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
not get union with Christ and an interest in Christ This is what lies at the bottom and foundation of all of all our hopes of all our mercies of all our comforts of all our acceptation and communion with God of all Grace on Earth and of all Glory in Heaven and without it whatsoever our attainments in Religion are whatever our Profession may be whatever place or esteem we may have to the Church of God though never so raised and eminent yet we have nothing that will avail us in a dying hour I remember a saying of a learned man That thou maist live in death saith he get into Christ implant thy self into Christ by believing Faith joyns and unites us to Christ and they that are in Christ cannot die for Christ is their life And indeed if we have union with Christ he will be life in death it self to us Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord that is die having union with Christ being implanted into Christ Rev. 14.13 If we have union with Christ he will not be only life in death to us but he will even turn death it self into life the King of Terrors into a King of Comforts insomuch that the soul shall be able to triumph over it as the Apostle doth 1 Cor. 15.55 56 57. whereas without this without union with Christ and an interest in Christ we shall never be able to look death in the face with comfort but shall when we come to die be some of the miserablest spectacles in the world It is the speech of a worthy Divine who is long since gone hence A Christless dying man or woman says he is one of the saddest spectacles in the world For a man to be dying and not Christless that is comfortable for such an one dies but to live for ever he dies the death of Nature to live the life of Glory for a man to be Christless and not dying is something tolerable for who knows but that the next meeting at an Ordinance may be the time of God's love to him of drawing him into Christ but for a man to be dying and Christless Christless and dying too that is intolerable that is terrible indeed for such an one dies to be damned and he is going off from all hopes and possibilities of mercy for ever Oh therefore above all press after union with Christ and an interest in Christ this was Pauls great care and solicitude to the very last that so he might go off the Stage with comfort and that for which he accounted all things but dung as most base and vile Phil. 3.8 9. O Soul didst thou indeed know and consider of how much weight and importance an interest in Christ is to thee with reference to thine eternal happiness thou would cry out as eagerly for Christ as ever Rachel did for children saying Give me Christ or else I die give me union with Christ and an interest in Christ or I am undone eternally Oh look to the great uniting act of Faith make a right choice of Christ chuse him as your Lord and Head your King and Saviour and renew your choice of him every day resigning up your selves entirely to him to be saved and governed by him in his own way Secondly Would you indeed have all set right and made ready in the matters of your souls for a dying hour then press after a firm and unshaken assurance of an interest in God and his love and of your right and title to eternal life of another and a better life than this is here without some good evidence for Heaven and some well-grounded assurance of an interest in God and Eternal Life things are not ready with us nor are we in such a preparedness for a dying hour as we ought to be though a man hath an interest in God and his love though he hath a right and title to eternal life and happiness yet as long as he is in the dark and at an uncertainty in his own soul about it things are out of order with him and he is greatly unready for a dying hour For pray mark as our interest in this is requisite to our dying happily so the sight and assurance of that interest is requisite to our dying comfortably Indeed when a man hath attained to some good evidence for heaven to some well-grounded assurance of his interest in God and Christ then are things in a good posture with him in reference to a dying hour then he can play with Death and triumph over it as Job did when he could say I know that my Redeemer liveth Job 19.25 26. And as the Apostle seems to speak of it 2 Cor. 5.12 We know that when our earthly house of this tabernacle shall be dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens for this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven None of you do comfortably leave your house unless you have another to go unto much less can you comfortably quit this world unless you have some well-grounded assurance of another and a better life Take a man that is in the dark and at a loss as to his interest in God and Christ and he knows not what Death will do to him nor where it will lodge him whether in heaven or in hell whether upon the Throne of Glory or in the Prison of eternal Darkness in the Bosom of Christs love or under the Revelations of his infinite and eternal wrath and is such a one ready for a dying hour Surely no As ever therefore you would have things right and ready within indeed for a dying hour you must press after an assurance of your interest in God and Christ you must do as the Apostle exhorts give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 You must every day prest after a fuller and firmer assurance as to your eternal interest you must be much in faith much in prayer much in examining your evidences much in proving your state much in looking after the seal and evidence of the blessed Spirit which is indeed all in all and never rest till you can say My Lord and my God my Heaven my Glory God is the rock of my heart and my portion for ever O then all will be sweet and well with you this is that which the Saints of old have laboured after with their whole might Say unto my soul saith David to God I am thy salvation Psal 35 3â— set me as a seal upon thy heart and as a seal upon thine arm Cant. 8.6 This Austin pressed much after Lord saith he tell me what thou art to me say unto my Soul I am thy salvation so say it that I may hear it behold the ears of my heart are before thee open them O Lord and say unto my Soul I am thy Salvation O my Beloved this is worth pressing after for this is the
welcomest news a poor soul can possibly hear to be told that God is his and Heaven is his and Eternal Life is his and when once this news is come then welcom life and welcom death welcom time and welcom eternity then the Soul can say O sweet Eternity O blessed Eternity O Sirs be not satisfied without some good assurance of Gods love to your souls and your right and title to heaven and eternal life yea without the fullest assurance that is attainable here for know that there are degrees in Assurance it self the Scripture mentions three degrees of assurance First there is assurance The work of righteousness is peace and the fruit of righteousness is assurance for ever Isa 32.17 and give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure as in the place before quoted Secondly there is much assurance Our Gospel came unto you not in word only but in power and in the demonstration of the Spirit and much assurance 1 Thes 1.5 Thirdly there is a full assurance We desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end Heb. 6.11 Now my Beloved I would not have you satisfied without assurance without much assurance yea without a full assurance the more full your assurance is the more chearfully joyfully and triumphingly will you die Thirdly Would you indeed have all all right all in order in the matters of your souls for a dying hour then labour to maintain a constant actual peace with God every day making even with him and renewing the sense of his pardoning love in your souls as a firm union with Christ and a well-grounded assurance of an interest in God and eternal Life so also an actual peace with God and a daily renewed pardon from him is requisite to a thorough readiness and preparedness for a dying hour David had an interest in God yea and his interest was clear to him yet how sollicitous was he to get all even between God and him and how uncomfortable was it with him till he had renewed his peace with God when by his fall it had been broken Psal 51.8 12. This also is what is evidently held forth Job 7.21 where Job pleads thus with God Why dost thou not pardon mine iniquity and take away my transgression for now shall I sleep in the dust thou shalt seek me in the morning but I shall not be In the verse before he acknowledged he had sinned and here he intimates that God frowned on him for his sin the sense of pardoning love was not renewed in his soul which here therefore he pleads for and that upon this account because he was speedily to die intimating he could not die with comfort till he had a renewed sense of Gods pardoning love And this is the very thing which David begs in the Psalm of my Text in order to his comfortable going hence viz. that God would take away his transgressions Psal 39.8 As long as there is any sin any guilt lying upon our Consciences any sin unpardoned any difference between God and us any frowns in his face towards us we are unready for death and cannot with that comfort and boldness of spirit welcom it as we ought but when our peace with God is maintained and we have a renewed sense of his pardoning love in our souls then are things right and in order with us indeed deed and we may think of death with boldness and comfort and therefore mind this as ever you would be found ready for a dying hour every day even things between God and you every day get a fresh sense of pardon from him First as near as possible may be do nothing that may occasion any breach between God and you or raise any frowns in his face towards you if you do not break with God he will not break with you all breaches as to peace and friendship between God and us begin on our part yea neither will God break with us for little things in case they be not allowed by us but watched and striven against therefore as near as possibly you can do nothing to break and interrupt your peace with God for one moment And because when you have done all many things may and will fall out we having sinful sinning hearts and living in a world of snares and temptations for which God may justly frown upon us let us Secondly every day make even with him in the close of every day let us consider wherein we have broken with God come short of duty given any grief any distaste to his Holy Spirit and by Faith and Prayer let us sue out the pardon of it and let us not lie down if possible without some intimation of his pardoning love for which end First We should act Faith on the Blood and Advocateship of Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through faith in his Blood to declare his righteousness for remission of sins Rom. 3.24 25. And indeed Christ hath set up a Standing Office in Heaven which we may call the Pardon-Office he procureth new Pardons for his People daily under their new sins We have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 2.1 2. Have daily recourse to the Blood of Christ truly without it there is no living the best the holiest on earth have daily need of his Blood and should have daily recourse unto it for the maintaining of their peace and for the renewing of Gods pardoning love in their souls Secondly We should be humbly and earnestly importunate with God in prayer resolving not to let him go without this blessing carrying upon our spirits the sense of the worth and also of our unworthiness of it Thus the holy men of God of old have done they have sued out the pardon of their sins by Faith and Prayer and gotten a fresh sense of Gods love when they have broken with him as I might instance in Job in David and others we should every day pray as that Father did O Lord saith he do not after the manner of a Judge weigh or consider what I have done what I have spoken what I have thought but blot out all my sins with thy own Blood And as another of them did Lord saith he there is that in me which may offend thy holy eyes I know and confess it but who shall cleanse me or to whom shall I fly for relief but to thee O hide not thy face from me Truly when we have walked most watchfully most circumspectly many things may and will fall out that may offend the pure eyes of Gods Glory which we should confess and bewail before him suing out the pardon of them by the Blood of his Son Some of the Saints have made this their daily practise and so have maintained their peace for many years together and when they have come to die have gloricusly triumphed over Death
a dying hour Truly the longer God spares us if we answer not his end in his sparing mercy the more miserable shall we be for ever It will be sad to perish at all but it will be doubly sad to perish under the long-suffering of God under the abuse of much goodness and long patience O to have many dayes and many years patience and goodness come in to witness against a man at last how sad will this be Think of and seriously lay to heart that Scripture Rom. 2.4 5. Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up to thy self wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous Judgment of God Every day which God in his patience affords us if we be not led to repentance is a day of treasuring up wrath heaping up to our selves wrath against the day of wrath when wrath shall come upon us to the uttermost Well think then what a mercy it is that God spares you as he does and what an Obligation this sparing mercy of his is upon you to set all things right in the matters of your souls against a dying hour comes 4. Are you sure that those helps and advantages which now you enjoy to further you in your work will alwayes last and be injoyed by you Suppose my Beloved that God should yet spare you and prolong your dayes in the Land of the Living Yet O how soon may all your helps and advantages to further you in this great Work be withdrawn from you Now blessed be God you injoy many blessed helps and advantages for your furtherance in this great Work but how quickly may they all be gone 1. How soon may the Reproofs the Counsels the Holy Examples of your godly Friends Ministers and Relations be withdrawn from you now you injoy the loving Reproofs the wholesome Counsels the Holy Examples of such and such Friends and Relations one reproves you for sin another quickens you to duty one dehorts you from the World and carnal pleasure another perswades you to close with Christ and walk with God to pursue after Heaven and eternal life one wooes and beseeches you another charges and commands you to labour to know God and to live to him to provide for another life and they all shew you the path of Life they tread the way to Heaven in your sight All which are great helps and advantages to further you in this Great Concern of yours But how soon may all these be withdrawn thy Friends thy Ministers thy Relations will speedily be lodged in the dust and thou shalt never have a word of reproof a word of counsel a word of quickning a word of encouragement or a pattern of faith and holiness set before thee by them any more for ever which would be a dreadful thing Now thy godly Father Mother Yoke-fellow Master Friend and Acquaintance is plying thee with counsels and instructions for the good of thy Soul to morrow it may be he or she goes down to the Gates of the Grave and then no more of this for ever 2. How soon may the Word and Ordinances of God which you now enjoy be withdrawn from you Now you enjoy the Word and Ordinances of God you go from Ordinance to Ordinance you have line upon line precept upon precept as it is Isa 28.10 Yea let me tell you you see and hear those things which many Prophets and righteous men have desired to see and hear but saw and heard them not Matth. 13.16 O how is Light and immortality brought to light to you How is the Way of Salvation made plain and manifest before you What glorious discoveries What blessed revelations What sweet and frequent tenders of Christ are made to you How freely are you called to the Marriage-supper of the Lamb How lovingly does Christ invite you to himself How kindly does he stand knocking at the Door of your souls O my Beloved I may now say to you as Paul to the Corinthians 2 Cor. 6.2 Behold Now is the accepted time now is the day of Salvation O what helps and advantages are these But how soon may they all be gone How soon may the Word of God be withdrawn How soon may your light be put out and your souls left in darkness not knowing whither to go Remember that word of Christ and lay it to heart John 12.35 Yet a little while is the light with you walk while ye have the light least darkness come upon you and he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth While you have the light believe in the light that you may be the Children of the light It is a great question whether we may not lose Gospel-Ordinances and all and where are we then 3. How soon may the motions and strivings of the Spirit of God be withdrawn from you Now you have the motions and strivings of the Spirit of God in you and with you he moves upon the face of the waters in your souls he moves and strives in and by the Word and Ordinances Mercies and afflictions now you have enlightening and then you have quickening influences from him now he shews you your work and then he tenders you his assistance now he discovers the odiousness of sin to you and then he displays the beauty sweetness and excellency of Christ and holiness before you But alas How soon may all this be at an end Think of that terrible word Gen. 6.3 My Spirit shall no more strive with man God may possibly the next day yea the next hour say to his Spirit concerning one or another of us let him alone strive no more with him move no more in him convince him no more perswade him no more draw and allure him no more he is addicted to his lusts and to this World let him alone he has no mind to Heaven no desire to make any provision for another World let them alone he is unwilling to see beyond time to eternity he is given to his carnal pleasures let him alone he has a resisting gain-saying spirit let him alone O how soon these and all other helps and advantages you now enjoy may be withdrawn who knows You have all these together in one Scripture which I desire you to lay to heart Luke 19.41 42. When he was come near he beheld the City speaking of Jerusalem and wept over it saying If thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes They had had a day they did injoy the things of their peace they might and should have improved their day and the things of their peace by securing their eternal state But they neglected it and now all these are withdrawn from them which caused the Lord of Glory the Joy of the whole Earth to weep over them so
observes so the immortality of the soul is here asserted Besides Abraham Isaac and Jacob with the rest of the good old Patriarchs and Servants of God who died long since are notwithstanding living still so Christ argues you know Mat. 22.32 that is their souls live as indeed do the souls of all that are gone hence their souls all live either in happiness or misery with God or Devils and so must thine and mine Sinner when our body shall be eaten by the worms our souls will live either in Heaven or Hell Oh think of this daily contemplate and say I have a soul within me that must live for ever and that as filled with even an infinite happiness or misery I have a soul within me that is capable of unspeakable joys or unconceivable torments and in the one or the other it will it must live for ever why then am I not more concerned for it 2. Seriously contemplate and daily soak your spirits in the thoughts of the wonderful weight and importance of Eternity the greatness of the concern of the other world O Eternity Eternity O vast great boundless Eternity how shall I do to speak of thee how are my thoughts lost and my spirit overwhelmed when I set my self to contemplate how great how weighty a thing thou art an endless boundless bottomless state a state that admits of neither change pause or period for ever a state of unconceivable happiness or misery happiness in the enjoyment or misery in the loss of and banishment from God and Christ for ever happiness in the fruition of infinite love or misery in the revelation of infinite wrath one of which every soul must be the object of for ever Eternity such is the weight of it in it self that indeed we know not how to conceive of it every thing but Eternity has an end a last so innumerable as the stars of Heaven are yet there is a last Star and the number of them has an end though we cannot reach it so innumerable as the Sands on the Sea-shore are yet there is a last Sand and the number of them has an end could we reach to it so numerous as the piles of Grass which are now and from the Creation of the world have been and to the end of the world shall be are yet there is an end of the number of them could we reach it there is a last pile a last spire of Grass so innumerable as the grains of Corn in all the Harvests that ever were or shall be are yet the number of them has an end though we cannot reach it and there is a last grain so innumerable as all the drops of Rain that ever did fall or shall fall upon the Earth from the Creation to the end of the world are yet still there is a last drop yea and that though all the drops contained in the wide and deep Sea be added thereunto so innumerable as the children of men have been are and shall be to the end of all things so innumerable as all the hairs of the head of them all have been are and will be so innumerable as all the thoughts of the hearts of all throughout all Ages have been are and will be so innumerable as all the Bruits and Animals which both the Earth and the Sea have brought forth do and will bring forth are and will be yet still the number of them has an end could we reach it and there is a last man a last hair a last thought a last animal should all the vast Body of the Heavens which our eyes behold be full written with figures by the hand of an Angel yet the number of those figures would have an end and there would be a last figure but as for Eternity that has no end no last could all those vast numbers prementioned be put together into one who could in the least conceive of the thousand thousandth part of it yet all this were nothing to Eternity no not the thousand thousandth part of it Thus Eternity is unconceivably weighty in it self and 't is Eternity indeed that puts weight into all other things 't is Eternity that puts weight into the future Judgment what were that Judgment but that 't is Eternal Judgment Heb. 6 2. 'T is Eternity that puts weight indeed into the happiness and joys of heaven what were that happiness and those joys were they not Eternal hence 't is cal'd Eternal life Eternal glory a never-fading Crown an everlasting Kingdom joy and pleasure for evermore So you know the Scripture speaks of it as that which is its Crown and perfection hence we read of being for ever with the Lord 1 Thes 4.17 to be with the Lord is sweet Peter found it so all the Saints in their measure find it so here but to be with the Lord for ever that makes it infinitely sweet indeed thus and thus for ever in the bosom of my Father's love and there for ever in the views of my Redeemers glory and there for ever joyned in with an innumerable company of Angels in loving praising admiring adoring and singing Hallelujahs to God and the Lamb and this for ever to be fully swallowed up in the Divine life the Divine will the Divine presence the Divine fulness and this for ever to be set above all fin to be delivered from an unavoidable necessity of sinning to an absolute impossibility of sinning and this for ever O how sweet how glorious is this this one word Eternity or for ever is that which puts great sweetness into it Again 't is Eternity that indeed puts weight into the miseries and torments of the damned what were the fire of Hell were it not unquenchable fire what were the Worm there were it not a never-dying Worm when the Scripture would speak of the exceeding greatness and severity of those torments you know 't is in this language There the worm never dies and the fire is never quenched Mark 9.44 their miseries and torments are eternal and indeed Hell would be no Hell in comparison had it not Eternity in it Most weighty is the meditation which I have read in a learned and holy man to this purpose O Eternity Eternity O never-ending Eternity O Eternity that can be measured by no spaces of time that can be perceived or apprehended by no humane intellect or understanding how unconceiveably dost thou augment the torments of the damned And but a few lines after he again cries out O Eternity Eternity thou and thou alone dost aggravate the torments the punishment of the damned beyond all measure Heavy is the punishment of the damned because of its sharp ness its extensiveness its universality there being all plagues and punishments in it but says he it is most heavy because of its Eternity Oh 't is this indeed that makes it intollerably great and heavy O not only to be banished from God and Christ to be driven from the Beatifical Vision but to be banished and
have the state of my soul determined for life or death salvation or damnation in the other World O how great a thing is this 3. When a man comes to die he has to do with God immediately as his Judge for Eternity and this speaks it yet more terrifying and astonishing For though a man is then to deal with God immediately and that as his Judge too yet if it were but for a time for some short term of years it would not be altogether such a terrifying and amazing thing but alas it is for Eternity and therefore his Judgment is called Eternal Judgment Heb. 6.2 Hence Austin speaking of Death calls it Ostium Aeternitatis the Gate of Eternity i. e. the Gate or Door that lets men out into Eternity an Eternity of life or death salvation or damnation the sentence which God will then pass upon the soul will be an eternal sentence and the soul must be eternally under the execution of it whether it be for life or death salvation or damnation When a man comes to die hee then sees himself launching forth into the great Ocean of Eternity he sees his eternal all to be immediately at stake and his eternal state to be immediately determined by the great and holy God now he sees he must shoot the Great Gulf and take up his abode in the Eternal Region This fills him with amazement O now sayes he a sentence must pass upon me once for all now I must shoot the Great Gulf now I must launch forth into the great Ocean where neither bounds nor bottom is to be found for ever now I must enter upon Eternal Joys or Eternal Flames an endless life either with God or Devils in Heaven or Hell Now I shall sind Infiniteness and Eternity combine to do their utmost to make me happy or miserable for ever Now I must become the immediate object either of infinite wrath or infinite love infinite hatred or infinite delight and that for ever Now I must hear from God either come thou blessed or depart thou cursed and that for ever And O what an astonishing thing is this O Eternity Eternity O vast Eternity O Eternity Eternity O boundless Eternity One serious view of it is enough to amaze a poor soul looking upon it at a distance But how much more amazing must it needs be when it shall be immediately before the soul and he sees he must enter upon it the next hour O then it will be amazing indeed astonishing indeed This one thing Eternity puts infinite sweetness into mercies and infinite bitterness into sufferings the thoughts of this was that which did so much amaze that good man who sitting in a deep Muse a long time and being asked the reason of it was silent and being asked again and again at length broke into these Words For ever for ever for ever for ever and for near a quarter of an hour together spake nothing else thereby telling them that asked him that it was the thoughts of this same for ever that so much amused him And if you were more in the thoughts of the weight of Eternity you would see it were an astonishing thing indeed And this is that which makes dying work such a weighty work and a dying hour such a difficult hour I will close this head and with that this demonstration with a saying I have read in one of the Ancients That is not to be accounted sayes he an evil death which has had a good life precedeing it nor doth any thing make death terrible but that which follows death therefore they which must necessarily die are not much to concern themselves what falls out to cause death but whither by death they are constrained to go whither death carries them It is a great saying and indeed 't is no great matter when we die or how we die or what is the occasion of our death But it is whither death carries us and where death sets us down whether in a blessed or wretched Eternity whether with God or Devils in Heaven or Hell Well then if Death be thus terrible in its own nature If in a dying hour the Devil be so fierce and terrible in his assaults upon souls if Conscience be so awakened and smart in its Charges and Accusations if then we must have to do with God immediately and as our Judge yea as our Judge for Eternity as one that will determine the eternal condition of our souls in unspeakable happiness or unspeakable misery then surely dying work is great work and a dying hour is a difficult hour It then greatly concerns us to have all ready and all in order in the matters of our souls against the time thereof comes CHAP. III. Which shews the Glory Sweetness and Blessedness of the attainment of having all things set right in the matters of our Souls before a dying hour comes which will further evince the truth asserted AS dying work is weighty work and a dying hour is a difficult hour so to have all things set right all well ordered and composed in the matters of our souls against such an hour comes is an high a sweet a blessed attainment an attainment which carries infinite sweetness and desirableness in it a taste of which I shall give you in two things only 1. Hereby we come to be glorious Conquerours over Death and the Grave 2. Hereby we come to have an abundant entrance ministred to us into Heaven and Glory And my Beloved what more sweet and desirable than this Surely this speaks it to be a very sweet and blessed attainment 1. Hereby we come to be glorious Conquerours over Death and the Grave Death is an Enemy 't is the last enemy the Children of God have to grapple and conflict with The last enemy that is to be destroyed is Death 1 Cor. 15.26 and being the last enemy in conquering this they conquer all conquering this they are compleat and eternal Conquerours Now by having all things set right in the matters of our souls all things ready and in order for a dying hour we come to conquer this last Enemy yea to get a glorious Conquest over it Hereby Death comes to be swallowed up of Victory as you have the expression 1 Cor. 15.54 Hereby we are more than Conquerours over it Rom. 8.37 Take the Conquest which this gives us over Death in these three things 1. Hereby the soul is carried above the fear of Death In Heb. 2.15 We read of some who all their life-time were subject to bondage through fear of Death And if in their life-time much more when they come to a dying hour Then Conscience as you have heard is more awake Oh the fears the terrors the Hell upon Earth that the sight of Death's approach fills many a poor soul withall But now take a soul that has all things right and in order in his spiritual concerns and he is carried above the fear of this King of Terrours and that when made as
is sad at least for time the Lord carry us above such an Exit Some viz. well ordered souls die fiducially knowing things to be right between God and them and that is comfortable both for time and eternity Well then if hereby we come to have such a glorious Victory over Death and the Grave it must then be a great attainment to have all things in order between God and us and consequently greatly our concern to have things so 2. Hereby we come to have a rich and glorious entrance ministred to us into everlasting life and glory into Heaven and blessedness As hereby we come to be glorious Conquerours over the natural death so hereby we come to have a rich and glorious entrance ministred to us into the eternal life which also carries much sweetness and blessedness in it 2 Pet. 1.5.11 And besides this giving all diligence add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge c. that is grow as compleat in Grace as possibly you can make sure of your salvation make all ready in the matters of your souls and what then So an entrance shall be ministred to you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ And is not this a blessed attainment Take this in three things 1. Hereby the soul comes to enjoy much of Heaven here upon earth much of blessedness and glory whilest on this side blessedness and glory then hath a man an abundant entrance ministred unto him into heaven and glory when he hath much of heaven and glory given out to him here on earth large earnest and first-fruits and this the soul has that hath all things right in the matters of his spiritual state all things ready and in order within Hence we read sometimes of the earnest sometimes of the first-fruits of the Spirit Eph. 1.14 Rom. 8.28 And the soul that is most ready has the greatest earnest and first-fruits that is to say the greatest beginnings of Heaven here upon earth For that which makes us ready for a dying hour is something of heaven dropped into the soul here 2. Hereby he comes to go triumphingly from Earth to Heaven to go to Heaven and Glory with a Crown upon his head and is not this a sweet attainment Then hath a man an abundant entrance into Heaven and Glory when he goes triumphingly thither When a man passes to heaven and glory with visions thereof in his eye and prelibations thereof in his soul with a clear witness and evidence in his Spirit that he is going to possess the fulness thereof with God and Christ for ever when a man enters into life without any rebukes from God or his own Conscience without any stumbling through doubting or unbelief This is the happiness of such as have all things well in their souls before a dying hour comes It is with such in death as it was with John in a Vision Rev. 4.1 They as it were hear a voice from Heaven saying Come up hither and immediately they are in the Spirit Some poor souls croud into Heaven through a throng of doubts and unbelief difficulties and despondencies through many fears and temptations insomuch that it might be truly said of them that they are searcely saved as the Apostle's expression is but others go through none of these they go triumphantly with a Crown upon their Heads as it were So Paul 2. Tim. 4.6 7 8. I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not unto me only but to all them also that love his appearing Methinks I see how this holy soul went triumphingly to the Throne of God and the Lamb. When David and the house of Israel brought up the Arke of the Lord it was with shouting and with the sound of the Trumpet So when such a soul goes to rest 't is with a kind of shouting and triumph among the Saints themselves who all reach the same heaven and glory at last There is a very great deal of difference in their death and in their going to that heaven and glory As you know two Ships may arrive at the same Harbour yet with much difference as to the manner of their coming in The one makes a shift to get in but 't is with her Anchors lost her Sails rent her Flags down her Masts broken and the like but the other comes in bravely riding as 't were in triumph with her Sails spread her Anchors safe her flags flying her Trumpets sounding and her Mariners shouting So great a difference there is in the passing of Saints to Heaven and Blessedness Now what an attainment must it be to go with shouting and triumph 3. Hereby the soul comes to be admitted to and invested with an eminent fulness of Blessedness and Glory with God for ever Then has a man an abundant entrance into heaven and glory when he is admitted to and invested with an eminent fulness of glory and blessedness in heaven for ever and this he hath who has all right and ready in the concerns of his soul when he comes to die Such a one receives a full reward as the expression is 2 Epistle of John 8. and has much fruit abounding to his account Phil. 4.7 And O what a sweet and blessed attainment does this speak it to be to have all in order against a dying hour comes Now if it be such an attainment to have things set right and in order in our souls against a dying hour then surely it must needs be highly our concern to have all things so CHAP. IV. Which shews the state of men and women under death as a further evidence of our assertion AS to have all things ready and in order when a dying hour comes is an high and glorious attainment so such is the state and condition of men and women under death that it cannot but be highly their concern to have all things set right all things ready in the matters of their souls when they come to die This I will set before you in three Propositions First Proposition is this That such is the state and condition of men and women under death that there is no return for them into this life any more for ever When once a man's Sun is set it never rises more when once a man has his Exit is gone off the stage of this world he never enters more there is no more any part to be acted here by him this you have in the Text Before I go hence and be no more that is no more in this World So Job 7.7 8 9 10. O remember that my life is wind mine eyes shall no more see good The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more Thine eyes are upon me and
I am not As the Cloud is consumed and vanisheth away so he that goeth down to the Grave shall come up no more He shall return no more to his House and his place shall know him no more Again Job 10.20 21. Are not my dayes few Cease then and let me alone that I may take comfort a little before I go whence I shall not return even into the Land of darkness and the shadow of death And again Ch. 16.22 When a few dayes are come then shall I go the way whence I shall not return All shewing that when a man is once gone off the Stage of this World there is no return for him any more Second Proposition is this That such is the state of men and women under death that there is nothing to be done for their souls there is nothing to be mended that is amiss nothing to be set in order that shall be found out of order Death my beloved is not the time of working but of receiving the reward of our work Death leaves us under an utter and eternal impossibility of ever doing any thing for another World Therefore whatever thine hand findeth to do saith Solomon do it with al thy might for there is no work nor counsel in the Grave whither thou goest Eccles 9.10 And I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day because the night cometh when no man can work saith Christ John 9.4 Death is a state of darkness and it deprives us of all helps advantages and opportunities of ever doing any thing for the good of our souls There is no repenting no believing no turning to God in the Grave There is no assuring pardon of sin no getting an Interest in Christ no making our Calling and Election sure there O no these things must be done now or they can never be done and if they be never done our souls are for ever undone 'T was an Epicurean saying of him who said Eat drink play for after death there is no pleasure but it would be a Christian saying to say to you and my own soul love God pray to him seek his face repent believe make sure of Christ for after death none of these are to be done They must be done here or never Third Proposition is this That such is the state of men and women under death that the Soul is actually and irreversibly stated and concluded in his eternal condition The Souls eternal state is absolutely fix'd and unchangeably determined without any alteration for ever 'T is an observation among the School-men that look what befel the Angels that sinned that in death befalls wicked men those that are not ready for a dying hour The Angels immediately upon their sinning were stated in an irreversible condition of wo and misery And wicked men unready souls immediately upon death are irreversibly stated in a like eternal condition they are eternally sealed up under damnation And the Devils may as soon get out of those Chains of eternal darkness whereinto they are cast and in which they are locked up being reserved unto Judgment as such persons can change or reverse that condition The truth is death when ever ot where ever it comes is a determining thing it concludes the soul for ever under an unalterable state of life or death of happiness or misery for as the Tree falls so it lies Eccl. 11.3 Hence in death the Spirit the soul is said to return to God Eccl. 12.7 Upon which a learned man has this observation God saith he receives the Soul of Man when he dies to himself and having received it he delivers it either to the Holy Angels that by them it might be carried to Heaven if it hath been holy and good or he delivers it to the evil Angels by them to be dragged into Hell if it hath been ungodly Hence the Apostle tells us after death comes judgment Heb. 9.27 By which is meant the particular Judgment of every man and woman immediately upon death which is nothing else but the stating of the soul in an eternal condition Hence also when Dives is brought in desiring that Lazarus might dip the tip of his finger in water to cool his tongue answer is made that it cannot be for as much as there is no going for any either from Hell to Heaven or from Heaven to Hell because there is a Gulph fixed Luke 16.26 Noting the unalterableness of that state which Death sets men down in whether of happiness or misery Well then if such be the state of men and women under death as we have heard then surely 't is highly our concernment to have all ready all in order against a dying hour comes Having given you thus briefly the demonstration of the point I shall make some practical improvement of it CHAP. V. Wherein sinners are convinced of their sin and folly in their neglect of this concern with six weighty Pleas or Arguments to set home this Conviction and awaken them to their work ANd is this indeed a concern of so much weight and moment to us Then how great is their folly and what enemies are they to their own souls who live in the neglect of this great business and concern which the most of men do God is pleased to spare yeâ— wonderfully to spare them for dayes for weeks for months for years together and that for this very end that they should make themselves ready and set all right in the matters of their souls against a dying hour comes but woe and alas for them This they mind not this they concern not themselves about but do live in a total neglect thereof than which what greater folly can they be guilty of Pray mind what God himself speaks in this case Deut. 32.28 29. Where he saith concerning Israel they were a Nation void of counsel nor was there any understanding in them And what then O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end Observe here two things attested and verified by God himself First that 't is a point of the highest wisdom the Sons of men are capable of seriously to consider their latter end that is to prepare for death to set all things right in the matters of their souls so as that things may issue well with them at last and they may go off the Stage of this World with comfort Secondly that not to do this is a point of the greatest folly It doth evidently argue men to be void of counsel and all true understanding It would have been their wisdom to have considered their latter end and their not doing of it argued them to be guilty of notorious folly These things you may see God himself attests and verifies here And my Beloved what greater folly can there be than for a man to live in the neglect of that which is of so much weight and importance for him to mind as this is Surely the greater the concern
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
all these pleas and fall speedily upon soul work Secondly Consider the danger of delayes delayes in this case are exceeding dangerous one dayes yea for any thing I know one hours delay herein may prove thine eternal undoing it may prove the loss of Christ the loss of heaven the loss of thy soul and all for ever Alas Art thou sure thou shalt live one day one hour more in this world for ought thou knowest the next mornent thou goest down into the grave Job 21.13 But in case thou shouldest live longer in the world art thou sure the Gospel and the means of Grace shall be continued to thee if thou shouldest not be taken from the world yet the Gospel may be taken from thee though the day of thy life may last a while longer yet the day of Gospel Grace and mercy may suddenly expire and if that be once gone all the tenders of Christ all the offers of Grace all the exhibitions of Life and salvation are gone if the Gospel be once gone thy season is gone and thy Soul is gone and thy Salvation is gone and that for ever therefore saith the Apostle Now is the accepted time speaking of the day of Gospel-mercy now is the day of Salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 Or grant thou shouldest live and the Gospel should be continued to thee as the outward means yet art thou sure that the day and season of grace will last any longer than this present moment remember that sad word which our Lord breathed out with tears in his eyes over neglecting Jerusalem Luk. 19.42 O that thou hadst known at least in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes Alas how soon may God withdraw his Spirit from thee how soon may he call home his grieved Spirit from thy neglecting resisting soul once for all saying my Spirit shall strive no more with that man Gen. 6.3 how soon may God seal thee up under judicial blindness and hardness of heart so that thou shalt never be able to believe or to do any thing for the good of thy soul in order to the other world thou talkest of to morrow and of hereafter but who knows but that before to morrow God may clap the seal of an hard heart and a blind mind upon thee so as that though thou shouldest live a thousand years and withal enjoy the fairest means that ever any soul enjoyed yet thou shouldest be never able to believe to repent to do any thing for the working out of thy Salvation it is often times his way of proceeding with neglecting delaying ones Isa 6.10 Joh. 12.39 40. Or how soon may the Oath of God go forth against thee thou talkest of to morrow but alas who knows but that before to morrow God may swear in his wrath thou shalt not enter into his rest it is what is threatned against such as will not hear his voice to day but harden their hearts against him Heb. 3.7 8 9 10 11. There is a time when God's Oath goeth forth against such and such sinners for their contempt and neglect of Christ and Grace a time not only when God saith but sweareth and that in wrath that they shall never enter into his rest and if once Gods oath is gone out against a man that man is past recovery then farewell Christ and Heaven and Soul and all for ever O how dangerous are delays therefore take heed of them and fall presently upon soul work Thirdly consider the disadvantage of delayes delayes herein are disadvantagious as well as dangerous indeed were there no danger in them I mean as to the eternal state yet the disadvantage of them is so great as if rightly considered might be enough to antidote the soul against them and engage it presently in the work which relates to another world Pray consider it a little by delayes the soul loseth much sweet communion with Christ and many a blessed communication of love from him which he might enjoy the sooner we fall upon the work of heaven and eternity the sooner we come to a taste and beginning of heaven and a blessed eternity in our souls O the sweet embraces braces the blessed discoveries the glorious incomes of love and delight that the soul loses by his delayes to get into Christ and to walk with God and to mind eternal concernments Poor soul by thy delayes thou hast lived upon husks and swill all thy dayes hitherto whereas thou mightest have eaten bread in thy Fathers house and drunk wine new in thy Fathers kingdom thou hast lived on the muddy dungy drossie delights of fin and the creature whereas thou mightest have solaced and delighted thy soul with those chrystal streams of undefiled pleasures which are at Christs and the Fathers right hand Besides by delayes the work of thy soul grows more difficult hereby corruption grows more strong and the heart grows more hard by every dayes delay the old enmity strengthens it self and the soul is more and more setled upon its lees for accustomedness in sinning hardens the heart in sin as is hinted Jer. 13.23 every day the soul is more alienated from Christ and hardened against him at best if thy soul doth at last come to see thy need of Christ and desireth to close with him and to mind the work and concerns of another world yet the longer thou delayest this business the greater temptations thou wilt have to get over for though now thy heart faith it is too soon yet after a few dayes delay it will say it is too late it will be apt to conclude that now thy day is over and now Christ will have nothing to do with thee Oh why shouldst thou be such an Enemy to thy own soul as to run it upon these disadvantages rather avoid them by falling presently upon Soul-work Fourthly Confider the sinfulness of delays and the horrible guilt they bring upon the soul as delays are dangerous and disadvantagious so they are sinful too exceeding sinful and provoking to the God of Heaven the truth is were there no danger in them no disadvantage by them to the soul yet the sinfulness of them is such as should make us afraid of them In every days delay to mind and pursue Soul-work there is positive rebellion and disobedience to the Will and Command of God for the Command is To day if ye will-hear his voice harden not your hearts Heb. 3.7 8. by delaying therefore thou rebellest against the Command in every day's delay to mind and pursue soul-work there is horrible unkindness and ingratitude to God and Christ which surely is a black sin and brings great guilt upon the soul God spares you time after time when he might cut you off the next moment and this he doth that you may pursue the work of your Souls and Eternity and oh what unkindness what ingratitude must it be in us to neglect and put off this work in every delay to mind and
pursue Soul-work there is much contempt of Christ and Grace and this is that whieh makes it to be exceeding sinful Christ offers himself and his Grace to you he offers you life he offers you peace he offers you pardon he offers you righteousness he offers you strength he offers you all the treasures of heaven and withal calls upon you to accept these offers and to take home these things to your selves but you by your delays powre contempt upon all you in effect say neither Christ nor his grace neither Christ nor the purchase of his Blood are worth minding worth looking after Oh what contempt is this and what sin is this by delays you do in effect say there is something better than Christ and something of greater concernment to you than Salvation by Christ you plainly say that indeed you will have Christ hereafter and Salvation hereafter but for the present you had much rather have your lusts and worldiy pleasures Oh tremble at the thoughts of this and let it affright you out of your delays and put you immediately upon Soul-work In a word never any pretended that they minded the concerns of their souls union with Christ walking with God making sure their Calling and Election so soon many have repented that they have minded these things so late I remember a bitter complaint of Austin in his Book of Confessions I have loved thee too late saith he O thou so ancient and yet so new a beauty I have loved thee too late He bewails that he had so long laid out his love upon the creature and not given Christ his love could you ask all the Saints in Heaven whether ever they repented that they minded the work of Christ and their souls so soon they would tell you no they repented of nothing but that they minded it so late once more therefore let me call upon you to fall immediately upon Soulwork and never rest till thy heart cries out to God as Austin did when God had really shewed him himself and made him sensible of his sins when God saith he had shewed me my sin and misery there arose a great storm within me which carried with it a great showr of tears and indeed I let loose the reins to tears crying out to God in such words as these O Lord how long how long wilt thou be angry how long shall it be said to morrow and to morrow wherefore may it not be now why may there not an end be put to my sin and filthiness this very hour And indeed God made that very season the season of his Conversion So labour to see thy sin and misery so far as that thou maist cry out with a holy restlesness to God how long shall it be to morrow and to morrow why may I not be turned to thee now why may not my soul be engaged in the work of Heaven and Eternity now Fifthly would you indeed set all right in your souls and make all ready for a dying hour then be much and importunate with God in prayer to teach you so to number your days as to apply your hearts to wisdom This I ground upon Psal 90.12 where Moses the man of God is found in this practise Lord saith he teach us so to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom To number our days is not to number them in an Arithmetical but a spiritual way it is not to cast up how many days the life of man consists of that is easily done but it is spiritually and practically to consider and lay to heart the shortness and uncertainty of our lives together with the various miseries and calamities that do attend them So Mollerus It is seriously and fiducially to contemplate the vanity of life as short and uncertain and as attended with sorrows miseries and innumerable troubles and to apply the heart to wisdom 't is to make Religion and the work of a man's soul his main business it is to make it his great business and endeavour to get an interest in God and Christ in the Covenant of Grace and Eternal life and in time to provide for and make sure of a blessed Eternity it is to set a man's whole soul to the work of God and his own salvation Now as ever you would indeed make ready for a dying hour beg of God to teach you thus to number your days and thus to apply your hearts to wisdom There are two things I would observe and so close this First That such a numbring of our days is what the best of Saints need and may make great use of Moses was a very holy man and yet he looked upon it as a work useful and of great importance to him to contemplate the vanity of life and to think of the shortness and uncertainty of his abode here the most holy souls need this the most holy souls need humbling they need weaning from this world they need quickning unto duty they need to have their hearts awakened to mind heaven and a future life and the right numbring of our days is that which greatly conduceth hereunto Secondly observe that as this is a work needful and useful for the best of Saints to be employed in so it is a work above their own strength and that which they need Divine Assistance to enable them unto Moses was an eminently holy man and yet as he saw he had need of this so he saw it was a work above his power and therefore he goes to God and puts in himself among the rest and prays for his teachings herein let us do 〈◊〉 let us lye much at the foot of 〈…〉 his teachings whereby we may be enabled so to number our days as thus to apply our hearts unto wisdom beg him to make us see the vanity and uncertainty of our lives and that so as effectually to engage us to make out after a better life CHAP. VIII Wherein more particular helps and directions are laid down in order to the setting of things right and making all ready for a dying hour BUt I would come nearer this great business and give you some more particular directions in order to your making all ready for a dying hour and First would you indeed have all things right in the matters of your souls for a dying hour then get into Christ get union with Christ and an interest in Christ by believing union with Christ and an interest in Christ is most requisite and necessary to fit and prepare us for a dying hour and without it we have we can have nothing set right nothing in order nothing in readiness for that hour You know how the Scripture speaks He that hath the Son hath life but he that hath not the Son of God hath not life 1 John 5.12 and there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 O my beloved we shall live or die be saved or damned for ever according as we do or do
a manner overlook'd and forgotten by him when to see the Name of God exalted shall be a mans greatest triumph and to see it debased shall be his greatest trouble when his practical language shall be such as this Father here I am which way so ever thy glory lies I am ready to serve thee in it 't is honour enough for me to honour God 't is happiness enough for me to glorifie God and therefore let God do with me and let him call me to do whatever he will in order thereunto let him if he pleases eclipse my name and throw my glory in the dust so be it he will thereby raise his own Name and brighten his own Glory let him if he pleases make me a footstool and let me be trampled upon so be it he will advance himself into the Throne thereby let me die if his will be so that his glory may live whatever becomes of me though I should be stript of all though my name and interest should rot yet let God be magnified let God have honour in the world and let the interest and Kingdom of Christ prosper 't is enough I am satisfied When I say 't is thus with a soul this speaks noble Grace indeed Oh press after such Grace the more you love the Name of God and Christ the fitter you are either to live or die 10. For a man not onely to be willing to suffer but also to rejoyce in sufferings for the sake of Christ and the Gospel for a man chearfully to take up the Cross for Christ and to look upon it as his crown and glory as an honour and preferment to him this also is an high strain of Grace and is greatly pleasing to God The Cross my Beloved in it self is a black sowre Crab-tree as one calls it but though such in it self yet as 't is born for the sake of Christ and so his Cross 't is an honour and not a reproach a Crown of Glory a Royal Diadem upon the head of a poor creature To you is given on the behalf of Christ to suffer for his sake Phil. 1.29 Sufferings for Christ are a Noble Royal Honourable gift more Honourable than the Crowns and Kingdoms of this world a prison for Christ is more honourable than the stateliest Palaces of the greatest Princes bonds for Christ are more honourable than ropes of Pearl or Diamonds Now when a soul shall look on these things as such and accordingly rejoyce in them this is noble Grace indeed such Grace was found in the Disciples Acts 5.41 who rejoyced or as the word is leapt for joy that they were accounted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ or as the words may be rendred that they were honoured to be dishonour'd for Christ So the Apostle and his Brethren Rom. 5.3 We glory in tribulation and I rejoyce says Paul in reproaches necessities and persecutions for Christ 2 Cor. 12.10 So those Worthies Heb. 10.34 who took joyfully the spoiling of their goods This Christ calls for Mat. 5.22 Rejoyce and be exceeding glad when men persecute you for my sake And again Count it all joy when you fall into divers afflictions c. James 1.12 'T is admirable to think how some of the Saints both in former and latter times have gloried in the Cross of Christ and even longed for it Luther longed for the honour of Marryrdom and was ready even to envy those that were called to it when he was not writing to some of his acquaintance in bonds for Christ and the Gospel he breaks out into this complaint O miserable me who have been first in teaching these things but last and perhaps never worthy to be a partaker of your bonds and fires Oh labour for such Grace We think it much if we be content to suffer but we should rejoyce in sufferings glory in the Cross carry our selves under sufferings for Christ as looking upon them to be for so indeed they are an honour and privileg to us 11. For a man in a prosperous condition all things going smoothly with him in the world to be willing to looâ— Anchor and be gone hence to Heaver yea for a man to long and long earnestly for a dissolution that he might 〈◊〉 with Christ fully and for ever with him this is noble Grace Sirs take a man whose mountain of prosperity stands strong whose paths are as it were strewed with Roses the Roses of creature-contentments who has all the heart can wish of this worlds good 〈◊〉 streams running pleasantly on each haâ—â— of him for such an one in such a condition to long and long earnestly to 〈◊〉 gone to his dear Lord that so he may be fully like him and may see him as he is that he may be eternally in his presence swallowed up in the love praise and admirations of him be a perfect partaker of his life and image this great and glorious Grace when thou a mans condition in the world be every way such as that he may well say 〈…〉 good to be here yet the daily pulse of 〈◊〉 soul is that of the Spouse Cant. 8.14 Make haste my beloved and be thou like a Roe or a young Hart upon the mountains of Spices make haste to fetch me hence to Heaven this is noble Grace and that which every one does not come up unto indeed when we are in affliction and our lives are bitter to us by reason of many and great trials difficulties and temptations then many are willing to be gone but this is so far from noble Grace that this may be where there is no Grace at all but when the Sun shines upon our Tabernacle and sets not when we live in a Paradise of earthly comforts and contentments then to pant and long to be gone to be with Christ then to suspire and breathe after the other world and with an holy impatiency to look out for it this is glorious Grace Grace that carries an heavenly odour and savour with it Thus I have mentioned some of those more noble and excellent strains of Grace for our imitation which I would have you to labour to come up unto and the more you come up to these the more fit you are to live and the more ready you are to die CHAP. X. Wherein further Directions are laid down in order to the setting of things right and making all ready for a dying hour Seventhly WOuld you indeed have all things right and in order before a dying hour comes then be diligent and faithful in the work of God that work which God in a particular manner hath given you to do We have all our work to do and that given us of God we have general work and special work First We have general work to do the work of our Christian calling the work of our salvation which we are commanded to work out with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 the work of Faith and the labour of Love the work of Mortification
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
solace and satisfie them as that there shall not be room for the least tittle or iota of a desire for ever yea such sights and enjoyments as shall so satisfie them as to leave them under an utter impossibility of ever turning aside from them to any thing else and so an eternal impossibility of sinning Oh how sweet must this be and indeed the School-men I find and others from them give this as one reason why the Saints in heaven are impeccable because the sight and enjoyment they have of God there is so full and satisfying as that they cannot turn aside to any thing else O welcom death that brings us to those sights those enjoyments of God the Chief Good Once more 7. Death when ever it comes will bring you to and set you down in the enjoyment of an eternal Sabbath and oh how sweet is this There remaineth a Rest the word is a Sabbath or Sabbatism to the people of God Heb. 4.9 Ay but when shall they enjoy it why truly when death comes that will enter them upon it immediately upon the night of death dawns the eternal Sabbath True the Saints enjoy a Sabbath here and the Sabbath to them is the sweetest and amiablest day in all the week 't is a day of joy and holy feasting to their souls and oh how many times do your souls long for it but alas these Sabbaths have an end but the Sabbath death will set them down in will be an eternal Sabbath and an eternal Sabbath wherein they shall be employed in the highest acts of worship and adoration even Love Praise Admiration and Halleluja's for ever wherein there will be no weariness no faintness wherein there shall be no intermission no going to duties and break off again as here we do but an whole Eternity shall be imployed in acts of Divine Worship and Adoration wherein there shall be no deadness no dulness no spiritual indispositions no unsuitableness in us to those high and holy Exercises which this Sabbath will be fill'd with but our souls shall be perfectly suited to and fitted for those glorious employs wherein not a few only and those some Saints and some sinners some good and some bad shall joyn together in acts of worship but an innumerable company both of Saints and Angels and these all perfectly holy Heb. 12.22 23 24. Oh how sweet and glorious will this be 'T is a great saying which I have read in a worthy Divine Sabbaths here are comfortable says he and we have tasted some sweet some comfort in some Sabbaths but take all the comfort that ever you had in all the Sabbaths you have enjoyed here and all will be nothing to the comforts and sweetness of the Eternal Sabbath Alas the perpetual Sabbath that shall be hereafter that will be the accomplishment of all these Sabbaths how sweet then must that be Oh ye Saints of God lift up your heads death will set you down in this Sabbath How have some of us longed sometimes for the coming of the Sabbath and how have we grieved when it has been gone well but when death comes that will bring you to a Sabbath that shall never end 'T is a sweet saying of Austin There says he speaking of Heaven is the great Sabbath a Sabbath that hath no evening no end in which we shall rest and behold behold and love love and praise for ever Oh blessed be God for this Sabbath and blessed be God that death when it comes shall bring us to this Sabbath Well then fear not death dread not death but be found diligent and faithful in the use of the helps prescribed for the preparing of your souls for it and then 't will greatly befriend you when ever it comes and you may exult and rejoyce in it I should now conclude but I must first beg all that read this plain Discourse deeply and frequently to consider and contemplate these things 1. Every day seriously consider and contemplate the exceeding worth of your souls and the great things they are capable of 't is sad to think what low thoughts the most of men have of their souls they are content to sell their souls to lose their souls to damn their souls and all for a lust for a little of this world a little carnal sensual pleasure and delight here which is but for a moment That rebuke which Austin gave one is due to the most How comes it to pass says he that among all thy good things thou wilt let nothing be in an ill case but thy self thy Soul Truly the most of men are solicitous to have all well but their Souls they will have it go well with their Bodies their Names their Estates their Families but their Souls they mind not But my Beloved I beseech you think deeply and frequently of the worth of your souls and the concerns of them O 't is your soul that is your principal part Christ who best knew the worth of souls tells you that the whole World is nothing to one soul and that the gain of the one can't recompence the loss of the other no not in the least Mat. 16.26 and you know what a price he was pleased to pay for souls even his own Blood his precious Blood Life and all 1 Pet. 1.19 Besides there are two things which speak the soul to be a thing of unspeakable worth and value its vast capacity and its absolute immortality 1. The capacity of the soul speaks its worth Oh what great things is the soul of man capable of there is a kind of infiniteness as a worthy Divine observes in the soul of man 't is capable of even an infinite happiness or an infinite misery 't is capable of eternal life or eternal death 't is capable of unconceivable communications both of love and wrath and must one day be fill'd with the one or the other of them 't is capable of knowing God of bearing his Image of enjoying glorious communion with him yea of living Gods own life and in a participation of his own blessedness look whatever the Angels enjoy look whatever the humane soul of Christ enjoys that thy soul is capable of the enjoyment of Sinner O how precious does this speak it to be and how great should thy concern be for it while day and season lasts contemplate it therefore a little and say O how precious is my soul and what great things is it capable of and it being so why do I take up in such low poor dungy drossy things as the best of sin and this world are 2dly The immortality of the soul argues its worth the soul that never dies 't is indeed but as it were a spark a beam of God's own immortality breathed into the body at least there is a stamp and impress thereof upon it the body that dies that returns to dust but the soul that lives that goes to God Eccles 12.7 As the mortality of the body as a Learned man
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