entertain such an exchange of objects to mine understanding is not my loss great and greatly to be lamented by which I onely loose the knowledge of vanity which would not make me happy and iniquity which would make me miserable but gain the knowledge the perfect knowledg of good much good true and substantial good only good without the least mixture of evil and that in an estate in the enjoyment of perfect glory SECT XII AFter death there shall be no remembrance of me No remembrance of me after death nor of my sin but it s no matter a great name foolishly purchased by the great precipitacie of some in the world is nothing but a great bubble of vanity which will wear out at last time will eat it out of the strongest Cities or marble Monuments and I hope when I am forgotten my sin shame will also be forgotten serious thoughts suggest unto me content the little good I have done should be forgotten so that my folly and wickedness may not be remembred and yet My soul be not dismaid the Scripture doth declare the memory of the just is blessed Psal 10.7 112.6 and the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance God hath provided that his peoples names shall live when their dead bodies shall consume in the grave the Lord hath used me whilst I lived as an instrument of his truth and honour can I dye and be forgotten in his Church or among his people shall not my works follow me shall not my works praise me in the gate can the sinners by me reproved or the Saints by me converted to or confirmed in the truth remember themselves their sin or duty and forget me God hath blessed me with many lasting memorials of nature a fruitful progeny I need not build tombs or Cities and call them after my name for when I am dead my sons will preserve the memory of my name the rotting of the name is a curse entailed on men of rotten lives and is ordinarily effected by Gods cutting off the budding race and hopeful progeny whatever hath befallen me in this life God hath not suffered this cause procuring or producing this effect to be my lot I will not therefore torment my self with a fear that it should follow me when dead Notwithstanding my sinfulness my care shall be that my life and death may make it legible that my name is written in the book of life and therein I have cause to rejoyce more then if the devils weâ—â— subject to me Luk. 10.20 I have laid hoâ—d on Gods Covenant he hath given me a place in his sanctuary better then a name of sons and daughters my name can never be blotted out of that book mine interest and relation by that covenant shall ever be acknowledged and remembred I therefore cannot possibly be buried in oblivion SECT XIII DEath will remove me from my place Death wil remove me from my place but it is movable that it shall know me no more it will so but shall this dismay me am not I a pilgrim in this earth as all my fathers were the Patriarchs passed their time on earth in moveable tents Looking for a City whose founder and maker is God Heb. 10.10 the houses in which I have lived have seemed to be more lasting structures yet they never were to me any durable stations I have not indeed removed my tents but I have been often removed from my tents I have ever been in a shifting state moving from one house unto another from one place to another and this hath been to me very tedious and irksom my Father did indeed raise many stately structures In Dublin in Ireland not one of all his sons possessed them or any of them the brick walls may bear his name none of his children do or can inhabit them God hath made constant motion my condition he hath wisely moved me from place to place that I might be in love with no place under the sun if I have liked mine house place never so well I have by one means or other been forced to leave it and that either because it was none of mine or else mens persecuting rage would not suffer me in peace to possess it or because my Masters work hath been done in that place and called me to another How often have I been forcibly removed from people whom I have dearly loved and from places where I thought I had pitched my tent and resolved to rest I digged a grave for my children wherein I intended to have been intombed my self and yet my dead babes are dispersed their graves are at a distance each from other and t is very unlikely my grave should be with any of them If Death remove me from my place it doth nothing but what hath been common to me all my life I will not therefore think it strange once more to remove my place but will readily contentedly pack up and be gone for this remove shall be my last remove for this remove shall be my best remove for this remove shall move me from Earth to Heaven and there I have an house of mine own a better house then any this world affordeth an house not made with hands an eternal house whose builder and maker is God a Mansion house prepared by Christ my precursor for to entertain me and wherein I must and shall abide for ever an house which time cannot waste or ruine nor humane force pull down or raze an house most pleasantly scituated accommodated with all conveniencies exempt from all annoyances and amply furnished with what may make it to me an happy habitation an house it is for which I shall pay no rent or taxes in which I shall not live a tenant at will but I shall possess this house fully freely and for ever being once settled in it I shall not desire to leave it I shall not be sequestred out of it and that which is worth all this house is mine own house mine inheritance purchased for me by my Saviour and passed unto by the gift of my gracious Father none can dispute my title or by an Ejectione firma force me out of my house My soul Shall I not be willing to go to and live in mine own house and that being so well scituate so conveniently formed so well furnished rather then in a strangers inconvenient house Shall I not prefer an house of Gods building before the best of mans shall I not chuse an eternal rather then a decayed falling ruinous habitation My soul be not troubled at this remove thou beleivest in God beleive also in Christ he hath said in his Fathers House are many mansions John 14.1 2. if it were not so he would have told us he is gone before to prepare a place for his removing people shall I not up and after such an harbinger to possess the glorious mansions of his most gracious provision Why is my remove by
thee I relye thee I embrace with all my soul to be my Lord and my King refuse reject me not O God of my salvation I have resigned up my whole man to thy most holy word and will and desire to walk in thy most holy ways thy love shed abroad in my heart hath enflamed me with a love to thy name to thine ordinances thy people and thine house the zeal of thy house hath consumed me I have through thy spirit embraced esteemed thy truth in the love thereof and thy people for the truths sake which is in them For thy sake I have denied all outward comforts I have taken up my cross and followed thee Consider remember O Lord my present bonds for thy sake I am killed all the day long I am accounted as a Sheep for the slaughter the reproaches of them who reproach thee are fallen upon me all this is come upon me yet have I not departed from thee nor dealt falsly in the Covenant in which thy glory is concerned § These things O Lord I do reflect not as matters of merit in me or as engagements on thy justice to do me good for I well know they are not mine own and if they were and were perfect yet I must when I have done the best I can acknowledge I am an unprofitable servant all I can do is due to thee the best of my actions are but the debt I ow thee but alas my best actions are full of sin my righteousness is as a filthy rag a menstruous garment which needeth thy propitiation and thy fathers pardon and must be perfumed by the incense which is on the censer in the right hand of thee my high Priest Yet O my Savour I reveiw these things in me as the effects of thy grace to me of thy spirit in me and as infallible evidences of thine union to me for flesh and blood could not reveal nor work these things in me by thy grace sanctifying my nature my soul is and shall be saved ô refuse me not deny me not to be thine O let thy spirit of adoption seal up my relation to thee and mine interest in thee let me not remain in the dark or be deceived in a matter of so great concernment to me clear up to me by certain premises the truth the realty of mine inseperable union with thee else I am undon have said nothing to my soul in all that I have said against the dread of death § Grant unto me O Lord the remission of all my sins the sence of the guilt thereof doth sting my soul under the apprehensions of mine approaching death Whatsoever doth befall me in this life I beseech thee suffer me not to dye in my sin Oh convince me of humble me for and turn me from all iniquity and every reigning lust but graciously cast it behind thy back blot it out of thy remembrance that in the day it is sought for it may not be found against me sin hath passed on me and death by sin but deliver me O my Saviour from falling by under the second death from which there is no possibility of redemption Secure unto my soul thy sufferings as the full ransom of my soul and the satisfaction to thy fathers law and justice for mine offences and for my many great trangressions so shall I be able to meet death with boldness I shall then insult over that King of terrors with on O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory I shall then triumph over death and him who hath the power of death the Devil If my heart deceive me not I would not sin that grace â—hould abound but now blessed Saviour that I have sinned I do I dare not but earnestly beg thy grace may abound that I may in my death through the pardon of sin sing unto thy praise thanks be unto God who hath given met he victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. § O thou the only high Priest of my profession thou canst be touched with mine infirmities thou knowest the power the prevalency of my natural passions under the apprehensions of mine approaching death thou ever livest to make intercession for me graciously rebuke my passions restrain my fears revive my faith renew my hope and establish my heart under and against all those amazing affrighting apprehenfions of death which nature dotâ— conceive sence doth dictate or Satan doth suggest unto my dread Compassionately grant me the comfortable supports of thy presence grace and spirit whilst I walk in the vale of the shadow of death that I may with all patience and meekness lie down and receive that stroak of death which I cannot avoid and yet cannot be willing to receive That I may with submission drink that bitter cup thou puttest into my hand concerning which my nature not corrupted with sin could not but pray Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me give me an heart groaning to be clothed on with my house from heaven whilst I cannot desire to be uncloathed of this earthly tabernacle and seeing my presence in the flesh is mine absence from thee O Lord perswade me to be willing to be dissolved that I may be with thee which is best of all § As a man I cannot desire I cannot but fear to die be pleased O my Savior to convince me of and afflict me with the happy sequels of my death that the sence thereof may make me contrary to the power property of my nature desirous to die let not the dread of death drive me to accept on sinful terms the deliverance from the most violent and shameful stroak thereof enable me to live the last breath of this my dying life in the ways of thy truth and holiness to the praise of thy grace and in this last act to play the man couragiously evidencing my self affected with a clear sence that all the evils of death are discharged and assured that I am united to thee who art the resurrection and the life through whom though I die I shall live again and having fought the good fight of faith and finished my course of nature I shall escape the curse of death and be received into eternal life and glory with thy self thy blessed Saints and Angels for ever guide me all my days by thy counsel and at last receive me into thy glory Into thy hands I commit my spirit it is thine own thou hast redeemed it and thou wilt keep it until thy glorious appearance blessed Jesus my Lord and my Redeemer Amen Amen Amen FINIS
but a messenger of divine favour to all who die in the Lord an harbinger of peace to all who walk in uprightness A grim Porter to fetch home to their fathers mansions all that are Gods children Death is indeed a dismal doom on the sons of the first Adam but the discharge of all sin sorrow pain and travel to all the sons of the second Adam death is in its nature vile and odious Ps 116.15 but precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of all his Saints death is exceeding dreadful to such who are obnoxious to its sting but the stroak of death is desireable to all such who are acquitted from and armed against its sting Death by violence containeth in it a curse A good cause and conscience make death a blessing with an emphasis and increase yet a good conscience righteousness towards God and the testimony of Jesus being the cause procuring the same maketh the most base ignominious and cursed death a condition of glory and blessedness the blessing of them who dye in the Lord doth most certainly eminently and especially appertain to such who dye for the Lord. Phil. 1.29 It is a singular gift to beleive in Christ but to suffer and that unto death for Christ is a peculiar gift of special grace all Saints share not in it attain not the honour of it Stephen stoned for enforcing the truth of Religion by the strength of reason Act. 7 55 56. not to be resisted by the adversaries saw Heaven open to receive him at his death The slain for the Word of God and testimony which they held are lodged under Gods Altar in glory Rev. 6.9.10 11. and before the Throne of the Lamb they are cloathed in white robes to attend the Lamb the most cursed and ignominious death is changed and made glorious to just men by having passed on Gods best servants most zealous and faithful Prophets yea the only and beloved Son of God the Lord Jesus our Savior hath made death every any kind of death the blessing of his people My Soul mistake not the nature of death unto the increase of thy dread mind the condition make sure of the qualification which changeth its nature and then death will loose its affrighting vizard and have another aspect in thine eye and thou wilt incline to give it a more free acceptance am I in Christ I am then redeemed from the curse of death can I dare I desire to divert the course of nature Beware O my soul who am I Shall the earth be removed for me Job 18 4. shall I think to alter Gods purpose or to change the course of Gods providence towards men shall I not be satisfied to be saved from the sting unless I escape also the stroak of Death God never purposed Christ never promised to free me from this why do I presume to dream of it to look for it Shall my dread of the stroak darken the glory of Christs love or damp mine apprehensions and esteem of the unspeakable undeserved mercy of being saved from the sting of death God forbid God hath extracted the poyson shall my stomach nauseate and rise against this cup onely because it is bitter Oh no I will rightthankfully take it as the cup of salvation and dismiss my dread and dutifully submit my self to the Will of God onely wise my most gracious Father O my God not my will but thy Will be done God hath accounted poor weak worthless me worthy of the Ministry of the glorious Gospel of his dear Son he hath at this time culled me from among my brethren to bear a special Testimony to his truth to the power plainness purity and simplicity of Christs ordinances worship and officers and to those degrees of reformation in this Church and Nation which have been protested and solemnly sworn to the most high God herein I have beleived for these I have spoken written and disputed and shall I now fear to suffer shall I now dread death the crowning act of all my zeal diligence and fidelity is not this part of the cross of Christ and so the glorious crown of a Minister of the Gospel have I any thing wherein to glory save the Cross of Christ and shall I fear to be seen in my Masters Livery the honour of my now expected death is an high favour a peculiar priviledge an effect of special grace and therefore sufficient to perswade me to be not onely willing but desirous to be offered up by death to and for him who accounted not his life dear for me Death in and for this cause is not more my duty then my dignity the more ignominious it is the more glorious it shall receive the due recompence of reward 2 Tim. 2.12 If I suffer with Christ I shall be glorified with him and raign with him I have all my days wandred in this world like a Pilgrim in a strange Country it is now my Fathers pleasure to call and send for me home shall I refuse to go in the hand of a grim Messenger because of his gastly look and affrighting countenance may not the same bloody hand conduct me to my Fathers House which doth cut down mine and my Fathers foes what though the stroak of death be the same to good and bad the sequels of Death are not the same to both the Red Sea may pass Israel into the land of rest and yet ruine the Egyptians the same Sheriff who doth execute Traytours and malefactours doth put good subjects into the possession of their proprieties though he be dreadful in the one his very posse comitatus is desireable to the other Shall I foolishly draw back fear to be possessed of mine inheritance incorruptible and undefiled because I must be brought and put into it with Halberts Bills Swords and the Sheriffs train and power My Soul chear up reflect on thy self Christ his love and Gods grace notwithstanding my many slips falls and infirmities I will presume to say I have lived the life of the righteous the Covenant of God is on my flesh with God I have desired and endeavoured to walk though I have sometimes wandred and gone astray like a lost sheep I have embraced Christ my Lord and to him I will cleave as to my deer Redeemer I shall therefore dye the death of the righteous although I may be struck I shall not be stung by death Death may pass upon me as the course of nature and as an expression of humane rage but not as the curse of God or execution of his Law Let me make it my care to see my quality changed whilst I live and then I am assured God will change the quality of my death when I dye SECT VI. IF I now dye as mens rage doth threaten mine enemies desire and hope my friends fear and deprecate and my self have cause to expect I dye as a Malefactour and by the sentence of a righteous Law
Preacher against the King was not Michaiah carged by the King to be one that bare ill will to the King was not this the very lot of Christ himself suffered not that righteous one as a Blasphemer and as an enemy to Caesar shall I be deterred from following my Master from drinking of the cup whereof my deer redeemer hath begun from travelling in the beaten road of all Gods Prophets the very way prescribed by the Lord himself hath not the Lord Christ declared humane rage and reproach to attend all who faithfully reveal his will and mens sins is not unjust reproach in my death part of Christs cross and my Crown why then do I dread and decline it if I be reproached for the name of Christ I am happy 1 Pet. 4.14 the spirit of glory and of Christ resteth on me It is the cause not the pain maketh the Martyr or Malefactor my soul be not troubled at the kind or clamoured cause of my death were I indeed really guilty did I receive the due reward of my sin I must then have laid my mouth in the dust confessed my sin given glory to God accepted the punishment of mine iniquitie and by an humble act of faith applied the blood of Christ to my soul then I might rest assured that I was condemned in and by the world that I might not be judged of the Lord. But whilst if I dye as I now dread I dye innocently for a good conscience and for the Testimony of the truth Let me rejoyce that God hath accounted me worthy to be reputed the off-scowring of this world and enemy of mankind for my judgement is of the Lord who judgeth most righteous judgement and though my brethren cast me out Isa 66.5 and cry Let the Lord be glorified yet he will appear to my joy and they shall be ashamed when Jesus Christ shall come to judge clear and crown me as his Martyr it shall not repent me that men condemned and cut me off as a Malefactor SECT VII IN death I shall feel pain Death is painful but puts an end to pain It is like I may yet God can make it easie I feel more pain in the precursors then I can feel in the stroak of death the pain and extremity of a killing disease is often and ordinarily more then the pain of death it is usually such as maketh life a burden and death defireable how many in the burnings of a Feavor a fit of the Stone or Collique have wished for death to ease them of their pain my fear of pain in death is much greater then what I shall feel in the stroak thereof the pomp and passage unto death doth and will more perplex my soul then the pain thereof can possibly pinch my sence but suppose the worst yet The greatest pains of death are tolerable and pass away in a moment with how much ease did the Lord Jesus give up the Ghost in that dying act the dreadful expectation of which made him sweat blood and water how many of the Martyrs have with most calm and composed spirits lien under the most cruel and exquisite torments and as Lambs before the Shearer breathed out their last breath in the greatest pains of death that envy could devise or enraged malice could inflict Haukes that holy Martyr in our Marian Persecution in the midst of the flames did not forget to lift up his hands towards Heaven before he gave up the Ghost as a token to his Friends that the raging pain of that siery death was tolerable All Gods Saints have lien on this rack and sitten down on this little ease and shall I give back because of a little tolerable pain Be the pains of death never so peircing sharp and intolerable yet they are short soon pass away and are the Period of all pain in respect of this nature hath conceived and Scripture hath expresly concluded Eccles 7.2 better is the day of a mans death then the day of his birth all my life hath been nothing else but sorrow and pain my days have hitherto passed in anguish affliction and anxiety yea my resting time place and state hath scared me with Dreams Job â— 13 14. and terrified me with Visions in the night so that strangling death any kind of death hath been more desireable then life Shall I now fear that one stroak which though it cut me to the heart will at once cut off all my pain and greif doth not nature teach men to chuse the pain of cutting off an Arm or Leg rather then to lye continually under a festring burning and incurable wound Plotinus the Philosopher accounted mens mortallity Gods special mercy as the expiration of their misery Cato Major that wise Roman reflecting the pains he had endured professed if he might be rendred young again and renew his age he would not desire it he would refuse it Did the pain of life take away the pain of death to Heathens and shall it not much more do so unto Christians who have other and better hopes of future happiness then they ever knew or expected My soul stir up thy self make out a little faith and patience to endure this one pinch and stroak of pain which shall presently cease and be the period of all thy misery the cure of all thy maladies and will heal thee of all thy fears griefs cares diseases and distempers the afflictions of my body and anguish of my mind though I walk through the vale of the shadow of death I will fear none ill for Lord thou art with me be with me O my God that I may not over-passionately fear that little short pain I must feel make thou a lively faith in me to bear up under prevail against and triumph over a lively sence that so my last little pain being past I may possess eternal health and ease and therein rejoyce for that although the stroak of death did for present cut it did for ever cure my soul SECT VIII DEath will deprive me of all sensible pleasure it will so Death depriveth of pleasures but they are sensible and it is no matter for this pleasure was at best but sensible my soul found no pleasure in it nor did it satisfie my very sences these were tired in the possession and use of these Eccles 1.8 The eye is not satisfied in seeing nor the ear in hearing The necessary novelty is an undeniable evidence of the vanity of these delights Sinful It were well if I could say these pleasures were only sensible my soul hath on woful experience found them the pleasures of sin Heb. 11.25 not onely the reward but also the cause of sin I never could possess them without sin I have in this respect paid full dear for all the pleasures I have enjoyed under the sun they have stoln too much of mine heart and affections they have eaten into and eaten up too much of my precious time they have
shall when dead know by experience what I have long desired earnestly prayed and industriously laboured to know by the Spirit of wisdom and understanding viz What is the Riches of the glory of the inheritance of the Saints Eph. 1.18 Now I have finished my course on earth I must go to Heaven that I may there receive my Crown may course here hath been the continual exercise of Grace my condition hereafter must be the constant enjoyment of Glory the place in which my soul must now abide the business in which my soul shall be employed the company with which my soul shall associate and the qualities with which my soul shall be endowed are all glorious these things are all transcendently glorious I cannot but desire they should be my soul cannot but leap for joy to think these glories are Eternal The place in which my soul shall abide whilst parted from Heaven a glorious place yea when reunited to my body is glorious transcendently glorious for it is Heaven My constant future residence must be in the Court of Heaven the Heaven of heavens the third heavens the Paradise of God the place into which the Apostle Paul was taken up in which he heard words not fit to be uttered 2 Cor. 12.2 4. and in which he saw Glories which he could not declare the Court of the great King the King of Saints and the King of Kings the peculiar Palace of Gods most glorious presence the holy the heavenly Jerusalem Rev. 21. the great City whose gates are pearl whose pavement is gold and whose foundations are precious stones unto which the Kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour in which there is no need of Sun or Moon for the glory of God doth lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof into which there shall in no wise enter any thing which defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lye but they only whose names are written in the lambs book of life My soul Dost thou linger to go unto or dost thou fear too long continuance in this place of glory How have humane sences been ravished with the glory of the structures raised by humane Art how much have I admired the glorious workmanship of God in the bespangled firmament the most curious enamelling the same with the Sun Moon and Stars and yet these are but dark shadows most imperfect representations of Heavens glory and how far how freely did the Queen of the South travel to see with what ravishing observation did she admire how blessed did she esteem the men who did reside in the state of Solomons structures wilt thou my soul flock to God and see yea and fit down in the place prepared by the Lord for his blessed ones before the foundation of the world was laid the glimpse of this glorious Kingdom when the Lord Jesus was transfigured did so ravish the three Disciples that they thought it was good to be there and began to cast how to build tabernacles Matth. 17.2 3 4. that they might there abide Can I chuse but long to see and to set down my station in the very place its self where our Lord is ever in the truth and fulness of his glory Come my soul goe forth with joy and thou shalt at once possess that place of glory from which thou canst no more remove nor wilt desire to do it in which the eternity of thy residence is and will be the excellency of thine injoyment it would more grieve thee to go from then not at first to have come to Heaven The business in which my soul shall be employed in this glorious place is also glorious In heaven the work is glorious for after death attendance on and acclamation of praise to God and Jesus Christ shall be the whole the only employment of mine immortal soul beatifical vision shall be its business I shall then know God as I am known of God I have here beleived in him whom I have not seen rejoyced with joy unspeakable and full of glory but shall then see him in whom I have beleived I shall see the Lord Jesus Christ not darkly as in a glass but face to face how full how unspeakable how glorious must needs be the joy which reflecteth from my sence how must it needs transcend that which was onely the result of faith my soul when parted from my body shall as the glorious Angels now do minister continually in Gods immediate presence and behold his glory Happy were Solomons servants who stood continually before him and heard his wisdom Behold my soul a greater then Solomon is here thou shalt attend on minister before and hear the wisdom and behold the glory of the God of Solomons wisdom and glory The souls which come out of great tribulation are arayed in white robes and advanced unto continual attendance on the throne of God to serve him in his Temple night and day where the whole of their business is and for ever shall be to sing Halelujahs unto the Lord to admire the majesty wisdom power goodness of God to ascribe wisdom blessing honour power and glory unto God for ever and ever to him who sitteth on the throne and to the Lamb for euer Gods service was on earth my perfect freedom it must needs be much more such in Heaven when I am once arrived at this estate of Glory I shall be indeed and for ever delivered from all mine enemies that I may serve him without fear all my days which shall never end Oh the honor of relation to such a Master oh the happiness of employment in such business It is a good thing to sing praise unto our God it is pleasant and praise is comely Oh the glory of attendance on so glorious Majesty my soul canst thou wish thy time in a relation so honourable in an employment so happy in an attendance so glorious were as the days of an hireling God forbid Lovest thou the service of thy God shall the length of thy servitude dismay thee Wilt thou not consent yea desire to be boared through the ear that thou mayst abide in this thy masters service for ever Dost thou long to turn thy faith into sence thy hope into fruition thy prayers into praises thine apprehensions of God and Christ into immediate attendance on them is it possible thou shouldst dread the eternity of this estate thou so much so earnestly desirest art thou my soul capable of surfeiting with spiritual joyes dost thou not love and long to drink thy fill to be drunk with the rivers of pleasure which flow continually in Gods presence how have I mourned under the withdrawings of Gods presence shall I now fear to approach his presence onely because I shall never more be banish'd from his Court presence My soul chear up in Heaven the frowns and frettings of thy Master shall not make thee weary of waiting on him his terrors shall no more make
they be such things is not eternity the very formality of them is not eternity that massie substance affixed to the exceeding weight of glory which counterpoiseth weigheth down and witnesseth the levity of those afflictions which we now suffer for a moment Eternity is the sting of sorrow but the strength of joy the horror of damnation but the honour of salvation the dread the dolor of the reprobate but the desire delight of the Elect the plague the sting of the gnawing worm and tormenting not consuming fire but the pleasure the lustre of the wedding garment and of the cooling refreshing streams of the waters of life My soul Christ my Savior hath redeemed me from the one and sealed me to the other of these conditions fear not therefore to go out of this body to pass through this red Sea this dark dreadful dismaying gulf into the Ocean of thine Eternity remember consider thy Lord long since declared strait is the gate and narow is the way which leadeth unto life I will by Gods grace stoop at this strait gate I will press through this narrow way seeing life so rich so glorious so blessed life is the end thereof to be enjoyed for ever The Conclusion § MOst blessed Jesus thou art the Lord of life and glory of thine own good will in compassion and pity to lost man thou didst leave the delights of Heaven and of thy fathers bosome and wast cloathed with mans mortal nature Thou hast subjected thy self to death to the most violent shameful and cursed death that thou mightest sweeten and sanctifie this cup in which all thine elect and Saints must pledge thee thou hast tasted death for all men Thou having felt the sting and encountred the strength of death didst conquer and triumph over the grave thou hast gotten thou hast given all that beleive in thee the victory over death thou art in thy Church and to thy Saints the first fruits from the dead thy glorious resurrection is our pledge and assurance that we shall not be always held under the power and dominion of death but that we shall be raised up to raign with thee for ever § I thy weak and worthless servant am under the expectation of death and if thou restrain not the wrath that is in man it may be a violent and shameful death under the dread hereof I look unto and desire to encourage my self in thee the captain of my salvation Be not far from me my God and my Saviour in this hour of my temptation but let thy grace support me under the stroak and save me from the sting of death strengthen my faith unto the full apprehension due application of thy death and resurrection to the curbing of my passions and check of my fears that I may willingly cheerfully follow thee through the vale of the shadow of death O be my God! my God and my Guide unto under death § Death is natural to man common to all men but its nature is changed unto some and but to some of the sons of men this dreadful Executioner of thy vengeance on the wicked is but a grim messenger to fetch thy children home this thy Sheriff executing Malectours putteth the heirs of salvation into the possession of that inheritance thou hast purchased for them and appointed to them the wicked dye when thy friends do but sleep and rest in their beds Be pleased O my Redeemer to know me and make me know my self to be one of that number to whom the nature of death is changed to whom it may not it cannot be apprehended or appear so dreadful evidence and cleer up to my soul and conscience that real supernatural change of quality in my self which may convince me of and secure unto me the contranatural change of the nature and quality of death to and upon me § Union with thy glorious self can only secure against the sting and encourage under against the terrifying apprehension of the stroak of death unite me O Lord unto thy self communicate to me thy grace that only evidence of my union with thee that assurance that only that full assurance that death shall not divide between thee and me death shall not seperate my soul from thee death shall not seperate my body from thee but my dust shall be regarded by thee my death shall be precious in thy sight make O my God the graces of thine holy spirit so legible in me that I may thereby make my calling and election sure and read readily that name that none can read but he who hath it and that I may be certainly resolved in my self that my name was written in thy book of life before the foundations of the world was laid § Thy grace O Lord hath been extended to me make me to see it teach me seriously to reflect it unto thy praise and the encouragement of my soul under and against the terrors of the dread of death I am through thy grace and abundant mercy called by the name I have been born within the pale of thy Church and under the Covenant of thy salvation I was dedicated to thee and thy service as soon as I was born thy covenant was then set on my flesh by baptism and I now bear it on my flesh I dare not with prophane Esau despise this my birth-right but must and by thy grace I will rejoyce that I pertake of the fatness of the Olive and that I am a branch from an holy root sanctified by and unto God Thou didst bless me O Lord with Christian nurture and education I have known thy word from my childhood thou hast seasoned me with and sanctified me by thy truth thy word is truth it hath been the delight of my soul and the direction of my life and faith Thy spirit hath been and is in me the spirit of conviction and of burning by it I see the finfulness of sin and possess with grief shame the iniquities of my youth and the evil of my ways and doings it lusteth against my flesh and draweth disposeth my mind to serve the Law of God when my flesh is forced to serve the Law of sin Thy glorious Gospel thy gracious spirit O Lord hath convinced me of and affected my soul with mine own guilt thy fathers wrath and justice and the salvation wrought out by thee and by thee alone I do beleive there is no name by which men can be saved but thy name most blessed Jesus thou art the true Messiah the only Mediator between God and man the all-sufficient Saviour of all that come unto thee unto thee O Lord I come weary and heavy loaden with my sin Oh give me easie pressed with a dread of thy fathers wrath plead my cause satisfie for me his offended justice be the propitiation for my sins oppressed with my lusts Oh save me from my sin subdue corruptions in me change my nature be to me a perfect Saviour for to thee I run on