be a sadder part of thy Change Here the Rich would have received thee the Poor would have served and flattered thee thy Friends would have comforted thee thy Play-fellows would have been merry with thee But there alas how the case is altered All these have done the Table is withdrawn the Game is ended the Mirth is ceased and now succeedeth Son remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things and Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented Luke 16. 25. O dreadful Change to those that made the World their home and little dreamed or did but dream of such a day Never to see this World again unless by such reviews as will torment them never to have sport or pleasure more and for these to have such Company such Thoughts such Work and Usage as God hath told us is in Hell 4. If Christ receive thee not the burden of thy sins will overwhelm thee and conscience will have no relief Sin will not then appear in so harmless a shape as now it will then seem a more odious or frightful thing O to remember these days of folly of careless sluggish obstinate folly of sottish negligence and contempt of Grace will be a more tormenting thing than you will now believe If such Sermons and Discourses as foretel it are troublesom to thee what then will that sad Experience be 5. The wrath of an offended God will overwhelm thee This will be thy Hell He that was so merciful in the time of Mercy will be most terrible and implacable when that time is past and make men know that Christ and Mercy are not neglected refused and abused at so cheap a rate as they would needs imagine in the time of their deliration 6. It will overwhelm the Soul if Christ receive it not to see that then art entring upon Eternity even into an everlasting state of Woe Then thou wilt think O whither am I going What must I endure And how long How long When shall my misery have an end and When shall I come back and How shall I ever be delivered O now what thoughts wilt thou have of the wonderful Design of God in Man's Redemption Now thou wilt better understand what a Saviour was worth and how he should have been believed in and how his Gospel and his saving Grace should have been entertained O that the Lord would now open your hearts to entertain it that you may not then value it to your vexation that would not value it now to your relief Poor sinner for the Lord's sake and for thy Souls sake I beg now of thee as if it were on my knees that thou wouldst cast away thy sinful Cares and Pleasures and open thy Heart and now receive thy Saviour and his saving Grace as ever thou wouldst have him then receive thy trembling departed Soul Turn to him now that he may not turn thee from him then Forsake him not for a flattering World a little transitory vain Delight as ever thou wouldst not then have thy departed Soul forsaken by him O delay not Man but now even now receive him that thou maist avoid so terrible a danger and put so great a question presently out of doubt and be able comfortably to say I have received Christ and he will receive me if I die this night he will receive me Then thou maist sleep quietly and live merrily without any disparagement to thy Reason O yield to this Request Sinner of one that desireth thy Salvation If thou wert now departing and I would not pray earnestly to Christ to receive thy Soul thou wouldst think I were uncharitable Alas it will be one of these days and it is thee that I must entreat and thy self that must be prevailed with or there is no hope Christ sendeth me to thy self and saith that he is willing to receive thee if now thou wilt receive him and be sanctified and ruled by him The matter stops at thy own regardless wilful heart What sayst thou Wilt thou receive Christ now or not Wilt thou be a new creature and live to God by the Principle of his Spirit and the Rule of his Word to please him here that thou maist live with him for ever Wilt thou take up this Resolution and make this Covenant with God this day O give me a word of comfort and say Thou art resolved and wilt deliver up thy self to Christ That which is my comfort now on thy behalf will be ten thousand-fold more thy comfort then when thou partakest of the Benefit And if thou grieve us now by denying thy Soul to Christ it will be at last ten thousand-fold more thy grief Refuse not our requests and Christs requests now as ever thou wouldst not have him refuse thee then and thy requests It is mens turning away now from Christ that will cause Christ then to turn from them Prov. 1. 31. 32. The turning away of the simple slayeth them and they then eat but the fruit of their own way and are filled with their own devices See then that ye now refuse not him that speaketh for there is no escaping if you turn away from him that speaketh from heaven Heb. 12. 25. What would you say your selves to the man that would not be dissuaded from setting his House on fire and then would pray and cry importunately to God that he would keep it from being burnt Or of the man that will not be dissuaded from taking Poyson and then when it gripeth him will cry to God to save his life Or of the man that will go to Sea in a leaking broken vessel yea himself will make those breaches in it that shall let the Water in and when it is sinking will cry to God to save him from being drowned And will you do this about so great a matter as the everlasting state of your immortal Souls Will you now be wordlings and sensualists and ungodly and undo your selves and then cry Lord Jesus receive my Spirit at the last What! receive an unholy Spirit Will you not knock till the door is shut when he telleth you Math. 7. 21. That it is not every one that will cry Lord Lord that shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of his Father which is in Heaven Lastly consider with what unspeakable joy it will fill thy Soul to be then received by the Lord. O what a joyful word will it be when thou shalt hear Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you If thou wilt not have this to be thy case thou shalt see those received to the increase of thy grief whom thou refusedst here to imitate 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 those that from East West North and South shall sit there with them and thou thrust out Luke 13. 27 28 29. I have been long in
not be in vain 1 Cor. 15. 58. Now give the full and final answer unto all my Prayers Now that I have done the fight and finished my course let me find the Crown of righteousness which thy mercy hath laid up 2 Tim. 4. 8. O Crown thy graces and with thy greatest mercies recompence and perfect thy preparatory mercies and let me be Received to thy glory who have been guided by thy counsel Psalm 73. 24. 13. Consider That Christ hath already received millions of Souls and never was unfaithful unto any There are now with him the spirits of the just made perfect that in this life were imperfect as well as you Why then should you not comfortably trust him with your Souls and say Lord thou art the Common Salvation and refuge of thy Saints Both strong and weak even all that are given thee by the Father shall come to thee and those that come thou wilt in no wise cast out Thousands have been entertained by thee that were unworthy in themselves as well as I It is few of thy members that are now on earth in comparison of those that are with thee in Heaven Admit me Lord into the new Jerusalem Thou wilt have thy house to be filled O take my Spirit into the number of those belssed ones that shall come from East West North and South and sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom that we may together with eternal joyes give thanks and praise to thee that hast redeemed us to God by thy blood 14. Consider That it is the will of the Father himself that we should be glorified He therefore gave us to his Son and gave his Son for us to be our Saviour that whoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life All our Salvation is the product of his Love Joh. 3. 16 17. Eph. 2. 4. Joh. 6. 37. Joh. 16. 26 27. I say not that I will pray the Father for you for the Father himself loveth you because ye have loved me c. John 14. He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him Say therefore with our dying Lord Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit By thy Son who is the way the truth and the life I come to thee Joh. 14. 6. Fulness of joy is in thy presence and everlasting pleasures at thy right hand Psalm 16. 11. Thy love redeemed me renewed and preserved me O now receive me to the fulness of thy Love This was thy will in sending thy Son that of all that thou gavest him he should lose nothing but should raise it up at the last day O let not now this Soul be lost that is passing to thee through the straits of death I had never come unto thy Son if thou hadst not drawn me and if I had not heard and learnt of thee John 6 44 45. I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast revealed to me a babe an ideot the blessed mysteries of thy Kingdom Luk. 10. 21. Acts 4 13. O now as the vail of flesh must be withdrawn and my soul be parted from this body withdraw the vail of thy displeasure and shew thy servant the glory of thy presence that he that hath seen thee but as in a glass may see thee now with open face and when my earthly house of this Tabernacle is dissolved let me inhabit thy building not made with hands eternal in the heavens 2 Cor. 5. 1. 15. Lastly consider That God hath designed the everlasting glory of his name and the pleasing of his blessed will in our salvation And the Son must triumph in the perfection of his conquest of Sin and Satan and in the perfecting of our Redemption And doubtless he will not lose his Fathers glory and his own Say then with confidence I resign my soul to thee O Lord who hast called and chosen me that thou mightest make known the riches of thy glory on me as a vessel of mercy prepared unto glory Rom. 9. 23. Thou hast predestinated me to the adoption of thy child by Christ unto thy self to the praise of the glory of thy grace wherein thou hast made me accepted in thy beloved Eph. 1. 5 6 11 12 Receive me now to the glory which thou hast prepared for us Mat. 25. 34. The hour is at hand Lord glorifie thy poor adopted child that he may for ever glorify thee Joh. 17. 1. It is thy Promise to glorify those whom thou dost justify Rom. 8. 30. As therere is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Rom. 8. 1. so now let him present me faultless before the presence of the glory with exceeding joy And to thee the only wise God our Saviour be the glory Majesty Dominion and Power for evermore Amen Jude v. 23 24. WHat now remaineth but that we all set our selves to learn this sweet and necessary task that we may joyfully perform it in the hour of our extremity even to recommend our departing Souls to Christ with confidence that he will receive them It is a lesson not easie to be learnt For Faith is weak and doubts and fears will easily arise and nature will be loth to think of dying and we that have so much offended Christ and lived so strangely to him and been entangled in too much familiarity with the World shall be apt to shrink when we should joyfully trust him with our departing Souls O therefore now set your selves to overcome these difficulties in time You know we are all ready to depart It is time this last important work were throughly learned that our death may be both safe and comfortable There are divers other Uses of this Doctrine that I should have urged upon you had there been time As 1. If Christ will Receive your departing Souls then fear not death but long for this Heavenly entertainment 2. Then do not sin for fear of them that can but kill the body and send the Soul to Christ 3. Then think not the righteous unhappy because they are cast off by the world neither be too much troubled at it your selves when it comes to be your case but remember that Christ will not forsake you and that none can hinder him from the Receiving of your Souls No malice nor slanders can follow you so far as by defamation to make your justifyer condemn you 4. If you may trust him with your Souls then trust him with your friends your Children that you must leave behind with all your concernments and affairs and trust him with his Gospel and his Church for they are all his own and he will prevail to the accomplishment of his blessed pleasure But 5. I shall only add that Use which the sad occasion of our meeting doth bespeak What cause have we now to mix our sorrows for our deceased friend with the joyes of faith for her felicity we have left the body to the earth and
enjoyment of the real sure delight Take heed of being too much pleased in the creature Have you houses and lands and offices and honours and friends that are very pleasing to you Take heed for that is the killing snare Shut your eyes and wink them all into nothing and cast by your contrivances and cares and fears and remember you have another work to do 2. Live in Communion with a suffering Christ study well the whole life and nature of his sufferings and the reason of them and think how desirable it is to be conformed to him Thus look to Jesus that for the joy that was set before him despised the shame and endured the Cross and the contradiction of sinners against himself Dwell upon this example that the image of a humbled suffering Christ being deeply imprinted on thy mind may draw thy heart into a juster relish of a mortified state Sure he is no good Christian that thinks it not better to live as Christ did in holy poverty and sufferings in the world then as Croesus or Caesar or any such worldling and self-pleasure lived Die daily by following Jesus with your Cross and when you have a while suffered with him he will make you perfect and receive your spirits and you shall reign with him It wonderfully prepareth for a comfortable Death to live in the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ He is most likely to die quietly patiently and joyfully that can first be poor be neglected be scorned be wronged be slandered be imprisoned quietly patiently and joyfully If you were but at Hierusalem you would with some love and pleasure go up Mount Olivet and think Christ went this very way You would Love to see the place where he was born the way which he went when he carryed his Cross the holy grave where he was buried where there in a Temple which Pilgrims use to visit from whence they use to bring the mark as a pleasing badge of honour But how much More of Christ is there in our suffering for his Cause and Truth and in following him in a mortified self-denying life then in following him in the path that he hath trodden upon earth His enemies saw his Cross his Grave his Mother his person This did not heal their sinful Souls and make them happy But the Cross that he calleth us to bear is a life of suffeing for Righteousness sake in which he commandeth us to rejoyce and be exceeding glad because our Reward is great in Heaven though all manner of evil be spoken of us falsly by men on earth Mat. 5. 11 12. This is called a being pertakers of Christs sufferings in which we are commanded to rejoyce that when this glory shall be revealed we may be glad with exceeding joy 1 Pet. 4. 13. And as the sufferings of Christ abound towards us so will our Consolation abound by Christ 1 Cor. 1. 5. Till we come up to a life of willing mortification and pleased contented suffering with Christ we are in the lower form of his School and as Children shall tremble at that which should not cause our terrour and through misapprehensions of the case of a departing soul shall be afraid of that which should be our joy I am not such an enemy to the esteem of relicks but if one could shew me the very stock that Paul and Silas sate in when they sung Psalms in their imprisonment Acts 16. I could be contented to be put for the like cause into the same stocks with a special willingness and pleasure How much more should we be willing to be conformed to our suffering Lord in a Spirit and life of true mortification 3. Hold Communion also with his suffering Members Desire not to dwell in the tents of wickedness nor to be planted among them that flourish for a time that they may be destroyed for ever Psal 92. 6 7. I had rather have Bradford's heart and faggot than Bonners Bishoprick It was holy Stephen and not those that stoned him that saw Heaven opened and the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God Acts 7. 56. and that could joyfully say Lord Jesus Receive my Spirit He liveth not by Faith though he may be a hanger on that keepeth up some profession for fear of being damned who chooseth not rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season and esteemeth not the very reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of the world as having respect to the recompence of reward Heb. 11. 25. 26. 4. Live as if Heaven were open to your sight and then dote upon the delights of worldlings if you can Then love a life of fleshly case and honour better than to be with Christ if yon can But of this I have spoken at large in other writings Christian make it the study and business of thy Life to learn to do thy Last Work well that Work which must be done but once that so Death which transmits unholy Souls into utter darkness and despair may deliver thy Spirit into thy Redeemers deemers hands to be Received to his Glory according to that blessed promise John 12. 26. And while I am in the flesh beg the same mercy for Thy Brother and Companion in tribulation and in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ Richard Baxter London Jan. 31. 1661â—â—… A BELIEVERS Last Work ACTS 7. 59. Lord Jesus receive my Spirit THE Birth of Nature and the New Birth of Grace in their measure resemble the Death of Saints which is the Birth of Glory It is a bitter-sweet day a day that is mixt of sorrow and joy when Nature must quit its familiar Guest and yield to any of these Changes Our Natural Birth is not without the throws and pain and groanings of the Mother though it transmit the Child into a more large and lightsom and desirable Habitation Our Spiritual Birth is not without its humbling and heart-piercing sorrows and when we are brought out of darkness into the marvellous light we leave our old Companions in displeasure whom we forsake and our Flesh repining at the loss of its sensual delights And our passage into Glory is not without those pangs and fears which must needs be the attendants of a pained Body ready to be dissolved and a Soul that is going through so strait a door into a strange though a most blessed place And it leaveth our lamenting Friends behind that feel their loss and would longer have enjoyed our Company and see not though they believe the Glory of the departed Soul And this is our case that are brought hither this day by an act of Providence sad to us though joyous to our departed Friend by a Voice that hath called her into Glory and called us into this Mourning plight Even us that rejoyce in the thoughts of her Felicity and are not so cruel as to wish her again into this corruptible Flesh and calamitous World from the glorious
presence of the Lord and yet should have kept her longer from it for our own and others sakes if our Wisdom had been fit to rule or our Wills to be fulfilled or if our Prayers must have been answered according to the measure of our sailing Apprehensions or precipitant Desires But Folly must submit to the Incomprehensible Wisdom and the Desire of the Creature must stoop to the Will of the Creator The Interest of Christ must be preferred when he calleth for his own and our temporary Interest must give place Flesh must be silent and not contend and Dust must not dare to question God He knoweth best when his Fruit is ripe and though he will allow our moderate Sorrows he will not so much damnifie his Saints as to detain them with us from their Joyful Rest till we are content to let them go Thus also did Blessed Stephen depart from Glory to Glory from a distant sight of the Glory of God and of Jesus standing at his right hand into the immediate presence and fruition of that Glory But yet he must pass the narrow Port enraged Malice must stone him till he die and he must undergo the Pains of Martyrdom before he reach to the Glory which he had seen And when he was arrived in safety he leaveth his Brethren scattered in the Storm and Devout men make great lamentation at his burial Acts 9. 2. Though it is probable by the ordinary acceptation of the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they were not professed Christians but devout Proselytes such as Cornelius and the Ethiopian Eunuch were that buried and thus lamented Stephen as knowing him to be an excellent Person cruelly murdered by the raging Jews yet their Example in a Case not culpable but commendable may be imitated by Believers upon condition that with our sense of the Excellency of the Persons and of our loss by their removal we exceed them that had but a darker Revelation in our joyful sense of the felicity of the translated Souls The occasion of the Death of this Holy Man was partly that he surpassed others as being full of Faith and of the Holy Ghost and partly that he plainly rebuked the blind and furious persecuting Zeal of the Jews and bore a most resolute Testimony of Christ It is an ill time when Men must suffer because they are good and deserve not suffering but reward And they are an unhappy People that have no more Grace or Wit but to fight against Heaven and set themselves under the Stroaks of God's severest Justice by persecuting them that are dear to Christ and faithfully perform their Duty It is no strange thing for the ZEAL and INTEREST of a FACTION to make Men mad so mad as implacably to rage against the Off spring of Heaven and to hate Men because they are faithful to their great Master and because they are against their Faction so mad as to think that the Interest of their Cause requireth them to destroy the best with the greatest malice because they stand most in their way and to forget that Christ the Revenger of his Elect doth take all as done to him that is done to them so mad as to forget all the terrible Threatnings of God and terrible Instances of his avenging Justice against the Enemies of his Servants whom he taketh as his own and to ruine their own Reputations by seeking to defame the Upright whose Names God is engaged to honour and whose Righteousness shall shine forth as the Sun when foolish Malignity hath done its worst When Christ had pleaded his Cause effectually with Saul that was one of the Persecutors of Stephen he maketh him confess that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exceedingly excessively or beyond measure mad against the Christians But this Blessed Protomartyr in despite of Malice doth safely and joyfully pass through all their Rage to Heaven By killing him they make him more than Conquerour and send him to receive his Crown And he shuts up all the Action of his Life in imitation of his suffering Lord with a two-fold Request to Heaven the one for himself that his Spirit may be received the other for his Persecutors that this sin may not be laid to their charge Acts 7. 59 60. For so you may find Christ did before him Luke 23. 34 46. Father forgive them for they know not what they do and Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit Only Christ directeth his Prayer immediately to the Father and Stephen to Christ as being one that had a Mediator when Christ had none as needing none and being now bearing witness by his suffering to Christ and therefore it was seasonable to direct his Prayer to him but especially because it was an Act of Mediation that he petitioneth for and therefore directeth his Petition to the Mediator This first Request of this dying Saint which I have chosen to handle as suitable and seasonable for our Instruction at this time in a few Words containeth not a few exceeding useful wholesom Truths As 1. It is here plainly intimated that Jesus Christ is exalted in Glory in that he hath power to receive departed Souls 2. That Christ is to be prayed to and that it is not our Duty to direct all our Prayers only to the Father Especially those things that belong to the Office of the Mediator as interceding for us in the Heavens must be requested of the Mediator And those things which belong to the Father to give for the sake of the Mediator must be asked of the Father for his sake I cannot now stay to tell you in particular what belongeth to the one and what unto the other 3. That Man hath a Spirit as well as a Body of which more anon 4. That this Spirit dieth not with the Body unless you will call a meer separation a dying 5. That Christ doth receive the Spirits of his Saints when they are separated from the Body 6. That a dying Christian may confidently and comfortably commend his Spirit to Christ to be received of him 7. That Prayer in general and this Prayer in special That Christ will receive our departing Souls is a most suitable Conclusion of all the Actions of a Christian's Life THe first and second of these Doctrines offered us by this Text I shall pass by The third is not questioned by any that knoweth himself to be a Man But that we may understand it and the rest we must consider what the Word Spirit doth here signifie By Spirit here can be meant nothing but the Rational Soul which is the principal constitutive part of the man For though the word do sometime signifie the Wind or Breath and sometime the moral and intellectual Qualifications and have divers other senses I need not stay to prove that it is not here so taken Stephen prayeth not to Christ to receive his Breath his Graces or the Holy Ghost but to receive his Rational immortal Soul It is not only the Soul
Father which art in Heaven shut not out thy Children the Children of thy love and promise The compassion that thou hast put into Man ingageth him to relieve a Neighbour â—ea an Enemy much more to entertain a Child Our Children and our Friends dare trust themselves upon our kindness and fidelity and fear not that we will reject them in their distress or destroy them though they do sometime offend us Our kindness is cruelty in comparison of thine Our Love dserveth not the name of Love in comparison of thy most precious Love Thine is the love of God who is Love it self 1 Joh. 4. 8 16. and who is the God of Love 2 Cor. 1. 13 11. and is answerable to thine Omnipotency Omniscience and other Attributes But ours is the love of frail and finite sinful men As we may pray to thee to Forgive us our trespasses for we also forgive those that have trespassed against us So we may pray to thee to receive us though we have offended thee for even we receive those that have offended us Hath thy Love unto thine own its breadth and length and height and depth and is it such as passeth knowledge Ephes 3. 17 18 19. and yet canst thou exclude thine own and shut them out that cry unto thee Can that love which washed me and took we home when I lay wallowing in my Blood reject me when it hath so far recovered me Can that Love now thrust me out of Heaven that lately fetch'd me from the gates of Hell and placed me among thy Saints Whom thou lovest thou lovest to the end John 13. 1. Thou art not as man that thou shouldst repent Num. 23. 19. with thee is no variablenes or shadow of turning Jam. 1. 17. If yesterday thou so freely lovedst me as to adopt me for thy child thou wilt not to day refuse me and cast me into Hell Receive Lord Jesus a member of thy body A weak one indeed but yet a member and needeth the more thy tenderness and compassion who hast taught us not to cast out our Infants because they are small and weak We have forsaken all to cleave unto thee that we might with thee be one flesh and spirit Ephes 5. 31. 1 Cor. 6. 17. O cut not off and cast not out thy members that are engrafted into thee Thou hast dwelt in me here by faith and shall I not now dwell with thee Ephes 3. 17. Then hast prayed to the Father that we may be one in thee and may be with thee to behold thy Glory John 17. 20 21 22 23 24. And wilt thou deny to receive me to that glory who pray but for what thou hast prayed to thy Father Death maketh no separation between thee and the members It dissolveth not the union of souls with thee though it separate them from the flesh And shall a part of thy self be rejected and condemned 10. Consider That Christ hath sealed thee up unto salvation and given thee the earnest of his Spirit and therfore will certainly receive thee 2 Cor. 1. 22. and 5. 5 Eph. 1. 13 14. and 4. 30. Say therefore to him Behold Lord thy mark thy feal thine earnest Flesh and blood did not illuminate and renew me Thy spirit which thou hast given me is my witness that I am thine Rom. 8. 16 And wilt thou disown and refuse the soul that thou hast sealed 11. Consider That he that hath given thee a Heavenly mind will certainly Receive thee into heaven If thy treasure were not there thy heart would never have been there Mat. 6. 21. Thy weak desires do shew what he intends thee he for kindled not those desires in vain Thy Love to him though too small is a certain proof that he intends not to reject thee It cannot be that God can damn or Christ refuse a Soul that doth sincerely Love him He that Loveth dwelleth in God and God in him 1 John 4. 15 16. And shall he not then dwell with God for ever God fitteth the nature of every creature to its use and agreeably to the element in which they dwell And therefore when he gave thee the heavenly nature though but in weak beginnings it shewed his will to make thee an inhabitant of heaven Say therefore to him O Lord I had never loved thee if thou hadst not begun and loved me first I had not not minded thee or desired after thee if thou hadst not kindled these desires It cannot be that thy Grace it self should be a deceit and misery and intended but to Tantalizeus and that thou hast set thy Servants Souls on longing for that which thou wilt never give them Thou wouldst not have given me the wedding garment when thou didst invite me if thou hadst meant to keep me out Even the grain of mustard-seed which thou sowedst in my heart was a kind of Promise of the Happiness to which it tendeth indeed I have loved thee so little that I am ashamed of my self and confess my cold indifferency deserves thy wrath But that I Love thee and desire thee is thy gift which signifieth the higher satisfying gift Though I am cold and dull my eyes are towards thee It is thee that I mean when I can but groan It is long since I have bid this world away It shall not be my home or portion O perfect what thou hast begun This is not the time or place of my perfection And though my life be now hid with thee in God when then appearest let me appear with thee in glory Col. 3. 4. and in the mean time let this soul enjoy its part that appeareth before thee Give me what thou hast caused me to Love and then I shall more perfectly love thee when my thirst is satisfied and the water which thou hast given me shall spring up to everlasting life Joh. 4. 14. 12. Consider also That he that hath engaged thee to seek first his Kingdom is engaged to give it them that do sincerely seek it He called thee off the pursuit of vanity when thou wast following the pleasures and profits of the world and he called thee to labour for the food that perisheth not but endureth to everlasting life John 6. 27. Since then it hath been thy care and business notwithstanding all thine imperfections to seek and serve him to please and honour him and so to run that thou mightest obtain Say then Though my sins deserve thy wrath and nothing that I have done deserve thy favour yet Godliness hath thy Promise of the Life to come and thou hast said that he that seeks shall find Matth. 7. 7. 8. O now let me find the Kingdom that I have sought and sought by thy encouragement and help It cannot be that any should have cause to repent of serving thee or suffer disappointment that trusts upon thee My labour for the World was lost and vain but thou didst engage me to be stedfast and abound in thy work on this account that my labour should