woful miserable and deplorable he saw their condition to be and how sad will it be with you if once Christ should come to say over you that dismal word now they are hid from your eyes 5. Is it an easie matter think you to set things right in your souls and to make all things ready for a dying hour Suppose my Beloved that you should live yet many days and withall your helps and advantages for the good of your souls should be continued to you yet is it an easie work which you have to do and shall you have time and days to spare Believe it Sirs all will be little enough to set things right to make things ready for a dying hour Pray consider with me these few things as to this 1. Consider in what a woful disorder all things are at present with you and how utterly unready for a dying hour I will give you the Scripture state of your case you are dead in trespasses and sins under whole loads and mountains of scarlet crimson guilt without Christ without hope without God in the world alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works yea enmity it self against God and Christ full of sin both within and without and nothing but sin having no good dwelling in you void of all grace all true spiritual life under the power and predominancy of lust serving divers lusts and pleasures and carried Captive by the Devil at his will Closely glued to and deeply in love with this World ignorant of God and of the great Mystery of the Father and of Christ at least having no saving knowledge of them No savour of Heaven no relish of spiritual things in your souls wallowing in your blood and gore being filthy and abominable to every good work reprobate the heart strongly averse from God and all good and vigorously bent to sin and vanity nothing of Heaven within but full of Hell full of the Spirit and Image of the Devil under the Law of Sin strangers to the Law of Grace no Union with Christ no Oyl in the Vessel poor miserable blind and naked at most having but the form and denying the power of godliness This is your condition O what disorders are these And what an unready posture are you in for Death and Eternity 2. Consider how great a thing it is to be ready for Death ready indeed and to have all things set right and in order against a dying hour comes and how much is requisite in order thereunto 'T is a great saying of an holy man No one saith he can joyfully welcom Death but he that has been long composing his Spirit and making ready for it O my beloved to be indeed ready to quit the World to go into the Divine Presence the great the holy glorious presence of God to be ready to enter upon the Beatifical Vision to possess a Mansion in the Father's House to joyn with an heavenly Host of Angels and Spirits of just men made perpect in eternal praising admiring and adoring of Father Son and Holy Ghost Believe it this is a great thing and great things are requisite thereunto This calls for a near Union with Christ a firm peace with God clear Evidences for Heaven for much grace and holiness much heavenliness and spirituality of mind much weanedness from this World much holy deadness to sin self and the Creature much Victory over Corruption much Soul-cleansing much purity of heart and affections much diligence and faithfulness in Duties And my Beloved are these little things or things easie to be accomplished and attained unto O Sirs The Scripture speaking of these things calls upon us to strive Luke 13.24 to give all diligence in the pursuit of them 2 Pet. 1.5 10. To manage and dispatch them with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 All which tells us that they are great things and not easily to be accomplished and attained unto Therefore we had need look after this and neglect no longer 3. Consider what lets and hinderances difficulties and oppositions you must expect to meet withall in your minding and managing this Work Not only is the Work it self great but you must also expect many lets and hindrances much difficulty and opposition in the managing of it You must expect lets and oppositions from the Devil he is the Enemy of Souls and you must expect that he will make use of all his wiles methods and devices all his craft and cunning all his Artifices and that he will stir up all his wrath and malice against you he is your Enemy and he is a subtil Enemy a potent Enemy an indefatigable Enemy an Enemy that always goes about seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5.8 You must expect lets and oppositions from the World too from the men of the world from the things of the world from the smiles of the world from the frowns of the world The world is your Enemy as well as the Devil So much is intimated 1. Joh. 5.4 and you must expect opposition from it The men of the world will discourage you the things of the world will divert you the troubles of the world will mightily depress you the enjoyments of the world will miserably ensnare and entangle you The world is of a marvellous bewitching ensnaring and entangling nature it is indeed opposite to God and all goodness and so to the whole interest of our souls The friendship of the world is enmity to God Jam. 1.4 The world will plead for and take up your time your strength your thoughts Oâ— the hinderance that the World is to thousands and ten thousands in the work of their souls truly this ruines multitudes for ever This ruined him we read of Matth. 19.32 And saith Paul Demas hath farsaken us having embraced this present World 2 Tim. 4.10 You must expect lets and hinderances also from your own hearts yea from them above all others The heart the Holy Ghost tells us is deceitful above all things and disperately wicked Jer. 17.9 And who of us does at all observe it and the workings of it does not find it to be so Now it will openly oppose you then it will secretly seduce and ensnare you Now it will carry you off and draw you back from God and Duty Hebr. 3.12 then it will turn you aside to sin and vanity Isai 44.20 Now it will divert you from Duty then it will make you dead and slothful in Duty 'T is indeed wholly set against all that is good and it has a thousand wayes to hinder you in your Great Work and you must expect that it will do its utmost to hinder you This is a close Enemy it is alwayes at hand there is no end of its opposition till life it self ends One of the Ancients I remember breaks out into a sad exclamation against his own heart thus My heart saith he is a wicked heart a vain heart a roving a wandring heart My mind is exceeding light wonderful unconstant a
welcomest news a poor soul can possibly hear to be told that God is his and Heaven is his and Eternal Life is his and when once this news is come then welcom life and welcom death welcom time and welcom eternity then the Soul can say O sweet Eternity O blessed Eternity O Sirs be not satisfied without some good assurance of Gods love to your souls and your right and title to heaven and eternal life yea without the fullest assurance that is attainable here for know that there are degrees in Assurance it self the Scripture mentions three degrees of assurance First there is assurance The work of righteousness is peace and the fruit of righteousness is assurance for ever Isa 32.17 and give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure as in the place before quoted Secondly there is much assurance Our Gospel came unto you not in word only but in power and in the demonstration of the Spirit and much assurance 1 Thes 1.5 Thirdly there is a full assurance We desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end Heb. 6.11 Now my Beloved I would not have you satisfied without assurance without much assurance yea without a full assurance the more full your assurance is the more chearfully joyfully and triumphingly will you die Thirdly Would you indeed have all all right all in order in the matters of your souls for a dying hour then labour to maintain a constant actual peace with God every day making even with him and renewing the sense of his pardoning love in your souls as a firm union with Christ and a well-grounded assurance of an interest in God and eternal Life so also an actual peace with God and a daily renewed pardon from him is requisite to a thorough readiness and preparedness for a dying hour David had an interest in God yea and his interest was clear to him yet how sollicitous was he to get all even between God and him and how uncomfortable was it with him till he had renewed his peace with God when by his fall it had been broken Psal 51.8 12. This also is what is evidently held forth Job 7.21 where Job pleads thus with God Why dost thou not pardon mine iniquity and take away my transgression for now shall I sleep in the dust thou shalt seek me in the morning but I shall not be In the verse before he acknowledged he had sinned and here he intimates that God frowned on him for his sin the sense of pardoning love was not renewed in his soul which here therefore he pleads for and that upon this account because he was speedily to die intimating he could not die with comfort till he had a renewed sense of Gods pardoning love And this is the very thing which David begs in the Psalm of my Text in order to his comfortable going hence viz. that God would take away his transgressions Psal 39.8 As long as there is any sin any guilt lying upon our Consciences any sin unpardoned any difference between God and us any frowns in his face towards us we are unready for death and cannot with that comfort and boldness of spirit welcom it as we ought but when our peace with God is maintained and we have a renewed sense of his pardoning love in our souls then are things right and in order with us indeed deed and we may think of death with boldness and comfort and therefore mind this as ever you would be found ready for a dying hour every day even things between God and you every day get a fresh sense of pardon from him First as near as possible may be do nothing that may occasion any breach between God and you or raise any frowns in his face towards you if you do not break with God he will not break with you all breaches as to peace and friendship between God and us begin on our part yea neither will God break with us for little things in case they be not allowed by us but watched and striven against therefore as near as possibly you can do nothing to break and interrupt your peace with God for one moment And because when you have done all many things may and will fall out we having sinful sinning hearts and living in a world of snares and temptations for which God may justly frown upon us let us Secondly every day make even with him in the close of every day let us consider wherein we have broken with God come short of duty given any grief any distaste to his Holy Spirit and by Faith and Prayer let us sue out the pardon of it and let us not lie down if possible without some intimation of his pardoning love for which end First We should act Faith on the Blood and Advocateship of Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through faith in his Blood to declare his righteousness for remission of sins Rom. 3.24 25. And indeed Christ hath set up a Standing Office in Heaven which we may call the Pardon-Office he procureth new Pardons for his People daily under their new sins We have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 2.1 2. Have daily recourse to the Blood of Christ truly without it there is no living the best the holiest on earth have daily need of his Blood and should have daily recourse unto it for the maintaining of their peace and for the renewing of Gods pardoning love in their souls Secondly We should be humbly and earnestly importunate with God in prayer resolving not to let him go without this blessing carrying upon our spirits the sense of the worth and also of our unworthiness of it Thus the holy men of God of old have done they have sued out the pardon of their sins by Faith and Prayer and gotten a fresh sense of Gods love when they have broken with him as I might instance in Job in David and others we should every day pray as that Father did O Lord saith he do not after the manner of a Judge weigh or consider what I have done what I have spoken what I have thought but blot out all my sins with thy own Blood And as another of them did Lord saith he there is that in me which may offend thy holy eyes I know and confess it but who shall cleanse me or to whom shall I fly for relief but to thee O hide not thy face from me Truly when we have walked most watchfully most circumspectly many things may and will fall out that may offend the pure eyes of Gods Glory which we should confess and bewail before him suing out the pardon of them by the Blood of his Son Some of the Saints have made this their daily practise and so have maintained their peace for many years together and when they have come to die have gloricusly triumphed over Death
which was wrought in me by the Law of God I was made to see my self lost and miserable and awakened out of my security Secondly when the soul is under some smart and notable affliction from the hand of God This is evident in that instance of Joseph's Brethren whose consciences were awakened when they were in distress and charged them with the guilt of their sin in selling their Brother Gen. 42.21 Thirdly when a man comes to die when the visions of death and the grave are before him Oh you little think how strict Conscience will be in its search how sharpe in its charge and how severe in its censure in a dying hour then if there be but the least frown in God's face towards the Soul the least flaw in his peace the least blot or blur in his Evidences for Heaven if there be but the least stain upon the Spirit the least sin unpardoned unrepented of it is a thousand to one but conscience will take notice of it and charge the Soul with it O Sirs you will find a great deal of difference between Conscience upon a bed of ease and Conscience upon a sick-bed between Conscience in an hour of health and worldly prosperity and Conscience in a dying hour in the one great things bear but little weight but in the other little things usually bear great weight in Conscience then the Language of Conscience to the Soul is these and these things hast thou done thus and thus things stand with thee at best grace is thus and thus weak corruptions thus and thus strong temptations thus and thus prevalent the heart thus and thus out of frame the spirit thus and thus alienated from God and the like Hence 't is that at death there are such confessions as you have sometimes from men and women that now they will send for some godly Minister or Christian to pray with them and for them though perhaps they could not endure Prayer all their life-time before Now if in a dying hour Conscience be thus quick and smart in its threats and charges against the Soul then surely we had need and 't is greatly our concern to have all ready all in order against that hour comes The fourth Proposition is this That in a dying hour we shall have to do with God in a very stupendious and amazing way in such a way as may well startle and affright us to think of it we are said to have to do with God here Heb. 4.13 we have here to do with God in Duties in Ordinances in Mercies in Afflictions indeed we had as good never have to do with these unless we have to do with God in these but though we have to do with God here while we live yet know we shall have to do with God in another-guess way when we come to die in such a way as may well overwhelm us to think of it I shall give it you in three steps then we have to do with God immediately with God immediately as our Judge with God immediately as our Judge for Eternity And O how loud do these things call upon us to get all in order in the matters of our foul against a dying hour comes 1. When a man comes to die he has to do with God immediately and that is an astonishing thing In death the body crumbles to dust but the soul returneth to God that gave it so the Holy Ghost-tells us Eccl. 12.7 The body which came from the dust crumbles to dust again but the soul that goeth into God's immediate presence to deal and to treat with him as it were face to face The soul is alwayes with God and cannot possibly be out of his presence Psalm 139.7 And yet here the Holy Ghost tells us when we die the soul returns to God intimating that then the Soul goes into the immediate presence of God and has more immediately to do with him then here he was ever wont to have then he beholds his naked Majesty and Glory Now what an astonishing thing is this You will find if you observe that the Saints of God yea the holiest of them when they have dealt with God in a more immediate way than ordinary they have been overwhelmed by it Take for an instance Daniel who upon receiving Visions from God tells us there remained no strength in him That his comliness was turned into corruption Dan. 10.8 I might instance also in John who upon a view of and converse with Christ that was a little more immediate than ordinary fell down at his feet as dead Revel 1.17 Also that of Jacob I have seen the Lord face to face and yet my life is preserved sayes he intimating it was a wonder that he could so immediately see God and live Gen. 32.10 Now if we are to deal with God immediately when we come to die we had need have all in order before a dying hour comes 2. When a man comes to die he has to do with God immediately as his Judge as one that is to try him for his life to pass sentence upon his Soul to determine his state in righteousness measuring out life or death happiness or vengeance to him in the other world And is not this an astonishing and an amazing thing Then saith Solomon speaking of death shall the dust return to earth as it was and the spirit return to God who gave it Eccl. 12.7 At death the Spirit returns to God but it is to God as a Judge to determine his future condition for him We must all stand before the Judgment-Seat of Christ and every one must give an account of himself to God so the Scripture tells us Rom. 10.12 And it is appointed for all men once to die and after that the Judgment Heb. 9.27 When a man comes to die that which is immediately before him is the Judgement of God the strict the righteous the impartial Judgment of God then away goes the Soul into the immediate presence of God as sitting upon a Throne of Judgment to pass a sentence of life or death salvation or damnation upon him And believe it we had need have all things set right and well ordered in our souls when we come thus to deal with him we had need have all things well ordered and set right in the matters of our souls when we come to deal with God but as sitting upon a Throne of Grace but much more when we come to deal with him as sitting upon a Throne of Judgment to conclude and determine our future condition what it shall be Judgment is an astonishing and terrifying thing the hearing of it made Felix tremble or as the Word is it turned him into terror or affrightment Acts 24.25 And the Apostle calls it the terror of the Lord 2 Cor. 5.11 Now when a man comes to die then he sayes or may say Now I am to deal with the great God the Judge of all Now I must appear before his righteous Tribunal and
is sad at least for time the Lord carry us above such an Exit Some viz. well ordered souls die fiducially knowing things to be right between God and them and that is comfortable both for time and eternity Well then if hereby we come to have such a glorious Victory over Death and the Grave it must then be a great attainment to have all things in order between God and us and consequently greatly our concern to have things so 2. Hereby we come to have a rich and glorious entrance ministred to us into everlasting life and glory into Heaven and blessedness As hereby we come to be glorious Conquerours over the natural death so hereby we come to have a rich and glorious entrance ministred to us into the eternal life which also carries much sweetness and blessedness in it 2 Pet. 1.5.11 And besides this giving all diligence add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge c. that is grow as compleat in Grace as possibly you can make sure of your salvation make all ready in the matters of your souls and what then So an entrance shall be ministred to you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ And is not this a blessed attainment Take this in three things 1. Hereby the soul comes to enjoy much of Heaven here upon earth much of blessedness and glory whilest on this side blessedness and glory then hath a man an abundant entrance ministred unto him into heaven and glory when he hath much of heaven and glory given out to him here on earth large earnest and first-fruits and this the soul has that hath all things right in the matters of his spiritual state all things ready and in order within Hence we read sometimes of the earnest sometimes of the first-fruits of the Spirit Eph. 1.14 Rom. 8.28 And the soul that is most ready has the greatest earnest and first-fruits that is to say the greatest beginnings of Heaven here upon earth For that which makes us ready for a dying hour is something of heaven dropped into the soul here 2. Hereby he comes to go triumphingly from Earth to Heaven to go to Heaven and Glory with a Crown upon his head and is not this a sweet attainment Then hath a man an abundant entrance into Heaven and Glory when he goes triumphingly thither When a man passes to heaven and glory with visions thereof in his eye and prelibations thereof in his soul with a clear witness and evidence in his Spirit that he is going to possess the fulness thereof with God and Christ for ever when a man enters into life without any rebukes from God or his own Conscience without any stumbling through doubting or unbelief This is the happiness of such as have all things well in their souls before a dying hour comes It is with such in death as it was with John in a Vision Rev. 4.1 They as it were hear a voice from Heaven saying Come up hither and immediately they are in the Spirit Some poor souls croud into Heaven through a throng of doubts and unbelief difficulties and despondencies through many fears and temptations insomuch that it might be truly said of them that they are searcely saved as the Apostle's expression is but others go through none of these they go triumphantly with a Crown upon their Heads as it were So Paul 2. Tim. 4.6 7 8. I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not unto me only but to all them also that love his appearing Methinks I see how this holy soul went triumphingly to the Throne of God and the Lamb. When David and the house of Israel brought up the Arke of the Lord it was with shouting and with the sound of the Trumpet So when such a soul goes to rest 't is with a kind of shouting and triumph among the Saints themselves who all reach the same heaven and glory at last There is a very great deal of difference in their death and in their going to that heaven and glory As you know two Ships may arrive at the same Harbour yet with much difference as to the manner of their coming in The one makes a shift to get in but 't is with her Anchors lost her Sails rent her Flags down her Masts broken and the like but the other comes in bravely riding as 't were in triumph with her Sails spread her Anchors safe her flags flying her Trumpets sounding and her Mariners shouting So great a difference there is in the passing of Saints to Heaven and Blessedness Now what an attainment must it be to go with shouting and triumph 3. Hereby the soul comes to be admitted to and invested with an eminent fulness of Blessedness and Glory with God for ever Then has a man an abundant entrance into heaven and glory when he is admitted to and invested with an eminent fulness of glory and blessedness in heaven for ever and this he hath who has all right and ready in the concerns of his soul when he comes to die Such a one receives a full reward as the expression is 2 Epistle of John 8. and has much fruit abounding to his account Phil. 4.7 And O what a sweet and blessed attainment does this speak it to be to have all in order against a dying hour comes Now if it be such an attainment to have things set right and in order in our souls against a dying hour then surely it must needs be highly our concern to have all things so CHAP. IV. Which shews the state of men and women under death as a further evidence of our assertion AS to have all things ready and in order when a dying hour comes is an high and glorious attainment so such is the state and condition of men and women under death that it cannot but be highly their concern to have all things set right all things ready in the matters of their souls when they come to die This I will set before you in three Propositions First Proposition is this That such is the state and condition of men and women under death that there is no return for them into this life any more for ever When once a man's Sun is set it never rises more when once a man has his Exit is gone off the stage of this world he never enters more there is no more any part to be acted here by him this you have in the Text Before I go hence and be no more that is no more in this World So Job 7.7 8 9 10. O remember that my life is wind mine eyes shall no more see good The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more Thine eyes are upon me and
I am not As the Cloud is consumed and vanisheth away so he that goeth down to the Grave shall come up no more He shall return no more to his House and his place shall know him no more Again Job 10.20 21. Are not my dayes few Cease then and let me alone that I may take comfort a little before I go whence I shall not return even into the Land of darkness and the shadow of death And again Ch. 16.22 When a few dayes are come then shall I go the way whence I shall not return All shewing that when a man is once gone off the Stage of this World there is no return for him any more Second Proposition is this That such is the state of men and women under death that there is nothing to be done for their souls there is nothing to be mended that is amiss nothing to be set in order that shall be found out of order Death my beloved is not the time of working but of receiving the reward of our work Death leaves us under an utter and eternal impossibility of ever doing any thing for another World Therefore whatever thine hand findeth to do saith Solomon do it with al thy might for there is no work nor counsel in the Grave whither thou goest Eccles 9.10 And I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day because the night cometh when no man can work saith Christ John 9.4 Death is a state of darkness and it deprives us of all helps advantages and opportunities of ever doing any thing for the good of our souls There is no repenting no believing no turning to God in the Grave There is no assuring pardon of sin no getting an Interest in Christ no making our Calling and Election sure there O no these things must be done now or they can never be done and if they be never done our souls are for ever undone 'T was an Epicurean saying of him who said Eat drink play for after death there is no pleasure but it would be a Christian saying to say to you and my own soul love God pray to him seek his face repent believe make sure of Christ for after death none of these are to be done They must be done here or never Third Proposition is this That such is the state of men and women under death that the Soul is actually and irreversibly stated and concluded in his eternal condition The Souls eternal state is absolutely fix'd and unchangeably determined without any alteration for ever 'T is an observation among the School-men that look what befel the Angels that sinned that in death befalls wicked men those that are not ready for a dying hour The Angels immediately upon their sinning were stated in an irreversible condition of wo and misery And wicked men unready souls immediately upon death are irreversibly stated in a like eternal condition they are eternally sealed up under damnation And the Devils may as soon get out of those Chains of eternal darkness whereinto they are cast and in which they are locked up being reserved unto Judgment as such persons can change or reverse that condition The truth is death when ever ot where ever it comes is a determining thing it concludes the soul for ever under an unalterable state of life or death of happiness or misery for as the Tree falls so it lies Eccl. 11.3 Hence in death the Spirit the soul is said to return to God Eccl. 12.7 Upon which a learned man has this observation God saith he receives the Soul of Man when he dies to himself and having received it he delivers it either to the Holy Angels that by them it might be carried to Heaven if it hath been holy and good or he delivers it to the evil Angels by them to be dragged into Hell if it hath been ungodly Hence the Apostle tells us after death comes judgment Heb. 9.27 By which is meant the particular Judgment of every man and woman immediately upon death which is nothing else but the stating of the soul in an eternal condition Hence also when Dives is brought in desiring that Lazarus might dip the tip of his finger in water to cool his tongue answer is made that it cannot be for as much as there is no going for any either from Hell to Heaven or from Heaven to Hell because there is a Gulph fixed Luke 16.26 Noting the unalterableness of that state which Death sets men down in whether of happiness or misery Well then if such be the state of men and women under death as we have heard then surely 't is highly our concernment to have all ready all in order against a dying hour comes Having given you thus briefly the demonstration of the point I shall make some practical improvement of it CHAP. V. Wherein sinners are convinced of their sin and folly in their neglect of this concern with six weighty Pleas or Arguments to set home this Conviction and awaken them to their work ANd is this indeed a concern of so much weight and moment to us Then how great is their folly and what enemies are they to their own souls who live in the neglect of this great business and concern which the most of men do God is pleased to spare yeâ— wonderfully to spare them for dayes for weeks for months for years together and that for this very end that they should make themselves ready and set all right in the matters of their souls against a dying hour comes but woe and alas for them This they mind not this they concern not themselves about but do live in a total neglect thereof than which what greater folly can they be guilty of Pray mind what God himself speaks in this case Deut. 32.28 29. Where he saith concerning Israel they were a Nation void of counsel nor was there any understanding in them And what then O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end Observe here two things attested and verified by God himself First that 't is a point of the highest wisdom the Sons of men are capable of seriously to consider their latter end that is to prepare for death to set all things right in the matters of their souls so as that things may issue well with them at last and they may go off the Stage of this World with comfort Secondly that not to do this is a point of the greatest folly It doth evidently argue men to be void of counsel and all true understanding It would have been their wisdom to have considered their latter end and their not doing of it argued them to be guilty of notorious folly These things you may see God himself attests and verifies here And my Beloved what greater folly can there be than for a man to live in the neglect of that which is of so much weight and importance for him to mind as this is Surely the greater the concern
vagabond and a fugitive it changes it self into all shapes it will and it will not 't is like a leaf moved and carried about with the wind My vain and importunate heart hales me now to the Market and then to strifes and brawlings now to feasting and then to impure lusts now the flesh is inflamed with sordid titillations then the mind is defiled with filthy cogitations And who of us may not make the same complaint yea such is the enmity and opposition of our own hearts against Heaven and the things of Heaven that many times when we most resolve and set our selves to follow God and to pursue the work of our souls then they set us most back It was a great speech of that same Father This sayes he is my daily exercise with my whole strength I bend to thee and would mount up to God and Heaven but by how much the more strongly I endeavour to come up to thee by so much the more powerfully I am cast into the earth into my self and even under my self captivated to my lusts And so 't is often with us Le ts then and oppositions must be expected by us on all hands and we had need therefore the more to awaken to our work 'T is true if you will ingage in good earnest in the work of your souls your helps and incouragements will be greater than your lâ—ts and discouragements you will have more with you then against you You will have God with you and Christ with you and the Comforter with you and all the Graces of the Covenant with you be incouraged therefore to set upon Soul-work Now lay all these things together and see if it be an easie matter to make ready for a dying hour and if it be not why should we neglect Why should we delay any longer 6. How terrible will death be to you And what a dreadful change will it make with you in case you still neglect to make ready for it Suppose my Beloved you go on in the neglect of this Great Concern putting far from you the evil day what think you will the issue of it be will not death be most terrible to you when you shall be called to conflict with it Will it not make a dreadful change with you Surely it will Death to an unready soul what will it be It will be the period of all his mercies of all his comforts of all his hopes For such an one receives all his good things in this life before death comes Luke 16.25 It will be the sending of him to his own place the cutting him down as fewel for everlasting burnings It will be as a worthy Divine speaks the taking up of a Draw-bridge and the pulling up of the Flood-gates of Gods eternal wrath to let in the deluge of it upon his soul for ever It will be a change to him but what change will it be Surely a very sad one 1. A change from Earth to Hell And is not this a sad Change The wicked shall be turned into Hell and all that forget God Psalm 19.17 And we read of the rich man who was unready for death that being dead he was in Hell Luke 22.23 2. A change from Light to Darkness and is not that a sad change The Holy Ghost speaking of such an one tells us God shall drive him out of light into darkness and chase him out of the world Job 18.18 Here wicked men enjoy the light of Creature comforts but God will drive them out of these into the darkness of Eternal misery into utter darkness Mat. 25.30 into blackness of darkness Jude 13. 3. A change from pleasure to pain from delight to torment a sad change it is from pleasure and delight in sin to pain and torment for sin Luke 16.23 Here the soul sports himself in the pleasures and delights of sin and he thinks he can never have enough but then there will be an end of all those pleasures and delights and nothing but pain and torment and vexation will succeed them 4. A change from the offers of Grace to the Revelations of Wrath Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave or thy faithfulness in destruction saith the Psalmist in that 88 Psal 11. True in the 1 Pet. 3.19 20. we read of Christ's preaching by his Spirit to the Spirits in Prison that is to Souls in Hell But mark when was it that he preach'd to them not when in prison but in the days of Noah when they lived in the world There is never an offer of grace and love made to souls in the Grave while life lasts the soul hears the joyful sound And O the sweet offers the gracious tenders the loving invitations that are made to him of Christ of Grace of Eternal Life and Love O the wooings the meltings the entreatings the allurings of Divine Love to and over the soul but when death comes farewell all these farewell all the sweet offers of Christ and all the blessed motions of the Spirit then there 's nothing but wrath reveiled and wrath shall come on the neglecting soul to the uttermost 5. A change from fair probabilities to utter impossibilities of life and salvation a sad change still Now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation now and not hereafter 2 Cor. 6.2 Now there is a fair probability for the worst of sinners to be saved if they will look after Salvation and mind their Eternal Concerns Christ is both able and willing to save to save was the end of his coming into the world and of all he did and suffered here 1 Tim. 1.15 Now they are besought and entreated to be reconciled to God 2 Cor. 5.19 20. but when death comes that changes these fair Probabilities into utter impossibilities of life and salvation Therefore mark Now says the Apostle is the day of salvation that is now while life lasts and while the Gospel is preached 6. A change from hope to despair a sad change indeed We read that the hopes of the Hypocrite shall perish Job 8.13 and that the expectation of the wicked shall perish Prov. 10.28 Whether men be open sinners or close hypocrites their hopes at last shall all fail and turn into despair despair of ever seeing God or enjoying the least tittle or Iota of good for ever Thus death will be terrible to you and make a dreadful change with you in case you neglect to make ready for its coming 't will affright you as bad as the hand-writing upon the wall did that proud King Dan. 5.5 6. Which made his countenance change his thoughts to trouble him and the joynts of his loyns to be losed and his knees to smite one against another O when death comes and thou shalt be found unready how will thy countenance change thy joynts be losed thy thoughts troubled and thy heart tremble within thee In a word I would say to you as the Prophet spake of old Isa 10.3 What will you do
in the day of visitation and whither will you flee for help When death comes what will you do which way will you look will there be any hope any help any refuge for your souls to flee unto Alas there will be none Wilt thou then run to the mercies of God and cry Lord Lord Alas it will be in vain he will then say unto you Depart from me I know you not Mat. 25.11 12. Wilt thou then labour to get grace and pardon Alas it will be too late then the door will be shut against thee Mat. 25.10 Wilt thou then desire others to spare thee some of their Oyl Alas that will be a vain thing they will tell thee they have but enough for themselves Mat. 25.9 Wilt thou then plead thy gifts parts and services for Christ Alas it will be to no purpose unless thou hast done the main work notwithstanding all thy gifts and services he will send thee away with the workers of iniquity Mat. 7.22.23 Wilt thou call upon the Rocks and Mountains to cover thee and hide thee from the wrath of him that sits upon the Throne Alas it wil be in vain Rev. 6. latter end O sinner when thou shalt see thy self launching out into the great Ocean of Eternity and God shall as it were say to thee by the Mouth of thy own Conscience Well now time and days are at an end with you and will never dawn more what hast thou done for thy Soul What provision hast thou made for another world Is Christ thine hast thou gotten thy sins pardoned and the like When it shall be thus I say what wilt thou then do and whither wilt thou then look how wilt thou then cry out Undone undone I am lost for ever my day is ended and my work is still to do woe is me what a God a Christ a Heaven a Blessedness a Glory have I wilfully and foolishly lost truly thou and such as thou are the only persons whose death will be truly lamentable I remember a saying I have read in one of the Ancients They saith he are to be bewailed in their death whom the Devils drag away to the torments of the Infernal Pit not they whom the holy Angels do conduct to the joys of Paradise they are to be bewailed who after death are by the Devils turned into Hell and not they who by the Angels are placed or set down in Heaven O that these things might convince you of your folly and awaken your souls and that so as yet to know the things of your peace in your day and the time of your visitation CHAP. VI. Being a Call to all Good and Bad Saints and Sinners to address themselves to the great work of making all ready for a dying hour WHat is the language of all this Verily it calls aloud upon us all Good and Bad Saints and Sinners to make it our great business to set all things right in the matters of our souls and make all ready for a dying hour And O that we would make this improvement of this great truth and of God's sparing goodness to us he spares us and why does he spare us but that we should set all things right and make all things ready Oh that we would now fall in with the end and design of God herein making it our great care and business in time to provide for Eternity in life to make ready for death Some of you I verily believe are about this work and the Lord prosper you in it You know you were born for Eternity and you do endeavour to live for Eternity your great work in time is to make provision for a blessed Eternity O happy souls that you are Others of us and those by far the most I fear are utterly negligent in this business Death and Eternity are little minded by us but we are in a sleepy drowsie secure spirit and to such methinks this truth speaks in a language much like to that of the Ship Master to Jonaâ— Jon. 1.6 What meanest thou O sleeper Arise and call upon thy God if so be he will think on us that we perish not So what mean you O you sleepy drowsie secure souls arise make ready for a dying hour set all things right all things in order in your spiritual concernments lest death come upon you at unawares and you be lost for ever And to such of us I would say as sometimes God did by the Prophet to Hezekiah Isa 38.1 Set thine house in order for thou shalt die and not live So say I to you set your hearts in order your spiritual concerns in order make all even between God and you for you shall shortly die and not live you shall shortly go hence and be no more and why should we not all do so if you be to change your condition in the world how careful and solicitous are you to have all things ready and in order for that change Why my Beloved you are shortly to pass under that great and last Change a Change from Time to Eternity and will you have no care no solicitude to make ready for that Change if you are to take a journey though but a few miles or to make a Voyage into a strange Land O how are you concerned to have all things ready all things in a prepared posture in order therreunto And my Beloved should not you be more concerned to make ready for your great journey your last and great Voyage you are making a journey a voyage out of Time into Eternity you are just launching sorth into the great Ocean And what nothing in order nothing ready nothing set right in order thereunto That is strange If you have some great business a business of more than ordinary importance to be done or a Suit at Law to be tryed and determined O how close do you follow it and how careful are you to have all things ready in order thereunto And my Beloved should you not be as careful and diligent to prepare and set all things right for the great business of your souls in another world Have you any business any concern of greater importance to you than the concern of your Souls and Eternity if you are to appear before some Earthly Judge especially if it be about a matter that concerns your life O how thoughtful are you to have all things ready and in order in reference thereunto And my Beloved should not you be as thoughtfull and solicitous to make all ready and to set all right in order to your appearing before the Judg of all the Earth and that about a matter which concerns the life of your souls about a matter of eternal life or death Well what shall I say will you set about this great business this great concern or is it all one with you whether you live or die are saved or damned to Eternity God yet spares you blessed be his Name Will you now set all right before you go
hence and be no more Sinners will you set about this great business your work is wholly yet to do though it may be your day is far spent your Glass is almost run your Sun near setting and all your work to do Oh 't is high time for you to awake out of sleep unless you mean to sleep the sleep of Eternal Death Saints will you set about this great business while God spares you You have done somewhat but there is much more yet to be done there is much out of order yet in your souls Grace weak it may be Corruption strong Peace broken Evidences blurr'd and blotted Unbelief powerful within you the heart much estranged from God little suitableness to Heaven in your Spirits and the like will you now labour to recover strength how many of us may complain as that holy man St. Bernard once did I am ashamed to live because I am so unprofitable and I am afraid to dye because I am so unprepared Surely this truth concerns the best of us all and if we understand our selves we cannot but know it the Lord help us to know it effectually And if after all you would indeed address to this great work and business then I have several great and weighty directions to propound to you for your help therein of which some more general some more particular and I would speak of each distinctly CHAP. VII Wherein are propounded several general directions in order to a through preparation of Soul for a dying hour 1. WOuld you indeed set all things right in your souls make all ready for a dying hour then in your most prosperous and flourishing state here maintain a frequent and serious remembrance of death and the grave upon your spirits If a man live many years saith Solomon and rejoyce in them all yet let him remember the days of darkness for they are many Eccl. 11.8 By the days of darkness here we are to understand death and the state of death the abode of our bodies in the grave which is a Land of darkness and where the light is as darkness Job 10.20 Now saith he though a man live many years and rejoyce in them all that is though a man live long and prosperously long and joyfully yet let him remember death and the grave the future state 'T is true there are other days of darkness which we are subject to in this world and should be remembred by us days of outward darkness the darkness of outward trouble and affliction and days of inward darkness the darkness of spiritual distress and dereliction and indeed 't is of marvellous use to us in our prosperity to remember these days of darkness but especially we should remember death and the Grave we should carry a lively remembrance of these days of darkness daily upon us and indeed our not remembring these days of darkness is one great cause why we are so unready for Death and the Grave as we are When we are in the midst of our enjoyments and the streams run pleasantly about us we are too apt to forget these days of darkness we are so taken with our earthly comforts that we are loth to think of Death and Eternity putting far from us the evil day as those in their enjoyments did Amos 6.3 And therefore when these days come they find us so unready and our spiritual concernments so discomposed as usually they do But my Beloved as ever you would have all right and in order in your souls against a dying hour comes let me recommend this to you as one special help maintain a deep and frequent remembrance of Death and the Grave upon your Spirits remember the days of darkness and that especially these two ways 1. Remember them so as to have them much in your meditation be much and frequent in the contemplation of Death and the Grave This the Holy Ghost calls a considering our latter end and withal mentions it as a business of great importance to us Deut. 32.29 To consider is to revolve a thing in our minds and to keep it much in our thoughts and meditations And thus we should consider our latter end and remember the days of darkness this is that the Saints of old have been much conversant in they were much and frequent in the thoughts and meditations of death as I might instance in the good old Patriarchs Job David and others And 't is what does marvellously conduce to our preparation for it The meditation of death saith one is life it is that which greatly promotes our spiritual life therefore walk much among the Tombs and converse much and frequently with the thoughts of a dying hour 2. Remember them so as to have them daily in your expectation In the midst of all your enjoyments expect Deaths approach daily this is called a waiting for our change All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change comes Job 14.14 And we are commanded to wait for the coming of our Lord as that which lies in the directest tendency to the exactest readiness and preparation for his coming Luke 12.36 Expect death every hour saith one for 't is every hour approaching thee In the morning when thou risest think with thy self this may be the last day In the evening when thou lyest down think with thy self this may be the last night I may ever have in this world I know not when my Lord will come whether in the morning or in the evening at mid-night or at the Cock-crowing therefore I will be always expecting his coming Woe and alas for us we are apt to talk of many years yet to come as he did Luke 12.9 whereas we should live in the expectation of death every moment Thus let us consider the days of darkness it will marvellously conduce to the preparation of the Soul for them the meditation and expectation of death will conduce much among others to these four things 1. It will conduce much to our humbling and self-abasing Let a man own himself to be a mortal saith Austin and pride will it must down And think frequently of death saith another and thou wilt easily bring down thy proud heart Hence also the consideration of Death is often in Scripture mentioned by the Holy Ghost as an argument to make us humble Dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return Gen. 3.19 as elsewhere 2. It will conduce much to the weaning of our hearts from this world and to the loosening of them from the things here below The time is short saith the Apostle what then Why it remaineth that they that have Wives be as though they had none and those that weep as though they wept not and those that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not those that buy as though they possessed not and they that use this world as not abusing it for the fashion of this world passeth away 1 Cor. 7.29 30 31. He mentions the shortness of time as that the meditation
all these pleas and fall speedily upon soul work Secondly Consider the danger of delayes delayes in this case are exceeding dangerous one dayes yea for any thing I know one hours delay herein may prove thine eternal undoing it may prove the loss of Christ the loss of heaven the loss of thy soul and all for ever Alas Art thou sure thou shalt live one day one hour more in this world for ought thou knowest the next mornent thou goest down into the grave Job 21.13 But in case thou shouldest live longer in the world art thou sure the Gospel and the means of Grace shall be continued to thee if thou shouldest not be taken from the world yet the Gospel may be taken from thee though the day of thy life may last a while longer yet the day of Gospel Grace and mercy may suddenly expire and if that be once gone all the tenders of Christ all the offers of Grace all the exhibitions of Life and salvation are gone if the Gospel be once gone thy season is gone and thy Soul is gone and thy Salvation is gone and that for ever therefore saith the Apostle Now is the accepted time speaking of the day of Gospel-mercy now is the day of Salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 Or grant thou shouldest live and the Gospel should be continued to thee as the outward means yet art thou sure that the day and season of grace will last any longer than this present moment remember that sad word which our Lord breathed out with tears in his eyes over neglecting Jerusalem Luk. 19.42 O that thou hadst known at least in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes Alas how soon may God withdraw his Spirit from thee how soon may he call home his grieved Spirit from thy neglecting resisting soul once for all saying my Spirit shall strive no more with that man Gen. 6.3 how soon may God seal thee up under judicial blindness and hardness of heart so that thou shalt never be able to believe or to do any thing for the good of thy soul in order to the other world thou talkest of to morrow and of hereafter but who knows but that before to morrow God may clap the seal of an hard heart and a blind mind upon thee so as that though thou shouldest live a thousand years and withal enjoy the fairest means that ever any soul enjoyed yet thou shouldest be never able to believe to repent to do any thing for the working out of thy Salvation it is often times his way of proceeding with neglecting delaying ones Isa 6.10 Joh. 12.39 40. Or how soon may the Oath of God go forth against thee thou talkest of to morrow but alas who knows but that before to morrow God may swear in his wrath thou shalt not enter into his rest it is what is threatned against such as will not hear his voice to day but harden their hearts against him Heb. 3.7 8 9 10 11. There is a time when God's Oath goeth forth against such and such sinners for their contempt and neglect of Christ and Grace a time not only when God saith but sweareth and that in wrath that they shall never enter into his rest and if once Gods oath is gone out against a man that man is past recovery then farewell Christ and Heaven and Soul and all for ever O how dangerous are delays therefore take heed of them and fall presently upon soul work Thirdly consider the disadvantage of delayes delayes herein are disadvantagious as well as dangerous indeed were there no danger in them I mean as to the eternal state yet the disadvantage of them is so great as if rightly considered might be enough to antidote the soul against them and engage it presently in the work which relates to another world Pray consider it a little by delayes the soul loseth much sweet communion with Christ and many a blessed communication of love from him which he might enjoy the sooner we fall upon the work of heaven and eternity the sooner we come to a taste and beginning of heaven and a blessed eternity in our souls O the sweet embraces braces the blessed discoveries the glorious incomes of love and delight that the soul loses by his delayes to get into Christ and to walk with God and to mind eternal concernments Poor soul by thy delayes thou hast lived upon husks and swill all thy dayes hitherto whereas thou mightest have eaten bread in thy Fathers house and drunk wine new in thy Fathers kingdom thou hast lived on the muddy dungy drossie delights of fin and the creature whereas thou mightest have solaced and delighted thy soul with those chrystal streams of undefiled pleasures which are at Christs and the Fathers right hand Besides by delayes the work of thy soul grows more difficult hereby corruption grows more strong and the heart grows more hard by every dayes delay the old enmity strengthens it self and the soul is more and more setled upon its lees for accustomedness in sinning hardens the heart in sin as is hinted Jer. 13.23 every day the soul is more alienated from Christ and hardened against him at best if thy soul doth at last come to see thy need of Christ and desireth to close with him and to mind the work and concerns of another world yet the longer thou delayest this business the greater temptations thou wilt have to get over for though now thy heart faith it is too soon yet after a few dayes delay it will say it is too late it will be apt to conclude that now thy day is over and now Christ will have nothing to do with thee Oh why shouldst thou be such an Enemy to thy own soul as to run it upon these disadvantages rather avoid them by falling presently upon Soul-work Fourthly Confider the sinfulness of delays and the horrible guilt they bring upon the soul as delays are dangerous and disadvantagious so they are sinful too exceeding sinful and provoking to the God of Heaven the truth is were there no danger in them no disadvantage by them to the soul yet the sinfulness of them is such as should make us afraid of them In every days delay to mind and pursue Soul-work there is positive rebellion and disobedience to the Will and Command of God for the Command is To day if ye will-hear his voice harden not your hearts Heb. 3.7 8. by delaying therefore thou rebellest against the Command in every day's delay to mind and pursue soul-work there is horrible unkindness and ingratitude to God and Christ which surely is a black sin and brings great guilt upon the soul God spares you time after time when he might cut you off the next moment and this he doth that you may pursue the work of your Souls and Eternity and oh what unkindness what ingratitude must it be in us to neglect and put off this work in every delay to mind and
converse and communion with God in such ways as are suitable to this present state and the highest happiness souls are capable of eternally in heaven is to live in the Divine presence and to see Gods face continually and to lodge for ever in the bosom of his love we may run out to a thousand things and when we have done all this will be the highest and indeed the only happiness of souls viz. to converse with God and to enjoy communion with God and they that miss of this will miss of all happiness for ever accordingly we should prize it and press after it we should account all things as nothing on this side God and communion with God in Christ the Saints of old have done so Many saith David will say who will shew us any good but Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us Psal 4.6 as if he should say While others are seeking their happiness from carnal and earthly enjoyments Corn Wine and Oyl the happiness we desire is thy love thy favour the beamings out of the light of thy countenance upon our souls So Psal 39.7 Now Lord what wait I for my hope is in thee I have done with the streams as if he should say and I desire to cleave wholly to the fountain I have done with the creatures of which I have formerly been too fond and I would now take up my whole rest solace and satisfaction in thy self alone and also Psal 73.25 26. Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none on earth I desire in comparison of thee my heart and my flesh faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever The same spirit dwelt and acted in Austin All fulness and plenty says he which is not my God is want and poverty And again elsewhere Thou Lord art my God my happiness and unto thee and after thee do I breathe and suspire day and night O my Beloved did we indeed prize communion with God more we should live more in communion with him and this take for a certain truth that it will never be well with us indeed till we see all in God and account we enjoy all happiness in enjoying communion with him Secondly In the close of every day take a serious view of and diligently consider what hath passed between God and you what transactions there have been between God and your souls that day there doth not a day pass wherein there do not many things pass between God and his people and he that wouuld prevent distances and estrangements between God and him should seriously ponder and lay to heart vvhat hath passed between God and his soul vvhat tranfactions there hath been between God and him that day On the one hand ponder and consider vvhat hath passed from God to you and vvhat his carriage towards you hath been vvhat approaches he hath made to you vvhat intimations of love vvhat overtures of communion vvhat discoveries of himself and his glory how far and in vvhat vvay God hath been dealing vvith your spirits convincing enlightning quickening or comforting of them vvhat calls he hath given you vvhat myrrhe he hath dropped upon the handle of the Lock what tastes you have had of his sweetness and Grace vvhat holy impressions he hath made upon you and the like On the other hand ponder and consider what hath passed from you to God and what your carriages towards him have been what reception and entertainment you have given him making his approaches to you what value you have put upon his presence and the intimations of his love how far you have embraced and improved the overtures he made you of farther communion with him what awe there hath been upon you of his holiness and his all-seeing eye what out-goings of heart there have been found within you after him what breathings of love what holy longings and desires what springings and workings of spiritual joy and delight of soul to him and in him what place he hath had in your thoughts and contemplations how far you have lived to him and upon him wherein you may have either grieved or delighted his Spirit and the like Thus in the close of every day ponder and consider what hath passed between God and you and accordingly deport demean your selves before him wherein you have failed or been defective in any thing in order to keeping up communion between God and you be humbled and set all right by Faith and Prayer adore God in his acts of Grace and Condescension as to be sure you will find cause to do and loath your selves for any acts of sin or unkindness undutifulness or disrespect that you have been guilty of towards God O this would be a blessed course indeed to prevent distances and estrangements between God and you This David calls a communing with his own heart and enjoyns it as a duty of the highest importance Stand in awe and sin not commune with your hearts and be still Psal 4.4 it is what he lived in the practice of Psalm 77.6 if he were the Author of that Psalm I communed with my own heart and my Spirit made diligent search O be punctual in this work Thirdly Be much conversant and that with all spiritual diligence in the ways and duties of Communion those ways and duties wherein God is wont to meet his people and maintain converse and communion with them and in all of them wait for God and his approaches to you there are those which we may call ways and duties of communion ways and duties wherein God and his people do hold converse with each other wherein God visits and communicates himself unto his people and wherein his people may be said to visit God and make out after God and these are the use of the Word and Sacraments the exercise of Prayer Meditation Self-examination and the like now as ever you would prevent the growing up of distances and estrangements between God and you see that you are much conversant in these and that with a holy and spiritual diligence waiting for God and the manifestations of God to your souls in them these are the galleries wherein Christ and his People do take sweet turns together the green beds wherein they lie down in the bosom of each others love therefore keep up a constant and diligent attendance on God in these and in all your attendances on him look after converse with him let it be your solemn aim to converse with him and see his face to have a visit a smile a descent of love from him I do suppose you to be such as do and will attend on publick Ordinances and wait for God there as they waited for the Spirit at Jerusalem that only then which I would press you to in this present case shall be to be much conversant in Prayer and Meditation between God and your own souls in these two great duties of communion with God secret
kill and bring down the one and to quicken and perfect the other How dost thou with the holy Apostle of old forgetting those things which are behind follow after that thou mayst apprehend that for which also thou art apprehended of Christ Jesus pressing towards the mark c. Phil. 3.12 13 14. O the watchings the warrings the wrestlings of thy soul for more grace more holiness more victory over and cleansing from sin Oh the many prayers and tears sighs and groans that thou pourest out between God and thy soul in order hereunto These things are the business of thy life yea and after all sin is still strong and lively and grace is still weak and imperfect the sense of which breaks thy heart almost and makes thee go mourning all the day long What daily cleansing thy self and yet still unclean daily perfecting holiness yet still imperfect Oh hovv fad is this Well but Soul vvhen death comes things vvill be strangely alter'd vvith thee that vvill do that for thee in one moment vvhich thou by a vvhole life of prayers tears faith vvatching vvarring labouring couldst not do ' t vvill make thee perfect Hence those above are said to be so the spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12.23 then all that is imperfect will be done away and that which is prefect shall come 1 Cor. 13.10 perfect grace perfect holiness Novv there is much lacking in thy faith thy love thy obedience thy humility thy heavenliness thy joy and delight in God but death vvhen it comes vvill make up all in a moment yea novv thou art stained and defiled vvith sin and this lust and the other lust stirs and vvorks and vvars vvithin thee but vvhen death comes that vvill purge avvay all Death is the Saints only perfect cleanser through Christ Indeed 't is said of vvicked men and hypocrites that their iniquites shall lie down with them in the dust Job 20.11 vvhich is a dreadful vvord indeed Death does not kill their sins no they live in the grave they go vvith them into the other vvorld and vvill there live in them for ever vvhich vvill be a great part of their torment 't will be indeed however they may now think of it the one half of hell for vvhat is hell but sin at the highest and vvrath at the hottest but though it be thus vvith vvicked ones yet 't is otherwise vvith the Saints Death through the Grace of Christ vvill for ever put a period to your sin and perfect your graces Oh sweet vvho vvould not vvelcom death 6. Death vvhenever it comes vvill set thee above all afflictive distances between God Christ the Comforter and thee and vvill set down thy soul in the full constant and immediate vision and fruition of all for ever and is not this svveet Poor Saint here thou complainest that God is as a stranger to thee and as a way faring man that turneth aside to tarry but for a night Thou hast only novv and then a short visit from him Jer. 14.8 Thou complainest that thy Beloved withdraws himself and is gone Cant. 5.6 Thou complainest that the Comforter that should relieve thy soul is far from thee Lam. 1.18 thou complainest of many sad and woful distances from God and of the lowness of thy communion and well thou maist for indeed how little a portion is there here seen or enjoyed of him by thee well but when death comes that will lift thee above all those distances between God and thee Christ and thee and set thee down in the full constant and immediate vision and fruition of him for ever the thoughts of which made Paul and others to desire to be gone and to chuse death rather than life 2 Cor. 7.6 7 8. We are confident says he knowing that whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord for we walk by faith not by sight we are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Pray observe Paul enjoyed as much of God and Christ here as most did and yet all that communion he enjoyed here he accounted as no communion to that which he should enjoy after death While we are present in the body says he that is while we live in this world we are absent from the Lord absent from God and Christ our communion here is but distance and estrangement so low and unconstant is it in comparison of what we know we shall enjoy after death and therefore says he we had rather be absent from the body we had rather be gone hence and be present with the Lord Death will bring us to anotherguess presence and enjoyment of God and Christ than here we shall ever be able to reach unto Alas all we enjoy of God and Christ here is but as an earnest so the Apostle speaks in the verse foregoing He that hath wrought us for this self-same thing is God who also hath given us the earnest of the spirit but when Death comes we shall enjoy the full inheritance all we enjoy here is but as the first-fruits we that have the first fruits of the spirit says the Apostle Rom. 8.23 but when death comes we shall have the full vintage full incomes of love full manifestations of light and life and glory fulness of joy and pleasure in the Divine Presence Psal 16.11 full embraces in Christs bosom full views of his face full visions of his glory Death when it comes will bring us to the Beatifical Vision which is all good and happiness in one Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Mat. 5.8 They do see God now they see him by Faith and those sights of him are sweet glorious soul-ravishing and transforming sights but after death they shall have other sights of him such sights of him as will even infinitely surpass all that ever they had or were capable of here Here they see him but through a glass darkly that is they have but low obscure mediate sights of him they see and enjoy but little of him but when death comes then they shall see him face to face that is fully clearly immediately 1 Cor. 12.12 The sum is as a learned man gives it us that in this life we have but low and slender sights and enjoyments of God in comparison of what we shall see know and enjoy of him in eternal life Glas Rhet. Here they see but his back parts as God said to Moses but when death comes they shall see his face that is his glory here they see him but negatively as it were what he is not but then they shall see him as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 we shall see him as he is in all his glorious excellencies and perfections In short they shall then have such sights and enjoyments of God and Christ as shall eternally fill delight solace satisfie and set at rest their souls for ever such sights and enjoyments as shall so
solace and satisfie them as that there shall not be room for the least tittle or iota of a desire for ever yea such sights and enjoyments as shall so satisfie them as to leave them under an utter impossibility of ever turning aside from them to any thing else and so an eternal impossibility of sinning Oh how sweet must this be and indeed the School-men I find and others from them give this as one reason why the Saints in heaven are impeccable because the sight and enjoyment they have of God there is so full and satisfying as that they cannot turn aside to any thing else O welcom death that brings us to those sights those enjoyments of God the Chief Good Once more 7. Death when ever it comes will bring you to and set you down in the enjoyment of an eternal Sabbath and oh how sweet is this There remaineth a Rest the word is a Sabbath or Sabbatism to the people of God Heb. 4.9 Ay but when shall they enjoy it why truly when death comes that will enter them upon it immediately upon the night of death dawns the eternal Sabbath True the Saints enjoy a Sabbath here and the Sabbath to them is the sweetest and amiablest day in all the week 't is a day of joy and holy feasting to their souls and oh how many times do your souls long for it but alas these Sabbaths have an end but the Sabbath death will set them down in will be an eternal Sabbath and an eternal Sabbath wherein they shall be employed in the highest acts of worship and adoration even Love Praise Admiration and Halleluja's for ever wherein there will be no weariness no faintness wherein there shall be no intermission no going to duties and break off again as here we do but an whole Eternity shall be imployed in acts of Divine Worship and Adoration wherein there shall be no deadness no dulness no spiritual indispositions no unsuitableness in us to those high and holy Exercises which this Sabbath will be fill'd with but our souls shall be perfectly suited to and fitted for those glorious employs wherein not a few only and those some Saints and some sinners some good and some bad shall joyn together in acts of worship but an innumerable company both of Saints and Angels and these all perfectly holy Heb. 12.22 23 24. Oh how sweet and glorious will this be 'T is a great saying which I have read in a worthy Divine Sabbaths here are comfortable says he and we have tasted some sweet some comfort in some Sabbaths but take all the comfort that ever you had in all the Sabbaths you have enjoyed here and all will be nothing to the comforts and sweetness of the Eternal Sabbath Alas the perpetual Sabbath that shall be hereafter that will be the accomplishment of all these Sabbaths how sweet then must that be Oh ye Saints of God lift up your heads death will set you down in this Sabbath How have some of us longed sometimes for the coming of the Sabbath and how have we grieved when it has been gone well but when death comes that will bring you to a Sabbath that shall never end 'T is a sweet saying of Austin There says he speaking of Heaven is the great Sabbath a Sabbath that hath no evening no end in which we shall rest and behold behold and love love and praise for ever Oh blessed be God for this Sabbath and blessed be God that death when it comes shall bring us to this Sabbath Well then fear not death dread not death but be found diligent and faithful in the use of the helps prescribed for the preparing of your souls for it and then 't will greatly befriend you when ever it comes and you may exult and rejoyce in it I should now conclude but I must first beg all that read this plain Discourse deeply and frequently to consider and contemplate these things 1. Every day seriously consider and contemplate the exceeding worth of your souls and the great things they are capable of 't is sad to think what low thoughts the most of men have of their souls they are content to sell their souls to lose their souls to damn their souls and all for a lust for a little of this world a little carnal sensual pleasure and delight here which is but for a moment That rebuke which Austin gave one is due to the most How comes it to pass says he that among all thy good things thou wilt let nothing be in an ill case but thy self thy Soul Truly the most of men are solicitous to have all well but their Souls they will have it go well with their Bodies their Names their Estates their Families but their Souls they mind not But my Beloved I beseech you think deeply and frequently of the worth of your souls and the concerns of them O 't is your soul that is your principal part Christ who best knew the worth of souls tells you that the whole World is nothing to one soul and that the gain of the one can't recompence the loss of the other no not in the least Mat. 16.26 and you know what a price he was pleased to pay for souls even his own Blood his precious Blood Life and all 1 Pet. 1.19 Besides there are two things which speak the soul to be a thing of unspeakable worth and value its vast capacity and its absolute immortality 1. The capacity of the soul speaks its worth Oh what great things is the soul of man capable of there is a kind of infiniteness as a worthy Divine observes in the soul of man 't is capable of even an infinite happiness or an infinite misery 't is capable of eternal life or eternal death 't is capable of unconceivable communications both of love and wrath and must one day be fill'd with the one or the other of them 't is capable of knowing God of bearing his Image of enjoying glorious communion with him yea of living Gods own life and in a participation of his own blessedness look whatever the Angels enjoy look whatever the humane soul of Christ enjoys that thy soul is capable of the enjoyment of Sinner O how precious does this speak it to be and how great should thy concern be for it while day and season lasts contemplate it therefore a little and say O how precious is my soul and what great things is it capable of and it being so why do I take up in such low poor dungy drossy things as the best of sin and this world are 2dly The immortality of the soul argues its worth the soul that never dies 't is indeed but as it were a spark a beam of God's own immortality breathed into the body at least there is a stamp and impress thereof upon it the body that dies that returns to dust but the soul that lives that goes to God Eccles 12.7 As the mortality of the body as a Learned man
observes so the immortality of the soul is here asserted Besides Abraham Isaac and Jacob with the rest of the good old Patriarchs and Servants of God who died long since are notwithstanding living still so Christ argues you know Mat. 22.32 that is their souls live as indeed do the souls of all that are gone hence their souls all live either in happiness or misery with God or Devils and so must thine and mine Sinner when our body shall be eaten by the worms our souls will live either in Heaven or Hell Oh think of this daily contemplate and say I have a soul within me that must live for ever and that as filled with even an infinite happiness or misery I have a soul within me that is capable of unspeakable joys or unconceivable torments and in the one or the other it will it must live for ever why then am I not more concerned for it 2. Seriously contemplate and daily soak your spirits in the thoughts of the wonderful weight and importance of Eternity the greatness of the concern of the other world O Eternity Eternity O vast great boundless Eternity how shall I do to speak of thee how are my thoughts lost and my spirit overwhelmed when I set my self to contemplate how great how weighty a thing thou art an endless boundless bottomless state a state that admits of neither change pause or period for ever a state of unconceivable happiness or misery happiness in the enjoyment or misery in the loss of and banishment from God and Christ for ever happiness in the fruition of infinite love or misery in the revelation of infinite wrath one of which every soul must be the object of for ever Eternity such is the weight of it in it self that indeed we know not how to conceive of it every thing but Eternity has an end a last so innumerable as the stars of Heaven are yet there is a last Star and the number of them has an end though we cannot reach it so innumerable as the Sands on the Sea-shore are yet there is a last Sand and the number of them has an end could we reach to it so numerous as the piles of Grass which are now and from the Creation of the world have been and to the end of the world shall be are yet there is an end of the number of them could we reach it there is a last pile a last spire of Grass so innumerable as the grains of Corn in all the Harvests that ever were or shall be are yet the number of them has an end though we cannot reach it and there is a last grain so innumerable as all the drops of Rain that ever did fall or shall fall upon the Earth from the Creation to the end of the world are yet still there is a last drop yea and that though all the drops contained in the wide and deep Sea be added thereunto so innumerable as the children of men have been are and shall be to the end of all things so innumerable as all the hairs of the head of them all have been are and will be so innumerable as all the thoughts of the hearts of all throughout all Ages have been are and will be so innumerable as all the Bruits and Animals which both the Earth and the Sea have brought forth do and will bring forth are and will be yet still the number of them has an end could we reach it and there is a last man a last hair a last thought a last animal should all the vast Body of the Heavens which our eyes behold be full written with figures by the hand of an Angel yet the number of those figures would have an end and there would be a last figure but as for Eternity that has no end no last could all those vast numbers prementioned be put together into one who could in the least conceive of the thousand thousandth part of it yet all this were nothing to Eternity no not the thousand thousandth part of it Thus Eternity is unconceivably weighty in it self and 't is Eternity indeed that puts weight into all other things 't is Eternity that puts weight into the future Judgment what were that Judgment but that 't is Eternal Judgment Heb. 6 2. 'T is Eternity that puts weight indeed into the happiness and joys of heaven what were that happiness and those joys were they not Eternal hence 't is cal'd Eternal life Eternal glory a never-fading Crown an everlasting Kingdom joy and pleasure for evermore So you know the Scripture speaks of it as that which is its Crown and perfection hence we read of being for ever with the Lord 1 Thes 4.17 to be with the Lord is sweet Peter found it so all the Saints in their measure find it so here but to be with the Lord for ever that makes it infinitely sweet indeed thus and thus for ever in the bosom of my Father's love and there for ever in the views of my Redeemers glory and there for ever joyned in with an innumerable company of Angels in loving praising admiring adoring and singing Hallelujahs to God and the Lamb and this for ever to be fully swallowed up in the Divine life the Divine will the Divine presence the Divine fulness and this for ever to be set above all fin to be delivered from an unavoidable necessity of sinning to an absolute impossibility of sinning and this for ever O how sweet how glorious is this this one word Eternity or for ever is that which puts great sweetness into it Again 't is Eternity that indeed puts weight into the miseries and torments of the damned what were the fire of Hell were it not unquenchable fire what were the Worm there were it not a never-dying Worm when the Scripture would speak of the exceeding greatness and severity of those torments you know 't is in this language There the worm never dies and the fire is never quenched Mark 9.44 their miseries and torments are eternal and indeed Hell would be no Hell in comparison had it not Eternity in it Most weighty is the meditation which I have read in a learned and holy man to this purpose O Eternity Eternity O never-ending Eternity O Eternity that can be measured by no spaces of time that can be perceived or apprehended by no humane intellect or understanding how unconceiveably dost thou augment the torments of the damned And but a few lines after he again cries out O Eternity Eternity thou and thou alone dost aggravate the torments the punishment of the damned beyond all measure Heavy is the punishment of the damned because of its sharp ness its extensiveness its universality there being all plagues and punishments in it but says he it is most heavy because of its Eternity Oh 't is this indeed that makes it intollerably great and heavy O not only to be banished from God and Christ to be driven from the Beatifical Vision but to be banished and
driven from hence for ever O doleful to be in the flames to suffer the vengeance of Eternal fire to be sinning and always bearing the punishment of sin and all this for ever O this makes it out of measure heavy thus and always thus under the wrath of God and for ever so this puts weight into it Thus you see a little of the weight of Eternity O contemplate it daily 3. Consider and contemplate how doleful a thing it will be to miscarry for ever and on the other hand what a wide door of mercy there is open to you the fair opportunity you have of making a blessed provision for your souls and eternity 1. Consider and contemplate how doleful a thing it will be to miscarry for ever to perish eternally the more worth there is in the soul the greater weight there is in Eternity the more doleful it will be to perish or miscarry as to the interest of them to miscarry in our Estate in our trade in our name in the change of our condition in this world or the like this is sad and sinks many but Oh what is this to the miscarriage of the soul for ever what is this to a miserable Eternity to the loss of God of Christ of the Comforter of Heaven and Eternal life what is this to the wrath of God to the vengeance of Eternal fire to utter darkness to blackness of darkness for ever O Sirs to have infiniteness and Eternity combined against you to make you miserable and to be for ever as miserable as infiniteness and eternity can make you as assuredly you will in case you neglect to make provision for your souls and the future life O how dreadful how doleful will this be and what bitter lamentations will it fill you with for ever Did Esau weep when he had lost his Birth-right and did Lysimachus upbraid himself and bewail his folly for parting with his Kingdom for a draught of water O then how will you weep and wail and even tear and torment your selves for ever for your sin and folly when you shall find that for a little of this world for the satisfaction of a lust for a few dreggy drossy pleasures and sensual delights or perhaps through a mere sloth of spirit you have lost your souls and have plunged your selves into an infinite Ocean of Eternal woe and misery whence thereis no redemption for ever for you Pray lay that Scripture to heart now Lu. 13.27 28. Depart from me says Christ all ye workers of iniquity Depart here is the Doom that will pass at last upon every unrepenting unbelieving sinner every soul that makes not ready for a dying hour well and what then there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when ye shall see Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and you thrust out O Sirs when you shall see such and such lodged safe in Heaven in the Bosom of Christ and your selves shut out and not only so but cast into utter darkness as you have it added Mat. 18.12 when you shall see your selves shut up in the infernal Pit and there seal'd up under Gods eternal wrath O then ye will weep and gnash your teeth indeed then your own Conscience will be eternally a second Hell to you tearing and tormenting your souls in the remembrance of your sin and folly in neglecting to prepare for and make sure of a better state Think of these things ere it be too late 2. Consider and contemplate what a wide Door of Mercy there is open to you and what a fair opportunity God gives you to make a blessed provision for your souls and Eternity What shall I say why Sirs the way of Salvation is made plain to you and you are daily called to the Marriage-supper of the Lamb the great King of Heaven invites you to come and partake of his Gospel-Feast by one and another Servant of his which he sends to you he lets you know that all things are ready all that your souls can need to make them happy for ever Christ is ready and in him life is ready grace is ready peace is ready pardon is ready a compleat righteousness for your justification acceptation with God is ready heaven is ready salvation is ready and withal he bids you come yea he earnestly importunes and solicites you to come and feast your souls upon these things he freely and frequently offers himself and all to you intreating your acceptance yea more he opens the arms of his love to you assuring you of most cordial welcome and ready reception notwithstanding all your sins and miscarriages him that cometh unto me I will by no means cast out Jo. 6.37 let him be who and what he will a young an old sinner a small a great sinner a sinner that hath stood it out against me a little or a long time I will not cast him out my Grace is free my Fulness is large and sufficient my Blood is precious and has an infinite vertue in it my Spirit is powerful and efficacious I am every way mighty to save able to save to the utmost all that come to God by me yea 't is my work and business to save my Father seal'd and sent me for that end and for that end came I into the world and there did and suffered such things as I did and I may not I will not cast off any poor soul that will come and partake of me and my Fulness and that would fain be helped on towards life and blessedness This is really the language of Christ to poor sinners yea more he sends his Spirit to enlighten to convince to perswade to draw and allure them and he does move in them and strive with them O what a wide door of mercy is there here open to you Sirs and how fair is your opportunity of preparing for and making sure of a blessed Eternity O accordingly as you love your souls and would live for ever come into Christ come and apply and improve him in a way of believing for the good of your eternal souls in his strength set upon repenting believing work the work of your souls and Eternity and your day being so bright as indeed it is O labour to know the things of your peace in your day lest neglecting them Christ speedily say of you as once with tears in his eyes he did of neglecting Jerusalem Luke 19.42 O that thou hadst known in thy day the things which belong unto thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes I have done I 'l close all with that holy wish for you my dear Congregation and my self that Austin was wont to make for himself and his people namely That as they had been often crowded together to worship God in that earthly Temple wherein he preach'd so they might eternally live toge-in the Heavenly Temple above So my wish and desire is that we my beloved you and I who have often been thronged and crowded together in an earthly House may live together eternally and eternally adore God together in our Father's House above and if we shall never preach and pray and here and sing together more on Earth as I am apt to think we shall not yet that we may praise and love and admire God and sing Hallelujas to him for ever together in Heaven Amen Amen FINIS