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
Life without this superlative and predominant love I am I can be no Christian But O my Soul is not my lothness to die when God calls and would have me an ill sign my love is not so strong my affection so warm and this flame so bright and burning as it ought to be doth a Man love God what and wish to be at an eternal distance from him what a flat contradiction is this do I love my God my Saviour and the H. Spirit my guide and comforter as much as I ought and not care how long I am absent from this Blessed Trinity oh how weak and defective is my love did I love my God as strongly as I love my Friend my Relations should I not think it long till I am with him were the glowing sparks blown up into a flame did I love and love as much as I ought how passionately should I cry out My Soul thirsteth for God for the living Psal 42. 3. God when shall I come and appear before God How long must I be at this lamented distance HE is my God my Life my Joy my Happiness my All oh that I were with him oh blessed are they who dwell in his Presence stand before his Throne and continually behold his Face when shall it be so with me O my God I love thee and long to see thee O my Saviour I love thee and I long to see thy Face and have thy company that I may love thee more for every view of thee my glorious Jesus will increase the Flame How long how long Lord how long is the voice of love of a strong and burning love Doth God by this present sickness call me to come from Earth to Heaven from my Friends to him from my Relations who love me pity me pray for and weep over me to my Saviour who loves me more and is able to help me and am I unwilling do I shrink draw back and wish to tarry longer is there not some great defect in my love doth it not want many of those degrees it ought to have Holy Lord Blessed Jesus I am troubled I am ashamed to find so much unwillingness in my self to die now because I am convinc'd my love to thee is not so strong as it should be O pity and pardon me oh help me to love thee more and better and then I shall obey thy Summons and be willing to come to thee tho' Death and the Grave be in my Way that I may let me love thee more and better Lord Hath not God O my Soul promised me a future Glory and confirmed that Promise with an Oath Hath he not revealed much of Heaven to me that I might not be an utter stranger to that unseen World hath he not given me many sweet foretasts of it in Meditation and Prayer in Sermons and in my Sacramental Communions that I might desire long and thirst after more What delightful hours what holy Communion with God Father Son and Spirit what joyful views what ravishing prospects of Heaven have I sometimes had have I not had those sights of God in the Sanctuary those discoveries of his love and that sense of his favour that I have cried out Lord it is good for Mat. 17. 4. me to be here Have I not had that Communion with God in my secret retirements and have I not been fill'd with those joys on my Knees that I have had no more mind to the little things of time to the Vanities here below have not I sometimes been so refresht reviv'd and comforted so satisfied and transported with joy that I have long'd for Heaven that I might be capable of and enjoy more can't I remember the time tho' alass it hath been too seldom so when I would have been glad to have gone from my Closet and from my Knees to Heaven and shall I be unwilling now what did a good God vouchsafe all this to me for but to make me long for Heaven and willing to die why did he give me these first fruits but that I might long for the Harvest these Clusters of Canaan but that I might long for the Vintage These Tasts but that I might long to drink a full Draught of those Rivers of Pleasure which are at his Isa 16. 11. Right Hand for evermore Lord continue and increase those joys now and I will readily dye Moreover O my Soul hath not God continued me in Life and being a great while I might have died in my Infancy Childhood and Youth but I did not I might have died in the Morning or at Noon but I have lived unto the Evening How many are dead and gone while I am yet spar'd how many thousands hath Death removed out of the World since I came into it how many Funerals have I survived how many younger persons have I out-liv'd I have sometimes been sick but did not God recover restore and raise me up again this House of Clay hath often totter'd but hath not God repaired and yet kept it standing the Arrows of Death have been flying about me and many thousands have fallen on my right hand and many on my left but they have had no commission to touch me many have been called out of the Vineyard at the first third and sixth hour and I have been continued to the ninth nay to the eleventh Have not I lived thirty forty fifty sixty years when thousands have not lived so many months weeks or days and is it not shameful for me to be unwilling to dye now after I have lived in the World so long shall I be as loth to dye as those who are but newly come into it unthankful Soul is this the return thou makest to God for so much time and patience the poor Infant of a few days may say must I dye almost as soon as I am born go from one Grave to another come upon the Stage only to look about me take a short turn and so go off the young man may say am I arriv'd at that period of Life wherein Nature is strongest and I am most capable of relishing the pleasures of it and must I go now to a lonesome and solitary Grave must I go to Bed in the Morning and my Sun go down at Noon-day must my Candle be blown out by the Breath of Death when it might Burn much Longer must I in my Youth Strength and the Flower of my Age be thy mark and game O heard-hearted Death when so many old and decrepit ones who in civility may be willing to retire to the Grave and make room for others and of whom the World is weary are passed by O Death Death dost thou refuse the halt the lame and the blind and must I one of the best of the Flock be singled out and be laid as a Sacrifice on thine Altar If this be the Young Mans complaint what can be the old Mans Apology will it not be as weak as himself Have not I
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.
God his Love to you or yours to him because it is so and so with you yet don't say nay don 't so much as think there are any more bitter Ingredients in your Cup than are necessary than both the Wisdom and Bowels of a Father advise Is Satan busie to fill you with doubts and fears needless suspicions and groundless jealousies does he draw a Curtain before or cast a Veil upon your faces does he labour to magnifie your Sins blot your Evidences and extinguish your Hope and are you cast down and go mourning all the day long because of this why should you is it not an Argument Satan has lost his game and you are none of his Slaves because he thus disquiets you Do you mourn after God and pant and breathe for him is it nothing but the light of his Countenance the smiles of his Face and a sense of his Love can content you Are you looking to see the Image of God upon your hearts and is it your grief and trouble you cannot see it so plain and legible as you should and would and desire and hereupon do you conclude you have no Grace What! when even these tears and groans tell you you have Tho' you may walk in darkness as many Children of Light have and do yet stay your selves on God and wait for him Oh how easily and quickly can the breath of God scatter all these Clouds which darken your Souls and the Light of his Countenance make a bright and a joyful day Having this opportunity to testifie my Love to you especially to your Souls I shall beg and presume on my Readers patience while upon this occasion I give you some counsels which I pray God may be useful to you and many more in the like circumstances I. Bless God it was your Lot and Happiness to be born of such holy Parents whereof one is taken and the other is yet left To be the Off-spring of them who are the Children of God to be the Postcrity of those who themselves are born from and have an Alliance to Heaven to descend from them who are the Dear and Antient Friends of God to be born of them who have a Convenant-Interest in God and can lay claim to the Covenant both for themselves and theirs how great a mercy what an invaluable Priviledge is it I am far from saying that Grace runs in a Blood that Children are Heirs to the Graces as they are to the Riches of their Parents but yet it is a Priviledge to be born of such I do and I would have you heartily bless God for it How sad a thought is it I am born of them who are Enemies to God Slaves to these Lusts and Servants to the Devil What a sad Example do such set before their poor Children in case they live and what a dreadful Legacy how many Woes and Curses do they bequeath to 'em in case they die before ' em I know sometimes sovereign Grace that even of Stones can Matth. 3. 9. raise up Children to Abraham cuts off the Entail But more frequently they tread in their Fathers steps and bear their Iniquities But how comfortable is it to sit down and think God a long time before my Birth order'd I should be born of such and such who were his familiar Friends and dear Servants I have a Father a Mother in whom I can see the Image of God who are united to Christ and sanctified by the Holy Spirit Is it not a mercy to be the Children of such Are not they more likely in a serious conscientious and sober manner to devote and dedicate their new-born Infants in Baptism to God when others only complement with God and bring them to the Laver of Regeneration out of Custom Ceremony and for Fashion sake they will do it with a deep sense of God's Goodness and Mercy And great may be the benefit of this solemn Transaction and early Dedication Will not such Parents when they look upon their own act and deed and remember what they promised in the Name and stead of their Children be put upon performing consequent Duties as earnest and servent Prayer to God for them a timely instructing them in the Christian Religion setting before 'em an holy Example and watching over their first early and ungovern'd years and how beneficial may all this be are not such Children like to have the benefit of an holy Religious Education which very oft God blesses to Conversion however may they not be kept from many open scandalous and conscience-wounding sins which in Youth They are inclined to and Others commit may not and has not God blessed such for their Father's sake These are does the great God as it were say the Children of my Covenant-servants they were born in my Family enter'd into my Service and I will be their God as I was the God of their Father and Mother their Holy Parents devoted them to me and I accepted set my mark upon them they are mine and they shall be mine and know what it is to be born of those who were my Friends and Favourites What is the peculiar priviledge of such Truly the Children of such Parents owe more thanks to God upon this account than usually they are aware of How few on their Knees heartily acknowledge God's Goodness and mercy to 'em in this respect while others pride themselves in the greatness of their Family the nobleness of their descent and that they have more pure and refined blood running in their Veins than others Bless the Lord O my Soul that I had a Father who was a Son and a Mother who was a Daughter of God This Children should do not only while Parents are alive but when dead a deep sense and a thankful acknowledgement of God's goodness should survive their Funeral render their memory very very pretious and force lively praises from us when they are faln asleep Let me add that this duty is most reasonable and the neglect of it most culpable if God hath blessed all or any of their endeavours to our Conversion Were they under God the means of our first and second birth the instruments of conveying Natural and Spiritual Life Is it owing to them that we are Men and Women and to their Prayers and Tears instructions and counsels that we are Christians Did God bless our Education and was it the means of an early and lasting Piety Our Debt is increas'd and a double Tribute of Praise is owing to God II. Learn how to make use of urge and plead this priviledge with your selves and with God With your selves that you may live and act as Children of such Parents with God that you may have the Blessings and Mercies which belong to such Vrge it upon and plead it with your own Souls that you may suppress Sin resist Temptation and live in the constant and lively performance of Holy Duties Israel makes use of this Argument He is my God and I will prepare
they manage their affairs without that Wisdom or rather cunning Sophistry which is from beneath Jam. 3. 15. and therefore is not only earthly and sensual but Hellish and Devilish too what a blessed World and what an happy reformation should we see But tho' this be good and laudable and more of it is to be wisht for yet it is but a particular Vertue and tho' it adorn the man it will not make nor denominate him a Christian It is only like the painting and garnishing of a Sepulchre that makes it indeed more specious and beautiful but leaves it as full of stench and rottenness as it was before This is a Flower that grows in the Garden of Nature and may spring up and flourish in that Heart which is wholly barren as to any of the saving fruits of the Holy Spirit There may be this fruit in the Life when there is a root of bitterness in the Heart such an Heb 12. 15. one is like an embalmed Carcass that is as really dead as a putrified one tho' not so loathsome and offensive to the Living This particular Righteousness will not legitimate our hopes not justifie our claim to Heaven Many of these Righteous Men will be excluded the Kingdom above tho' they shine as Stars in this World they shall set in everlasting darkness in the next They serve at present like Salt to keep the World from putrefying and corrupting but at length like Salt which hath lost its savour they shall be cast unto the Dunghil Indeed this falls in with the character of a good man but it doth not make up the whole of it This Righteousness that is at present under our consideration is more extensive and large of a more Universal and comprehensive nature and that it must be so appeareth by what it stands in a just and direct opposition to in this verse the Wicked this word doth not denote a Man guilty of one particular crime or some sinful act but a man that is habitually and statedly bad Nothing more common and frequent in the Sacred Writings than the opposition of righteous and wicked and both these terms here and in many other places must be taken in a large and comprehensive and not in a limited and restrained sence This Righteousness which is but a single particular Vertue is a part and member of the new Creature without which let men pretend what they will it is but a deformed Monster Good God! how doth Satan impose upon and our own Hearts deceive us when we can conceit our selves to be good Christians when we are not honest men Tho' this be necessary yet there must be something more to constitute the nature and compleat the character of a Righteous Man and this single and solitary Vertue is not sufficient to qualifie any for so high a priviledge as this in the Text. Therefore Secondly Righteousness must be taken in a more large and extensive sense comprehensive of much more than hath been spoken of under the former head Now there is a three-fold righteousness which we may take notice of that we may find out what is essential to characterize the Person here spoken of I. A Person may be denominated righteous from an exact and entire conformity to the Law of Works Righteousness is a relative term and doth arise from a conformity to that Law to which it hath a respect and if it have relation and be adaequately correspondent to the law of works made for innocent man it is a legal righteousness When a man is inwardly and outwardly in the frame of his Heart and actions of his Life in his deportment towards God and in his carriage towards men such as the Law requires he is righteous when every thought motion and passion every glance of the Eye every word of the mouth and every step he takes is such as the Law requires when the Divine Law in every point and punctilio of it is written in the Heart and fairly without any blots and blurs transcribed in the Life when every precept is obey'd and every commandment observ'd in the whole latitude and extent of it when obedience is entire without any defect perfect without any flaw Universal without breaking the least command Persevering without any Apostacy when all duties personal and relative publick and private to God and Man are performed and no one circumstance tho' never so minute is omitted then is the man righteous he is so in himself in the Eye of the Law and in the Account of God This Righteousness is nothing but a perfect and sinless obedience This was the righteousness of Innocent Adam This is the righteousness of confirmed Angels those elder Brethren of ours who have always been with our Father and never offended him they can lift up their faces without spot tho' Job 11. 15. to signifie how they are awed by and reverence Divine Majesty they are said to cover them with their Wings This is Isa 6. 2. the righteousness of our Redeemer he is stiled emphatically the Holy one of God and the Holy Child Jesus and Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 2. 1. the Righteous But this is not the righteousness of any of Adams wretched posterity Behold We are all of us as an unclean thing our blood was stained in the first fountain of Isa 64. 6. it and we derive sad thought guilt and pollution with the humane Nature We are guilty before we are born and sinners as soon as we are men for by the disobedience of one Man many were made sinners Rom 5. 19 Now deplorable state the whole World is become guilty before God the Law Rom. 3. 19. convinceth all of sin among all the Children of Apostate Adam in this sense there is none righteous no not one Our original Rom. 3 10. sin were we guilty of no actual transgressions one spark of Lust glowing in our Hearts did no smoak or flame break forth at our Mouths renders us unrighteous in the account of the Law nay having once sinned it can never be possible to be denominated righteous by this Law which condemns for one single crime as well as for a thousand Our whitest Garments have some spots and stains and the fairest Christian many blemishes and wrinkles our best duties have many failings as to principle manner and end our purest gold much dross and our strongest Graces many defects having a corrupt nature within every thing that cometh from us like pure Water out of a musty Cask is tainted our persons duties and graces want the blood of Christ to wash and the Mercy of God to pardon them If the holiest man upon Earth Lord what will become of the ungodly and the sinner should be tried by the Law in the Court and at the Bar of Rigorous Justice he would be cast as unrighteous He even he must say with Holy David Lord enter not into judgment with Psal 143. 2. thy Servant II. A man is
of such a Christian had I been as useful in the World and as serviceable in the Church as others then I could hope But poor doubting Christiaâ— why mayst thou not hope for all this Must all the Trees in God's Vineyard be equally fruitful Must all his Children be of the same size Must all that have true Grace have the same measure and degree of it thou canst not think so and why then may not such a one as thou art hope hast thou sincerity and uprightness then thou mayest for the Promise that is the 1 Pet. 1. 3. formal reason of hope is made to Grace as true not as strong All who are born of God are begotten again to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead Tho' I must add 2. As to actual hope all that fall within this Character have it not either living or dying in the same degree The hope of some Christians is so firmly settled so deeply rooted it hath been so oft try'd and prov'd and found of the right stamp that come what will they will hold fast their confidence to the end It is well-grounded and like an house founded on a Rock Mat. 7. 25 it stands fast tho' the Winds blow the Floods come and the Rain descend Satan as cunning and subtil a Sophister as he is cannot argue them out of their hope of Heaven But on the contrary the hope of another Christian is so weak wavering and staggering that the least breath of a Temptation miserably shakes it and a few secret whispers of the malicious one make them call all into question Oh! how soon doth the poisonous breath of this hissing Serpent damp and kill all their hopes Oh! how many sincere Christians have a right to Heaven but do not know it how many are there who cannot get their doubts resolv'd their fears expell'd whose Sun sets in a Cloud and Luk. 10. 20. whose Evening is very dark their names are written in Heaven but they do not cannot rejoyce because they do not know it is so Death lands them safe on the Shore of a Blessed Eternity thro' God's Infinite Mercy they get well into Harbour but poor Souls how do they go off with weeping eyes sad thoughts and great fears of shipwrack and drowning It is not every Christian that in a dying hour can say God is my Father Christ my Saviour Heaven my home and in yonder yonder blessed World there is a Mansion for me How many after a long profession many tears prayers and holy duties both publick and private thro' the weakness of their knowledge unacquaintedness with themselves the temptations of Satan a melancholy temper and an unaccountable timerousness of spirit are not able to read their Evidences Others die with a full assurance of hope go to their Fathers house with joy and triumph and are able to give a reason of that hope that is in them both 1 Pet. 3. 15. to themselves and others How confidently doth the blessed Apostle Paul assert this hope We know if our earthly 2 Cor. 5. 1. house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens How expressive of a strong unshaken and lively hope are those words of the same Apostle even when death was within sight I am now ready to be offered 2 Tim. 4. 6. v. 7. and the time of my departure is at hand I have sought a good fight I have finished my I have kept the Faith henceforth there is 〈…〉 â—ad up for â—â—e a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give 〈…〉 day What an unshaken confiâ—â—â—ce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is such an hope peculiar to an Apostle are such expressions only fit for the mouth of a Paul who had the priviledge to be caught up into Paradise No verily others have had the same lively hope Oh what strong assurance what clear evidences what blessed forecasts and what lively hopes is God pleased to give to some in a dying hour when their Souls stand upon the threshold of time and at the door of Eternity insomuch that they have been able to bid farewell to their dearest Relations submit to the stroke and kiss the cold hand of Death with a wonderful and triumphant Joy with a Joy too great for themselves to express and others to behold This hath made many a Christian say My work is done and blessed be God I have hope of the Reward The hour of my departure is at hand Oh my 〈◊〉 I must leave you and go unto my Father Death is welcome indeed it is welcome for I have hope of an Immortal and better 〈◊〉 know 〈◊〉 thanks be to God I can how long Lord how long come Lord Jesus come quickly I have hope of Heaven and Lord I long I long to be there What sweet what reviving Language is this how pleasing is the meditation of it is it not enough almost to put a man upon coursing Death that he might experience what it is to be in such a blessed frame Lord grant when ever I or my Reader come to die it might be thus with us This is my prayer for thee whoever thou art who readest these Lines the like prayer put up for me with a warm heart a fervent Soul and a lively Spirit and God for Jesus sake say Amen to both This caution premised I shall now consider what is the Object of this hope what good men may and do look for and expect at Death This shall be dispatcht in these following particulars First The Righteous at Death hath hope of a full and perfect freedom from all those evils they are liable to and must conflict withal in this present state In this valley of Tears and shadow of Death to how many and what great evils are we expos'd Man Job 14. â— that is born of a Woman is of few days and full of trouble Man is born oh Cap â—â— what a fine World is this to be fond of to trouble as the sparks flies upwards We come into the World with cries and tears we dwell in it in pain and sorrow We go out of it with sighs and groans How many tears do we shed how many groans do we utter how many complaints do we make upon the account of those evils which befall our selves or others for whose welfare we are and can't but be as much concern'd as for our own This World is a place of sorrow and tears and nothing can wipe away all tears from our Eyes till the hand of Death does The evils which befall us are so many and great so painful and afflictive the memory of what is past is so bitter the weight of what is present is so heavy the fear of what is future so vexing that we cannot be at rest till we close our Eyes and die and Death lays us fast asleep in the bosom of our Mother Earth Here
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
sloth and negligence by our omissions of duty or trifling in it by too great a conformity to the World and too easie a compliance with the men fashions and customs of it by listening to Temptations and running upon the occasions of sin by the immoderate use of things lawful or venturing upon what is unlawful really in its self or at least so to us because doubtful how oft by going contrary to the light of our Minds the checks of Conscience the Motions of the Holy Spirit the Directions of the Word and the rebukes of Providence do we even the best of us displease God grieve his Spirit break our peace disquiet our Minds and wound our own Consciences and how soon doth God by frowns and rebukes by withdrawing himself hiding his face denying a sense of his love and suspending in part or in whole the witnessing and comforting presence of his Spirit tell us he is displeas'd and make us sensibly know find and feel he is so are we not hereupon on a sudden left in darkness to be scared with our own melancholy guilty thoughts and the blacker suggestions of Satan the accuser of the Brethren Are we not bowed down greatly and our Souls not only Rev. 12 1â— disquieted but cast down within us Is not the day gloomy the cloud thick the night very dark and does not the poor deserted Soul with warm affection and passionate longing cry out Oh! that I could see him Don't we at such a time mourn and complain and cry out of the sadness of our Case to God and Man Are we not forc't in the bitterness of our Souls and anguish of our Spirits to say Oh! that it were with me as in months past when the Light of Gods Countenance was bright and shining and I convers'd with the Majesty of Heaven as a Man with his friend but it is not wo is me It is not so now oh that it were Lord when shall it be How oft do the Children of Light walk in darkness question their Adoption and Sonship their Covenant-Interest in and Relation unto God! How oft is there a Curtain drawn between Them and Heaven the Face of God Vail'd and the Light of his Countenance Eclips'd How oft does he withdraw and they cannot find wrap himself up in Clouds and Darkness and they cannot see him with what a pained heart grieved Soul with what an accent of sorrow does such an one cry out My God My God 〈◊〉 hast thou forsaken me I was 〈…〉 wonted to have Communion with God in Prayer to see him at a Sacrament I have had that enjoyment of God which 〈◊〉 would not have been without for all the 〈◊〉 Time was the Sabbath was my best day I long'd for the dawning of it and with joy welcom'd the Morning Light 〈◊〉 Ordinances where my delight 〈…〉 has often said how amiable are 〈…〉 〈…〉 O Lord of Hosts My Soul 〈…〉 yea even fainteth for the Courts of 〈…〉 Heart and my Flesh drieth out 〈…〉 God but now O my Soul what a change is this I pray but he giveth 〈…〉 answer I go to his Table with this Wish Let him kiss me with the 〈…〉 kisses of his Mouth but even there month after month I do not see the King's Face if he be my God my Father and Friend why is it thus with me from how many may we hear such bitter complaints as these But the Righteous at Death hath hope of deliverance from these inward spiritual and therefore most afflictive evils and such an â—â—e in the Evening of Life may say after a â—â—â—tle while and I shall no more offend grieve or displease my heavenly Father and he will always look upon me with a smiling Face a favourable Eye and a pleased Countenance I shall noâ— see him as I now do in a Glass 1 Co. 13. 1â— darâ—ly but Face to Face I shall dwell in his Presence stand before his Throne and enjoy his Favour which is better than Life I shall love God and feel that I love him God shall love me and make me know it and tho' I have often questioned both yet then I shall douâ—t of neither I have had many cloudy days disconsolate hours and dark nights many sad thoughts perplexing doubts and tormenting fears as to my spiritual and eternal state O ETERNITY ETERNITY how have the thoughts of it amaz d troubled me and sometimes made me even tremble but in this sickness I am better satisfied than ever now my fears are gone my doubts in great part resolv'd Now Evening is come and it is neither day nor night the light of Gods Countenance â—â—ch 14. 7. shines upon me Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his Psal 103. 1. Holy Name this is but the pledge of those more full and lasting Beams which shall scatter all my Clouds what I now feel is but a little a very little to what I shall Are the shadows of the Evening stretched out upon me Is night coming It is day the light of Gods Countenance makes it day and blessed be God this is but the dawning of that everlasting day which now is near hand and which will perfectly and for ever scatter all my fears Thus the Righteous hath hope in his death of an absolute freedom and final deliverance from these great and almost insuppâ—rtable evils we wretched mortals we who yet dwell in flesh are exposed to he can and he does hope that after a few hours he shall be afflicted pestered with sin buffeted by Satan deserted by God no more for ever tho' he cannot see his Lusts actually giving up the Ghost and dying yet he hopes he and his sins shall dye together tho' Satan may Dog him to the utmost borders of time yet he hopes he shall not follow him into Eternity that tho' some scruples may remain and his afflictions and pains will not be over 'till death hath done its work yet he hopes death will put an end to all Secondly The Righteous hath hope in his Death what hath he then hope of of a Convoy of blessed and holy Angels to secure his passage to the other World Man consists of a Body and Soul when he dies a separation is made the body is left the Soul is gone friends take care of the Body that it may have a decent Burial and truly some respect and honour is due to the Corps to the very dust of them who sleep in Jesus and even after death remain united to him as to this the dying Christian is not much concern'd for he knows his Lord will find it at his coming where-ever it be laid but the Soul being more noble his great care is for that and he hopes Angels will be ready to conduct in to the glorious and eternal Mansions above Holy and confirmed Angels who have as much good nature in them as they have strength and power are very serviceable to us men especially to
such as are Heirs of Salvation we are under God Heb. 1. 14. very much beholden to those kind loving and generous spirits for those innumerable and unknown offices of kindness and good turns they have done us They are our Life-guard from the Cradle to the Grave a whole body of these invisible Beings encamp round about us How carefully do they watch over us how diligently do they observe us how constantly do they bear us up in their Arms and by what unaccountable and to us unknown methods do they prevent imminent dâ—ngâ—rs and save us from the Snares lâ—id for us how ready are they to encourage assist and help us in any Spiritual work in any great and difficult undertakings how do they long for our Repentâ—nâ—e rejoice at our Conversion and what haste do they make to carry the happy tidings of it to Heaven that others 〈◊〉 rejoice with them with what a â—iâ—â—ty concern do they drive and chase aâ—ay evil â—â—irits with what courage do they 〈◊〉 â—s from the râ—ge and fury 〈…〉 â—illing are 〈…〉 in thiâ— dangerous 〈…〉 we have been foil'd 〈…〉 how seasonably have 〈…〉 what 〈◊〉 have they made to espouse our quarrel and fight out the remaining battle for us How off have they kept us from being hurt by those Apostate and Malignant Spirit which in vast numbers rove about in the Air and wander up and down in this lower World upon no other errand than to do mischief and prey upâ—n immortal Souls These good Angels are further beneficial to holy men at death in that they immediately take the Souls of such into their custody and guard them in their Journey from one World to the other and never leave them till they come safe thither How unacquainted are we with the way to yonder inviâ—â—â—le World it is a pâ—th we have never â—one a râ—â—d we have never yet travelld neither can we discover any footsteps of those who are gone before us How hard is it for Souls that have been so long embodied in flesh to find which is the right 〈◊〉 and tract in those vast wide anâ— uâ—known Regiâ—â—â— of Air how impossâ—bâ—â— is this but by the direction of son 〈◊〉 â—â—perienced 〈◊〉 and who can 〈◊〉 â—ore or bâ—â—â—er experience than 〈◊〉 Messâ—nger of Heaven who hâ—â—e 〈◊〉 velled a thousand and a thousand nay innumerable times from that World to this and from this back again to that Moreover what a melancholy and frightful thought is it that my separated Soul must pass thro' the lower Regions of the Air which are the Dominions of Apostate Spirits the Devil's Camp and Satan's Head-quarters and this lonely and solitary having none either to accompany or defend it But that this might not amaze departing Saints they shall have as many Angels as are necessary to guard and defend them That holy Soul may pass safely thro' the Territories of their Enemies that they might not be scared terrified or daunted by those swarms of unclean spirits which lie up and down in the Air a good God hath appointed a Convoy of Angels to attend them and no doubt a convenient number of them stand round about the Death-bed of every good man and immediately receive his Soul when it is expired Some think that the fiery Chariot and Horses in which Elijah mounted up to Heaven was a Convoy of Angels however for this they have a commission and those good and kind spirits do not disdain to perform this last act and office of love to the meanest Saint for the Beggar died and the sacred Story tells us he was carried by Angels into Luk. 16. 22. Abraham 's bosom How comfortable is it to study the Commission given to Angels in this particular and how supporting to hope nay to be assur'd they will act according to it Lo this is the hope of the Righteous at death Gloririous Priviledge Thirdly The Righteous have hope of deliverance from Hell and the torments of the Damned The afflictions of time are nothing to the miseries of Eternity The distress and anguish of a poor creature stretcht on the Wheel rackt and tortur'd in every limb part and member is but a weak and faint resemblance of the horrous and agonies of despairing Souls in Hell The pains of the first are nothing to the pangs of the second and Eternal Death There is a fire kindled that shall never go out flames burning which shall never be quencht a Worm to gnaw that shall never die and Devils to torment who shall never be weary of that bloody and hellish work There impenitent sinners oh how terrible and dreadful a place is Hell must feel the strokes of Revenging Justice the â—â—â—â—es of their own Enraged Consciences drink of the Cup of the Wine of the Wrath of God and be scared with the sight of ten thousand ugly Devils They must burn and not be consumed be tortured and never die have pain and no case trouble and no rest sorrow and no joy tho' they go laughing to Hell they shall never laugh more they shall have an eternal night and no day be fill'd with despair and have no hope Hell what an amazing word is it Hell how extreamly melancholy are the thoughts of it Hell whose heart does noâ— tremble at the hearing of it Hell what unknown miseries are wrapt up in it Hell Hell how many wretched sinners have voluntarily run into it to escape the beginnings of it in their own Consciences but yet all we â—â—n imagine and fansie in this World is infinitely short of what this single this little word Hell imports and must be felt in the next But a Righteous man Lord what must be the joy of his departing Soul hath hope in his death he shall be delivered from all this I must die may he say but I shall not be damn'd I must go to a cold dark silent and solitary Grave my Glass is run the number of my years months hours and moments is now finisht I am going to my long home but I shall not be sent to an hot burning and flaming Hell My flesh this Body of mine must ror in dust but my Soul shall not burn in that fiery Oven the way which leads to those Chambers of horrour and darkness is broad exceeding broad the Gate that leads to Hell is wide and standeth open day and night and thousands go in thâ—reat but I hope I shall take another path 'T is true I sinful I have deserved Hell again and again and I might have been in it long ago but I do hope thanks be to God I do hope and will hope my blessed Jesus will snatch me as a firebrand out of those everlasting burnings Amen Amen Fourthly The Righteous at death hath hope of being immediately received into Heaven and welcomed by all that are there The Souls of Believers being separated do not wander up and down in yonder vast large and capacious Regions much less are they according to the Roman Fable to suffer
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
tender bowels he has toward such Are we not ready to say How and why is it that such must die Since their door-posts are sprinkled with the Blood of the Lamb why may why does not the destroying Angel pass over them Since God hath such a love to delight in and wishes so well to them why must they Taste Death before they can drink of those Rivers of Heb. 2 9. pleasure which are at Gods right hand forevermore Psal 16. 11. Why does not such love and mercy pleasure them with an easie and instantaneous Translation These may be the arguings of carnal reason but to consider with what great and vast blessed and glorious hopes they die may help us to silence every thing of this kind Why should we entertain any hard thoughts of God or think him in the least unkind because we must first die before we can be happy When he has given us such sure and certain hopes to carry us through the Pains and Conflicts Agonies and Terrors of that hour When you hear or see that the Righteous must die do you cry out How severe and inflexible is Divine Justice Then remember they die in hope and cry out How tender is Divine Mercy How great is the Mercy of God that he sweetens this Cup with some fore-tasts of Heaven When sickness shall Summon me to die when I shall lie weak and pain'd on my last bed Lord Let me have a strong and unshaken a vigorous and lively hope Give me in that dark and gloomy hour but a prospect of Heaven and an assurance it shall be mine While with one eye I look into the Grave with the other let me look to Heaven and be able to say Yonder is a Mansion for me And I will never think much that I must die O my God I will not think thy justice is too severe but adore and Bless Love and Praise thee while I have Strength and Breathe that I have hope to comfort me in my Passage Infer IV. How evident is it that serious Religion and practical holiness is not a vain thing To mourn for our sins and repent of our past wickedness to watch our Hearts which have so oft so easily and fatally betray'd us to resist the Temptations of Satan who waits for an opportunity to destroy us to abstain from fleshly and sensual pleasures which have drowned thousands in Perdition and may ensnare and defile us to be strict and accurate in all our ways to follow the Directions of the Word the Conduct of the Holy Spirit and the light of a well-informed Conscience in all we do to be warm fervent and frequent in Prayer both in our Families and Closets to be serious and reverent when ever we have to do with God and meddle with sacred things to love our Enemies and do good to all and hurt to none to deny self take up the Cross and suffer rather than sin to be humble meek and condescending to govern our thoughts make a Covenant with our Eyes and to set a Watch on the Door of our Lips and Bridle our Passions to contemn the World and the three grand Idols of it RICHES HONOURS and PLEASURES to be contented with little and thankful to God for any thing to obey the commanding and submit to the Providential Will of God is accounted by some men and those who think themselves Wits too ridiculous and vain What profit is there in serving â—â—e Almighty Job 21. 15. Is the Language of some Men's Tongues and more Mens Hearts but Lord what mad and foolish talk is this is that vain which ends so well and has such an happy issue at last The whole Life of a sinner is but one continued vanity but one entire piece of a more solemn folly your carking and caring for your pampering a dying Body while you neglect an Immortal Spirit your thoughtfulness for Earth while you forget Heaven your heaping up Riches while you lay up no treasures for your selves in another World your purchasing Lands and Houses while you do not seek a Title to a Mansion above your sinful Laughter and carnal Mirth your ridiculing Religion and making a scorn of the Righteous your beastly pleasures and bruitish delights are all vain of these we may say Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity Should I come to you when you lie sick cold and trembling on a Death-bed and ask Sir what fruit have you of your former sinful Life would you not shake your head and with an heavy Heart say Fruit alass no fruit nothing but shame and sorrow dreadful fears of an after reckoning and frightful thoughts of Hell and Judgment to come But Righteousness and Powerful Religion is no vain or unprofitable thing suspend thy judgment a little while stay till the Righteous man comes to the end of his Journey behold him weak and languishing and yet full of hope and joy See him looking grim Death in the Face with courage and going out of the World in triumph hear him saying with a pleasant voice Oh that Death would come I long I long to dye and then judge if righteousness be vain This Doctrine exemplified in the triumphant and joyful Death of a Righteous Man is enough to convince the most sottish and stupid sinner that serious religion is no vain and empty thing Infer V. How industriously and diligently should all labour after this righteousness That Death is certain and unavoidable near at hand and will quickly come I suppose you take for granted You are dying verily my friends you are dying men and women the time is coming and how quickly will it be here when you must breath your last when neither the tears of Relations the pity of Friends the skill of Physitians nor any vertue there is in Medicines can prolong Life or keep off Death Lo this is thy Motto DUST thou art and to the Dust shalt thou return and should not you labour to be such persons while you live that you may have hope in your Death To be a stranger upon Earth is your character to get an hope of an abiding City should be your endeavour and this cannot be had without Gospel-righteousness It is not a superficial sorrow and slight repentance for your past sins a few good thoughts or wishes a few cold and lifeless Prayers in the Church or Closet it is not an escaping the gross pollutions of the flesh or doing some acts of Charity and Justice Sobriety and Temperance that will be a sufficient ground of hope in a dying hour it is nothing short of a through Universal change of Heart and Life nothing short of a supernatural principle in the Heart exerting its self in suitable actions in the life will warrant and legitimate your hope and oh how speedily and diligently should every one labour after it If you would have hope in your Death you must solemnly repent of all your sins that Heart of thine which is as hard as a Rock must be
us he talkt of Heaven all his Life-long but now where is his hope what is become of his confidence When he had heated his brain and phansie with some religious exercises how pleasantly could he talk of Heaven But now Death is approaching what little support has he from those thoughts Thus may your doubts and fears strengthen the hands and harden the Hearts of the wicked and tell me Christian is it not a trouble to thee to think thou shouldest dishonour God and discredit Religion and that Religion which should be dearer to thee than thy Life in the very last part and concluding act of it Can the thought of it be tolerable to thee Therefore for God's sake and Religions sake get HOPE for if you be comfortable and joyful then and if your hope be lively you may and will be so you may convince however you will silence These foolish men and perhaps after your decease they may bethink themselves and say surely Religion is no vain thing there is more in it than we know of for how â—as this man filled with joy when grim death stared him full in the face Such a death commends Religion more than an hundred Panegyricks written in the praise of it having this hope by your death-bed carriage and dying speeches you may bring more glory to God honour to Christ and credit to Religion at your death than you did in your Life 2. For your own sake Is not death tertible and do you want nothing to arm and fortifie you against it but what will or can if you have no hope Death how cold do the thoughts of it strike to our Hearts especially when we see the departing pangs hollow eyes pale looks ghastly countenances short breath trembling limbs and clammy sweats of our dying frends and then think one day this will be our own â—aie when we walk thro' Church-yards and see rotten Skulls scattered Bones what a frightful thought is it to think ere-long it will be so with us but when death really comes to act all this over upon us what a difference shall we find between seeing another die and dying our selves will you need no support at such a time will you want no cordial in such an hour will you need no refreshment when Heart Flesh and strength and all does fail Will you want nothing to help you when you come to grapple with this huge Goliah this mighty Conquerour DEATH verily you will and what can succour support and help you in that hour but a lively hope Would you not have your Hearts sink and die within you Would you be able to receive the Sentence of Death in your selves with a quiet and calm submission to God's Will Would you die in peace and go off with triumph then get and maintain a lively hope 3. For the sake of those Relations you shall leave behind Whenever you die you will leave them in Tears it will trouble them to think that you are dead but they will sorrow most of all to remember you did not die in hope Out of respect and pity to them get this lively hope that they may have this to comfort and support them when you are dead and gone That they may be able to say my Husband my Wife my Father my Mother my Son my Daughter is Dead but thanks be to God they died with a living with a lively hope If they have any love for you any sense of Religion any belief of another World nothing will be so serviceable as this to check their immoderate sorrow If you have no hope or but little tho' it is not their place to sit as judges upon you yet may they not fear the worst may they not take up a bitter lamentation at the Mouth of your Grave and say My loving Father my dear Mother my Son my Child is dead alass here is the breathless Carkass that is left behind but woe is me woe is me what is become of the Immortal Soul Oh! get this hope that you your selves and others too may know where death will Land you why should you be ambitious of going to Heaven incognito and as it were by stealth Why should you not let all know that that is the blessed Port you are bound for before you go off from Land That when you are praising God in Heaven your surviving Friends may be giving Thanks to God on Earth for your safe arrival Now that you who are Righteous may have a lively hope in your Death I shall lay down and do you practise these following directions First Get and maintain a firm and setled belief of a future happiness Content not your selves with the guesses and conjectures of an Heathen with a cold and naked opinion that is easily shaken with the breath of the next Temptation with a Faith which is the fruit of a Religious and Virtuous Education and is only the consequent of having been born and brought up among a sort of men called Christians an avowed Article of whose Creed is the Life everlasting but let your Faith be built upon sure Grounds Divine Revelation and let it be quickned and rais'd to that degree that it may presentiate the future glory to you that it may stand as a Rock unmoveable in the midst of Storms and like a brazen Wall blunt and beat back all those Arrows of Temptation which are shot against it Faith lays the Ground-work and Foundation for hope the Creed of a Sadducee and the hopes of a Christian are not reconcileable if I believe there is no other World but this how can I have hope of any thing beyond the Grave and if my Faith be weak and wavering a dead and lifeless thing will not my hope be so too As the Lamp goes out unless there be Oil to feed it so hope will wither languish and die except Faith maintain it Hope springs from Faith is nourished by and is in proportion to it In order to a lively hope it is necessary we conquer our infidelity and watch strive and pray against an evil Heart of Vnbelief Hope Heb. 3. 12. will not indeed none of the Fruits of the Holy Spirit can thrive or flourish while this root of bitterness is in the Heart Let us then use all the means appointed that we may be strong in Faith the life of our Rom. 4. 20. hopes nay the life of all our Religion depend's upon the certainty of a future state blot this Article out of our Creed and you stab Religion to the Heart the whole of Religion in a manner depends on the truth of this one single Article a life to come and thanks be God we are not left without plain abundant and sufficient proof of it and they who are Insidels in this age and in this part of the World they are so not out of necessity but rather out of choice Let us then with the greatest seriousness of Spirit intention of mind apply our selves to consider the many
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
hope may a little comfort us in the Sun-shine of the Day but not when the dark Night of Death is coming If you would have your hope to be lively at Death examine carefully the grounds and reasons of it what footing there is for thy hope in the Scripture That hope and no other which hath been often brought to the Touch-Stone and tried is like to last when grim and frightful Death shall look us in the Face Ask your own Consciences a reason of that hope that is in you and take not up with the first answer but let this weighty and momentous question be oft repeated and as often answered and by this means you will be less apt to suspect it hereafter it will then be strong and lively when Nature is weak and feeble and afford you joy and ravishment when the Shadows of Death shall sit on your Eye-lids and your Immortal Spirits are taking Wing and flying to the other World An hope that is taken up no body knows how or why will certainly fail when there is most need of it Retire then Christian from the World and set some hours apart for this great Work and speak to thy self in some such manner as this Death O my Soul is coming and after that men go to Heaven or to Hell in which of these must I be and dwell for ever whither must I go when I die where will death land me Shall I go to God or Devils Be reeeived up into a Mansion of light above or be cast down to a Dungeon of Darkness below When I shall knock at the Gate of Heaven and say Lord Lord open to me am I like to be admitted or deny'd When thou O my Soul shalt leave this Body shalt thou under the conduct of Holy Angels go to the joyful assembly above or be drag'd by Infernal Spirits who lie watching for their Prey to the Congregations of Devils beneath Thou art going O my Soul thou art going to an ETERNAL World but is it to an happy or a miserable one to ETERNAL Joys or to ETERNAL Sorrows to Heaven where is an ETERNAL Day or to Hell where will be an ETERNAL Night It is well with me at present I am full and at ease I want nothing this World can afford The lines are fallen to me in a pleasant Psal 16. 6. place I have a goodly Heritage but how is it like to go with me hereafter Will it be well or ill with me for ever O my Soul ought I not shall I not be concern'd to know how it will fare with me for ever Hope of Heaven is very common who almost among the sons of men does not hope for it But how many are mistaken now and disappointed hereafter How many have lived in hope and dyed in hope and after all been for ever shut out Oh how many have been imposed upon by Satan cheated and deceived by their own hearts and am not I in danger of being so too Is not Satan as cunning and subtil now as he was then Is not my heart as base false deceitful and treacherous as theirs and am not I as likely to be blinded by self-love as they were How much hope is vain false and groundless serving only to delude men at present and shame them for ever How many have been buoyed up and flusht with hope on a Death-bed and in a little time Doleful moment swallowed up of total final and remediless despair What if this should be my case What if it should be so with me Do I hope for Heaven O my Soul of what kind is my hope What was the Spring What is the Nature What are the Effects What Stamp is it of Whose Superscription does it bear Is it any better is it any thing more than the hope of the Hypocrite which shall perish Job 8. 13. Will it endure a trial at the Bar of Conscience and at the Bar of God too Have I any one promise in all the book of God to countenance my hope and warrant my expectation This question is weighty and important and to mistake here may be very fatal and is infinitely dangerous Therefore tell me O my Soul what manner of hope is thine Thus and thus I find it is with them who have a good hope Is it so with me or no I am loth to be deceived afraid of being mistaken therefore O my Soul deal plainly and truly with me O my Conscience take the candle of the Lord and search me and faithfully tell me as thou wilt answer the neglect another day whether my hope be sound and good or no. If you would take this course what a confirmed hope might you have in Life and what a lively hope in Death An hope that would mitigate the terrors abate the horror asswage the pangs and sweeten the agonies of a dying hour With such a hope you may die not only safely but comfortably too go to your Graves not only in peace but with triumph While other mens Chambers are filled with disconsolate sighs and groans yours may ring with acclamations of victory and songs of praise While the awakned and despairing sinner is crying out must I die must I die O my weeping friends must I die your looks may be pleasant your countenances chearful and your hearts transported with joy You may be able to welcome Death and triumph over the Grave you may have such a glorious prospect of the happiness above that you may praise God with your last with your dying breath and Hallelujah may be your last word in this World as well as your first in the next Infer IX Hence we may learn how to carry it with reference to those Righteous and Holy Relations of ours who had such hope in their Death Are any of our holy relations dead and did they die in hope and is there no duty incumbent on us who are left behind Have we nothing to do but to provide for their funeral and follow them to the grave Alas as to them when we have done this we have done all we can for them When we have got them a Coffin purchased a Grave for and laid them in it we can do no more for them But at such a time is there nothing to be done by us for our selves Does not the Death of an Husband a Wife a Father a Mother call upon surviving Relations to improve it At such a time God calls Providence calls and Death calls upon us to mind our duty I shall not largely treat on this Head but only shew what is to be done by us with reference to them as they died in HOPE First We should take notice of and remark their happy and comfortable end We should observe register and remember Gods kindness and love to his gracious and merciful dealings with them in their last sickness and on a Death-bed It cannot but be useful to take notice of the miserable end of many wicked men Is Conscience awakned and
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
serviceable more proper or powerful than to consider they died in hope may we not more easily with more submission and less reluctancy commit the Body to the Dust when we have ground to hope the Soul which is by far the better part and to which certainly we owe most love is in Heaven may not Gods Grace and Mercy to them before their departure abundantly comfort us after their dissolution we have more infinitely more reason to groan and weep Lord forgive us we do not over a wicked Relation that is dead while he liveth than 1 Tim. 5. 6. over a godly Relation that lives tho' he dies That wicked profane son of thine who lives to thy shame and Gods dishonour calls for more Tears than thy godly and religious Son who is dead i. e. gone from his Earthly to his Heavenly Father a Lugâ—s Corpus a quo recâ—ssit anima Luge animam à qua recessit Deus Aâ—g De Sanct. 13. Do'st thou weep over the Body from which the Soul is gone weep over that Soul from which God is departed b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys in Phil. Hom. 3. Let us saith another lament sinners not only when they die but while they live but let us rejoice over the righteous not only while they live but when they are dead If we would not offend while we sorrow if we would weep as if we wept not 1 Cor. 8. 30. let us seriously consider with what great blessed and glorious hopes our Holy Relations died and that now they are receiving the end of their Faith and Hope the Salvation of their Souls Cannot we 1 Pet. 1. 9. behold the Pale Wan Gastly and Breathless Corps they have left behind without wetting it with an immoderate shower of Tears Can't we follow them to their long home look into the deep and dark frightful and lonesome grave in which we must leave them without an excess of sorrow Let us look up and consider whither they are gone what they now are enjoy and do what employment and society they have what rivers of pleasure they are drinking of and what angelical joys they are now filled with Is their Pilgrimage over are they got to the end of their Journey Are they gone home and are they now with God After many threatning storms and tempests many fears of shipwrack and drowning has Death safely landed them and are they got well into Harbour Have they done their work finished their course and are they now receiving the reward The reward they long pray'd and waited for Is their warfare accomplisht their conflict with sin and all the legions of darkness now over and the crown obtain'd Are they gone from this to a better World to a World more holy and happy more quiet and peaceable Are they gone from Earth to Heaven To Heaven where they long'd wisht and groan'd to be To Heaven where their treasure hearts and hopes were long ago To Heaven where there is all good and no evil all that can be thought of wisht and desired to make up a compleat and entire happiness Is their trial over and their account delivered up with joy and has God said Well done good and faithful Servants Have they exchang'd Earth for Heaven Sickness for Health Sorrow for Joy pain for Ease Trouble for Rest Groans for Songs Tears for Triumph a State of Sin for a State of perfect Holiness Are they past for ever past those difficulties and dangers snares and temptations which we are liable to and must encounter Have they done wrestling and fighting watching and striving complaining and weeping Are they gone to the true land of the living and are they beyond the pain the fear the possibility of dying any more for ever Are they gone from a Sick-bed a Crazy Body an house of Clay a Tabernacle of the Flesh that was always shaking and tottering to a mansion in their Fathers house to a City that hath foundations whose Builder and maker is God Are they gone to their own countrey and their own People To God the Judge of all to Christ the Mediator of the new Covenant to an innumerable company of Angels and the Spirits of just men made perfect Have they the Beatifical vision the ravishing fight of the Man Christ Jesus in all his glory Are they in Heaven and are they glad they are Without the least thought wish or desire to return to this wretched Earth of ours again Did they run their Christian race with holy patience and constancy and have they won the prize Are they reaping the fruit of all their prayers and tears religious duties and holy endeavours Are our departed Relations who t'other day were weeping sinning and suffering with us now sate down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob with Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Confessors and Martyrs in the Kingdom of God above Did they live in the fear die in the favour of God and shall they rise in his love Did they live in comfort and at last die in peace Are their Souls gone to Heaven and does their Flesh rest in hope And is not this enough and more than enough to check an intemperate sorrow Can we as it were hear the separated Soul of one whom we lov'd knew and conversed with a while ago or of one who was related to us in the flesh upon its first arrival at yonder blessed World with wonder and admiration crying out Glorious Sight Blessed Company Happy Place Where am I What a change is this What Musick do I hear Is this Heaven Incomparable place Is this glorious Mansion for me Admirable grace Must I be with God and Christ and be with them for ever Vnspeakable Happiness Must I O ye Holy Angels and glorified Spirits be one of your Number Excellent Company But is this Heaven Is this the Heaven I heard of so often What I was told Alas poor mortals do not know what Heaven is was not one half of what I now find Is this Heaven Am I in it must I be here for ever Glory to thee O God the Father for preparing it Glory to thee O God the Son for purchasing it Glory to thee O God the Holy Ghost for preparing me for Heaven And yet immoderately weep at the thoughts of his departure Had they hope on a death-bed and are they now in possession of all they hoped for and have not we more cause to weep for our selves who are left behind than for them who are gone have not we more reason to wish Lord that my work were done my Soul prepared and my Account ready that I might be gone than wish oh that I had my Wife my Father my Mother again we that are Christians design Heaven Heaven is the blessed Port we are bound for and shall we repine and grieve that our holy Relations are safely Landed before us Is this our love to ' em oh what abundant provision has God made for the support of his people under such afflictive
dear Relations in their sickness I have seen them sick weak and full of pain I have seen their cold sweats their mortal tremblings and heard their last and dying groans and now it 's my turn to be sick and my time to die Die how hard and difficult a work is this of what great concern and everlasting importance Die who does or can know what it imports but those who are dead and gone I thought it hard to see my Friend my Father my Mother dye but shall I not find it more difficult now I am to dye my self the Messenger of Death has laid hold on me I believe this sickness will be my last I have no hope of recovery I have been sick and God hath recover'd me at the Mouth of the Grave and God hath brought me back I have gone from my Sick-bed and Chamber to my Shop and Trade but now I verily believe I shall do so no more my Sun is setting my Glass is run there are but a few remaining Sands the Grave with open mouth is waiting for me and in a little time I shall drop into it Most Holy Lord assist me now and leave me not through thy Grace I have lived help me Lord help me now to dye as a Christian in these hours and moments prepare me more and better for my last I have lived Rom. 14. 8. Rev. 14. 13. to oh that now I might die in the Lord and fall asleep in Jesus Preparation for Death Judgment and an Eternal World thanks be to God I have not neglected I did not in health adjourn this work to a time of sickness in order to this I have made many a Prayer shed many a Tear abstain'd from sin and crucified the Flesh I spent much of my time in trying my self searching my Heart and examining my State in repenting of and amending what I found amiss I was convinc'd a few death-bed Tears and languishing Prayers extorted by fears of Death and Hell would not make amends or be a sufficient compensation for the sins of a wicked Life and therefore through the Grace of God assisting me I made it the business of my Life to prepare to dye But something more is to be done that I may glorify God in my Death and be for ever happy after it what remains and is now to be done in this my last sickness instruct me Lord and help me to do it I now stand at the Mouth of the Grave upon the Threshold of Time and at the Door of Eternity Lord increase strengthen and quicken all those Graces which are proper to be acted in a time of sickness and on a death-bed Oh! that now I am a sick oh that now I am a dying man my Faith Love and Hope my Repentance Humiliation and Sorrow my desires and breathings after God my joy and delight in him may be more lively and active than ever oh that this last work of my Life may be done best my sick bed joys may be the greatest and my dying comforts most abundant through these painful hours and days this dark and narrow gloomy and frightful passage guide direct and lead me Lord The exercise of some graces the performance of some duties are peculiarly seasonable in a time of health and life and others are so in Sickness and at Death Thou hast helpt me to live and now Lord help me to die If I have made any preparation for such a time and hour as this If I have done any of the work of my Life and conversed in this World as an expectant of a better if I have any grace and at any time have been able to act it if my love has been 〈◊〉 my zeal flaming my heart softned â—umbled broken and melted and mine eyes a fountain of tears to bewail the slips and falls I have been guilty of if I have delighted in God through Christ as my reconciled Father Portion Happiness and End if I have exercised self-denyal in keeping under the flesh restraining its appetites and denying its cravings in contemning the World and slighting those adored vanities which bewitch charm and intangle so many if at any time my hope of Heaven hath been lively my longing panting and breathing after it strong and warm if I have mortified any sin resisted any temptation performed any duty with success so as to profit my self and please God if I have done any thing whereby the glory honour and interest of God and Christ has been advanced if I have imployed improved my talents and gained more if I have brought forth fruit done any work and service in my generation and place Lord it is owing to thee to the assistances of thy grace and the influences of thy Holy Spirit and I desire to acknowledge it is so saying with thy holy Apostle by the grace of God I am what I am Not I but the 1 Co. 15. 10. grace of God which was with me Oh for the same grace and mercy aid and help now I am a sick and dying man Oh that God would help me in these painful days and sorrowful hours to glorifie him yet more by doing the work which is proper to such a time that my present sickness and death may be for the glory of God the honour of Religion the good of my self and others Particularly help me Lord to be truly thankful for all thy mercies for those innumerable favours confer'd on such a worm such a wretch as I am bring them to my remembrance and enable me unseignedly to bless thee help me O my God to exercise a serious solemn and particular repentance for my past sins Let Oh! let this heart of mine be more humble broken and penitent than ever Finally help me Lord with patience and calmness submission and resignation to submit to thy holy will to be willing to die now with faith and hope trust and confidence to commit my Soul to the care of my dear and blessed Jesus And to these ends Lord bless the following meditations to me and let neither my Eye nor Tongue out-run or leave my Heart behind II. God's goodness is to be acknowledged though he afflicts us at present An enumeration of past mercies temporal and Spiritual And solemn thanksgiving for both God is good and doth good freely constantly and unweariedly and I am fully convinced of both My faith and reason prove the former my very sense and long experience the latter And though now I am sick and weak afflicted and pained though I feel the weight of his hand and the smarting of his rod neither Flesh nor Devil shall persuade me to think otherwise Though he afflicts me now yet hath he not done me good all my days and shall not I bless him for his mercies Mercies that are more than I can number greater than I can value and far beyond my deserts Shall the afflictions of a few days the pains of a few hours make me O my Soul forget slight or
what holy motions and breathings what enlivening quickening and comforting influences of the Holy Spirit have I had how oft hath God supported my drooping and reviv'd my dying Spirits answered my doubts expell'd my fears and treated me as a Friend nay more as a Son how hath God in mercy restrained the Tempter or wisely ordered the Temptation as to the nature strength and continuance of it what succour and support what strength and assistance have I experienc'd at such a time and how oft through Grace have I been more than a Conquerour when I sinn'd and fell God did not cast me off banish me his family and null the former Relation but pittied me a faln Christian when he heard my groans and saw my penitential Tears his Bowels yearned he took me up and embraced me in the Arms of his Mercy wiped my weeping Eyes comforted my sorrowful Heart and said Son be of good chear thy sins are forgiven Mat. 9. 2. thee Oh! the joy oh the unspeakable joy of that hour methinks I yet sensibly feel what lively and warm impressions those words made upon my Heart upon my Heart that the moment before was ready to sink and dye within me when I was covered with Tears Blushing and Shame when I lay sighing sobbing and groaning at his Foot-stool crying out in the bitterness of my Soul I have sinned I have sinned before I rose from my knees before I said Amen my God came and said I have pardoned I have pardoned and now go in peace For the mercy and kindness of that hour Lord I bless thee now When through the weakness of my Grace the strength of my Corruptions and the power of Temptation I have wandred and gone astray when my zeal has abated my affections been cooled when I have been remiss negligent and careless back-sliding and on the declining hand he sent some affliction or other to call me back to awaken warm quicken and recover me When I have loved the World too much and my God too little when my affection to Earth has been too warm and to Heaven too cold when duties have been neglected or performed without life vigour and zeal when I begun to be too Worldly Earthly and Sensual he suffered me to meet with disappointments took away part of my Estate snatcht away a bosom Friend a dear Relation filled my Body with pain shook me over the Grave and threatned to cast me into it and all this with a merciful design to reform and make me better And Lord I thank thee any afflictions have been sanctified to such an end that the voice of the Rod has been accompanied with that of thy Spirit and both were effectual to reclaim me that at any time I came out of the fire more refin'd and purg'd and that those Waters of Affliction washt away my filthiness Lord I can do and will bless thee for seasonable corrections and the discipline of thy Rod. So good and kind so liberal and bountiful so merciful and gracious hath God been to me I have had so much for Body and Soul for time and eternity that I am fill'd with wonder and must cry out Oh the heighth and depth length and breadth of the love of God! my mercies have been more than my moments and every single mercy deserves and calls for a Psalm of Praise Lord when I am dead and in a silent Grave I cannot praise thee and therefore now I will blessed be God I lived till I was born again that ever I heard of that sweet that blessed that charming name JESUS and that I was enabled to believe on him for all the Mercies I have had in this World and for the hope and prospect of more and better in the next Blessed be God for Pardoning Mercy Sanctifying Grace and the Blood of Jesus to wash and cleanse me a sinner Blessed be God for the supports and comforts I have in this sickness that Satan is restrain'd and my own corruptions curb'd Blessed be God I am made meet for Heaven and that I know I am Lord what Grace is thine how free and sovereign What love is thine how constant and matchless how sweet how exceeding sweet is the thought that God hath loved doth love me and will do so unto the End I 'll bless thee Lord while I live thank thee with my last Breath and O my God through Christ thy Son and my Saviour accept my dying praises Bless the Lord O my Soul bless the Lord for me O my Friends bless the Lord O ye his Holy Angels my single voice is not sufficient may every Tongue all breath praise his holy name Amen HALLELUJAH III. After Death cometh Judgment what an awakening Thought this is and ought to be How this Thought may and should be improv'd by us in our last Sickness particularly to put us upon Confession the exercise of Repentance and earnest Prayer to God for Pardoning Mercy SICKNESS Summons Men to die Death Summons them to Judgment May this Sickness be my last and do I suppose it will hearken O my Soul and thou may'st hear Deaths Voice Come unto the Bar come give an account of thy Self to God in the NAME of the ETERNAL GOD whose Servant and Messenger I am I cite thee O Man to make thine appearance before the Tribunal of thy Maker Sovereign and Judge in the other World Awful Tidings what awakening and startling words are these must I O my Soul quickly Dye and after that be judg'd go from my Death-bed to the Bar of an Infinitely Holy Just and Jealous God must my Life be examined all my Actions scanned and my everlasting state in that moment be determined must a Righteous and Irreversible Doom pass upon me must I Dye in one moment and in the next be Judg'd and shall not I search my ways examine my state take a survey of my Heart and Life before I pass to that final and irreversible Judgment and hold up these guilty hands of mine at God's Tribunal shall I not endeavour to know what has been amiss that I may confess be humbled for repent of it and beg pardon Lord help me a sick Lord for Jesus sake help me a dying man in this serious solemn work help me to find out my sins to repent and implore thy mercy through the Lord Jesus Christ who is my only hope in Life at Death and after Death I was born a sinner and came into the World guilty and polluted behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my Mother Psal 51. 5. conceive me As I am a Child of Apostate Adam dreadful thought I am unlike to the Holy and Blessed God and resemble the Devil the worst of Beings and had I no other sin this were enough to shame confound silence and condemn me But alas have I not found this original sin active in my Heart and fruitful in my Life with what force and violence has it hurried me to the commission of sin oh
what cursed streams has this bitter Fountain been sending forth how much how often and how greatly have I offended God! what one Commandment is there I have not broken in thought word or deed my sins are more than can be numbred and how many Legions of Lusts are quartered in my Heart oh that my Head were Waters and mine Eyes a Jer. 9. 1. Fountain of Tears that I might weep day and night Did I not once O my Soul live as without God in the World how many and great were the sins of my unregenerate state what a sinner Lord what a vile sinner was I then were not all the faculties of my Soul and Members of my Body the Instruments of Unrighteousness unto sin Did not sin sit in the Throne sway the Scepter and had it not the entire quiet and peaceable possession of my Heart Was not I a willing Slave an obedient Servant and a Volunteer in any wicked service was I not at the beck of every Lust the will of every Temptation and did not Satan carry me captive at his pleasure during that wretched state how did I forget God and my self Eternity and another World thwart the design of my Creation and cross the end of my being made a Man Was I not sensual carnal and earthly a stranger to an Holy Heavenly Life without any delight in God desire after or care to please him did I not run into Sin as the Horse rushes into the Battle without any fear how long O my Soul how long was I a grief to that blessed Jesus who wept and swet bled groan'd and died for me how did I despise his Grace slight his Love his dying Love spurn at his Bowels and trample on his Blood with what sweet and endearing melting and charming language did he plead with me he called but I did not answer he pleaded but I was not moved his Bowels yearned but my Heart did not relent how oft did the Holy Spirit move and work upon my Heart and how oft did I resist vex quench and grieve him how oft was my Conscience awakened and how soon did it fall asleep again Holy Lord I blush I am ashamed and confounded to look back upon this part of my life I weep Lord I weep I desire to weep bitterly for the sins of my unconverted state I wish again Oh that my Head were Waters and mine Eyes a Fountain of Tears that I might weep day and night How many and great have been my sins since my Conversion to and acquaintance with God How oft have I fallen to the dishonour of God the discredit of Religion the wounding of my self and grieving of others how many duties have been neglected and how many carelesly performed in a cold lazy and trifling manner how many of my Talents which might have been improved for the Glory of God my own comfort and the good of others have been wrapped up in a Napkin and buried in the Earth how weak is every Grace and how much evil is mixt with all my good how oft letting down my Spiritual Watch has Satan surpriz'd me and Temptation prevail'd how much have I conformed to the World complied with the sinful customs and fashions of it how much have I lived contrary to my Profession and below my hopes as a Christian what a slow progress have I made in the ways of Holiness how many younger Christians have out-stript got the start of and are gone before me nay have I not shamefully declin'd and backsliden and lost much of my first love zeal and tenderness how frequent and strong have been the workings of Spiritual Sins as unbelief pride passion envy and uncharitableness c. Lord how many have been the sins of this state and how are they aggravated by all that love and mercy thou hast shewn to me and the long experience I have had of thy bounty and goodness Art thou my God and have I affronted my Father and have I displeased thee have I by these sins wounded that Redeemer who died for me grieved that Holy Spirit who has comforted me ah sinful silly Soul what hast thou been doing what an hearty sorrow and unfeigned grief do these sins call for I mourn Lord help me to mourn more thou hast given me the habit of Repentance give me now in this evening of my Life to act and exercise it Oh for a broken Heart and a contrite Spirit oh for inward shame and hearty remorse oh for a melting frame and a bleeding Soul oh that this Rock might be broken and this Heart be turned more and more into an Heart of flesh My time is short my strength little my sins many and great Lord help me to live repenting and die repenting to go to my grave weeping Weeping not tears of despair but tears of Gospel-sorrow which make way for eternal joys I do repent Lord from the bottom of my Soul I do repent let my last repentance be most solemn particular and serious and do thou accept it wash me in these penitential waters and because these muddy waters can't cleanse wash me Lord wash me in the blood of Jesus for that can cleanse from all sin O pardon pardon a dying penitent who confesses and acknowledges his sins and flies to thy mercy through the merits of Christ My sins are gone over mine head as a burden Psal 38. 4. they are too heavy for me Sin is an heavy burden and intollerable but most of all so to a dying man Look upon mine Psal 25. 18. affliction and forgive all my sins If I must weep with one eye Lord let me read my pardon with the other I have deserved Hell and if God should cast me into it I have forfeited Heaven and if God should eternally banish me from that blessed place I must say Righteous art thou O Lord and upright Ps 110. 137. is thy Judgment But save me from the one and bring me to the other for thy mercies sake I find it is written He that Pro. 28. 13. confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall find mercy And again if we confess our sins he is 1 John 1. 9. faithful and just to forgive us our sins This I have done this I will do and shall I not obtain mercy I am ashamed and confounded I loath and abhor my self I repent in dust and ashes I wish I had never done as I have were I to live over my life again Divine grace assisting these Errata's should be corrected I do repent and will not God pardon I do heartily mourn and will not God forgive Oh for a pardon for Jesus sake mercy mercy Lord mercy for a dying sinner who comes unto thee according to the tenor of the Gospel The thing I ask is great and I sinful I wretched I am altogether unworthy but Christ is worthy Lord lo here is the blood which bought my pardon and it has been and is now crying in thine ears with a loud voice Lord
must not now pass from me I may imitate my dear Saviour in the like circumstances chearfully saying Father not my will but thine be done The arguments I have â—uk 22. 42. used are weighty and serious sufficient to convince my judgment stop my mouth and make me silent but after all O pity pardon and help me I find I am backward and loth to die now Lord make me content content that 's too little make me desirous to die and to die now God forbid that after all my Soul should be violently rent and torn from me Lord Let me have such a firm belief of a future happiness such lively hopes and clear evidences of my right and title to it such a burning and flaming love to thee my God to thee my Saviour such pleasing foretasts of Heavenly joys such a reviving prospect of that glorious future state that I might overcome the fears of Death the terrors of the Grave and Triumph over both That I may long and pant desire groan and wish to be with Christ which I must and do acknowledge to be far better Lord inspire my departing Soul with that Faith Hope and Love that I may now glorifie Thee credit Religion and commend thy holy Ways that I may strengthen the weak and encourage the fearful by a chearful and willing comfortable and triumphant departure Sanctifie these afflictions and pains and this present sickness to me and let them put me upon longing after Heaven where are none answer my doubts expel my fears arm and fortifie comfort and encourage my weak drooping and trembling Soul and the nearer I draw to my end the more warm and earnest let my desires be Oh for thy holy Spirit to excite those Heavenly and Spiritual desires in me which I cannot raise in my self O thou almighty and victorious Jesus who hast conquer'd Death and the Grave enable me in these my last moments to triumph over them saying O DEATH where is thy Sting O GRAVE where is 1 Cor. 15. 55. thy victory Many experiences have I had of thy Grace and Mercy love and kindness O my Saviour forsake me not now in this my last extremity O Blessed Jesu who hast been my support and help in Life be my Strength my Comfort and my Joy at Death While in this my last sickness I have been speaking sometimes to my self and sometimes unto God I have obtain'd the Mercy I wanted and laboured after a willingness to die now my doubts are answered my fears remov'd my sins are pardoned God is reconciled my Conscience pacified my hopes are lively my evidences clear my assurance strong and my joy full and now thanks be to God how do I long to dye shall I be afraid of Death What! of a baffled vanquisht and conquer'd Enemy I am not I was but now blessed be God I am not Am I a Member of Christ a Son of God an Heir of Heaven and shall I be afraid of thee O Death through Grace O mine Enemy I am not Methinks I am already in the Suburbs of Heaven and I long to enter into that holy City I have a prospect of yonder blessed World and this prospect is so ravishing and transporting that I wish for a present possession No Heir ever longed more for his Inheritance no Captive ever longed more for Liberty no sick and pained man ever longed more for ease than I now do for Heaven When I am there what charming musick shall I hear what glorious sights shall I behold what blessed and delightful company shall I have what joy will enter into possess and fill this Soul of mine what a Mansion of Light and Glory shall I enter into when I have put off this earthly Tabernacle how does a thought of this make my fettered and yet imprisoned Soul cry out How long Lord how long farewel vain World farewel not Earth but Heaven is my home and I long groan and wish to be there Is the time of my departure at hand Is the time come that I must die Lord I do submit thy holy will be done My Body I chearfully bequeath unto the dust O faithful grave keep what I commit unto thee this Body till my Lord shall come and then deliver it up In the dust shall this flesh of mine sleep and rest in hope My Soul my pretious and immortal Soul O my God I resign to thee into thine hand I commit my Spirit Thou Psal 31. 5. hast redeemed me O Lord God of truth Father into 〈◊〉 â—ands I commit my Spirit Lord Luk. 23. 46. Acts 7. 59. Jesus 〈…〉 Must I die now Lord 〈◊〉 in thy will believing thy promise trusting in thy mercy thro' the ALL-SUFFICIENT MERITS of thy Son and my Saviour I wait wait Lord I long for the happy moment And my last Petition and dying prayer shall be Come Lord Jesus come qickly Rev. 22. 20. 1 Thes 4. 17. that I might be for ever with the Lord come Lord Jesus come quickly Amen Amen FINIS
be unthankful for the mercies of many For the mercies of my whole life Oh how evil and criminal would this be my flesh is pain'd my affliction great my sick-bed uneasie and the hand of God presseth me sore my tears and sorrows my innocent groans which I hope are only the voice of oppressed nature pierce the hearts and draw tears from the eyes of my dear Relations but yet O my Soul I charge thee by all that is solemn and sacred let there not be a murmuring thought a repining word or any peevish carriage Remember remember the days of Old the mercies of former times and be thankful Thy God hath been good is and will be so and be thou ALL LOVE and PRAISE Was it not God who form'd and fashion'd me in the Womb and brought me forth into the light with an entire and perfect body Were not all my members Ps 139. 16. written in his book and did not he watch over my substance while it was yet imperfect and did not he take care I should not be be born out of due time Was it not 1 Cor. 15. 8. he who appointed when where and of whom I should be born and did not he order all the circumstances of my birth in the best manner When I was a poor helpless infant when I hung on my Mothers breast and lay in my cradle did not he take the care of me Did not his providence watch over me in my Childhood and prevent many unknown and unseen dangers Did noâ— he in my youth keep me from the many evils which in that ungoverned age I was exposed to and might have brought upon my self Has not his careful eye been upon me from my first moments even until now how pretious are thy thoughts unto me O Ps 139 17. God! How great is the sum of them Was it not of God I had the happiness to be born of Religious Parents who set before me a good example wept over and prayed for me That I had seasonable instructions wholsome counsels and the benefit of a vertuous education in my first and early years Was it not he that restrained and with-held me from those sins and lusts which many are overtaken withal and I my self was in danger of in that age of folly and vanity Hath not he fed and cloathed provided for and defended me Been my refuge in a storm my sanctuary in a time of danger my deliverer in an evil day and my Physitian in sickness How oft hath he brought me out of the fiery furnace raised me from a sick bed renewed my strength and saved me from going down to the pit when in my own and others apprehension I was at the mouth of and ready to drop into it hath not he supplied my wants increased my substance blest my endeavours and given me a considerable portion of this Worlds goods Is it not of him I have Friends and Relations to be a comfort to me while others have none or such as are worse than none even a cross and a scourge to them Hath not his Arm upheld his power defended his mercy succoured his bounty supplyed his treasuries enricht me Hath not his providence been ever watchful over me and his holy Angels my constant and perpetual life-guard When in my affliction and pain I have cryed to him hath he not heard my groans regarded my tears answered my prayers in the fittest season and best manner eased or supported me removed my burden or given me strength and so ordered the affliction from first to last that I have been forc't to say Lord it is good for me I have been afflicted Psal 119. â—1 I have not only had the mercies of the left hand but those of the right not only temporal but Spiritual not only for a perishing body but more and greater for an immortal Soul Thanks be to God that he quickened and raised me when I was dead in Trespasses and Sins Eph. 2. 1. that he brought me to hear his Holy word and made it effectual for my conviction and conversion that the same word which was to others the savour of Death unto Death to me was the savour 2 Cor. 2. 16. of Life to Life That the same Word the same Blessed Gospel which blinded them enlightned me which left them in their sins and under the power of Satan brought me home to God for this thy special grace and mercy to my Soul Lord I do I will and hope I shall for ever bless thee Who or what am I What have I done or what can I do That I should be chosen and effectually called when others are not Lord Why didst thou call and convert me and not another me and not my Neighbour me and not him who sate in the same pew heard the same Sermon and for many years attended upon the same ministry Free grace distinguishing mercy differencing love Am I converted changed sanctified and pardon'd Lord I do I will admire and adore thy powerful and victorious grace Awake O my Soul awake prepare a song Oh love and bless and praise thy God I was an Apostate wretch a stubborn enemy a disloyal Rebel and it was a long time before I would lay down my weapons return to my duty and yield patience waited mercy invited ministers exhorted the Spirit pleaded conscience urged God expostulated with yearning bowels the Blessed Jesus called to me from Heaven and beseeched me by his wounds and tears blood-shed passion and death to be reconciled to God but I vile wretch that I was did not hear How many reproofs and counsels warnings and exhortations earnest pleadings and pathetick Sermons were lost upon me And blessed be God all were not that one did the work Did God convert me after many Sabbaths enjoyed and many Sermons heard in vain Infinite kindness Lord I bow and worship before thee and with all the powers of my immortal Spirit bless and praise thee Was it not God pityed me when I did not pity my self Who called after and stopt me when I was running head-long to Hell Who loosed my chains broke my bonds knockt off my setters and brought me out of the House of bondage Was it not he who with a mighty power and stretched-out arm delivered and rescued me when sin ruled and govern'd and Satan led me in triumph as his vassal and captive And shall not I though a sick and pained man adore and bless him Bless him I do I will Bless the Lord O my Soul Ps 103. 2. And all that is withim me bless his Holy Name Since my Conversion and becoming a new man since God took me into his family adopted and made me his Son how much and what great things have been done for me what sweet and ravishing Communion have I had in holy duties publick and private in the assembly of Saints and in my Closet what large speedy and remarkable answers of Prayer what a ravishing sense of Divine Love and Favour