice may be done to every man and the Poor in some measure be provided for according as God hath enabled us ever remembring that what we have comes solely from his bounty who is the Soveraign Lord and true Proprietor of all that we have We but Stewards only and the Poor his Proxies and Receivers therefore we must not forget them in our Wills but remember that Precept of Solomon With hold not good from them to whom it is due Prov. 3.27 when it is in the power of thy hand to do it because such actions are works of Charity and Bounty to the Poor and acts of Righteousness to God and they that give nothing at their departure hence Luke 16.9 betray their trust for the good things of this life are committed to their care and management upon such conditions and reservations that they should use them comfortably while they live and dispose of them wisely and charitably when they die lest they give a bad account of their Stewardship and have reason to expect a severe sentence from their Lord Jam. 2.12 August For he shall have judgment without mercy who shewed no mercy Desideravit guttam qui non dedit micam This piece of Wisdom we may learn from the Example of Abraham who did dispose of his Estate among his Children some time before his death reserving only the enjoyment of it to himself during his
Tribulations and Persecutions which were too great for human patience to bear Our rejoicing is this 2 Cor. 1.12 the testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world A good Conscience is a continual Feast a Jubilee Pro. 15.15 in that dark dismal time when Death is breaking that Vital Union and making a separation between Soul and Body and the man is walking through the valley of the shadow of Death Ps 23.4 which is very full of terrors and dangers this will relieve his fears fill him with unspeakable Joys and enable him to grapple with the King of Terrors with courage and constancy of mind and to say with the blessed Apostle 2 Tim. 4.6 7 8 The time of my departure is at hand I have fought the good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith upheld and maintained it in and by my Ministry and lived in the exercise of the grace of Faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me of his free grace at that day My Soul shall enjoy it at my dissolution my whole man at the general resurrection Such a comfortable departure as this free from the stings accusations of Conscience is worth the most solicitous care earnest endeavour of a Christians whole life for when he comes to die Conscience will administer unspeakable Consolations to him make him lift up his head with joy and with a cheerful countenance to stand before the Son of Man and to say with Hezekiah Remember now o Lord Isa 33.3 I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight But on the contrary the case of a wicked man will be very deplorable when he falls into any calamity or affliction Job 15.24 pain or Sickness when the days of darkness are at hand Conscience is then most active upbraiding him with the greatness multitude and aggravations of his sin Guilt lies throbbing on his Soul Trouble and anguish make him afraid they shall prevail against him as a King ready to the Battle Who goes forth to fight with all the strength and power of his Kingdom attended with his Guards and Battalions of disciplined Soldiers and with all his Engines and Military preparations for slaughter and destruction which strikes a dread and terror into his Enemies which fills them with fears and anxious thoughts what the event issue may be Such are the troubles and agitations of Conscience in wicked men and that not only of the weaker fort but of such also as are cloathed with Purple and invested with Imperial Power The mighty Monarchs of the world such as Nero Tyberius Caligula c. who are above the reach of human Justice these are not exempted from the disquiets and stings of Conscience the Gripes and Convulsions of Self-conviction and the apprehensions and fears of a Caelestial Tribunal which they shall not escape tho' they have derided and laughed at it in the day of health But the dread and horror thereof encreaseth upon them as they draw near to the end of their days and this will be the case of every one of us if we do not now get our Consciences purged from dead works and the guilt of all our sins cancelled by a cordial sorrow for and moral revocation of it Therefore it very nearly concerns us to make a strict and severe inspection into our Consciences to state our Account right between God and our Souls For if any sin remain uncrossed it concerns us as much as our everlasting happiness is worth to set about it with all possible speed and diligence to give no rest to our Eyes nor slumber to our Eye lids till we have by an actual repentance and revocation of all that we have done amiss totally discharged them and gotten all our sins blotted out that they may not be found upon record against us When the times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord Jer. 17.1 For Conscience registers all that we do be it good or evil And when the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father and the Book of Conscience shall be opened and according to what is found written therein we shall be judged sentenced and rewarded for Conscience will be with us in Death and Judgment either to comfort justifie and acquit us or to terrifie accuse and condemn us 6 That we may be ready for the coming of our Lord it is necessity that we bear with patience and constancy the various troubles and tryals which we may meet with in this Life for as Job saith Affliction cometh not forth of the dust Chap. 5.6 neither doth trouble spring out of the ground but Man is born unto trouble as the sparks flie upward Crosses and Troubles befall us not by chance or accident but are fore-ordained by the Wisdom and dispenced by the providence of God or by his allowance Can a bird fall in a snare upon the Earth where no Gin is for him Amos 3.5 John 16.33 nor industriously prepared and laid to take him in the World we shall have tribulation reproach and injuries from Men the loss of Goods and good Name disappointments in Children Friends and Relations provocations to anger and revenge sickness and distempers in our Bodies troubles within disquietudes anxieties of mind which are little Deaths not only prologues but preparatives to Death Acts 14.22 We must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God even as the Israelites went through many hardships in their peregrination through the Wilderness to the Land of Canaan so must we in our Pilgrimage through this World to the Inheritance which is above reserved in Heaven for us Therefore patience is absolutely necessary for us to enable us to bear our burdens to persevere in our Duty and to wait for our promised reward We have need of patience that after we have done the will of God Heb. 10.36 we may receive the promises Now many of the promises are of a long date and distance from us the reward is given to those that hold out unto the end wherefore the Apostle adviseth us To strengthen our selves with all patience and long suffering with joyfulness Coloss 1.11 Heb. 12.1 2.3 and to run with patience the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our Faith who for that joyful and glorious state which was faithfully promised by his Father to be the reward of his Sufferings endured the Cross with all the concomitants of it despifing the shame and disgrace poured on him by his Enemies and is set down as a glorious and triumphing conqueror over Sin and Satan Death and Hell at the Right Hand of the Throne
then our ways and goings are to Gods pure and piercing eyes who beholds our closest artifices and subtilest disguises as clearly as he sees our open and scandalous offences For the darkness hideth not from him Ps 139.12 the night shineth as the day the darkness and the light are both alike to him Job 34.21 22 His eyes are upon the ways of man fixedly and intentively and he seeth critically and curiously all his goings there is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of Iniquity may hide themselves Seneca told Lucilius Epist 41. Jer. 17.10 Ps 7.9.94.12 God is near unto us he is with us an observer of our good and evil actions the searcher of our hearts who knows the secret motions counsels and affections of our Souls and keeps acquaintance with our thoughts and is familiar with all our purposes and designs Now if we do believe this great truth it must doubtless be of unspeakable use to us for the regular and orderly government of our lives and make us as circumspect and cautious of our thoughts words and works as if we visibly saw him standing before our eyes writing down every action of our life in order to call us to account for it This consideration had so great an influence upon holy Davids practice that he assigns it as the motive of his obedience I have remembred thy name and have kept thy Law Psal 119.55 168. c. I have kept thy Precepts and thy Testimonies for all my ways are before thee this is a powerful Amulet against sin and a great preservative of vertue a means to make us sincerely upright in all our ways and to tremble to commit any sin or wickedness in the sight of our all-seeing Judge before whose presence we shall not be afraid to appear hereafter if we set him before our Eyes here as an observer and witness of our actions Psal 16.8 for thereby our hearts will be over-awed with a sense of his omnipresence so that we shall walk very cautiously and circumspectly before him having respect to all his Commandments and with a concern to please him in all things by this means death and judgment will not be formidable to us 8 That we may be ready for a comfortable passage into the eternal World it is necessary that we possess our Souls with frequent Thoughts of Death and Mortallity This is the earnest and pathetical charge of the merciful and compassionate God who is very heartily concerned for the everlasting happiness of Men by his eminent Servant Moses whom he was pleased to make choice of to be the Commander and Governour of a numerous People he bespeaks them in a most affectionate and obliging manner to remember the days of old what great things he had done for them in chosing them for his People and delivering them from the hand of Pharaoh King of Egypt by a mighty hand and an out stretched arm in preserving them at the Red Sea and in the Wilderness in subduing the Nations about them and in giving them possession of the Land of Promise flowing with Milk and Hony he intreats them to consider the transitoriness of their condition and to withdraw their affections from Farthly Glories O that they were wise to consider their latter end Deut. 32.29 to study and apply their minds to that holy wisdom which would fit them for Life eternal We are now Gods peculiar People he is as solicitous for our happiness and salvation as once he was for the Israelites and with the same tender affection doth he importune us to consider our end and to what Eternity we are going whether to bliss or misery we are but Sojourners and Pilgrims here having Heb. 13 14. no continuing City no certain abiding place our condition here is fleeting and vanishing Jam. 4.14 we know not whether we shall continue here till to morrow for what is our Life it is even a Vapour exhaled from the Earth by the influence of the heavenly Bodies Psal 90.9 Psal 73.20 that appears for a little time and then vanisheth away like a Tale that is told which is at an end e're we consider it or as a Dream when one awaketh suddenly which disappears being then that we are such weak creatures Psal 39.4 we should pray with David Lord make me to know my end and the number of my days that I may know how frail I am and how near to death so teach us to number our days that we passing by the cares the glories and pleasures of this World may apply our hearts with all diligence unto true wisdom 90.12 which is to be wise unto Salvation For the attainment whereof and for the more effectual impressing upon our minds deep and serious thoughts of our mortal state it is expedient that we visit sick and dying persons as oft as opportunity invites us not only to condole with them and to afford them our pity and compassion in their affliction Job 6.14 Chap. 19.21 Heb. 13.2 3. which is some alleviation of their misery to administer seasonable comforts to them to give them ghostly advice and counsel to bear with patience the chastisements of the Lord and humbly to resign themselves to his wise disposal but also to stir up in our selves many Pious and Devout Considerations of our approaching Change In the presence of dying Persons there is represented both to our eye and mind many objects that will naturally suggest to us holy Meditations serious and awful Thoughts of Death and Eternity There we may see the person visited strugling with strong pains of bitter Agonies and Death sit in his ghastly countenance we may hear the rueful Groans of his expiring nature and observe him exercised with Soul-conflicts with great terrors of mind and with powerful convictions of sin and dreadful apprehensions of the wrath of God unfit perhaps to die and yet past all hopes of continuing long in this transitory life There we may see the mournful looks of the spectators and hear the bitter lamentations and cries of Wife and Children and observe the trickling tears of dear Relations For if Alexander the Great wept when he heard of the death of Darius and Caesar at the relation of Pompey's and Titus Vespasian at the miserable destruction of the Jews how shall they refrain from tears at the sight of a dying Friend strugling with the pains of Death and perhaps doubting of his salvation Such a spectacle as this will administer to us such thoughts as these This person is now about putting off his Earthly Tabernacle his Soul is entring into the Confines of Eternity and his Body ere long will be a prey to Death and be laid down in the cold and silent Grave where the Worms shall be its companions till it hath put on rottenness and corruption The Angels will convey the immaterial Soul to the Bar of Judgment to receive sentence to its eternal state This
is a laborious exercise of many good works it consists in the performance of several kind Offices The Christian must exert that labour of love mentioned by the Apostle 1 Thes 1.3 Temperance is a vertue not easily attained it requires presence of mind and great wisdom to regulate unruly Appetites and to govern unnatural Lusts which are fired by a small spark of temptations and to withstand the allurements of pleasure to refuse the courtships and solicitations of jolly Companions to shun the snares of their wild examples and to bear with evenness and equanimity of mind the scoffs and sarcasms of those patrons and encouragers of Vice and Vanity who can have no kindness for those that will not run with them the same risk of madness and extravagance The like might be shewed concerning meekness humility self-denial and resignation to the Divine Will patience contentedness and all other Divine Graces which are from above from the Father of Lights who is the giver of Grace and Glory and hath placed them out of our reach that we might take pains to acquire them by fervent Prayer and Devotion and exert great diligence in the practice of them For since it is appointed for Men to die but once we should do all we can to prepare our selves to die happily and as St. John saith in the Lord that we may live for ever with the Lord. iii. The time allowed us to prepare for Eternity is precious for it is very short if we measure time according to the largest extention of it for all that space of this present life which is allowed us to do the works of our Callings in is exceeding short but if we take it for the opportunity of time or the proper season for the making our Calling and Election sure and securing our everlasting state 't is much shorter Of all the outward blessings and comforts which God is pleased to bestow upon us in this life he is not so frugal and provident in any of them as he is in the distribution of our time He confers upon us the comfortable accommodation of this world in great abundance but Time he proportions to us in a continual succession of days and hours and minutes so that we never enjoy two of them together but as one passeth away he gives us another and yet how profuse and lavish are we in the expence of them A considerable part of our time we have wasted in childish vanities and when we came to maturity of years and consistency of reason we spent no small part of it in gratifying inordinate appetites and in sensual pleasures So that before we seriously consider the end for which we were created the major part of our time is elapsed beyond revocation and we croud up this solemn work of preparation for Eternity into a narrow compass It concerns us therefore to redouble our diligence to redeem the time and to encrease in all Graces adding to our faith vertue and to vertue knowledge c. 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7. To reach forth with the blessed St Paul unto those things that are before Phil. 3.13 14 to stretch as hard as we can after that measure of holiness which we have not yet attained to press toward the mark that we may win the prize of eternal Glory and the rather should we exert the greatest vigour because we have but little time to do the work of him that sent us 1 Cor. 7.29 30 31. in The time is short furled like Sails when the Mariner hath finished his Voyage and is come into the Haven so that we should be careful to improve it to our best advantage which is a special point of wisdom commendable avarice as Seneca saith Nulla nisi temporis honesta est avaritia We are allowed to covet earnestly the best things amongst which this precious jewel of time may be reckoned and therefore not to be wasted in fruitless pastimes and carnal contentments in earthly pleasures and overmuch secular negotiations of this life much less in wicked projects or sinful practices but in adorning our Souls with such virtuous dispositions as will fit us for the presence of God and the society of the Saints in the future state of Glory When we come to die one of those days or hours which we have vainly wasted will be of more value to us then all this world It is scarce possible for us in the day of health and prosperity to conceive how valuable Time will then appear to us We shall sadly repent that we have spent any part of it in worldliness ambition idleness sensual gratifications or sinful lusts We shall heartily wish that we had improved every minute of it in the spiritual and everlasting concernments of our Souls and to be sure if we have any presence of Mind and the use of our Reason we shall then imploy every minute of it which is free from disturbances and interruptions in finishing our last preparatory work on Earth in order to our appearing before our great Judge It will be our wisdom to do that now with all our might which we shall then be so intent upon because a few sands more will bring us to that state in which we shall remain for ever and leave us in Eternity iv The urgent necessity of such a solemn preparation as I have described will farther appear if we consider that life it self which is the most valuable treasure the richest Jewel in this World is very short and uncertain and Death inevitable 1. Life is very short The most fading and vanishing things in Nature are made use of by the Penmen of the Holy Scriptures to set forth the brevity of the life of man 'T is represented by a Dream which for a little while affects the Fancy Job 20.8 but when the man awakes if not before it vanisheth away By a Flower of the Field or the Grass of the Earth Ps 73.20.90.6.103.15 which in the Morning is green and flourishing but in the Evening is cut down dried up and withered As for man his days are as grass as a flower of the field so he flourisheth Job 14.2 he cometh up like a flower and is cut down he fleeth as a shadow and continueth not His life slips away suddenly like a Tale that is told his beauty strength and all his excellencies consume away like a Moth Ch. 13.28.7.6.9.25 26. which by eating and fretting a Garment spoils the glory of it Sometimes the life of man is compared to a Weavers Shuttle which is an Instrument of a very swift motion and passeth the Loomb or Web speedily Sometimes it is compared to a swift Post which rideth upon fleet Horses and hasten his speed by land To swift Ships of Ebeh a River in the East where Job lived which by the force and strength of its Current added swiftness to the Vessels which sailed fast upon it And forasmuch as an Eagle of all the Fowls of the Air is
expected that he should communicate it to any of the Sons of men because it is not at all necessary that they should know it but believe it and walk by Faith and Works and labour in the Vineyard till the Son of man cometh Of that day and hour knoweth no man 〈◊〉 13.32 â—â— c. no not the Angels which are in Heaven neither the Son as man only but the Father Take ye heed watch and pray for ye know not when the time is c. Verses 35 36. When ever he cometh Rev. 3.3 it will be by way of surprize to many So he told the Church of Sardis If thou wilt not watch I will come on thee as a Thief and thou shalt not know when I will come upon thee The Thief comes when the Master of the House least expects him in the dead and solitary time of the night when all the Inhabitants are asleep Such will be the coming of the Son of Man who a little before my Text represents it by the coming of the great Deluge in the days of Noah or as the Fire and Brimstone came upon the Cities of Sodom and Gemorrah as Thro's and Pangs come upon a Woman with Child As a Snare shall it come upon all that dwell upon the face of the Earth Now when a Fowler layeth a Snare to take a Bird he gives no warning but surprizeth it suddenly even so will the Judge of all the world come upon the generality of men when they promise themselves peace and security and walk at ease and think of nothing but plenty and pleasure of laying House to House and Field to Field of Mansions and Manors of reigning as Kings on the Earth and of Lording it over their fellow servants Behold the Judge standeth at the door ready to surprize them when they are most secure And this may be our case if we keep not up our watch If therefore the Kingdom of Heaven be worth securing and the salvation of your souls be dear and precious to you 't is both your wisdom and your interest speedily and without delays to set upon this necessary and glorious work For it is no easy matter to obtain Heaven and Happiness neither is it the work of a few spare minutes to shake off evil habits and to attire the Soul with divine Graces and Vertues that it may appear without spot or wrinkle in the Bridegrooms presence Be not deceived it is not a few penitential tears in the time of Sickness and last Visitation that can purge the soul from the pollution of Sin which it hath been contracting many years or change its temper and in a moment put it into a readiness for a future state It is not safe for us to run so great a hazard we are not sure that we shall dye deliberately and by slow degrees But suppose that a fore going Sickness should by little and little weaken the powers of Nature the Devil will then be very busy in tempting us and the Flesh unable to bear the burden of Sickness and sink under the groans of expiring Nature If we have then our great work to do our Oyl to get and our Lamps to trim when the Bridegroom comes the door will be shut upon us and we shall bewail to all eternity the folly of slipping a season which can never be regained Let me therefore bespeak you dear Christians in words of love and tenderness and beseech you by all the obligations that your holy profession lays upon you by all the kindness which you bear to your immortal souls and the desire which you have to be eternally happy seriously to prepare to meet your Lord. Go hence from the House of God with fixed resolutions from this time forth to depart from all iniquity and to live righteously soberly and godly in this present World looking for the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself To whom with the Father and Holy Spirit three Persons but one Eternal God be Glory Honour and Power now and for ever The CHARACTER I Have now performed my duty to the Living by shewing them both generally and particularly that a good life is the best preparation for Eternity and that the way to dye happily is to live holily It remains that I do now in some measure discharge my respects to the Dead whose memory will be precious among all good Christians for his many personal Excellencies and usefulness in his Generation 'T is a sad and mournful occasion that we are met upon to Solemnize the Funeral Rites and Obsequies of so dear a Friend and Relation But this is our comfort that his whole life was an excellent Comment upon this Text for tho his Visitation was short as for the most part is usual in such Apoplectical Distempers as carried him off and his Death sudden and surprizing to us from whom he was snatched away in a little time yet it could not be so to him who by the infirmities of a crazy body and by many sensible decays of Nature was put in mind of his approaching change and no doubt but his preparations for Eternity were answerable to his frequent and almost daily warnings For as in his youthful days he was by the mercy of God a well disposed Nature and a vertuous Education preserved from all gross Sins and Vices so in his riper years he lived a life of strict Vertue I am no great Favourer of Funeral Elogies because they look like mercenary Flattery if there be not some extraordinary merit to lay a just foundation for them but the Righteous ought to be had in perpetual remembrance and the memorial of the Just shall be praised 'T is justice to give every man his due praise and to commend those whose vertuous lives are bright and illustrious to others and it is kindness to the living to hold before their eyes a shining light a glorious pattern of Vertue to guide and direct them to walk in the paths of Holiness and Peace and to beget in them the like Goodness and Charity Thus our deceased Friend in his life and practice did shine as a burning Lamp and adorn'd his holy Profession by a good Conversation His divine Soul was inflamed with a fervent love and zeal for God and possessed with a holy fear and awe of his glorious Majesty whom he served with Reverence and filial Obedience His Piety did consist more in the vital and substantial parts of Religion than in Circumstantials He had a sincere love for the Preaching of the Word which he waited upon with diligence to the end that he might learn his duty and grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ whom to know and in whom to believe is life eternal His attendance upon the Word was with constancy if his infirm body would give him leave and he heard it with reverence as the word of Life and Salvation Great was his regard for the Lord's Day not only to keep it holy himself but to see that his whole Family did strictly observe and sanctify it not only by resting from their worldly labours and putting on finer Clothes c. but by performing religious Exercises and improving the present Vacation from the works of their Callings unto a more diligent attendance on God in the publick and private Duties of Religion and in the spiritual concernments of their Souls The Government of his Family was very decent and regular his House was an Oratory of Devotion wherein Morning and Evening Sacrifice was dayly offered to God and some portion of Holy Scripture was read with seriousness and devotion with love and delight and Prayer was the beginning and ending of every day And this I assure you is the duty of all Masters of Families which they ought to see performed in their Families for the care and charge of Souls is committed to them There they are Kings to rule Prophets to teach and Priests to offer up Spiritual Sacrifices for themselves and for those under their roof They their Children and Servants ought to serve the Lord and their neglect thereof is one chief cause of all that Atheism and Irreligion which too much abounds in the Age we live in To this may I add his secret Devotion in private which was most constantly and diligently performed by him The spirit of Religion eminently dwelt in this good man His Devotions were fervent and serious his affections and desires were in a great measure crucified to the world and all the delights and pleasures of it He was cloathed with Humility as with a Garment and beautified with the goodly ornament of a calm meek and quiet Spirit which in the sight of God is of great price His Mind was exquisitely tender and compassionate His kindness and charity truly admirable for he loved relieved and assisted all necessitous Objects according to his ability In company he was pleasant cheerful and facetiously witty His behaviour was modest and affable kind and courteous to all sorts of people By the evenness of his temper and sweet disposition and friendly deportment he gained the love and respect of good men His Servants speak him to be a kind respective Master and we all know that he was a true Friend a good Neighbour a very useful and serviceable person in his Generation a Patron to several Fatherless Children and Orphans a true lover of his King and Country sober and temperate in every thing in his Diet in his Apparel in his Words and Behaviour prudent in the management of his own and others Affairs wherein he was much employed a good Housekeeper according to his degree and ability and a great support to many indigent and needy persons In a word his many vertuous Qualities and praise-worthy Deeds deserve to be commemorated and recommended to your practice But he is gone to his unchangeable state God grant that we who survive may all of us tread in the steps of his exemplary Piety and Vertue of his unwearied diligence and patient continuance in well doing May the Eccho of his Praises tend to the setting forth of God's Glory to whom be ascribed by us and the whole company of his Saints as is most due eternal praises Amen Amen FINIS
of God the extraordinary example of so innocent and eminent a Person ought to be regarded by us and engage us to comply with duties of this Nature His whole Life was one continual exercise of meekness and patience and that we might not be discouraged from doing our duty and faint in our mind the Apostle directs us to consider him that endured the contradiction of sinners i.e. of the Instruments and Abettors of his miseries who reviled his person slandered his Doctrine and blasphemed his Miracles yet he did obediently submit himself to the will of God patiently endured what was his Fathers good pleasure to impose upon him and did mildly bear the injuries and reproaches of his Enemies without any inward fretting or vexing his Spirit without any immoderate anger hatred or revenge towards them And all this to leave us an Example that we should follow his steps as in all other Graces so especially in this of patience which is the best remedy to ease us under our burthens and to deliver us from them for they cannot be very injurious to us if we calmly and mildly bear them Horace Levius fit patientiâ quicquid corrigere est nefas This carried the noble Army of Martyrs through their bitter sufferings without discovering the least sign of impatience and enabled them to bear the calamities and miseries of this Life while they waited for the rewards and felicities of another World for if God in his Providence is pleased to order us our Portion of troubles here his design herein is to exercise our Graces to wean us from the World to prepare us for Death Luk. 21.19 Rom. 12.12 2 Tim. 2.3 Chap. 4.5 and fit us for Heaven therefore we should possess our Souls in patience be patient in Tribulation endure Afflictions as good Soldiers of Jesus Christ and endure unto the end for he that bears troubles patiently is well prepared to die peaceably and to meet his Soveraign Lord and Judge comfortably I conclude this point with St. Peters Counsel Beloved think it not strange concerning the fiery Tryal 1 Pet. 4.12.13 which is sent by God for the tryal and exercise of your Grace but rejoyce in as much as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings and made conformable to him your head that when his Glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy 7 A brisk and lively apprehension of God's all seeing Eye upon and inspection over us in all our ways will conduce much to the fitting us for our great change It was Seneca's Advice to Lucilius whatsoever he was doing to imagine that Cato or Scipio or Loelius or some of the Roman worthies did behold him and then he would do nothing dishonouraable Epist Do all things said he as if another looked on it is undoubtedly very profitable to have a Guard over a Mans self and to conceive that some vertuous and excellent person whom we have an high esteem and reverence for is a spectator of our actions and hath an insight into our very Thoughts such an apprehension as this would be a great awe upon us to speak and act wisely and worthily Moses his person and presence was very awful to the Aegyptians Ahab stood in fear of Elias Joash was good as long as Jehojada lived John the Baptist's piety sanctity and graces commanded regard and reverence from Herod Mark 6.20 He feared John as knowing that he was a good man and a holy and observed him i. e. behaved himself reverently in his presence and studied to please him in his demeanor and respectful carriage was careful to avoid all occasions of his discontent and was very much delighted with his preaching Heard him gladly and did many things in obedience and conformity to his Doctrine both in his private conversation abstaining from several sins and impieties and in his administration of publick Government enacting several good Laws for the regular ordering of his Kingdom and the reforming of abuses and for correcting and restraining of several Vices and Immoralities And St. John the Apostle by his gravity presence and ghostly advice and counsel wrought so effectually upon a common Thief and Cut-throat that he laid down his weapons of hostility trembled and wept bitterly Euseb Eccl. Hist and in the words of my Author was re-baptized in his own tears and becomes a Convert a publick Minister of the Church of God and an Instrument of much good Now if the presence of a vertuous person whom we venerate hath so great an influence upon mens practice certainly the belief of Gods observing Eye upon us will be of greater force to make us stand in awe and sin not Now that he is thus present with us we are Infidels if we believe it not because it is confirmed to us by plentiful testimonies The Scripture assures us That his Eyes are upon all our ways Ps 4.4 they are not hid from his face neither is our iniquity hid from his eyes That no man can hide himself in secret places that he shall not see him Some indeed have flattered themselves with the hopes of secrecy and impunity As particularly the Adulterer Jer. 16.17 Chap. 23.24 Who saith in his heart no eye seeth me Ecclus. 6.23 I am compassed about with darkness the walls cover me 18.19 and no body seeth me what need I to fear the most high will not remember my sin such a man only feareth the eyes of men Job 24.15 The eye of the Adulterer waiteth for the twilight saying no eye shall see me No common eye of men shall take notice of me being under a cover of darkness No eye of the Magistrate who is a Minister of Justice to punish evil doers No not the eye of God himself shall see me But He knoweth not that the Eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter then the Sun beholding all the ways of men and considering the most secret parts Pro. 5.21 Job 31.4 All the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord and he pondreth all his goings he seeth all our ways and counteth all our steps the very secrets of our heart are not hid from him much less our secret actions every thing that we do be it never so retiredly Heb. 4.13 is naked and open to his eyes which pierce to the very marrow of our bones and penetrate to the bottom of our intrails and clearly and fully discern our secret atheism and unbelief our hypocrisie and dissimulation our affections inclinations and the bent of our Natures The beauty and comliness the defects and blemishes of a naked body are not more plain and visible to an accurate observer neither were the interior parts of Beasts offered in Sacrifice when they are excoriated imbowelled and divided per spinam Dorsi more obvious to the heathen Magicians whose duty it was to observe the colour shape defects and other circumstances whereby they might know how to order their Divinations