be with him which in it self considered was earnest agreeable to his earnest expectation or stretching forth of the hand in looking as that word denoteth in the 20. verse of this Chapter To depart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or to be dissolved according to others or to die as the Apopostle had said in the 21. verse To die is gain The Apostle seemeth to strain himself for a word that he might set forth so gainful a death as he is speaking of which sometimes he calleth a dissolving of this earthy tabernacle and an unclothing 2 Cor. 5.1.4 Peter styles it a putting off of this tabernacle The spirit of God in the Holy penmen of the Scriptures hath set forth the death of the Saints by pleasant and alluring expressions as to sleep to be changed to be gathered to the Fathers and in this place to depart And to be with Christ Paul was in Christ alwayes by grace and Christ revealed in him by the spirit of illumination he was a follower of Christ by conformity and obedience and came behinde none of of the other Apostles in his labour and sufferings for him and as he desir'd to be found in Christ so to depart and to be with him that he might immediately enjoy him and enter into the joy of his Lord and Master unto whom he had been faithful in his ministry and Apostleship The state of happiness is often set forth in Scripture by this phrase of being with Christ and being with the Lord Luke 23.43 This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Rom. 6.8 Now if we be dead with Christ we believe we shall also live with him And 1 Thes 4.17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we shall ever be with the Lord. Which is far better * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or very much better that is in regard of himself it is better to die then to live though in regard of the Church for him to abide in the flesh it was better and more needful for them as in the following verse And in regard of himself and his glory with Christ it must needs be far better if we consider as Paul did that far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory which should be the reward of his light afflictions as he so them esteem'd comparatively 2 Cor. 4.17 For our light afflictions which are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is beyond expression * Christus caelum non patiuntur hyperbolem And therefore our translation rendereth it a farre more exceeding as Paul here styles it far better Having thus opened the words of the Text I shall lay down one Proposition only from these words of the Apostle and handle that as suitable to this present occasion and solemnity Doct. That it is the desireable and peculiar priviledge of the Saints to be brought immediately to Christ by their departure hence by death In the managing of this doctrine or proposition I shall endeavour to shew and clear these three general Heads the handling whereof will take in the substance and essential parts of the whole Text it self First What is that death in the nature and quality of it that brings the souls of the Saints departed immediately unto Christ Secondly what is it or what may be understood by this phrase to be with Christ Thirdly how doth the death of the Saints bring them immediately to Christ at their departure and in what manner doth the Soul depart to Christ First What it that death in the nature and quality of it that brings the Souls of the Saints departed immediately to Christ 1. Negatively Every death or the death of every man doth not bring him or his soul to Christ It is not death barely and in it self considered as it is a privation of life by the dissolution of nature and parting asunder of soul and body Otherwise what were the priviledge of Paul which here he so greatly desired more then of Judas the Traitor but that Judas went not to Christ but to his own place is evident Acts 1.25 The godly and the wicked die alike in respect of natural dissolution Eccl. 2.26 How dieth the wise man as the fool As there is no visible distinction or marke of difference between the Godly and the wicked by the external things of providence in the course of their lives but all things fall out a like to all men that no man might know love or hatred by what is before him but by what is within him and upon his heart so neither can the righteous be discerned from the reprobates by any visible character of the outward manner of their departure and dissolution And this will appear in the several kinds of death both are subject unto in the course of providence as also in the outward circumstances thereof The godly and wicked may both die of the same disease and distemper of body as feaver consumption dropsie yea the most painful diseases as the gout and the stone and also of the most noy some and uncomfortable distempers as the small pox and the plague it self of which Hezekiah was sick unto death 2 Kings 20.1 Again they may both die by a violent hand Stephen was stoned to death as well as Achan They may both also die by the same occasion and sudden providences as those upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and slew them Luke 13.4 Which did not argue that they were greater sinners then others Moreover they may both die in the full number of their days and a wicked man may live to be an hundred years old and be accursed Isai 65.20 And though wicked men sometimes through the just judgement of God doe not live out halfe their dayes yet the godly may die in their youth and strength and the Lord in mercy take them away from the evil to come Isa 57.1 Lastly they may die alike in regard of the present peace and calm or trouble and disturbance of spirit a godly man may want assurance upon a death bed and a wicked may goe out of the world like a Lamb with peace and presumption and a quiet dissolution Psal 73.4 There are no bands in their death 2. But positively That death which bringeth the Soul to Christ at the time of departure out of this life is to be considered in relation to the state and condition of the person in death as holy righteous and godly So that it is the quality of the person dying that makes him happy in his death whose death is his gain and his departure to be with Christ To this the Scriptures bear clear and rich testimonie Prov. 14.32 The righteous hath hope in his end Ps 37.37 The godly man is marked with this priviledge Marke the perfect man behold the upright the end of that man is
up their tabernacles for 2 Cor. 5.1 We know that if the carthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens when the Sons of God the heires of promise shall no more have moveable dwellings but abiding mansions and that in their Fathers house John 14.2 3. In my Fathers house saith Christ to his Disciples comforting of them are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many mansions I goe to prepare a place for you that where I am there ye may be also Lastly the word is also expounded to be delivered Liberari So Beza maketh it the same in signification with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death or from this mortal body Or as Diodate paraphraseth upon that Text O that I were but out of this animal and terrestrial life during which sin doth dwell in me and through it I am yet under the necessity of dying and that I were transported into the liberty of the glory of Gods children in the life of happiness St. Paul saw a law in his members warring against the law of his mind and leading him captive unto the law of sin and death in the foregoing verse under which bondage he groaned for deliverance and for the obtaining of it looked upon death as the only means conducible The Saints are subject to sin while they are in he body because sin receiveth its power from the corruption of nature not wholly mortified in this life therefore called the law in the members and the deeds of the body Rom. 8.13 Our members that are upon earth Col. 3.5 And the lusts of the flesh Gal 5.24 But the death of the Saints is the death of their sins whereby they put off the whole body of sin O happy death that brings the old man of sin to his grave and the new man in grace to his glory and perfection when the Soul shall be no more tempted unto sin no more troubled with sin but perfectly freed from all motions lusts and inclinations to that which is evil by departing hence unto Christ Secondly What is it to be with Christ unto whom the Saints are brought by their departing hence by death That none of the Fathers and Saints of the Old Testament were in heaven before Christs Ascension is but a Popish fiction and delusion contrary to the plain sence and express doctrine of the Scriptures as may appear to name no more in those two remarkable instances of Enoch and Elijah Gen. 5.24 And Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him And of Elijah 2 Kings 2.11 And Elijah went up into heaven by a whirlwind But the question may be made which I shall briefly answer how these Patriarchs and Saints could be with Christ when Christ was not yet incarnate neither ascended into heaven For the Solution of this question I shall only assert and briefly prove that though Christ was not in heaven before his incarnation in his humane nature yet he was there with the Godly departed and they with him in his Divine nature For the Divine nature of Christ being one with the Godhead of the Father and the Spirit as it was coessential so it was coeternal In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God John 1.1 And when Christ was on earch he speaketh of himself as being at the same time also in Heaven which must be understood of his Divine nature John 1.18 No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son who is in the bosome of the Father hath declared him So also John 3.13 No man hath of cended up to Heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of man which is in Heaven And when he was to leave the world in his prayer for himself his Disciples and all believers he thus petitioneth his Father John 17.5 And now O Father glorifie thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was But in what manner the Divine nature of Christ did put off its glory during the time of his exinanition and humiliation upon earth I shall not take upon me to inquire much less to clear so great a Mystery when being equal with God he took upon him the form of a servant having laid by his glory as to the use of it in the mystery of our salvation as learned Beza noteth * Hâ autem gloriâ quod ad usum illius ottinet in salutis no strae mysterio quodam modo sese abdicaverat filius in servi formâ durante suae illius exinonitionis spatio Beza in Johan 17. verse 5. But being out of all question that Christ is now in Heaven in his divine and humane nature and in both glorified I return to shew you the Saints priviledge of being with Christ and what it is to be with him at the terminus ad quem of the Souls motion in the state of Separation First to be with Christ is to be in the place where Christ is or to be locally present with Christ And that Christ is personally and locally in Heaven I will not seem to suspect your faith by being numerous in Scripture quotations Acts. 1.11 The Angels say to the Disciples Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into Heaven this same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him goe up into Heaven And Peter telleth the Jews Acts 3. 21. That the Heavens must receive him until the time of the restitution of all things Stephen saw him in Heaven when he was suffering for him Acts 7.56 Behold I see the Heavens opened and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God And the Apostle Paul layeth it down as an infallible truth to all beleivers Col. 3.1 If ye be risen with Christ seek the things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God Now Christ hath told us that where he is there we shall be also John 14.2 And if any man will serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my servant be John 12.26 Now is it not a desirable as well as a peculiar priviledge to be with Christ Christian wast thou ne're affected in reading the Evangelical story of Christ with the singular priviledge which the Disciples of our Lord had in their immediate attendance upon him and continuance with him to hear and see what they saw and heard and to be his bosom friends and familiar companions and didst thou not wish in thy heart that it might have been thy happy lot to have been one of them How much more comfortable and glorious will it be to be with him in Heaven The presence of Christ on earth was a joyful presence to the Disciples for while the Bridegroome was with
his usual benedictory salutation first he declareth his thankfulness unto God for their spiritual estate and continuance in the fellowship of the Gospel unto the 5th verse Secondly his confidence in God for the perfecting of the work of grace begun as he was perswaded through charity to judge in them all by their future and final perseverance unto the eighth verse Thirdly his prayer for their increase and abounding in fruitfulness unto the 11. verse Then from the 12. to the 18. verse he laboureth to satisfie them concerning the consequent events of his present sufferings that they were rather for the furtherance then hinderance of the Gospel which he proveth by two arguments First because the cause of his sufferings which was the preaching of Christ the Saviour of the world was hereby made known and divulged both in Nero's Pallace and in the neighbouring Cities Secondly because by his sufferings many of the brethren were made more bold to preach the Gospel and notwithstanding there were some that preached Christ out of envy and strife thinking thereby to add to his afflictions yet he was so far from being troubled at it that he rejoyced because Christ was the more preached In the 19. verse the Apostle discovereth the gracious and sweet frame and temper of his own heart under his sufferings in the firm confidence he had that all things should work together for his good and turn to his salvation as the return and fruit of their prayers and through the supply of the spirit of God unto him that he might hold out under his tryals according to his earnest expectation and hope that through his stedfastness and boldness both in life and death Christ might be magnified in his body whereof he giveth this reason verse 21. For to me to live is Christ and to dye is gain That is if I live I shall honour Christ by my life and if I dye I shall honour him by my death and that death shall be my gain according to his confidence before expressed that it should turn to his salvation But in case he should live he should have fruit of his labour or it were not worth the while to live for to live is Christ that is he should preach Christ which would be the gain of others as his death would be his own Now in these thoughts Paul is at a stand what to choose or desire whether to live or dye for being a Prisoner at Rome for Christ's sake and the Gospel he might expect as well to dye as to live and being as it were indifferent to either he debates the case and controversie in his own heart according to the words of my Text I am in a straight betwixt two c. In which words we have three distinct parts First Aequilibrium animi the even ballance of Pauls mind in respect of life and death For I am in a straight betwixt two Secondly Inclinatio affectionum the inclination of his affections and desire Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ Thirdly Status vel determinatio judicii The determination of the controversie and the discovery of his judgement upon mature deliberation in the last words of the Text Which is far better Before I lay down the intended Doctrine or Proposition from this Scripture I will briefly explain the terms of the Text to justifie the clearness of the doctrinal deduction from the Text. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am in a straight betwixt two I am straigthly held on both sides So Beza translateth it or I am pressed of two according to the vulgar Latine S. Paul presenteth unto himself life and death two different objects of his choice and election and both sub ratione boni appearing unto him to be really good for him but which of these to close withal and pitch upon he knoweth not Not that it was in his power to live or to die but if the Lord should give him his free liberty to chuse either he was at a stand in his present thoughts which way he had best incline himself as the case was now with him being an Apostle of Christ and now imprisoned for him whether it were absolutely better upon all accounts and all things considered for him to die by a violent hand or to be enlarged as a further instrument for the promoting and propating of the Gospel in the world As it was Davids case when he was to chuse one of those three judgements proposed unto him 2 Sam. 24.13 14. Shall seven years famine come in thy land or wilt thou flye three moneths before thine enemies while they pursue thee or that there be three dayes pestilence in thy Land And David said unto Gad I am in a great straight let us fall now into the hand of the Lord for his mercies are great and not into the hand of man This was his straight in respect of evils and he chose well for he chose the least in all circumstances for the time the nature and the immediate inflictor of the evil or judgement But Pauls straight was in respect of good objects to be chosen and which of the two were the best was his present controversie whether to depart and be with Christ or to live and abide still in the dy to preach him both would be for the honour of Christ but the former would be his own gain the latter the gain of the Church and his own private interest was the less unto him because if he lived it was but the deferring of his heavenly reward and his affections sometimes were so strong that though it was impossible yet he could have wished a total deprivation thereof for the Jews sake Rom. 9.3 I could wish that my self were accursed from Christ for my brethren my kinsmen according to the flesh Love desireth impossibilities By all this it appears how great the Apostle's straight was betwixt living and dying as a needle hanging between two loadstones of equal force and power †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Having a desire or greatly desiring that is in respect of his own happiness and his great love and delight in Christ for whom he was now in a suffering condition to depart that he might be with him The word in the original signifieth a vehement desire or an ardent and hot desire and it is observable that he doth not barely say he did desire but having a desire which Beza translateth to contend in desire * Plus est animo ferri contendere quam simpliciter cupere Beza in locum answerable to that expression of our Saviour Christ Luke 22.15 With desire have I desired to eat this Passeover with you before I suffer So that in these words we may consider Paul looking solely upon Christ and his immediate presence waving all former considerations whereby this fervent desire was limited and himself straightned So that Pauls natural if I may so call it desire and inclination was towards the Lord and to
comfortable and chearful estate endeavoureth what he can to disturbe them though he cannot destroy them besides the weighty and burthensome afflictions where withall many gracious hearts are sometimes ready to be overwhelmed had they not secret supports under their oppressing tryals To these and to all Christians the Apostles exhortation is to rejoyce in the Lord Phil. 3.1 And to rejoyce in the Lord alwayes and again to rejoyce Chap. 4. verse 4. who layeth it down as a character of the true spiritual circumcision to rejoyce in Christ Jesus as well as to worship God in the spirit Phil. 3.3 Joy is a fruit of the spirit as much as love faith and other graces among which it is numbred Gal. 5.22 And it is essential to the kingdom of heaven and the state of grace in the soul which is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 15.17 How then should all that are justified by faith and have peace with God through Christ Jesus rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God by Christ and in Christ himself the hope of glory Who is there among all the people of the Lord that is not ashamed to say he doth not love Christ and doth not so far at least testifie his faith as to declare his desires to beleive in him Beloved doe ye love the Lord and beleive in him and can ye not also rejoyce in him Oh that I could say of all beleivers as Peter of the beleiving Jews and the greatness of their joy in the incorruptible inheritance and in Christ 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen ye love and in whom though now ye see him not yet beleiving ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Chear up your spirits and lift up your heads and hearts ye drooping Christians for your departure unto Christ is at hand and your salvation is nearer then when ye first beleived And ye that are rich in faith and heires of the kingdom look unto the hope set before you and endure a little shame here yea glory in your tribulations and rejoyce in your sufferings for your redemption draweth nigh Know ye not in whom ye have beleived who is able to keep what ye have committed to his charge and to save you to the uttermost And rejoyce that ye are made partakers not only of the sufferings of Christ but of his glory who is ready to receive you into his bosom and to give you possession of a glorious inheritance prepared reserved and secured unto you having made you sons and heires and appointed you to be Kings and Priests unto Christ and his Father Secondly for the furtherance â—nd help of your joy in the Lord make your calling and election sure For hereby an entrance shall be administred unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1.10 11. It is an uncomfortable state for a Christian to hang between heaven and hell and in a moving ballance betwixt hope and fear therefore we ought to give diligence in the searching our hearts and examining our hopes that our evidences may be clear and our hopes lively through the assurance of hope and understanding Examine your selves whether ye be in the faith know ye not that Christ is in you except ye be reprobates 2 Cor. 13.5 They that beleive have the evidence and witness in themselves the spirit it self bearing witness with their spirits that they are the children of God Rom. 8.16 But we must not expect the witness of the spirit of God without the preceeding witness of our own spirits whereby our evidences are first signed and afterwards sealed by the spirit of promise For hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his spirit 1 John 4.13 Unto which knowledge we attain by our reflexion upon the fruits of the spirit within us as an earnest of the purchased possession for us So that our evidence ariseth and appeareth by a diligent scrutiny and inquisition into the work and principles of grace within us and that by bringing the word to the heart and judging the heart by the word by comparing truths with experiences and experiences with truths from which premises the enlightened and sanctified conscience draweth the sweet conclusion of life and peace And were we not too much strangers to our selves and guilty of neglect and careless presumption in the matter of our assurance we might raise our comforts to a higher pitch and maintain a better grounded joy and confidence then we doe who are ready to content our selves with naked desires weak and staggering hopes or at most with a questionable probability of our salvation yea how many professors are there who by the difficulty of the work of gaining assurance either discourage and cool their affections to it or else by a conceit of an impossibility thereof voluntarily and totally neglect it But ye Beloved build not your hopes and comforts upon slight and shallow foundations but stirre up your selves and by all unwearied paines resolve to clear and ballance your accounts for eternity especially making your calling sure and your evidence sound concerning the truth of conversion and regeneration This will be the strongest hold under Christ's protection in the time of temptation to retire unto and to preserve and releive your hearts and hopes when Satan shall beat you out of all other Forts and outworkes of defence and confidence cause you to retreat to your main-guard of conversion evidence To this end call to mind the birth day of grace wherein you suffered the pangs and throws of the new birth and recount the experiences of Gods first love to you and your first love to Christ How discernable was your change when God turned you from dismal darkness to his marvellous light and raised you from the jawes of death and hell unto the joyes of heaven and salvation when he comforted you in your despair and anointed you with joy and gladness in the time of your sorrow and mourning when your imprisoned and confined hearts were enlarged and the Devil bound up from torturing holding you captive under his tyrannical and malilicious power when the day of light and understanding dawned in your hearts and the glorious Sun of righteousness arose with healing to your wounds and health to your souls But take heed of satisfying your selves with this that you have been converted to the Lord but for the strengthening of your confidence in him and clearing your interest in his love bring forth of the treasury of your hearts things new as well as old for the more testimonies the stronger evidence anst the surer comfort Therefore trace the foot-steps of Christ's spiritual and powerful dispensations towards your souls in the process and continued course of mercy and his preventing assisting and supporting grace and reveiw the pillars and monuments you have set up in your hearts for remembrance of special kindness and remarkable
expressions of his love and faithfulness unto you if you can yet read them in Scriptures not defaced or blotted out through unthankful for getfulness Take also a new survey of the carriage of your hearts towards the Lord. What have been your desires after him how have ye trusted in him and cleaved to him what communion with him what delight in him what service have ye done for him how faithful have ye been to him what have been your private affections in duty and your publique zeal in your profession how have you improved his talents and encreased your spiritual stock of grace what growth in meekness self-denial patience faith love knowledge holyness and purity what is the present frame of your hearts after so much means and seasons of grace so long enjoyed Is it more humble more heavenly more unmoveable and fixed upon God And lastly are ye more fruitful and abounding in the work of the Lord Thus can ye manifest the truth of grace by the exercise of it the growth and fruitfulness of it hereby your joy shall be full and Christ's joy shall dwell in you John 15.11 What a glorious evidence hereby had the beleiving Thessalonians to whom the Apostle Paul writeth in their commendation that their faith grew exceedingly and their love one towards another abounded 2 Thes 1.3 Happy are they that can ascend this mountain of assurance and take a sight as from Mount Pisgah of the heavenly Canaan crying out with Saint John in admiration 1 John 3.1 Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God therefore the world knoweth us not But if your evidences are lost or hardly legible for the renewing ard preserving of them take this next direction Direct III. Thirdly Then perfect holiness to the highest degree attaineable upon earth This is the Apostles counsel drawn from the great priviledges and promises of grace 2 Cor. 7.1 Having these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all pollution of flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God And because we deny that any man can be perfect so as to be without sin and all infirmities upon earth for if we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us 1 John 1.8 Therefore take this necessary caution of proposing any measure unto your selves thereby to limit your utmost endeavours after the greatest measure of grace ye can possibly attain unto for therefore we have a perfect example set before us even God himself that we should be perfect as he is perfect Mat. 5.48 And also of Christ that he that saith he abideth in him ought also to walk even as he walked 1 John 2.6 That though we are not perfect yet with Paul forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before we may press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Phil. 3.13 14. Wherefore beloved laying aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset you run with patience the race that is set before you looking unto Jesus the Authour or Leader and the finisher of your faith Heb. 12.1 2. And since ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God with whom ye hope to appear mortifie your members which are upon the earth and crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof labour to conquer all your corruptions to purge out the reliques of the old leaven and to wash your hearts from iniquity and the vanity of your very thoughts and desires Be exceeding careful to suppress and quench every motion arising from the flesh and to avoid whatever may defile the conscience and thereby cloud your comforts and darken the light of your inward joy and peace And I beseech you that ye would walk worthy of the Lord unto all well-pleasing in obedience to every command and the strictest rules of the Gospel and that as ye have at any time heard how ye ought to walk and to please God so ye would abound more and more 1 Thes 4.1 That ye may at last stand perfect and compleat in all the will of God working out your salvation hereby with fear and trembling Phil. 2.14 Col. 4.12 Wherefore add to your faith vertue to and vertue knowledge temperance patience godliness brotherly kindness charity that ye may not be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ and tho rather give diligence herein that ye may make your calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.5 6 10. Direct IV. Redeem your precious time and the seasons of grace for the time is short saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 7.29 The time of life is short the of health and strength is short and consequently the time of grace and the opportunities thereof are short Therefore see that ye walk circumspectly or exactly redeeming the time or season because the dayes are not only short but evil Eecl 5.15 16. And that not only in regard of the temptations and snares thereof but of the perils and afflictions the troubles and tribulations that attend the last dayes of the world Our Saviour knowing the day of his working and ministery to be short having but a while to remain upon earth took all occasions to finish his Fathers work who sent him into the world John 9.4 I must work the work of him that sent me while it is day the night cometh when no man can work And is not your night Christians coming on and your Sun near setting when the light of this present life shall vanish and give place to the darkness of death O that ye would keep an eye upon and the swiftness of that motion which will suddenly have measured your appointed race And be not slack in the work of the Lord but double and redouble your diligence that ye may be ready for the Masters call and the Bride-groomes coming What a blessed condition is that soul in that can say with Saint Paul 2 Tim. 4.6 7. I am now ready to be offered up and my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith But is it not otherwise with many poor souls who could wish for another life to be renewed unto them for the discharge of their trust they have neglected the improvment of mercies which they have sleighted the filling up of that space they have idly squandred the gathering in of experiences which they have pretermitted and for the laying in of a store and stock of grace and wisdom by such rich advantages of trade and heavenly gain and profit which they have lost and over slipped Who now begin to look back with shame and sorrow upon the time of youth and strength and the yeares of plenty and fulness of the bread of heaven bewailing their folly in not providing for the yeares of famine wherein they will be glad of the gleanings of