ever Lot was got up to Zoar presently the Lord rained down fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah Assoon as ever the mourners are marked presently cometh the destroying Angel upon the rest Beloved when we see those that are mourners for the evils of the times and places where they live look away we should lay it to heart and consider it as a sign of Gods displeasure as a sign that he is a going and departing when he takes away his jewels as a sign that he is a coming to judge the world when he beginneth to separate to take to himself his own Certainly as soon as ever that number of the elect shall be accomplished when the company of those that God hath determined to eternal life shall be fulfilled when the sheep of Christ that are yet to be brought into his fold are gathered together when the fulnesse of the Gentiles is come in and the nation of the Jewes added then the world shall he burnt with fire and the day of Judgement shall come nothing shall hinder that general destruction that shall be the end of all things here below As it is with the general Judgement of the world so with particular Judgements upon Nations when God takes away his people when the Saints go out of Jerusalem to Pila then cometh the sword of the enemie upon Jerusalem when God drawes out his own people presently cometh judgement upon the rest It is good to observe Gods method and order that he takes in governing of the world at this day that in the death of the servants of God we may consider our own time that we may prepare for those evils that are a coming and for those greater judgments that are hastning Thus you see what use may be made of laying to heart the death of others God is much glorified thereby For all his attributes are seen in all his works and the glorifying of God is a declaring of God to be as glorious as he hath revealed himself to be in his attributes which is by shewing of them forth in his works When men can see the wisedome the justice the power the mercy the truth the soveraignty of God and all in the death of others then they glorifie God in taking to heart the death of others You see likewise what good cometh to a mans self by laying to heart the death of others He sees thereby the certainty of his own death He sees the nature of death and what the proper work of it is viz. to separate between him and all those outward comforts all those props and staies whereupon his heart rested too much on earth in the dayes of his vanity And lastly he sees the end and cause why God sendeth Death into the world sometime in judgement that men should take heed of sin sometimes in mercy in mercy to the men themselves and in mercy also to those that live that they seeing the servants of God lodged up before the tempest may learn to fear and to hide and secure themselves under Gods special providence who can either hide them amongst the living or the dead in the worst times Now let us conclude with some application to our selves In the first place it serveth for the just reproof of that great neglect that is in the world at this day that men lay not to heart the death of others I wish that this were only the sin of worldly men I know to a worldly man it is of all things the most unpleasant thought that can be to think of death he cannot indure to hear this they shall fetch thy soul from thee It is as unpleasant to him as it is to a Bankrupt to hear of a Sergeant coming to arrest him as unpleasant as it is to a Malefactor to hear of being brought before the Judge And that is the reason why men in the time of feasting cannot endure such discourses at their Tables as might put sad thoughts of death into them oh these are too melancholly thoughts Yea but in the mean time it is thy folly thy want of wisedome He that was guided by the spirit of wisedome and had now bought some wisdome at a deare rate by woeful experience of his former follies he now seeth that it was farre better to go to the house of mourning that is seriously to consider of that which men account the most ordinary cause of mourning that is the death of others and of themselves then to go to the house of feasting that is to sport a mans selfe in the pleasures of the world and to give liberty to a mans selfe to all manner of delights But I say I wish that this were their fault onely and that it may die with them But it is too much the fault of Gods own people Moses is fain to pray for Israel in the Wildernesse where they saw so many die before them that God would give them wisdom to number their dayes And Ministers have still the same cause to pray for the people and Christians to pray one for another that God would give them wisdome to lay to heart the death of other men Have you well considered of Death when you can only discourse that such a one that was profitable in his instruction is dead such a one by whom we have had good in conversing with is dead such a one that was young and likely to live many years longer is dead What of all this this is but idle and empty discourse What use makest thou of this to thy self dost thou gather from thence the certainty of thy own death Dost thou consider what death will do to thee when it cometh how that it will separate between thee and all things in the world as it hath done them Dost thou consider for what cause God sendeth Death abroad into the world Dost thou consider this with thy selfe as thou oughtest to do This is an act of wisdome This is that we call due consideration when the soul reflects upon it self it is their case now and it will be mine and mine in the same manner therefore it is good for me to set my accounts strait with God When thou accompaniest another to the grave dost thou conclude thus with thy self the very next time that any death is spoken of it may be mine or as Saint Peter speaks to Saphirah after the death of Annanias the feet of those that have buried thy husband are at the door and shall carry thee out also This is reason of all that worldly-mindednesse of all that earnestnesse and invention to gain the favour of men by indirect means this is the reason of all that immoderate care about our businesse with the neglect of our souls this is the reason of all that carnal security of all that forgetfulnesse of God and the account that shall be made at the day of Judgment this is the reason of the unfruitfulnesse of our lives of our unprofitable spending of our times or
still a generation to praise God their Creator and so being a temporal thing ordained for the office of this life it ceasoth when Death cometh there is nothing but Death and that which Christ speaks of in the Gospel can make a separation when death cometh all relations cease and a wife is no wife and a husband is no husband Behold out of this the infinite love of God in Christ that hath made all things all unions and contracts hath made all to be void but his own for our Lord Jesus in life and death is our Husband our Lord our Master our Father as well in the one as in the other whereas by the intercourse of death all things are dissolved two of the best friends that are may part upon discontent and body and soul must part at Death and Husband and wife the Symbol of Christ and his Church must part one from another yet when all societies and contracts part Christ doth not part from us but he is in the Grave as well as in the highest heavens our Husband and Lord and Spouse and we are his Church still we keep the same relation and as strong bonds in death as in life My Dead Yet not withstanding though she was not Abrahams Wife yet she was Abrahams dead This must teach a man after he is freed by Death to the combination and contract yet that there is a care remaining from the Dead a love to that though not as to a Wife the respects of Man and Wife are carnal and fleshly Death cometh and cutteth down the flesh therefore cutteth off that respect too but because she was dead and there was such bonds hetween them formerly therefore a man is bound to lament and sorrow for his dead as Abraham did here to love the memory of the dead to speak well of the dead when occasion serveth to commend them for their vertues to use the friends of the dead as far as is in their power with all courtisie to be good to the children of the Dead those that the mother hath left and not to cast them into the hands of a furious woman a new Wife that neither careth for dead nor living but to have a special regard to the bonds and familiarity and that spiritual acquaintance that God made in this life and so to be good to all that come of that issue for their sakes Let me bury my dead Lastly it followeth why he would bury his dead Out of my sight A strange thing Out of my sight Was his grief so aggravated as he could not still behold her face or was it necessary that the carkasse it self must be conveyed away must it needs be that the body being now no way amiable but noisome must be conveyed out of a mans sight The best friend in the world cannot endure the sight of a dead body it is a gastly sight especially when it cometh to that dissolution that the parts begin to have an evil savour and smell as all have when they are dead then to keep themselves in life and health it is necessary to avoid them to bury their dead out of their sight And what so sweet a sight once to blessed Abraham as Sarah What so sweet a spectacle to the world as Sarah The great Kings of the world set her as a Parragon and she came no where but her beauty enamoured them she was a sweet prospect in all eyes every man gazed on her with great content to see the beauty of God as in so many lines marked out in the face of Sarah Yet now she is odious every eye that looked upon her before now winks and cannot endure to look upon her she must be taken out of sight Oh bethink your selves of this you that take pride in this frail flesh that prank up your selves to make you graceful in every eye you that study to please the beholders you that are the great Minions of the world you that when age beginneth to purle your faces begin to redeem your selves with paintings think of this Mother Sarah the beautifullest woman in the world is loathsome to her husband her sweetest friend therefore I heseech you in the fear of God leave these fooleries and vain fancies remember what danger Sarahs beauty cast her into though it were a great gift of God yet she had better have been without it then to have that hazard of soul and body that she was brought to by Abrahams travels and necessity and know it that your best beauty is to please the eye of God to look beautiful in his sight for the sight of God is never weary the sight of men will be weary of you the best friends you have will loath to see you dead you will then be grisly in the eyes of men but the eye of God it is all one even in the dust and nothing can make you so ill-favoured but God will like you therefore labour to please Gods eye that never ceaseth nothing will make him after his affection whereas the eyes of men this life is so full of foul alterations as the least sickness bringeth an abomination unto them I see the time prevents me I will speak a little to the present occasion We have here a depositum a gage a pawn of a dear Sister of ours a woman known to you all to be of a holy Christian conversation a neighbour full of peace and quiet and of good works according to her calling She was also in the spiritual part a woman of a very good inclination loving the Word of God curious and attentive in the hearing of it She was much delighted in it and desired to communicate the knowledg she had in the Scriptures to others and to speak of it as often as occasion permitted By this study it pleased the Lord to work a constant and lively faith in her to put all her trust and considence in him She was now taken upon the sudden therefore the Lord hath left her as a pattern for us to look upon to take heed to our selves that we may make our peace with God and look for death every moment because we know not how soon we may be arrested She was indeed a woman of great trust and faith in God and one whose mouth was full of his praise still admiring and recounting the wondrous grace of God to her in all the course of her life in sparing her in giving her comfort in her conscience concerning the pardon and forgiveness of her sins and providing for her worldly helps which she thought never to attain to and in many other particulars She did open the grace of God according to her best understanding still giving the praise to his holy Name and no doubt if the stroke upon her had not been so fatal and as deadly as now it was we should have had the like fruit more abundantly at this time Howbeit she was not as one altogether destitnte but she called for and craved
the prayers of Gods people that they would lift up their hearts and hands and voyces to the Lord to look upon her and release her of her misery and trouble either by life or death for she was content either way She had some touches also of Divine Scripture as occasion offered themselves As when the light was brought in she desired to have the light of Gods countenance to shine upon her And when her eye-strings were broke that the tears did distill down she desired the Lord God to put her tears into his bottle and many such Luminations there were that came from her Her surcharged spirits were so taken and strucken as a man might perceive at the first there was no way but one her self drawing her self within as though that in the outward man there were no room for the soul to dwell there or to have a fit and opportune habitation I must needs advertise you of one thing that this cnstome of praising and commending of the dead is very full of danger because a man may be a lyer and a flatter before he be aware when he never intended it But truly for ought that I could discerne this Sister of ours was one that was very well deserving of a quiet and moderate spirit intentive and careful to govern her house and children and no way exorbitant for any thing that I can hear It is true that all are not of one Model as the bodies of men and women are not of one height and colour so the souls and spirits are not all of one elevation neither but we esteem the children of God according to that they have received and not according to that that they have not received as the Apostle speaks I say therefore according to the grace she had received I verily beleeve she was faithful and true to it that she received not the grace of God in vain she sought by all means to nourish and cherish it from one degree to another and to proceed from grace to grace And therefore I conclude in the judgement of Charity that we have very strong hopes and great probabilities of her happy translation She was a Daughter of Sarah as Saint Peter speaks of Women that he would have them demean themselves as Daughters of Sarah and such a one she was in her habit and attire in the manner of her life and society and company and therefore I doubt not but she inheriteth with Sarah the place of blessed mansions that the Lord hath made infinite specious and wide and capable for all blessed souls that put their trust in him Now this let us make use of to our own souls In that she had not that largeness of time she supposed to have had but was surprised so soon and vehemently as she could not dispose of her self in that manner as we know by experience she would have done it should be a lesson to us to be ready for God to be acquainted with God We have had two Corses one after another one a man another a woman both taken suddenly in respect of the time though they had thought to have made an overture of themselves to the world and thought to have made all things fair and easie by the confession and expression of their faith to the world but they were not suffered to do it So all presume to have time to make the world know that they be humble and penitent and to make their confession but many put it off till it be too late Let us not be put off with vain presumptions the Lord giveth and the Lrod takes we know not how soon We were born we know not when we shall die we know not when The Lord prepare us all for it GODS ESTEEM OF THE DEATH OF HIS SAINTS PREACHED At the Funeral of Mr. John Moulson of Hargrave at Bunbury in Cheshire By S. T. SERMON XX. PSAL. 116.15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints THe Psalm was composed by David to be an acknowledgment of that favour and grace of God which himself had experience of at some time or other but when or what the particular occasion of it was we are uncertain Some refer it to that escape which he made when Saul and his Troops had compassed him about upon the discovery of the Ziphites 1 Sam. 23.26 27 28. Others because Jerusalem is mentioned in the Psalm and Jerusalem at that time of Saul was not built as they conclude well against the time of the penning of it so they find also another occasion his escape from Absolom and that great plot 2 Sam. 15.14 Others include also his spiritual Conflicts his combattings with Gods wrath and his dispairs because of his sins together with some sicknesses and strong diseases accompanied with griefs and anxieties of mind In all which he found God benevolous and merciful unto him in the sense of which he rejoyces and as it was in his duty gives thanks and praises unto God He saith in the fourteenth vers he would make publique business of it and would pay his vowes corum populo in the presence of all the people and good reason he had for God hath oft releeved him and taken much care to preserve his life as he is ever tender of the safety of all his people for Pretiosa in oculis Jehovae c. Pretious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints The words are a Simple universall affirmative proposition wherein 1. The subject or thing spoken of is The death of Gods Saints 2. That which is spoken of it is That it is precious in the sight of the Lord. Which proposition may be resolved into these three observations 1. That there be some that are Gods Saints 2. That Gods Saints do also Die 3. That the Death of Gods Saints is precious in Gods sight 1. There be some that are Gods Saints Sanctorum ejus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the vulgar latine reads it Misericordium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Pagnin after S. Hierome Bonificorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Piscator Piorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Mollerus The Kings translators have rendred it in our last English His Saints though they have given themselves a liberty in other places to render the Hebrew that is here by our English Holy as Ps 16.10 hhasideka Thy Holy one and the Hebrew word that properly signifies holy by our English Saints as Psal 16.3 Kedoshim To the Saints The Saint in the Text is in Hebrew hhasid and hhasid is beneficus and but in a secundary sence Sanctus Yet whereas it is rendred by the Septuagint once 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 venerandus venerable which our English translates The good man Mic. 7.2 and once 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reverend or as our English hath it Righteous Prov. 2.8 Yet in all others places it is translated by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sanctus Saint or Holy and it
of whatsoever else it be this is even the very reason of all because even those that professe themselves to be the people of God and to give God the glory of his attributes in all his works yet they lay not to heart the death of those that are before them Men durst not they could not passe away their time in such unprofitablenesse and unfruitfulnesse as they do if they did seriously consider and lay to heart the death of others before them Again secondly As it condemnes the general neglect that is amongst men of this duty so it serves to reprove that sinful laying to heart of the death of others that is too frequent and common in the world That is first when men with too much fondnesse and with too great excesse and distemper of affection look upon their dead friends as if God could never repair the losse nor make amends for that he hath done in taking of them away Rachel mourneth and will not be comforted David mourneth and will scarce be comforted Oh Absalom my son my son would God I had died for thee What is all this but to look on freinds rather as Gods then men as if all sufficiency were included in them only Men look on their freinds as Micah did upon his Idol when they had bereaved him of it they took away all his comfort and quiet You have taken away my Gods saith he and what have I more or as Laban that when his Idols were stoln away his heart was dead he could not stay in his house he could not enjoy himselfe wherefore have you stollen away my Gods saith he So I say men look on their dead freinds as they should look upon the Creatour and not as upon the creature they take their death to heart but not in a right manner This is the very reason why God many times makes your Christian freinds so unprofitable to you when they live because you idolize them you advance them above God This is the reason also why you are so unable to bear the losse of them when they die God beating you now with your own rod and making you feel the fruit and effect of your own folly This now is an ill taking to heart the death of freinds to mourn as men without hope Secondly there is a taking to heart and considering of the death of men but it is an unrighteous considering an unrighteous judging of the death of others If men see one die it may be a violent death then they conclude certainly there is some apparent token of Gods judgment on such a one If they see another die with some extremity of torment and vehement pains certainly there is some apparent evidence of Gods wrath upon this man If they see another in some great and violent tentation strugling against many tentations they conclude presently certainly such are in a worser case then others I may say to all these as Christ said once to those that told him of the eighteen men upon whom the Tower in Siloe fell think you that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem Or rather as Solomon saith All things come alike unto all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the clean and to the unclean to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner and he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath Learn to judge righteous judgment to judge wisely of the death of others take heed of condemning the generation of the just But rather in the last place Make this use of the death of every one Doth such a man die by an ordinary sicknesse having his understanding and memory continued to the end Doth such a man die in inward peace and comfort with cleare and evident apprehensions of Gods love so that he can with Simeon say Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace What use shouldest thou that livest make of this now Certainly let the sweetnesse of their death make thee in love with the goodnesse of their lives That is the only way to a happy death to a comfortable end indeed the leading of a fruitful and profitable life Again dost thou see the Children of God full of temptations full of fears and disquietnesse of spirit in their death Sometimes so overcome with the violence of the disease as that it may be they speak impertinently and idely it may be sinfully What use shouldest thou make of this now Certainly let the terribleness of the example of such a mans death let it be a terrour to thee and a means to stir thee up to more carefulnesse of making good use of thy time in this life Nabal dieth and his heart is in him as a stone If ever God quicken thee if ever God breath upon thy soule or enliven thee by the inward motions of his Spirit embrace those opportunities and seasons of grace lest God smite thee with an everlasting deadnesse Again hath God caused the light of his countenance to shine upon thy heart Doth he offer a gracious message of peace to thy soule Doth he speak peace at any time by the ministery of his Word Imbrace those offers yeeld to those conditions of peace lest thou be deprived of peace at the end Againe hath GOD given thee any strength over temptations Hast thou prevailed over the assaults of Sathan and other of thy enemies Hath he made thee a conquerour take heed how thou insnarest thy selfe againe how thou inthrallest thy self in yeelding to Sathans yoke lest he buffet thee by him in a worse manner at thy end Thus I say thou canst see nothing befal any of Gods servants in their death or in the manner of their death whether in be more pleasing or more sorrowful more calm and quiet or more tempestuous and full of trouble whether it be more comfortable or more lamentable but it may be useful unto thee If it be good it may be it shall be so with thee if it be bad it may be it shall be so with thee too The main businesse that a man hath to do is to make sure of himself in this life It was the question that Saint Austin made to those that told him of a violent death that seized upon one But how did he live saith he He made no matter how he went out but how he carried himself in the world And truly this is the great Question that every man should put to his soule I must out of the world how have I lived when I was in the world had GOD any glory by me had men any good by me have I furthered my account against the day of reckoning that I may give it up with joy it makes no matter how I go out of the world I am sure if my life have been serviceable to God and beneficial to men my departure shall be for gain and advantage it is
Bayliff that arrests men at the suit of Death but many a one hath been made the prisoner of Death that was never arrested at the suit of Death yea know Abel was murthered in the field Eli broak his neck from the chair Absalom was snatched up in an Oke the disobedient Prophet was slain by a Lyon the disobedient Prince was trodden to death in a crowd Abimelech was slain by a peece of a milstone Pope Adrian was choaked with swallowing a flie Pelus slain with a fall of a tile Such is our life as a vapour as the sand of an hour-glass ever spending and ever running out as Gregory hath it in his Morals Look how many dayes a man adds to his life so many steps he takes to his death So Jeremie to Heliodorus we are ever dying for we every day change when I am writing this all the points of my pen spends a point of my life nay while we are hearing this Sermon we are passing on I will make a little Use of it and then I have done First make the Use the Apostle doth to them that build upon futurity and think they may do what they list you that think you will do to day and to morrow what you list Oh faith the Apostle what reason have you to build on to day and to morrow when ye know not what a day will bring forth We may not promise our selves life for to morrow much less may we do as the fool in the Gospel promise years when we cannot assure our selves of a moment of life if we might assure our selves of a moment of life in which it might be said it were impossible to die we might possibly be immortal and not die at all but as Ambrose faith corruptible is not so capable of incorruption but since it hath been subject to fall till it doth fall it is ever declining there is no building nor trusting to uncertain futurity we must not rest and trust on those things which are to come but only upon God and speak conditionally of them not absolutely refer the success and disposing of all things to come to the will and good pleasure of God remembring what our life is so make less accompt of our life and of our selves and all Secondly seeing our life is so vanishing let us ever prepare for death for sudden death because life is vanishing Thou knowest not in what hour thy master will come Therefore every hour we should so bestow our selves that our Master may find us at work For this two things are requisite First ever think of death death cannot be sudden to that man that ever thinks of it Secondly be careful to lead a godly life the goodness of the life consists not in the long continuance of it but in the well imploying of it it may be any mans case to live well it can be no mans to live long our comfort is though our life be momentary yet notwithstanding this very moment of time is enough to gain to us here-after eternity and how much better is a short time well spent for the purchasing of eternal happiness then a short time ill spent for the purchasing of eternal misery your life is momentary yet eternity depends on it if it be spent ill eternal misery if well we are eternally happy howsoever here we vanish as a vapour yet one day we shall become as fixed starrs in the right hand of Christ we shall shine as starrs for ever Thus I have shewed how the life of man is compared to a vapour that appears for a little while and then vanisheth away Beloved I pray let not this Sermon pass as a vapour let not all of it pass away in the found you here but fix it as a nail in a sure place in your understanding in your memory in your affections and remember how short and sudden every mans end and life is or may be O that my people were wise they would understand this they would consider their latter end We have a spectacle here before us that was a real comment upon this Text She did understand the Doctrine of it and was excellent in the practice of it A Gentlewoman that deserved a better Orator to commemorate the vertues that were in her and to give her praises due it had been a fitter work for your reverend and worthy Minister whose absence at this time I supply he could have spoken more fully of her then I can because he was acquainted longer with her then I was I account it a part of my unhappiness that I knew her so little a while and peradventure you will say it is a part of her unhappiness that this office is done by one that knew her so little a while It is true indeed I am not able to say much of her for my knowledge of her was but a few weeks or months by reason of our neighbour-hood in the Country but then I observed her to be one of the ornaments of her sex and every thing that came from her was graceful and comely the sweetness of nature and grace in my opinion concurred in her But I must deliver the most that I have to say from the report that I have from others yet from very good hands Solomon faith A good name is as a good oyntment poured forth like the precious Alablaster-box that Mary broke on the head of our Saviour the smell of it perfumed all the house I may say of her as the Apostle faith of Demetrius She was well reported of by all and I am perswaded she was reported well of the truth it self she had a name answerable to her vertues Solomon faith A prudent wife or a good wife is the gift of God she was a Theodosia that was her name The gift of God and a gift God bestowed to the comfort of him that had her She was constant both in the performance of publike duties and private in hearing Gods word not only on the Lords day but as occasion gave leave on the week-dayes and she was not only constant at good exercises abroad but which was the crown of her commendations she was so at home also she was constant in reading the Word I am credibly informed that she read over the Bible seven times in the seven years that she was married she constantly made use of that she heard I my self saw no less then two quires of paper writ out with her own hand collected partly out of other books out principally out of Sermons not noted at Church when she heard them but when she came home being in this like Mary that laied up the sayings of Christ in her heart her daily spending of her time was commendable and exemplary in the morning up to prayer with her family and then unto private prayer by her self from prayer to reading and then to work and then to prayer and to dinner and then to work this was her continual course of life without interruption She was
a Sarah for obedience Rebecca for wisedome Mary for piety Martha for houswifery a true Lydea she heard and God opened her heart that she attended to those things she heard A true Dorcas full of good works they that knew her knew her so far as wisedome and discretion dictated to her full of charity of good works and almes-deeds But her life was a vapour that appeared for a little while and then vanisheth away She verified my Text too truly in that it pleased God suddenly to call her even in the prime and strength of her years she was but a young woman and she dyed in Child-bed You that are Child-bearing women I wish you to set this pattern and example before your eyes and learn by this spectacle to see how neer you walk to the brink of your grave when you come to be delivered of child I wonder therefore by the way that any should find fault with that solemn thanks-giving that is appointed by the Church to be rendred to God for women for his preserving them from the great danger of Child-birth there is but a step between you and death you should then have a care to prepare for your death I see a great deal of time spent to prepare all brave and fine God may quickly turn all your chambers and hang them with black and turn your jollity into mourning therefore you shall rather prepare for your winding-sheet and for your grave for undoubtedly she did so and I may in some sence apply that litterally of the Apostle to her In bearing of children she is saved It is true the Apostle gives that as an argument of comfort to women because before he had preached obedience to them a doctrin that they do not well relish yet he gives two reasons because Adam was first made and she first sinned that is another reason yet lest she should be too much discouraged with that of the Apostle and because the pain of child-bearing was threatned to women for a part of their curse the Apostle adds that as a comfort In bearing of children they shall be saved Notwithstanding the pain and sorrow of child-bearing was inflicted as a punishment upon them yet under that curse there is a way of salvation opened if they be such women saith the Apostle as continue in faith and charity with holiness and sobriety These vertues being eminent in this dear Christian sister of ours no doubt but in bearing of children she is saved that is she found under that curse a way to a blessing an everlasting blessing of salvation How she disposed her self in the time of her sickness those of the family well know truly I have not oft scarse ever heard of a woman of her rank and quality for she was a woman well descended and well bred and yet I never heard of a woman more beloved and more bewayled her Husband complains of his loss never man lost a better wife all the servants never any had a better Mistriss and all the neighbours never any had a better neighbour Concerning her in the time of her sickness they can give a better and more particular testimony then I I only did one office and service to her when in the absence of your reverend Pastor I was called I visited her an hour or two before she went when God knowes she was faint and weak and able to breath but a few words but they were sweet I told her I hoped and doubted not but that as she had made a Christian profession in her life time so now she would seal it up she answered I have endeavoured to serve God but with a great deal of infirmity and weakness I rest not upon that I rest upon my evidence and there is my comfort I doubt not but he that hath given me the evidence will also give me the inheritance I think these were the last words she spake Thus she is gone to her rest her body to rest as a prisoner of hope till the Resurrection her soul rests in the arms of God I have no more to say to her or of her then that Christ said to the woman in the Gospel Woman go in peace thy faith hath saved thee SAINT PAULS TRUMPET OR AN ALARM FOR SLEEPY CHRISTIANS SERMON XXVI ROM 13.11 And that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep THe holy Apostle in this Chapter he delivers a number of precepts and general rules for satisfaction and enforceth them with sundry reasons Among them all the words that I have read they are one principal both Precept and Reason enforcing it Considering the season it is time that ye arise from sleep These few words may be called Saint Pauls Trumpet to rouze the sluggish Christian They were the occasion of the conversion of that famous instrument St. Austin as he saith in the eighth Book of his Confessions the last Chapter He reports that when the time of his Conversion came near he was in a marvellous great agony and conflict beset with a number of Temptations whereby Satan would still have detained him in the spiritual sleep he was in being in this marvellous conflict he could not but go from his Chamber to his Garden and there he prostrated himself on his face before the Lord and earnestly and ardently called upon God And in his Prayer as himself records he seemed that he did hear the voice of a Child speak to him Tolle lege Take up the book and read Hereupon running back again to his study his Book being open the first place that he cast his eye upon was this Verse It is now time considering the season that you awake ouâ—… of sleep And saith he with the end of the sentence I found an infused life He found in the reading of this sentence as soon as he had read it the life of grace infused into him and his conversion was compleat This place of Scripture hath been famous in the Church for the conversion of that famous instrument I would to God as we do not despair that the Lord would bestow the same blessing among some of us who not only hear these words read but are now to be expounded in your ears For the understanding of which we are to inquire of divers things for the meaning of the words First we are to inquire what is here meant by sleep It is time to awake out of sleep Secondly what is meant by arising or awaking out of sleep Thirdly who they be that must arise or wake out of sleep Fourthly and lastly why the Apostle doth bestow this exhortation upon sleepy persons that cannot hear what he saith For the first of these what is meant by sleep Sleep in Scripture is threefold Natural Moral Spiritual Natural sleep is that spoken of Psal 3.5 I will lay my self down to sleep and rise again This natural sleep is the rest and restitution of nature Moral sleep is natural death