To assure him of a Crown of Righteousness and by that Assurance mediately to comfort him against the Fear of Death of which I shall speak afterwards 2. By this consideration to comfort himself immediately and next way against the Fear of Death The Testimony of a good Conscience Conscientia rectè factorum doth arm and support a man against the gastly aspect of approaching Death For What is it that makes Death so terrible unto Mortals that the very mention of it makes them tremble like an Aspine-leaf The Apostle tells us The Sting of Death is Sin 1 Cor. 15.56 The guilt of Sin upon the Conscience is that which puts the Heart into such a palpitation For the Conscience knowing that for all those Impieties whereof it keeps the Register it must come to judgment and the Books must be opened and every one must be judged according to what is found written in the Books it dreads Judgment to come as Felix did and cannot but look upon Death as on the grim Serjeant that comes to arrest us and to summon us to judgment This is the Sting in the Tail of Death But now a good Conscience sprinkled with the Blood of Christ that sincerely reports unto us that we have by Faith in the Blood of Christ received him for the Pardon of Sin and gives us in an holy Life in evidence of the Truth of our Faith doth thereby shew that the Promise of the Gospel which was made conditionally is now become absolute unto us and that therefore we are already passed from Death to Life And then being once assured that our Debts are pardoned and the Hand-writing cancelled we fear no longer Death's Arrest but may say with this Apostle O Death where is thy Sting Thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory through Jesus Christ our Lord 1 Cor. 15.55 56. Thus we see that the Testimony of a good Conscience and nothing else without it can give us true and solid Comfort when we come to dy A wicked man may through the hardness of his Heart and searedness of his Conscience be sensless and stupid in his Death and so fall down like a Log into Hell-flames An erroneous Conscience may make a man brave it out and with Curtius leap desperately into the Gulf of the Bottomless Pit An Hypocrite's Conscience may set a fair outside upon it and dy possibly with seeming Joy but in the midst of Laughter his Heart is sad his Joy is but like the risus Sardonius when Men seem to dy laughing but 't is rather a Rictus than a Risus a grinning of the Teeth than Laughter and shall end in gnashing of Teeth in another World 'T is only the Testimony of a good and pure sincere and enlightned Conscience that can yield a man good ground of true and solid Comfort And therefore St. Paul being now as it were at Death's door takes this Cordial before he knocks hath recourse unto his own Conscience for his Letters Testimonial drawn up from a Survey of an holy and well-led Life and here he finds support And the like he had done before 2 Cor. 1.12 For our rejoycing is this the Testimony of our Conscience that in Simplicity and godly Sincerity we have had our Conversation in the World This also hath been the Practice and Method of other Saints and Servants of God in Scripture who when they were under the apprehension of their approaching Departure have fetcht their Comfort from the lame Topick which St. Paul here made use of viz. the Testimony of a good Conscience concerning their passed Lives and Conversations Thus good Hezekiah Isa 38.1 c. having received that doleful Message the Sentence of Death pronounced by the mouth of the Prophet Set thine House in order for thou shalt dye and not live whence does he look for his Comfort but from the secret witness of his own Soul testifying unto him the Sincerity of his former Course which he is willing to have tryed by the Sun-beams of God's own Knowledg v. 3. Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walke I before thee in Truth and with a perfect Heart and have done that which is good in thy sight Thus Elijah sitting under the Juniper-tree 1 Kin. 19.4 could not with any comfort have desired seriously as he did that God would take away his Life from him had he not had this assurance written on the Table of his own Heart that he had been very Zealous or Jealous for the Lord of Hosts as himself professeth v. 10.1 And how could good old Simeon with joy have sung his Nunc dimittis had he not known in his Conscience what the Gospel reports of him that he was a just and devout Man waiting for the Consolation of Israel Luk. 2.25 As ever therefore we desire to find Comfort in our Death let us lead holy Lives and keep good Consciences as Paul and these other Servants of God did There are scarce any so profligate and given up to all Impiety but do desire Comfort when they come to dy But alas by their wicked Lives they have stop't the Minister's mouth seared the Breasts of Consolation and cut off those Conduit-pipes which should have conveyed Comfort into their Souls There be many who will be ready to say with Balaam O let me dy the Death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his but they will not live the Life of the Righteous Mark the perfect Man and behold the upright for the end of that Man is peace Psal 37.37 But alas what Peace can thy Conscience or any other speak to thee while thy crying Sins and Impieties are so many Light is sown for the Righteous and Joy for the Upright in Heart Psal 97.11 A man may with as much reason expect to reap where he hath not sown as to reap Joy and Comfort in Death without sowing the Seed of it in an holy Life Sow then in thy Life-time what thou wouldest reap when thou comest to dy And thus I have done with St. Paul's First Meditation or his Reflexion upon his former Life well-spent I come to the Second Medit. 2. St. Paul's second Meditation is a Prospect into the Life to come and the Glory of it together with his own Share in it Wherein we have these Severals to be taken into our Consideration 1. The Reward it self called a Crown of Righteousness 2. The Certainty of it in those words laid up for me 3. The Bestower of it the Lord the Righteous Judg shall give me 4. The Time when it shall be bestowed at that day I. The Reward it self which is no other than Eternal Life the Glory and Joys of Heaven Which we have here set forth unto us under the Metaphor of a Crown of Righteousness The Joys and Glory of Heaven are called a Crown 1. Because Eternal Life and Blessedness are promised to us under the Notion of an Heavenly Kingdom Luk. 12.32 Fear not little Flock for it is your
Second Meditation wherein he expresses his Assurance of a glorious Reward a Crown of Righteousness Now let us only see what Use he makes of this Assurance and so conclude Assurance of Salvation is of use unto Believers to encourage them to set upon their Duty with zeal and cheerfulness by inflaming their Love to God the Principle of their Obedience Who will not be encouraged to fight couragiously that is assured of Victory And the Labourer works cheerfully when he is once assured that he shall receive his pay when his work is done And therefore St. Paul exhorts 1 Cor. 15.58 Therefore my beloved Brethren be ye stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your Labour is not in vain in the Lord. But the Use which St. Paul here makes of his Assurance is to comfort him against Death approaching The Testimony of his Conscience clear'd from the guilt of Sin did take away the Sting and Fear of Death but this his Certainty and Assurance of Glory doth make Death not only not formidable to him but desirable when once he could say as he did 2 Cor. 5.1 We know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a Building of God an House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens It is no wonder if he said Phil. 1.23 that he had a desire to depart and to be with Christ And when he had said 1 Thess 4.17 So shall we ever be with the Lord he might well add in the next verse Wherefore comfort one another with these words This Consideration affords Comfort unto all faithful Souls in respect of themselves so also to the surviving Relations of such as have with St. Paul fought a good Fight and finish'd their Course and kept the Faith inasmuch as for all such there is laid up a Crown of Righteousness a Crown of Life and Glory which the Lord the Righteous Judg shall give them at that day In which Number we may confidently reckon that vertuous Lady and precious Servant of Jesus Christ the Lady Elizabeth Alston whose Funerals we now celebrate Concerning whom very much might with truth be spoken in her commendation but the suddenness of the Occasion and the time of the Night will not allow me to speak much yet something I crave leave to speak of her Not that she her self when alive desired the praises of men nor that she needs them now being already in the possession of heavenly Glory but that we by recounting to our selves some of her Vertues may become sensible of the greatness of our own loss and setting her eminent Graces before our Eyes may both make them the matter of our giving praise and glory to God and also the Copy and Example of our Christian Imitation She was descended of an eminent Family the Saint-Johns of Woodford in Northampton-shire But she was more highly descended than so and better born being born again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from above as some interpret the word and so neerly related unto him who is called the Branch or Day-spring from on high the Lord of life and glory the Prince of Peace and Saviour of us all By this Line she was a Child of God and born Heir apparent of the Kingdom of Heaven For God did even in her tender years season her Heart with Grace and thereby take possession of her bespeaking her as it were betimes and fitting her for that work which he afterwards made use of her in viz. the seasoning of others with Religion and the holding forth the power of Godliness in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation among whom she did shine as a Light in the World and did let her Light so to shine before men as that they might see her good Works and glorify her heavenly Father She was towards her Conjugal Relation a most loving faithful and dutiful Wife an Help meet for him Towards her Children a most tender and careful Mother whom she did not satisfy her self to have once brought forth but as St. Paul saith he did of his Galatians Gal. 4.19 she travailed again of them that Christ might be formed in them She was to her Servants kind and merciful especially to their Souls Towards all her Friends true and faithful Towards all with whom she conversed exceeding humble and courteous condescending very much towards them of low degree and especially loving those among them in whom she observed but any inclinations to God and Goodness But remarkable were her Charity and Piety Her Charity in supplying the wants of the Indigent not onely with Food and Physick for their Bodies wherein she expended not a little but also with Physick for their Souls by her wholsom counsel and advice vvhich she was ready to bestow on all that needed it Her Piety towards God was most eminent she being careful to walk closely and conscientiously with him and as he had blessed her with good natural Abilities so she was careful to improve them by diligent Reading and Meditation and thereby having gained a good stock of Knowledg she reduced it to practice the right end of knowing Witness her constant Closet-devotions and seeking God in private to vvhich she received many gracious Returns if not in kind yet in kindness if not in the particular things which she asked for yet in submission to God's Will and in the graces and comforts of his Spirit as she her self had made the observation Witness her conscientious care that the Duties of Religion might be maintain'd and kept up in her Family And how diligent she was in her attendance upon the publick Preaching of the Word of God most of you are Witnesses and how desirous she was that all others should do the like And it is well known to some how much she bewail'd the vvithdrawing of others from the publick Ordinance the means of their Salvation endeavouring to reclaim them This was the constant course and tenour of her Life vvhich vvas a living practice of Piety and a constant vvalking vvith God as Enoch's life vvas and God took her unto himself her vvho had lived to him here to live with him for ever her who had walked with him on Earth to rest with him for ever in Heaven Indeed her departure hence vvas very sudden as it has been of many others lately hereabouts yet it was more sudden unto others than to her self For Death is not sudden to those who expected it and provided for it That she vvas provided and prepared for Death I do not in the least question her holy Life vvas a continual preparation for Death so that she might say vvith St. Paul I die daily Those many Afflictions wherewith God was pleased to exercise her frequent sickness and many bodily infirmities loss of Children and other near Relations had weaned her from the World and taught her humbly to submit to God's will when ever he should call but the sense of God's Love in Christ to her Soul had made her more than vvilling to depart and to be vvith Christ As for her expectation of Death she had long expected that it would be sudden having been often heard to say that she should die of an Apoplexy which usually gives no great warning But for her expectation of death at that time when it came I have not heard it was of any long standing she being on Saturday last the eighth of September about ten in the morning surprized with an extraordinary coldness in her left hand which caus'd her hasten up into her Chamber where within a little time the disease took her Head the fountain of Sense and Reason and from thence sliding down into her Heart the Citadel of Life did vvithin the space of two hours put an end unto her days Watch therefore for ye know not what hour your Lord cometh But as sudden as her end was she was so far aware of it blessed be God that she vvas able to say vvith St. Paul in the verse before my Text The time of my departure is at hand for to that purpose did she express her self to one of her Servants saying My time is but short shorter than you imagine And then in the words of holy Job declar'd her firm trust in Christ I know that my Redeemer liveth And the last words which she was heard to speak were Jesus Christ into vvhose hands as we may well suppose she did at that time commend her Spirit The Lord Jesus Christ her Saviour vvhom she had in her heart while she lived she had in her mouth as she died and now doubtless hath him in her arms and shall be ever with the Lord. Indeed she had expressed formerly a desire that God vvould please to give her time to speak to her Friends at parting This he was not pleased to grant her but the actions of her life and those many good Counsels vvhich she gave in her life-time are still vocal and by them though dead she still speaketh And I hope her nearest Relations and others also will allow her living Counsel and Example the force of dying-words to be continually sounding in their ears and always thought upon in their minds to excite them to the practice of that which she thereby left recommended to them But in the easiness of her passage God granted if not prevented her desires The Jews say Moses died binshikah by a kiss from the mouth of God because it is said Deut. 34.5 that he died 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the Mouth of the Lord or according to the Word of the Lord and that God drew his Soul out of his Body with a Kiss But thus much we are sure of that God said unto him Deut. 32.49 50. Get thee up and die in the Mount So did he seem to say unto this his Servant also Go up into thy Chamber and die there and so she did The Messenger of Death took her by the left hand and led her home unto her Father's House Where let us leave her to her eternal rest and pray earnestly to God That as she brought Religion and a Blessing along with her into this Worthy Family and this Unworthy Place so in answer to her many many Prayers the Blessing and good Presence of God may be continued to us now she is dead and gone FINIS
painful and industrious couragious and undaunted in the Work and Cause of Christ not only as a Christian but also as an Apostle and Minister of the Gospel He had encounter'd with Elymas at Paphos Acts 13. With the Retrivers of Jewish Ceremonies at Antioch Act. 15. With Stoicks and Epicureans at Athens Acts 17. With beast-like Men such as Demetrius and his Followers at Ephesus 1 Cor. 15.32 With Alexander the Copper-Smith with Hymeneus and Philetus And in all these Conflicts the Gospel still prevailed and carried the Victory And for his Sufferings the Instances of his Christian Patience and passive Fortitude take that Inventary which himself had drawn up sometime before in his second Epistle to the Corinthians chap. 11. v. 23 c. Where he hath with great Eloquence described his Adventures to us In Labours abundant in Stripes above measure in Prisons frequent in Deaths oft V. 24. Of the Jews five times received I fourty Stripes save one 25. Thrice was I beaten with Rods once was I stoned thrice I suffered Shipwreck a night and a day I have been in the Deep 26. In journeying often in Perils of Waters in Perils of Robbers in Perils by mine own Country-men in Perils by the Heathen in Perils in the City in Perils in the Wilderness in Perils in the Sea in Perils among false Brethren 27. In Weariness and Painfulness in Watchings often in Hunger and Thirst in Fastings often in Cold and Nakedness These and such like were the Scars and Marks of Honour which he had received for the Cause of Christ and the Gospel for the Truth of which he vouches the God of Truth for witness v. 31. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which is blessed for evermore knoweth that I ly not Briefly his Conscience told him that he had run his Race well in the ways of God's Commandments with Zeal Industry and which is the Crown of all with Constancy 1 Cor. 9.26 I therefore so run not as uncertainly so fight I not as one that beateth the Air. His Conscience told him that he had kept the Faith committed to his charge and as Jesus Christ had counted him faithful putting him into the Ministry 1 Tim. 1.12 So he had obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful 1 Cor. 7.25 But to wave the Metaphor I shall shew you plainly these two things 1. What it was that Paul's Conscience did testify 2. What use he made of that Testimonial 1. What it was that Paul's Conscience did testify what was the Answer of a good Conscience to him which may be reduced unto these two Heads 1. Faith and Love and other Graces unfeigned 2. A sincere and constant Indeavour of universal Obedience 1. By reflecting upon the Actings of his own Soul he could discern that he did firmly assent and cleave unto the Truth of Christ with all his Heart that he did rely upon and trust onely unto the Righteousness wrought by JESUS CHRIST for his acceptance with God the pardon of his Sin and his right to the heavenly Kingdom that he had the other true saving Graces wrought in his Heart by the Spirit of God whereby he was enabled to side with the Law of God in Judgment and Affection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to vote with and to delight in the Law of God and to overbear the Ebullitions and Insurrections of the Flesh and to mortify it by the Spirit or renewed Part and Principle of Spiritual Life that was in him which is called the inward Man Rom. 7.22 These Principles Habits and Acts he knew he had for upon reflexion he by a rational sense might feel them enabling him and proceeding from him and so be conscious of them And that his Faith and Love and other Graces were unfeigned and genuine he knew by the Light of the Spirit of God shining through the written Word upon its own work in his heart and by its special Concourse and Assistance enabling his gracious Soul to exert and put forth such vigorous and lively Acts as might easily be observed by a diligent Reflexion The holy Spirit of God is called a Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation Eph. 1.17 A Spirit of Revelation in respect of the Object a Spirit of Wisdom in regard of the Faculty The visible Object must be enlightned else it cannot verge or send forth its visible species without which it cannot be seen and the Eye must be enlightned also by an internal Light else it cannot see the Object though never so conspicuous in it self Thus also is it here the Spirit of God doth discover to us the things that are freely given to us of God the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the things of the Spirit not only Truths which it propounds to us from without but also the Graces which it works within us and thus it may be said to reveal the Object to us But then it doth also inlighten the Eye of the Mind with a spiritual Wisdom a Spirit of discerning whereby it distinguishes and discerns the Work of Grace to be true and genuine by the Characters which are given of it in the written Word 2. St. Paul by examining his own Conscience concerning the discharge of his Duty in the whole Course of his Life there recorded could observe in the latter part of it viz. ever since his Conversion a sincere and constant Purpose and diligent Indeavour of universal Obedience to the Will of God in pursuance of that resignation of himself mentioned Acts 9.6 Lord what wilt thou have me to do His Obedience was sincere though not sinless and perfect though not legally yet with the allowance of the Evangelical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 According to which aliquid fieri dicitur quando quod non fit ignoscitur when Obedience is sincerely indeavoured and the Failings of it pardoned And these Fruits gave Letters credential to his Faith that it was a living Faith Hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his Commandments 1 John 2.3 And we know that we have passed from Death to Life because we love the Brethren Love is argumentative to prove that we are in a state of Grace and the Fruits of Love bear witness unto that 1 John 3.14 Paul's Conscience told him that in his Actions he had not dissembled with God but that he acted out of a Principle of unfeigned Love to him and in Conscience of his Command and that he directed his Actions to God's glory as his chief end Thus much he might be well assured of from the Records of his Conscience which he had made it his care to keep clear and legible and though it gave him notice also of his Sins and Failings yet at the same time it represented them as expiated and cancelled in the Blood of Christ apprehended by his Faith And thus you have seen what the Testimonial was which Paul's Conscience gave him Now let us come to see 2. What Use St. Paul makes of this Testimonial A double Use 1.