accordingly Were there but a Land or Nation on Earth in which there were none but truly Wise and Good Men with whose Sweet and Endearing Conversation we were sure we should be infinitely Pleased and in Love we should certainly Rejoyce to think of a Removal to them and having got all things ready take the first Opportunity to Travel thither and Settle there especially if we were sure by so doing to leave nothing behind us but what we should find infinitely better there A fairer House a better Health a better Air and a far larger Inheritance But all this while there would unavoidably be one Damp struck upon this something that would cool our Joys I mean we should not long enjoy it for Death in a little time would put a Period to these Fruitions Well but yet still how infinitely desirable were such a Country and how well worth the pains of Travelling thither tho we were to enjoy it but for seventy or eighty years and if we might remove our Friends and our Posterity there too And if such a Country such a Society such Accommodations would be so desirable for so few years what think ye will the enjoyment of our lovely Creator be and the blest Society of the beatified Spirits of the new VVorld in fulness of Felicity round about him and withall when thou findest thy self in an instant thou knowest not how one of that lovely number Tell me Christian do you really think you should desire to return to the enjoyment of the Creatures any more when you had once tasted the delicacy of the Fruition of the Creator Do you think you should then desire to return to an ill-natur'd malicious unpeaceful envious uncertain alluring sickly and tumultuous VVorld when you were securely lodg'd and stated amidst the Society of Just Men made perfect Should not you rather wish that your Relatives and your Posterity were come up to you and safely arrived to the same Station Should not you rather wish that they might retain those perswasions of them to Divine Love and Obedience to a persevering Piety and Vertue which you charg'd them with when you were a dying And that they might never forget them till they were come home to you And then do you think you should desire to return from that blissful Society and their Eternal Peace and Plenty there to an Invidious and Prophane World If you say you think you should not see then what 't is the Devout Christian lives for tho you it may be count his life madness See what 't is he Fasts and Prays and gives Alms for See for what 't is he denies himself and takes up the Cross and follows Jesus See what 't is he takes so much care to be Just and Upright Chaste and Temperate for See yonder what 't is he is content to undertake the most despised and reproach'd Duties of the Christian Religion for In short see what 't is he lives for and is content to dye for And when you have seen a little and considered it then tell me Whether he be wise or no who prefers the enjoyment of the Creator and all the beatified Spitrits of the upper World before the Enjoyment of the Creatures in any Instances here below and during his Probation hour here resolves to act accordingly I may now presume I have competently confirm'd the Doctrinal Proposition which having finish'd I shall yet to make all that has been said the more useful to the Designs and Purposes of every Christian leave not only upon your Memory but I would also upon your Hearts and Affections three Exhortations or Instances of Application If what I have recommended by the Doctrin must be own'd to be Wise and Rational you can then do no less than make these several Uses of it even you Christian in particular Use I. Reflect on those actions of thy Life that have most unfitted thee for thy latter end for a safe and holy passage to a new World and let that reflection lead thee to an early Repentance and a persevering Reformation Use II. If it be the truest Wisdom then reflect on those actions of thy Life which when thou look'st yonder to a new World to the state of Separation or thy latter end bring with them the greatest Consolations the holiest Joys and the most Religious Peace and let that reflection make you very constant in them Use III. If it must be granted to be Wisdom Then let us be so wise as to be prevail'd upon to apply our selves to all those Instances of Divine Love and Obedience in a vigorous and a flourishing Age which we constantly find the learnedst the wisest and the best of dying men are infinitely in Love with 1. Reflect on those Actions of thy Life that have most unfitted thee for thy latter end for a safe and holy Passage to a new World and let that Reflection lead thee to an early Repentance and a persevering Reformation What these are I shall not at present presume to Guess but shall leave it to God and thy own Conscience and to thy next Day of private Fasting Humiliation and Repentance Only I shall produce some few for Instance and shew thee by these how I would have thee Treat the rest and above all how I would have thee in a more especial manner to Treat thy Bosom Darling Sin for which thou hast most a Kindness and to be sure by which you are most in Danger You my Horrid Oaths and Imprecations by which I think I trim and adorn my Discourse by which I rend the Sacred Name of God and Sport and Trifle with the Blood and Wounds of my Saviour If you have at any time Unfitted me for a Safe and Happy Passage to the State of Separation come look downward look upon an open Grave to day and then look upward look yonder to a Provoked God and an Immortality hazarded above by you and adieu t' ye for all Futurity You my Drunkenness and Acts of Bruitish Intemperance by which I have Drown'd the Man and Drench'd the Beast if you have at any time Unfitted me for the Expectations of a Safe and Holy Passage to a new World of lovely Spirits where they neither Eat nor Drink come look upon an open Grave to day then look upward to a Provoked God and to an Eternal Glory hazarded above by you and adieu t' ye 'till I change VVorlds You my Lusts and Impurities of any Kinds Degrees or Measures if you have at any time Unfitted me for the Expectations of being admitted to Chast Joseph to the Chast and Bright Souls of all Ages to the Holy Virgin Mother and the Lord of Purities the Holy Jesus If ye have Unfitted me for a Safe and Holy Passage to the State of Separation and to a new World of Chast and Bright and Lovely Spirits come look down into an open Grave to day and then instantly look up yonder to a God Provoked and Incens'd by you and an Immortality hazarded and
adieu to you for all Futurity You my Vncharitableness my Bitterness and Implacableness of Spirit my Unmortify'd Hatred and Malice and Desires of Revenge by which I have Unliken'd my self to him who Prayed for his Enemies and Shed Blood for his Persecutors if you have Unfitted me for the Expectations of a Safe and Holy Passage to a new VVorld of Sweet and Lovely Charitable and Loving and Peaceful Spirits come look upon a gaping Grave to day and then immediately look up yonder to a God Provoked and an Immortality hazarded by you and adieu t' ye for all Ages You my Long and Ungrateful Neglects of the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper But I stay to mention now no more Particulars do that thy self in thy next Religious Retirements And if these Reflections lead thee to Repentance to a sincere and persevering Reformation and a new and a careful Obedience thou hast made the first use I would have thee of the Doctrin Vse II. 2. If what we have recommended shall be allowed to be VVisdom then Secondly Reflect on those Actions of thy Life which when thou look'st yonder to a new World to the State of Separation or thy latter end bring with them the greatest Consolations the Holiest Joys and the most Religious Peace And let that Reflection make you very constant in them What these Actions of thy Life are that when thou look'st forward a little upon thy State of Separation and thy latter end bring thee in the most Chearful Hope the most Substantial Joys the Truest Satisfactions the Greatest Calmness Sedateness Serenity and Tranquility of Mind the most Religious Peace and leave some Touches of a delicious Relish upon the Spirits You can easily remember whether I know or not But this I know thou mayest have great Reason thus to say You my daily and constant and uninterrupted Devotions by which I have a long time faithfully kept up a holy Intercourse between God and my Soul if the Reflexion on you begin to bring me in some chearful Hopes now how much more will ye bring them in when I come to leave Mortality And am about to be admitted to that God with whom I have so constantly conversed at a distance and to enter upon that State where I shall always Love him and never more Offend him You my Chearful and Constant and Affectionate Attendances on the Word the House the Worship of my Saviour at those Altars whatever unhappy Dissenters can think at which my Fathers have received the Bread of Life from which nothing but Necessity has ever kept me If the Remembrance of ye bring me in any holy Joys now how much more Joy will that Remembrance bring me when I am come within view of the Grave and begin to hope very shortly to enter upon a nearer Admittance to him where I may alway Love and never more Offend him You my Days or parts of Days of Fasting and Humiliation and Self-examination and Repentance in which I have taken a closer View of my Life and how my Accounts stand between God and my Soul with Reference to Immortality and the Resurrection if the Remembrance of ye begin to be grateful now Oh! how much more grateful will it certainly be when I come to leave the World and am called to lay aside my Business here and to enter upon those upper Regions where I shall alway Love and never more Offend him You my Seasonable and Prudent Alms and Charities bestowed with Purity of Intention and a tender Affection if the Reflection on you begin to please me now how truly Welcome will such Remembrances be when I have received my Summons to change Worlds and am about to enter upon a new Scene of Things where I shall without Interruption Love my God and never more Offend him You my Vnloading of a Burthened and Afflicted Conscience to a Guide of Souls in Holy Confession my Undaunted stating of Doubts and Scruples and Cases of Conscience to them in order to Advice and Peace and Absolution If the Remembrance of you be so Joyous and so full of a Holy Peace and Sedateness and Tranquillity of Mind now how Joyous will that Remembrance be when I am called hence to enter upon a new and unknown State and Condition in the Habitations of my Fathers in Christianity where I shall without Abatements Love my God and never more Offend him You my constant and consciencious Rendring to all their Dues my striect and severe Justice and Integrity my Abhorrence of all Injustice and my Restitutions for them If the Reflexion on ye be so welcome to me now How much more must ye needs be so when I am brought to the Confines of the Grave and am just about to Launch out into the vast Ocean of Eternity where without Cessation I shall love God and never more offend him You 〈◊〉 Chastity and Purity of Life by which I have with an upright Sincerity offered up to God one of the most acceptable Sacrifices in the whole World i. e. A Pure and Chast Soul and Body If the Remembrance of you begin to be joyous to me now how much more joyous will it be shortly when I am just about to cast my last Throw for that Eternity in which I hope always to Love and never more offend him You my Evangelical Meekness and Sweetness of Spirit my Humility and Charity to Friends and Enemies for which I have been often Laught at or Scorn'd and Despised and Reproached by an unthinking World You my other Actions of Self-denial and Mortification and Bearings of the Cross by which I have boldly Rejected and faithfully Opposed the Pleasures Riches and Honours of a strong and bold Temptation If the Remembrance of you bring me in some good Degrees and Measures of Peace now Oh! much greater will they likely be when I am called to come away and enter upon a new World where O my God! I shall always Love and never more displease thee You my constant and chearful Embracing all Opportunities of approaching to the Holy Eucharist my Panting Sighing Languishing Affections for that Food of Angels and that Wine of Elect Souls If my aweful and humble Remembrances of you strike something of a holy Joy and comfortable Hopes and a religious Peace on my Soul now Oh! how full of Consolation will such Reflections be when I am called to enter on my new and unknown Society State and Condition where O thou whom my Soul loves I shall alway Love and never more offend thee 'T is very possible Christian some such like Remembrances may sometimes begin to be preasing and joyous to thee now and if they do if they truly and really begin to be so think piously and with a close and pierceing Thought what they must needs do when you shall draw very near the State of Separation And for the truth of this I could almost appeal to your own Experience Such and such a religious Action did please thee when you thought you could
Paludibus Lacunis that is The holy Spirit dwells in dry and clean Souls not in Boggs and Fenns and Ditches and Plashes that are over-charged with Gluttony and Intemperance we may then justly suppose the holy Dove that sacred Spirit dwelt much in such a Temple I might instance in more particulars and consider him as a Friend Firm Faithful and Affectionate As a Master Just and Equal As a Husband Faithful Tender and Affectionate But this I will decline lest I draw more Tears from those eyes that have paid over and above the full Debt already Such as this was the discharge of his Duties to himself and Neighbour And now we may be sure 't is not likely that he should come short in those to his God whom he loved infinitely beyond both To whom he is now gone to exchange his Faith for Vision his Hope for Fruition his Devotions to be turn'd into Hallelujahs where he will alway love him without Abatement Cessation Diminution and Interruption and never more fear to offend him His immediate Duties I say to his God I have reasons to believe took up a considerable part of each day of his Life Thirdly I might consider him next as a Priest of the Holy Catholick Church as a Dispenser of all the Parts and Instances of Ministration to the Divine Glory Love and Obedience How Faithful how Constant how Able how Assiduous in his Preaching the Gospel in his Administration of the Sacraments and the other parts of his holy Function these lately of his Charge are his best Witnesses And his Master when he call'd for his Accounts and bid him lay aside his business here and come up to him Carne and found him so doing And blessed is That Servant says our Great Master St. Matth. 24.46 And thus much though too briefly as to his Life 2. As to his Death If the separation of the Soul and Body shall be call'd so For not Christians only but what 's much more remarkable and strange even the Heathens and particularly the Greek Tragedian would not allow the unfettering and unchaining of the Soul to be call'd a death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is who knows who can tell but that that Life which we live here is but a death and that to dye only is truly to live And 't is as strange what is said by another Hi vivunt qui ex corporum vinculis tanquam e carcere evolaverunt vestra vero quae dicitur vita mors est i. e. They truly live who have made their escape out of this prison of the Body but that which men commonly call Life that 's Death And a third speaks higher yet The Gods as they speak conceal from Men and will not let them know the sweetness of dying to make them patient and content to live But we need not the Testimony or Opinion of the Wisest Heathens who have the Revelation of the Son of God That Death only lets us in to that State which alone deserves the name of Life And how holy how Christian how truly devout his Passage was might be too long to mention at large For certainly all that stood near him have reason to wish in the words of Balaam Let my last end be like his Numb 23.10 Having given him several Visits in his Sickness which were voluntary and uncall'd for I found at last by his continual Languishments reason to believe the time of his Removal could be at no great distance With which Thoughts I faithfully acquainted him in a Letter As knowing 't was best to take all the Securities which our Lord has given us to make our Passage safe and holy And it being infinite Pity that a Regular a Holy and Exemplary Life should want any of the Advantages of a happy Death Accordingly the day before his Death he was pleased to send for me and call upon me to assist him in his Trimming of his Lamp for the coming of his Bridegroom whom he now apprehended to be near at hand and to help him to Dress and Adorn himself for his Funeral 'T will be a great Mistake for any Man or all Men living to expect a minute and particular Account of every word that might pass between us But when I came to him he told me he was going hence that he was very apprehensive that in a little time he should be call'd to change Worlds and desired I would assist him in his last Agonies How willing I was to undertake so welcome a Duty in which I could at once serve my Master and my Friend a Master above and a Friend below in the same Instance and in an Instance too in which I was never like to do it more is no part of my present Business to say At first he desired the Prayers of the Church in which he joyned with all possible Demonstrations of a lively Faith an unfeign'd Repentance a Seraphic Fervency and Zeal a holy Hope and religious Affections Which being ended he told me he designed the next day which proved to be that in which he Dyed for the receiving his Viaticum for his approaching Journy I mean the Blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper I told him I thought it might be very convenient and most safe to do it to day To which He after some Thoughts and Considerations most readily and willingly consented He complained I remember of his Unwillingness to receive his Saviour as he lay and could have wish'd if his Weakness would have permitted it might have been upon his Knees and in a more humble Posture of External Devotion But his great Weakness of Body considered this could be no Dispute and 't is pity that ever it should have been one in the Christian Church Which having devoutly Received he then seem'd more full of a Holy Joy and Pious Satisfaction and a Religious Peace And he express'd his Rejoycings in some chearful Ejaculations Thus in the mid'st of Blessing and Prayers and Eucharist he stands about a day longer upon the Threshold of the new World And then he is called to come in and he bows the Head and enters And Willingly and Chearfully Yields and Resigns up his Soul you may be sure not without the Peace of the Church into the Hands of the Great Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls the Holy Jesus And now I 'le stay to ask one Question once more in the words before mentioned who of us here is there but must be inclin'd to say Let my last end be like his Thus he has left Mortality And tho he has left his Partner Disconsolate his Relatives Mourning his Friends Sighing yet above all he has left his People without a Pastor an Assistant and a Guide And tho all that knew him may possibly Lament his Removal yet certainly none have more cause than you that were the People of his Charge to whom I now speak And if the taking away so faithful a Conductor of you