expiated our sins conquered the Devil and disarmed Death he paid our Ransom Redeem'd us from Hell which we can hardly think of without horrour and trembling and purchased Heaven where we long and desire to be he hath opened the Gates of Heaven and invites and beckons us to enter in and oh how powerful are the thoughts of a weeping bleeding groaning and dying Jesus to revive and recover the dying hopes of poor Sinners Do I stand amaz'd at the thoughts of my guilt overwhelm'd with the sight of my sins terrified with apprehensions of Divine Severity and Justice Do I in the depths of a melancholy grief cry out my hope is gone woe is me my hope is gone can there be any happiness any Heaven for such a wretch as I am how can I how dare I hope oh that I could hope but alass the Law Curses and Condemns me and I O miserable man have little or no hope I would think of Christ our Passover 1 â—or 5. 7. Sacrificed for us In this case what is to be done Shall I sink under the burden abandon all hope indulge my sorrow and fear and give way to a self-tormenting despair No I would go to mount Calvary and set my self at the foot of my Redeemers Cross I would often look up to a bleeding and dying Jesus think what he suffered for whom and for what end and then I would embrace this dying Jesus in the Arms of my Faith and after this how soon would hope begin to stir Christ dying on the Cross and Christ living in the Heart is the foundation of our hope and thanks be to God 't is such a Foundation as cannot be shaken I add further it is infinitely useful to consider and act Faith in Christ as risen from the Dead Had our Lord Jesus onely died and not risen again had he been yet sleeping in the Grave as Death's Eternal Prisoner had he not after a little time reviv'd and rose and lâ—v'd again all our hope must have been buried with him in the same Grave but tho' he was Dead he is Alive and lives for evermore Rev. 1. 18. and to Eye him as risen is very serviceable to quicken our hope how fully even beyond all possibility of doubting does the Resurrection of Christ assure us that his Death was valid his Sacrifice accepted our debt paid and justice satisfied that he did all that was necessary to expiate our sins and finished the work of our Redemption before he gave up the Ghost and Died on the Cross with his last with his dying Breath he cried out It is finished and is not his Resurrection Joh. 19. 30. a full convincing and undeniable evidence of the truth of that saying did Justice release and Divine Power bring him out of Prison Did God give him an open and publick acquittance And is there any ground to suspect the payment of what we ow'd and he undertook to satisfie for may we not from hence conclude to our unspeakable comfort incouragement and joy the efficacy of his Death the validity of his sufferings and the perfection of his sacrifice Moreover does not the Resurrection of Christ discover the possibility of ours nay is it not the cause and reason the earnest and pledge of it Did he roll away the Stone from his own Sepulchre and can he want power to roll it away from the Graves of his People Is the Head Risen and now in Heaven and shall the Members always be the Prisoners of Death is he Risen as the First 1 Co. 15. 23. Fruits and shall there not be an Harvest at the end of the World Oh what influence hath the Resurrection of Christ upon our hope as we are Christians therefore we are said to be begotten again 1 Pet. 1. 2. to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead and God raised him 21. up from the Dead that our Faith and Hope might be in God A daily and lively exercise of Faith in Christ as Crucified and Risen would contribute very much to the Strength Life and Vigour of our Hope Fifthly Beg of God to fill you with and give you his Holy Spirit to beget and nourish it in you We can have no good and solid well-grounded and lasting Hope except it be given us from above we cannot get it our selves we must be begotten to it it does not grow and spring up of it self but must be planted in us by a Divine Hand and if it be not watered too by the same Hand how soon will it wither and die if we have good 2 Thos â— 16. Hope we have it thro' Grace and as God's gift It is nothing but the Breath of God can scatter those Fogs and Mists which darken our Souls and cloud our Hopes If we are without Hope let us look up to God for it if our Hope decline and wither if that which remains be ready Rev. 3. 2. to die let us beg of him his Holy Spirit to quicken and recover it The Spirit of God Works Grace and then enables the Soul to see it and then helps him to rejoice in Hope of the Glory of God Oh Rom. 5 2. how soon can he scatter those fears that torment us answer those doubts which for many years have been unresolved and fill that Heart with Hope which was almost swallowed up of Despair How necessary is frequent fervent Prayer to keep our Hope alive If you want go to God for it fall on thy Knees and say I have heard and Lord I believe there is an Heaven and thro' Grace it is possible to me even to me I see many of my fellow Christians with whom I pray hear and daily converse living in the joyful hope and expectation of it but I am full of doubts and fears Lord I have little or no hope and if Death should come while matters are thus with me how should I ever be able to die it is bad to live but Lord it's worse to die without hope oh for hope oh for a lively hope of Heaven oh that on my Death-bed when I shall have no hope of Life I may have hope of Glory oh give me thy holy Spirit to scatter my fears resolve my doubts calm my Conscience and enliven my hope whatever I am deny'd while I live Lord let me have hope at last let this Prayer be heard now and fully answered when a dying hour comes Sixthly Frequently and seriously examine the groâ—â—â— and reason of your Hope Many take up their Hope upon very slight and insufficient grouâ—ds and the least blast of affliction blows down these Castles thâ—y build in the Air many times their hope is like Jonah's Gourd which Joâ— 4◠〈…〉 sprung up at night and withered the next Morning A sound hope is the fruit of many Prayers and Tears much watchfulness and holy walking and we have reason to suspect that hope we come easily and quickly by Such an
Righteous as interested in the perfect Righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ Christs Righteousness was not only for himself but for his members though this be inherent in the Person of the Mediator yet we have as much benefit by it as if it were Subjectively in us The Sufferings and Death of Christ were not for his own Sin but ours He was made Sin 2 Cor. 5. 21 for us i. e. our Propitiatory Sacrifice and We are made the righteousness of God in him we have the fruit of his bitter sufferings and cruel death He fulfilled the Law satisfied Justice and paid our Debt and for his sake God looks upon and deals with believers as righteous persons As the disobedience of the first Adam makes us Sinners so the perfect and sinless obedience of Christ the second makes us Righteous As our sins were laid upon Christ in order to his bearing the punishment so his righteousness by a gracious and favourable act of God our Supream Judge is made ours in order to justification Our own righteousness is both a filthy and ragged garment through this God our final Judge will spy the deformity and nakedness of our Souls and Christ our Elder Brother infinite grace covereth us with the unspotted robe of his own Christ took our sins and gives us his righteousness blessed Exchange From Adam our natural Root and Father we derive Guilt Weakness and Death from Christ our Spiritual Head we have Righteousness Strength and Life Isa 45. 24. and therefore he is stiled THE LORD Jer. 23. 6. OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS This is the only Righteousness we must make mention of when judged according to the Law given to Adam in innocency A Penitent and believing Sinner that receiveth Christ Jesus the Lord is for Christs sake esteemed reckoned accounted and dealt with as a righteous Person Though this righteousness be of a peculiar consideration and cannot be thought to be meant in all those places where this word righteous occurreth yet it is absolutely necessary for Christ and what he hath suffered and done is the Spring Cause and Foundation of our hope The immediate and doleful consequent of being without Christ is to be Eph. 2. 12. without hope in the World This fruit grows no where but upon Christs Cross it is his Death that made Heaven possible to a fallen and Apostate creature and it is the sprinkling of this Blood that revives our languishing withering and dying Hopes Oh! Blessed are they who having no righteousness or at least but a maim'd defective and imperfect one of their own are interested in the Righteousness of Christ in the Righteousness of God! III. A man is Righteous and may be denominated so from that personal Evangelical righteousness that is inherent in himself We must not only be interested in the Righteousness of another without us but have one that is really subjected in our selves Or which is all one we must not only have Righteousness imputed but Holiness imparted Christ doth not only cover our running sores and ulcers but undertakes as our Physitian to cure them All Righteousness as hath been already hinted consists in a relation to some Law and that we might truly State what this Evangelical Righteousness is that hath so great a Privilege entail'd upon it as this in the Text I hope none will be offended if we distinguish as we find the Apostle Paul doth of the Law of Works and the Rom. 3. 25. Law of Faith the one framed to the State of an Innocent the other adapted to the condition of an Apostate Creature According to this latter it is that those who have once been Sinners may be made and denominated Righteous That part of the Gospel revelation which contains and discovers our Duty what we are to be and do in order to our Blessedness being as to the matter of it the whole Moral Law before appertaining to the Covenant of Works attempered to the State of fallen Sinners by Evangelical mitigations and indulgence by the Super-added Precepts of Repentance and Faith in a Mediator with all the other duties respecting the Mediator as such and cloathed with a new form as it is now taken into the Mr. How 's Blessedness of the Righteous p. 26. constitution of the Covenant of Grace is the rule of this righteousness He that solemnly repents of his wretched Apostacy from God and all the sins that have followed thereupon he that is united to Christ by Faith and yields sincere though imperfect obedience from an active and living principle within he that is renewed and changed turned from the love of sin in his heart and the practice of it in his Life he that hath solemnly and deliberately sincerely and unfeignedly covenanted with God and dedicated himself to the Sacred and Glorious Trinity Father Son and Spirit and lives suitably to such a devoted State He that is born of God bears his Image lives in communion with and walks in conformity to him is righteous Though his bloody issue may not be wholy dried up though there be indwelling sin in the heart and some sins and falls in the Life though no grace be perfect as to degree yet if there be SINCERITY and UPRIGHTNESS Oh! look after that he is a righteous man The Law calls for perfection but the Gospel Oh! thanks be to God we are under such a merciful favourable and gentle dispensation accepts sincerity This righteousness is not meer morality a being just and honest in our dealings this is the righteousness of an Heathen It is not an external observation of the Letter of the Law this is the righteousness of a Pharisee and ours must exceed his or we cannot Enter into the Kingdom Mat. 5. 30. of Heaven It is not a single act but a stated temper it is not an obedience that Proceeds from rotten but what flows from sincere and gracious Principles denominates a man Righteous A wicked man may do some acts of Devotion and Piety Charity and Justice Sobriety and Temporence but because the setled bent and inclination of his will is another way he is not righteous And though a good man may be guilty of some Errors and miscarriages in his Life yet while this living Principle remains and is not extinct we may and if we will speak in the Language of the Gospel we must call him a righteous Man This Righteousness is nothing but a transcript of the blessed Gospel a conformity in the inward and outward man in spirit and practice to the Divine Revelation made by Jesus Christ A renewed and vital principle in the heart exerting its self in suitable deportments to God and man In summ Repentance from dead Works and new Obedience impregnated by Faith and Love are the two essentiating and constitutive parts of this Gospel Righteousness For the establishing of this notion it is not necessary to insist on any laborious Proof when a great part of the Bible speaks to this purpose Hear once
softned and broken you must renounce the Infernal Trinity the World the Flesh and the Devil your old Hearts and Natures must be changed love to God must be your governing principle the characters of the H. Gospel must be imprest upon your Hearts and there must be a sincere constant and universal obedience to all its commands in your lives you must have Faith in the Heart which works by Love and there must Gal. 5. 6. be obedience in the life the fruit evidence and proof of that Faith and what argument and motive can be more cogent to persuade you to endeavour after this compleat righteousness than this in the text Sirs when you are sick and ready to die you send for us and then you cry out for comfort oh Sir saith many an one on his Death-bed have you no comfort for a dying man Can you give me no hope it will be well with me after Death Oh that I had some hope of Heaven you that know to whom Heaven belongs tell me oh tell me if there be any ground for me to hope it will be mine and will you not labour after that righteousness without which all your hope is vain and will end in eternal desperation Shall the profits of the World or the pleasures of sin keep you from being Religious indeed infinite folly Were I now upon my Death-bed panting for Breath strugling for life beyond the hope and possibility of recovery were I now expecting which hour and moment which pulse and breath would be my last oh what would hope of a blessed Immortality be worth hope of Heaven would stand me in more stead than the riches of ten thousand Worlds Lord quicken my resolutions and endeavours awaken my drowsie Soul inspire my dead and slothful Heart with light and life with warmth and zeal let me trifle and dally no longer but mind and mind it as the main business of my life to get that righteousness which may add spirit and life to my hopes in a dying hour I resolve and purpose to do so Lord maintain and strengthen these holy purposes and grant me this hope at my death Infer VI. How unaccountable and blame-worthy is fear of death especially that which is tormenting and slavish in those who are truly righteous 'T is true in Death upon the slightest view we may behold something â—elancholy and startling frightful and gloomy something that puts Nature into a fright and makes it recoil and start back at the thoughts of it but if we consider it more distinctly in its antecedents languishing sicknesses acute pains and terrible pangs in its consequent what becomes of the young strong and honourable when death hath turn'd the man into a pale wan and ghastly corps it appears more formidable but if we farther consider it as the effect of our primitive Apostacy and the fruit of the Divine Curse as it transmits the Soul to a righteous and impartial Tribunal and as it is attended with Hell it may justly whenever we think of it surprise us with horrour But how unreasonable is it for good men who have such great and glorious hopes to be kept in Bondage all their life-long thro' fears of Death and yet how Heb. 2. 15. loth are the best of us to admit the thought of dying how loth to suppose that the next year week or day we may be laid in the Grave when sickness shakes how loth are we death should pull down this Earthly Tabernacle But how greatly are we to be blamed for this when God has provided such an antidote as hope of Heaven What is it we are afraid of What is it makes us start and draw back when Death is marching towards us and we hear the sound of its feet at our chamber doors do we fear the pains and pangs which usually usher in the King of Terrors Cannot God make our passage speedy and easie and have we not hope that when these pains are over we shall feel no more Are we loth to die because we must leave our Relations and Friends and have we not hope of going to better Are we afraid to die because after Death our separated and naked Souls must pass thro' the Devils Dominions and Territories And have we not hope of a Convoy of mighty and powerful Angels who dare fight those unclean Spirits in their own Quarters to conduct them safe to the blessed abodes above Are we afraid to die because after Death comes Judgment And have we not hope the Judge is our friend and that our trial will have a good and happy Issue Finally are we loth to die because these Bodies and this Flesh of ours must rot in dust and darkness and our eyes must no more behold this sweet and pleasant light and have we not hope towake and rise after a quiet and undisturbed sleep Oh how abundantly hath our good God provided for our comfortable passage to Eternity Let as many then as have this hope banish these unreasonable and slavish fears which are a pleasure to Satan a dishonour to God a reproach to our profession a disgrace to our hopes and a torment to our selves Infer VII Hence we see the reason of the willing and chearful joyful and triumphant departure of some believers at the hour of Death The Souls of some men are violently rent and torn from them fain would they live longer but must not some die with a quiet and silent submission and some die with abundance of joy and triumph As old Jacob's heart was revived and cheared when he saw the Waggons which were sent to fetch him to his beloved Joseph so the hearts of some Christians have even leapt for joy when they have seen Death coming to carry them to their beloved Jesus Death drest up in the most terrible shape has not been able to fright them With what courage and resolution boldness and magnanimity composedness and chearfulness with what joy and triumph did the Martyrs of old suffer and die The angry frowns the sour looks the threatning words of their enemies have not daunted them the passing sentence of Death upon them and appointing the time for their execution has neither startled nor troubled them No no they have rejoyced in their Dungeons and gone to the Flames with Psalms of Praise in their mouths With what an unshaken mind transport and joy have they passed from their Prisons to a Stake not in the least concerned at the sight of the executioner the instruments of Death and all the bloody Pomp that was carried before them How have these noble confessors endured the torture of the Rack the burning of the Flames not only with patience and submission but with thankfulness and access of joy and exultancy of Spirit though I confess there was somewhat peculiar in this case yet was not all this owing to the liveliness of their hope and strength of their assurance Faith made them Martyrs and Hope made them Triumphant How many other
THE Righteous Man's HOPE AT DEATH Consider'd and Improv'd for the Comfort of Dying Christians and the Support of Surviving Relations To which is Added Death-bed Reflections c. Proper for a Righteous Man in his Last Sickness By Samuel Doolittle This was the first Sermon the Author Preacht after the Death of his Mother Mrs. Mary Doolittle who deceased Decemb. 16. 1692. and is since enlarged LONDON Printed for Thomas Cockerill at the Three Leggs in the Poultrey over against Stocks-Market 1693. TO His Loving Sisters Mrs Mary Sheafe Mrs Tabitha Hearne Mrs Susanna Pool Mrs Sarah Dawson Mrs Martha Doolittle Dear Sisters THAT Infinitely Wise God who does what he will and gives not account of any of his Matters Job 33. 13. has made a breach upon us That God who gave at first and for many years continued has now removed from us a dear and tender Mother This Arrow that killed one wounded all that Stroke that took away Life from her took away an excellent Wife from our honoured Father and a dear Mother from you and me At once fatal hour she was left a breathless Corps he a solitary Widdower and we Motherless Children What a sad and sudden change is made in Persons and Families when Death knocks at the door and enters in The Root now is dead and dry tho' the many Branches are yet spar'd For many years God continued us an entire Family The Destroying Angel that knockt at many doors visited many houses pass'd by ours When the Ax has been laid at the Root of many Families when many Branches have been lopt off and many Trees hewn and cut down we stood in the Vineyard untoucht But Death will come and a parting time will come Will come alas it is come The sweetness of her Temper the greatness of her Love the tenderness of her Affection the Grace of God in her whatever might endear a Mother rendered her company delightful and her presence a great part of our earthly happiness But God would have her home and would not that the Mansion designed for her should stand any longer empty That Body which had many Infirmities and which a-while-a-go with grief and tears we beheld pined and wasted consum'd and worn with languishing sickness is now at rest And the more noble Soul is now among the Spirits of Just men made perfect Thus hath Heb. 12. 23. her heavenly Father disposed of her and is it not time to think what is our work and duty is it to weep and mourn While she lived she was worthy to be loved and now she is dead she is worthy to be lamented and silent Tears will and may speak what words must not Hath Death remov'd and the Grave buried her out of our sight did she take leave of us with her cold and dying Lips and is she gone and must we see her no more Sad thought may we not weep and mourn we may we ought but yet there is something of greater importance that such Providences call for and should be the employment of surviving Relations The Red has been speaking and yet speaks Lord grant we may hear the Voice and understand the Language know the meaning and obey the Call of it Death hath been speaking the Grave with open mouth hath been speaking her last Sickness Decease and Funeral have been speaking O that I and you may have an Ear to hear what this Providence saith While she was with us she spent that little time and the less breath she had in speaking for God's Glory and the good of others Oh! never forget that Affectionate Exclamation Oh love the Lord all ye my Children And being dead she yet speaketh and with Heb. 11. 4. a louder Voice too She had no greater Joy than to see her Children walking in the Truth No doubt you are Children of many Prayers and Tears she travailed with you again and long'd to see Christ formed in you and I doubt not but it was a comfort to see such probable grounds to hope you were born again That you were not only born of her but born of Water and the Holy Spirit and I will venture to say she loved none so much for bearing John 3. 5. her Likeness as for having the Image of God Her highest ambition was to see you good holy and living in the Fear of God and when you were to change your condition and enter into a Married state her earnest desire was you might Marry in the Lord and be disposed of to such as might further not hinder you in the way 1 Cor. 7. 39. to Heaven it did delight her to my knowledge in her last Sickness that some of you have such Her early Instructions serious Counsels seasonable Reproofs holy Example fervent Prayers and many Tears spoke Love to your precious and Immortal Souls What but this was the Language of all Lord save me and mine too let me go to Heaven and let my dear Children follow after Be thou a God Friend and Father to me and them bind up my 1 Sam. 25. 29. Soul and the Souls of mine in the bundle of Life And now blessed be God all of this kind has not been in vain She lived to see the fruit of her labour and her Prayers in part answered and what is given I hope and I pray God it may be but the first-fruits earnest and pledge of what is yet behind Have you begun well and are you set out in your Journey to Heaven Go on and hold out Has the Spirit enlightened renewed and changed you Have you the Likeness of God and the Image of Christ Have you given up your selves in a serious and solemn manner to the Blessed Trinity Father Son and Holy Spirit Is sin your grief and burden the object of your sorrow and hatred do you oppose resist and fight against it persevere to the end and the Crown is yours Let nothing discourage you if the way be rugged and your Journey tedious if you are threatned with Storms and Tempests if you find it hard to watch and pray to wrestle and conflict to deny your selves live by Faith and perform many duties which are contrary to corrupt Nature don't faint tire and give out Heaven is at the end of your Journey and Heaven oh believe and think oft on it will make amends for all When once you are there with an over-flowing Joy will you think of these Afflictions Crosses and Disappointments for then you shall see know and be fully convinc'd that Infinite Wisdom made them all serviceable to your Eternal Welfare Tho' the flesh is pain'd and smarts yet a time will come when you shall praise your heavenly Father for seasonable Chastisements and the Discipline of his Rod. Tho' the flesh may be uneasie and the burden may pinch you tho' the Rod may make you groan and weep tho' Satan may tempt and your own hearts may be ready to question your Relation to and Covenant-Interest in
and that before they can get thither Faith may and very often does give them a refreshing ravishing and transporting prospect of Heaven Oh! How oft after such a view does the Soul flutter in the Christiâ—ans breast clap its wings and would â—in be gone But Death only can wast us over to and give us the possession of it In short Gods Children die that they may go home I might further add there seems some necessity of dying upon the account of the Body What should this terrene dull and heavy Body do in Heaven How unsuitable is it as it is now to that Place and State to that Company and Work and to be the Instrument of a glorified Soul It must undergo a change that it may be capacitated for this We must be Vncloathed of this Earthly that we may 1 Cor. 5. 4. Be cloathed upon with a Spiritual Body And we must die that Mortality may be swallowed up of Life These Old Houses that are ever and anon tottering and shaking must be pulled down by the hands of Death that we may have new and better This Body must be sown in the dust that it may Spring up more Beautiful Fresh and Comely our Bodies like foul Waters by running through the Earth are Purged and Purified God will not put his New Wine into these Old Mat. 9. 17. Bottles And indeed if he should they would quickly burst and therefore he suffers Death to break that he might have an opportunity to new make them It is to no purpose to say that God can make what alteration and change he pleases and is necessary in the very instant of Translation and what need is there the Body should Die lie in the Grave so long Rot and Putrifie in the Dust For though God can do it in this way he willeth to do it in the other and Who art thou O MAN that thou repliest Rom. 9. 20. against God Upon these accounts Death seemeth necessary to Good Men And that we might not live in continual Fear in Slavish Bondage and a perpetual Torment because of this necessity I now proceed Thirdly To consider what and how great the Priviledge of the Righteous is when he comes to the last Scene of his Life and Death is about to turn him off the Stage We have seen the dark side of the Cloud The Righteous die Let us now turn our Eye and view the bright side The Righteous hath hope in his death Sweet words comfortable thought glorious priviledge with this hope Lord how Psa 23. 4. comfortably may they walk thro' the Valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil You have heard heard You have seen seen Oh how often have you seen that the Righteous die as well as the Wicked that Death preys upon and the Grave swallows up one as well as the other Have you not many and many a time visited them when sickness had lodged them in their Chambers and confin'd them to their Beds Have you not heard their last sobs and groans seen their dying pangs and agonies Have you not clos'd their Eyes laid them in their Cossins and often attended their Funeral followed them to their long Home and lest them in dust and darkness Behold the Righteous die but how dieth the Righteous as the Wicked no verily as they do not live so neither do they die as the Wicked A righteous man may have the same disease be exercised with the same pains and feel the same pangs in a dying hour But upon a spiritual account the difference is vastly wide and great he hath hope in his death Before I distinctly consider what is the Object of this Hope to prevent any mistake it is necessary to premise these two things 1. Every righteous person every man that falls within the already-mentioned Character i. e. every sincere and upright Christian hath ground of hope in his death This does not only belong to some special favourites but is common to all who have God for their Father The Promises which are the foundation of a Christian Hope are not made only to Apostles and eminent Saints to men of renown in the Church but they belong to nay are the Birth-right of even those who are but Babes in Christ All that are born again tho' all are not of the same growth stature and strength are Children Rom 8. 17. and therefore Heirs They have right Col. 1. 12. to and may live and die in hope of the Inheritance of the Saints in light Heaven is sure to them by the Promise of the Father the Purchase of the Son and the In-dwelling of the Holy Spirit who is the Earnest and Pledge of it And the weakest Believer the least of Saints hath ground to hope The Gospel is so ordered the Covenant is so methodiz'd God hath made such ample Provision that every one may have good hope thro' 1 Thes 2. 16 Grace and all that bear this Character are allowed encouraged nay commanded to hope Their hoping is as mighty a pleasure to God as it is a comfort to themselves Hath the blessed Jesus poured out prayers and tears and blood did he groan and die on the Cross that they might have a Mansion above Hath the Holy Spirit in pursuance of the same blessed design been at the pains to renew convert and change them Hath he restor'd them to the image and likeness of God that they might be capable of the enjoyment of him Is he daily forming and attempering their spirits more and more for the heavenly state and employment Hath God the Father in his Eternal Counsels design'd Heaven for them Hath he made them many express and plain Promises of it and can he take it ill they live and die in hope Lord how infinitely unreasonable are we and how do we discourage the Death of the Son the work of the Spirit and the Promises of the Father nay not only naked Promises but Promises repeated over and over seal'd and confirm'd with an Oath by encouraging our doubts and fears all these may and ought to hope May I says many a doubting Christian hope I am but weak in Grace and but a Babe in Christ I have done but little for God and Christ I have but few Talents and them I have not employed and improved as I should and might I was the chiefest of Sinners and now am the least of Saints the very meanest among my spiritual Brethren there are none but love God more and serve him better and bring a greater Revenue of Glory to him than I either do or can or shall while others shine as the Sun in the Firmament of the Church I am but as a poor small and twinkling Star and may I hope to be saved is not Heaven and the happiness thereof too great too glorious a Reward for me Oh! had I the Grace the Faith and Love the Humility and Meekness the Self-denial and Patience the Zeal and Courage c.
Duties in my Praying Hearing ay in my Sacramental Communions and Sin is mixt Oh that I had Tears to bewail it with all my graces I do not Love God and Christ so much as I ought and do desire my Faith is weak my Love declined my Zeal abated my Heart cool my Affections chill'd Oh wretched man that I Rom. 7. 24. am Who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death These have been are and will be the complaints of Holy men in this present State But the righteous man hopes the time will come and when sickness hath laid him upon a Death-Bed he knows the time is near at hand when he and sin shall for ever part and in that hour such a one may say now I am dying I am going to a sinless State all my Prayers and Tears Watching and Fasting Wrestling and Striving could not root sin out but Death will now come in to my assistance give me a final and perfect Victory and carry me a conquerour out of the Field When I die this War will end in Victory this conflict in a perfect Conquest None of my sins shall follow me to Heaven I shall not have so much as a wandring dull or cold thought for ever but with Life and Vigour Heat and Rapture a Flaming Zeal and Fiered Affection sing Hallelujah to God and to the Lamb. A good man is so disturbed with the Life of his Lust that were it not for breaking of one commandment that he might be for ever beyond all possibility of breaking any of the rest he would even with his own hands pull down this Earthly House on the Head of these uncircumcised Philistines though he himself be crusht with the fall But he patiently expects the time when God will give Death a commission to do it and this is his hope in his last and sorrowful moments 3. The righteous man at Death hath hope of a full and final deliverance from Satan 2 Cor. 4. 4. and all his temptations The Devil is stiled Eph. 2. 2 The God of this World The Prince of the Powers of the Air which words imply he hath no power in the Blissful Regions beyond Is not this World the Devils Circuit and does not this Roaring Lion walk up and down seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5 8. Are not the best buffeted and sollicited to sin tempted molested and disquieted by him Oh how oft does he shake us in his Teeth though a good God and a merciful Jesus will not suffer him to rend and tear us in pieces tho' Satan hath been bafled and conquered by the Captain of our Salvation yet does he not ever and anon enter the List and give a Challenge to the Followers of the Lamb Have we not a War to manage with these insernal Spirits and powers of darkness and must we not always stand upon our Guard maintain our Spiritual Watch keep on our Armour have our Weapons always in readiness that if we get the better to day we may be prepared for a fresh and more violent assault to morrow Does not Satan one while transform himself into an Angel of Light that he might deceive At another time appear in his onw proper hue as Black as Hell I mean in some horrid and blasphemous suggestions that he might affright and scare us Has he not 2 Cor. 2. 11. his cunning Artifices and suttle Methods to beguile and his Fiery Darts and Eph. 6. 16. Flaming Arrows to Wound and in whatsoever shape he appears whatsoever course he takes is he not a very troublesome and dangerous enemy This is our condition at present and Oh how uneasie and tedious is it to a Child of God to be assaulted with Legions of sins within and an whole Army of Devils without If the temptation doth not prevail it is a torment to be tempted and there cannot but be some fear lest it should In what Agony does the Christian cry Oh what if this temptation should prevail or if I have Grace to resist and overcome this what if the next Temptation should be more fierce the second assault more violent what if at last I should yield constant and be overcome How do such Storms drive them to their Knees and make them with earnestness and affection pray Lord lead us not into Temptation Mâ—â— 6. 13 This World in which we live is haunted with these unclean and ugly Spirits and don 't the best of us at one time or other find it so But the dying Believer hopes for Deliverance if we can keep our integrity maintain our Post stand our Ground defend our selves while we Live we shall be Conquerors take heart Christians we shall be more than Conquerors when we dye 'T is true the assaults of Satan may be most violent in a Dying hour The last Onset most furious and the concluding Battel most bloody but Death will decide the controversie end the Combat and give us the Victory Methinks I hear the dying Christian thus encouraging himself ever since the strong man hath been turned out by the Holy Spirit and Victorious Grace of my Redeemer I have 〈◊〉 little or no peace this Enemy this adversary of my God my Redeemer and my Soul has been ever and anon beating up my quarters many and many a time in the name and strength of the Living God under the conduct of my blessed and victorious Jesus have I accepted the challenge and given battel to these Legions of Darkness and tho' I have been foil'd blessed be God I am not conquer'd tho' I have received some wounds thanks be to God none of them are Mortal I yet live or rather Christ liveth in me and now methinks Gâ—â— 2. 2â— I have and oh how delightful is it the prospect of a final and entire victory Satan hath now almost done his worst he may rage because now his time is short and he knows it to be so but hold out O my Soul stand thy ground resist a little longer play the man act thy part well in this last Combat and the God of Roâ— 10. 2â— Peace shall tread Satan under thy Feet shortly In Heaven and oh how near am I to that blessed place there is no Tempter no Temptation no no when I am lodg'd in Abraham's Bosom or rather in the Arms of my blessed Jesus I am out of Satan's reach for ever when I shall be Dead the Devils Game will be over this Evil One has followed me from my Closet to the Church from my Table to my Bed he has ever stood at my Right Hand to resist me but he shall not dogg my Soul to Heaven no no the purity and holiness of that place cannot admit the Presence of any of these impure filthy and unclean Spirits 4. Dying Christians hope to be delivered from all Spiritual desertions and those doubts and fears which are consequent thereupon How oft by too too wilful falls and sins by allowing our selves in
in Purgatory pains equal in degree to those of Hell tho' not so lasting but they immediately go to Heaven This day says our Saviour to the penitent Thief the Companion Luk. 23. 43. of his Cross shalt thou be with me in Paradise And the reason of Paul's earnest and vehement desire to depart was that Phil. 1. 23. he might be with Christ The Gates of Heaven are open'd they enter in and they happy Souls are welcomed by God Christ Angels and all their Elder Brethren who died in the Lord and went to Heaven before them With what joy does God the Father receive those Souls for whom he designed Heaven from all Eternity With what joy does the blessed Jesus welcome those Souls to Glory for whom and whose Salvation he wept and sweat bled and died Oh what a joy is it to the heart of Jesus to see them past all the dangers and hazards of a troublesom Voyage and safely arriv'd at his Fathers house With what a triumphant joy are they welcomed by Angels and the whole Assembly of the spirits of just men made perfect Oh how glad are all those kind and loving spirits to see others come to Heaven who shall be sharers with them in one and the same undivided happiness and parners with them in singing Hallelujahs to God and to the Lamb It is no small joy to them that more Voices are added to the heavenly Quire I may the dying Christian say must leave Earth the house in which I have lived so long death is about to open a door for my immortal Spirit to go out at and methinks I see my God my Jesus opening the Gate of Heaven I hope when death has turn'd it out of this frail and earthly Tabernacle God and Christ will receive it into Everlasting Habitations I shall not want a Lodging for God hath prepared and Christ hath purchased a glorious Mansion for me Go out O my Soul with holy joy and triumph hasten be gone for lo thy Throne is prepared and yet stands empty When I am dead my surviving Friends will weep for me with sighs and groans lament my departure but God Christ Angels and Saints will welcome my Soul to Heaven Surely those holy Spirits who rejoyced when I was converted and born again will sing a new Song a peculiar Psalm of Praise to their God and my God when I am born into Eternity A thought that when I shall knock at the Gate of Heaven and say Lord Lord open to me I should hear that sad word I Luk. 13. 2â— know thee not would even break my heart trouble me more than the pains and agonies of a thousand deaths But I hope for a free admission a speedy entrance and a joyful welcome And oh that I were there Fifthly They hope to go to better Friends better Company and have that Vision of God and Christ which cannot be had on this side the Grave In this World good and bad Saints and Sinners the Righteous and the Wicked live together and what a grief and torment is the very presence and company of these Devils in flesh to those who really intend and in good earnest design Heaven Here they enjoy the company of holy Relations and godly Friends who are many ways useful and helpful to them and no doubt they very often and heartily bless God for the â—ommunion of Saints But the best here are imperfect there is something in the best that their conversation is not so taking and suitable so sweet and endearing as we could with How oft do they prove a scandal and stumbling block to us or we an offence and grief to them but at death they go to better to such as love them more and wish better to them than their dearest Relations here can do To Friends who love each other as themselves To Friends in whose Conversation there is nothing but what is peculiarly delightful and pleasant sweet and amiable charming and endearing most highly grateful and obliging To Friends who are utter and perfect strangers to that four and peevish morose and selfish temper which prevails too much in this wretched and degenerate World of ours To Friends who partake of and share in one anothers joys and are as much pleas'd with the happiness of others as with their own To Friends whose tempers will be agreeable whose looks will be pleasant whose hearts will be free and open whose speeches will be ravishing and all whose discourses will be seraphick and sublime and yet set off with all the graceful Airs of a Charming Rhetorick Further while we dwell in flesh and sojourn here below we see God but thro' a glass and that very darkly too To day we enjoy and are ravisht with some views of him and perhaps to morrow nay it may be before night the Curtain is drawn or a cloud interposes and we cannot see him But after death we if we fall under the Character of the Text shall see him Face to Face by a light which is more clear constant and lasting Now we delight in believe on desire after and love that blessed Jesus whom we have not yet seen But after Death we shall see him as he is and will not every view of Jesus be transporting will 1 John 3. 2. not every glance be the Spring of a new and fresh joy What is the language of Death to a Holy Soul but this Come see and enjoy that God whom thou hast long waited for and looked after Come and see that Jesus who out of a deep pity and compassion wept and groaned bled and died for thee Come take thy place in Heaven where thou mayest glut and satisfie thâ— greedy eye with these ravishing sights dost thou long Holy Soul dost thou long for the vision of God and a sight of Christ Come and have it though my looks are Grim my hands cold Don't draw back for none but I can wast thee over to Heaven where God and Christ are to be fully and for ever enjoy'd Is this the language of Death Then what may be the language of the dying Christian Hearken don't you hear him saying The day is dawn'd the time is come the hour is now hastning that I must be gone my Physitians neglecting any further prescriptions your passionate weeping and silent tears O my sorrowful Friends The sensible decays I find in my self in those parts which live the longest and die the last all tell me my end is near Here I have Relations who are Loving Careful and Tender many Friends hath God raised up to me and made them instrumental for my good but I can willingly chearfully bid farewell to all for I hope to go to an Assembly of better Friends and more perfect Lovers I have had those sights of God in the Sanctuary that have been sweeter to me than all the pleasures of this vain World but I hope for a fuller view and a more ravishing sight of that glorious being Can't I see God
and live Oh let me die for then I hope I know I shall I have heard of Christ I have talkt of Christ and blessed be God I have met with Christ in Prayer Sermons and at a Sacrament But now I am going to see this dear and blessed Jesus This this Oh! This is my hope and now O DEATH DEATH I challenge I dare thee to do thy worst Sixthly The Righteous man at Death hath hope of the Resurrection of the Body and of a Body a thousand times more glorious than that which is put off at Death and laid in the Dust The Kesurrection of the dead is a main Article of our Christian Faith and without this Hope we Christians â— Co. 15. 19. should be of all most miserable Christs Resurrrection is the Reason Pattern Proof and Pledge of ours As sure as he is risen so sure is it we shall the Lord will come the Trumpet sound Arise ye dead shall be spoken with that Power Majesty and Authority that all shall obey that Summons the bands of death shall be loosed the doors of the grave opened the dead raised and then shall death be fully conquered and mortality be swallowed up of Life Christ sees where every member of his is laid â— Col. â— 4 watches over their dust and wâ—ll quicken and raise them Put dost thou say with what body shall they rise What body A very glorious body the glory of the latter Iâ—ay 2. â— House shall be greater than the glory of the first That Body which now is like a dull dark clod of Earth shall then shine sparkle and glitter with a brightness like to that of yonder Sun at noonday That Body that now is weak shall then be perfectly well strong and healthful That Body that now is sown in corruption 1 Co. 15. 4â— shall then be raised in incorruption live and die no more for ever The Resurrection is an Article of a Christians Faith and that he in particular shall rise to a blessed Immortality is the object of his hope 'T is true to quicken and raise a dead body a body that for many Ages has been rotting in the grave a body which has been devoured by an Army of Crawling and â—â—ngry Worms a body which has been dissolved into a thousand particles and infinite Atoms of Dust requires an Almighty power but yet notwithstanding the laughter of an Atheistical Sadducee and the little objections which now and then may be mustered up though carnal reason be ready to say how can these things be Yet Joh. 3. 9. he believes and hopes it shall be so Holy Job when the morning was but newly dawn'd had the knowledge and hope of this I know saith he that my Job 19 25. Redeemer â—iveth and that he shall stand at the latter day on the Earth and though after v. 26. my Skin Worms destroy this Body yet in my Flesh shall I see God Whom I shall see v. 27. for my self and mine Eyes shall behold and not another though my reins be consumed within me The Righteous sleep securely in a bed of dust in the bosom of the Earth they are not terrified with Dreams nor scared with any frightful Visions of the night and after a sweet repose and a long sleep a powerful and Almighty Jesus will awake and raise them and give them a Body like to his own most Glorious Body in exchange for that Weak Vile and Contemptible Body Death laid in the grave This is a fundamental Article of our Faith And why should it seem to any a thing incredible Acts 26. 8. that God whose power is unlimited should raise the Dead I go may the dying believer say the way of all Flesh Abraham Isaac and Jacob are gone before me and though I shall return to my House no more yet my dust shall be quickned revived and raised The sound of the last Trumpet the voice of the Arch Angel and the louder and shriller voice of my powerful Saviour will awake me out of my dead sleep I see the shadows of the evening are stretched out and night is coming but I believe and hope the morning will also come and the day of my redemption quickly dawn I fall asleep with hope that when day breaks my Lord will give me a call and bid me rise Though this Flesh of mine must moulder into dust yet it shall be quickned and spring up again at the resurrection of the just My dead Body shall live again those dry Bones of mine which may be tumbled up and down and lookt upon with contempt and scorn shall again be cloathed with Flesh and a Spirit of Life shall enter into me O Death now 's thy time thou wilt conquer and captivate me this Body must be thy Prisoner but my time will come in the morning I and all that sleep in Jesus shall Psal 49. 14. have Dominion over thee After I have lain a while bound and fetter'd in a dark and silent Grave my Lord my Victorious Jesus will rescue me and all the Prisoners of hope Christ is the Resurrection and Joh. 11. 25. the Life and believing in him I shall live methinks with sensible joy I hope I know I shall live tho' I die Lo O my Christian friends this is my hope in a dying hour and thanks be to God it is unshaken Seventhly The Righteous hath hope of a publick Absolution and a sentence of life at the day of the last and general iudgement The Resurrection of the Dead is in order to Judgment Men must leave their Graves to come to the Bar Christ shall sit down on the Judgment-Seat and a Universal Summons being given all the Children of Adam shall be gathered before him for we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ that everâ— one may receive the things done in hiâ—â—ody according â— Cor. 5 10. to that he hath done whether it be good or bad This Judgment will be solemn and awful dreadful and terrible impartial and righteous final and decisive for after a fair trial that sentence shall be past which will determine our everlasting state Then shall the Righteous be own'd and acknowledg'd be acquitted and absolved be sentenc'd and adjudged to Eternal Life in the face of that vast and awful assembly of Angels and Men and when that reviving sentence Well done good and faithful servant enter thou into the joy of thy Lord shall be prononc'd by 〈…〉 Christ with an audible voice a smiling countenance in the hearing of the whole Court Lord what a triumphant and transporting joy will they be filled with methinks I see their chearful looks their smiling Countenances and a pleasant Air in every Face with what a mighty nimbleness and sprightful vigour does the newly restored blood dance along their veins how do the Heavens Eccho with their Acclamation of Joy methinks I hear them saying with a loud and chearful voice AMEN HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH I
shame and at last die in horror and despair Sickness and Death O vain man will shake thy hopes The Sentence of thy Judge and and the Flames of Hell will dash them Hope may accompany thee while thou livest go with thee to the very borders of the Eternal World and then at farthest it will bid farewel to thy amazed and trembling Soul The time will come believe it Sirs the time will come when you shall hope no more no more no more for ever This hope is worse than none for it hinders Mens repentance and all the kindness it does them is first to hood-wink and then damn them How fatal is this hope A wicked man can have no good hope either living or dying and that false hope he maintains and cherishes in health when sickness comes many times takes the wings of the morning and flies away In an hour he must remove out of one World into another but he hath no hope it shall be into a better He bequeaths his body to the dust his Estate and Goods to his surviving friends but he can not Lord what an Agony must the departing Soul be in with confidence commend his Spirit into the hands of Jesus He may hope his Friends will give his body a decent burial but he has no hope alas he has no hope Angels will conduct his Soul to glory Oh Death Death how terrible is it when there is no hope of a better life To awaken such let me add to die without good hope though it be bad is not all For the wicked as it is in the former part of this verse is driven away in his wickedness Sad words miserable ends Prov. 14. 32. Ere long Sinners Death will grasp thee in its cold Arms ere long Pale Death will sit in that face of thine that now is Fair and Ruddy and the seat of a Charming Beauty ere long Death will shackle those feet which brought thee to this assembly shut those eyes which are a window to let in vanity into thy mind stop those ears which have been delighted with filthy and unsavoury discourse ere long Death will drive thee out of the World thou must be confâ—â—ed to a narrow Coffin sleep in a Bed of dust under a coverlet of crawling Worms but this is not all no nor the greatest part of thy misery for thou shalt be driven away in thy wickedness Go out of the World guilty and accompanied with the sins of thy whole Life Death unties the knot and thy Soul is gone gone Whither is it gone Into the invisible World to the illightned Tribunal of a Just Impartial and Inexorable Judge Death sets open the Door and thy immortal Spirit immediately flies away and all thy sins like so many black and frightful Devils hasten and post after Thy Sins O man thy sins mount and ascend as fast as thy Spirit and will be at the Judgment-seat as soon as it Methinks a thought of this should make thine heart ake thy lips quiver rottenness enter into thy bones and force thee to cry out Good God! Whatever becomes of me let me not die in my sins An impenitent sinner goes into Eternity dogg'd by Devils and his own impure Lusts When he dies that hope which with artifice and cunning he maintain'd in his life-time forsakes his wretched and trembling Soul In one instant it is gone and gone for ever follow him from one World to to'ther from his sick-bed to the Bar of God Doleful Hour Infer II. Do and must the righteous die Then how does it concern us to make a good use of them while they live The righteous are the lights of the World like the Sâ—â— in the Firmament profitable and beneficial to all Though hereafter these wise Virgins cannot supply us with Oyl out of their Vessels to recruit our Lamps and maintain the expiring Flame yet at present they may like the Sun communicate of their light and heat to us How much Spiritual good may we receive by them and how careful should all be to make a wise improvement Have you an Holy Father a Godly Mother who pray for weep over and daily instruct you Hearken to their instructions follow their example take their counsel for they must die That Holy Father of thine who with compassion and tenderness begs of thee to remember God and thine own Soul that Godly Mother of thine who brought thee forth with pain and sorrow and is in travel with thee again till Christ be formed in Gal. 4. 19. thee must die And if thou dost not hearken to and improve their serious reproofs godly counsels and wholesome advice what a torment may the thought of it be when they are dead and gone Methinks I hear a negligent and careless Son being lately come from the grave of his holy Father or godly Mother in bitterness crying out God in giving me such holy Parents gave me a great mercy but I Oh wretched man that I am neither valued nor thankfully improved so great a blessing as should and might have done My Father my Mother that is now dead very often and that with tears told me of my sin and danger with abundance of kindness in the Spirit of meekness reproved me for my youthful follies and vanities with much Plainness and Holy Zeal they instructed and counselled informed and directed me they brought me to the Solemn Assembly and taught me at home they wept over me and prayed to God for me and put me upon secret Prayer and reading the Holy Scriptures but all this labour in whole or at least in great part has been lost as to me Might I not have been much better might I not have had more grace and holiness had I improved this blessing I had the same advantage may the wicked and disobedient Son say but I slighted the instructions of my holy Father and contemned the counseâ—â— of my godly Mother and now they are dead and gone how likely am I to die in my sins having not the same helps and advantages as I had when they were with me Such reflections Conscience being awakned by the hand and rod of God may be made when such holy Relations are taken away to prevent which let all especially the Children of Holy Parents improve the lives and company of such The like might be said as to Husbands and Wives Masters and Servants c. Labour to get as much good as you can by holy Relations Christian Friends and Acquaintance for these you shall not have always with you Infer III. How great is the mercy and goodness of God to his People though they are not exempted from Death Death sounds harsh the Grave is very frightful When we think the Friends of God the Members of Christ the Favourites of Heaven and the Followers of the Lamb must die are we not sometime posed and almost at a stand Are we not puzzled to reconcile the Death of such men with the goodness and love of God and those
and clear evidences there are of a future state and tho' Satan may raise Batteries against our Faith yet let us defend it and pray to God it may never fail Let Faith often travel into yonder Eternal World send it as a Spy to take a view of the Heavenly Canaan and firmly believe the report it brings back for our Faith must be stedfast if ever we would have our hope unshaken Secondly Walk closely with God and take heed of all known willful and presumptuous Sins Having solemnly dedicated your selves to the glory and service of the Blessed Trinity Father Son and Spirit walk according to that dedication Watch against every thing that may give a wound to your sincerity or cause you to question it If you would have hope in your Death live according to your Character Righteous persons What is the fruit of your sloth and negligence the consequent of your hearkning to sin and complying with temptation but perplexing jealousies and tormenting suspicions blotted evidences and languishing hopes want of assurance and the Heavenly joy that flows from thence Am I in a state of Grace and do I belong to God Will God reward such poor and mean performances with Heaven Is not my hope vain and only the counterfeit of that which is in true Christians Shall I ever be happy or may I venture to hope I shall Are the disconsolate reasonings of the careless Christian upon the neglect of duty and commission of sin It is thus and have not some of you found it so Willful and presumptuous sins will raise black and dark clouds between you and Heaven These clouds may eclipse the light of Gods countenance at present and break and fall down in terrible storms and tempests in the evening What a dreadful change did holy David find in himself after his unhappy and scandalous fall How did it damp his joy blot his evidences and stab his hopes Poor man he is wrapt up in clouds and darkness and in great distress and agonies of Soul cries to God Lord restore to me the joy of thy Salvation Psal 51. 12. and uphold me with thy free Spirit On the contrary an holy obedient life a strict and circumspect walking with God will both warrant and confirm our hope Heaven is promised to the obedient or in the language of the the Text to the righteous And every act of sincere obedience will enable me to see my right to the promise and apply it to my self and a constant and persevering obedience will be accompanyed with a full assurance of hope unto the end Holiness â—eâ— 6. 11. of heart and life will furnish me with an answer to all my doubts and fears afford me comfort amidst all my sad jealousies and perplexities of Spirit strengthen me to look as far as Heaven and enable me to read my name written there Our Hope as well as our Faith without works will be dead But a strong and lively a certain and confirmed hope will be the issue of an holy and obedient life It will entitle us to the promise and warrant our hope of the reward Would you then have hope in your Death Mortifie sin subdue corruptions and crucifie the old man keep up the Government of Grace and the Authority of Christ in your Souls watch against snares and temptations keep your garments undefiled and your selves unspottep Remember every willful sin wounds your hope Thirdly If through the strength of corruption and violence of temptation you chance to miscarry and fall endeavour to rise again by a solemn serious and speedy repentance We thanks be to God are not under the Law which requires a sinless spotless obedience as the condition of Life But under the Gospel of the meek and merciful Jesus which requires and admits of repentance And whenever we have wounded our selves by sin it is our interest and wisdom to betake our selves to this remedy Though you cannot keep your selves innocent yet be sure you do not live impenitent If you do defile your garments in one instant be sure you wash them with a flood of penitential tears the next Keep Conscience wakeful and tender that it may sharply reprove you when you do amiss and when Conscience looks upon you as Christ did upon Peter do you also go out Mat. 26. 75. and weep bitterly Let your repentance be serious and solemn with blushing and shame confusion and sorrow with hearty sighs and groans with a broken heart and contrite Spirit with a bleeding soul and melting affections With all the signs of a Gospel-repentance and unfeigned remorse confess and bewail your late sin or sins before God Let your confession be free and not forc't particular and not general and the more to affect melt and humble you aggravate your sin with the several circumstances which did attend the commission of it And then beg of God to pardon you Plead Christian plead as for thy life that that sin might not eclipse the light of his countenance deprive thee of the comforting and witnessing presence of his Spirit that it might not prove either the damnation of thy soul or the destruction of thy hopes And do all this speedily while the wound is fresh and green before it rankle and putrifie While you delay your repentance your hearts will grow more hard your conscience more insensible and the neglected bruise which you got by your fall will grow worse and worse and if it be not timely lookt after may prove the death of all your hopes After the heat and hurry of the day does conscience in the cool of the evening cite thee to make thy appearance in its Court Summon thee by some sudden rebuke and surprizing terror to hold up thy guilty hands at its Tribunal As soon as ever this Domestick Judge reads the Bill of Indictment and brings the bloody charge against thee betake thy self to a serious repentance revoke retract and wipe out thy sins by an immediate act of repentance 'T is true 't is infinitely better to be righteous persons who need no repentance i. e. to be guilty of as few sinful Luk. 15. 7. miscarriages as we can But in case we do fall we have this remedy at hand and we must use it If I sin in the day I ought to go and be reconciled to God and my own Conscience before night If we take this course our hope which was withering languishing and dying like grass scorcht with the heat of the burning Sun being watered with these showers of penitential tears may revive sprout forth and flourish again and be fresh in the very evening This is the way to have great peace in Life and at Death Fourthly Daily exercise Faith in Christ especially as Crucified and Risen from the Dead Christ by his Blood-shed and Death by his passion and the Sacrifice of himself on the Cross has bore the Curse of the Law satisfied Divine Justice and quench'd those Flames of Wrath we had kindled he hath
all their sins set in order before them Are they filled with horror and anguish Is some of the everlasting fire flasht in their Faces Does the Devil begin to torment them before the time Is God a terror to Mat. 8. 29. them and they a terror to themselves Are they weary of Life and yet afraid of Death Are they rackt and tortured and do they speak nothing but the language of Hell before they come there Are they cast at the Bar of Conscience before they are condemned at the Tribunal of their Supreme Judge Do they sensibly feel what horror attends the final doom Depart from me ye cursed Mat 25 41. Do they cry out and tremble as if they now heard it pronounced by their eternal Judge Does a righteous God commission Conscience to witness against Judge and Condemn them to sting and lash them in their last hours for the sins of their past Life And ought we not to take notice of and improve all this May not such a sight the remembrance of what we saw and heard in that hour awaken our Consciences startle our Spirits affect and warm our hearts May it not tend â—â—â—hew us the Justice of God the evil of 〈◊〉 and the infinite danger of neglectinâ— to hearken to the voice of God while it is câ—â—led to day May it not excite our diligence quicken our repentance and assist our preparations for Death and judgment May it not Arm us against the World the Flesh and the Devil and make us more resolved to hearken to the voice of the Spirit the checks of our own Conscience and the compassionate calls of mercy Would it not make us know the worth of time and put us upon husbanding redeeming and improving it to the best ends the Glory of God and Salvation of our Souls Would it not make us love Christ prize his sacrifice and value his blood more Would it not put us upon reviewing our lives searching our hearts and examining our state and amending what has been amiss Oh how much good may we get by the death of poor awakned sinners and how great is our folly and sin in case we don 't And can it be unprofitable and useless to mark observe and remember the more happy and comfortable end of the Righteous Shall we take no notice what is the end issue and conclusion of an Holy Life We should remember how they lived and how they died Did God in their sickness furnish them with patience and calmness submission and resignation to his Holy Will Were their Thoughts compos'd Minds setled Spirits calm their peace undisturb'd their Joy great and their Hope lively Was there a willingness to die and a desire to depart that they might be with Christ did God resolve their Doubts scatter the Clouds and help them to overcome their fears Has such an one been enabled to say Lord I am thine I lye at thy Foot here I am do to me dispose of me remove or continue my pains as thou wilt let me be well or sick live or die be recover'd or remov'd as thou pleasest Lord if thou hast any more Work for me to do I am willing to live and content my happiness should yet be deferr'd and I 'll acknowledg thy Grace if thou wilt yet use me and make me an Instrument of thy Glory but if my work be done and the number of my years be accomplisht I am willing Lord I am willing now to die if it be thy pleasure now to remove me if this sickness must be my last and end in death if to die now be really best for me and most for thy glory I will not draw back I am ready at thy call command and pleasure to lay down this Body and thanks be to God I can heartily say the Will of the Lord be done Have any of your Christian Friends or Holy Relations died thus Heavenly frame Blessed end Glorious triumph over Death and the Grave Ought we not and may it not be infinitely useful to mark and remember this How much may it contribute to maintain the Life of Religion and the Power of Godliness in us may not the memory of what we observ'd and saw at such a time confirm us in our holy Choice strengthen our Faith and throughly convince us Religion is not a vain thing Will it not recommend the Holy Ways of God set off Religion and make all holy exercises more sweet and pleasant to us but in particular may not an observing how they died afford matter of encouragement and support to us when we have sad and melancholy Thoughts as to our own departure how oft does many a poor sincere Christian in bitterness cry out How shall I with a Christian Patience an humble submission and an entire resignation bear long painful and tedious sickness how shall I be able to conquer the fear and submit to the stroke of Death How shall I be able to grapple with that Enemy and encounter the King of Terrors How shall I be able with joy and chearfulness without murmuring and repining to obey my Summons to Death and Judgment When I do but suppose my self sick weak and full of pain when I seriously think of my Coffin and Grave I tremble but Lord what shall I do when it comes to the trial thus it is with many and has it not been so with you at one time or other and may it not be so again and if it should how may the memory of the happy end of holy friends and relations administer to your support when thou hast the Death of such an one fresh in thy thoughts thou mayst say why art thou cast down O my â—sal 42. 5. Soul and why art thou thus disquieted within me Is it because this body must die How many holy ones are dead before me They were weak frail and imperfect as I am but God furnished them with patience courage and strength quieted their Mind calm'd their Spirits and husht their ruffling passions and when my hour comes I hope God will help me to die too Have not I the same God to depend upon the same promises to encourage me the same Jesus to stand by me and the same Holy Spirit to assist me I remember my holy Father died with comfort my holy Mother made an happy and peaceable End and why may not I Death is conquered it is conquer'd And the fear of it may be overcome I have seen it may and why should the fear of it keep me in a perpetual bondage How serviceable may it be to remember how other holy Men and Women have died before us Secondly Another duty with reference to those who died in hope is to give thanks to God for those assistances and that Grace which was vouchsafed to them â—â— a dying hour Surviving Relations who were Eye-witnesses of God's goodness to them who are departed should own acknowledge and praise God for it when they are dead and gone The dead cannot