expected that he should communicate it to any of the Sons of men because it is not at all necessary that they should know it but believe it and walk by Faith and Works and labour in the Vineyard till the Son of man cometh Of that day and hour knoweth no man 〈◊〉 13.32 â—â— c. no not the Angels which are in Heaven neither the Son as man only but the Father Take ye heed watch and pray for ye know not when the time is c. Verses 35 36. When ever he cometh Rev. 3.3 it will be by way of surprize to many So he told the Church of Sardis If thou wilt not watch I will come on thee as a Thief and thou shalt not know when I will come upon thee The Thief comes when the Master of the House least expects him in the dead and solitary time of the night when all the Inhabitants are asleep Such will be the coming of the Son of Man who a little before my Text represents it by the coming of the great Deluge in the days of Noah or as the Fire and Brimstone came upon the Cities of Sodom and Gemorrah as Thro's and Pangs come upon a Woman with Child As a Snare shall it come upon all that dwell upon the face of the Earth Now when a Fowler layeth a Snare to take a Bird he gives no warning but surprizeth it suddenly even so will the Judge of all the world come upon the generality of men when they promise themselves peace and security and walk at ease and think of nothing but plenty and pleasure of laying House to House and Field to Field of Mansions and Manors of reigning as Kings on the Earth and of Lording it over their fellow servants Behold the Judge standeth at the door ready to surprize them when they are most secure And this may be our case if we keep not up our watch If therefore the Kingdom of Heaven be worth securing and the salvation of your souls be dear and precious to you 't is both your wisdom and your interest speedily and without delays to set upon this necessary and glorious work For it is no easy matter to obtain Heaven and Happiness neither is it the work of a few spare minutes to shake off evil habits and to attire the Soul with divine Graces and Vertues that it may appear without spot or wrinkle in the Bridegrooms presence Be not deceived it is not a few penitential tears in the time of Sickness and last Visitation that can purge the soul from the pollution of Sin which it hath been contracting many years or change its temper and in a moment put it into a readiness for a future state It is not safe for us to run so great a hazard we are not sure that we shall dye deliberately and by slow degrees But suppose that a fore going Sickness should by little and little weaken the powers of Nature the Devil will then be very busy in tempting us and the Flesh unable to bear the burden of Sickness and sink under the groans of expiring Nature If we have then our great work to do our Oyl to get and our Lamps to trim when the Bridegroom comes the door will be shut upon us and we shall bewail to all eternity the folly of slipping a season which can never be regained Let me therefore bespeak you dear Christians in words of love and tenderness and beseech you by all the obligations that your holy profession lays upon you by all the kindness which you bear to your immortal souls and the desire which you have to be eternally happy seriously to prepare to meet your Lord. Go hence from the House of God with fixed resolutions from this time forth to depart from all iniquity and to live righteously soberly and godly in this present World looking for the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself To whom with the Father and Holy Spirit three Persons but one Eternal God be Glory Honour and Power now and for ever The CHARACTER I Have now performed my duty to the Living by shewing them both generally and particularly that a good life is the best preparation for Eternity and that the way to dye happily is to live holily It remains that I do now in some measure discharge my respects to the Dead whose memory will be precious among all good Christians for his many personal Excellencies and usefulness in his Generation 'T is a sad and mournful occasion that we are met upon to Solemnize the Funeral Rites and Obsequies of so dear a Friend and Relation But this is our comfort that his whole life was an excellent Comment upon this Text for tho his Visitation was short as for the most part is usual in such Apoplectical Distempers as carried him off and his Death sudden and surprizing to us from whom he was snatched away in a little time yet it could not be so to him who by the infirmities of a crazy body and by many sensible decays of Nature was put in mind of his approaching change and no doubt but his preparations for Eternity were answerable to his frequent and almost daily warnings For as in his youthful days he was by the mercy of God a well disposed Nature and a vertuous Education preserved from all gross Sins and Vices so in his riper years he lived a life of strict Vertue I am no great Favourer of Funeral Elogies because they look like mercenary Flattery if there be not some extraordinary merit to lay a just foundation for them but the Righteous ought to be had in perpetual remembrance and the memorial of the Just shall be praised 'T is justice to give every man his due praise and to commend those whose vertuous lives are bright and illustrious to others and it is kindness to the living to hold before their eyes a shining light a glorious pattern of Vertue to guide and direct them to walk in the paths of Holiness and Peace and to beget in them the like Goodness and Charity Thus our deceased Friend in his life and practice did shine as a burning Lamp and adorn'd his holy Profession by a good Conversation His divine Soul was inflamed with a fervent love and zeal for God and possessed with a holy fear and awe of his glorious Majesty whom he served with Reverence and filial Obedience His Piety did consist more in the vital and substantial parts of Religion than in Circumstantials He had a sincere love for the Preaching of the Word which he waited upon with diligence to the end that he might learn his duty and grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ whom to know and in whom to believe is life eternal His attendance upon the Word was with constancy if his infirm body would give him leave and he heard it with reverence as the word of Life and Salvation Great was his regard for the Lord's Day not only to keep it holy himself but to see that his whole Family did strictly observe and sanctify it not only by resting from their worldly labours and putting on finer Clothes c. but by performing religious Exercises and improving the present Vacation from the works of their Callings unto a more diligent attendance on God in the publick and private Duties of Religion and in the spiritual concernments of their Souls The Government of his Family was very decent and regular his House was an Oratory of Devotion wherein Morning and Evening Sacrifice was dayly offered to God and some portion of Holy Scripture was read with seriousness and devotion with love and delight and Prayer was the beginning and ending of every day And this I assure you is the duty of all Masters of Families which they ought to see performed in their Families for the care and charge of Souls is committed to them There they are Kings to rule Prophets to teach and Priests to offer up Spiritual Sacrifices for themselves and for those under their roof They their Children and Servants ought to serve the Lord and their neglect thereof is one chief cause of all that Atheism and Irreligion which too much abounds in the Age we live in To this may I add his secret Devotion in private which was most constantly and diligently performed by him The spirit of Religion eminently dwelt in this good man His Devotions were fervent and serious his affections and desires were in a great measure crucified to the world and all the delights and pleasures of it He was cloathed with Humility as with a Garment and beautified with the goodly ornament of a calm meek and quiet Spirit which in the sight of God is of great price His Mind was exquisitely tender and compassionate His kindness and charity truly admirable for he loved relieved and assisted all necessitous Objects according to his ability In company he was pleasant cheerful and facetiously witty His behaviour was modest and affable kind and courteous to all sorts of people By the evenness of his temper and sweet disposition and friendly deportment he gained the love and respect of good men His Servants speak him to be a kind respective Master and we all know that he was a true Friend a good Neighbour a very useful and serviceable person in his Generation a Patron to several Fatherless Children and Orphans a true lover of his King and Country sober and temperate in every thing in his Diet in his Apparel in his Words and Behaviour prudent in the management of his own and others Affairs wherein he was much employed a good Housekeeper according to his degree and ability and a great support to many indigent and needy persons In a word his many vertuous Qualities and praise-worthy Deeds deserve to be commemorated and recommended to your practice But he is gone to his unchangeable state God grant that we who survive may all of us tread in the steps of his exemplary Piety and Vertue of his unwearied diligence and patient continuance in well doing May the Eccho of his Praises tend to the setting forth of God's Glory to whom be ascribed by us and the whole company of his Saints as is most due eternal praises Amen Amen FINIS
then our ways and goings are to Gods pure and piercing eyes who beholds our closest artifices and subtilest disguises as clearly as he sees our open and scandalous offences For the darkness hideth not from him Ps 139.12 the night shineth as the day the darkness and the light are both alike to him Job 34.21 22 His eyes are upon the ways of man fixedly and intentively and he seeth critically and curiously all his goings there is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of Iniquity may hide themselves Seneca told Lucilius Epist 41. Jer. 17.10 Ps 7.9.94.12 God is near unto us he is with us an observer of our good and evil actions the searcher of our hearts who knows the secret motions counsels and affections of our Souls and keeps acquaintance with our thoughts and is familiar with all our purposes and designs Now if we do believe this great truth it must doubtless be of unspeakable use to us for the regular and orderly government of our lives and make us as circumspect and cautious of our thoughts words and works as if we visibly saw him standing before our eyes writing down every action of our life in order to call us to account for it This consideration had so great an influence upon holy Davids practice that he assigns it as the motive of his obedience I have remembred thy name and have kept thy Law Psal 119.55 168. c. I have kept thy Precepts and thy Testimonies for all my ways are before thee this is a powerful Amulet against sin and a great preservative of vertue a means to make us sincerely upright in all our ways and to tremble to commit any sin or wickedness in the sight of our all-seeing Judge before whose presence we shall not be afraid to appear hereafter if we set him before our Eyes here as an observer and witness of our actions Psal 16.8 for thereby our hearts will be over-awed with a sense of his omnipresence so that we shall walk very cautiously and circumspectly before him having respect to all his Commandments and with a concern to please him in all things by this means death and judgment will not be formidable to us 8 That we may be ready for a comfortable passage into the eternal World it is necessary that we possess our Souls with frequent Thoughts of Death and Mortallity This is the earnest and pathetical charge of the merciful and compassionate God who is very heartily concerned for the everlasting happiness of Men by his eminent Servant Moses whom he was pleased to make choice of to be the Commander and Governour of a numerous People he bespeaks them in a most affectionate and obliging manner to remember the days of old what great things he had done for them in chosing them for his People and delivering them from the hand of Pharaoh King of Egypt by a mighty hand and an out stretched arm in preserving them at the Red Sea and in the Wilderness in subduing the Nations about them and in giving them possession of the Land of Promise flowing with Milk and Hony he intreats them to consider the transitoriness of their condition and to withdraw their affections from Farthly Glories O that they were wise to consider their latter end Deut. 32.29 to study and apply their minds to that holy wisdom which would fit them for Life eternal We are now Gods peculiar People he is as solicitous for our happiness and salvation as once he was for the Israelites and with the same tender affection doth he importune us to consider our end and to what Eternity we are going whether to bliss or misery we are but Sojourners and Pilgrims here having Heb. 13 14. no continuing City no certain abiding place our condition here is fleeting and vanishing Jam. 4.14 we know not whether we shall continue here till to morrow for what is our Life it is even a Vapour exhaled from the Earth by the influence of the heavenly Bodies Psal 90.9 Psal 73.20 that appears for a little time and then vanisheth away like a Tale that is told which is at an end e're we consider it or as a Dream when one awaketh suddenly which disappears being then that we are such weak creatures Psal 39.4 we should pray with David Lord make me to know my end and the number of my days that I may know how frail I am and how near to death so teach us to number our days that we passing by the cares the glories and pleasures of this World may apply our hearts with all diligence unto true wisdom 90.12 which is to be wise unto Salvation For the attainment whereof and for the more effectual impressing upon our minds deep and serious thoughts of our mortal state it is expedient that we visit sick and dying persons as oft as opportunity invites us not only to condole with them and to afford them our pity and compassion in their affliction Job 6.14 Chap. 19.21 Heb. 13.2 3. which is some alleviation of their misery to administer seasonable comforts to them to give them ghostly advice and counsel to bear with patience the chastisements of the Lord and humbly to resign themselves to his wise disposal but also to stir up in our selves many Pious and Devout Considerations of our approaching Change In the presence of dying Persons there is represented both to our eye and mind many objects that will naturally suggest to us holy Meditations serious and awful Thoughts of Death and Eternity There we may see the person visited strugling with strong pains of bitter Agonies and Death sit in his ghastly countenance we may hear the rueful Groans of his expiring nature and observe him exercised with Soul-conflicts with great terrors of mind and with powerful convictions of sin and dreadful apprehensions of the wrath of God unfit perhaps to die and yet past all hopes of continuing long in this transitory life There we may see the mournful looks of the spectators and hear the bitter lamentations and cries of Wife and Children and observe the trickling tears of dear Relations For if Alexander the Great wept when he heard of the death of Darius and Caesar at the relation of Pompey's and Titus Vespasian at the miserable destruction of the Jews how shall they refrain from tears at the sight of a dying Friend strugling with the pains of Death and perhaps doubting of his salvation Such a spectacle as this will administer to us such thoughts as these This person is now about putting off his Earthly Tabernacle his Soul is entring into the Confines of Eternity and his Body ere long will be a prey to Death and be laid down in the cold and silent Grave where the Worms shall be its companions till it hath put on rottenness and corruption The Angels will convey the immaterial Soul to the Bar of Judgment to receive sentence to its eternal state This
or toward the North in the place where the Tree falleth there it shall lie which Scripture is thus interpreted by a learned Author Olympiodor in Eccles. In whatsoever place therefore whether of light or darkness whether in the work of wickedness or vertue a Man is taken at his death in that degree and rank doth he remain either in light with the just and Christ the King of all or in darkness with the wicked and Prince of the World There is no rectifying the errors of this Life in the next the day of Grace ends with this Life here all the Evidences and Graces of a Christian are to be acquired in the future state he shall receive his reward according to the things done in the Body Vid. Victoris Erabdum whether they be good or bad After we are gon from hence There remains no place for repentance no effect or benefit of satisfaction here Life is either lost or obtained and at the moment of death thou hast a passage hence to immortality So that whatever is done by us to obtain the favour of God and a blessed immortality must be done in this World The time of this Life Dr. Sherlock upon Death is all the preparation time that ever will be afforded to us to work out our Salvation There is no middle state or place as they of the Roman communion do fondly fancy to do it in we consist but of two parts Body and Soul and Solomon hath assured us that when we die Eccles. 12.7 the body returns to the Earth from whence it originally came Fundamentum ex pulvere et in pulvere finis ejus and the Soul to God that gave it The holy Angels conveyed Lazarus his Soul at his death into Abraham's bosom immediately upon its separation from the Body so saith the Spirit from henceforth from the instant of their dying the dead are blessed and rest from their labours from all the labours of their Christian calling their Race is at an end their course is finished and the crown is to be received All the Divine graces and Religious dispositions of mind which are requisite to fit the Soul for Heaven and make it happy when it leaves the Body must be obtained and exercised in the Body So that to day whilst it is called to day we must seriously mind and prosecute the things which belong to our peace and give obedience to the Commands of God which are reasonable and easie advantagious to our interest and do claim a Priority in our affections and endeavours for so we are directed to remember now our Creator and to seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness in the first place for by so doing we not only secure to our selves the temporal Emoluments of this Life so far as the wisdom of God seeth them good for us but dispose and prepare our selves for eternal Glory and our obedience shall not miss of a suitable reward ii The solemn work of preparation for Death and Judgment is difficult it is not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of his Father which is in Heaven that sincerely endeavours to fulfil the whole will of God by faith and holyness The truth power of piety lies not in a mouthful of good words be ye warmed be ye filled be ye cloathed nor in a meer outside Form of worship but in practice 't is not enough for us to live inofsensively and harmlesly to abstain from that which is evil but we must actually do good and abound in fruits of righteousness 'T is a great work to die well and unless we do lay up an ample stock of spiritual preparations we shall never be able to go safely through the dark passage of death to Eternity Assure your selves dear Souls that a few penitent resolutions forced promises death-bed sorrows mournful tears melancholy looks formal prayers and crying God's mercy and asking him forgiveness will not serve the turn and prove effectual no we must put forth the most painful efforts of our Souls in mortifying our earthly Members in conquering vicious habits in regulating disordered appetites in governing according to the Laws of reason and religion all the faculties of our Souls in eradicating strong prejudices from our Understanings in bending our obstinate and rebellious Will in regulating unruly Affections in taming wild extravagant Passions in guarding our Hearts from vain Thoughts and inordinate Desires in subduing powerful Lusts which war against the Soul in resisting temptations and repelling the fiery darts of the professed Enemy of our Salvation in fighting manfully under Christ's Banner against Sin the World the Devil and the rebellious Flesh in curbing its impetuous and eager desires in bridling our Tongues from idle obscene and unsavoury talk in directing our steps in the straight path of holiness in sustaining Crosses Afflictions and Troubles with a generous patience and unshaken constancy doing our duty faithfully to God conscientiously waiting upon him in his Ordinances studying to know his Pleasure to do his Will to obey his Commands to promote his Interest advance his Glory in the World We shall have need of sincere Repentance Faith unfeigned unshaken Patience universal Charity seraphyck Love invincible Constancy an humble submission to the Will of God to bring down the Joys of Heaven into our Souls perseverance unto the end and a well grounded hope of partaking with the Saints in joys unspeakable and full of glory unless our Souls be habited and attired with these goodly vertues we shall be very unfit to die and to appear in Judgment Now to obtain these heavenly Graces is the work which we are to apply our selves unto with diligence and vigour For every Vertue hath its peculiar difficulty 2 Thes 1.11 1 Thes 1.3 Faith is called the work of Faith 'T is a difficult thing to believe the Existence of things which eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither is the heart of man able to conceive the immortality of the Soul and the existence of it in an immaterial world It 's hard to believe firmly all the promises and threatnings of the Word to rely upon Christ alone for Salvation perfectly to submit our Understandings and to resign our Wills to his holy will Repentance is a work not easily wrought upon the Soul though it be highly reasonable that when we have done contrary to our duty we should be cordially sorry for it resolve to do so no more and labour to undo what we have done amiss by godly sorrow and compunction of heart humble confession to God and restitution to Men yet experience sheweth that it is very hard to do this Gan the Aethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots Jer. 13.23 then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil Hence it is called renovation a new creation regeneration a new birth in which there is pain and difficulty Charity
The Great Necessity of Preparation for Death and Iudgment A SERMON Preached in the Parochial Chappel OF MACCLESFIELD In the County Palatine of CHESTER AT THE FUNERAL OF Mr. John Corker al 's Cor Cor of HURDESFIELD on the Eleventh Day of November 1693 and since Revised and Enlarg'd at the Request of the Relations of the Deceased By Samuel Corker al 's Cor Cor M. A. Rector of Alderley in the County aforesaid and sometime a Student in Trin. Coll. in Cambridge Behold the Bridegroom cometh go ye out to meet him Mat. 26.5 Be ye therefore ready also for the Son of Man cometh c. Luke 12.40 Veniet fratres veniet sed vide quomodo te inveaiet Aug. Ser. 140. de Tempore DUBLIN Printed by Joseph Ray 1695. TO HIS TRULY HONOURED AND MUCH VALUED COUSIN Edward Corker al 's Cor Cor Esq The Authour wisheth Grace Mercy and Peace THE death of Friends who were loving and amiable in their Lives and Encouragers of Vertue is very piercing and grievous but most of all pensive and afflictive when they are taken away as your dear Brother and my truly loving Kinsman was by a sudden surreption without a foregoing Visitation and Sickness which severe and startling Providence made a very great breach in his Family and Neighbourhood and a deep impression upon my Thoughts But the Great and Wise God in whose Hands our Lives are hath a Sovereign Right to dispose of and put a period to them when and in what manner his Infinite Wisdom seeth meet without being accountable to his Creatures for his Actions Our Duty is humbly to submit to his Holy Will and with good Old Eli to say It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good When Your Affectionate Brother had paid that Debt which We yet owe to God and Nature His mournful Relict desired that I would perform the last Ministerial Office for him at his Interment I had not power to deny her Request altho at the same time I was sensible he deserved a better Orator to commemorate his Vertues The Discourse I then made and here present to You Revis'd and Enlarg'd is plain not cloathed with pomp of Words and tunable Expressions which in Sermons and Books of Divinity are like Paint laid upon Pearls which shine best in their native lustre Flourishes of Wit and fine Phrases may tickle Mens Ears and please their Fancies but rarely convince them of the important necessity of preparing for Death and Judgment or prevail with them to live holily that they may die happily The Text it self is very momentous and the subject matter of the Comment is salubrious and may claim attention and regard from all Orders and Degrees of Men who by the eternal and unchangeable Decree of God must once die and appear in Judgment But if it meet with unkind entertainment from some persons of corrupt Principles and profligate Lives who atheistically droll upon and ridicule every thing that is serious yet it may be beneficial to others who are really solicitous to know what they must do to obtain Salvation and to inherit Eternal Glory That the God of Mercy and Consolation would sanctifie and sweeten to you this sharp and afflictive Providence that he would work in your Soul a cheerful resignation to his Holy Will and enrich you with all the Blessings of Heaven and Earth is the dayly fervent Prayer of Your most affectionate Relation and very humble Servant Samuel Corker al 's Cor Cor. A SERMON Preached at the FUNERAL of Mr. John Corker of Hurdesfield November the 11th 1693. Mathew 24.44 Therefore be ye also ready for in such an Hour as you think not the Son of Man cometh THese Words are part of a Sermon Preached by our Blessed Lord and Saviour to his Disciples the Occasion was this They were all met together at the Temple of Jerusalem admiring the Magnificence Firmness and Stateliness of it and highly commending the Beauty and Order of the Fabrick which was Adorned * Luke 21.5 with goodly Stones and sumptuous Mate rials set off with all the Advantages and Curiosity of Art Pains and Industry which Josephus calls a Work of all that we have ever seen or heard the most Admirable both for the greatness of the Pile the sumptuousness of the Edifice and the Riches of the inward Furniture in which respect Tacitus calls it a Temple of Immense Riches Immensae Opulentiae Templum suitable to the Majesty of God who was therein to be Adored and Worshipped Our Lord to take off his Disciples Eyes from beholding those Gay and Stately Things with so pleasing Admiration foretold the Destruction of it and the utter Ruin of the City that it should come to pass according to the Predictions of the Prophets Jer. 26.18 Zion for your sakes shall be Plowed as a Field and Jerusalem shall become Heaps and the Mountain of the House on which the Temple Micah 3.12 one of the Wonders of the World did stand as the high places of the Forrest i. e. shall be demolished and become so desolate that Trees shall grow there as in a Wilderness See ye not all these things Verily I say unto you there shall not be left one Stone upon another that shall not be thrown down Lib. 7. de Belle Jud. cap. 10. which was fulfilled as Josephus Reports by the Roman Army who burnt all of it that was of combustible Nature expresly contrary to the command of Titus Vespasian who would have saved it but could not restrain the fury of his Souldiers tho' he charged Liberalis the Centurion of his Guard to beat them that would not Obey him and to drive them away and the Foundation which the Fire consumed not was Ralsed by Turnus Rufus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the General of the Roman Army there who at his departure thence drew a Plow over it as God had said And after this when Julian the Apostate out of spight and opposition to the Christians gave all manner of Encouragement to the Jews to Rebuild their Temple Re-edifie their Altar and Restore their Sacrifices and the Solemnities of their Worship and appointed Alypius of Antioch to over-see and carry on the Work with all possible Briskness and Activity hoping by that means to evidence to the World that our Saviour was a false Prophet and an Impostor in pronouncing the final and irrevocable Dissolution of that Church and State Heaven was pleased on a sudden to baffle the whole Undertaking and by many Illustrious and Miraculous Instances of God's Displeasure Viz. Violent Hurricanes dreadful Earthquakes and Eruptions of Fire which brake as it were under the Foundation and seized upon the Work-men and Spectators burnt their Tools and Instruments and made the place inaccessible for any such Attempts for the future A more full Relation hereof is given by the Learned Dr. Cave from Socrates Philostorgus Rufinus Am. Life of St. Cyril of Jerusalem Sect. 9th Marcellinus and others where the
Herald and in the Text proclaimeth the certainty of his coming but from the uncertainty of the time when presseth his Disciples to rouze up themselves and to stand perpetually upon their Watch looking for and awaiting the coming of the Lord either by Death or Judgment for it is all one in effect whether he come to us or we go to him whether the World endeth to us or we to it for when we die we then part with all our dear Delights and sweet enjoyments of this Life and go to Judgment for as Death leaves us Judgment will find us as soon as ever the Soul is separated from the body it is winged by the holy Angels to the Tribunal of God to receive its definitive Sentence to Joy or Misery according to its Works done in the body in this Life So that we had need to be ever waiting and prepared for that hour Therefore be ye also ready for in such an hour as you think not the Son of Man cometh Which Words were spoken by our Lord particularly to his Disciples but are of Universal concern to all Christians and do as much belong to Vs in our days as to Them in theirs and therefore I shall look upon them with particular Application to our selves they do contain two General Parts I. Our Blessed Saviours seasonable and serious Advice solemnly to prepare our selves for Death and Judgment Be ye also ready II. A powerful and cogent Motive enforcing this good Advice For in such an hour as you think not the Son of Man cometh I. The first thing to be considered is our Saviours serious Advice solemnly to prepare our selves for Death and Judgment therefore be ye also ready for this Reason because ye must die and come to Judgment and the time when is unknown be ye ready the Original imports set in the way as all those are whom God hath set in the Path of his Commandments Psal 85.13 Righteousness shall go before him as his Harbinger and shall set us in the way of his Steps i. e. in the path wherein he walketh and which he hath prescribed and appointed us to follow him in The Vulgar Latine reads it Parati made fit Now for as much as this is a long and difficult work and requires many Acts and Duties to be performed by us to dispose and qualifie us to meet our Lord with Joy and Comfort I will therefore shew i. Wherein this Preparation does chiefly consist ii Manifest the urgent necessity hereof and the many Obligations which we lie under to be always prepared for Death and Judgment i. My first work is to shew wherein this Preparation does chiefly consist this I shall do two ways Generally and Particularly 1. Generally This preparation does consist in the constant course of a Religious Holy and Heavenly Conversation and in the daily practice of Universal Purity 1. For this end the great and wise Creator did make us noble and reasonable Creatures Neh. 5.9 to walk in the fear of God to approve our selves by a blameless and harmless life Phil. 2.15 the Sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a perverse Nation among whom we being enlightned by the Son of Righteousness shine as lights in the World that others may see our good works the beauty and splendor of our Gifts and Graces Mat. 5.16 Joh. 15. â—8 and glorifie our Father which is in Heaven For herein is he glorified if we bring forth much fruit of Righteousness and true Holiness Not that it is in our power to add any thing to the essential glory of God but only contribute to the manifestation of his Glory and Majesty 2 This he doth command and require from us as we are his Creatures When God had chosen the Seed of Abraham and had separated them from all Nations and from all Impurities and Idolatries and set them apart for himself a peculiar People an holy Nation a chosen Race a People purchased to himself by Temptations by Signs and by Wonders and by War and by a mighty Hand and by a stretched out Arm and by great Terrors Deut. 4.34 according to all that he did in Aegypt He charged them thus Levit. 20.7 8. Sanctifie your selves and be ye holy for I am the Lord your God and ye shall keep my Statutes and do them We are the Seed of Faithful Abraham Gods peculiar People his proper portion and possession he hath brought us into a state of Salvation Tim. 1.9 and hath called us with an holy Calling not according to our works nor for any merit of ours but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began and as he that hath called us is holy so should we be holy in all manner of conversation 1. Pet. 1.16 for it is written be ye holy as I am holy Now there is a two fold likeness to God in holiness viz. a conformity to his nature and will in reference to which we are engaged to crucify the old man with his deeds to mortify the corruption of nature with all those sinful affections and actions which flow from it and to put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness 3 Cor. 5.17 2 Pet. 1.4 Which is called by St. Paul the new Creature and by St. Peter the divine Nature which consists not in any communication of the divine Essence to us but in our partaking of those divine Qualities and dispositions of knowledge righteousness and holiness which do express the perfections of God and in our analogical resemblance to him in his Attributes of Meekness Humility Patience Long suffering Justice and Faithfulness Mercy and Charity Love and Purity and in our sincere endeavour to please him to do his Will and keep his Commandments which require us to do justly to love mercy Micah 6.8 and to walk humbly with God To love him with all our hearts and soul and strength and might to discharge all the Duties that we owe to his Divine Majesty and to be fervent in spirit in his service To abstain from all injurious practices against our Neighbours to perform all kind and friendly offices to all men to bear good will to them to rejoyce at their happiness to pity their miseries and commiserate them in adversity to pay all due respect to them sutable to their degree and quality to shew all meekness to all men candidly favourably to interpret their words and actions mildly to reprehend their faults and sparingly relate their miscarriages forgiving and forgetting their greater offences and conniving at their lesser injuries which make no great breach upon our interest or reputation studying by all fair means as much as lieth in us if it be possible to live peaceably with all tho we we may sometimes sail in our purposes because some men are of such a turbulent fiery and malicious spirit and such profest enemies to
Holy Ghost changing of our corrupt Natures creating good Dispositions and pious Affections in us sanctifying us with Divine Graces Dr. Bar. Creed and begetting vertuous inclinations in us reverence towards God charity to Men sobriety and purity as to our Selves with the rest of those amiable and heavenly virtues of the Soul which is the work of Sanctification leading and governing us in our Actions and Conversations that we may actually do and perform those things which are acceptable in the sight of God These are the Offices of the Holy Spirit who is therefore denominated Holy because he is the Author and efficient Cause of holiness in us and hath the special Name of Spirit given him both because of his Spiritual Essence and in regard of his Spiritual dispensations and those Graces which he bestows upon every faithful Soul which are heavenly and spiritual for the performance of which Mat. 28.20 he is to abide with his Church for ever Lo I am with you always even to the end of the world to enlighten your Understandings to sanctifie your Wills Affections to assist you in Devotion to stir up in you good Desires and to lead you in the way of all truth and obedience to Gods holy Will and Commandments 5 For this purpose the great Ordinance of the Gospel Ministry was instituted and persons in sacred Orders appointed to make men truly holy to dispose and fit them for Death and Judgment Heaven and Happiness to teach and tread the way to Glory 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to teach the way to Heaven rightly to cut out to every man his portion and to divide the Word of Truth 2 Tim. 2.15 The titles which are given them in Scripture import the business they are to perform and do They are Ministers Stewards Embassadors Ministers of Christ 1 Cor. 4.12 2 Cor. 5.18 19 20. Acts 20 18. 1 Cor. 3.9 and Stewards of the mysteries of God to whom he hath committed the Ministry of Reconciliation the word of Power They are Overseers and Comptrollers of his Family Embassadors for Christ to pray beseech and court men in their great Lord and Masters stead to be reconciled to God Labourers and Co-operators with God in the work of Conversion and Edification He Joh. 20.21 22. Rom. 10.15 the principal Agent They Officers under him ordained and sent by him and furnished with Gifts and Abilities to negotiate his great Affairs He made them able Ministers 2 Cor. 3.6 fitted by a supervening act and influence of Grace to discharge the trust which he hath reposed in them to the souls of men He strictly charged them to preach all the counsel of God Acts 20.27 whatsoever he requires of any one in order to eternal blessedness even the whole doctrine of Christianity which teacheth us to deny all ungodliness c. to reprove rebuke and exhort with all long suffering and patience 2 Cor. 5.11 and as knowing the terror of the Lord to persuade men to believe the dreadful comminations and threatnings of God revealed in his Word Rom. 1.18 against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men and accordingly to frame their lives innocently and holy that at the dreadful day of Judgment which the Prophet calls a day of wrath Zeph. 1.15 He alludes to it in the ruin which he foretold should fall upon the Jews by the Chaldeans a day of trouble and distress a day of wasting and desolation a day of darkness and gloominess a day of Clouds and thick darkness and the Apostle a day of terror because there will be a very strict scrutiny a narrow search made into the thoughts words and actions of men done in the flesh nothing but holiness will then stand in any stead therefore the Ministers of the Gospel are commanded to use the most prudent and effectual course Acts 26.18 to open mens eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith which grace doth purifie the heart from sin corruption They must not connive at or comply with the lusts of men as Ahabs Priests did but handle the Word of God sincerely with zeal and courage not fearing the faces of men in the work of the Lord who hath charged them at their peril not to be dismaid at the presence and frowns of great men Jâ—r 1.17 or presumptuous sinners yet at the same time when they do shew their zeal against their sins to manifest their reverend esteem and love of their persons and tender affection to their souls instructing those that oppose themselves with all gentleness and winning insinnuations and restoring them in the spirit of meekness which is the most probable way to enamour them with the love of Vertue and to save their Souls 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To tread the way to heaven and to walk uprightly Cal. 2.14 according to the truth of the Gospel So passionately desirous is God of mens happiness that he would have his Ministers to be Shining Lights as John the Baptist was shewing the power of Godliness in their lives that by their good Conversations their People might be drawn to imitate them in the practice of all Christian Graces 1 Tim. 4.12 St. Paul exhorts his Son Timothy to be an example of Believers in word in Conversation in Charity in spirit in faith in purity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Believers not of moral honest men only but of Gods Jedidians Pro. 12. the excellent of the earth in whom he delighteth of those first-born Souls Mal. 3.17 those bright and sparkling Jewels of whom the world is not worthy those darlings of heaven that are the Apple of Gods Eye Heb. 11.38 Deut. 32.9 those precious Sons of Sion who are the lot of Gods inheritance and the glory of Christ 1 Cor. 8.23 To such noble and vertuous persons as these are the Ministers of the Gospel to shew themselves patterns in Sacerdotal exemplariness and in the habits exercise of grace Prov. 4.18 and in holiness of life which is a shining light that hath influence and powerful operation upon others to excite them to bring glory to God For this reason they are stiled Presidents Shepherds Guides because they are not only to preach Angelical Sermons but to live heavenly lives to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour by the purity and lustre of their Conversations For the greatest part of Mankind are like Sheep Heb. 10.24 Prov. 27.17 which go rather as they are led then as they are taught A good Example is greatly influential to Vertue to provoke unto love and to good works as a bad one is an occasion of much harm faciles imitandis Turpibus pravis omnes sumus we having a great proclivity to follow ill Examples Those therefore that are to teach others that are to
as a Prince thou hast power with God and with Men and hast prevailed And Elias an eminent Prophet prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it rained not on the Land of the Ten Tribes of Israel for the space of Three Years and six Months and he prayed again and the Heavens gave Rain and the Earth brought forth her Fruit. Temporal Blessings which appertain to this mortal life God hath promised upon certain conditions restrictions and limitations i. e. that if he in his infinite Wisdom see them good and necessary convenient and advantagious for us Spiritual Blessings which tend to make us happy in the future World he hath promised absolutely and in particular Peace of reconciliation with God and eternal Salvation he is ready to grant to every humble supplicant Psal 69.32 their Soul shall live that seek the Lord. They shall have inward life joy and consolation here and everlasting Life and Glory hereafter Rom. 10.13 for whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved but for these Belssings he will be sought unto both publickly and privately 1 Publickly in the Church which is the House of Prayer wherein the Primitive Christians met together in multitudes like a great Army to besiege Heaven and take it by storm Coimus in Coetum Congregationem ut ad Deum quâ—si manufactâ praecationibus ambiamus Tert. for the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by storm i. e. by ardent Prayers and fervent Devotions they did send up their joint Petitions with such holy fervors that St. Jerom faith their Amen was like a clap of Thunder Certainly their Zeal is a shame and reproach to our coldness and indifferency to publick Prayers which hath been the general practice of Men of all Ages and Religionâ— who have thought it their duty to beleaguer the Universal Parent and Soveraign of the World and to pay him their thankful acknowledgments And therefore such as deny or neglect so faced and solemn a part of Divine Worship and so excellent a means of Holiness may justly be suspected of Atheism and Impiety Be intreated therefore dear Christians as you value the Church of which you are Members as you desire the favour of God and the light of his countenance which is better than life to attend frequently the publick Assemblies and to perform your parts in the Churches Prayers with devotion and fervency Psal 87.2 for God loveth the gates of Sion more than all the private habitations and dwellings of Jacob it is the place which he hath peculiarly chosen to exhibit himself in to all that call upon him there for the remission of their sins 48.3 God is known in her palaces for a sure refuge there is the most proper and decent place for us Christians publickly to meet in to beseech the Father of Mercies to be at peace with us But lest we should play the Pharisee and court the observation of the World with a formal and pompous shew of Religion our dearest Lord hath directed us also 2 To the more frequent exercise of Religious Adoration in private with our Families and yet more secretly in our Closet retirements where we may with greater freedom acknowledg our Guilts with all the aggravations and circumstances of our Sins to our gracious Father in order to obtain pardon and reconciliation with him to lay open our particular wants and necessities and pour out the desires of our Souls in all the threnes and sad accents of godly sorrow in all the penitential tears of Contrition and meltings of Repentance in all the endearments of Love and ardors of Affection And to avoid Hypocrisie Mat. 6.6 our Saviour hath directed us when we pray to enter into our Closets and having shut the door to pray to our Father which is in secret and he will reward us openly There we may think that we hear him kindly saying unto us as the Bridegroom doth to his Spouse the Church Cant. 2.14 O my Dove thou art in the clefts of the Rocks in the secret places of the stairs let me see thy countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comly Absent not your selves dear Souls from my presence by reason of your deformities be not ashamed to appear before me but come with broken and contrite hearts with an humble boldness and confidence into my presence and make your supplications unto me for your prayers and praises your persons and Services are acceptable to me and amiable in my sight For I the Lord am gracious and merciful long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth forgiving iniquity transgression and sin of all kinds and degrees whatsoever the sin against the H. Ghost excepted So great is Gods mercy and clemency to relenting sinners that he pardons not only single acts but confirmed habits of sin and those also of several kinds and natures So that if we would seriously reflect upon the transcendent excellency of his kind and merciful nature and the tender love he bears to the Souls which he hath created this will quicken us to make our humble supplications to him to be at peace with us especially since he himself hath declared Esay 45.16 that none shall seek his face in vain And that both our Saviour and his Apostles have encouraged us with assured promises Mat. 7.7 that whatsoever we ask the Father in his name he will give it us Ask and it shall be given seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you Jam. 4.8 1 Joh. 5.14 Draw night to God in humble adoration and he will draw nigh to you in the manifestation of his grace and favour This is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask any thing according to his will he heareth us for he is more ready to give than we to ask The Lord is very pittiful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jam. 5.11 Psal 86.5 full of bowels and of tender mercies He is good and ready to for give and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon him Having therefore these promises we are encouraged to pray incessantly Phil. 4.6 7. and in every thing by Prayer and Supplication to make known our requests unto God for by so doing we may obtain peace of reconciliation with him even that peace which passeth all understanding and which shall keep our hearts and minds through Jesus Christ and preserve in our bosoms such a calmness and tranquility of Soul and peace of Conscience and fervour of affection as will make us fit to die and ready to receive with joy and gladness the Son of Man when he cometh to judg the world in righteousness But if we refuse to seek the Lord while he may be sound and let slip the present season of Grace the acceptable time and the day of Salvation in which he will be intreated and will not mind the
the swiftest and strongest of wing Isaiah 40.31 they shall mount up with wings as Eagles which soar aloft in the Air so high that the eye of man cannot see them yet themselves are so quick-sighted that they can discern their prey at that vast distance and sowce down upon it like a Thunderbolt hunger adding swiftness to their wings therefore Job makes use of that Emblem to set forth the shortness of the life of man Among the Evangelical Writers we find St. Paul comparing it to a Race And to the end we may perform our Christian Course well he adviseth us to imitate the Roman and Grecian Racers who when they were to run for the Prize put off their cumbersom cloaths that they might run with briskness and agility so as to obtain the reward which was a leafy Crown made up of Bay's or Lawrel c. A fading corruptible and perishing one but we Christians run for an incorruptible Crown 1 Pet. 1.4 an immortal Inheritance that sadeth not away laid up in store for us Wherefore we are the more obliged to lay aside every weight Heb. 12.1 and the Sin which doth so easily beset us and run with patience the Race that is set before us for it is but short and will soon be over Behold saith David Thou hast made my days as an hand breadth which is one of the least measures whether we take it in the largest dimension and expansion of the hand or in the more restrained limitation the breadth only of the hand in both which respects it is very short an inch long saith * In Carmine Lyrico Plutarch Seneca Alcaeus much shorter yet in the grave Moralists Opinions who stile it but a Point Punctum est quod vivimus adhuc puncto minus But St. James who spake by a more excellent spirit Ch. 4.14 Job 14.1 represents it more diminutively in that he calls it a meer Appearance What is your life it is even a Vapour that appeareth for a little while and then vanisheth away Man that is born of a woman is of few days Few in comparison of the Antidiluvian Patriarchs from Adam to Noah who lived near a thousand years fewer yet in regard of the years of Abraham whose life was prolonged but to one hundred threescore and fifteen years Gen. 25.7 8. and yet Moses saith of him that he died in a good old Age an old man and full of years In Moses's time it was limited to threescore years and ten Ps 90. A Psalm of Mâ—ses c. and if by reason of strength men come to fourscore years which is a singular and extraordinary favour yet is their strength then but labour and sorrow and through weakness and infirmities of Age they are a burden to themselves unable to bear the aches and pains and indispositions and diseases incident to their sickly natures and unfit to perform the acts and offices of Religion and Repentance towards God and in a little time they are cut off and gone to their long homes where they can never have any more opportunities of Repentance In a moment which is the shortest parcel of time that we can imagine they go down to the Grave and on a sudden vanish away Lo this is the length of the short life of man and since we must shortly put off this Tabernacle of Flesh and Bones it concerns us as much as our Souls are worth to prepare them with grace and holiness that they may be fit for the appearance of Christ and be precious and lovely in his eyes and that we may not be terrified and affrighted at his coming as those Kings of the Earth and great Men and rich Men and chief Captains and mighty Men whom St. John speaks of in the Revelation Ch. 6.15 16 17. Who shall then hide themselves in the Dens and in the Rocks of the Mountains and say to the Mountains and Rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand 2. It is very uncertain Man knoweth not his time as the Fishes that are taken in an evil Net and as the Birds that are caught in the snare so are the sons of men snared in an evil time Eccles 12.9.12 when it falleth suddenly upon them Death often comes when persons are most secure and careless and least expect it Dives the representative of the Voluptuous World promised himself long life secular prosperity and the fullest satisfactions that the creature could afford To that end he resolved to make the largest preparations for many years Festival living He said to himself This will I do I will pull down my Barns Luke 12.18 19. and build greater and there will I bestow all my Fruits and my Goods and I will say to my Soul Soul thou hast much Goods laid up for many years take thine ease eat drink and be merry But alas all his projects failed him and his designs were disappointed for he never saw the light of another day God said unto him thou fool this night thy Soul shall be required of thee Then whose shall all those things be which thou hast provided And for ought the wisest of us know this may be our own case while we are seeking after the fulness of earthly contentments and delights our Souls may be separated from the embraces of their Bodies and all our hopes perish Do not our lives depend upon many uncertainties diseases and fatal accidents See we not Epist 120. saith Seneca to Lucilius How many incommodities do torment us sometimes we complain of our heads then of our breast and throat sometimes we are pained in our Nerves and vexed in our feet to day the Flux to morrow a Rheum disturbs us sometimes too much blood sometimes too little every way we are troubled Nihil satis est morituris nihil morientibus There is nothing that contenteth us that are to die nay that die every day for we daily approach our last hour and there is not a day or hour that driveth us not into the Grave where we must rest It is observed by Gallen and Hippocrates that Man is more liable to diseases and distempers and his life is more endangered by them then any other Creature Rom. 5.12 the reason may be because he hath sinned more then they for by sin Death with all its antecedents fore runners and harbingers entred into the world and so passed upon all men for that all have sinned There is not the least disease incident to our frail nature but hath been armed with power sufficient to conquer and overcome Some die by Fevers as Vespasian Antonius Julius the 2d and Boniface the 9th Platina Riâ—aut in vit others by Apoplexies as Valentinian the Emperor Pope Paul the 2d occasioned by his intemperate eating of Melons Sometimes
by Gouts as Septimius Severus Julius the 3d. Sozimus the Syrian and Sixtus the 4th others by the Stone and Cholick as Gregory the 11th and Pius the 5th Some by Plurisies as Gelasius the 2d c. others by violent pain and anguish as Crassus the Orator some have ended their days in transports of Joy as Philippides the Comedian when his Lauriat Poems were preferred and Diaggoras of Rhodes Bp. Taylor 's great Ex. part 3. disc 20. and Chilon the Philosopher embracing their Sons crowned with Olympick Lawrels others have expired in excess of sorrow Many have lost their lives by overmuch fulness repletion and ingurgitation of meats and drinks but more have perished by pinching Famine O the havock and desolation which it made at the Sieges of Jerusalem and Samaria 2 Kings 5.25 Joseph de bello Jud. l. 7. c. 7 8. when the poor miserable Jews did for very penury eat their Girdles Shoes and the Skins that covered their Shields and an Asses Head which hath but little meat upon it and that also both unwholsome and unclean by Law was sold for 80 pieces of Silver which amount to about 5 l. of our Money a vast price for so small a pittance Mille modis lethi miseros 〈◊〉 una fatigat and the 4th part of a Kab or quart of Pease for 5 pieces of Silver Death is every day making its approaches near to us with speedy and undiscerned steps it follows us and will arrest us e're we be aware of it but when or how we know not every breath we draw may be our last and the next step we take may be into the Grave Who sees not then the absolute necessity of being always ready for his departure hence No man dies so cheerfully as he that hath prepared and composed himself for it by a foregoing preparation Death will not wait for us one moment and therefore it is extremely dangerous to flatter our selves with hopes and expectations of long life and that we shall repent hereafter for we have not one day or hour or minute at our disposal Qui poenitenti veniam spospondit peccanti crastinum diem non promisit Death spares none neither for age nor manners We see the Rose-buds are gathered as well as the ripe Roses Many young persons are snatched away in the flower of their time and strength Job 10.22 ch 3.19 The Grave is without order there are small and great in it Goliah not too bigg David's Child not too little to fill a Tomb. So that upon this account we ought to live in a constant expectation of Death and the coming of our Lord and to dispose of every day in such sort as if it did lead to the consummation of our lives Luke 12. Blessed are those Servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find so doing 3. As Life is very short and uncertain so Death is inevitable and therefore the preparation for it is indispensibly necessary the very Heathens wondred not to see Bodies composed of earthly materials dissolve into dust and ashes What man is he that liveth and shall not see death Ps 89 48 There is an Erotesis in the words a Figure peculiar to the Idioms of the Hebr. and Greek Tongues we frequently meet with it in the Scriptures as in Isaiah 58.3 Who can declare his Generation i. e None can Heb. 1.13 because he is eternal Again To which of the Angels said he at any time thou art my Son c. i. e. He never said so to any of them So in these words of the Psalmist the interrogation bears the force of a positive affirmation There is no man living shall escape death Job 3.13 14 15. for it is the end of all men Of Kings and Counsellors of the Earth of Princes and great Warriors of Oppressors and Prisoners of Captives and mean Persons of Masters and Servants of Small and Great all go to the place of Silence where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary be at rest 17 v. Your Fathers that have been in all Ages before you where are they Zech. 1.5 and the Prophets that Preached to you and warned you of your danger do they live for ever These are all laid down in the dust and we must all follow in our order i. e. Heb. 9.27 It is appointed unto men once to dye none shall escape the irreversible decree save those that shall be found alive at the coming of Christ 1 Cor. 15.51 52. Behold I shew you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last Trump for the Trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed which change shall be either by their dying for a short time and then reviving again as the Sleep there mentioned seems to imply or else by the mighty power of God their natural and corruptible bodies shall be changed into spiritual and incorruptible bodies which change shall be equivalent to death but all other persons shall see death and undergo the common fate of all mankind Neither Achitophel's Policy nor David's Piety nor Solomon's Wisdom nor John Baptist's Zeal for God nor Tertullus his Silver Tongue nor Aristotle's Philosophy nor Demosthenes his Oratory nor Bathsheba's Beauty nor Sampson's Strength nor Orpheus his Harp could charm Death nor prevent its all-subduing Conquests Death knocks at the Palaces of Princes as well as poor mens Cottages What is become of all the Egyptian the Persian the Grecian and the Roman Monarchs the Renowned Cesars Julius and Augustus celebrated in History for War and Peace Where are the Egyptian Ptolomies the Syrian Antiochus's the Theban Labacides's the famous Constantines the pious Theodosiis's and all those Religious and Valiant Kings that have filled the Brittish Throne and awfully sway'd the Scepter of this Kingdom in their several Ages from William the Conquetor to William our glorious Deliverer all that remains of them is an imperfect Historical account of all their Vertues and Heroick Acts recorded in our English Annals What is become of those wise and experienced Generals Joshua Othniel Ehud Barak Gideon c. Achilles Hannibal c. whose noble Exploits we read of in the Book of Judges in Josephus's History and in Plutarch's Lives they have all been conquered by the King of Terrors Where are now the Seven Angels of the Asiatick Churches the Bishops of Ephesus Smyrna Pergamos Thyatira Sardis c. where Christianity was once in its zenith and flourished most gloriously What is become of those extraordinary Lights of the African Churches Panaenus Clemens Alex Origen c. incomparably furnished with divine and human learning as also the rest of the Fathers of the Greek and Latin Churches Irenaeus Tertul. Chrys August Jerom. and multitudes more who enlightned the World with the knowledge of divine things and shined as lights in their lives and conversations These