Father which art in Heaven shut not out thy Children the Children of thy love and promise The compassion that thou hast put into Man ingageth him to relieve a Neighbour â—ea an Enemy much more to entertain a Child Our Children and our Friends dare trust themselves upon our kindness and fidelity and fear not that we will reject them in their distress or destroy them though they do sometime offend us Our kindness is cruelty in comparison of thine Our Love dserveth not the name of Love in comparison of thy most precious Love Thine is the love of God who is Love it self 1 Joh. 4. 8 16. and who is the God of Love 2 Cor. 1. 13 11. and is answerable to thine Omnipotency Omniscience and other Attributes But ours is the love of frail and finite sinful men As we may pray to thee to Forgive us our trespasses for we also forgive those that have trespassed against us So we may pray to thee to receive us though we have offended thee for even we receive those that have offended us Hath thy Love unto thine own its breadth and length and height and depth and is it such as passeth knowledge Ephes 3. 17 18 19. and yet canst thou exclude thine own and shut them out that cry unto thee Can that love which washed me and took we home when I lay wallowing in my Blood reject me when it hath so far recovered me Can that Love now thrust me out of Heaven that lately fetch'd me from the gates of Hell and placed me among thy Saints Whom thou lovest thou lovest to the end John 13. 1. Thou art not as man that thou shouldst repent Num. 23. 19. with thee is no variablenes or shadow of turning Jam. 1. 17. If yesterday thou so freely lovedst me as to adopt me for thy child thou wilt not to day refuse me and cast me into Hell Receive Lord Jesus a member of thy body A weak one indeed but yet a member and needeth the more thy tenderness and compassion who hast taught us not to cast out our Infants because they are small and weak We have forsaken all to cleave unto thee that we might with thee be one flesh and spirit Ephes 5. 31. 1 Cor. 6. 17. O cut not off and cast not out thy members that are engrafted into thee Thou hast dwelt in me here by faith and shall I not now dwell with thee Ephes 3. 17. Then hast prayed to the Father that we may be one in thee and may be with thee to behold thy Glory John 17. 20 21 22 23 24. And wilt thou deny to receive me to that glory who pray but for what thou hast prayed to thy Father Death maketh no separation between thee and the members It dissolveth not the union of souls with thee though it separate them from the flesh And shall a part of thy self be rejected and condemned 10. Consider That Christ hath sealed thee up unto salvation and given thee the earnest of his Spirit and therfore will certainly receive thee 2 Cor. 1. 22. and 5. 5 Eph. 1. 13 14. and 4. 30. Say therefore to him Behold Lord thy mark thy feal thine earnest Flesh and blood did not illuminate and renew me Thy spirit which thou hast given me is my witness that I am thine Rom. 8. 16 And wilt thou disown and refuse the soul that thou hast sealed 11. Consider That he that hath given thee a Heavenly mind will certainly Receive thee into heaven If thy treasure were not there thy heart would never have been there Mat. 6. 21. Thy weak desires do shew what he intends thee he for kindled not those desires in vain Thy Love to him though too small is a certain proof that he intends not to reject thee It cannot be that God can damn or Christ refuse a Soul that doth sincerely Love him He that Loveth dwelleth in God and God in him 1 John 4. 15 16. And shall he not then dwell with God for ever God fitteth the nature of every creature to its use and agreeably to the element in which they dwell And therefore when he gave thee the heavenly nature though but in weak beginnings it shewed his will to make thee an inhabitant of heaven Say therefore to him O Lord I had never loved thee if thou hadst not begun and loved me first I had not not minded thee or desired after thee if thou hadst not kindled these desires It cannot be that thy Grace it self should be a deceit and misery and intended but to Tantalizeus and that thou hast set thy Servants Souls on longing for that which thou wilt never give them Thou wouldst not have given me the wedding garment when thou didst invite me if thou hadst meant to keep me out Even the grain of mustard-seed which thou sowedst in my heart was a kind of Promise of the Happiness to which it tendeth indeed I have loved thee so little that I am ashamed of my self and confess my cold indifferency deserves thy wrath But that I Love thee and desire thee is thy gift which signifieth the higher satisfying gift Though I am cold and dull my eyes are towards thee It is thee that I mean when I can but groan It is long since I have bid this world away It shall not be my home or portion O perfect what thou hast begun This is not the time or place of my perfection And though my life be now hid with thee in God when then appearest let me appear with thee in glory Col. 3. 4. and in the mean time let this soul enjoy its part that appeareth before thee Give me what thou hast caused me to Love and then I shall more perfectly love thee when my thirst is satisfied and the water which thou hast given me shall spring up to everlasting life Joh. 4. 14. 12. Consider also That he that hath engaged thee to seek first his Kingdom is engaged to give it them that do sincerely seek it He called thee off the pursuit of vanity when thou wast following the pleasures and profits of the world and he called thee to labour for the food that perisheth not but endureth to everlasting life John 6. 27. Since then it hath been thy care and business notwithstanding all thine imperfections to seek and serve him to please and honour him and so to run that thou mightest obtain Say then Though my sins deserve thy wrath and nothing that I have done deserve thy favour yet Godliness hath thy Promise of the Life to come and thou hast said that he that seeks shall find Matth. 7. 7. 8. O now let me find the Kingdom that I have sought and sought by thy encouragement and help It cannot be that any should have cause to repent of serving thee or suffer disappointment that trusts upon thee My labour for the World was lost and vain but thou didst engage me to be stedfast and abound in thy work on this account that my labour should
he provide this Heavenly Building not made with hands but for Believers If therefore any inordinate fear surprize thee remember what he hath said John 14. 1 2 3. Let not your hearts be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me In my Fathers house are many mansions if it were nor so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also Say therefore Lord when thou hadst made this lower narrow world thou wouldst not leave it uninhabited for Man thou madest it and Man thou placedst in it And when thou hast prepared that more capacious glorious World for thy redeemed flock it cannot be that thou wilt shut them out O therefore receive my fearful Soul and help me to obey thine own command Luke 12. 32. Fear not little flock for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the kingdom O let me hear that joyful Sentence Matth. 25. 34. Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world 8. Consider That Christ hath received thy Soul unto Grace and therefore he will receive it unto Glory He hath quickned us who were dead in trespasses and sins wherein in time past we walked c. But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins and trespasses quickned us together with Christ and raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Ephes 2. 1 2 3 4 5 6. The State of Grace is the kingdom of heaven as well as the State of Glory Matth. 3. 2. 10. 7. 13. 11 24 31 33 44 45 47. By Grace thou hast the heavenly birth and nature We are first born to trouble and sorow in the World but we are new born to everlasting joy and pleasure Grace maketh us Heirs and giveth us Title and therefore at death we shall have possession The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for us 1 Peter 1. 3 4. The great work was done in the day of thy Renovation Then thou wast entred into the houshold of God and made a fellow Citizen with the Sants and receivedst the Spirit of adoption Eph. 2. 19. Gal. 4. 6. He gave thee life eternal when he gave the knowledge of himself and of his Son John 17. 3. And will he now take from thee the Kingdom which he hath given thee Thou wast once his Enemy and he hath Received thee already into his favour and reconciled thee to himself and will he not then receive thee to his Glory Rom. 5. 8 9 10 11. God commendeth his Love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us Much more then being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life And not only so but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the attonement And when we have peace with God being justifiied by faith Rom. 5. 1. why should we doubt whether he will receive us The great impediments and cause of fear are now removed Unpardoned sin is taken away Our debt is discharged We have a sufficient Answer against all that can be alledged to the prejudice of our Souls yea it is Christ himself that answereth for us It is he that justifieth Who then shall condemn us Will he not justifie those at last whom he hath here justified Or will he justifie us and yet not receive us That were both to justifie and condemn us Depart then in peace O fearful Soul Thou fallest into his hands that hath justified thee by his Blood will he deny thee the Inheritance of which he himself hath made thee Heir yea a Joynt-heir with himself Rom. 8. 17. Will he deprive thee of thy Birth-right who himself begot thee of the incorruptible Seed If he would not have received thee to Glory he would not have drawn thee to himself and have blotted out thine Iniquities and received thee by reconciling Grace Many a time he hath received the secret Petitions Complaints and Groans which thou hast poured out before him and hath given thee access with boldness to his Throne of Grace when thou couldst not have access to Man and he hath taken thee up when Man hath cast thee off Surely he that received thee so readily in thy distress will not now at last repent him of his love As Manoah's Wife said Judges 13. 23. If the Lord were pleased to kill us he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands neither would he have shewed us all these things He hath received thee into his Church and entertained thee with the delights and fatness of his House Psalm 36. 8. and bid thee welcome to his Table and feasted thee with his Body and his Blood and communicated in these his quickning Spirit And will he then disown thee and refuse thee when thou drawest nearer him and art cast upon him for thy final doom After so many receptions in the way of Grace dost thou yet doubt of his Receiving thee 9 Consider How nearly thou art related to him in this state of Grace Thou art his Child and hath he not the bowels of a Father when thou didst ask bread he was not used to give thee a stone and will he give thee Hell when thou askest but the entertainment in Heaven which he hath promised thee Thou art his friend John 15. 14. 15. and will he not receive his friends Thou art his Spouse betrothed to him the very day when thou consentedst to his Covenant and where then shouldst thou live but with him Thou art a member of his body of his flesh and bone Eph. 5. 30. and no man ever yet hated his own flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it even as the Lord the Church ver 29. As he came down in flesh to be a Suitor to thee so he caused thee to let go all for him and will he now forsake thee Suspect it not but quietly resign thy soul into his hands and say Lord take this Soul that pleads Relation to thee It is the voice of thy Child that cryeth to thee The name of a Father which thou hast assumed towards me is my encouragement When thou didst call us 〈◊〉 out of the world unto thee thou saidst I will receive you and I will be a Father to you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters 2 Cor. 6. 17 18 O our
enjoyment of the real sure delight Take heed of being too much pleased in the creature Have you houses and lands and offices and honours and friends that are very pleasing to you Take heed for that is the killing snare Shut your eyes and wink them all into nothing and cast by your contrivances and cares and fears and remember you have another work to do 2. Live in Communion with a suffering Christ study well the whole life and nature of his sufferings and the reason of them and think how desirable it is to be conformed to him Thus look to Jesus that for the joy that was set before him despised the shame and endured the Cross and the contradiction of sinners against himself Dwell upon this example that the image of a humbled suffering Christ being deeply imprinted on thy mind may draw thy heart into a juster relish of a mortified state Sure he is no good Christian that thinks it not better to live as Christ did in holy poverty and sufferings in the world then as Croesus or Caesar or any such worldling and self-pleasure lived Die daily by following Jesus with your Cross and when you have a while suffered with him he will make you perfect and receive your spirits and you shall reign with him It wonderfully prepareth for a comfortable Death to live in the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ He is most likely to die quietly patiently and joyfully that can first be poor be neglected be scorned be wronged be slandered be imprisoned quietly patiently and joyfully If you were but at Hierusalem you would with some love and pleasure go up Mount Olivet and think Christ went this very way You would Love to see the place where he was born the way which he went when he carryed his Cross the holy grave where he was buried where there in a Temple which Pilgrims use to visit from whence they use to bring the mark as a pleasing badge of honour But how much More of Christ is there in our suffering for his Cause and Truth and in following him in a mortified self-denying life then in following him in the path that he hath trodden upon earth His enemies saw his Cross his Grave his Mother his person This did not heal their sinful Souls and make them happy But the Cross that he calleth us to bear is a life of suffeing for Righteousness sake in which he commandeth us to rejoyce and be exceeding glad because our Reward is great in Heaven though all manner of evil be spoken of us falsly by men on earth Mat. 5. 11 12. This is called a being pertakers of Christs sufferings in which we are commanded to rejoyce that when this glory shall be revealed we may be glad with exceeding joy 1 Pet. 4. 13. And as the sufferings of Christ abound towards us so will our Consolation abound by Christ 1 Cor. 1. 5. Till we come up to a life of willing mortification and pleased contented suffering with Christ we are in the lower form of his School and as Children shall tremble at that which should not cause our terrour and through misapprehensions of the case of a departing soul shall be afraid of that which should be our joy I am not such an enemy to the esteem of relicks but if one could shew me the very stock that Paul and Silas sate in when they sung Psalms in their imprisonment Acts 16. I could be contented to be put for the like cause into the same stocks with a special willingness and pleasure How much more should we be willing to be conformed to our suffering Lord in a Spirit and life of true mortification 3. Hold Communion also with his suffering Members Desire not to dwell in the tents of wickedness nor to be planted among them that flourish for a time that they may be destroyed for ever Psal 92. 6 7. I had rather have Bradford's heart and faggot than Bonners Bishoprick It was holy Stephen and not those that stoned him that saw Heaven opened and the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God Acts 7. 56. and that could joyfully say Lord Jesus Receive my Spirit He liveth not by Faith though he may be a hanger on that keepeth up some profession for fear of being damned who chooseth not rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season and esteemeth not the very reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of the world as having respect to the recompence of reward Heb. 11. 25. 26. 4. Live as if Heaven were open to your sight and then dote upon the delights of worldlings if you can Then love a life of fleshly case and honour better than to be with Christ if yon can But of this I have spoken at large in other writings Christian make it the study and business of thy Life to learn to do thy Last Work well that Work which must be done but once that so Death which transmits unholy Souls into utter darkness and despair may deliver thy Spirit into thy Redeemers deemers hands to be Received to his Glory according to that blessed promise John 12. 26. And while I am in the flesh beg the same mercy for Thy Brother and Companion in tribulation and in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ Richard Baxter London Jan. 31. 1661â—â—… A BELIEVERS Last Work ACTS 7. 59. Lord Jesus receive my Spirit THE Birth of Nature and the New Birth of Grace in their measure resemble the Death of Saints which is the Birth of Glory It is a bitter-sweet day a day that is mixt of sorrow and joy when Nature must quit its familiar Guest and yield to any of these Changes Our Natural Birth is not without the throws and pain and groanings of the Mother though it transmit the Child into a more large and lightsom and desirable Habitation Our Spiritual Birth is not without its humbling and heart-piercing sorrows and when we are brought out of darkness into the marvellous light we leave our old Companions in displeasure whom we forsake and our Flesh repining at the loss of its sensual delights And our passage into Glory is not without those pangs and fears which must needs be the attendants of a pained Body ready to be dissolved and a Soul that is going through so strait a door into a strange though a most blessed place And it leaveth our lamenting Friends behind that feel their loss and would longer have enjoyed our Company and see not though they believe the Glory of the departed Soul And this is our case that are brought hither this day by an act of Providence sad to us though joyous to our departed Friend by a Voice that hath called her into Glory and called us into this Mourning plight Even us that rejoyce in the thoughts of her Felicity and are not so cruel as to wish her again into this corruptible Flesh and calamitous World from the glorious
day And yet not thou but Christ is he that hath been victorious for thee even as when thou livedst the life of Faith it was not thou but Christ lived in thee Gal. 2. 20. Thou mayst fear at thy departure and leave the Flesh with terrour and imagine that Satan will presently devour thee But the experience of a moment will end thy Fears and thou shalt triumph against thy conquered Foe He that saved thee from the dominion of a tempting Devil will certainly save thee from him when he would torment thee Here he would have us that he may sift us and get advantage on our weakness but Christ prayeth for us and strengthneth us that our faith may not fail Luke 22. 31. And he that saveth us from the sin will save us from the punishment and from Satans fury as he did from his fraud 2. Christs Receiving us doth include his savourable entertainment and welcoming the departed Soul Poor Soul thou wast never so welcome to thy dearest Friend nor into the arms of a Father a Husband or a Wife as thou shalt be then into the presence and embracements of thy Lord. Thou hearest and readest and partly believest now how he loveth us even as his Spouse and Members as his Flesh and Bone Eph. 6. But then thou shalt feel how he loveth thee in particular If the Angels of God have joy at thy Conversion what joy will there be in Heaven at thy enterance into that Salvation And sure those Angels will bid thee welcome and concur with Christ in that triumphant joy If a returning Prodigal find himself in the arms of his Fathers Love and welcomed home with his kisses and his robe and feast What welcome then may a cleansed conquered Soul expect when it cometh into the presence of Glorious Love and is purposely to be received with such demonstrations of Love as may be fitted to magnifie the Love of God which exceedeth all the Love of man as Omnipotency doth exceed our Impotency and therefore will exceed it in the effects Though thou hast questioned here in the dark whether thou wert welcome to Christ when thou camest to him in prayer or when thou camest to his holy Table yet then doubt of thy welcom if thou canst O had we but one moments sense of the delights of the embraced Soul that is newly received by Christ into his Kingdom it would make us think we were in Heaven already and transport us more than the Disciples that saw the Transfiguration of Christ and make us say in comparing this with all the Glory of the World Master it is good for us to be here but in consideration of the full to say It is better to be there But it must not be Earth must not be so happy as to have a moments sense of the unconceivable Pleasures of the received Soul that is the Reward and Crown and therefore not fit for us here in our Conflict But low things may by dark resemblance a little help us to conceive of something that is like them in a low degree How would you receive your Son or Husband the next day after some bloody Fight where he had escaped with the Victory Or your Child or Friend that arrived safely after a long and a dangerous Voyage Would you not run and meet him and with joy embrace him if he had been many years absent and were now come home I tell thee poor Soul thy Saviour hath a larger heart and another kind of Love than thou and other Reasons of greater force to move him to bid dice Welcome into his Presence 3. Christ's Receiving the departed Soul includeth the State of Blessedness into which he doth receive it If you ask What that is I answer It is unto himself to be with him where he is And that in general is full of comfort if there were no more For we know that Christ is in no ill place He is glorified at the right hand of the Majesty on high Heb. 1. 3. And that the Souls of the Righteous and at last their Bodies are received to himself he often telleth us John 12. 26. If any man serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my servant be John 14. 2 3. And if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there you may be also And in the mean time when we once are absent from the body we are present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 8. and that is in the building of God not made with hands eternal in the heavens V. 1. Paul therefore desired to depart and be with Christ as being far better Phil. 1. 23. And Christ promiseth the converted Thief This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Luke 23. 43. And our State after the Resurrection hath the same description 1 Thess 4. 17. And so shall we ever be with the Lord And what it shall be he declareth himself John 17. 24. Father I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me The Soul of Lazarus Luke 16. was received into Abrahams bosom where he is said to be comforted The heavens receive Christ Acts 3. 21. and therefore the heavens receive the spirits that go to him even the spirits of the just made perfect Heb. 12. 23. that is that are crowned with Christ in Glory and freed from the Imperfections and Evils of this Life And so that 1 Thess 5. 10. is plain though some would pervert it That whether we wake or sleep we may live together with him Not Whether we wake to righteousness or sleep in sin for such Sleepers live not with him Nor whether we wake by sollicitude or sleep in security Nor Whether we naturally wake or sleep only But whether we live or die and so our Bodies sleep in death yet we live together with him In a word Christ will receive us unto a participation of his Joy and Glory into a Joy as great as our Nature shall be capable of and more than we can now desire and that the largest Heart on Earth can justly conceive of or comprehend And because all this tells you but to the ear stay yet but a little while and experimental sight nnd feeling shall tell you What this Receiving is even when we receive the kingdom that cannot be moved Heb. 12. 28. and when we receive the end of our faith the salvation of our souls 1 Pet. 1. 9. DOCT. 6. A Dying Christian may confidently and comfortably commend his Spirit to Christ to be received by him Though he have formerly been a grievous sinner though at the present he be frail and faulty though he be weak in faith and love and duty though his body by sickness be become unfit to serve his Soul and as to present sensibility activity or joy he seem to be past the best or to be nothing
them to his cruelty that thou hast conquered him and yet wilt suffer him at last to have the prey To whom can a departing soul fly for refuge and for entertainment if not to thee that diedst for souls and sufferedst thine to be separated from the flesh that we might have all assurance of thy compassion unto ours Thou didst openly declare upon the Cross that the reason of thy dying was to Receive departed souls when thou didst thus encourage the soul of a penitent Malefactor by telling him This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise O give the same encouragement or entertainment to this sinful soul that flyeth unto thee and trusteth in thy death and merits and is coming to receive thy doom 3. Consider that Jesus Christ is full of Love and tender compassion to souls What his tears over Lazarus compelled the Jews to say John 11. 36. Behold how he loved him the same his incarnation life and death should much more stir us up to say with greater admiration Behold how he loved us The foregoing words though the shortest verse in all the Bible vers 35. Jesus wept are long enough to prove his love to Lazarus and the Holy Ghost would not have the tears of Christ to be unknown to us that his love may be the better known But we have a far larger demonstration of his love He loved us and gave himself for us Gal. 2. 20. And by what gift could he better testifie his love He loved us and washed us in his blood Rev. 1. 5. He loveth us as the Father loveth him John 15. 9. And may we not comfortably go to him that loveth us will Love refuse us when we fly unto him Say then to Christ O thou that hast loved my soul Receive it I commend it not unto an enemy Can that Love reject me and cast me into hell that so oft embraced me on earth and hath declared it self by such ample testimonies O had we but more love to Christ we should be more sensible of his love to us and then we should trust him and love would make us hasten to him and with confidence cast our selves upon him 4. Consider that it is the Office of Christ to save souls and to receive them and therefore we may boldly recommend them to his hands The Father sent him to be the Saviour of the world 1 John 4. 14. And he is effectively the Saviour of his body Eph. 5. 23. And may we not trust him in his undertaken office that would trust a Physician or any other in his office if we judge him faithful Yea he is engaged by Covenant to Receive us When we gave up our selves to him he also became ours and we did it on this condition that he should receive and save us And it was the condition of his own undertaking He drew the Covenant himself and tendred it first to us and assumed his own Conditions as he imposed ours Say then to him My Lord I expect but the performance of thy Covenants and the discharge of thine undertaken Ofâ—â—ce As thou hast caused me to believe in thee and â—â—â—…e and serve thee and perform the conditions which â—â—…ou laidst on me though with many sinful failings which thou hast pardoned so now let my soul that hath trusted on thee have the full experience of thy fidelity and take me to thy self according to thy Covenant O now remember the word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused him to hope Psalm 119. 49. How many precious promises hast thou left us that we shall not be forsaken by thee but that we shall be with thee where thou art that we may behold thy glory For this cause art thou the Mediator of the New Covenant that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternal Inheritance Heb. 9. 15. According to thy Covenant Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4. 8. and when we have done thy will notwithstanding our lamentable imperfections we are to receive the promise Heb. 10. 36. O now receive me into the Kingdom which thou hast promised to them that love thee James 1. 12. 5. Consider how able Christ is to answer thine expectations All power is given him in Heaven and Earth Matth. 28. 19. and All things are given by the Father into his hands John 13. 3. All Judgment is committed to him John 5. 22. It is fully in his power to receive and save thee And Satan cannot touch thee but by his consent Fear not then he is the First and Last that liveth and was dead and behold he liveth for evermore Amen and hath the Keys of Hell and Death Rev. 1. 17 18. Say then If thou wilt Lord thou canst save this departing soul O say but the word and I shall live Lay but thy rebuke upon the destroyer and he shall be restrained When my Lord and dearest Saviour hath the Keys how can I be kept out of thy Kingdom or cast into the burning lake Were it a matter of Difficulty unto thee my soul might fear lest Heaven would not be opened to it But thy Love hath overcome the hindrances and it is as easie to receive me as to Love me 6. Consider how perfectly thy Saviour is acquainted with the place that thou art going to and the company and employment which thou must there have and therefore as there is nothing strange to him so the ignorance and strangeness in thy self should therefore make thee fly to him and trust him and recommend thy soul to him and say Lord it would be terrible to my departing soul to go into a world that I never saw and into a place so strange and unto company so far above me but that I know there is nothing strange to thee and thou knowest it for me and I may better trust thy knowledg than mine own when I was a child I knew not my own inheritance nor what was necessary to the daily provisions for my life but my parents knew it that cared for me The eyes must see for all the body and not every member see for it self O cause me as quietly and believingly to commit my Soul to thee to be possessed of the Glory which thou seest and possessest as if I had seen and possessed it my self ad let thy knowledg be my trust 7. Consider That Christ hath provided a glorious receptacle for faithful Souls and it cannot be imagined that he will lose his preparations or be frustrate of his end All that he did and suffered on earth was for this end He therefore became the Captain of our salvation and was made perfect through sufferings that he might bring many sons to glory Heb. 2. 10. He hath taken possession in our Nature and is himself interceding for us in the Heavens Heb. 7. 25. And for whom doth
not be in vain 1 Cor. 15. 58. Now give the full and final answer unto all my Prayers Now that I have done the fight and finished my course let me find the Crown of righteousness which thy mercy hath laid up 2 Tim. 4. 8. O Crown thy graces and with thy greatest mercies recompence and perfect thy preparatory mercies and let me be Received to thy glory who have been guided by thy counsel Psalm 73. 24. 13. Consider That Christ hath already received millions of Souls and never was unfaithful unto any There are now with him the spirits of the just made perfect that in this life were imperfect as well as you Why then should you not comfortably trust him with your Souls and say Lord thou art the Common Salvation and refuge of thy Saints Both strong and weak even all that are given thee by the Father shall come to thee and those that come thou wilt in no wise cast out Thousands have been entertained by thee that were unworthy in themselves as well as I It is few of thy members that are now on earth in comparison of those that are with thee in Heaven Admit me Lord into the new Jerusalem Thou wilt have thy house to be filled O take my Spirit into the number of those belssed ones that shall come from East West North and South and sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom that we may together with eternal joyes give thanks and praise to thee that hast redeemed us to God by thy blood 14. Consider That it is the will of the Father himself that we should be glorified He therefore gave us to his Son and gave his Son for us to be our Saviour that whoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life All our Salvation is the product of his Love Joh. 3. 16 17. Eph. 2. 4. Joh. 6. 37. Joh. 16. 26 27. I say not that I will pray the Father for you for the Father himself loveth you because ye have loved me c. John 14. He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him Say therefore with our dying Lord Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit By thy Son who is the way the truth and the life I come to thee Joh. 14. 6. Fulness of joy is in thy presence and everlasting pleasures at thy right hand Psalm 16. 11. Thy love redeemed me renewed and preserved me O now receive me to the fulness of thy Love This was thy will in sending thy Son that of all that thou gavest him he should lose nothing but should raise it up at the last day O let not now this Soul be lost that is passing to thee through the straits of death I had never come unto thy Son if thou hadst not drawn me and if I had not heard and learnt of thee John 6 44 45. I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast revealed to me a babe an ideot the blessed mysteries of thy Kingdom Luk. 10. 21. Acts 4 13. O now as the vail of flesh must be withdrawn and my soul be parted from this body withdraw the vail of thy displeasure and shew thy servant the glory of thy presence that he that hath seen thee but as in a glass may see thee now with open face and when my earthly house of this Tabernacle is dissolved let me inhabit thy building not made with hands eternal in the heavens 2 Cor. 5. 1. 15. Lastly consider That God hath designed the everlasting glory of his name and the pleasing of his blessed will in our salvation And the Son must triumph in the perfection of his conquest of Sin and Satan and in the perfecting of our Redemption And doubtless he will not lose his Fathers glory and his own Say then with confidence I resign my soul to thee O Lord who hast called and chosen me that thou mightest make known the riches of thy glory on me as a vessel of mercy prepared unto glory Rom. 9. 23. Thou hast predestinated me to the adoption of thy child by Christ unto thy self to the praise of the glory of thy grace wherein thou hast made me accepted in thy beloved Eph. 1. 5 6 11 12 Receive me now to the glory which thou hast prepared for us Mat. 25. 34. The hour is at hand Lord glorifie thy poor adopted child that he may for ever glorify thee Joh. 17. 1. It is thy Promise to glorify those whom thou dost justify Rom. 8. 30. As therere is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Rom. 8. 1. so now let him present me faultless before the presence of the glory with exceeding joy And to thee the only wise God our Saviour be the glory Majesty Dominion and Power for evermore Amen Jude v. 23 24. WHat now remaineth but that we all set our selves to learn this sweet and necessary task that we may joyfully perform it in the hour of our extremity even to recommend our departing Souls to Christ with confidence that he will receive them It is a lesson not easie to be learnt For Faith is weak and doubts and fears will easily arise and nature will be loth to think of dying and we that have so much offended Christ and lived so strangely to him and been entangled in too much familiarity with the World shall be apt to shrink when we should joyfully trust him with our departing Souls O therefore now set your selves to overcome these difficulties in time You know we are all ready to depart It is time this last important work were throughly learned that our death may be both safe and comfortable There are divers other Uses of this Doctrine that I should have urged upon you had there been time As 1. If Christ will Receive your departing Souls then fear not death but long for this Heavenly entertainment 2. Then do not sin for fear of them that can but kill the body and send the Soul to Christ 3. Then think not the righteous unhappy because they are cast off by the world neither be too much troubled at it your selves when it comes to be your case but remember that Christ will not forsake you and that none can hinder him from the Receiving of your Souls No malice nor slanders can follow you so far as by defamation to make your justifyer condemn you 4. If you may trust him with your Souls then trust him with your friends your Children that you must leave behind with all your concernments and affairs and trust him with his Gospel and his Church for they are all his own and he will prevail to the accomplishment of his blessed pleasure But 5. I shall only add that Use which the sad occasion of our meeting doth bespeak What cause have we now to mix our sorrows for our deceased friend with the joyes of faith for her felicity we have left the body to the earth and