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
life This preparation for death in the day of Sickness and Visitation is not to be then neglected 'T is advised by Jesus the Son of Sirac My Son according to thy ability do good to thy self Ecclus 14.11 12 13. and give the Lord his due offering remember that death will not be long in coming and that the Covenant of the Grave is not shewed unto thee Do good to thy friend before thou dye Put not off to thy Will and Testament but according to thy ability stretch out thy hand and give unto the Poor Thus in the day of health it is most convenient to dispatch this work but in the day of Visitation and the approaches of Death Ecclus 33.23 't is an indispensible duty not to be neglected At the time when thou shalt end thy days and finish thy work distribute thine Inheritance Gen. 48.22 ch 49. 1 K. 2.1 2 3 4 So did Jacob in that prophetical Testament of his And David also when his days drew nigh that he should die he disposed of his Kingdom to his Son Solomon and charged him saying I go the way of all the Earth i. e. I die be thou strong and shew thy self a man of Wisdom Courage and Constancy and keep the charge of the Lord thy God to walk in his ways and to keep his Statutes c. that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest and whithersoever thou turnest thy self that the Lord may confirm his word which he spake concerning me saying If thy Children take heed to their ways to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul There shall not fail thee a man on the Throne of Israel Verse 13. And when David had finished his charge he slept with his Fathers and was buried in the City of David And after him this was expresly commanded by God himself to the good King Hezekiah as a preparation for death In those days was he sick unto death 2 Kings 20.1 and the Prophet Esay said unto him Thus saith the Lord Set thine house in order for thou shalt die and not live i. e Make thy Will and settle the Concerns both of thy Family and thy Kingdom to prevent all Contentions and Quarrels after thy decease for thy Disease is mortal in its kind if God do not by his power prevent it therefore dispose of thy temporal Affairs and as for the spiritual Estate of thy Family imitate the example of David and Abraham advise instruct Gen. 18.19 exhort and admonish them to keep the way of the Lord and to do Justice and Judgment There are some Divines who give this relation of our Lord and Saviour's last Will and Testament that upon the Cross a little before he gave up the Ghost he bequeathed his Soul into the hands of his Father his holy Mother to his beloved Disciple St. John his Body to Joseph of Arimathea Paradise to the penitent Thief that was to die with him and to his Crucifiers his heartiest Prayers and Intercessions Rom. 15.4 Now these things were written for our learning and instruction to teach us to imitate them and to prevent the ill consequences of intestate Estates to settle our minds at ease and free from disturbance and to put our Souls into a prepared frame and disposition for our departure Thus by discharging a good Conscience we may be ready to meet our Lord and freely depart in peace 2. This readiness doth consist in moderating our love 〈◊〉 affection to◠this World and not overvaluing any earthly comfort We serve a very liberal and bountiful Master 1 Tim. 6 17. Who gives us richly all things to enjoy and with holdeth no good thing from us but that which would be a temptation and a snare unto us only he hath not allowed us to set our affections upon this world nor any of the enjoyments of it for this is not our place of rest and abode Whilst we are at home in the body 2 Cor. 5.6 we are absent from the Lord may better be rendred Whilst we converse or sojourn in the body So long as we tabernacle in the flesh we are but like the Israelites in the Wilderness Strangers and Sojourners passing to the Heavenly Canaan detained from the blessed Vision and Fruition of God Heb. 13.14 and the possession of that happiness which makes Heaven Here we have no continuing City no settled abiding place This notion the wiser Heathens had of this present World who looked upon it as an Inn not as their home Nature having designed it to us as a Diversory to lodge Commorandi enim natura diversorum nobis non habitandi locum dedit but not to dwell in For it is not a fit place for us nor can our stay in it be very desirable because it is fleeting and vanishing full of vanity and vexation all its splendor and glory depends meerly upon our fancy Our Historians tell us that the Peruvian Mines of Gold and Silver their precious Stones and Pearls were of such low and mean esteem with those barbarous Indians that they preferred our trifling Bawbles before them and made that their valuable Treasure which we make little or no account of In the Reign of the Great and Wise Solomon Silver which is now the adored Idol of the World and for which men venture not only their dearest lives but even pawn their precious Souls to obtain was not at all regarded 2 Chron. 9.20 it was not any thing accounted of it was but as Stones in his days This glorious Prince surpassed all the Kings of the Earth in Riches 1 Kings 4.22 23 26. and Wisdom He had the greatest flow and confluence of this World His Provisions for one day were 30 measures of fine flower 10 fat Oxen and 20 Oxen out of the Pastures besides Harts and Roe Bucks and Fallow Deer and fatted Fowl he had 40000 Stalls of Horses for Chariots and 1200 Horsemen for the Guard and preservation of his Person for the defence of his people and for the grandeur of his Government The yearly income of his Traffick be-besides that which Merchants imported and the Kings of Arabia brought to him was six hundred and threescore and six Talents of Gold 2 Chron. 9.13 many of his Shields and Targets and all his Drinking Vessels were of pure Gold He resolved to gratify himself with delicious Meats and pleasant Wines and if it were possible for him to arrive at satisfaction in this mortal state he made magnificent Works for delight Eccles 2.3 4 5 7 8. and erected stately Houses and planted Vineyards and made Gardens of pleasure and planted Orchards and Trees in them of all kind of Fruits for profit he gathered himself Gold and Silver vast Riches and the peculiar Treasures of Kings and of the Provinces i. e. the most valuable Jewels and Rarities both of other Princes and of his own Dominions he gat him Men singers and Women-singers
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
peace and love that it is scarce possible to obtain their good-will or to maintain a friendly correspondence with them In regard to our own persons the holy God commands us to depart from all iniquity to put away the evil of our doings Isaiah 1.16 17. to cease to do evil to learn to do well to watch and be sober to cast off the works of darkness and to walk as children of the light Rom. 13.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 honestly and decently as becometh those to whom the glorious light of the Gospel hath appeared shunning all those vices of Gluttony and Drunkenness Whoredom and Uncleanness all lustful and lascivious dalliances Strife and Envy which are a stain and blemish to our Nature and to our holy Profession and to live in the constant practice of universal Purity Psal 37.24 2 Tim. 2.19 Jam. 4.8 which obligeth us to depart from evil to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts i. e. to reform and amend our lives and actions out thoughts and affections and through the assistance of Divine Grace which is never wanting to those that endeavour to obey God 2 Cor. 7.1 and do his Will to cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit i. e. from all bodily pollutions such are sins of Intemperance Fornication Uncleanness c. in respect of which it becomes the duty of a Christian to learn and exercise that holy skill 1 Thes 4.4 to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour for such sins as these are a real dishonour to the body Rom. 1.2 And since God hath shewed his Art in the curious workmanship of it Os homini sublîme dedit coelumque tuerj jussit c. Materiam superabat opus Ovid. Met. which was not at first made without a consultation of the whole Trinity after what eminent manner and majestick form they should make it the rare and admirable structure whereof Gen. 1.26 being exquisitely composed of Bones and Muscles and Sinews of Veins and Arteries and variety of members excellent both for beauty and use filled David's Royal Soul with such admiration of God's infinite Wisdom and Power that when he contemplated his own Body he praised God Psal 139.14 and said I am fearfully and wonderfully made and curiously wrought with various embroidery and since God I say hath bestowed so much pains and cost upon the workmanship of the Body and that it is a part of Christ's purchase and together with the Soul is become a member of his and a Temple for the Holy Spirit of Purity to reside and dwell in it is principally incumbent upon us to keep it pure and clean chast and holy and free from all carnal pollutions We ought to have a greater regard to our noble Souls which are of an heavenly Original to purify and preserve them from spiritual wickedness from extravagant passions inordinate affections and desires from Pride and Covetousness rash Anger and Contention Envy Hatred Malice and all Uncharitableness for these Sins and Vices defile our Souls and make us both afraid to dye and unfit for judgment Therefore the Apostle calls upon us to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord and assures us that this is the revealed will of God 1 Thes 4.3 even our sanctification that we should be holy both in our hearts and lives inwardly in our thoughts and affections outwardly in our words and actions both intensively and extensively holy 3. For this end and purpose the Lord of Glory sent his beloved Son into the World in great humility to carry on this work of making us holy by his exemplary and virtuous life and by his patient and meritorious death First By his virtuous and exemplary life he hath given us the most illustrious pattern in his own person in all the parts of holiness and set us the fairest copy of the most sublime and perfect virtue For which cause we find him in Scripture dignified with eminent Titles as of a Prince and Captain a Master and Guide of holy life and obedience he voluntarily undertook to subdue our Enemies and hath encouraged us with a most bountiful promise of a glorious reward a Crown of Righteousness to follow his heroick Conduct in a holy warfare against Sin and Satan to fight manfully under his Banner against all the Enemies of our Souls as Plutarch saith Caesar's Souldiers did when his presence and unparallell'd Gallantry inspired them with Courage and Valour extraordinary Fortis in armis Caesareis Labienus erat Example hath a great influence and efficacy for as Pliny the younger hath observed Melius hominis exemplis docentur qua imprimis hoc boni habent qua approbant quae praecipiunt fieri posse Men are better instructed by Examples which have in them chiefly this advantage that they do prove the things may be done which they enjoyn And as Seneca tells Lucilius Homines plus Oculis quà m auribus credunt Epist 6. Men give greater credit to their Eyes than to their Ears to what they see than to what they hear The more Eminent any persons are that give Examples the more readily are they imitated Et in vulgus manunt exemplâ— Regentâ—um Such as sit in the Gate as all uppermost in the world have many followers that conform to their manners and practice When the King of Nineveh put on Sackcloath Jonah 3.6 his Courtiers and Citizens complied with the fashion When Constantinus Mag. embraced the Faith of Christ Heathen Superstition began to creep into holes and corners and Christianity overspread the face of the Empire Now our dearest Lord being the greatest and wisest person that ever lived and his example the most perfect and transcendent that ever was we should endeavour if we would live happily and die comfortably to conform our practice to his because he was the most exact mirrour of true Goodness and Virtue of general Kindness and Charity Patience and Contentedness Meekness and Humility which he most lovingly inviteth us to imitate him in Matth. 11.29 Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart His Patience in bearing the Affronts and Indignities of Sinners his Contempt of all the Glories of this World his Self-denial and Submission to the will of God his unwearied diligence in his Service his Peaceableness and Gentleness to all men and readiness to perform all kind Offices to men especially to their Souls was written for our Admonition to influence our practice and lead us in the paths of Righteousness and to make us partakers of his Holiness 2dly Our Blessed Lord Saviour's patient and meritorious Death and Sufferings were primarily intended to work Holiness in us The design of his coming in the Flesh was not only as the Socinians say to give us an example of Christian Purity but to lay down his life for us We are assured of this from his own sacred lips Matth. 20.28 The Son of Man came not to
be ministred unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 2.6 a redemption-price so great and valuable that there needs no further satisfaction to be made for any St Paul saith that he gave himself a ransom for all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an emphatical word denoting the exchange of condition with another the laying down of ones life to save another And so did our dearest Lord and Saviour Tit. 2 14. Rom. 8.32 he gave himself for us and in our place and stead that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous ofâ—â— good works The price which he paid for our Redemption was his own blood not a few drops for then what he shed at his Circumcision and bitter Agony when he sweat drops of blood might have sufficed but it was his hearts blood Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as Silver and Gold 1 Pet. 1.18 19 from your vain conversation and course of life which is unprofitable for your souls and insufficient for Righteousness and Salvation but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot Precious in the Esteem of Angels and Men but most of all precious in regard of the Glory and Dignity of the Qualifications and Endowments of the Gifts and Graces of the Person that shed it Coloss 2.3 In whom are hid all the treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge in whose mouth no guile was ever found who needed not to offer Sacrifices for his own Sins being a person so perfectly holy harmless and undefiled No! it was for us and for our Salvation that he died Rom. 4.25 He was delivered by the determinate counsel and fore knowledge of God for our offences Acts 2.23 to make full satisfaction to his Father for them and to reconcile us to God By his own free and spontaneous act he laid down his life Joh. 10.17 Gal. 1.4 and gave himself for our Sins Not only to take away the Guilt with all the causes and consequences thereof Once in the end of the World hath he appeared to put away Sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 9.26 Rom. 5.19 to the abolition of Sin by the Sacrifice of himself by whose obedience many are made righteous but also to ease guilty souls of the pain and anguish of Conscience which doth fill them with dreadful fears and terrors and a certain fearful looking for of wrath Heb. 9.14 and fiery indignation The Blood of Christ doth purge your Conscience from dead works and not only justify and absolve the true penitent Sinner but also meritoriously purify the Soul from inherent corruption and sanctify it by infusing holiness So that body soul and spirit becomes one frame of Holiness to God to serve him here in the Beauty of Holiness and to enjoy communion with him in his Ordinances till he is pleased to fit him for the full fruition of himself in the Holy of Holies in Heaven This is the effect of Christ's Blood which was shed to put a silence to the clamours and accusations of Conscience and also to pacify the wrath of God for Sin Jesus being the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thess 1.10 Who delivers us from the wrath to come and is now actually delivering us by his prevailing Intercession and the supplies of his Grace enabling us to subdue the power of Sin and temptation and will most certainly compleat and perfect our deliverance at his second coming So that now the penitent Believer may safely make that bold challenge which the great St. Paul doth Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect Rom. 8.33 It is God that justifieth and absolveth them who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died and by his Death hath made a sufficient attonement to God for all our Sins and washed them away in his Blood which is a Fountain opened for Sin and for Uncleanness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Laver to wash away the pollution and filth of all our Sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness he is a propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only 1 Joh. 2 2. but for the Sins of the whole World Eph. 5.25 27. He delivered himself up for the Church that he might sanctify and cleanse it i. e. Purify all its members from the guilt filth and power of Sin endue them with a principle of Holiness and consecrate them to God a glorious Church without having spot or wrinkle free from the smallest remainder of sin and misery 1 Joh. 3.8 For this purpose the Son of God was manifest to destroy the works of the Devil the original word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he might dissolve those chains wherewith Satan holdeth all his Vassals in bondage 4. So great was the care of our Lord to make men truly good and virtuous that when he left the World he sent the Holy Ghost the Promise of the Father to superintend the Affairs of the Church Vicarius Christi in Ecclesia whom Tertul. calls Christ's Vicar a Metaphor borrowed from certain Church-Officers who are so denominated as our Civilians say Quasi vice fungentes Rectorum to attend the Offices of the Church in the Rectors absence To oppose the Torrent of Vice and Wickedness to instruct people in the fundamental Principles of Religion to guide direct and encourage them in the paths of Holiness and Virtue and by a continual residence upon his Cure to be ever ready to perform the Duties belonging thereunto Even so the Holy Spirit was sent to supply Christ's room in the Church Joh. 16 7. If I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you He was not to enter upon his Oeconomy or Dispensation till after Christ's Ascension and Glorification as we learn from John 7.39 The Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Christ was not yet glorified Princes do liberally bestow their gifts and favours at the time of their Inauguration Eph. 4.9 and the Prince of Peace being ascended up on high and triumphing gloriously over all his Church's Enemies poured down a plentiful effusion of gifts and graces unto men As St. Peter acquaints his Auditors That Christ being by the power of God exalted Acts 2.33 and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear The design and end of his coming is as our Saviour saith Joh. 16.8 To reprove the world of Sin of Righteousness and of Judgment To convince us of the evil and obliquity of our ways and doings and reclaim us from Sin and Error to regenerate us unto God's Image infusing holiness into our souls and giving us a right to eternal Salvation Tit. 3.5 by the washing of Regeneration and the renewing of the
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
be the lights of the World ought to take heed to themselves that their lives and actions may command a reverence from men 1 Tim. 4.16 and induce them to conform to their pattern and practice a holy life being a great advantage to Religion and the best preparation for Death and Judgment 2. Particularly The readiness and preparation I am speaking of does consist in the several acts and duties of the Christian Religion which must be performed by us with all diligence zeal and vigour viz. in the speedy setling our domestick concerns and moderating our affections to this world in making our peace and reconciliation with God and Men in doing all the good we can whilest we live in keeping Conscience clear and free from offence in bearing with patience the troubles we meet with in living under a constant sense of Gods all-seeing Eye and inspection over us and possessing our selves with frequent thoughts of Death and Judgment So that duly to dispose our selves for a blessed Eternity does not consist in one transient act but is to commence as soon as we come to a consistency of reason and understanding Eccles 12.1 and must be carried on through the several periods of our lives till God is pleased to dissolve the vital union between the Soul and Body and make a separation between them 1 The speedy settling of our domestick concerns and disposing of our temporal affairs while we have opportunity to do it deliberately and advisedly with prudence and discretion is one part of this preparation for Death and Judgment Death is a debt which we all owe to God and Nature and which we are sure to pay whensoever it pleaseth the God of Nature to require it from us But since we know not the time when nor the manner how we shall die and depart this life Omnibus est eadem lathi via non tamen unus est vitae cunctis exitiique modus it is not only wisdom but our duty to dispatch this work lest we should be taken away as experience shews us many are by some sudden casualty or unexpected surreption But suppose we go off the Stage of this world deliberately and by slow degrees some previous sickness or sensible decays of Nature forewarning us of our approaching dissolution 't is not fit then to have the disposition of our secular affairs upon our hands to disturb and disquiet our Minds and to rob us of our precious time every minute of which must be bestowed to the best advantage and to the true interest of our Souls for what they are when they leave the body and enter into a state of separation from it that they shall be to all eternity therefore it should be our chiefest care to get them washed clean in the blood of the immaculate Lamb from all their impurities that whatsoever defilements they have contracted during their union with their Bodies through the lusts of the flesh within or the wiles of Satan from without these being purged away they may appear spotless before the great Tribunal and stand with exceeding great joy before the Impartial Judge It is not fit when we come to die to have the settlement of our Estates then to take up our last moment which ought to be employed in renewing our repentance and in making our peace with God and solemnly preparing for a comfortable passage into the eternal world There are very sew if any of us whose outward circumstances are so mean and low but that we have some of the Gifts of Fortune to dispose of at our death Some Estate more or less to bequeath among our Friends and Relations when we leave the World Those of us that have the fairest Inheritances the fullest Baggs and Barns can take nothing away with us when we die but are at the courtesie of our surviving Friends for a Shrowd and a Coffin to intomb us in the Earth For as Job said when the Chaldaean and Sabaean Robbers had taken away all his goods Naked came I out of my Mothers womb Job 1.21 and naked shall I return So may we say with the Son of Syrac As we came forth of our Mothers womb naked shall we return to go as we came and shall take nothing of our labour which we may carry away in our hands Holy David affirms the same of the rich man tho the glory of his House is increased when he dieth Psalm 49.17 he shall carry nothing away his glory shall not descend after him All his Wealth and Power and Grandure shall die with him Nudos fudit in lucem Nudos recepit terra Seneca Epist VVe must carry out no more than we brought in So that it concerns us to make our Wills with great Justice and Piety and to take care that they be penn'd with clearness and plain expressions to prevent all Animosities and Incumbrances Wranglings and Suits of Law amongst our Children and Legatees For we are obliged to provide for the Quiet Peace and Prosperity of those that are to succeed us in our Possessions that it may go well with them when we are dead and gone Now forasmuch as Solomon saith Eccl. 3.1 To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under Heaven The most proper and convenient season for the dispatch of this weighty Affair is the day of Health while we have our wits about us while our understanding is clear and our memory perfect and that we can duly consider which way God may be best served by our Bequests Vertue encouraged and Justice may be done to every man and the Poor in some measure be provided for according as God hath enabled us ever remembring that what we have comes solely from his bounty who is the Soveraign Lord and true Proprietor of all that we have We but Stewards only and the Poor his Proxies and Receivers therefore we must not forget them in our Wills but remember that Precept of Solomon With hold not good from them to whom it is due Prov. 3.27 when it is in the power of thy hand to do it because such actions are works of Charity and Bounty to the Poor and acts of Righteousness to God and they that give nothing at their departure hence Luke 16.9 betray their trust for the good things of this life are committed to their care and management upon such conditions and reservations that they should use them comfortably while they live and dispose of them wisely and charitably when they die lest they give a bad account of their Stewardship and have reason to expect a severe sentence from their Lord Jam. 2.12 August For he shall have judgment without mercy who shewed no mercy Desideravit guttam qui non dedit micam This piece of Wisdom we may learn from the Example of Abraham who did dispose of his Estate among his Children some time before his death reserving only the enjoyment of it to himself during his
the most sweet and melodious Voices and all other delightful things as Musical Instruments of all sorts he denied not himself any thing that was pleasing to his Eyes or grateful to his Senses or that his heart desired neither was he hindred from the free and comfortable Enjoyment of all his Labours either by Wars abroad or Tumults at home or personal Afflictions or any outward Calamity or imbittering Occurrents and he had a heart to use and taste the sweetness of all his labours which the eager covetousness of wretched Misers will not suffer them to do who reap no more benefit by their Riches than to look upon them and to say the property thereof is Mine So true is that of the Royal Preacher He that loveth Silver Eccl. 5.10 11. shall not be satisfied with Silver nor he that loveth abundance with increase When Goods increase they are increased that eat them and what good is there to the Owners thereof saving the beholding them with their Eyes Which is a poor benefit indeed unable to make the Worldling compensation for his cares of getting and fears of losing them a Priviledge which is common to all others who may every day see more goodly sights the radiant lustre of the Sun adorned with Light as with a beautiful Garment and smiling upon the Earth with a most pleasant and amiable Countenance the sparkling Glories of the heavenly Bodies in their Constellations the lovely and fragrant Flowers of the Field the Rarities and Treasures of Nature and all the Pomp and Gallantry of Princes and Nobles all which are more pleasing sights to the Beholders But mark what Character he gives of all outward things after that he had taken a serious Review of all his Wealth and Labour and found himself disappointed in them Eccles 2.11 I looked saith he on all the labours that my hands had wrought and on the labour that I had laboured to do and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit a disappointment of all my hopes and desires of satisfaction This was my portion of all my labour Alas all things here below are of too narrow an extent to satisfie the vast and capacious Desires of our Souls which are enlarged with enjoying and therefore the inspired Pen men of the holy Scripture have advis'd us That we labour not to be rich Prov. 23.4 Mat. 6.19 Colos 3.2 nor lay up for our selves Treasures upon Earth but that we set our affections upon things above 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace and Glory and the Inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled and fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for us and not on things on the Earth the Pleasures Honours and Profits of this World which we are prone to desire inordinately and to pursue immoderately tho' we are charged to the contrary Love not the World 1 John 2.15 neither the things that are in the World if any Man love the World the love of the Father is not in him Know ye not that the Friendship of the World is enmity with God James 4.4 whosoever will be a Friend of the World is the Enemy of God in open hostility with him and unfit to see his Face in Death or Judgment therefore our Saviour warned his Disciples to take heed and beware of Covetousness Lake 12.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or an inordinate desire of earthly things a Mans Life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth he may live as easily and comfortably without it Nature is content with little and Grace with less Abundance is not necessary to render our Lives happy the Poor are as merry and chearful as vigorous and healthy as well satisfied and contented with a small pittance as the Wealthy and Opulent with their Superfluity which serves only to administer to Pride and Vanity Prov. 23.11 to make them wise in their own conceit to puff them up with Haughtiness and Arrogancy Insolency and Imperiousness of Spirit and to betray them to sin and solly They that will be rich fall into temptations and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts 1 Tim. 6.9 which drown men in destruction and perdition which take up their time and fill their heads with solicitous Cares and Fears engross their Affections encumber their Lives with toilsome Labours about them expose them to a great many Sorrows which pierce their Souls and render Death and Judgment exceeding formidable to them Therefore since the love of this World is so dangerous a thing let us not with Martha be careful and troubled about many things and leave Mary's Vnum Necessarium wholly unregarded but rather spend our Days and Years in this mortal state in adorning our Souls with Evangelical Graces and Vertues to fit us for Heaven for if we had the Riches of both the Indies we can take nothing away with us when we depart hence Job 1.21 Naked came we out of our Mothers Womb and naked shall we return We must everlastingly part with all that we have when we dye and leave it as Solomon saith to the Man that shall come after us and who knoweth whether he shall be a wise Man or a Fool Ecoles 2.18 19. yet shall he have rule over all our labour and gather all that we have heaped up but works of Righteousness will accompany us into the other World and now is the time for us to be rich in good Works to grow in Grace and Holiness To give all diligence to add to our Faith Vertue to Vertue Knowledge to Knowledge Temperance to Temperance Patience to Patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly Kindness and Charity for if these things be in us and abound and our Minds fit loose to the Affairs of this Life we shall be ready and willing to leave them whensoever our Lord shall please to call us hence 3. This Readiness and Preparation for Death and Judgment does confist in making our Peace and Reconciliation with God and Men. 1. With God which is a thing of infinite moment for so long as we continue in enmity with him and maintain a Rebellion against his Crown and Dignity he is engaged for the Vindication of his own Soveraign Power and Justice to be our Enemy and to execute his severe Judgments upon us and we have no Security that he will not do it speedily without giving us farther time to consider our ways and throw down our Arms of Hostility against him For the Psalmist assures us Psal 7.11 12 13 That God is angry with the wicked every day even while his Providence seems to smile upon them and they think themselves most secure and confident If he turn not he will whet his Sword he hath bent his Bow and made it ready he hath prepared for him the Instruments of Death God is loth for the Glory of his Patience and Long suffering forthwith to proceed against us For my Names sake Isa 48.9 will I defer mine
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
will attend us no further than the Grave and if we dispense it not well and wisely but hoard it up as the unprofitable Servant did his Talent in a Napkin the rust and canker thereof will be a Witness against us and convince us of our unmercifulness in doing no good with it it will kindle the wrath of God against us and gall our Consciences with a vexatious remembrance of our Sin and Folly But good Works will certainly follow us into the future Life blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord Rev. 14.13 so saith the Spirit for they rest from their Labours and their Works follow them to Witness for them before the great Judge of the quick and dead and I had almost said to appease his Wrath Jam. 2 13. Dr. Ham. in locum Mat 5.7 and to prevent their Condemnation for St. James saith mercy rejoyceth against Judgment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 triumpheth over it for the merciful shall obtain mercy our Saviour doth not say that they shall Merit mercy at the hand of God but obtain mercy the reason is plain for when we have done all we are unprofitable Servants and have not at all benefitted the infinitely Glorious and Blessed God by our services but only done that which was our Duty and therefore must expect to receive our reward from Gods free mercy and not of merit Non properito accipis Vitam aeternam sed tantum pro gratiâ August St. James is very express Chap. 1.14 That we must be perfect and entire wanting nothing as to all the integral parts of Christianity to render us truly acceptable to God yet this we may firmly relie upon that no one single Vertue can better qualifie us for mercy or more effectually prevail with God to shew us mercy then this of mercifulness Phil. 8.14 which is an Odour of a sweet smell a Sacrifice acceptable and well-pleasing to God the consideration whereof should induce us upon all occasions and opportunities to do good to be rich copious in good Works ready to distribute willing to communicate laying up in store for our selves not for our heirs and executors a good foundation against the time to come that we may lay hold on eternal Life A Life Bp. Reynolds which may be held when the last general conflagration shall have melted all the Treasures of the World our good works will abide that Tryal the Inheritance unto which they follow us is incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in the Heavens for us But we must qualifie our selves for it upon Earth by making it the whole business and trade of our Lives to do good which is to act according to the frame of our Natures and to comply with the best of those inclinations which God hath planted in us and to do a most delightful and pleasant Work even in the Opinion of Epicurus himself the great Patron of pleasure which is accompanied with satisfaction in the present performance of it and in the after reflection doth yield a huge refreshment to our Minds and a spring of peace and joy to our Souls which far exceeds all sensual and bodily delights and will most of all be sweet and comfortable to us when the pains of Death are upon us and our Souls are ready to take their flight into the eternal World therefore if we would have our Passage easie at our Death we must treasure up now a stock of Comfort against the evil day good Works will certainly support us in the Agony of Death and stand by us in the day of Judgment and plead for us before the Righteous judge and obtain for us a glorious Reward a Kingdom not purchased by our Works Mat. 25.34 35 c. but prepared for us from the foundation of the World and freely bestowed upon us for our obedience to his Holy Laws in being kind and merciful to his suffering Servants 5 The preparation which our Lord requires to fit us for his coming consists in keeping Conscience clear and free from offence either by abstaining from all filthiness of flesh and spirit or by a sincere endeavour if the mind and Conscience be defiled to get the guilt of sin done away by Godly sorrow which worketh Repentance unto Salvation for so St. Paul directs us alluding to the purifying under the Law by the sprinkling of Blood Heb. 10.22 1 Tim. 1.19 To get our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and to hold Faith and a good Conscience To this he assiduously applied himself with all his might Acts 24.16 Herein do I exercise my self to have alway a Conscience void of offence towards God and Man He made it his constant study and the daily business of his life continually to live inoffensively and to do his duty concscienciously both to God and Men. He felt the sweetness and comfort of it in his Soul when he was by the malice of the Jews imprisoned at Jerusalem and brought before the Sanhedrim where he makes this solemn profession Men and Brethren Acts 23.1 I have lived in all good Conscience before God Tho' Tertullus impleaded him with all the insinuative Arts of Learning and Eloquence he is able to make his own defence sully to answer the charge laid against him and his home and powerful reasonings of Temperance Righteousness and Judgment to come made his Judg to quake and tremble See here the great advantage a good man hath of his Adversaries and what invisible supports a good Conscience affords in the day of danger and adversity Hor. Car. L. 3. Od. 3. Neither the tumults of the People nor the face and indignation of Tyrants can abate his courage Inocency and Virtue animate him with boldness and confidence against all their accusations and terrors and lay the firmest foundation of a durable contentment and satisfaction therefore Seneca represents the mind of a wise man by the state of the superior Regions which were free from storms and tempests always serene and temperate A good man is never without joy Ep. 59. his contentment groweth not but from the Conscience of Vertue This made Paul and Silas when they were cast into Prison and thrust into the inner Dungeon Sanctorum sors est non melesté ferenda and their Feet mast fast in the Stocks sing divine Hymns and Songs of praise to God This was holy Job's comfort under all those piercing afflictions which besell him the loss of all his Substance and Children and desertion of his nearest Friends and Relations In these sad and miserable circumstances when there was none to pity and comfort him the conscience of his own innocence and integrity supported his Spirit Job 27.5 6. I will never remove my integrity from me my righteousness will I hold fast and will not let it go mine Heart i. e. my Conscience shall not reproach me so long as I live This supported and comforted the Primitive Believers in all their
Tribulations and Persecutions which were too great for human patience to bear Our rejoicing is this 2 Cor. 1.12 the testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world A good Conscience is a continual Feast a Jubilee Pro. 15.15 in that dark dismal time when Death is breaking that Vital Union and making a separation between Soul and Body and the man is walking through the valley of the shadow of Death Ps 23.4 which is very full of terrors and dangers this will relieve his fears fill him with unspeakable Joys and enable him to grapple with the King of Terrors with courage and constancy of mind and to say with the blessed Apostle 2 Tim. 4.6 7 8 The time of my departure is at hand I have fought the good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith upheld and maintained it in and by my Ministry and lived in the exercise of the grace of Faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me of his free grace at that day My Soul shall enjoy it at my dissolution my whole man at the general resurrection Such a comfortable departure as this free from the stings accusations of Conscience is worth the most solicitous care earnest endeavour of a Christians whole life for when he comes to die Conscience will administer unspeakable Consolations to him make him lift up his head with joy and with a cheerful countenance to stand before the Son of Man and to say with Hezekiah Remember now o Lord Isa 33.3 I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight But on the contrary the case of a wicked man will be very deplorable when he falls into any calamity or affliction Job 15.24 pain or Sickness when the days of darkness are at hand Conscience is then most active upbraiding him with the greatness multitude and aggravations of his sin Guilt lies throbbing on his Soul Trouble and anguish make him afraid they shall prevail against him as a King ready to the Battle Who goes forth to fight with all the strength and power of his Kingdom attended with his Guards and Battalions of disciplined Soldiers and with all his Engines and Military preparations for slaughter and destruction which strikes a dread and terror into his Enemies which fills them with fears and anxious thoughts what the event issue may be Such are the troubles and agitations of Conscience in wicked men and that not only of the weaker fort but of such also as are cloathed with Purple and invested with Imperial Power The mighty Monarchs of the world such as Nero Tyberius Caligula c. who are above the reach of human Justice these are not exempted from the disquiets and stings of Conscience the Gripes and Convulsions of Self-conviction and the apprehensions and fears of a Caelestial Tribunal which they shall not escape tho' they have derided and laughed at it in the day of health But the dread and horror thereof encreaseth upon them as they draw near to the end of their days and this will be the case of every one of us if we do not now get our Consciences purged from dead works and the guilt of all our sins cancelled by a cordial sorrow for and moral revocation of it Therefore it very nearly concerns us to make a strict and severe inspection into our Consciences to state our Account right between God and our Souls For if any sin remain uncrossed it concerns us as much as our everlasting happiness is worth to set about it with all possible speed and diligence to give no rest to our Eyes nor slumber to our Eye lids till we have by an actual repentance and revocation of all that we have done amiss totally discharged them and gotten all our sins blotted out that they may not be found upon record against us When the times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord Jer. 17.1 For Conscience registers all that we do be it good or evil And when the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father and the Book of Conscience shall be opened and according to what is found written therein we shall be judged sentenced and rewarded for Conscience will be with us in Death and Judgment either to comfort justifie and acquit us or to terrifie accuse and condemn us 6 That we may be ready for the coming of our Lord it is necessity that we bear with patience and constancy the various troubles and tryals which we may meet with in this Life for as Job saith Affliction cometh not forth of the dust Chap. 5.6 neither doth trouble spring out of the ground but Man is born unto trouble as the sparks flie upward Crosses and Troubles befall us not by chance or accident but are fore-ordained by the Wisdom and dispenced by the providence of God or by his allowance Can a bird fall in a snare upon the Earth where no Gin is for him Amos 3.5 John 16.33 nor industriously prepared and laid to take him in the World we shall have tribulation reproach and injuries from Men the loss of Goods and good Name disappointments in Children Friends and Relations provocations to anger and revenge sickness and distempers in our Bodies troubles within disquietudes anxieties of mind which are little Deaths not only prologues but preparatives to Death Acts 14.22 We must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God even as the Israelites went through many hardships in their peregrination through the Wilderness to the Land of Canaan so must we in our Pilgrimage through this World to the Inheritance which is above reserved in Heaven for us Therefore patience is absolutely necessary for us to enable us to bear our burdens to persevere in our Duty and to wait for our promised reward We have need of patience that after we have done the will of God Heb. 10.36 we may receive the promises Now many of the promises are of a long date and distance from us the reward is given to those that hold out unto the end wherefore the Apostle adviseth us To strengthen our selves with all patience and long suffering with joyfulness Coloss 1.11 Heb. 12.1 2.3 and to run with patience the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our Faith who for that joyful and glorious state which was faithfully promised by his Father to be the reward of his Sufferings endured the Cross with all the concomitants of it despifing the shame and disgrace poured on him by his Enemies and is set down as a glorious and triumphing conqueror over Sin and Satan Death and Hell at the Right Hand of the Throne
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
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
are all extinct in the Dust and mouldred to Atoms as are also those Triple Mitred Popes that from the time of Gregorius Magnus the last of the good and first of the bad to this day have filled the Roman Chair and affected the Title of Oecumenical Bishops and claimed an exorbitant Power and Supremacy over the Church of Christ and made Europe to tremble with their dreadful Fulminations But they have all found that there is a Hell for the Unrighteous and a Heaven for the Just but no Purgatory save that of the Blood of Christ which purgeth from all sin These are manifest proofs that Death is not to be avoided 'T is our wisdom then to prepare for it for by that means tho it be formidable to Nature yet the sting thereof is taken away and we may be rather said to fall asleep then to die to sleep in Jesus and go to a blessed and glorious immortality v. Holiness which is the best preparation for Death and Judgment the noblest qualification for Happiness is absolutely necessary for none but holy Souls shall stand with comfort before the Judgment Seat of Christ only they that have walked uprightly and wrought righteousness shall stand in God's presence Ps 15.1 2.24.3 4 5. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord who shall stand in his holy place he that hath clean hands and a pure heart whose life and actions are holy and unblamable who hath not lift up his eyes to vanity nor sworn deceitfully he shall receive the blessing from the Lord Grace and Glory and all other good things which are promised to them that walk uprightly and Righteousness together with the blessed fruits and rewards of it and those benefits which flow from it from the God of his salvation Mat. 5.8 Our Saviour pronounceth Holy Men blessed Blessed are the pure in heart who are they who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin The very best of Christians are not able to say sincerely and truly that they are free from all guilt and pollution of sin in heart and life Such only then come under this denomination who being purified from all filthiness in the precious Blood of Christ are of a sincere and upright heart and conversation though they be not legally pure and free from all sin yet the bent of their heart is after holyness or to speak in the words of a Reverend Divine upon this Beatitude Mr. Norris They are such as relate not only to the external conduct of their lives but also the inward frame and habitude of their mind and conform not only their actions but their wills and desires thoughts and affections to the rule of the divine Law and to the dictates of the internal light of God in the Soul Such as sanctifie the Lord in their hearts and compose the inward recesses of their Souls into an awe and reverence of the Divine Presence set a law to their intellectual powers and suffer not the least thought or passion to violate the order either of Reason or Grace Such holy Souls as these shall have the happiness to see God in the Beatifical Vision of him in Glory They have an imperfect view of him in his Creatures and in his Ordinances They now see as St. 1 Cor. 13.12 Paul saith through a Glass darkly but hereafter they shall see him face to face and be abundantly satisfied with his presence and glory to all eternity and their joy shall no man take from them Joh. 16.22 neither shall any be sharers with them in it but such only as are qualified for heaven by universal holiness Rev. 21.27 for there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth it no close Hypocrite no scandalous Sinner no unclean person that hath not by a holy life separated himself from all sin and wickedness and dedicated himself to God shall enter into that holy place 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolators nor Adulterers nor effeminate persons nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Extortioners Gal. 5.19 nor any other sinners that are guilty of the works of the flesh shall without sincere repentance enter into the Kingdom of God of which I tell you before before the day of Death and Judgment come when you will experimentally find what is here said to be true Eph 5.5 Col. 3.6 That no such workers of Iniquity shall have any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God But suppose they should be admitted into that blessed place they would there find nothing that would be grateful to them For the joys of Heaven are all pure and spiritual and upon that account cannot possibly afford any satisfaction to their carnal minds The immaterial felicities of the upper world agree not at all to their sensual desires neither would they find any complacency in those pure and refined delights because there is no suitableness in them to their constitutions and inclinations which are wholy bent to the gross and transient satisfactions of this world which perish in the using like crackling of Thorns under a Pot that make a blaze for a little while and then suddenly vanish away All the Beatitudes of Heaven both in their nature and degree are congruous only to the dispositions of the Saints and suitable to their natures to the divine principle of purity communicated to them by God they are not at all agreeable to the minds of wicked men and it is as unreasonable to think that such men can enter into heaven without vertuous habits and holy dispositions and divine graces as to think that a Lamp can burn without Oyl to maintain the flame Heaven is the habitation of the Holy God of spotless Angels and glorified Souls 't is the Region of the purest Vertue and the most perfect Holiness If ever therefore we desire to enter into it and to enjoy God in that blifsful place we must make it our chiefest business to purifie our selves even as he is pure for there is no enjoying him but by becoming like him Heb. 12.14 without holiness no man shall see the Lord. We can have no union to no communion with or enjoyment of God either in Grace or Glory without Holyness that we may therefore be ready to meet our Lord we must follow i. e. vigorously pursue Righteousness 2 Tim. 2.22 1 Thes 5.15 Faith Charity Peace and that which is good for so an entrance shall be administred unto us abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Having thus shewed wherein this preparation and readiness for Death and Judgment doth consist and also manifested the indispensible necessity of it I proceed to consider 2. The cogent Motive or Argument which our Lord propounds to quicken our zeal and diligence in making