woful miserable and deplorable he saw their condition to be and how sad will it be with you if once Christ should come to say over you that dismal word now they are hid from your eyes 5. Is it an easie matter think you to set things right in your souls and to make all things ready for a dying hour Suppose my Beloved that you should live yet many days and withall your helps and advantages for the good of your souls should be continued to you yet is it an easie work which you have to do and shall you have time and days to spare Believe it Sirs all will be little enough to set things right to make things ready for a dying hour Pray consider with me these few things as to this 1. Consider in what a woful disorder all things are at present with you and how utterly unready for a dying hour I will give you the Scripture state of your case you are dead in trespasses and sins under whole loads and mountains of scarlet crimson guilt without Christ without hope without God in the world alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works yea enmity it self against God and Christ full of sin both within and without and nothing but sin having no good dwelling in you void of all grace all true spiritual life under the power and predominancy of lust serving divers lusts and pleasures and carried Captive by the Devil at his will Closely glued to and deeply in love with this World ignorant of God and of the great Mystery of the Father and of Christ at least having no saving knowledge of them No savour of Heaven no relish of spiritual things in your souls wallowing in your blood and gore being filthy and abominable to every good work reprobate the heart strongly averse from God and all good and vigorously bent to sin and vanity nothing of Heaven within but full of Hell full of the Spirit and Image of the Devil under the Law of Sin strangers to the Law of Grace no Union with Christ no Oyl in the Vessel poor miserable blind and naked at most having but the form and denying the power of godliness This is your condition O what disorders are these And what an unready posture are you in for Death and Eternity 2. Consider how great a thing it is to be ready for Death ready indeed and to have all things set right and in order against a dying hour comes and how much is requisite in order thereunto 'T is a great saying of an holy man No one saith he can joyfully welcom Death but he that has been long composing his Spirit and making ready for it O my beloved to be indeed ready to quit the World to go into the Divine Presence the great the holy glorious presence of God to be ready to enter upon the Beatifical Vision to possess a Mansion in the Father's House to joyn with an heavenly Host of Angels and Spirits of just men made perpect in eternal praising admiring and adoring of Father Son and Holy Ghost Believe it this is a great thing and great things are requisite thereunto This calls for a near Union with Christ a firm peace with God clear Evidences for Heaven for much grace and holiness much heavenliness and spirituality of mind much weanedness from this World much holy deadness to sin self and the Creature much Victory over Corruption much Soul-cleansing much purity of heart and affections much diligence and faithfulness in Duties And my Beloved are these little things or things easie to be accomplished and attained unto O Sirs The Scripture speaking of these things calls upon us to strive Luke 13.24 to give all diligence in the pursuit of them 2 Pet. 1.5 10. To manage and dispatch them with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 All which tells us that they are great things and not easily to be accomplished and attained unto Therefore we had need look after this and neglect no longer 3. Consider what lets and hinderances difficulties and oppositions you must expect to meet withall in your minding and managing this Work Not only is the Work it self great but you must also expect many lets and hindrances much difficulty and opposition in the managing of it You must expect lets and oppositions from the Devil he is the Enemy of Souls and you must expect that he will make use of all his wiles methods and devices all his craft and cunning all his Artifices and that he will stir up all his wrath and malice against you he is your Enemy and he is a subtil Enemy a potent Enemy an indefatigable Enemy an Enemy that always goes about seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5.8 You must expect lets and oppositions from the World too from the men of the world from the things of the world from the smiles of the world from the frowns of the world The world is your Enemy as well as the Devil So much is intimated 1. Joh. 5.4 and you must expect opposition from it The men of the world will discourage you the things of the world will divert you the troubles of the world will mightily depress you the enjoyments of the world will miserably ensnare and entangle you The world is of a marvellous bewitching ensnaring and entangling nature it is indeed opposite to God and all goodness and so to the whole interest of our souls The friendship of the world is enmity to God Jam. 1.4 The world will plead for and take up your time your strength your thoughts Oâ— the hinderance that the World is to thousands and ten thousands in the work of their souls truly this ruines multitudes for ever This ruined him we read of Matth. 19.32 And saith Paul Demas hath farsaken us having embraced this present World 2 Tim. 4.10 You must expect lets and hinderances also from your own hearts yea from them above all others The heart the Holy Ghost tells us is deceitful above all things and disperately wicked Jer. 17.9 And who of us does at all observe it and the workings of it does not find it to be so Now it will openly oppose you then it will secretly seduce and ensnare you Now it will carry you off and draw you back from God and Duty Hebr. 3.12 then it will turn you aside to sin and vanity Isai 44.20 Now it will divert you from Duty then it will make you dead and slothful in Duty 'T is indeed wholly set against all that is good and it has a thousand wayes to hinder you in your Great Work and you must expect that it will do its utmost to hinder you This is a close Enemy it is alwayes at hand there is no end of its opposition till life it self ends One of the Ancients I remember breaks out into a sad exclamation against his own heart thus My heart saith he is a wicked heart a vain heart a roving a wandring heart My mind is exceeding light wonderful unconstant a
driven from hence for ever O doleful to be in the flames to suffer the vengeance of Eternal fire to be sinning and always bearing the punishment of sin and all this for ever O this makes it out of measure heavy thus and always thus under the wrath of God and for ever so this puts weight into it Thus you see a little of the weight of Eternity O contemplate it daily 3. Consider and contemplate how doleful a thing it will be to miscarry for ever and on the other hand what a wide door of mercy there is open to you the fair opportunity you have of making a blessed provision for your souls and eternity 1. Consider and contemplate how doleful a thing it will be to miscarry for ever to perish eternally the more worth there is in the soul the greater weight there is in Eternity the more doleful it will be to perish or miscarry as to the interest of them to miscarry in our Estate in our trade in our name in the change of our condition in this world or the like this is sad and sinks many but Oh what is this to the miscarriage of the soul for ever what is this to a miserable Eternity to the loss of God of Christ of the Comforter of Heaven and Eternal life what is this to the wrath of God to the vengeance of Eternal fire to utter darkness to blackness of darkness for ever O Sirs to have infiniteness and Eternity combined against you to make you miserable and to be for ever as miserable as infiniteness and eternity can make you as assuredly you will in case you neglect to make provision for your souls and the future life O how dreadful how doleful will this be and what bitter lamentations will it fill you with for ever Did Esau weep when he had lost his Birth-right and did Lysimachus upbraid himself and bewail his folly for parting with his Kingdom for a draught of water O then how will you weep and wail and even tear and torment your selves for ever for your sin and folly when you shall find that for a little of this world for the satisfaction of a lust for a few dreggy drossy pleasures and sensual delights or perhaps through a mere sloth of spirit you have lost your souls and have plunged your selves into an infinite Ocean of Eternal woe and misery whence thereis no redemption for ever for you Pray lay that Scripture to heart now Lu. 13.27 28. Depart from me says Christ all ye workers of iniquity Depart here is the Doom that will pass at last upon every unrepenting unbelieving sinner every soul that makes not ready for a dying hour well and what then there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when ye shall see Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and you thrust out O Sirs when you shall see such and such lodged safe in Heaven in the Bosom of Christ and your selves shut out and not only so but cast into utter darkness as you have it added Mat. 18.12 when you shall see your selves shut up in the infernal Pit and there seal'd up under Gods eternal wrath O then ye will weep and gnash your teeth indeed then your own Conscience will be eternally a second Hell to you tearing and tormenting your souls in the remembrance of your sin and folly in neglecting to prepare for and make sure of a better state Think of these things ere it be too late 2. Consider and contemplate what a wide Door of Mercy there is open to you and what a fair opportunity God gives you to make a blessed provision for your souls and Eternity What shall I say why Sirs the way of Salvation is made plain to you and you are daily called to the Marriage-supper of the Lamb the great King of Heaven invites you to come and partake of his Gospel-Feast by one and another Servant of his which he sends to you he lets you know that all things are ready all that your souls can need to make them happy for ever Christ is ready and in him life is ready grace is ready peace is ready pardon is ready a compleat righteousness for your justification acceptation with God is ready heaven is ready salvation is ready and withal he bids you come yea he earnestly importunes and solicites you to come and feast your souls upon these things he freely and frequently offers himself and all to you intreating your acceptance yea more he opens the arms of his love to you assuring you of most cordial welcome and ready reception notwithstanding all your sins and miscarriages him that cometh unto me I will by no means cast out Jo. 6.37 let him be who and what he will a young an old sinner a small a great sinner a sinner that hath stood it out against me a little or a long time I will not cast him out my Grace is free my Fulness is large and sufficient my Blood is precious and has an infinite vertue in it my Spirit is powerful and efficacious I am every way mighty to save able to save to the utmost all that come to God by me yea 't is my work and business to save my Father seal'd and sent me for that end and for that end came I into the world and there did and suffered such things as I did and I may not I will not cast off any poor soul that will come and partake of me and my Fulness and that would fain be helped on towards life and blessedness This is really the language of Christ to poor sinners yea more he sends his Spirit to enlighten to convince to perswade to draw and allure them and he does move in them and strive with them O what a wide door of mercy is there here open to you Sirs and how fair is your opportunity of preparing for and making sure of a blessed Eternity O accordingly as you love your souls and would live for ever come into Christ come and apply and improve him in a way of believing for the good of your eternal souls in his strength set upon repenting believing work the work of your souls and Eternity and your day being so bright as indeed it is O labour to know the things of your peace in your day lest neglecting them Christ speedily say of you as once with tears in his eyes he did of neglecting Jerusalem Luke 19.42 O that thou hadst known in thy day the things which belong unto thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes I have done I 'l close all with that holy wish for you my dear Congregation and my self that Austin was wont to make for himself and his people namely That as they had been often crowded together to worship God in that earthly Temple wherein he preach'd so they might eternally live toge-in the Heavenly Temple above So my wish and desire is that we my beloved you and I who have often been thronged and crowded together in an earthly House may live together eternally and eternally adore God together in our Father's House above and if we shall never preach and pray and here and sing together more on Earth as I am apt to think we shall not yet that we may praise and love and admire God and sing Hallelujas to him for ever together in Heaven Amen Amen FINIS
Serenissima Anna D G Ang SccE Fran et Hiber Reg Fidei Defencor Printed Sold by N. Boddington at the Golden Ball in Duck Lane The Great Concern OR A SERIOUS WARNING to a Timely and Thorough PREPARATION FOR DEATH With Helps and Directions in order thereunto By EDWARD PEARSE Being the last that ever he preached John 9.4 I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day the night cometh when no man can work The Third Edition recommended as proper for Funerals LONDON Printed for J. Robinson at the Golden Lyon in St. Paul's Church-yard and B. Aylmer at the three Pigeons in Cornhil 1674. TO THE READER Reader IF thou art one who indeed livest in the belief of a future Life an Eternity of happiness or misery when time and days shall be more I am confident the ensuing Discourse will be grateful and welcom to thee I make no Apology for its plainness nor am I at all solicitous touching the censures I may fall under for publishing of it If thou wilt read it with an upright heart I question not but through a blessing from above it may do thy Soul good sure I am thou wilt find the Argument most weighty and the Concern thereof most important and woe be to that soul which misseth the design it tends to and aims at When men come to die and do find themselves launching forth into the vast Ocean of Eternity at least when once they find themselves incircled in that Ocean which quickly they do when once Death makes its approach then they see that their great interest lay beyond this poor vain perishing World and the things thereof then they see that their Great Concern was to have look'd and liv'd beyond time and days and have made provision for an Eternal state but alas alas then 't is too late too late then they cry out O Eternity Eternity O miserable souls that we are how did sin and the world blind and bewitch us that we could not ere now when 't is too late see the weight of an Eternal Interest O blind and bruitish Creatures that were taken with carnal and sensual things things pleasing only to a sensual appetite and forgot God the chief Good the things of Heaven and a blessed Eternity which would have made us happy for ever Now to prevent these doleful lamentations and such a dismal and remediless shipwrack of Eternal Souls as also to shew them the path of Life and to engage them to make sure of a blessed Eternity while time and days last is the design of the ensuing discourse and of the dying Author in it And the Lord the God of all Grace prosper it in order thereunto God has kept me for a full half year by the Graves side one while lifting me up then casting me down and now he seems to be speedily finishing my days to whom through the infinite riches of free Grace I can with some comfort and boldness say Come Lord Jesus come quickly Amen And now farewel vain World farewel Friends and Relations farewel eating and drinking and blessed be God farewel sin and sinning within a few days I shall sin no more nor ever be in a possibility of sinning but shall be like my Lord and shall see him as he is And lastly farewel Reader E. P. READER THe first Impression of this Book was so well entertained among Ministers and others and wrought such good effects that the news thereof did very much rejoyce the Reverend Authour upon his Death-bed insomuch that be had an intent to give order for a good number to be given judging it the fittest present at his Funeral but being told there was not a sufficient number to gratifie the many thousands that would attend him to the Grave that good intention was prevented Since his death some pious persons have thought fit considering the suitableness of the subject to bestow many of these at Buryals instead of Rings Gloves Biskets Wine c Reading and Meditation much more beautifying such Solemnities than eating and drinking c. and have already found this way very instrumental to make people serious on such sad occasions Wherefore this good design is by the Generality of Ministers and others recommended to all that are desirous to mind their own Great Concern and to excite others to A Timely and thorough preparation for Death R. A. The Author hath two other Treatises viz. 1. The Best Match or the Souls espousal to Christ 2. A Beam of the Divine Glory or the unchangeableness of God opened THE Great Concern OR A PREPARATION FOR DEATH Psalm 39.13 O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more CHAP. 1. Which contains an Introduction and an Explication of the Words of the Text with the General truth of them and therein the foundation of our intended Discourse TO walk with God here on earth while we live and to be ready to live with God for ever in Heaven when we come to die is the Great Work we have to do the Great Concern we have to mind in our present Pilgrimage To grow great and high in the World to build our Names and Families to live a life of sensual pleasures and delights spending our dayes in mirth these are low mean poor things things infinitely beneath the dignity of a soul and altogether unworthy of the least of its care and solicitude but to know God to love God to obey God to delight in God to contemplate the glorious excellencies and perfections of God to live upon God and to live to God upon him as our chief good and happiness and to him as our last end and withall to be found ready at last to live with him for ever to enter upon the beatifical Vision and to pass into that life of love and holiness which the Saints and Angels live above being made perfect in the Vision and Fruition of the God of Glory this is truly noble this is worthy of the care and solicitude of Souls to promote these things and more especially the latter is my design in fixing my Meditations on this Scripture which I am the rather induced to do because I am apprehensive that the time of my going hence when I shal be seen no more is drawing very nigh The words are a holy and pathetical wish and desire breathed out into the bosom of God by the man after his own heart and that when under sore and heavy afflictions under grievous sickness say some under great straits and distresses by reason of Absolon's rebellion and conspiracy against him say others In this wish or desire of his you may note three things 1. What that is which he wisheth for or desires of God and that is sparing mercy O spare me 2. The end of this wish or desire of his and that is the recovery of strength O spare me that I may recover strength 3. The ground or motive which induced him to make
of them to fit loose from them and make God and communion with God all in all to him 'T is a great saying which I have read of a learned man Although adversity breaks many yet prosperity and a fulness of enjoyments kills many more And how rare a man is that who in prosperity does not at least a little in some degree or other let down his Watch and remit his strictness and exactness in walking David was a wise man and Solomon was a wiser and yet both the one and the other discovered great sin and folly through abounding prosperity So that I say 't is both a rare and difficult thing but by how much the more rare and difficult it is by so much the more excellent and eminent when attained Oh for a man to swim Chin-deep in the streams of creature-comforts and yet not to forsake the Fountain of living waters for a man to have the streams run pleasantly on each hand of him and yet to bathe and delight onely in the Fountain as his rest and happiness for a man in the height of prosperity to be able to say to God as the Psalmist in his affliction did Psal 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth I desire besides thee this is noble Grace indeed O labour to come up to this whatever your worldly enjoyments are though never so great so high so pleasant yet as ever you would be ready for a dying hour fit loose from all die to all the more dead we are to the world the more ready we are to go out of the world a worldly spirit a spirit in love with this world is most unready for a dying hour how can he be ready to leave the world that is in love with the world a worldly spirit is most odious to the Spirit of God and most unsuitable to the future life and one living in that spirit cannot be fit to die 'T is a great saying I have read in one He is perfect whose soul is alienated from the world but says he that soul is far from God to whom this miserable life is sweet that is to fay who is fond of these poor things here O die die daily to the world under all your enjoyments of it if you would indeed be ready to die 3. For a man to be empty and yet full to be destitute of all outward comforts and enjoyments and yet to want nothing but to be content and to see all in God and enjoy all in God for a man to be afflicted and distress'd and yet at the same time see a fulness and sufficiency of all good and happiness in a naked God and naked Godliness and accordingly to live upon him and rest satisfied in him this is a noble strain of Grace indeed this the Prophet and in him the Church resolved upon Heb. 3.17 18. Athough the fig tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the vines the labour of the olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat the flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls Here you see is a most sad supposition a most forlorn and destitute condition supposed to come well and what then in case all this comes to pass what will the Church do then that the 18 verse tells us Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation she is resolved to live upon God and delight her self with God she sees enough in him alone and sets him and her interest in him over against all wants losses and afflictions So the Apostles 2 Cor. 6.10 who were as having nothing yet possessing all things they saw all in Christ and enjoyed all in Christ Here as one glosses upon the place we possess nothing but do wander up and down from place to place yet possessing Christ in him we possess all things Oh for a man to see and enjoy all in Christ when the world frowns upon him and is low with him this is a noble strain of Grace and let me say this that 't is an argument that we have carnal hearts if we see not all in God and enough in God to satisfie us and make us happy whether we have any thing or nothing of this worlds Heaven which death sends us to if we are indeed ready for it is no thing else but the vision and fruition of God for there he is all in all and certainly if we do not see all in God now and enough in God now we cannot suppose our selves to be so fully ready for death and Eternity as we ought to be 4. For a man to have no affliction and yet to be deeply afflicted to be wholly free from all personal affliction and yet greatly to lay to heart and be afflicted for the afflictions of Gods name and people this is glorious Grace Grace in lustre 'T is the observation of a worthy Divine That in the day of the Churches trouble and affliction when both his name and people do greatly suffer God does sometimes leave some of his people an affluence of all outward good things when others are stript of all their comforts they are full when others are in straights they abound neither is there any cloud upon their Tabernacle and this God does to try them whether they will take up in their enjoyments and forget the afflictions of his name and people and truly not to do so but in such a case to lay the Churches afflictions to heart and to bleed and mourn with the bleeding interest of Gods name and people this is pure Grace and marvellous pleasing to God such Grace some of the Saints have come up unto such Grace was sound in David 2 Sam. 7.1 2. And it came to pass when the King sate in his house and the Lord had given him rest round about from all enemies that the King said unto Nathan the Prophet See now I dwell in an house of Cedar but the ark of God dwelleth within Curtains Mark all was well with David he had rest and he dwelt in an House of Cedar he had all things suitable for and becoming a King ah but all was not well with the interest of God and his worship Davids house and interest prospered but it fared not so well with the house and interest of God and therefore all his enjoyments were as nothing to him he so laid the sufferings of Gods name and worship to heart The like was found in Nehemiah Neh. begin all things were well with him in his own person he was the Kings Cup-bearer and lived under the enjoyment of an affluence of all outward contentments and yet was in deep affliction of spirit upon the account of the Churches affliction When I heard these words says he verse 4. these words what words why that the remnant that were left of the Captivity were in great affliction and reproach that the wall of
employ'd in the work and service of Christ And again 1 Tim. 1.12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for what he accounted me faithful putting me into the Ministry Here he blesses Christ his Lord and Master for using of him in his work yea such a worth beauty and excellency did he see in his service that he was content to stay out of Heaven and the bosom of Christs love where yet he earnestly longed to be that he might do further service for Christ in this world So you find Phil. 1.21 22.23 O for a soul to long and long earnestly for Heaven and the immediate enjoyment of Christ there and yet to be content to stay here in a sinful sinning troublesom world meerly to do some further service for Christ and to honour him yet in the discharge of his Work and Warfare this is high Grace this holy Rutherford had attained unto he could under high assurances of Heaven be content to stay many years out of it to preach Christ The same mind dwelt in Christ himself who went about doing good making it his meat and drink to do his Fathers will and to finish his work Oh when a soul comes to this then he is fit to live and fit to die when with that Ancient Father we come to say indeed What is it to live and not to live for use and service when we value life and days in the world no further than we are some way serviceable to Christ this is crowning Grace 8. For a man to rejoyce in the gifts graces and uses of others and that though they out-shine and eclipse his for a man to rejoyce to see Grace flourish in others and to see the work of God carried on by others though he himself be laid aside and does not share in the honour of it this is pure Grace Grace in lustre such Grace was found in Moses Enviest thou for my sake said he to Joshua who would have had him to forbid Eldad and Medad to prophesie in the Camp would God that all the Lords people were Prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them Num. 11.29 he was so far from envying at them that he wishes there were more of them Such Grace was found also in John the Baptist Joh. 3.26 27 30. he rejoyced in Christs being owned and honoured and flock'd unto and in the increase of his esteem with men though to his own abasement In verse 26. some of Johns Disciples come and tell him that all men come to Christ well says he 't is but his due verse 27. A man can receive nothing unless it be given him from heaven you your selves bear me witness that I said I am not the Christ and this my joy is fulfilled that he must increase and I must decrease as if he had said 'T is so far from being a trouble to me that 't is indeed the compleating of my joy Such Grace was found in Paul Phil. 1.18 who rejoyced that Christ was preach'd though with a design to cloud and eclipse him Christ is preach'd and I therein do rejoyce yea and will rejoyce Some are apt to think 't will be an affliction to me says he that Christ is preach'd by any but my self whereas indeed this is ground of great joy to me I rejoyce that though I cannot be permitted to preach Christ my self yet that so many others do preach him And I remember a great speech of Luther arguing the same Grace to be in him writing to Melancthon to comfort him under the lets and opposition the work and cause of God met withal in his time the cause of God was opposed and his Work obstructed in the sense of which Melancthon was greatly troubled and dejected and Luther understanding it writes an Epistle to him to comfort and encourage him in which he has this saying God says he is able to raise the dead and he is able to support his fallen cause and to raise it when fallen If he shall not account us worthy to be used therein let him do it by others and make use of others Mark he was content the work of God should be done by others There are two things which I look upon to carry as pure and noble Grace in them as any whatever one is to be willing to be used in Gods work without being taken notice of or having the honour of it the other is for a man to rejoyce to see the work of God carried on by others though he himself be laid aside and has not the honour of being used therein Oh labour for such Grace Grace that will rejoyce in the Gifts Graces Uses and Successes of others though you thereby are out-shined 9. For a man to have great affection to the name and honour of God and Christ and to think nothing too much to do too hard to suffer or too dear to part withal for the service and advancement thereof this is noble Grace when a man has high and paramount affections to the name of God and Christ loving and preferring of it infinitely before all his own interests and concerns being ready to be do or suffer any thing for the service on 't Oh what Grace is this such Grace some of the Saints have attained to Lord says Moses concerning Israel if thou wilt forgive their sin and if not blot me I pray thee out of the Book which thou hast written Exod. 32.32 What is here meant by the Book which God has written I shall not now stand to enquire or determine but to be content to be blotted out on 't was to be sure a great piece of self denial and this Moses was you see rather than that the people should be utterly destroyed and all because he knew how much the glory of God was concerned and would suffer by their destruction as appears by comparing this verse with verse 12. the sum as one observes is That Moses prefers the glory of God before his own salvation whose glory was conjoyned with Israels preservation in respect of the Promises made to the Fathers and in respect of the Blasphemies which the Egyptians and other adversaries were ready to belch out against God should he destroy them Such Grace was found also in John Baptist in the place lately mentioned Joh. 3. latter end who was content Christ should raise himself out of his abasement such Grace was found in Christ who preferred his Fathers glory before his own life Joh. 12.27 28. such Grace was found in Paul who was willing not onely to be bound but even to die for the sake of Christ Acts 21.13 for the Name the honour of Christ Christs honour was so dear to him that he could be content to die to serve it he preferr'd it before his life O my Beloved when a soul shall be so swallowed up with love and zeal to the glory of God and the interest of Christ in the world as that his own interests are in
one Question Dost thou indeed see thy particular concern in this business so see it as really to make it thy great work and solicitude while living to set all things right and make all things ready for a dying hour Some there are that are so happy as so to do and art thou one of them then why shouldest thou fear death yea why shouldest thou not exult and thy heart leap within thee in the sight and thoughts of its approach true it is a dark Entry but it leads to a fair and stately Palace even the Fathers house 't is a rough and difficult passage but it sets thee safe on shore in a large and fat land true it carries with it some what a black lowring and ghastly aspect to nature and nature may at first possibly be startled and recoil at the sight of it but open the eye of thy faith and behold it in the glass of the Gospel view it in the death of thy Lord and Head and it vvill not appear half so terrible yea thou vvilt find it to be not so much an enemy as a Friend not as a King of Terrours but rather as a King of Comforts not as an object to be dreaded and trembled at but rather to be rejoyced in and triumphed over by thee it vvill appear to be not loss but gain For me to die is gain says Paul Phil. 1.21 yea it vvill be thy great gain 't will be the period of all thy misery and the perfecting of all thy happiness and the truth is vve are never perfectly happy till death comes But for thy further encouragement I shall in a few particulars shew you vvhat Death come vvhen it vvill doth and vvill do for such as make all ready for its coming 1. Death vvhen ever it comes vvill translate thee thou ready soul from Earth to Heaven from a strange land to thine own home and Fathers house and vvill not this be a kindness as for this vvorld vvhat is it to the poor Saints but a strange land 't is Heaven is their home and Countrey hence they have confest and do confess themselves to be Pilgrims and Strangers upon earth Heb. 11.13 and the Psalmist in the words immediately foregoing my Text Psalm 39.12 owns it to God I am a Sojourner and a stranger here yea this world is not onely a strange land but a waste howling wilderness to such wherein they live among wild Beasts Lions Bears Wolves Tygers and the like Lusts within and Devils without ready daily to devour them but now when Death comes that carries them off from this strange land this waste howling wilderness to their own home and countrey which is Heaven yea to their Fathers house there to live with him to enjoy his presence and to adore his grace We know says the Apostle that when our earthly house of this tabernacle speaking of the Body shall be dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 And you know how Christ speaks to his Disciples Joh. 14.2 In my Fathers house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you and thither does death carry you when it comes Oh sweet Oh my Beloved to go home to go to our Fathers house and to possess our Mansion there that Mansion which our dear Lord and Head is gone before to prepare for us how sweet is this to think of and how many deaths may it sweeten Suppose one of you were some thousand miles distant from your home Country and Comforts and you were in a waste howling Wilderness among Lions and Bears ready to devour you a wide Sea also being between home and you and suppose withal that a Ship should come and take you into her and in a short time set you down in your own Country and among all your Friends and comforts would not this be a kindness why this is your case here O ye preparing souls and this is the kindness death does for you when it comes while here you are ten thousand miles distant from your home and Country your Friends and Comforts and in a waste howling Wilderness but Death that swift Sailer comes and in a moment sets you down in Heaven your home and Country O how welcom should it then be to you 2. Death whenever it comes will carry thee from trouble to rest from a tempestuous Sea to a quiet Haven there to lie at an eternal Anchor in the bosom of thy sweet Lord. This world ever was and for any thing I know ever will be a place of trouble to the people of God sure I am Christ hath told us In the world you shall have tribulation Jo. 16.33 And who of us does not find it made good This world is a tempestuous Sea wherein the Waves lift up themselves and the poor Saints are afflicted and tossed with tempests and oftentimes not comforted Isa 54.11 We read in Jonah 1.13 that the Sea wrought and was tempestuous and the Mariners were fain to row hard to get the Ship to shore And truly thus 't is often in the case in hand the Sea of this world is tempestuous it works and the poor Saints are fain to row hard to get safe to shore yea as we read Acts 27.14 that an Euroclydon a tempestuous East-wind arose and beat upon Paul and others in the Ship with him which was ready to break all in pieces So truly the Saints in this world do meet with Euroclydons tempestuous winds not a few which beat upon them and are ready to split all and sink all but now when death comes those stormes are all made a calm and they I mean the Saints are brought into the desired Haven Death sets them at rest 't is indeed their dismission to rest There says Job speaking of the Grave the weary be at rest Job 3.17 Death sends the body to rest it frees it from all sensible sufferings when Death comes thy weak body thy sick body thy pained body thy consumptive body shall have its dismission to rest and Death sends the soul to rest that rests in God and with God Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord henceforth they rest from their labours Rev. 14.13 and you have I think both together in one Scripture Isa 57.2 where speaking of the righteous 't is said They shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds Hence we read that there remaineth a rest to the people of God Heb. 4.9 indeed it remains 't is not here but when death comes that sets them down in this remaining rest Oh what a kindness must this be Rest O how sweet is rest how desirable is rest and rest too after long and hard labour and trouble how sweet is rest to the labouring man that hath wrought hand all the day how sweet is rest to the weary traveller that hath gone a long and dirty journey how sweet is rest to the solicitous Mariner and how