above others may be one Reason to encline them to a willingness to die not out of a discontented mind because they are weary of or impatient under their sufferings This was the Sin of Moses Numb 11.15 when he prayed unto God if thou deal thus with me I pray thee kill me out of hand if I have found favour in thy sight and let me not see my wretchedness This is a great Sin in the Wicked and sometimes an Infirmity that the Godly fall into but the Scripture allows it not in any Faith and Patience under the afflicting hand of God is very becoming a Christian but Impatience and Discontent is to be abominated Though a Christian knows that it is better for him to die than to live yet out of a Fit of Impatience and Discontent because of Affliction we ought not presently to wish for Death St. Paul knew it was far better for him to die than to live He tells us so Phil. 1.21 yet durst not he desire it absolutely though a Man subject to many and great Afflictions but was in a strait what to do as himself saith and therefore submits himself to the Will of God Yet is it not utterly unlawful for a Christian to desire Death that he may be free from the Miseries of this Life because these Things occasion the drawing forth of Sin and Corruption whereby God is dishonoured his Spirit discomposed that he cannot serve God with that Freedom and Chearfulness of Soul as he might and as he desires Every day a Christian must look for Crosses and Afflictions and sufficient to every day are the Evils thereof Luke 9.23 And therefore a Christian may upon good grounds desire to be loosed from those Miseries and Afflictions if it be the will of God But in the mean time till he can have his desires in this Case let him in patience possess his Soul Secondly Another Reason that may make the People of God willing to die may be in respect of the wicked that they may not be always Spectators of those abominable Wickednesses whereby God is daily dishonoured his Name blasphemed This made Rebekah desirous of Death for when Esau had taken ungodly Wives it is said they were a grief of Mind to Isaac and Rebekah because they knew that God was greatly dishonoured thereby therefore says Rebekah unto Isaac I am weary of my life because of the Daughters of Heth and if Jacob take a Wife among them such as those that are of the Daughters of the Land what good will my life do me Gen. 27.46 O who can express what grief it is to those that fear God to live in the midst of a wicked and ungodly Generation that are continually provoking God by their wicked lives What godly Man's heart can but bleed to hear the Name of God rent and torn by cursed Oaths and Hellish Blasphemies to behold the Vncleanness the Drunkenness the Lying the scoffing at Godliness the corrupt filthy scurrilous idle Talking that overflows in all Places so that those that fear God had better be any where almost than in the Company of most Men This was a grief and vexation to the Soul of righteous Lot for in seeing and hearing the filthy Conversation of those wicked Sodomites they vexed his righteous Soul from day to day by their unlawful Deeds This made the Prophet David cry out in Psalm 120.5 9. Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech and dwell in the Tents of Kedar No wonder therefore that those whose Souls are affected with the dishonour of God are desirous to depart out of this World and cry out Oh that they had the wings of a Dove for then would they flee away and be at rest Thirdly Another thing that may make the People of God willing to die is freedom from the Temptations of Satan The Devil is the great Enemy of Mankind miserable he is himself and envies that any should be otherwise than himself is and therefore he makes use of all his Craft and Subtilties against Man And herein Christians are much endangered and hereby he frequently manageth his Temptations with Success for many are his Wiles and Devices that he makes use of to draw the People of God into Sin What unwearied Assaults from Satan do many Christians labour under not only for Days and Weeks but for Months and Years whereby he allures and enticeth them with restless Importunities to the Commission of some Sin or other which they are no more able to fly from than they are to out-run themselves Now to any that have tasted the Sweetness of Holiness what can be more hateful than daily Instigations to Sin And to such who understand the Blessedness of Communion with God what can be more bitter than to find themselves chain'd as it were to a Devil who makes such Applications of vile Objects to their Fancies continually that they cannot in the least turn themselves from Oh how irksome must it needs be to a gracious Heart to be always haunted with the Spectacle and Image of some Sin even as black as Hell Now this being the Case of the People of God to be uncessantly followed with the Temptations of Satan how willing should they be to die because never till then shall they be out of the reach of his fiery Darts For as it is in Heaven only that there is no Sin so it is in Heaven only that there shall be no Temptations unto Sin Fourthly Another thing that may make the People of God always willing to die is a perfect freedom from all Sin While they are here they sin and are in continual danger of falling from God and no Man can tell how far any of them may fall for though it be admitted that they cannot fall totally and finally yet they may fall dreadfully and fearfully as we read of some in Scripture who have lain long sighing and groaning under broken Bones and wounded Consciences Our Natures are so polluted with the Leprosie of Sin that we shall never be perfectly cured of it while we are in this World Under the Law we read that when any earthen Vessels were defiled they could not be sufficiently purged till they were broken in pieces Lev. 11.33 The spiritual Improvement whereof is to teach us that we can never be perfectly cleansed from the pollution of our Natures till we are broken in pieces by Death The best Man's Sanctification is not perfect here the holiest Man is not thoroughly cleansed while he lives but hath much of Filthiness remaining in him The wise Man in Prov. 20.9 silences all Men with this Question Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my Sin Who can say so Why none can We may do much in the work of Mortification in the use of Means as the Spirit of God directs us in the Word we may by the strength of the Spirit keep Sin from reigning in our mortal Bodies Rom. 6.10 But though it Reign not as a King
such The Happiness of those that are in Christ lies in the Manifestation of the Divine Love and Favour unto their Souls now this Death cannot hinder them of I know many of God's People have not the Light of his Countenance liftted up upon their Souls in Death but their passage to Heaven is dark and uncomfortable God loves them though they know it not yet by this darkness and uncomfortableness which Death brings upon them by their passage through it Death is but bringing them to the most clear Discoveries of the Love of God to their Souls in Heaven with which they shall then be filled and satisfied to all Eternity Our Comfort in Death lies in the Knowledge of our Interest in Christ but so doth not our Happiness that lies in our Interest in Christ whether we know it or not Our Consolation in a dying hour springs from our Assurance that Christ is ours and we are his but our safely and security in that hour ariseth from the certainty of our Interest in Christ Indeed our Ignorance that we are in Christ when we come to die may prejudice our present Peace and Comfort in Death but it shall not prejudice our future Happiness after Death They that are in Christ are always in a safe Condition they may die uncomfortably indeed but they cannot die miserably they are built upon the Rock of Ages and therefore though they fall by Death into the Grave even as others yet they perish not with others Death may kill them but it cannot hurt them He that hath an Interest in Christ being united to him by Faith need not fear what Death can do unto him True and thorough Conversion from Sin unto God is a sure Foundation for Peace and Safety both in Life and Death He that is interested in Christ is built upon a Rock that is Impregnable the Gates of Death and Hell shall not prevail against him To behold a Man dying that is in Christ this is Comfortable for such a one dies that he may live for ever and changes only a Temporal for an Eternal Life To behold a Christless Person but not in a dying condition this is something tolerable for who can tell but that the next Sabbath or the next Sermon God may make it a time of Love to his Soul even such a day of his Power and Grace towards him as thereby savingly to draw him unto Christ But to behold a dying Man and a Christless Man also this is dreadful yea even intolerable for such a one dies from Earth to be Damned in Hell It was a sad and doleful Complaint and Oh that it might startle and awaken some secure Sinner to look after Christ that was once uttered by one upon a Death-Bed being just a dying Oh I want nothing now but a Christ to Save me O miserable State and Condition indeed for in having him the Soul hath all that can do it good or make it good but in wanting of him the Soul hath nothing that can do it good here or make it happy hereafter Interest in Christ is the only true Preparation for Death This now is the general Direction for our Preparation for Death without which there is no dying happily or comfortably But the more particular Directions are these that follow First Wouldst thou be prepared for Death then die unto Sin by daily and constant endeavours to mortifie and subdue the Power and Strength of it in the Exercise of a Holy Life The Apostle tells us in Rom. 6.23 That the wages of Sin is Death By which he means Temporal and Eternal Death This now is the Fruit of Sin for Lust when it hath conceived bringeth forth Sin and Sin when it is finished bringeth forth Death But is there no way to escape this Death yes from Spiritual and Eternal Death there is a deliverance and therefore the Apostle tells us in Rom. 6.13 That if we through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the Body that is the deeds of the Body of Sin then we shall live and not die that is we shall live Spiritually and not die Eternally and as for a Temporal Death though we cannot scape the stroke of it yet we shall be free from the Curse and Sting of it Wouldst thou therefore O Christian be prepared for Death when it comes then take from it now its Power and Strength When the Philistines saw Sampson was too strong for them they labour to know wherein his great Strength lay and when they found it was in the Hair of his Head they would not be quiet till they got his Hair cut off Every Christian hath to deal with a dreadful Enemy unto Nature and that is Death Assault he will all of us at one time or other yea and be too hard for us If now we would overcome him we must find out where his great Strength lies the Spirit of God now tells us that the Power and Sting of Death is Sin so we read in 1 Cor. 15.56 The Sting of Death is Sin And the Power and Sting of every Mans particular Death lies in his own Sins Death cannot hurt any of us but by that Power and Strength that our sins put into its hands Christian the way how thou mayest overcome thine Enemy Death is set open to thee his Strength is discovered to thee that thou mayest have thine Advantage against him to weaken him and to take away his Strength and that is by dying unto Sin this will be the Death of Death Yield not therefore at any time to its Solicitations for this is but to make Death the more strong and Powerful to wound thy Soul and Conscience When therefore thou art tempted unto any Sin though it may seem pleasant and delightful yet before thou yieldst unto the Temptation say to thy self O my Soul how will this relish with me when I come to lie upon a Death-bed and my Soul sits trembling upon my Lips ready to take its Flight unto the Tribunal of God What Peace and Comfort will it procure to my Conscience then Will not the Remembrance of it prove more bitter than Gall and Wormwood and the grating Reflections of Conscience more stinging and tormenting to the Soul than a thousand Deaths could possibly be Wouldst thou not have Death bitter then let not Sin be sweet now Part with Sin betimes get that removed that is the troubler of a Death-Bed and the Sting of Death and that is Sin Make it your daily business to be dying unto Sin Now this dying unto Sin implies our constant endeavours to subdue the Power and Strength of Sin and this is done by daily Mortification It is true in the People of God Sin doth not Reign and that is Comfortable to consider Sin in the Work of Conversion hath received such a Wound as is incurable but yet wherever Sin is in any Soul it doth not use to lie dormant but where it cannot Reign it will molest and struggle yea and it
If upon Examination of thy Heart thou dost not find it thus with thee why then consider though this frame of Soul be Characteristical of a true Christian yet you must consider also that the same Character of a Christian that is a cause of joy and rejoicing to some yea to a Man 's own self sometimes at another time may be a cause of fear and doubting to him not but that that which distinguisheth a true Christian from a Hypocrite is the same at one time that it is at another only we cannot see nor discover so clearly the State of our Souls towards God by it at one time as at another And this is the Reason why some are so lifted up with joy yea with holy longing of Soul in hopes of the Glory of God when others are cast down under fears and doubts as if they had no hopes of or at least no present Interest in or title unto any such thing But farther Art thou fearful O Christian of thy self because thou canst not feel this ardency of desires in thee after thy dissolution and the Glorious appearing of Jesus Christ so as to look and long for the coming of these things Why know O troubled Soul that every Character of a Christian is not discernable by all Christians at all times and in all conditions Thou mayest have that in thee which is the cause of these longing desires in others though at present it doth not work so strongly in thee that thou mayest sensibly feel the power of its operations thus drawing forth thy Heart and Affections in this ardent and vehement manner Grace though weak and in the seed hath a tendency in it and is making out after this holy longing and rejoicing of Soul in hopes of the Glory of God though there may be the intervention of some time before there be an attaining to it If there be the remainders of the Spirit of Bondage in thee to fear in this case Grace in thee is not come to that perfection that it is in others but yet it will be growing and encreasing in thee and as thy Grace grows stronger and stronger so will thy fears of Death and Judgment grow weaker and weaker Furthermore O troubled Soul though thou canst not feel thy Soul breathing forth it self in these holy longings desires after thy Dissolution the beholding of the face of God and the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ yet dost thou believe that it will be incomparably better for thee to be with Christ than to abide here on Earth and therefore though Death be dreadful to think of in it self yet seeing it is the only passage through which God hath appointed our entrance into Heaven though thou canst not say that thou longest for it yet art thou willing to entertain it if God sends it and though the fears of Death sometimes discourage thee yet doth not thy belief of and hope in a future State of Happiness abate those fears considering the advantages that will follow it And though it be an amazing thing in thy thoughts to think of coming before the Great and Holy GOD yet except when Temptations make thee fear that God will condemn thee for thy Sins hadst thou not rather come to God by Death than not come to him at all the enjoyment of whom is thy Soul 's utmost Happiness And though the sight of Christ's coming in the Clouds at the Day of Judgment in the Glory of his Father and of the Holy Angels will be very terrible to behold and the thoughts thereof strike thee with fear and trembling when thou considerest thine own sinfulness and therefore canst not think of that Day with so strong a Faith and Consolation with such earnestness of desires and holy longing as some Christians do yet be not discouraged though thou dost not long for yet dost thou love the appearance of Jesus Canst thou say thou wouldst not take all the pleasures of this World for thy hopes of the happiness of this Day And couldst thou attain to that full assurance that some of God's People have thou wouldst then with earnestness of desire and holy longing of Soul cry out as the Church doth Come Lord Jesus come quickly Is it thus with thee O Soul why then be not troubled nay be comforted for that which at present is Faith Hope Desire and Love may in a little time be vehement longing and assurance yea the riches of the full assurance of Faith Rest not therefore in any weak desires but labour for this holy longing of Soul after God and the Eternal Enjoyment of him in Glory that in Life and Death your Soul may part and breath after immediate and everlasting Communion with him This is that frame of Soul that the People of God ought to labour after and which many have attained unto the earnestness and vehemency of whose desires have been so great that they have been as it were under sweet and delightful agonies of pain and their Souls even breaking with longings after the presence of God and Christ in Glory Examples of this Nature that might be instanced in are many I shall mention one of which I was an Eye and Ear Witness the Person was one of a middle rank and quality in the World but of great eminency in Grace and Holiness while living and full of Joy and Peace when dying It pleased God who appoints us the bounds and place of our Habitations to cast my lot into a Religious Family where this Godly Person lived whose Memory to me is and ever shall be very precious after I had been there some time it pleased God to lay this Person upon a sick bed which proved a death-bed whose Mouth was always full of Holy and Heavenly Discourse and as Death approached nearer and nearer those Heavenly Expressions were with greater earnestness and frequency repeated the last Day of whose Life as long as speech continued was spent in uttering continual expressions full of holy longings and desires after the enjoyment of God and Christ in Glory Methinks the sweetness of the Melody revives my Spirit still when I call to remembrance in my serious thoughts what I then heard and saw Oh with what Joy and Desight of Soul was the thoughts of Death entertained Surely nothing was or could possibly be more welcome to such a Soul except it were the immediate fruition of God in Heaven whose Soul in the delightful much longed for and panted-after Happiness in the enjoyment of God breathed forth continually such expressions as these for many hours together Come Lord Jesus when shall I come and appear before thee Oh Lord when Lord when Oh come Lord Jesus come quickly And thus this Holy Person died changing a frail mortal Life on Earth for an immortal Life in Heaven where to be and to be most happy is all one I could fill up many sheets with wonderful expressions of the loves longings pantings and breathings that I have read of Holy
Jesus the Head will diffuse it self into all its Members to quicken and raise them also in the morning of the Resurrection And indeed Christ is not perfectly risen till all Believers are risen also For though Christ's personal Resurrection was perfect when he arose out of the Grave and though all Believers did then arise with Christ representatively yet till all Believers arise personally at the last day the Resurrection of Christ hath not received its full perfection How comfortable therefore is this to a Believer to consider that by the same Faith that he puts Christ's Resurrection into the Premises he may put his own Resurrection into the Conclusion If Christ be in you says the Apostle speaking to Believers in Rom. 8.10 11. The body is dead it is a poor frail dying body because of sin And though you are really united unto Christ by his Spirit dwelling in you which is a great and glorious Priviledge yet your bodies must die as well as others but the Spirit saith he is life because of Righteousness Though your bodies die your souls shall be su'allowed up in life upon your dissolution this Happiness Believers have even in death But this is not all for saith the Apostle if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you what then why though your bodies must fall by Death into the Grave yet they shall rise and live again at the Resurrection and that by virtue of the Spirit of Christ which dwelleth in you and is the Bond of your Mystical Vnion with him who is your Head for says the Apostle He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your Mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you Because Christ is your Head and his Spirit dwelleth in you you shall be raised again and that not as others by a meer word of his Power as the wicked are but by the Spirit of Life dwelling in Christ your Head which is an excellent Priviledge indeed O the Consolation that the hope of the Resurrection fills the Believing Soul withal it is this Blessed Hope that supports it not only under the Troubles of Life but makes it Triumph even under the Pains and Agonies of Death it self Thirdly Meditate frequently upon the Ascension of Jesus Christ into Heaven Now this Ascension of Christ into Heaven as it was full of Glory and Triumph in respect of himself so is it full of admirable Comfort in respect of Believers As to himself his Ascension was Triumphant a Cloud was prepared as a Royal Chariot to carry up this King of Glory into Heaven so it is said in Acts 11.10 That whilst his Disciples beheld he was taken up and a Cloud received him out of their sight and no doubt a Royal Guard of Angels attended the Solemnity of their Lord's Ascension If when Christ came into the World to suffer Angels waited upon him for even then it was said of him Let all the Angels of God Worship him surely much more then now that he hath finished the work of Mans Redemption do the Angels Worship him in his return to Heaven again where he is exalted to have a Name above every Name that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow both of things in Heaven and things on Earth and things under the Earth and that every Tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord to the Glory of God the Father But may a poor Believer say what is all this to me what am I the better that Christ is Ascended and Exalted thus in Glory Yes this is much for the advantage of Believers for it is the same Jesus that was Crucified for them that God hath made both Lord and Christ It is he who took not on him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham who is Exalted above Angels being gone into Heaven Angels Principalities and Powers being made subject unto him It is this Jesus Christ whom God hath raised from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the Heavenly places far above all Principality and Power and Might and Dominion and every Name that is named not only in this World but also in that which is to come and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the Church Ephes 1.20 21. Christ Ascended into Heaven as a publick Person or the fore-runner of Believers for he is not gone to take possession of Heaven only for himself but also in our Name and for us So the Apostle tells us Heb. 6.20 speaking of the most Holy place within the Vail whither says he the fore-runner that is Christ is for us entred And if we will not believe the Apostle Christ himself tells us the same thing John 14.2 In my Father's House are many Mansions I go to prepare a place for you And if I go away I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also Christ is now in Heaven transacting the Affairs and Concerns of Believers both for their present Peace and Comfort and for their future Eternal Happiness not only by intercepting the daily cry of their sins by the continual Representation of his Death and Sufferings unto his Father and so making an Atonement and Reconciliation with God for them but by the Blood of his Cross he maintains this Peace and keeps up good thoughts in God towards Believers sprinkling their poor and weak but sincer Services with the Incense of his own Merits so that though both they and their Services deserve to be rejected for their own sakes yet they shall both be accepted for Christ's sake This now is something that Christ is doing in Heaven in the behalf of Believers since he is Ascended to his Father and to their Father to his God and to their God But yet this is not all for in that comfortable Prayer of his to his Father before his Ascension into Heaven which is say some the Copy of his Intercession now he is in Heaven he doth as it were tell us that he looks not upon himself as perfectly Happy until he hath the whole number of Believers with him in Glory and therefore says he John 17.24 Father I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where Lam that they may behold that is that they may enjoy my Glory which thou hast given me O what Comfort then is here to all Believers against the Fears of Death for assure thy self O Believing Soul that neither Death nor the Grave shall be a bar to thy Happiness thou must die it is true so did Christ but he is Risen and Ascended up into Heaven and so shalt thou also in due time and therefore says the Apostle He hath made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus Ephes 2.6 Salvation and Happiness is made sure to a Believer by Christ for if when we were Enemies we were reconciled unto God by the death
speaks of Death as that which he was daily familiar with being in Deaths often frequently thinking thereof for said he I die daily Thoughts of Death was that which he accustomed himself unto and that was one Cause why he was so willing to embrace it And thus it should be with all of us were our hearts rightly affected and we so familiarly acquainted with death as we ought Those of us who have the most lively Faith would not only not be afraid of death but we should even court it as that which is better than life But I would not here discourage any weak Believer for I dare not say that they are no true Believers who are not come up to this frame of Soul Though it is true Grace is the same in all Believers one Believer hath the same that another Believer hath yet all that are Believers do not attain to the same degrees of Grace There are some and it is their sin and ought to be their Humiliation that Death and they are little acquainted they seldom descend into the Grave by frequent Meditations of their Mortality they look not into the Pit out of which at first they were taken and into which they are shortly to return now their comfort in the thoughts of death is little if any at all because death and they are such Strangers to one another These may be true Believers but they are weak and faulty But now others there are who are so advanced in Grace above their Brethren that by a constant Familiarity with death are so composed in their Spirits that they fear it not nay they rejoice in the thoughts of it not because they think they shall not taste of death for they know that death will overtake them as well as others they are sensible that the time of their departure draws nearer and nearer daily These things they believe but they do not afflict themselves therewith so well are they acquainted with death both in the Nature and in the Effects of it And were they to die presently this would not much trouble them for they know the bitterness of death is past though death it self be not the Gall and the Wormwood is taken out Christ hath been there before them and therefore the sting of death which is sin is gone the dangers yea and the difficulties also in dying are removed out of the way This they believe and therefore they are not afraid though by death they descend through the Grave into Heaven for their Jesus their Saviour is there and they know that till they die where he is they cannot be wherefore they say though we die nay therefore will we die that we may see him Wouldst thou therefore O weak Believer attain unto this sweet frame of Spirit accustom thy self then to a holy familiarity with death conceive of it under the fairest and easiest Notions this is that the Spirit of God in Scripture delights in when it speaks of death with respect to the People of God it always makes use of the most comfortable Expressions to represent it to them by So sweetly is death enamell'd and so richly is it cloathed in the holy Language that it seems to have a kind of Lustre and Beauty upon it to draw the Hearts and Affections of Believers to be desirous of it Look a little therefore O Believer into the Sacred Oracles and see how the Spirit of God teacheth us to cloath Death with delightful Expressions sometimes it is called an undressing or uncloathing And what Man that hath worn a Suit of Cloaths till it is become filthy and nasty would not be glad to put off his old filthy Garments that he might put on Change of Raiment And why should not a Christian be willing to lay down the Earthly House of his Tabernacle though it be in the Dust of the Grave that he may be cloathed upon with his House which is from Heaven Sometimes Death is compared to Rest they shall rest in their Beds says the Prophet and Job speaking of the state of Man in death tells us there the weary are at rest Now when a Man hath wrought hard and taken great pains and labour all the Day how desirous is he to go to Bed and take his Rest And is not Death the same to thee O Christian Doth not the Spirit of God call it so Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours And surely there is no rest like to that rest that a Christian obtains after his spiritual labours and conflicts with Sin Satan the World and his own evil Heart when the Soul is set free from the Body and takes its flight at once from all these into the Bosom of God that place of Rest and Happiness which remains for the People of God As there is no Yoke like unto the Yoke of Christ when a Christian suffers for him for it is a Yoke lined with Love My Yoke says he is easie and my Burthen is light So there is no Rest and Happiness like that which is with Christ for the same Happiness that he enjoys his Children and Servants enjoy also Sometimes death is called a Sleep so says our Lord our Friend Lazarus sleepeth it is spoken of his death now who of us when the day is spent and the night hath overtaken us is afraid to go to bed and sleep And why then should a Christian when his Days are finished and the Night of Sickness is come upon him be afraid to fall asleep though he sleep the sleep of Death By such Considerations as these and the like that the Scripture holds forth to us Christians should endeavour to allay the bitterness beautifie the deformity blunt the edge and take out the sting of death that all hard thoughts of it might be buried and instead thereof there might grow up a sweet Familiarity and Acquaintance between them and death Oh how would this facilitate the work of dying and cause holy Souls to exult with joy and rejoicing when death is approaching towards them And here I cannot but make a little Digression to reason the Case with some weak Believers whose unwillingness to die is very great because their fears of death are so many But why should the fears of Death so amaze and terrifie thee O weak Believer Hast thou not the same Grace in thee with others Hast thou not the same Faith the same Hope the same Love acting and working in thee Dost thou not serve the same Lord Hast thou not the same God for thy Father the same Jesus for thy Saviour the same Spirit of Consolation for thy Comforter Art thou not going to the same Heaven nay art thou not going to the same Heaven in the same way that all the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles and Saints of God in all Ages have gone before thee Death was the Gate through which they all entred into Heaven and why then shouldst thou be so unwilling to go to Heaven
Christian why then consider as you have not the Comfort of enjoying of Children so you have not the Care and Trouble of Educating and bringing them up nor the Grief and Vexation of their wicked lives and sometimes more wicked and untimely deaths which is a constant trouble of Soul unto many which made a Holy Man once mournfully complain and say It is better to weep for tendead Children than for one living Child Little do you know what a continual grief of Spirit and a constanr aking of heart some Children are unto their Parents What a heart wounding was it to David when he cries 2 Samuel 16.11 Behold my Son which came out of my Bowels seeketh my life Oh how many Children are there to whom the lives of their Parents are a burthen who instead of Praying to God their Heavenly Father for their Parents not only think and wish it in their Hearts but among their Prophane Companions are not ashamed to speak it with their Tongues as I have heard of some wickedly and impiously desiring that they could invert that Petition of the Lord's Prayer and say of their Earthly Fathers what others say of their Heavenly Father Our Father which art in Heaven longing for the Expiration of the life of those who under God were the Instruments of conveying life unto them Oh to what a heighth of Impiety are such vile wretched Monsters come for they deserve not the Name of Children who cannot be content to stay till God takes away their Parents from them but would themselves bury them as it were alive And let not any such think slightly to pass over their Sin by saying Why we wish them no ill what hurt is it to wish them in Heaven they cannot be in a better place It is true they cannot but this doth not excuse their wickedness for doubtless it is not so much their Parents Happiness in Heaven that they desire as that they might enjoy their Estates here upon Earth But let all such wicked Wretches know that God will be sure to meet with them here or hereafter And if the Blessing of long Life be promised unto those that honour their Parents those then that desire the Death of their Parents shall have cause to fear their lives may be shortned for surely of such wicked I had almost said blood-thirsty Wretches it may be truly said that they shall not live out half their days But this by the way But this is not my Case may some say God hath not denied me Children or Relations but he hath taken many of them from me and such who were very delightful to me and this doth much trouble me But though God hath taken some from you yet hath he not left you more than he hath taken so it is sometimes But yet it frequently happens that if God removes away one mercy from us presently we are so cast down as if all our Enjoyments were gone and we mourn so excessively that we are become so blind that we cannot behold the Mercies God hath left us for the want of what he hath taken from us But why O Christian art thou so unthankful to God and so unkind to thy self as to lose the Comfort of all the other Mercies thou enjoyest because God hath taken away one Mercy that thou wantest Oh vile Ingratitude how many thousands are there as good shall I say nay better than you whose whole Harvest of Comforts in this World is not a handful to the gleaning of those Comforts you still enjoy who in all their Lives never were Owners of such comfortable Enjoyments as you now over-look in your grief and trouble if not in your diseontent But what dost thou mean O Christian by all this What are the Mercies God hath left thee in possession nothing worth The Grave hath swallowed up a Child Death hath snatch'd away a Friend but still thou hast a Husband it may be or a Wife or Children or if God hath stripp'd thee of all these yet he hath left thee a comfortable Estate to live upon with health and strength to use and enjoy it or if this be gone also have you not the Gospel the Ordinances of God and if thou art a Believer thou hast an Interest in Christ and in the Covenant of Grace and a Right and Title to all the Priviledges belonging to that Covenant as Pardon of Sin Peace of Conscience and Hopes of eternal Life And what dost thou faint and sink as if all thy Comforts in this World and all thy Hopes of the World to come were dead and buried in one Grave together Beware of this O ye mourning afflicted ones for the Sin is great and so is the Danger that attends it as might be shew'd at large but I forbear Yet before I leave this Head I shall add one thing more You who have lost the delight of your Eyes and the joy of your hearts as to outward Comferts yet remember God hath far better to bestow upon you even such as transcend the love of Parents or the joy of Children I confess a dear Husband a loving Wife a beloved Child an affectionate Friend these are very great things when they stand by other Comforts and Enjoyments but Oh! what poor little small things nay nothings are they when God shall set himself by them before a gracious Soul And now that God is taking away these earthly Comforts who can tell but that hereby he is making way for himself the King of Glory to come into such a Soul to communicate of himself and his Grace in a more sweet and sensible way and manner than ever he hath done And as one saith the Death of Children Relations and Friends these dark and uncomfortable Providences must cast up and prepare the way of the Lord removing them out of the heart that himself may dwell there alone Fourthly Under your Tears and Sorrows in the loss of Friends and Relations consider What wrong hath God done you by your Afflictions that you so mourn and complain God hath taken from you a dear Relation from whom you expected much Comfort but God had a greater Interest in your Relation than you had for all Souls are his and will you dispute with him Who had most Right to dispose of your Relations God or you Your Relation though never so dear to you was the work of his hands and what may not God do what he will with his own Suppose the Relation thou hast lost was a beloved Child that you nourished and bred up and that with great pains and care God hath paid you sufficiently for it in the Loan of your Child so long and now that your Child is come to full Age and to the Time appointed of the Father may he not take it home unto himself Did you or could you provide better for your Child than God can God gave your Child Life and Breath while it was with you that it might be a Comfort to you and you
are there for ever abolished and taken away There are no Deformities upon the Body to render it Contemptible nor no Reproaches upon the Name to make it Scandalous there is no Sickness or Distempers upon the outward Man nor no Desertions or Darkness upon the inward Man there are no Temptations from Satan to vex the Soul nor no Weaknesses and Infirmities to annoy the Body there 's no more Death or dying but Life for evermore Mortality is now swallowed up of Life Corruption hath put on Incorruption and Mortality hath put on Immortality and Death and Hell are cast into the Lake of Fire and which is more than all this there that is in Heaven we shall no more sin nor offend God to all Eternity Earth and Hell are the places both of sin and Suffering but Heaven is a place of perfect Joy and perfect Holiness nothing enters in there that is either Afflictive Polluted or Defiled When Death parts Soul and Body for a time then Sin and the Soul part for ever Here we are continually sinning and offending of God and it is the constant grief of a Godly Man that he doth so here our Righteousnesses are no better than filthy rags and Grace it self hath its defects when we believe most strongly we must cry out Lord help our unbelief but now in Heaven there are none but the Spirits of Just Men made perfect In a word there is nothing there that may in the least be an Allay or Diminution unto the Happiness of that blessed State that is there enjoyed to Eternity But this is not all Death doth not only free Believers from all that is Evil and Afflictive but it brings them to the perfect Enjoyment of whatever is beneficial and good Death being the means and way by which they enter into Heaven where Blessedness and Happiness is to be enjoyed in such fulness of perfection as exceeds not only our Apprebensions but our Imaginations For there it is that the infinitely great and blessed God discovers himself in all his Glory to be enjoyed by the Saints as their Portion to Eternity There it is that they shall behold their once bleeding and dying but now Glorified Redeemer Cloathed in their own Nature who loved them and washed them from their sins in his own blood who was dead but is alive and now lives for ever more and because be lives they shall live also There they shall Enjoy that which was the great desire of the Apostle and theirs also to be with Christ which is best of all and how much blessedness is included in those few words to be with Christ the enjoyment of Heaven only where Christ is can make known to us There it is that Believers fully understand the meaning of that Article of our Christian Faith even the Communion of Saints here it was that they placed their Delight in the Saints the Excellent ones of the Earth and there their Delight shall be in great measure in the Saints some of the Excellent ones of Heaven There shall then be no mixture of sin and Corruption with our Graces which here is an Allay to the Lustre and Brightness of them but they shall Shine forth in their full Glory and Beauty Grace there shall be in its full Perfection nothing shall then be wanting in our Knowledge nor any thing imperfect in our Love our Obedience shall then flow from us with all readiness and chearfulness of Soul and our Joy and Delight in God shall not admit of the least Diminution or Disturbance to Eternity This O Soul is that in general which the Happiness of Heaven is made up of and to the Enjoyment of this Happiness without Interruption or Cessation for ever is that to which Death brings all Believers And surely if ever those words have any Truth in them they are here verified so that a Saint may truly say The lines are now fallen to me in a pleasant place I have a goodly Herit age O Blessed and Glorious State indeed who is there that knows and believes this infinite unconceivable Happiness that would not willingly die to enjoy it Unto which State of Blessedness God of his infinite Mercy bring us all to the Enjoyment of for the alone sake of Jesus Christ our only Saviour and Redeemer Amen FINIS