degree as we ought Is our Love to Christ so sprightly and vigorous that we could heartily welcome any Messenger to call us to him Be the Instrument what iâ— will and the Manner and Circumstances of our Departure as God shall please and the Warning never so short and sudden Are we ready to go presently at the first Call That were it not for doing Service in our Places which God who needs not our Help can do by other ways we should rather choose to be with Christ as far better Could we Answer to such a Call of God as Samuel Lord here I am thoudidst call me O let me pass through the dark Valley that nothing may keep me longer at such an uncomfortable distance from my Lord and Saviour that where he is I may be to behold his Glory This Readiness Habitual and Actual we have need to look after because the Son of Man comes in a time when we think not of him And therefore II. To urge your Diligence and Care to be Ready for the Coming of Christ let me amplifie and enforce the Argument in this Text by several Considerations As I. That whether Ready or not Ready e're long our Lord will come Our particular Judgment by Death which shall confine us to the eternal and final one is at no great distance We are hastning to this Day of God whether we believe and mind it or no As Passengers in a Ship to the end of their Voyage whether they sleep or wake whether we be wise Servants or foolish faithful Stewards or unfaithful whether we expect the Coming of our Lord and Prepare for it or do not He will shortly come and call us to an Account O how soon shall you and I be gone What a Change will a few days make in this City and in this Congregation We may judge of it by what it hath made in few years past In less than Twenty Years what Changes in Families and Churches and Cities and Nations Husbands and Wives parted Parents and Children Friends snatch'd away out of the Bosom of their Friends Those we loved and lived familiarly with Called before us and gone home And we are hastning after a pace whether our Readiness and Preparation do or do not answerably hasten One Relation and another Acquaintance drops into the Grave Some are ready and some unready One Pastor after another is removed to Heaven and the Pulpits where they preach know them no more and others will start up in our rooms and are preparing to fill our Places who succeed any of those whose Funerals you Remember And after a sew Lords's-Days more and at most after a few Summers and Winters more you and I shall be called likewise whether we be Ready or not Ready 2. When once thou art called to thy particular Judgment by Death nothing more can be done to get Ready for the Coming of Christ Eccl. 9.10 John 9.4 What if you were now leaving this World and how near and sure is such an hour You would then be sensible that now or never is the time to prepare and get Ready Awake therefore and Mind it without delay that you may not cry for more Time when time is gone and for the mercy of God when it is too late O how shall my unprepared Soul Appear before my God! How shall I pass into Eternity unready What shall I do to meet my Lord with Comfort as if you had never heard till that time that you must dye and come to Judgment O what Hearts of stone have Sinners that can hear these things so often and not resolve without delay to get Ready That will not consider the Judge is at the Door his Vengeance at their back his Wrath pursues their sins and woe be to them if it overtake them Before their Friends have laid their Bodies in their Graves or wrap'd them in their Burying cloaths their Souls shall feel that God is in earnest and that now is the only time to get ready for Judgment 3. When men think not of it and least expect his Summons the Lord doth often come When thou art most regardless of Death thy Head and Heart taken up with other things the Hand-writing on the Wall may appear and strike thee into a sit of trembling a Voice from God may be heard Come away Man or Woman Come away thy Time shall be no more this Evening or the next Morning this Night or the next Day thy Soul shall be required of thee Believe it no Place no Age no Time no Portion of thy Life is certainly exempted Do not then put off thy being Ready lest thy Resolutions for hereafter should bare longer date than the time of thy Life 4. All the Time of our Lives is little enough to get Ready for the Coming of Christ 'T is little enough to learn to Live says the Moralist it is short enough be sure to learn to Dye Ask those who have taken most Pains and spent most of their Time to get Ready Yet after all their Prayers and Tears after all their Watching Striving Running and Preparedness they complain they are Vnready still unready for the Spiritual Coming of Christ when they are to meet him at his Table much more Vnready for his last Coming Therefore let us give Diligence that we may be found of him in Peace without spot and blameless And if the question be seriously ask'd of all of you one after another ARe you prepared for Death are you Ready for the Coming of Christ or are you not How few will have the Heart or Face to say they are The best will say they need further Preparation But what must they think and say of themselves who own they are habitually as to their State unready no way sit to Dye I cannot say my peace is made with God I have not yet enter'd into Covenant with him I have not subjected and yielded my self to Christ I have not taken on his Yoke or I have cast it off after I took it on I am yet a Stranger to him or I have shamefully left him after some Acquaintance And will you put it any longer to the venture when your Lord may call within an hour 5. God is now ready to Assist you by his Grace if you will awake and Mind your Work but if you delay he may justly refuse and withdraw it And if once the case comes to that you can no more make Ready for Death and Judgment than if you were already dead it being as possible for us to Repent without life or after we are dead as to Repent without Gods Grace while we are living Therefore they that promise for themselves that they shall Repent and Prepare for the coming of Christ some time hereafter they resolve they will they must not only promise for themselves but for God too that he will wait their leisure and dance attendance after them through all the Stages of their Delays and yet be as ready to
assist them hereafter as now otherwise it is as uncertain whether you shall Repent hereafter if you live as whether you shall live to that hereafter wherein you say you intend to Repent 6. Consider How great and Important a thing it is to Dye and to meet the Lord our Judge It is so even for good men that are habitually Ready after such a life of sense and the deep Impressions we are under by sensible Objects after our many Backslidings and actual Sins to look into the House of darkness and think of lodging there to lay down these Bodies to corrupt and Putrifie there to bid adien to all our Relations and take a solemn leave of all our Friends to think of passing thro' this dark Entry through which as we go right or wrong we are made or undone for ever to think of the Majesty and Holiness of God his Truth and Justico to consider the strictness and Spirituality of his Holy Law and the awful Solemnity of the Tryal and Judgment that all Mankind must come under These and such things consider'd which are obvious to any considering man make it no easie matter to dye even for the best But for an unprepared Soul that is Unready as to his State who hath done little or nothing ever in his whole Life of such Work no Expressions can describe the Terrors of that mans case especially for careless carnal Professors that attend the preaching of the Word and are deceived by the Devil to think they are in the way to Heaven while yet they live in secret Sin and are Enemies to God what killing disappointment will they meet with one moment after Death when they expect with the foolish Virgins to enter Heaven and find the door to be shut Sirs believe and tremble If you are not ready for the Coming of Christ you are ready for his condemning Sentence and ripe for Ruine If you are not ready as Vessels of Mercy prepar'd for Glory you are ready as Vessels of Wrath fitted for Destruction That Place and Portion which you are fit for you shall have at Death If you are not fit to be with Christ if you are not made meet for the Inheritance of the Saints in Life if you are not formed and wrought by the Spirit of Christ for this self-same thing you shall have another Place and Company and Portion with the Devil and his Angels in unquenchable Fire where is weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth for ever 7. You need not fear that you shall hasten your Death by Thinking of it and being Ready Christs Summons will not be hastened tho' thy Preparation be The stroke of Death will not be sooner but the easier and make Life and Death it self sweeter by now endeavouring to be Ready You will not then be afraid of every Sickness and threatning Danger that brings you to the borders of the Grave They were the foolish Virgins who were affrighted at the Midnight cry The Bridegroom cometh because their Lamps were out and they had no Oyl they were struck to the Heart their Hope 's dyed and they presently sunk into Despair But of such as are Ready we find them speak of Dying as of an easie sleep I must put off this Earthly Tabernacle shortly saith one Apostle The time of my Departure is at hand and I am ready to be offer'd up saith another 2 Pet. 1.14 2 Tim. 4.6 But as Christ will not delay his Coming tho thou be unprepared so neither is thy Readiness for Death a likely means to shorten thy Life 8. Consider It is for this end that our Lives are continued and all the mercies of our Lives that we may be ready What have you Life given you for why were not you cut off many years ago but that you might have Time and space to Repent and Prepare for the Coming of Christ How many years have some of you been spared It may be twenty thirty forty fifty years and yet after all you are not ready What have you been busie about all this while How have you employed your Time What is the end of God do you think in all the merciful helps He concinues you Such as Ministers and Books Ordinances and Providences your own Sickness and others Funerals You lose the benefit and use of all your Mercies of Life Health and Time and some of you of Wealth and Honour c. of all the Sermons you have heard of all the Providential warnings of God to Awaken you you have lost them all if they have not furthered your Readiness for the Coming of Christ And if you shall live many years to come you must say it was all lost Time and wish you had never had an hour of it while this preparation for Death and Judgment is neglected 9. Consider the unspeakable Difference between a prepared and unprepared Soul in a dying Hour The one is going to see the things he hath Believed and possess that which he hoped for and hath the promise of God that he shall enjoy The other is going to feel what he would not in time believe to endure the threatned Wrath he would not Fear so as to escape The one is come to the end of all his Prayers and Patience Labours and Sufferings The other to the end of all his Ease and Pleasure Mirth and Joy The one hath the promised Felicity with God and Christ and all the blessed Spirits above in view before him the other hath Death and Hell the Judgment of Christ and an Eternity of Misery before him ready to overwhelm his Soul The one can look back with Comfort and reflect upon his upright Holy persevering Obedience mixt with Repentance for many Sins and Failings and yet can hope in God for his acceptance thro Christ the other must review his Heart and Life with horror and regret and read over the black Items of his careless Impenitent Course with Bitterness and Torment and the fears of greater The one is leaving this World where he spent his days in preparing for Eternity thô he heartily laments that he began no sooner and minded it no more the other is passing into the invisible Eternal World for which he hath made no provision The one by Death shall be translated to a blessed State of Holinefs Love and Peace in the everlasting joyful Praises of God his Maker Redeemer and Sanctifier the other sort are passing into the Regions of Darkness and Despair among Devils and unholy miserable Souls with whom they must dwell under the Hatred and Curse of God and the unspeakable Terrors of his Wrath for ever O the difference between one that is ready and one that is unready when the Summons from Christ shall come to call them both away Consider this endeavour to be Ready for the difference between one mans Death and anothers depends on the difference between Heart and Heart Life and Life Preparation and Unpreparedness 10. Consider that all the Readiness you now can get
to one Husband even Christ 2 Cor. 11.7 And we read of the Marriage of the Lamb and the Readiness of the Wife cloathed in fine Linnen which is the Righteousness of the Saints Rev. 19.8 9. Now if you think you are ready for the Coming of Christ under this Notion ask your selves Hath there been any such Agreement between Christ and your Souls which the Scripture represents by a Marriage-Covenant Have you penitently and thankfully Accepted him for Yours and given up your selves entirely to be his To as many as have thus Accepted and Received him He gives Power and Priviledge to become the Sons of God Do you renounce all other Lovers Do you prefer Him alone abandoning all Competitors and Rivals so as not to be for another but for him Hos 3.3 The like we read Psal 45.10 11. Hearken O Daughter and consider and encline thine ear forget also thine own people and thy Father's house So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty for he is thy Lord and worship thou him Is there a Supream Superlative Correspondent Affection on your part to him who hath said That as a Bridegroom rejoyceth over a Bride so will He rejoyce over Thee Isa 62.5 Is this express'd by an entire Subjection to him as the Head of his Church and the Saviour of his Body Eph. 3.23 And this not for a time only but for ever Hos 2.19 And I will betroth thee unto me for ever yea I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness and in judgment and in lovsng-kindness and in mercies The publick Solemnity of this Marriage will be at the Resurrection of the Dead when he shall come again to conduct his Spouse to his Father's House and more fully to evidence his Love by the Manifestation of his own Glory Our Readiness therefore for the Coming of Christ implies our hearty Choice of him and Consent to be his to Love Serve Honour and Obey him with Faithfulness Diligence and Perseverance to the end Secondly Christ is represented as a Housholder and Lord who is gone into a far Countrey and hath intrusted his Servants with various Talents which they are to employ according to his Order and trade with for his Service expecting to be accountable to him at his Return Luk. 19.23 Though our Lord be gone to Heaven he hath left a Family upon Earth and committed a Trust to every of his Servants Now our Fidelity and Care in the Improvement and Use of our Talents will be our Readiness for the Coming of Christ under these Considerations we are to be Responsible to him for all the Blessings Natural or Spiritual that he hath committed to our Trust and we have no Right in them any other way We are but Stewards He is the Proprietor and Absolute Lord. And according to the number and kind of our Talents he expects proportionable Care and Diligence as good Stewards to manage and improve them For to whom much is given of them much will be required Every one hath some Talents some Trust our Reason and our Health our Time our Parts Reputation Estate Interest Authority Power All the Blessings of any kind that we have are Talents to be used for the Service of our Lord And Blessed is that wise and faithful Servant who at his Lords Coming shall be found to have done so Our Faithfulness and Care herein is our Readiness for his Coming For he may demand an Account of our Stewardship when we expect it not Luk. 16.2 Therefore if we would be Ready we must be Diligent in his Work and not bury our Talents in a Napkin or waste our Lords Goods but be sound faithfully doing his Business in the Places and Relations he hath set us In this consists that Readiness for his Coming that will intitle us to the Blessing Luk. 12.43 But lest it should be said Who can come up to this Who is able to be always thus diligently Employed Who then can be Ready Let us therefore Thirdly Distinguish concerning this Readiness There is an Habitual Readiness and Actual The one of our State and the other of our Frame 1. An Habitual Readiness which concerns our State When our Peace is made with God so that she shall be found with him in peace at the Coming of Christ 2 Pet. 3.14 When we have so put on the Lord Jesus as at the Great Day we shall not be found naked 2 Cor. 5.3 When we are interested in the attoning Sacrifice of Christ so as to be reconciled to God and shall find Mercy of the Lord in the Great Day Rev. 3.17 Persons of this Character will manifest in their Course and Carriage that they expect the Coming of Christ by walking in all holy Conversation and Godliness 2 Pet. 3.10 Denying all Vngodliness and worldly Lusts they will live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this World as those that look for the blessed Hope and glorious Appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Tit. 2.12 13. But because all that are Ready as to their State and as to their general Course are not so as to their Frame therefore Consider 2. There is an Actual Readiness as to the Disposition of the Heart which upon the near Prospect and Approach of any Messenger of Christ to call us out of the World is a Christian Duty This Actual Readiness we should all endeavour after That we may have greater degrees of that Readiness of Mind and Preparedness of Spirit to Obey the Summons and Call of Christ tho' it should be with very little Warning being Prepar'd and Willing to go to him whensoever he shall call I am ready saith the Apostle to be bound at Jerusalem yea to Die there for the Name of Christ Acts 21.13 All holy Persons though Habitually ready do not reach this Some cry out with David Lord remove thy stroke from me spare me a little longer Psal 39. Or as Hezekiah when he received the Message of Death turn'd his face to the wall and wept Isa 38. But if we have Warning of the Approach of Death we ought to stir up our selves actually to Prepare to trim our Lamps and set our Souls in Order reviewing our Lives renewing our Repentance exercising our Graces exciting our Hopes recollecting our past Experiences getting our Evidences ready and the Promises on which we may venture our Souls in a dying Hour that we may say with old Simeon Now let thy Servant depart in peace And with the Apostle Paul I have finish'd my course henceforth a Crown of Righteousness is laid up for me And with our Lord himself Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit Or with Holy Stephen Lord Jesus receive it Christians Are we not too Unready the best of us as to Frame and Actual Preparation Do we sit as loose from this World and all the Personal and Relative Comforts of it that accommodate the bodily Lise as we should Have we conquer'd the Fears of Death and familiarized the Thoughts of the Grave to that
One would wonder what Apprehensions and Thoughts of these things such careless Christians have who durst not say they disbelieve or deny the Scripture Revelation and yet feel no correspondent Impressions answerable to the Nature Weight and Tendency of such things Let me ask thee O man that hast neglected hitherto to make Ready Dost thou think that Christ will receive thy departing Soul at Death or no Will he acquit and own thee in the Judgment or no What say'st thou hast thou enquired and examined and made it thy business to know this and to make sure of it How is it that thy Mind is fill'd with other Thoughts thy mouth with other Talk and thy Time employed about other things when thou art so near to the final Judgment of Christ and seest so many Souls daily passing into another World and yet wilt not consider what shall become of them and of thy self but wilt continue to pursue some transitory Pleasure or Profit while God and Heaven are neglected and Christ despised his Favour lost and thy own Soul lost or in the extreamest danger of being so because thou art not Ready Canst thou think that Christ will then accept thee if thou now neglect him Canst thou hope that he will prove himself a Lyar by owning such as he hath often declared he never will O pity your selves in Time that you may not be denyed his pity at last The door of Grace is yet open but how soon how speedily may it be shut if now you will not enter O what an unspeakable Mercy is the offer from God that yet you may enter what would departed Souls that dyed Unready give for such a Call of God Hold a little Tremble and Believe and delay no longer For Direction in the general Since the Bridegreom will come and it may be in an hour when you do not look for him see that you have Oyl in your Vessels and Lamps as those that wait for the Coming of their Lord. If thou hast no Oyl buy it if thou hast burn it if thou hast no Wedding Garment get one if thou hast put it on if thou hast no true Love to God never leave till the Holy Flame be kindled if thou hast any in truth exercise and use it as one that expects the Coming of Christ More particularly 1. Seek Reconciliation to God by a Covenant Dedication of your selves to God in Christ accepting him as offer'd in the Gospel and resigning and yielding your selves unfeignedly and without reserve to be his 2. Let the Work of Mortification both as to Sin and the World be progressive and constantly carried on that you may be found of him in Peace as to your State and without Spot as to your Frame as well as blameless as to your Conversation 2 Pet. 3.14 Sit loose in your Affections from Earthly things that Death may not rend and tear you from that which hath the chiefest possession of your Hearts for then you cannot meet the Summons of Death but with an excessive Sorrow 3. Be much in Self-Examination that you may get over your Doubts and fears concerning your Adoption and attain to a more well-grounded Hope and Assurance of the special Love of Christ What will it avail us to think we are Pardoned and shall be saved and e're long to find our selves mistaken when there can be no Remedy You must now understand your danger if ever you will be saved from it And we have the same Rule and Law given to judge our selves by that God will judge us by at last Therefore retire and examine your selves whether you can observe the Seal and Earnest of the Spirit of Grace upon your Hearts whether you can review your Conversation and Course as transacted in simplicity and godly Sincerity as in the sight of God under the conduct of the same Spirit whether this sanctifying Spirit hath drawn out your Desires after Holiness and your Love to God his Word his Worship and his Servants so as to wean you from the World and make you place your Hopes and Happiness above choosing God for your only Portion and Christ for your Teacher Saviour and Lord enabling you to live with sincere Desires and Endeavours to please and honour him in the believing expectation of what he hath purchas'd and promised preferring the Hopes of it before all the Pleasures and Advantages of Sin and the present Life And if upon serious search your Hearts condemn you not you may have confidence towards God But how can you know these things without Examining and how can you have this confidence without such a Knowledge and how can you think of the Second Coming of Christ with comfort without some such good Hopes thrô Grace 4. You should likewise Endeavour to carry it in every Relation and Condition as expecting to be called to an Account when your Lord shall come Do nothing now but you would be willing to hear of then nothing that you would be ashamed or afraid to have ript up opened and discovered in that Day Think with your selves often Is this that I am now doing the Life which I now lead the Designs that I now pursue such as will be sweet or bitter to be remembred when Christ shall come will it be to my Shame or Honour to my Joy or my Confusion in the Day of Reckoning when I must stand before my Judge How many Temptations to sin might this repell How many necessary Duties might this awaken us to perform especially toward Relations It may now be a terrible thought to some of us to consider and foresee that those of our Relations whom we most tenderly Love are like to fall under the condemning Sentence of Christ and perish Eternally You can hardly bear up now under the weight of such a thought will you not then awake to Counsel Warn Reprove Exhort Admonish and Intreat them and do all you can to prevent it But if they will not hearken your Faithfulness shall be your Comfort and their Condemnation shall not diminish your Happiness tho' it will aggravate their Doom if you have done your Duty I will instance in one Relation Suppose a Wicked Child to behold his Parents on the Right Hand of the Judge one or both of them owned by Christ rejoycing in his Love and taking part with him so as to be pleased with the Execution of his Righteous Sentence without any such Bowels of Pity toward them as now they feel And if we could imagine them to discourse together how might Holy Parents mind them of the various Methods they used to prevent their Ruine and of all the Counsels Reproofs and Prayers with which they follow'd them from year to year I begot thee or brought thee forth I laid thee in my Bosom I carried thee in my Arms I took care of thee in Infancy I instructed thee in Childhood I look'd after thy Education I brought thee to the publick Assemblies I put thee upon Secret Prayer I warn'd
than to abide in the flesh what is the difference between What we are and What we shall be that the expectation of the Latter should even make Death and dissolution desireable in order to it And here it will be necessary to consider 1. The Expression of our Felicity after death here used by the Apostle Being with Christ 2. In what respects 't is far better to Depart and be absent from the Body that we may be present with him 1. The Expression of our future blessedness by being with Christ Till we are present with the Lord and see him face to face and know as we are known we must content our selves with such Representations of it as God is pleas'd to reveal in his Word Such as our ignorant earthly minds can bear and may be most affected with But when once the vail of darkness is remov'd by death we shall see him as he is and all our Faculties be purified and inlarg'd and suited to the blessed company and work above We shall see him whom our Souls love and reap a Happiness by doing so bigger than our present Hopes and far above our highest thoughts about it For in his presence is fulness of Joy and at his right hand are Everlasting pleasures And can we imagine that a Blessedness purchas'd by infinite Merit contriv'd by infinite Wisdom and prepared by infinite Power and bestow'd at length through infinite Grace will in any thing be defective Doth not our Apostle describe it best by assuring us it cannot be describ'd that 't is greater than we ever saw beyond what we ever heard and far above what we can ever think Doth not the very hopes of seeing him revive our drooping hearts Oh what will be the Glory of that blessed sight is not the pledge and Assurance of it by the Harbinger of his holy Spirit exceeding comfortable Oh what transcendent Satisfaction will his presence give us We now comfort our selves with the Contemplation and one another with the Discourse of it and if our dark Faith and our faint Hopes can give us such a Joyful prospect of what shall be consequent to our dissolution into what ravishing Joy shall we enter by the open Vision and full enjoyment Is the encouragement and support of a Christian now from his presence with us here and will it not be far better to to be present with him above to be for ever with the Lord When we shall never question his Love to us or doubt of ours to him but have a full assurance of the one and a glorious exercise of the other And because our knowledge will be still encreasing our flames of Love shall still rise higher But what additional bliss the Soul shall have by the Resurrection of the body and the great Transactions of the Judgment Day we know but in part Blessed be God we know so much in this imperfect state enough to excite our desires and quicken our preparations and encourage our Perseverance And let 's bless him more that he hath prepared such a glory for us in the presence of the Redeemer as we cannot fully understand till death convey us to him But to be with Christ is not only eligible in it self as expressive of our future Glory but much rather to be desired if considered comparatively Therefore 2. In what respects is it preferrable to an abode in the flesh so as to make us rather choose to depart that we may be with him than continue in the Body and be absent from the Lord 1. Is not a state of Rest and Joy much more desireable than to be continually harrass'd with Trouble and Sorrow We ordinarily begin this World in Tears and solemnize our own Nativity as we do the Funerals of our dearest Friends as if we were then sensible of that universal Curse which hath afflicted Mankind since the first Transgression and had a clear prospect of the miseries we are born to and must afterward suffer And in all the Portions of our little time what and how many do we every where encounter How many things are there which we find are wanting both as to our Accomplishments and Enjoyments and how much are we disappointed if we look for satisfaction from the lusts of the flesh the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life which saith the Apostle is all that is in the world 1 Joh. 2.16 Earthly Pleasures Wealth and Honour Do we not find that what doth rejoyce and please us one day appears with another Face when we view it next or if we think it would please us still 't is gone e're we are aware and with all our skill and power we cannot protract it's duration Do not evil accidents overtake us on a sudden and our most probable designs miscarry in the birth as if all things were governed by Chance and there were no Intelligent Director to oversee and regulate the Affairs of the World and the Actions and Conditions of men Insomuch that the Race is not to the swift nor the Battle to the strong nor Bread to the wise nor Riches to men of understanding nor Favour to men of skill but time and chance happens to them all Eccl. 11.9 Our Pleasures flatter and deceive us and our Afflictions trouble and disquiet us We are imposed upon by our Senses and misguided by our Passions cross'd in our Desires and frustrated in our Hopes griev'd by present evils or perplext with the sears of future and our Spirits for the most part discompos'd either by personal or relative Calamities Some rueful Spectacle is ever now and then presented before our Eyes some evil tidings or unpleasant sound doth grate our Ears We bewail the wants of the poor which we cannot supply or envy the prosperity of the Wicked which we cannot hinder or grieve at the Afflictions of the Righteous which we cannot remedy We have some suffering Friend with whom to sympathize some distressed or deceased Relation to lament some unhappiness of our own or of those we love to be concerned for Besides the Treachery and unfaithfulness of our seeming Friends the Hatred and Malice of our open Enemies the scandalous Actions of professing Christians their Divisions and Animosities among themselves and their despiteful usage and entertainment from the World the Complaints of the miserable the Groans of the Sick the Cries of the Oppressed and our own bodily infirmities weaknesses and pains c. enough one would think to make us desire to depart and render us extreamly willing to lay down and dye if God think sit that we may be at rest especially having the expectation of being for ever with the Lord. For otherwise even * M. Anton. lib. Arr. Epict. lib. 4. c. 10. Boâ—th Consol Philosâ—â— Heathens have spoken excellently of the Advantages of Death as the period of our present Sorrows 2. Is not a state of Holiness and Perfect purity far better than a Life of Temptation Corruption and Sin How are we now buffeted
the abridgment of that Liberty which other young persons take very often to their prejudice and ruine as a singular advantage and favour from Heaven § 14. In some part of her Sickness she had some humble becoming doubts and fears of her own state but having imparted them to a Reverend Person well acquainted in the Family and heard his Resolutions and Answers she was better satisfied and express'd her hopes of Pardon and Salvation through the Righteousness of Christ who loved her and washed her from her Sins in his own Blood Yea so far was she from questioning the goodness of God and the Truth of his Promise so far from doubting of the alsufficiency of Christs Mediation the Merit of his Sacrifice and his willingness to receive returning Sinners that the believing thoughts of it were her greatest support and joy saying often in the time of her Sickness That though her Sins were as Scarlet God could make them as Snow though red like Crimson they should be as Wooll Isa 1.18 § 15. Moreover she did thankfully acknowledge the Mercies of God to her in the former part of her Life whereof she had very many both Personal and Relative And particularly desired that Thanks might be returned to God for his singular goodness to her during her Sickness § 16. She was very desirous of Prayer to God on her behalf and very joyful and well pleased when she had it and being at any time ask't what particular request she desired should be made to God for her she mention'd not her Recovery and the lengthening of her days but the forgiveness of Sin through the Merit of her Redeemer an humble submission to Gods disposal and a prepared heart to acquiesce in his appointment And so in one sence she was full of dayes though she dyed very young being satiated with the Time she had liv'd on Earth and not importunate for a longer stay § 17. Within a few hours before her dissolution of the approach whereof she was more apprehensive than those about her she was very desirous that a worthy Minister whom she named might immediately be sent for Mr. S. F. to commend her Soul to God Who accordingly came thô at Midnight She her self joyn'd in that last Office with great seriousness and affection and afterward return'd him her hearty thanks for his great kindness therein saying Now I have nothing more to do but to dye Only requested him not to leave the house that night as knowing that his Company and Counsel might administer to the support of her Affectionate Mother and other Relations whom she should leave in sorrow thô she her self was passing to Eternal Joy § 18. After which she composed her self to rest and refused every thing that was offer'd her to take making Signs with her hands of her unwillingness to be disturbed § 19. In that short space of her Continuance which was not an hour she was heard to say Be gone Satan Be gone Thou art a Lyar from the Beginning and the Father of Lyes O come Lord Jesus And soon after she said He is come he is come and so fell asleep as in the Arms of her dearest Saviour or as the Jews report of Moses That he dyed with the Kiss of God O Death where is now thy Sting O Grave where is now thy Victory The sting of Death is Sin and the strength of Sin is the Law But thanks be to God who hath given us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ And blessed are the Dead that Thus dye in the Lord. § 20. Would to God that the Account here given might effectually convince us of the great difference between the Death of the Holy and the Vnholy of the Righteous and the Sinner Might convince us of the great Blessing of holy Parents and a good Education and encourage Parents to be diligent and faithfal to be serious prudent and affectionate in the Education of their Children because such a deportment is most likely to be owned by God with the desired Success And Oh that it might Convince us likewise of the Vanity of Youth the shortness of our Lives the uncertainty of our Time the nearness of our Change the necessity reasonableness and manifold advantages of Remembring our Creator in our younger Years And withal might hasten our Preparations and spirit our Desires to depart and be dissolv'd whenever God shall call us That following their Example who by Faith and Patience are gone to inherit the Promises We may at length meet those Precious Souls above who are gone before us that with them and all the Children of the Kingdom we may be for ever with the Lord which is Best of all THE END M rs SHOWER's Funeral Sermon BY Mr. JOHN SPADEMAN of Rotterdam Sickness and Death for the Glory of CHRIST A Funeral Sermon ON THE DECEASE OF M rs ELIZ. SHOWER Who Dyed the 24th of Aug. 1691. By JOHN SPADEMAN Minister of the English Church at Rotterdam LONDON Printed for J. Dunton and A. Chandler 1691. TO My Honoured Friend Mr. SHOWER SIR WHen after an unpleasing separation the Providence of God gave Opportunity of renewing our Converse in your Habitation I promis'd my self an unmix'd satisfaction during my stay with you And as none is more oblig'd to rejoyce in all the Good which you or yours are partakers of so none could be more heartily dispos'd to do it Indeed the hopes of enjoying your Society sweetned the fatigues of a Voyage which after many Years absence I lately made unto my own Countrey In which I was truly delighted to find that not only your Person and Ministry were acceptable and useful but that there was a prospect that God would make your House to grow But when I was preparing to return I perceived that God had brought me to mourn with you under a most afflictive Providence In which though my Character had made me unfit to present Comfort to you yet few of your Friends had more light to discern the deepness of your Wound and greatness of your Loss For the intimate Friendship between us and our cohabitation in Holland gave me opportunity of understanding the worth of Her whom now you lament Though this Consideration as it makes your Tryal greater renders your Resignation more acceptable to God and useful to Men. To part with an ordinary Possession with willingness is a kin to that Patience which is exercis'd under merited Punishment which in the Apostles judgment hath no Glory or Commendation in it 1 Pet. 1.20 But 't is an Heroick Spirit a resemblance of that Faith which dignifi'd the Father of all who believe to give up a rare and endearing Treasure And if any Consideration hath strength to work this Noble Disposition in our Souls that which is taken from the Glory of God and the Redeemer hath 'T was this which led my thoughts unto the Meditations in the following Discourse which though much below the dignity of the Subject am willing to make thus