are absolutely pure they Rejoyce while we Mourn tho' thanks be to God we mourn in hope what we pray for they enjoy When we see these calm and patient Christians going to Heaven we say O our fathers our fathers the Horsmen of Israel and the Chariots thereof ye were our Defence and our Glory we can hardly forbear saying Oh that we were with you why have you left us behind but you were in Christ before us and are with him sooner you entered into the Vineyard sooner and so before us are rewarded we will indeavour to tread in your steps then you and we nay Jesus our dearest Jesus and we shall meet together I often think of that place Eccl. 4.1 2. because so many afflictions and miseries and judgments are the portion of the Living Blessed are they that sleep in the quiet Grave no more terrified with Dreams no more complain of restless Nights and of Months of Vanity no more do they hear the Confusions and Disorders of our World And to the quietness of our slumbers there nothing contributes more than patient waiting when we are alive How did Jacob bless his Sons before he dyed and how sweetly did he yield his Breath Gen. 49.3 O happy death to wait for God's Salvation and to see the Salvation that he waited for Salvation carries a very pleasant sound but the Salvation of a God is very great and glorious The hope of this sweetens the lives of the blessed Heirs of Heaven it pulls out the thorns of sickness and the sting of death it relieves their age it makes the Grave to lose its horrour it makes their Bed of dust very soft they live in motion and they rest in peace They exhaust their Spirits in the work of God but they never come to the dregs of Life for theirs is clear and pure to the very bottom Exhortations to those that have patiently watied on God even in Old Age. Reflect 1. How gracious he has been to you in giving you many years wherein to get Oyl and to trim your Lamps and to prepare for another World How many storms have you out-lived that made others sink Many many young People are gone to Judgment a great while ago while that Hand that crusht them has been very gentle and merciful to you You have survived the dangers and the sins and the giddiness of Youth and are now almost at our Journeys end 2. Endeavour to do good to others that have not had such experience of God as you Thus you bring forth fruit in old age and are fat and flourishing Ps 92.14 you do as it were grow young again with a vast accession to your Spiritual stature When you are full of patience and by your Example and your Words declare to others how faithful and how kind God has been to you So by teaching them knowledge you will rekindle and inflame your own Light whilst others younger then you decay you shall thrive and prosper He that planted you makes the green Tree to wither and the dry to grow You 'll not only go to Heaven fully ripe for Glory like a shock of Corn gathered in due season but there will be something for others to glean when you are gone And in the mean time Summer and Winter Youth and Old Age doe as it were meet in you the decays of one and the fruitfulness of the other In your Evening there is Light Zech. 8.4 5. Fortifie your selves with the Experiences of God goodness whenever your patience is like to tire as Polycarp said when he was urged by the Proconsul to deny Christ or to do something like it These fourscore and six Tears have I served Christ and he never did me any harm and how can I then blaspheme my Master and my Saviour Exhort others to fear and love and trust God as you have done by your Holy Awe and Reverence seek upon all occasions to Correct their Lightness and their Vanity You have served a good Master and you have had the Honour to serve him very long be not now weary of his work be not now for going out of his Vineyard when he that employed you is just coming to reward your diligence Be of good Courage The Lord is at hand O ye aged People bless the Lord your Preserver and daily sing his praise let your Winter as well as the Spring of Youth praise the Lord. How few have had that time for Heaven that you have had Oh the blessed Seasons and Days of Grace that you have had It 's a wonderful Honour to those that are old that they have so large a space wherein to do a World of Good to enlarge the Kingdom of Christ and to make their future Crown more weighty And none should grudge to labour for fourscore or an hundred Years when for so short a Duration of painful Diligence he shall have an Everlasting Recompence By living to old Age you have more Wisdom and Experience and Skill than others your Graver Years teach you to beware of several Rocks that they split upon And all these Mercies are heightned to such as arrive to an Healthful old Age not loaded with the usual Pains and Griefs and Languishing Motions of decaying Age for then the longer the Life the more the Misery Joshua 14.10 11. Thus Life does smoothly take its course without meeting with great Obstructions in the way and is not only Long but Happy too This was the peculiar Felicity of the Patriarchs before the Flood their Lives were extended to almost a thousand Years and yet we read of none of those Sad Symptoms attending them that attend us now at fourscore Psal 90.10 It 's a very comfortable thing to have neither a poor nor sickly Age neither to want Necessaries nor to be in Pain 'T is a Blessing to live to see your Posterity and a greater Joy to see them walking in the Truth Psal 128.6 but yet none can expect to be freed from the evil days mentioned Eccles 12.1 full of trembling Palsies grievous Aches lingering Pains and innumerable Evils but if you patiently wait on God and improve well your declining Years you 'll at length be satisfied with living as 't is said of Job Chap. 42.17 He died being old and full of days He rose as from a Feast not Surfeited but well pleased with the Joys and Plenty of his latter Days He was once indeed in another Frame when his Spirits were over-clouded with Melancholy and his Soul was burnt with Anguish when he had restless Pain by day and no sweet Sleep at night Chap. 7.4 then he wish'd for any sort of Death tho' Shameful and Untimely tho' Violent and Uncommon Verse 5 16. But this was more Job's Disease than his Grace 't was a most rash and hasty Wish to die in Terror and Anguish is a forlorn and doleful way of dying He eagerly thirsted for the Grave but at last he looked upon it with another Eye and went to it as a weary
dyed in Light she set in Beams And that which greatly contributed to the pleasure of her Life and the calmness of her death was the quietness and stilness of her Soul using frequently upon all occasions this very passage of the Holy Prophet I waited patiently for the Lord From these words I observe First That is not below the greatest and most honourable Persons to wait on God The Grandeur of a King is no barr to his dutiful Attendance on his Maker and the Crowns of those Princes shine with the highest Lustre that are laid at the Feet of God Those that honour him he will Honour The Angels that are the Courtiers and Nobility of Heaven and in constant waiting know their distance and tho' they are of the highest rank of Creatures they remember they are Creatures still and whilst they wonder at the Glory of the Divine Majesty they know they cannot comprehend it They do not sit upon the Throne but are in postures full of Reverence employed round about it They are very humble even in their highest extasies and cover their Faces when they cry to one another Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole earth is full of his Glory Isa 6.3 Secondly When any affliction or trouble is upon us it is our most becoming and most Advantagious Duty to wait upon God with patience and to pray for his relief and help I. What is implied in this patient waiting II. What obligations we are under to it III. The Application First In this patient waiting there is included a most entire and free submission to the Will of God as to the nature and duration of our Trouble That it come and tarry just as long as he pleases a waiting Christian looks upon his Fathers Hand and is not with such a view frighted at the most bitter Cup He is not hurried away with violent Passions with murmuring or uneasie Thoughts The Divine Wisdom that knows when and how to deliver produces the most refreshing acquiescence he is not surious and precipitant no fluctuation of Spirit discovers it self in his Speech or Actions Isa 30.18 When the Storms are high he is still In all varieties of Providence in all the changes of his Health or Life he is peaceable within no Bitterness no Thorns no Canker in his Soul he leaves the time of his Deliverance to his all-wise Creator and waits in quiet till the time come without complaining or finding fault with the pressure of the Cross or the slow advances of his help He knows that uneasiness and displeasure at the Proceedings of the Most High is the mark of a fallen Angel and not the Character of a Saint Secondly This patient waiting upon God is attended with Faith and Hope With Faith concerning the reality of good to come and with Hope concerning the seasonable fulfilling of the Promises that he relies upon What wait I for my hope is in thee Ps 39. Hope is the lively Spring of Action infuses Life and Spirit into the feeble and the most humbled but despair cramps and freezes and enervates all the Powers of the Soul It reflects upon the Goodness and Mercy of God and makes us sink into the lowest depths with its killing weight It swells our Sorrows and turns our Sighs into Roarings and our Tears into Seas of Grief Whereas he that patiently waits knows that after the blackest Night and most Tempestuous the Sun will rise again and chear him with his reviving help he knows that Celestial Comforts are many times Neighbours to the most doleful fears and sometimes the howling Wilderness is the way to Canaan and the Waters may be troubled when the healing moment comes the face of the Pooll was not so smooth when the Charitable Angel descended as it was before but it was more useful and medicinal Never was any Season more gloomy then when our Saviour was upon the Cross never was any bordered with more glorious Events It was a dark Night when he Suffered but 't was a glorious day when he Rose again He that patiently waits remembers that the Church has been most dear to God and most fruitful in good Works when tost with Storms it has flourished most when the Devil and his Angels have endeavoured to depress it he waits for help as they that watch for the Morning they look and hope for the dawning of the Day watch the first streaks of rising light and rejoyces to see it Ps 130.6 Thirdly This patient waiting upon God is attended with earnest desires and prayers for his merciful Appearance I waited and I cryed unto the Lord O for that sweet and pleasant Hour when I shall be Saved that the time to favour me even the set time were come O that I had the Wings of a Dove that I might flee away from the windy Storm and Tempest O Lord behold my distressed Case oh send me some help for thy mercies sake remember my weakness and thy own Promise hear my groans and perform the word on which thou hast caused me to hope do not cast out my Prayer do not suffer me to Perish in my low Estate All this earnestness is submissive full of Resignation and Tranquility The Sick desire many times to dye from weariness and pain but a good Christian shews that he is ready to depart but is willing to stay till God bid him go he waits for Christ with a longing craving Eye as for a dear friend from a far Countrey he bears his absence with Patience but would be very glad to see him come Heaven is welcome to such a panting Soul as the Port to one that has been frighted and endangered by the Storms such an one when confined by trouble longs for a Release but will not break his Prison He waits till the hand that bound him shall break his Bands asunder remembring that God is as Jealous of his word when he promises favours to his Children as when he threatens punishment to his obstinate and hardned Enemies The desires of Persons in distress are most serious and importunate When Peter was like to sink how heartily and with all his force may we imagine that he cryed out Master save me Matth. 14.30 So our Saviour in the days of his Flesh used strong Cries and the Prayers of the Mariners in Jonas were as loud as the Storms these were not more blustering then those were affectionate People that are just like to be Drowned have no time to Compliment their danger swallows up all other thoughts but those that relate to their present Circumstances Fourthly This patient waiting directs the quiet Soul in such a manner to God that he uses no undue reflections upon the Instruments or more immediate occasions of trouble When he is sick he does not rail at the Physician because he does not give him ease but considers that the Wisdom of the most Wise and the Skill of the most Skilful will not avail When he is Plundered he does not inveigh against
our Faith had been so weak till the Storms came and made us tremble While we are in a calm and on the quiet shore we do not so well know our weakness but when we put out to Sea and have lost the sight of Land and the Wind and Waves roar about us then we are amazed and astonished All the Medicinal stroaks of God to his Servants are the product of his Love He could take all their Burdens off in one moment but he sees that their Faith and Patience in the midst of troubles is beneficial to themselves and others Without some of the calmness that is in their Souls this World would be an Hell a Region of blasphemous discontent in their afflictions his People have a dearer love to Christ and new manifestations of his faithfulness and of the wisdom of his Conduct Reas 3. This quiet waiting upon God makes us in all sickness pain and trouble easie to our selves and others It makes us possess our Souls in patience but to be fretful and peevish and quarrelsome at our burden makes it more burdensome and splits one cross into a thousand fills our bitter Cup and makes that which before was but half full to run over with Gall and Wormwood a fore uneasie temper of mind makes us that we cannot rest in any posture and no Pillar will be soft enough for us when we Crown our Heads with Thorns an uneasie disquietness of Spirit approaches near to the tormenting fury of the damned Hell is an abode of horrible rage and discontent they are ever angry at God and at themselves continually burnt with Flaming thoughts But a patient Soul is like the milky way no Clouds obscure the brightness of his Grace He shines with a croud of graces joined together His Innocent sense of grief and his expressions of his affliction fall like the drops of dew in the silent Night they fall very gently and where-ever they come they make all very green and flourishing The words of the patient edify the by standers and shew to them the strength and beauty of Religion What an attractiveness is there in a composed quiet Soul How Serene how Lovely 't is entertained with Musick lives and dyes in Harmony When Storms are without all is still within but an impatient man vexes himself and others runs upon the Rocks and suffers Shipwrack he is overloaded with anxious cares and sinks beneath the bulky weight and often in his prosperity he is overset with too much sail his pride and ambition with too strong a gale blow him on the shelves Let us therefore strive to keep our Spirits under Government for the Scorchings of a Feaver and all the violence with which it preys upon the blood are not surer indications of abated Health then tumultuous fluctuating passions and discontented thoughts and murmuring expressions are of a bad state of Soul Reas 4. Because such evil days may come upon us wherein we shall by our decaying age and trouble be unqualified for active service We need patiently wait for it may be long before our Sorrows have a period Many a weary step may we have to take and many a burden to bear before we come to our Journeys end The time may come when nothing that offers it self to your Eye your Ear or your Tast will give you pleasure and you 'll neither be fit for business nor recreation and the motions of your graces will share in the decays of your age When you are a burden to your self you 'll find no content in other things Not all the grandeur of preferment could tempt old Barzillai to a Court Life and you 'll be very little capable of Spiritual Improvements when your faculties are weak When old age with its pale attendants shall sieze upon us it will be very well if in the Winter of our Life there be any vigour in our hope All the Oyl we have put into our Lamps will be little enough to serve us in our passage through the dark and shady veil We are to take great care least when the Night comes our Stock and Treasure of Grace should be spent and we shall find it hard to have inward liveliness and health when our outward Man decays 'T will be hard to rouze our Courage to new Conflicts when we come lagging like weary Soldiers from the field of Battle We can go but a very flow pace towards Heaven when old age has maimed us and when our Blood begins to freez and stagnate in our Veins In this nearness to the Grave People are generally so very feeble that they are fit for nothing They are blessed that in circumstances so afflicted have learned calmness and resignation and can patiently wait For by this means a pleasant Harvest and sweet and easie thoughts will arise in those furrows that are Ploughed with Age and while their Foreheads are wrinkled the face of their Soul will be very smooth No thorny cares no weeds nor thistles will be growing there In such a case if you patiently wait you will have the root of the matter and that Root will be fixed like some stately Cedar that has taken deep hold and is not easily torn up keeps its Station when its leaves are fallen off In the withering decays of Age you cannot indeed run very fast in the ways of God but you may travel by soft and easie Journeys to the Grave and your Souls be recreated with the bright views of Heaven whilst your Bodies stoop with the weight of many years Tho' your hearing fail you 'll be saluted by good News from within Musick will be in your own breast when the Daughters thereof are brought low And you 'll have this happiness in the want of that sense that you 'll hear no slanders nor sad tidings When your gust and relish of other things is gone you 'll feed upon the Bread of Life When your Eyes are sunk your heart will be in Heaven And when your Memory is failed God will not forget you His word will be the staff that your tottering Age may lean upon Reas 5. By patient waiting upon God we shall have renewed strength and fresh Experience of his Love We shall have help both for our Bodies and our Souls a Life of patience tends to its own preservation keeps the humours from overflowing their just bounds and the Spirits from irregular fermentation whereas the peevish and impatient chafe themselves into a continued Fever and their strength declines and evaporates It 's said Deut. 12.3 That the man Moses was very meek above all the men that were upon the face of the earth And in Ch. 34.7 He was an hundred and twenty years old when he dyed his eyes were not dim nor his natural force abated He had as a man may say a springing Winter or a youthful Age a remaining unperisht vigour in every part 'T is most certain that patient waiting upon God will make him not to send those Judgments that waste and shorten
Life such as are those raging Plagues Famines and Devastations which send many thousands early to the Grave We shall by this means not pass our days in his wrath An aged Christian that has been patient for many years comes at length like a Vessel richly laden home after a tedious and stormy Voyage full of reviving Experiences of the Divine Goodness from the Morning to the Noon and to the Evening of his Life Ps 71.17 18. He calls to mind with joy the various and admirable conduct of his Heavenly Father and sleeps in quiet on the lap of Providence Seeing with what beautiful Wisdom he had laid the soundation of his Happiness and carried on the Structure how he healed his Diseases and has safely brought him to the borders of a perfect cure How they were planted as Trees of Righteousness and by various Acts of Love and Power maintained in the Vineyard how they were in pain and how they were eased with his tender hand how they wept in agonies and how he wiped their tears away new support arises to the patient holy Soul Isa 40.31 It hastens our escape from trouble as the stilness and composure of any Person in a Fever tends to mitigate its force but a restless agitation of the Body does more and more inflame and fire the Blood By suffering we learn to suffer and patience reconciles us to the Cross Ps 27.14 No studied arguments no fine Sentences do so fortify the Soul in trouble as its own experience This is the Lenitive of anxious and unquiet thoughts gives a secret refreshing and a mighty strength this pours balm into those Wounds that otherwise might gangreen and fester when clog'd with outward infirmities and when there are the marks and signs of a falling habitation there will be the prospect of an house not made with hands and when death is in the windows there will be strength in the heart Reas 6. This patient waiting does most excellently prepare for the mercies waited for and gives them when they come the sweetest relish they are welcome as rest to weary Travellers that long to be at home When God and a waiting Soul meet together What transports and joys are there O he is come he is come that I long'd to see it revives me to hear his chearing Language to see his smiling face In what an extasie was Old Simeon whilst he embraced his Saviour many a long year had he waited for the blessed sight O happy eyes that saw that Sun begin his Race happy Arms that embraced and hugg'd so great a Treasure Luke 2.36 O what a joy to a Father to see a Prodigal returning home after he had long stayed and waited for his return With what Musick with what Joys with what Feasts does he solemnize such a pleasant day Thus 't is reported of Augustin's mother what a concern she had for her Son he was the daily Subject of her Prayers and Tears that St. Ambrose often when she mourned sent her away with this Answer That it was not possible that a Child of so many Prayers should perish No sooner was he Converted but her Spirit was at ease and she now desired no more He tells us in his Canfessions that when the day approacht that his Mother was to pass to a better Life as they were talking together of the joys of Heaven in the Conclusion of this Conference which was the most agreeable in all the World she said to me My Son I avow to you that as to what relates to my self that I have now no further hopes nor pleasure in this world I know not what I do here for I have nothing more to look for The only thing that made me desirous to live was to see thee a good Christian before my death now my good God has granted me so great a favour as to see thee become entirely his Servant by the contempt that thou hast of all the goods and pleasures of this Life Why then do I tarry here any longer Reas 7. It cures the frowardness of our spirits in our last sickness and makes death very happy and Heaven very sweet not an unbecoming thought nor word of God The Conclusion of such a serene Life is still and fair as the Evening of a Summers day Such an one is not pusht or hurryed out of the World but walks out as from one Room into another sleeps in death with the composure of an Infant sucking at its Mothers Breast they go by a smooth descent to death some without much pain tho' but rarely is that exemption from the assaults of the last Enemy granted Some are laid down very gently on their bed of dust and others with groans and sighs extinguish the dwindgling lamp of Life A patient Soul is ready and if God give the word it gladly flies away it longs and flutters to be gone and in the parting moment such an one shall not be left a Convoy of Angels shall wait upon it to see it safe through all the Regions of the Air where the Evil Spirits would dispute its passage to Glory Oh how welcome is Heaven to a troubled weary Soul How welcome are Hallelujah's to one that upon Earth heard the slanders and reproaches of many a bitter Tongue the Clouds of Life are then scattered and there succeeds an eternal day Then patience has no further work for there is no pain there hope is vanish't for the Good that was once desired is possest The calm of that quiet Region into which we enter after death will make amends for all the Storms we met with in the way thither How many Blessed Souls shall we meet that were in Storms as well as we that were sick and tempted and scorned and afflicted that had weak Bodies and fearful Spirits and to go thither from such a World as this from the Subburbs of Hell into the New Jerusalem Tho' we are in Tempests yet we are not to live upon the Sea Our Life may be very calamitous but 't is also very short Tho' loaded with bitter and uneasie griefs yet in Heaven there is no more sorrow for there is no sin there will be light in our Minds peace in our Consciences and comfort in our Hearts there will be no more fear in the place of Eternal Love no trembling doubting Soul in all the vast Assembly they cannot question whether they Love Christ or not when they are with him All their former suspicions are turned into pleasant wonder Isa 60.2 It s an Honour to be in Christ betimes an Honour to be Christ's Disciple and much more Honourable to be in his glorious Temple Oh Blessed are they that are at their Journeys end after having waited long for God he seeing they could find no durable rest below put out his hand and took them into his Ark above How can we almost forbear congratulating those happy Souls that have fought the good fight of faith and have got the Victory While we sin they
humble and very patient in her illness she had no fretful disordered Expressions she bore her burden laid upon her by God tho' her earnest desire to see him made her now and then say O why does he tarry On her Sick Bed she kept her Eye fixed above and sent before her arrival at Heaven her longing Prayers thither begging that her Iniquity might be blotted out and wishing to be with Christ. And when her Daughter attending on her Ministred to her support with a language proper for one just in the close of Life and told her God would receive her into the Arms of his Mercy she with the composure of a Soul bordering upon Happiness answered She had laid her self as the feet of Jesus Christ and had submitted to him who was able to save to the uttermost which words she often uttered in her former and latter Years And a Night or two before she was called away she repeated part of 39th Psalm Verse 8 9 10. and such was her Faith and Hope that she was able to apply to her self those Triumphant words of that patient Job I know that my Redeemer lives and that she should see him for her self and this Redeemer she is now gone to see In his Arms we leave her till he and all that sleep in him shall come together at the last day And now my Friends from all that I have said concerning this departed Saint we may without any difficulty observe that Meekness and Patience is the ready way to long Life I do not believe this good Woman had lived so long had she not been of a calm and quiet Spirit Those that are furious and passionate and ill-natured corrode and vex themselves and with hast snap asunder the Thread of Life There are two things to be wondered at with respect to this Person First That she should live so long as being one of the weaker and feebler Sex and Secondly That her Patience should not be tired during so long an abode in this World as 95 Years but be continued to the last moment of her Life How illustrious is that Power that kept so frail a Vessel from being dash't in pieces How glorious is that Grace that enabled her to persevere in the Love of God We may further consider that Death is the Lot of all those that are the most Aged are not immortal they most at length go to their Long Home tho' many Thousands go with quicker and more hasty steps then they The Oak that is the oldest Father of the Forest that has survived many scorching Summers and many cold blasts of Winter must at length feel the decays of Age and perish as surely tho' not as soon as the little Trees the longest day will have a concluding Night Those that are an hundred years old and those that are but Twenty must both in a while lye down in a Bed of Dust Methusalem lived many long Years but he did not live for ever O let us by the thought of this be moved to lay hold on a Life that is Eternal a Life that has no mixture of Corruption and has no fears of decay and such a life the blessed live in Heaven there is no death Again Let none here fancy because they now and then hear of such an one that has attained to almost an Hundred that therefore they shall live as long and having such a prospect may spend their present days in Jollities and Mirth as believing they have an huge deal of time lying on their hands For what a surprize will it be to stumble into the Grave in Youth when they imagined they should not come thither till they were Old If you Examine the weekly Bills you 'll find few dye of Age comparatively to what dye of other Diseases more dye before thirty then live to Fourscore The youngest here have seen younger then themselves snatcht away by Death and many a Flower is withered when it just began to open The Sun with many goes down at Noon As well might every Disciple of Christ expect to live as long as St. John who was to tarry longer on Earth than most of the rest and Died at 93. Simeon the Son of Cleophas Brother of our Lord lived an 120. Length of Life is not of all other Blessings the most desirable and as one observes it was not peculiar to Grace or the Holy Line for there are reckoned of the Fathers to the Flood Eleven Generations but of the sons of Adam by Cain only Eight Generations so as the Posterity of Cain may seem the longer lived The good Men and good Women too sometime lived very long as Abraham to One hundred seventy five Isaac to One hundred and Eighty Jacob to One hundred forty seven Sarah whose years only among Women are Recorded dyed in the One hundred twenty seventh year of her Age an excellent Mother and a good Wife Luke 2.36 37. Anna is said to be of a great Age a very patient Person For when she was about Eighty four she departed not from the Temple As to you that are the Relations of this good old Disciple do not water the Grave of your Friend with useless Tears There is indeed great cause to Lament when an useful serviceable Person is taken away by sudden or untimely death 't is the falling of Fruit before Autumn come But such as have been a Blessing and a long example of Piety to the very last step of Humane Life are not so to be lamented as having most regularly finished their Course and were not cut off in the middle of their Race And yet as one says it is to be observed that the Saints of God tho' never so Old and brought never so low through the Miseries attending them when they changed this Life for a better were still buried with great Lamentation Abel-mizraim Gen. 5. was a place never to be forgot either by the Egyptians or the Canaanites and not Jacob only but Moses and Aaron and Samuel were buried by the People of Israel and great Publick Mournings made made It would be very unreasonable for you to Mourn and needless for me to desire you not to do it She prayed and longed to be with Christ and would you mourn that God has heard her Prayers and that she now is where she longed to be It would be a most unjust thing to be sorry that a Labourer is gone to rest or to bewail the death of one that is Ninety Five who was not gathered till the fullest time of Harvest and when she was duely ripe for Glory Oh be thankful that God has at length comforted this Handmaid of his that waited for his Consolations Be thankful that you so long have had the benefit of her good advice her shining example and her holy prayers Let the remembrance of her Faith and Patience and Hope and her other excellent Qualifications kindle in you the like Graces Consider the end of her Conversation with what peace she lived and with what joy she dyed Do nothing unworthy of the Children of so good a Mother tread in her steps and follow her in the practise of all praise worthy things that so she and you may comfortably meet at the last day and never never part again Amen The End ERRATA's Page 5. line 5. after that Read it is P. 13. l. 16. for Eaden R. Endor P. 1â— l. 13. after it R. is P. 19. l. 9. R. Beasts P. 26. l. 11. R. Pillow P. 36. l. 11. R. dwindling P. 41. l. 25. R. God's P. 52. l. 9. for thus R. this P. 75. l. 21. R. Amiable P. 88. l. 15. after Land R. in Storms P. 90. l. 20. R. Amiableness THE Changeableness of this World with Respect to Nations Families and particular Persons with Practical Applications thereof to the various Conditions of this Mortal Life By Timothy Rogers M.A. Price 1 s. Printed for J. Salusbury at the Rising Sun in Cornhill
THE HAPPINESS OF A Quiet Mind BOTH In Youth and Old Age With the way to Attain It. In a DISCOURSE occasioned by the Death of Mrs. Martha Hasselborn who died March 13th 1695 6. in the 95th year of her Age. By TIMOTHY ROGERS M.A. LONDON Printed for Iohn Salusbury at the Rising Sun in Cornhill MDCXCVI THE Epistle Dedicatory TO Mr. Jacob Hasselborn Merchant THere is nothing Men are more apt to value themselves upon than the being descended from Great and Honourable Persons who have either had Noble Blood running in their Veins or have signalized themselves by a series of Heroical Actions for the good of their Countrey and by this means have delivered their names down to Posterity Crowned with those Garlands which the thirst of Glory made them to desire And yet many thus descended stain the Memory of their Predecessors and as far as in them lies make all their Laurels wither by Lives led according to their own humour and fancy and the contagious Examples of a depraved Age. But you have the Honour to be akin to one who was on earth related to the family of Heaven Your Good Mother after having with continued Patience sustained the troubles of her weary Pilgrimage calmly at length arrived at her dearest home where she longed to be The Remembrance of her I doubt not is a great help to you in your Christian Race such an example of goodness so unaffected and sincere whilst it is always brightly shining before your Eyes gives you both light and strength to follow her in the same happy path wherein she went The frequent thinking on the Holiness of her Life will be a great Motive to quicken you to be like her in every commendable and praise worthy thing To think of her Faith and Meekness and Patience will make you flourish in the same Vertues As young Painters encrease their skill by frequently Copying old and excellent Originals In your pious Mother you have seen living and exemplified Religion a quiet Mind not as represented in the coldness of Precepts but as warmed and animated by the blessed Spirit and Patient holding out to the Conclusion of a great Age such a Patience as is to be admired but not to be described for no Colours can be soft enough to draw this Admirable Grace St. Paul rejoyced in his beloved Timothy and expressed a very lively pleasure upon the thought of one that had very good Parents and was himself ve-very good When says he I call to remembrance the unfeigned Faith that is in thee which dwelt first in thy Grandmother Lois and thy Mother Eunice and I am perswaded in thee also wherefore I put thee in remembrance c. I hope that the pure and constant Faith that was in your Mother is passed into you not by a propagation of Blood but of Spirit not of Nature but of Grace That you and your Relations may meet her and all the blessed Saints with comfort at the Great Day live together in that place where there will be no Sin nor Pain nor Old Age but an Eternal Holiness Spring and Youth and where our present Weakness shall be swallowed up of Strength is the hearty Prayer of Your Real Friend And Servant T. Rogers Psal XL. Verse 1. I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry AS of all the Ages of the Life of Man Infancy is the most Innocent and Childhood the most Vain and Youth the most Brisk and Daring so Old Age is the most clog'd with Pains and Miseries In other Stages of our Journey we are annoyed now and then with Trouble and Calamity with Sickness and decayes of Strength but this last part of our Pilgrimage this feeble part of Life is its self a Disease 'T is so weak that generally the Powers of the Soul as well as the Members of the Body have not the Liveliness and Vigor that they had in their greener Years the Evening is much more Cloudy and Tempestuous more Dark and Frightful then the Morning of their Days And yet there are found some Blessed Souls that flourish even in Winter neither the sharpness of the Weather nor the uncomfortableness of the Season hinders their being over Green Such an one was David as he was all his Life Musically given of an Harmonious Heavenly Temper in his pleasant Angelick Airs he had often mounted up to Heaven and at last with praise he took his Flight thither to change his Hymns into sweeter Hallelujahs 1 Chr. 29.10 He blessed the Lord before all the Congregation v. 20. He said to all the Congregation Now bless the Lord. V. 28. He dyed in a good old Age full of Days Riches and Honour So old Jacob when the decays of Strength and the weakness of his Age would not allow him to be long in his Devotions he improved the more easie Intervals of his Illness to breath after God Gen 49.18 I have waited for thy Salvation O Lord His Expression was short but his Faith and Patience were very great So Moses prepared his Soul for the Joyes of Heaven by tuning his Harp below he Sung before he dyed Deut. 32. And before his death he blessed the Children of Israel Ch. 33. And after this he went up to the Mount and put off his Body to be Cloathed upon with Life and Immortality Deut. 34.5 And good old Simeon who had a Promise that he should not depart till he had seen the Lords Christ He did not hide himself from the glorious sight tho' he knew that after that he must quickly dye but he came by the Spirit into the Temple and there he met with the Child Jesus that for many past years he had long'd to see And having seen the Blessed Babe he took him up in his Arms and was full of Transports saying Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation Luke 2.27 28. I might alledge the Example of Paul the Aged who was then in Chains and near his Execution by the Lyon Nero and yet after having served several Years under the Banners of Christ neither the Cruelties of his Imprisonment nor the prospect of death nor all the weight of Age that laid upon him did abate his hope in God nay his hope was ripened to assurance when he says I have fought the good fight He spoke as if he had been in Paradise as if the Crown of Glory had been already on his Head to all these I may joyn that daughter of Abraham for whom I Preach this Funeral Sermon who served God with chearful hope many years and bore all the advances of Death as well as her declining Age with admirable Calmness and Resignation and long continued Faith and Hope and dyed near an Hundred Years old dropping into the Grave like Fruit from the Tree when 't is fully Ripe She had no Clouds and Darkness in her Soul she was all calm and serene she lived in Joy and she
degrees and shoots its envenomed Arrows in the dark we are wounded and we know not who it is that bends the Bow the blasting of our good name is a Persecution of the worst kind 't is one of the most refined Stratagems of Hell and such as slander their Neighbour either know not what they do and then they are Fools or they do it wilfully and then they are Devils they smell rank of Fire and Brimstone Some are as forward to put off all the Productions of their gangreen'd ulcerated Spirits as if they had got a Patent for Lying as if they had engross'd and monopoliz'd this Sin they think a little Backbiting has no great harm in it whereas there may be Death in a Whisper as well as Murther in a Wish We may pray against Anguish and Terror of Soul which is like a fiery Furnace and scorches us on every side and imbitters all that others call the Pleasures and the Sweets of Life Especially must we pray that when sickness or pain robs us of our Health sin may not at the same time rob us of our Faith and Hope in God as also that it would please him not to allow Satan to rake in our wounds and when his Almighty hand has smitten us that he would not leave his Enemy and ours to touch us to the Quick as he did Job and that at last all his malice may be defeated and that thirst extinguished whereby he so eagerly thirsts and longs for our Ruine and if we patiently wait we must in all our Pains maintain a most entire Compliance with the Will of our Corrector both as to the continuance and removal of our Sufferings And while they last let us open with all the freedom imaginable our whole Case and all its circumstances to the Father of our Spirits and when we open our Griefs his Bowels will earn over us our very miseries have with him a pleading and a moving Eloquence This poor man cryed and the Lord heard him You may cry to the Lord which implies a vehement eager motion of the Soul and an outward expression of your sense of Grief The best of men have not been insensible of pain and trouble Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the other Patriarchs felt these Inconveniences of Life as well as other men 'T is said of Jacob Gen. 48.1 that he was sick and ver 10. that his eyes were dim for age so that he could not see he was bedrid sometime before his death and no doubt had his Groans and his Crys like other Aged men David with all his Musick could not preserve an undecaying Youth nor charm away the cold Winter of his Life When he was old and stricken in years they covered him with clothes but he got no heat 1 Kings 1.1 And in other seasons of his Life he says the pressure of his grief was so very weighty that it made him groan all the night and he was weary with his groaning and his bed swimmed in an inundation of overflow-Tears Ps 6.6 and Ps 38.8 I am feeble and sore broken I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart This Roaring notes the Loudness and Vehemence of his Cries And says the poor desolate Job when his melancholy and terrors were upon him chap. 30.28 I went mourning without the Sun I stood to and cryed in the Congregation I had during my tempestuous Night scarce a glimpse or beam of Joy I was in such flaming Anguish that scorcht my Body and preyed upon my Soul I was in such dreadful and amazing fears that I was not able to keep silence My inward torment even when I was in any publick Assembly made me shriek and cry aloud And Hezekiah says of his sick and languishing condition Isa 38.14 Like a Crane or a Swallow so did I chatter I did mourn as a Dove His Cry was quick and frequent and loud and frightful with a very sorrowful and doleful Tone His Eyes failed with waiting and his Heart was even like to break These Examples I alledge to shew you that the best of men may be sensible of pain and yet be submissive to the Author of it Loud Groans and Crys are no marks of an inward Impatience and disorder for by these troubled Nature gives it self a little vent and it gives a little ease tho' indeed but very little because our returning Grief makes our Groans and Crys return Tho' they are innocent and unavoidable expressions of some weighty sorrow that is like to crush us Grace does not overthrow Nature tho' it corrects all its excesses and disorders We know that the Language of the Sick has not the livelyness the briskness and strength of those that speak in health their Countenance their Looks their Actions their words are all changed All indeed are not equally sensible for some persons have a finer set and contexture of Spirits and consequently a quicker sense of Pain than those that are of a heavier and duller Constitution The delicate temper of the Body of our Saviour was more susceptible of grief than the Bodies of the Thieves that were Crucified with him 2dly When you pray do not wonder if you are not immediately answered do not murmure at the slow pace of Divine Mercy You shall have help in the most beautiful season when the glory of God and your good may be most promoted If he as yet delay to hear your very earnest and importunate Crys remember that his Elect cry to him day and night and he will at length avenge their Cause The Souls under the Altar cry all Nature Groans and Crys to be eased of the miseries that our sin has brought upon it We must pray but not presame to tell our Benefactor what and when he is to give 'T is an excellent posture to be found waiting on our Knees tho' mercy and deliverance come not just when we would have it 1. Those things which we many times most earnestly ask might be vastly prejudicial to us Many an one says give me this or that or else I die and the very things they prayed for when obtained prove a curse and those in which they hoped to rejoyce many years send them betimes mourning to the grave Rachel said to Jacob give me Children or else I die There was in her speech a great deal of childish weakness and impatience She hoped the having a Child would prolong her life and she smarted for her wish she died in her Lying In. Many are very importunate with God and nothing will serve them but this or that particular Comfort I must have it or I am undone and when they have the Idolized Vanity that they doted on they quickly find cause to repent of their hasty follies The Israelites were fond of a King but they had a long time wherein to repent of that fondness You may perhaps have what you ask but you may have it with a frown with such displeasure as will change your Wine to Vinegar
are eased if you are recovered after you have prayed to be brought from the Gates of Death If after having had many sollicitous thoughts about your being falsly accused God is at length pleased to scatter the Cloud and make your Innocence appear to the shame of your malicious Enemies Thus Jabez prayed in 1 Chro. 4.10 That God would bless him and enlarge his Coast And he granted him that which he requested It was a superabundant kindness to one desirous of Grandeur and Dominion for Jabez might have been a very happy man tho' his Coast had not been enlarged he might have governed and enjoyed himself and his Friends in a little room and he might have gone to Heaven by the way of grief 2. Your Crys are heard when God gives you resignation to his Will even in the absence of that which you most eagerly desired if after having poured out your supplications you return from his presence chearful and easie and well pleased leaving him that is insinitely wise to do with you and your Bodies with you and your Friends what seems best to him when you find your hearts unbroken with anxious cares and solicitude whether you are gratified or no This secret contentment is a foretast of Heaven and a pledge and instance of Divine Love 3. 'T is a most certain sign of your Cry being heard when even in the delays of the desired Comfort you love God more than you ever did When your thoughts of him are more frequent and delightful when your love to all his appointments and even to paintful Duties is increased and that you are thankful for the smallest mercies for the smallest intervals of pain and trouble and when even in the way of his judgments you wait for him by all which you may plainly perceive that your prayers may be heard when your affliction is not removed and many times the Mercies may be given and they are so sudden or surprizing that you scarce can believe your selves delivered even when you are delivered Psal 126.1 and Acts 12.14 tho' they had the faith to pray for Peter they had not the faith to believe that he was escaped and knocking at the door The Second General Head in order to your patient waiting upon God you must endeavour to keep up in your minds good and honourable thoughts of him all the while you are in trouble It is with great industry and art that the Devil takes occasion from our affliction to possess us with unbecoming thoughts of him that is our best Friend and to make him during our dark and gloomy seasons to pass for an Enemy as the Disciples in the storm mistook their approaching Saviour for a Spirit and in hideous consternation shouted out as thinking some Evil Spirit was come to make their Death more terrible for they looked upon themselves as just drowning If we have irregular apprehensions of God as rigorous and inexorably severe as rouzing up the greatness of his Power to crush and ruine us such undue thoughts breed black and superstitious fears and shrink all the faculties of our minds with despairing unbelief our minds are weakned and cramped by the terror of our thoughts and the consequent of this will be that we shall either give him no service or that which is very trifling and full of vain and idle Ceremonies For to such a sort of pompous insincere Worship does Superstition lead those poor People whose Eyes are hoodwink't and blinded with it Under our dark mistaken thoughts of God and his Designs our Obedience is the Action of a Slave 't is with unwillingness and constraint that we Obey retaining at the same time a disposition to throw off the Yoak We proceed in our Devotions like those that Row in Galleys 't is with a backward Heart and an unwilling Shrug Whatever we give to our Maker is with a convulst and stingy Hand for we apprehend him as a severe and a rugged Master as full of stern and ghastly Majesty Now to remedy these uneasie fears our Saviour came into this World to give us admiring thoughts of God to represent him as aimable and worthy to be delighted in to make him the object of our Trust and Hope and not of our Dread As a Benefactor or a most liberal Physician most tender and compassionate that wounds us in order to a lasting Cure and his Spirit is sent to promote our Love to him and St. John whose Soul was most full of Love was the most beloved God has in a great measure left off dealing with Men in visible terrors as he did heretofore Nay says the Apostle Tho' we know the terrors of the Lord yet 2 Cor. 5.11 we perswade Men we use towards them the most gentle and soft and easie Methods we are to say to them Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world and there is nothing frightful in him that has all the tender Qualities of one of the meekest of all Animals a Lamb. Thirdly If you would patiently wait upon God beware of having only little Faith We are not to lay the blame of our being troubled so much on the greatness of our danger as on the weakness of our Faith when we doubt and tremble then with Peter in the Storm we begin to sink That our Faith may grow we must use all the good means we can to enlarge our knowledge of God and Christ for the dwarfishness of our trust is owing to the darkness of our Minds They that know thy Name will trust in thee Knowledge of its self does not produce this admirable reliance of the Soul The Devils are very Learned and Knowing Spirits but their Light does only serve to scortch them it gives no comeliness to their horrid shape nor to their Flaming Torments any Relaxation But such a Knowledge as is founded upon Love and Hope and sweet Experiences of the Truths and Mercies of God will convey to us great degrees of Strength In order to remove our little Faith we may make frequent and delightful use of Christ we must run to his Arms with all the speed and force we can and by being near to him we shall learn to bear the Crosses of this Life and how to long for that which is to come Such whose Faith is rooted and spread to a mighty breadth and of a tall Stature scruple none of the greatest Tribulations and many of them go to Heaven with as much calmness as if they were but going into another Room or changing their Rags for a new Suit of Cloaths But a little Faith shivers and trembles and is loath to go hence as amazed at the painfulness of the Passage and the greatness of the Change In no case let us blame God for his Rigor but our selves for our unbelief In this Life we are exposed to very great Tryals and these will not be patiently born with a little Patience O! What a Contest is there between great Storms and little Faith