get ready that we may not have cause to desire its stay Thirdly Though they be gone yet it was not before they were fit to go Some of thm liv'd but a little time but they liv'd much in a little time and how are they to be commended and the grace of God to be admired in them who do happily dispatch that work in twenty years or less which others and those holy Souls too are threescore or seventy years about Some die young it is a sign they ripened apace The Husband man careth not when he plucks up his Weeds because they are either for the Furnace or the Dunghil but his Corn shall be white to the Harvest before he puts in his Sickle So a wise man will let the Fruit of his Orchard hang till it be ripe and when it is so he gathers it So doth the wise and ever-blessed God as for wicked men he is not so curious about them they only cumber the ground they bring forth wild Grapes down with them saith Justice it will be a good riddance let better be planted in their room but he doth otherwise with the Trees of Righteousness the souls of holy persons are prepared for glory by that time their bodies drop into the Grave The marriage of the Lamb will not come before his Bride hath made her self ready Now is not this enough to satisfy you give one good reason if you can why any should remain upon earth after they are once truly fit for Heaven why they should have their days prolonged when their work is finished they shall not die before it why should they live here after it why should they not receive the Crown of Righteousness when they have fought the good fight and finished their course and kept the faith To what purpose I beseech you should they live when they have no more grace to get here and no more good to do To such an one as loves God dearly and is set for his glory an useless barren and unprofitable life would be an heavy burden and a great deal worse than death Such an one in such a case would not know how to enjoy himself an hour but would long and pine and cry out for the coming of death as the Mother of Sisera did for her Son Why is his Chariot so long in coming why tarry the wheels of his Chariot Fourthly As they are gone to God so they had excellent company by the way It is not a little distance between this earth which the Saints now inhabit and the highest Heaven unto which at death they go the habitation of God and seat of the blessed and tho the holy Soul be exceeding swift in its motion when it is once freed from the heavy clog of dull flesh and got upon the wing yet will it be some time before so long a Journey can be dispatch'd and it arrive at its desired home At the beginning of Daniel's supplication the Commandment came forth and the Angel Gabriel was caused to flee swiftly yet he came not to him till the time of the evening oblation And there is an innumerable number of wicked spirits in the way Legions of Devils in the Regions of the Air which envy the happiness of those who are to have an everlasting abode in those places out of which they themselves were cast and therefore will be sure to do their utmost for the disturbing them in their ascent But for the preventing of it the great and holy God hath appointed them a strong Guard in Hebr. 1. 14. the holy Angels are said to be initistring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be the heirs of salvation and they take pleasure in doing so Little do we know the obligations we lie under to them how much we are beholden to them how they watch over us and pitch their Tents about us and are Assistants to us Many and many are the good offices which the good Angels do for the Saints while they live and when they die they are a strong Convoy to their Souls that will keep off from them all Enemies and Dangers and bring them with safety and honour into the King's Palace the Presence-Chamber of their God and Father Upon all these accounts I counsel you not to lay the reins upon the neck of your passions nor to mourn over them who died in the Lord as those who have no hope for they are blessed When they lived they were the habitations of God through the Spirit when they died they died in the Lord and their bodies sleep in Iesus their Souls upon dissolution are the charge of Angels It was they that carried the Soul of poor but precious Lazarus into the bosom of Abraham tho the rich Glutton suffer'd him to lie in his Rags and Sores starving at his door neglected and despis'd and both their souls and bodies at the Resurrection of the Just shall have a consummate happiness in the full uninterrupted and eternal enjoyment of God Therefore I say again mourn not for them there is no cause they are in a far better condition than you turn your Grief into another Channel and as our Saviour directed weep for your selves and for your children on the score of what you have lost and what you may feel in this world of sin and uncertainty The second Branch of this Use of Exhortation will be this Be you willing to go to God also whensoever he shall please by death to send for you You I mean who have been indeed made partakers of grace who love God and have made him your choice and have good hope yea assurance of your interest in him It would be a shame for any of you to be unwilling and loth to die God may very well take that unkindly at your hands and you for it have reason to be displeas'd and angry with your selves What is there upon earth that should make you unwilling What is there in Death that should affright and scare you Have you great affliction and trouble here would it not be better for you to be out of it to exchange a tempestuous Sea for an Haven of Peace Do you now swim in Delights and abound with Creature comforts shall you not find better in Heaven than those you leave behind you Would you stay yet longer that so you might provide for your Children and see them setled well and comfortably in the World Will you not commit them to the care of your heavenly Father who is their God in Covenant as well as yours Can you trust God with your Souls and will you not trust him with your Seed Do you think it is an hard thing to die cannot God strengthen you for it Is there a bitterness in it cannot God sweeten it to you Cannot he make it easy to you as he hath made it to many of his People Cannot he by the light of his Countenance and the witness of his Spirit and the shedding abroad of his love
and long to be Father I come as soon as ever I have drunk off that Cup which thou hast given me to drink of I come and how am I straitned till that be accomplished and glad I am at my very heart that thereupon I come to thee Now I come it will be but a little while first and the sooner the better I am willing to leave all for thee to leave the World for thee yea to leave my dear Disciples for thee tho they be my Friends the Men of my Choice the Purchase of ray Blood the Members of my Mystical Body yet do I freely leave them for thee Only Father I consider where I leave them in a World that hates me and will be sure to hate them for my sake and therefore while I leave them for thee I would leave them with thee I put them into thy hand let that uphold and defend them I shelter them under thy Wing let that secure and comfort them I have kept them while I was with them when I shall be gone do thou undertake and be Surety for them for good that they may be safe in the midst of Enemies and stedfast in the midst of Temptations and Assaults yea and chearful too in the midst of Sufferings and Troubles having my Joy fulfilled in themselves And now come I to thee The Doctrine which from hence I shall observe and speak to in the following Discourse is this Doct. An Holy Soul is and very well may be willing yea heartily glad to leave the world because when it doth so it will go to God I look upon the words of the Text as the Words of one rejoycing the Language of one whose heart did even leap within him of one whose Soul was upon the wing of holy Desires longing to be at its home Now come I to thee and when I once am with thee I shall be where I would be and with whom I would be in the best place and with the best Company what suits me most and therefore must needs please me best Now I come to thee whom I like abve all being infinite in all Perfections and whom therefore I love and prefer before all Now I come to thee who art mine Eternal Father and wilt be my Eternal Satisfaction Our Saviour had before told his Disciples in John 14. 28. That if they loved him they would rejoice because he said I go to my Father because that his departure would be glorious to himself and advantagious to them but whether they through want of a judicious Love would rejoyce in it or no he himself would perfectly understanding how things were and would be Now come I to thee Once I came from thee to do thy will and that was pleasing to me I delight to do thy Will O my God thy Law is within my heart Now I come to thee to enjoy thy Presence and that will be to me incomparably inexpressibly sweet Thus it was with our dearest Lord and Saviour this was the frame these the actings of his Spirit and thus likewise it ought to be with all his People who were predestinated to be conformed to his Image and who ought to have the same mind in them that was in him for he acted and suffer'd he liv'd and died leaving us an Example that we should tread in his Steps In the Doctrine which I have laid down there are three things which we ought to take notice of First That Gracious and Holy Souls must leave this World The World to come will be their Eternal Habitation but in this present evil World they will have but a short stay Those that have the largest share of its good things those that are most useful in it and live to the best purpose serving their Generations according to the Will of God must leave it Their loving Father never intended this for the place for their constant Residence nor the Comforts and Enjoyments here for their Portion The highest Heaven in his Throne the Habitation of his Holiness and Glory and he was always resolved to have his Children about him there This World is but your School to learn in during your Minority your House to work in till you have finished what was given you to do your Tyring-room to dress in that you may be ready for the Marriage of the Lamb a Stage to act your Part upon see that you so quit your selves as to be at last found to Praise and Honour but it is not to be your rest because it is polluted God hath too much of the heart of a Father and loves his Children too well to keep them always in a Vale of Tears where they shall be frequently Suffering and Sighing Complaining and Groaning always in a Wilderness that is over-run with Briars and Thorns and an innumerable company of Beasts of Prey the wicked of the World are their irreconcilable Enemies and implacably hate them therefore they shall not always have them to wreak their Malice and Rage upon They will for ever envy and gnash their Teeth at them because of their happiness in Heaven but they shall not for ever exercise their Patience and disturb their Peace upon Earth Often O Saints repeat in your thoughts that this World is but the House of your Pilgrimage therefore let not any of you love it too well but while you live in it be you weaned from it remembring there is a better place prepared and taken up for you whither the forerunner even Jesus is entred an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens whose builder and maker is God Secondly Whensoever Gracious and Holy Persons leave this World they go to God The decayed and crazy Body doth no sooner cease to be any longer capable of housing so noble and excellent a Guest as the Soul and the Soul doth no sooner dislodge and leave that once-beloved Structure but that it doth immediately take its flight and mount up with a swift and speedy Motion and a direct tendency without the least and shortest Digression to its great Creator even to him who alone is the Father of Spirits It cares not for any further Converse with things below being intirely set for Communion with him by and for whom it was made and on this side of whom it is and cannot but be resiless and unquiet Gen. 5. 24. Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him i. e. he took him home he took him to himself into the presence of his Glory into the bosom of his Love And thus it hath been is and will be with all those who walk as Enoch did who tread in the same Steps and keep up the same Communion tho indeed they do not all go the same Way yet they go to the same Place and to the same God Enoch was translated that he might not see death Hebr. 11. 5. He was presently carried up to Heaven having his Soul purified and his Body freed from Corruption He was soon
in your hearts mitigate and abate the sense of pain Look to it that you do not leave him while you live and then rest confident of this that he will not forsake you when you come to die David could say Psal 23. 4 Tho he did walk through the valley of the shadow of death he would fear no evil for God's rod and staff did comfort him I am apt to think the pains of Death are worst at a distance and not seldom more terrible to the Spectators than to the Patient And I do not in the least question but the throws and agonies of many poor Women in Child-bearing and those Pains also which are caused by the Cramp the Gout the Stone or Strangury are far greater and more severe than the Pains of Death usually are But however we may be sure of this those Pains be they what they will are but short if compared with that blessed Eternity which shall succeed them and so light as not worthy to be mention'd the same day with that far more exceeding weight of glory which shall be graciously bestowed upon them that overcome So the holy Apostle Paul saith Rom. 8. 18. I reckon that the sufferings of this present life take them altogether from the first to the last moment are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Therefore by Prayer earnestly beg of God a willingness to go to him and take pains with your own Souls in order to the working of them up thereunto Humbly and freely leave it to him who is infinite in wisdom to chuse the time when it shall be to him who is love it self and whose compassions do not fail to order out the manner how it shall be only be you careful to prepare and get ready labour to be fit to die and meet for the inheritance of the Saints in light and when that grim Messenger comes bid him welcome and let your hearts be glad and your glory rejoice Do your Souls now at any time wander from God call them in and chide them home and when you come to die sing them home and the good Lord enable you by being with you while you walk in the valley of the shadow of Death comforting you with his Rod and Staff giving you to look within the veil and to see your Advocate and Mediator Jesus at the right hand of God ready to receive you that so you may as the Protomarryr Stephen did commend your spirit into his hand and besides what hath been already said before the time of your departure come lay your selves in with these comfortable meditations First God whom you go to is the best and dearest Friend In him there is infinite Fulness and everlasting Love As the Sun when up and shining forth in his Glory doth so obscure and darken all the Stars that in his Presence they hide their Heads and disappear so doth the Glory of God prevail and triumph over all the Beauty and Glory of the Creature He hath all Perfections and is pleasant for Delights It is his Glory to be Self-sufficient and All-sufficient He hath enough for himself and for the holy Angels who look no further and desire no more therefore he cannot but have enough for you And as there is All fulness in him so All-sweetness too Here indeed a gracious Soul may sometimes discover that in God which strikes a terror in it The Psalmist remembred God and was troubled Psalm 77. 3. The Prophet cried out I am undone for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts Isa 6. 5. But in the other World where the sight will be clear and full you shall see nothing in him save that which will be your Comfort and Joy Then every sight of him will be ravishing and every thought of him precious He will then be in your Account altogether lovely You will then see he hath such a Glory as knoweth no blemish such a Fulness as knoweth no defect so that you cannot desire him better than he is nor would you have him other than he is for as all his Attributes are his own Glory so they will all contribute to and issue in your Satisfaction Secondly Heaven is the sweetest place that you can be in We have reason to conclude it must of necessity be so since God hath chosen it for his own Seat the place of his own Residence This World is but a Wilderness since Sin entred into it that is a Paradice far beyond the Terrestial one out of which our first Parents were driven This World is but a Dunghil that is a Mountain of Myrrhs there be the Beds of Spices There is nothing to pollute nothing to offend no danger of falling no fear of losing nothing to disturb the Spirit to break the Peace or damp the Joy Read and consider that excellent Description which is given of the New Ierusalem in that Rev. 21. 10 c. some passages whereof are these The foundations of the wall garnished with all manner of precious stones the twelve gates were twelve pearls the City yea the very street of it is pure gold the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it the Glory of God doth lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof And if there be such a Glory in that great City which descends from God out of Heaven what do you think and how great is the Glory of that great City which is in Heaven What words are big enough to express it What mind large enough to conceive it Deus Coelum non patiuntur hyperbolem God and Heaven are incapable of an Hyperbole our most raised and inlarged Thoughts will be too narrow short and low I will add but one thing more and shut up this Discourse Lastly When once you come to Heaven you will never be weary of being there Here indeed we are quickly weary and tir'd out at the best of our comforts A Man may lie in a Bed of Down till he is weary and his Bones ake He may sit at a noble and sumptuous Feast till he is weary and would be glad of a dimission We may pray and preach and hear till we are weary tho we should not be weary of Gospel-Ordinances and Religious Duties yet we may be weary in them But there is no such thing as this in Heaven no nothing like it throughout Eternity The Saints there will neither be weary of God nor of Heaven nor of themselves nor of one another Their Eye will not be weary of beholding God and contemplating his Glory nor the Tongue weary of blessing and praising him nor Soul and Body weary of maintaining a close and intimate converse with him As there will be a compleat Enjoyment so constant and fresh Delight A Fulness and All fulness of Joy and that will infallibly afford Pleasures for evermore God hath made a great Breach among you who meet in this place by taking away his Servant who labour'd in the Word and Doctrine It is above Fifty years since our first Acquaintance we having been of the same College and under the same Tutor He was a Learned Man and as I am persuaded truly Godly one that denied himself and suffered much for Conscience-sake I came hither to do you good not to commend him for that is needless you having known his Doctrine and manner of Life His Course is finished and God hath call'd him home so that you shall see his Face no more I beseech you to live the Truths he brought you and since you are taken with the goodness of this Air and the pleasantness of this Place for the health of your Bodies see that you neglect not you Souls but chearfully allow to the procuring and setling one among you that may feâ—d you with sound Knowledge and Understanding by your Liberality therein manifest the value you have for the Gospel and the good Lord send one in whose Light you may rejoyce FINIS