Cains look with fallen Countenances Gen. 4. 6. Let the Pharisees please themselves in their sowr Looks Mat. 6. 16. A Christian's Countenance should shew him to be above his Misery sprightly and chearful though you take away their Coat as Ioseph's Mistress did you cannot take away their Comfort they are glad they can escape with their Conscience though they should leave their Coat behind them I remember Scaliger playeth the Critick with Homer because Champion Achilles is brought in weeping his beloved Briseis was taken from him So it is a Disgrace to our high Profession when a Christan is brought in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weeping it is beneath you It is said in Acts 5. 41. They departed from the Presence of the Council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for Christ. Philpot's Stocks in the Bishop of London's Coal-house was but a pair of Organs as he saith Nor is it true only in these honourable Sufferings for the Glory of our Religion but in the Strokes of Providence in this very Business of deceased Friends The Apostle makes it the Property of Pagans to mourn excessively 1 Thess. 4. 13. Sorrow not as those that have no Hope i. e. as Pagans they did abound in it as see Gen. 50. 3. compared with v. 10. Ioseph mourned for Iacob but seven Days the Egyptians seventy even ten times as much Nay Pagans err so much this way that if they could not find Grief they would force Grief and therefore at their Funerals if they had no Sympathy they would slash their Faces and cut their Flesh that they might be sorrowful And therefore God saith Deut. 14. 1. Ye shall not cut your selves and make Baldness in your Eyes for the Dead ye are the Children of the Lord your God that is you have higher Principles you know such Sorrow needless And hence was it that the Primitive Christians were wont to sing triumphant Psalms at Funerals as it appeareth out of many Places of Chrysostom to shew they had higher Hopes of their departed Friends 3. It is very prejudicial You have no Benefit but a great deal of Hurt by it 2 Cor. 7. 10. there it is summed up in one word Worldly Sorrow worketh Death that is chiefly Sorrow for worldly things that works Death temporal and eternal in its Desert temporal Death as it exhausteth the Spirits wasteth the Marrow Worldly Sorrow leaveth a very strong Impression upon the Body as Solomon saith Prov. 17. 22. A broken Spirit drieth the Bones it dulleth and deadens the Heart If a Man would not save his Tears yet he should reserve them keep them up for holy Uses God may give you many spiritual Occasions to empty your Bottle do not be over-free of them Affections over-exercised are usually restrained against the next Occasion And as they procure Death in respect of the Vigour of the Body and Soul so an eternal Death too it deserveth it And so the Apostle is to be understood for he opposeth it to Godly Sorrow which hereafter you shall see you have no cause to repent of as you have of Worldly Grief is a most serious Passion and though a Man may forget himself in his Joy he should not forget to think of the Danger Worldly Sorrow worketh Death 4. It is very unreasonable If Men would cite their Affections before the Tribunal of Reason and ask them what 's the matter why they are so violently stirr'd they might discern much of their Folly Psal. 42. 5. David calleth himself to an account Why art thou so disquieted O my Soul why art thou cast down within me Ask why it is and you will see either no reason or a corrupt one Iniqua lex est quae se examinari non patitur saith Tertullian And so it is an evil Heart that will not be called to an account Suspect those Passions that are loth to be examined Do but ask your selves why do I grieve now you shall see the Answer will be foolish unreasonable unthankful or savouring of Discontent Why it may be you will say Many dear Comforts are taken from me O Brethren that is an ill Expression no outward Comfort can be taken from a Christian We should live in such a continual waiting for God's Pleasure and in such a quiet Submission thereunto as not to look upon our Comforts as taken from us Iob indeed useth the word Iob 1. 23. The Lord hath given the Lord hath taken but he useth it so as if he would be understood as if the Lord had accepted of the Resignation for he blesses God for it Even our highest Comfort our Lives the Lives of the Saints are not taken from them God doth but as it were accept of the Resignation As Stephen Acts 7. 59. Lord Iesus receive my Spirit So Rev. 22. 20. Even so come Lord Iesus come quickly It is said of the Wicked indeed that their Lives are snatched or taken away as Iob 27. 8. What Hope hath the Hypocrite when God taketh away his Soul or snatcheth it away So Luke 12. 20. Thou Fool this Night shall thy Soul be required of thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall challenge and get away thy Soul from thee Therefore we should resign up our holy Friends to God as well as they do themselves But let us see how unreasonable this very Particular is of Mourning for the Dead Is it to do them good They are not the better for our Tears they are past Recovery by our Weeping Is it not to envy their Blessedness to wish them alive again 2 Sam. 12. 23. Wherefore should I fast can I bring him back again I shall go to him he shall not come to me Is it because they were so good that we mourn The better for God they are gone to their own home Is it because so bad 2 Sam. 13. 39. David was comforted concerning Anmon because dead though he died in Sin Or is it because they died so soon which heightens your Loss Consider who decreed it are you wiser than God Is it for your own Good you weep that is an holy Weeping Weep as if you wept not Thus if Men would expostulate with themselves they would see the Unreasonableness of their Sorrow it is to no purpose We express things to no purpose by Water spilt on the Ground certainly Tears in such Cases are but spilt Water Use 1. To instruct you to take home this Lesson so to sorrow under the Sense of your Afflictions as if you did not sorrow be it the Loss what it will though I shall chiefly speak to the present Occasion Do not let the Grief oppress your Heart Ay but how shall we do so I shall give you some Motives As 1st Be sure to get an Interest in spiritual Mercies The Doctrine saith Christians ought so to sorrow as if they sorrowed not We cannot speak to others in this Language unless we should perswade Men to slight the Hand of God We throw Bones to Dogs but Bread to Children
Interest in thy Son my only Saviour and Redeemer and do thou graciously give thy Holy Spirit to direct guide quicken counsel and comfort me the remaining part of my sojourning here How few Days may put a Period to my Life I know not In all probability it will not be long before I leave the Stage of this World and be summoned before the Bar of God to give a strict and impartial Account of my past Life O it is an awful thing to die and come to Judgment I beg O Lord I beg that I may be made meet for the Inheritance of the Saints in Light Sanctify me wholly let my whole Spirit Soul and Body be preserved blameless unto the Coming of my Lord Jesus Christ. O be thou pleased to preserve me unto thy Heavenly Kingdom Many Fears and much Ground for Fears have I that I shall never enter into Rest But blessed Lord do not exclude me from thy comfortable Presence hereafter Do thou make me fit to be a Member of those blessed Inhabitants of the New Ierusalem Though I am altogether unworthy yet if thou O Lord please to account me worthy I may then be so happy as to stand before the Son of Man with Courage and Comfort Keep thou me by thy Almighty Power through Faith unto Salvation Let me be preserved from fainting sinking and desponding in my last Conflicts and Agonies Let me see thee who art invisible and with an Eye of Faith look within the Vail whence I look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ to change this vile Body of mine that it may be fashioned like to his glorious Body Let this Saviour be my Saviour and Redeemer even the Lord Jesus Christ and let me be assured that he is mine and I am indeed his and that this vile contemptible wretched Body shall be changed and made like to his glorious and blessed Body This is such an Honour and Privilege that I have hardly a Face to ask But I find a Warrant in thy Word to look long expect pant and wait for so happy a Day and Time as to be in a sinless State and Condition where we shall see our Saviour and be like him where earthly Troubles and Sorrows shall vanish and decay where the World the Flesh and the Devil shall have no Power to tempt molest or disturb those that thou O Lord God Almighty shalt admit into thy Heavenly Kingdom and Glory O blessed Souls that are here owned by thee approved by thee and shall at last be received by thee into those Eternal Mansions above Lord I humbly put in for a Share in these inestimable Mercies and Privileges Earthly things cannot content me without some Hopes some Prospect some Glimpse of thy Love and Favour If thou afford me this I may then bear the Inconveniencies the Hardships and ill Usage I meet with here in this howling Desart Let not my Unworthiness be a Bar and Hindrance to hinder good things from me Look not on me as in my self a vile polluted wretched undone Creature but behold me in and through thy well-beloved Son and for his sake alone be gracious and merciful to me I have been guilty of black and horrid Sins and Millions of Sins have I been committing daily without Sense Sorrow or Remorse O may such a Sinner as I find Mercy Lord I sometimes doubt and despair and conclude there is no Hopes for me I fear Heaven-Gate is shut against me and though I cry and knock it may all be in vain Lord I cannot bear such a Thought as to think I am rejected forsaken and cast off by thee I e'n cry out with the Jailor What shall I do to be saved What shall I do to obtain Eternal Life I find many comfortable Promises in thy Word to repenting and returning Sinners that those that come to thee thou wilt in no wise cast out and that the Blood of Jesus Christ thy Son cleanseth from all Sins Lord I desire to come to thee and come in a right manner and humbly beg thou wilt not cast me out nor cast me off as one whom thou no more canst love Let me have the Benefit of that healing cleansing Peace-speaking Blood of the Lamb of God which taketh away the Sins of the World I find in thy Word a black Catalogue of Sins and Sinners too who have been guilty of gross Offences whose Crimes would certainly exclude them Heaven unless thy unlimited Mercy and Compassion had inclined thee to look with Pity on them When the Apostle had mentioned those foul and horrid Sins that should deprive poor Souls of the Joys of Heaven he immediately for the Benefit of After-Ages and the Comfort of desponding Souls adds But such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Iesus and by the Spirit of our God Lord thou alone knowest what numberless Numbers of Sins I am guilty of and for which e're long I shall be summoned to give a strict and severe Account Lord I have nothing to plead for my self why I should not be condemned but I humbly cast my self at the Throne of thy Grace and implore Mercy Mercy Lord Mercy I need without this I cannot live comfortably nor die safely O let me even me be washed let me be sanctified let me be justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus let me be a Partaker of the Benefits of his Death Resurrection Ascension and Intercession and let me be assured I am one of those that shall live and reign with him World without end In my sorest Distresses and last Agonies and Conflicts let me see thee a God in Covenant and reconciled to me Let not my Evidences for Heaven be then to get When I come to die let me have nothing to do but to die and surrender up my Soul into the Hands of that God who gave it me Let not the Foresight or Prospect of Death be so terrifying as to overwhelm me and cause me to fall from thee Be with me when I pass through the dark and dismal Passage of Death When Flesh Heart and all Creature-Comforts fail and forsake me O Blessed Lord be thou the Strength of my Heart and my Portion for ever-more PAPER XI WORK while it is Day the Night is coming in which none can work Now is the Day of God's Patience and Forbearance this is the only time that God hath allotted for Work and Service He that doth the Work for which he came into the World faithfully and carefully shall in the Evening of the Day receive a bountiful Reward but if he neglects his Opportunity and squanders away his Time in Idleness and Sloth the Night will surprise him and then it will be too late to begin that Work which before he would not be perswaded to set about This Counsel is serious and grave every one hath Work to do O that all would be convinced of this great Truth we have Souls to
without that Private Griefs are nothing in comparison of the Miseries of Sion 1 Sam. 4. 21. The Glory is departed the Glory is departed Though she lost a Father lost an Husband that was sad but she reflects upon the principal Cause of Grief the Misery of the Church of God So see Ier. 22. 10. Weep ye not for the Dead neither bemoan him but weep sore for him that goeth away for he shall return no more to his native Country Not for good Iosiah but the Misery of wicked Shallum Thus it must be Godly in respect to the End to draw you to God these ways Use 1. It condemneth that Slightness of Spirit that is in most Persons God entereth into their Families and taketh thence a principal Pillar a Husband or Wife but they are not affected with it they carelesly slight it as if nothing had been done or some chance had befallen them A Roman bragged Se nunquam cum matre c. They may say they were never comforted they never needed it they lay nothing to Heart Brethren the Use of Divinity indeed is to compose and still the Spirit not to make it stupid I am sorry that I am forced to speak any thing to trouble you I had rather comfort but there is no true Rest where there hath not been a due Trouble therefore I must a little speak against this Stoical Patience and Insensibleness And because Discovery of Sin doth more wound the Heart than all the Forcibleness of Expression we can use I shall not cudgel it with barren Invectives but labour to discover this sinful careless Insensibleness to the Heart and distinguish it from an holy Patience I have been often upon such like Subjects therefore shall say the less now I shall difference it chiefly in their Grounds 1. This Slightness proceeds 1st From want of Consideration There can be no Patience where there is no Sense of Evils They will not give their Thoughts leave to work upon such Objects I do not say we must make it the Cause or Object of our Mourning yet I say we must make it the Occasion this must awaken sad Thoughts in us about our own Sins or others Sufferings but they will not think of it These are such as are described by the Prophet to put far away the evil Day Amos 6. 3. that is all Consideration of God's Dealings with them or others 2dly From indulging Pleasure A voluptuous Spirit is an insensible Spirit Eph. 4. 19. Who being past feeling give themselves over to work Uncleanness with Greediness So it is said Hos. 4. 11. Whoredom and Wine do take away the Heart that is all Smartness and Quickness of Affection When the Soul is sleeping in Pleasure there is a Brawniness brought over it Pleasure is the Drunkenness of the Soul and a drunken Man feeleth nothing Prov. 23. 35. They have stricken me shalt thou say and I was not sick they have beaten me and I felt it not 3dly Vain Thoughts Ier. 4. 14. How long shall vain Thoughts dwell within thee Evil Workings of Spirit either seeking a way how they may get out or contriving how it maketh for their worldly Advantage The Devil darts evil Thoughts in us how a Cross by some sinful course may work for our temporal Good our State augmented thereby or capable of farther Contentment and Advancement in the World 2. Christian Patience cometh from this Ground it doth not exclude a Sense of Evil but a quieting of the Heart against Evil. These are the Grounds and Workings of the Thoughts 1st It seeth God in it 1 Sam. 3. 18. It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good Psal. 39. 9. I was dumb and opened not my Mouth because thou didst it 2dly It seeth God acting with Soveraignty Dan. 4. 35. None can stay his Hand or say to him What dost thou Job 9. 12. Behold he taketh away who can hinder him Who will say to him What dost thou Job 33. 13. What dost thou strive with him he giveth no Account of his Matters 3dly This Soveraignty mollified with Attributes As 1. With infinite Justice Dan. 9. 14. The Lord our God is Righteous in all the Works which he doth Just and righteous in all his ways It is just because God doth it His Will is the measure of his Actings Deut. 27. 15. All the People to say Amen it is just Lord. 2. With infinite Wisdom Isa. 28. 29. He is wonderful in Counsel and excellent in working He knoweth what is better for you than you your selves for God hath the Bowels of a Mother so the Wisdom of a Father 3. With infinite Love It looketh upon God as a Father Iohn 18. 11. The Cup that my Father hath given me shall I not drink of it Though a bitter Cup it is from my Father 4. With infinite Faithfulness Psal. 119. 75. I know thy Iudgments are right and that in Faithfulness thou hast afflicted me It looketh upon Afflictions as a Means in God's Hands I proceed to the second Point Doct. II. That Christians ought so to sorrow under the Sense of their Afflictions as if they did not sorrow Their Affections must be moderately exercised Having in the former Point shewed what Sorrow may be allowed or is required of a Christian I shall shew you here what Sorrow is disallowed or unlawful 1. Such as overwhelmeth and dejecteth the Spirit so as you are not your own Man This is called a Fainting or a sinking of the Soul under Affliction Heb. 12. 5. Faint not when thou art rebuked of the Lord. As we must not slight it so we must not faint under it Fainting is quando anima dejicitur de statu when the Soul is put out of the Condition of a free Soul and delivered over to the Possession of another God hath given every Man this Fee-simple to possess himself Now we are not our selves when we are overcome with Grief and Sorrow and therefore it is said Luke 21. 19. In Patience possess your Souls implying that a Man hath not the use and command of his Soul when he is overcome with Grief it doth as it were dispossess a Man of himself You know of a drunken Man we say he is not himself because he hath not the free Use of his Reason Now this being overwhelmed with Sorrow is expressed in Scripture by this very Term being drunk as Isa. 63. 6. I will tread them down in mine Anger I will make them drunk in my Fury that is bring such Affliction as they shall not be able to injoy themselves under it to have the free Use and Exercise of their Reason 2. Such as is peevish When Men indulge themselves in their Disquiets and will not hearken to what might make for the Settlement of their Souls When the Heart yieldeth to Passion and huggeth Grief and will not let it go There is a great deal of Pride and Stomach in Men against God's Dispensations and therefore the Prophet expresseth that intolerable Misery
ADVICE TO MOURNERS Under the Loss of Dear RELATIONS In a FUNERAL-SERMON long since preach'd by the late Reverend Dr. Thomas Manton D. D. And now occasionally published on the much lamented Death of Mrs. Ann Terry who died the 9th of November 1693. With a short Account of some Passages of her Life and Papers left under her own Hand LONDON Printed by I. D. for Ionathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-yard 1694. THE PREFACE READER THAT which occasioned this Discourse and Preface is a late Stroke of Providence in translating a Daughter of Abraham from hence to Abraham's Bosom where she now rests in the delightful Expectations of her full Resurrection unto Life Eternal She was a Person whom I well knew and greatly valued and that I did discern by free and frequent Conversation with her Treasures of Knowledg and Grace richly abiding in her and with great Iudgment and Savour pertinently brought forth by her in order to her fuller Satisfaction and Edification in what concern'd her Soul as to its Duty whilst embodied and its full Bliss when it was to be removed hence She ever was concern'd to know her Duty and the true Matter Grounds and Usefulness of her Christian Hope in order to the effectual influencing of her concerned Spirit in her determined Services and Station She ever was solicitous to know her VVork and to discharge her Trust as a Christian and answerably to her Relations and Family wherein she behaved her self not as without Law to God but as under Law to Christ and so deported her self with true and commendable Exemplariness as a VVife a Mother and a Mistress and as one full of Thoughts and Care therein to abide with God and to approve her self to him in his own solemn Day of Iudgment She was a Person of great Exercises through the tedious Urgencies of her long and many bodily Infirmities which she bore with Patience and providently improved unto the great Advantage of her better Part. She would not suffer Sense to sit in Iudgment upon Providence but fetch'd her Measures of God's dealing with her from that Faith and from those Thoughts which took their Directory from God's own Sacred Oracles She concealed her Resentments of her Troubles so far as I could see from all save only such as she judged able judiciously to minister to her Satisfaction Her Objections were not trivial but such as did require considerable Resolutions of which she was very apprehensive observant and I think tenacious of Her Troubles hindered not her Converse with God in Solitudes nor the fit Indearments and Improvements of both relative and friendly Converse She is now gone to the Felicity and Imployments for which she was through Grace and holy Industry considerably prepared And what her Spirit breath'd for and after may be discerned in part by these few Instances of her Closet-work which her sorrowful Husband hath thought fit to communicate to the World 'T is such a Wife as he has lost as that the Sense and unavoidable Remembrances of that Loss may well urge sorrowful Nature to its Tears and Groans And of these considerable Measures are needful and allowable but Provocations to excessive Grief through such a Stroak render it needful that Christian Bounds and Limits to such Sorrows be seasonably proposed and well considered And therefore this Funeral Text is fitly offered to the Mourners Thoughts by the Apostle that recorded it and by the Reverend Author who has fitly insisted upon that Clause The serious Perusal whereof and of these few Memoirs of the Deceased so devoutly contemplative for her own Good and for the Benefit of others is really judged worthy of due Consideration both by the Publisher and by thy true Friend in and for the great Disposer of Times and Lives whilst I am thine in all Christian Services Matthew Silvester It being thought necessary to make some particular though short mention of the Party on the account of whose Death this Sermon and Papers are published it naturally follows from a Principle of Gratitude Honour and Iustice that 's due to the dear and precious Memory of Mr. Terry's first VVife to take notice also of some of those indearing Qualifications that were very conspicuous in her The less indeed will be said of either because what is related of the one is so applicable in all respects to the other IT is no small part of the Honour that 's due to her Memory that she was a Daughter of that excellent Divine Dr. Thomas Manton and bestowed in Marriage to Mr. Terry by his peculiar Choice out of that most kind and cordial Respect that he had for him She was as to her Person very lovely of most curious and excellent Parts of a ready and quick Wit and good Understanding and such a transcendent Sweetness of Temper joined with true Religiousness that she was highly valued and esteemed by all that knew her In all relations she answered her pious Education as a Child a Mother and Wife never any went beyond her It hath been often said that she was made up of Love which Character she fully answered She had Love sufficient for ten good Wives it 's impossible for any in that Relation to express more than she did to her dear Husband who was as to her the Life of all her other Comforts and this express'd not with childish Fondness but with Prudence and Discretion To the Day of her Death she would say that her Love was still increasing and she found that every Day she lov'd him more and more She carried her self with all imaginable Duty and Respects to her Relations to whom she was very dear Great was her Prudence and Conduct in the Management of her Houshold-Affairs She had the Bowels of a tender Mother to the Souls as well as the Bodies of her dear Children and did endeavour by Counsel and Instruction to instil in them the Principles of true Godliness She had that true Piety towards God and Publickness of Spirit to do Good that she was beloved of all that knew her she was of that free and generous Temper that she thought no Pains too much to serve her Friends to the utmost of her Power as many can witness in the late publick Troubles She had a most indeared Respect to all the Ordinances of the Gospel which she frequently attended on and that many times when she was more sit to be confin'd to her Chamber She had many Mercies to bless God for for many Years together but not without her sore Troubles which did not apear to every one both outward and inward but under them all there was no Abatement or Decay in respect of her Duty either to God or Man The Death of several of her Children was the Beginning of her Sorrows and afterwards that of her dear Father whom she loved with a most passionate Love This bore hard on her tender Spirit and brought her into a great Melancholy Her Troubles continued more
save Heaven to secure an Interest in Christ to get and yet we are stupid and negligent as if this were a Matter of no great moment O my God give me Wisdom that I may see the Necessity of looking after my Soul that it may go well with that however it fare with the Body and worldly Concerns Now is the Day now is the Time to provide for a happy Eternity to Day if you will hear his Voice to Morrow may be too late therefore now set about this Work in good earnest see how it stands with thy poor Soul Is God and thy Soul Friends or are they still at a distance Is God dearer to thee than all the World Dost thou think thy self happier in being a Child of God an Heir of Heaven than if thou wert possessed of all the things of this lower World Dost thou not prize and value God as thy Chief Friend and rather have his Favour and Friendship than to have the greatest Monarchs on thy side Dost thou humbly resolve to be the Lord's and his only and that thy Time thy Heart and Strength thy Memory Understanding shall be all exercised in thy Maker's Service Study his Mind and Will and then readily comply with his Commands fear his Threatnings believe his Promises obey his Precepts and resolve with Iob that though he slay thee yet thou wilt trust in him Resolve to follow God through all Difficulties beg of him to own thee for his to avouch thee to be one of his peculiar People Secure a Title to Heaven this World is passing away apace the Day is spending and the Night approaching in which I cannot work I am sensible of the Greatness of my Work and know not how short my Time may be it may be shorter than I or the World imagine My Work is so great and difficult that in my own Strength I can do nothing Lord Jesus I implore thy Aid and Assistance for thy Merit sake let my Sins all be done away let me be sanctified justified pardoned and be made meet to be received into those blessed Mansions that are prepared for thy Redeemed Ones Let me have those Qualifications that are requisite in all those whom thou admittest to live and reign with thee for ever that Holiness of Life that Purity of Heart that Sincerity that Heavenly-mindedness that Weanedness from this World and worldly Injoyments which is required in all those that love and fear thee Let me have those Divine Qualities that may render me amiable in the Eyes of my Judg. O blessed Jesus let thy Righteousness be imputed unto me and my Sins washed away with thy precious Blood Deny me not an Interest in thy meritorious Death and Sufferings I cannot be happy here nor hereafter without some comfortable Hopes that I do belong to the Election of Grace Lord if it be thy Will let me know assuredly that I am one of them for whom Christ died seeing he died for Sinners let me never die in my Sins And as I trust Christ died for me so let thy Holy Spirit live and reign in me Let me be guided directed counselled comforted strengthned and supported the remaining part of my Days that whether they be few or many they may be so spent that when I come to lie upon a sick and Death-bed I may lift up my Head with Joy unspeakable hoping my Redemption draws nigh In my last Agonies be not thou far from me thou art now and I am sure wilt be then my only Hope therefore be not a Terror unto me Let me then find that the Eternal God is my Refuge and that underneath are his everlasting Arms. I do expect to have my Flesh and my Heart within a little while to fail me but Lord be thou the Strength of my Heart and my Portion for ever Lord I hope I have chosen thee long ago for my Portion and am resolved by thy Grace enabling me to stick to my Choice therefore be thou pleased to be with me in my sorest Conflict at the Hour of Death and in the Day of Judgment Let me not then be left by thee or forsaken and rejected by thee the Great Judg of all the World whose irreversable dreadful Sentence will e'r long be pass'd upon all those that forget and neglect thee in which Number I beg I may not be found Seeing Time is posting away and Eternity appoaching and none knows how soon Death may arrest them it is highly necessary to be often considering what will do us most good and stand us most in stead at a dying Hour when this World and all its Injoyments will as Iob saith of the White of an Egg have no Relish nor 〈◊〉 in them When we come to the Brink of Eternity all our earthly Comforts will vanish and disappear our Friends and nearest and dearest Relations will bid as adieu they cannot help us nor hinder Death one Moment Our Riches though we had gained never so much cannot ease one Pain nor find one Remedy for our mortal Disease the Serjeant Death will not be bribed to stay till another Year or Day or Hour no they must be gone nill they will they they must into the other World Let me O Lord be in a Posture of Readiness that when thou shalt summons me to appear before thy dreadful Throne I may not be found naked but may be found in Christ and not in my Sins Let me by every Sabbath Sermon Prayer and Sacrament be brought nearer to thy self whose I am and whom I hope to serve here and injoy hereafter in thy Heavenly Kingdom where are an innumerable Company of Angels and the general Assembly and Church of the First-born which are written in Heaven where is God the Judg of all and the Spirits of just Men made perfect and Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant and the Blood of Sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel Who can think of these glorious Inhabitants and not long to be with them O happy and blessed Souls are they that are safe got home and are now with God and his Angels and this Assembly and Church of the First-born whose Names were written in Heaven Who would not desire to be with the Spirits of the just Men who are made perfect O the Goodness of God to make Men perfect and then receive them to himself because they are so O what Thanks should be ascribed to our dear Lord Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant for purchasing at so dear a rate such inestimable Privileges and Blessings for such vile Worms as Men This Blood of Sprinkling cries louder for Mercy than the Blood of Abel did for Vengeance These holy Ones have washed their Robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. The Lamb's Blood can wash the foulest Sinner white therefore are they brought before the Throne of God and serve him Day and Night in his Temple and he that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them they shall