THE TEST OF TRUE Godliness. A SERMON PREACHED At the Funeral OF Phillip Harris late of Alston in the County of Devon Esquire. August 10th. 1681.
By J. Q. Minister of the Gospel.
LONDON. Printed for Nathanael Ranew at the King's Arms in St. Paul's Church yard. 1632.
TO THE RIGHT Honourable AND TRULY RELIGIOUS LADY LAETITIA ISABELLA COUNTESS OF RADNOR.
THE Relation Mr. Harris had unto your Illustrious Family, by reason of his near attendance on your Honour; occasions this Address unto you. It pleased the infinitely wise God to smite him, and no sooner was he smitten with his last Sickness, [Page]but he apprehended himself a dying Man, one that had the Sentence of Death past upon him. I was then but newly returned from my English Church of Middleburg in Zealand, when he heard of my Arrival, and desired my Presence with him, and Prayers for him. The Interest he had in my Respects and Affections from his Childhood (Upon the Account of his dearest Friends who ordinarily attended and incouraged my Ministry at Kingsbridg in Devon, more than twenty years ago,) and that Grace of God I knew in him, ingaged me most readily to any Service for his Soul.
Waving all unnecessary Discourses, I fell presently as a Spiritual Physitian into an inquiry about his Spiritual Estate; and shall speak it without Vanity or varying from the Truth, that of the many dying Persons I have visited, rarely had I more satisfaction as to their everlasting Condition from any, than from this Deceased Gentleman. He had such a deep awakned sence and feeling of Sin in its Filth and Guilt, in its Pollution and Curse, such Groanings under that Body of Death, Sin indwelling in him, as exceedingly humbled, Abased, melted him. Sin was unto him a most grievous and intollerable Burden; not the Porters Burden, that he could easily and chearfully subsist under; No, but the Captives Burden, the sick mans Burden, a Burden too heavy for him to bear, from which he would be most willingly and cordially rid and freed. Hence he cryed out as that great and Holy Apostle; O wretched Man that I am! who shall deliver [Page]me from the Body of this Death?
This made him long, and long earnestly for a Saviour, to close seriously with a Christ, to value the Lord Jesus infinitely; because none but Immanuel could save him from his Sins, deliver him from the bondage of his Corruptions, and redeem him from that Wrath to come. He had chosen this Christ for his All, accepted him as his Lord and Lawgiver some years before; so that now he lived as a just and justified Person, by his Faith in his sick and Death-bed. When he spake of Christ's doing and dying for him, of his Passion for him, and Compassions on him, it was with an admiring Spirit, wondering at his transcendent Condescensions to so vile and worthless a Creature; wondering at his glorious Undertakings for so great a Sinner. He was much taken up (as all sanctified Souls are) with the heights and depths, the lengths and breadths, with those unfathomable Dimensions of the Love of Christ, surpassing all Understanding. From those unsearchable Riches of Christ he fetcht Treasures of Grace to supply his Souls wants, his present Spiritual Necessities, and Mines of Glory for his future Felicity; He had a singular Calme, and Serenity upon his Spirit. All was well between his Heart and Head, between him and his God; and so was above the Love of Life, and fear of Death. He was indeed weary of this World, weary of living in it, not upon the account of his present Distemper and Afflictions, (he was a Christian of a far more noble temper, and Master of greater Patience than to faint under such Exercises,) [Page]but he was weary of it upon the score of his Sins, and therefore panted after a full Salvation from them, and desired to be dissolved, that he might be with Christ, to be satisfied with his likeness, and to be among those blessed Spirits of just men made perfect. 'Till the violence of his Disease was extream, the inward frame of his Soul, as far as could be guest from his Words and Actions, was very holy, serious, and spiritual: and in the Paroxysms of his Fevor nothing undecent, nothing unbecoming a Christian, a dying Saint dropped from him. What lucid Intervals he had were spent by him in fervent Prayers, and he was ever praying: and the God-hearing Prayer graciously heard and answered him, unstung Death for him, gave him by Death a Writ of Ease from all his Pains and Troubles; a glorious Victory over all his ghostly Enemies, and instated him into an Inheritance with his Saints in Life Eternal. A rational Charity obligeth me thus to hope and write of a dead Saint. Your Honour hath lost a religious Servant, but God hath gained him.
This Sermon preached at his Funeral, craves your Honour's Acceptance, and that you would vouchsafe to pardon his Presumption in prefixing your Great Name to so poor a thing, who is
THE TEST OF TRUE GODLYNESS
O that they were Wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter End.
THIS Chapter is Moses's Swan-like Song. Naturallists tell us that the Swan Sings sweetest near his Death. Israel had two sweet Singers, Moses and David. The first Song recorded in Scripture was penn'd by Moses, 15. Exod. And his last, just as he was climbing up Mount Nebo, mounting to the top of Pisgah, and in view of both Canaans, Terrestial and Celestial. He was now at the Door of Eternity, and in eternal Glory there is nothing but Praises. Moses begins his work of [Page 2]Heaven on Earth. The Rabbins say of him, that he died of a Kiss of Gods Mouth. God had satisfied him with his Mercies, ravished him with the hopes of approaching Glories, and therefore his Heart and Soul, his Tongue and Song must be publishing the high-sounding Praises of his God.
There is one thing considerable in and about this Divine Hymn. It seems to have bin the Care and Practice of God's antient Church to learn it their Children by Heart. Sure I am they had God's express Order, his positive and peremptory Command for it. Cap. 31.19. Now therefore write ye this Song for you, and teach it the Children of Israel: put it in their Mouths; that this Song may be a Witness for me against the Children of Israel. And vers 21. And it shall come to pass when many Evils and Troubles are befallen them, that this Song shall testify against them as a Witness: For it shall not be forgotten out of the Mouths of their Seed. O that Parents would do so now adays! But to our Business; This Song consists of three parts. 1. A Narration of God's Mercy, and the Churches Iniquities, from the 5. to the 18. vers. 2. Of God's Judgments, the Enemies Cruelties, and the Saints Sufferings, from 19. vers. to the 34. 3. Of God's Vengeance, and the Churches Deliverance, from 35. to 43.
Our Text is fallen under the second Head, The Cruelties of their Enemies, and the Miseries of the Church. God had threatned because of their Sins to heap Mischiefs upon them, to spend his Arrows upon them, to muster up Armies of Destroyers, to Commissionate the Sword without, and Terrors within against them, to Consume them with Hunger, to devour them with Flames, to root out Young and Old, the Virgin and the Suckling with the Man of Gray Hairs. This their Adversaries would do as God's Instruments, and behave themselves in the doing of it very proudly. But in the midst of Judgments [Page 3]God remembers Mercy, His Soul is grieved for the Afflictions of his People, he remembers them in their low Condition, and his Bowels of Compassion yearn upon them: And therefore in our Text, out of meer Commiseration of their deplorable Estate, and to remedy it, he cry's out. O! that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end. Three things God intimates here as their Duty, that would be very pleasing, exceeding acceptable to him.
1. That they were Wise, that they would cease fooling and Singing. Sin is folly, Godliness in its power and practice is the best and truest Wisdom.
To fear God, that is Wisdom; and to depart from Evil, that is Understanding. If they were Godly, 28. Job. 28. they would be Wise indeed. O! Saith God, that there were in them such an Heart, that they would fear me, 5. Deut. 29. and keep my Commandments always! This gracious, this judicious Heart would be for their good, and the good of their Children after them for evermore.
2. That they understood this, understood what? I answer, their present Duty under their present Circumstances, the consideration of their latter End What will be the end Sinners of all these Sins you are guilty of? what will be the end of your Corruptions and Perversness? of your unthankfulness and Idolatries? O! ye Fools, when will you learn Wisdom? Will you never be instructed and advised? an understanding man will take Counsel. Understand what God is speaking to you by his Word and Providences. Understand what your Sins are speaking to you, and will bring upon you. Learn to what place they are leading and carrying you.
3. O! that they would consider their latter End! that they would lay to Heart the last result and issue of all their Sins: These sweet stolen Waters disemboguing themselves into the dead Sea, let them take heed they be not hurried with the Current into Destruction before [Page 4]they are aware. Jerusalem was brought down wonderfully, because she considered not her latter end. 1. Lam. 9. So that God is displeased with their Folly and Ignorance, with their Stupidity and Rashness, and speaks in the person of a Father, lamenting the Sottishness and Brutishness, the Stubbornness and Obstinacy of his Hairbrain'd Children, O! that they were wise! O! that they would be advised by me, seriously to think upon their latter end! 'Tis an Option, spoken after the manner of men, but must be understood in a manner befitting and becoming God. The Lord hath no vain Wishes, nor wouldings, no fruitless nor insignificant Velleities; only in a way of wishing familiar to man, he is pleased to set forth what is his Will concerning man, what he expects and exacts from Men, even that they should be wise, that they should embrace his Advice and Counsel, to Consider their latter End.
So that from the Words thus opened, we may gather these Points of Doctrine.
1. Doct. That professed Israelites may be arrant Fools. O! that they were Wise, Divine Wisdom is not to be found in all of them; many are visible Saints who yet are real Sinners, real Fools.
2. D. 'Tis the Will and Pleasure of God, that such as profess their Faith and Hope in him, should be so wise as to be advised by him. A wise man will understand what God speaks to him. Wisdom is justified of her Children.
3. D. A Godly wise man is a thinking man, a thoughtful and considerate Person. O! that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider.
4. D. Our last end should take up our choicest and chiefest Thoughts. But I shall wave all these, and sum up the Text in this one Point of
Doctrine.
That serious Thoughts about, and religious Preparations for our latter End, are an Argument and Evidence of saving Grace in us, of our heavenly Wisdom and Understanding.
Three things in this Doctrine crave our Attention, for Explication and Confirmation. 1 The Object of our serious Thoughts, and religious Preparations, our latter End. 2. The Acts conversant about this Object, Understanding and Considering. 3. The Effect and Fruit of these Acts; an Argument and Evidence of Saving Wisdom, of our being in a state of Grace before God.
1. The Object of our serious Thoughts, and religious Preparations, our latter end. What is that? what are we to understand by it! What is this End of ours, that must be so seriously and religiously Considered by us? I answer. A. 1. 'Tis Death. This is the last End of all; We draw near apace unto it: The longest Day hath a fatal Period; the oldest man is yet mortal. Methusala the antient died as well as others; he could not attain unto a thousand Years; that is a number of Perfection; but there is no perfection in this World. We that are now upon the Stage must march off as well as those before us. There is no Eternity, nor eternal Duration here below. Time that measures all things is it self limited. The Glass is now turned up, the Sand is now a running, and shortly all will be out, and then we are gon, and this whole generation of Creatures also. 89. Ps. 48.
2. Judgment to come. 9. Heb. 27. As it is appointed for all men once to dy, so is it at last for all to come to Judgment. Ere long the Trump shall sound, the Graves shall be opened, [Page 6]the Dead shall live, and we and they must appear before the Tribunal of the Lord Jesus.
1. In this Judgment there will be a solemn, a most exact and accurate Scrutiny, 16. Luk 2. and examination had of all that we have bin and done. Give an account of thy Stewardship, 25. Mat. 18.24. vers. of all the Tallents concredited to thee. He that had but one was responsible for it: God will require what is past. 14. Rom. 12. The Review will be very strict. Every one of us shall give an account of himself to God from the first to last, from our Birth unto our Death; 12. Eccles. 14. never an Action but it shall be sifted. God will bring us to Judgment for every Work, for every secret thing, be it good or evil. God will look into the matter and manner, the Substance and Circumstance, the Springs and Motives of all our undertakings. 3. Mal. 16.12. Mat. 36. 2. Rom. 16. Every Word, every idle Word, every good Word, shall be then read over again; yea, and the very thoughts of our Hearts shall be then detected, and have a due recompence of Reward.
2. There will be full and clear Evidence brought in against you: 'Twill be utterly impossible to evade, or palliate, or shift off Accusations. God hath now numberless Eyes and Spies upon you, which shall witness for God 20. Rev. 12. The Books then shall be opened, the Vollumes of mens own Hearts and Consciences, and these shall produce Evidence against Sinners themselves. Angels and Devils, wicked Men and good Men; yea, Heaven and Earth shall reveal the Iniquity of Sinners, if they durst go about to cover it. But Conscience will be better than a thousand Witnesses: It doth not speak now, but it shall in that day with a Vengeance. The Sinner hath bribed his Conscience, as a man doth the Counsellor of his adverse Party, not to plead against him. But when Christ comes to Judgment, Conscience shall speak the truth, the whole truth! It shall bring forth its Register, and demonstrate every particular; his own Conscience will be the fullest and clearest Evidence against the Sinner. It hath bin [Page 7]here below already in God's little days of Judgments; so was Cain's, Pashur's, and Judas's; they could not bear up nor support under its Accusations, under its self-condemnations and Terrors. 1. John 3.20. And if our own hearts do condem us here, God is mightier than they, and will much more condemn us, for he knoweth all things.
3. Consider in that great and last day the Judge and his Assessors, who they are and shall be. God hath appointed to judge the World by the man Christ Jesus. This Christ whom the Sinner would not receive, whom he hath rejected, and scorned in his Offices and Ordinances, shall summon him to his Bar, and inforce him to render a Reason for all those Affronts and Wrongs, Injuries and Indignities he hath offered him. Sinner! In what a doleful taking wilt thou be, when thy despised Christ shall despise thee? when thy rejected Saviour shall reject thee? when this disbelieved and provoked Christ shall judge and damn thee? Besides, there are his precious Saints at his side, at his right hand, sitting upon the Bench with him, who joyn in the Sentence pronounced against thee: They shall approve and applaud it. Know ye not that the Saints shall judge the World? 1. Cor. 6.2. They shall judge Angels, the Apostate Angels. This makes the proudest Devil that hears me, rage and tremble: That those very Saints whom He Tempted, Slandered, falsly Accused, caused to be Persecuted and Butchered, shall one day sit upon the Throne with Christ, and condemn Him. The Soveraign Judge will then say unto his Saints as Joshua did to the Israelites; Come, 10. Josh. 24. put your Feet upon the Necks of these Kings; upon the Necks of these proud malicious Devils and trample over them. You are above them, and shall be exalted over them for ever more. And if they shall judge Angels, surely they must Men. You shall sit, saith our Lord, upon 12 Thrones, 22. Luk. judging the 12 Tribes of Israel. O! what an uncomfortable Sight must this needs be unto thee Sinner; to behold [Page 8]that Saint in Glory, and to be thy Judge, whom thou hast scoffed and abused, robbed and reviled, oppressed and murdered; and yet thou shalt whether thou wilt or no behold it, and lament thy own madness, and wish thy self in his stead, 5. Wisd. 1. to 6. when it is to no purpose. In that Day, saith the Apocryphal Wisdom, shall the Righteous stand with great Confidence before the Faces of his Persecutors; they shall be horribly afraid at this strange Sight, to see him saved contrary to their Expectations. Then changing their Opinions, and groaning through anguish of Soul, they shall bespeak one the other; behold the man! whom we laughed to Scorn, and had heretofore in Derision! We Fools counted his Life madness, and his Death Infamous! But how is he now numbered among the Sons of God; and hath his Portion among the Saints; surely we have swerved from the way of Truth, and were never inlightned with the Light of Righteousness: The Sun of Righteousness never shined upon us.
4. The Actions of this day shall be according to Rule. They that Sinned without the Law of Scripture, 2. Rom. 12. shall be Tried and Judged by the Law of Nature: and Christians that have sinned under the Gospel shall be Condemned by it. In these Sacred Volums lies the Doom of this whole Assembly, yea, and of the whole Christian World.
5. Angels, and all Mankind shall be Spectators of that day's Transactions. They shall not be hudled up as Deeds of Darkness in a Closet, or a Chamber: No but these last Assizes shall be solemnized before all the World, 3. Joel. 2. in the open Air, and probably the Throne of Christ may be erected over the Valley of Jehosophat. Wherever it be that the Judge shall sit, his Throne and Person shall be Conspicuous. The Sign of the Son of Man, whatever it be, shall be visible to the whole World. Behold! he cometh with Clouds, 1. Rev. 1. and every Eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him; and all kindreds of the Earth shall waile because of him.
[Page 9] 6. Lastly. Look to the Doom and Sentence, This will be most Equitable and Righteous. The Consciences of the vilest and most unrighteous Sinners shall have nothing to except against it. Their Tongues shall be tied, their Mouths muzzled like Doggs, that they shall not be able to bark against it. It will be so Plain, so reasonable, so consonant to universal Justice, and the Dictates of their own now perfectly inlightned Consciences, 2. Cron. 12.6. that they must and shall cry out, as Rehoboam and his Nobles did, The Lord is Righteous! His ways are Just and Holy! The Heavens shall declare God's Righteousness: 50. Psal. 6. For God is Judge himself.
Again, as the Sentence will be Righteous, so will it be peremptory and Irreversible, the State ensuing hereupon will be unalterable and Eternal. You will either hear the Judg say; Come ye blessed of my Father; Inherit the Kingdom prepared for you before the Foundations of the World; or go ye Cursed, 25. Math. 34.41. vers. 46. into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels for ever: The Wicked shall go into everlasting Punishment, but the righteous into Eternal Life. O! what a dear rate shall Sinners pay for their cheap Sins; everlasting Wages for short Work. Sirs! think I beseech you upon the Sentence, and the State following it. Depart ye Cursed, and Depart for ever! That for ever! This everlasting! carry's with it a most doleful Accent! It were some Comfort that the Torments of Sinners might be at last ended. When I have discoursed with some condemned Malefactors, Thieves and Murderers, how have they sollaced themselves with this Notion? 'Tis but a quarter of an Hour, or an half Hours Pain at the utmost that we shall suffer, and then no more. But Sinners! it will not be so with you. Your Estate will be unchangeable and your Torments everlasting. Our Lord saies of his Saints that after their Pangs are over, their Joys follow, 16. Joh. 21. and no man shall bereave 'em of them. But 'twill be quite [Page 10]contrary with you, once your Joys are gon, they are gon for ever: and once your Pangs and Torments come, they are come for ever. You go into that State where the Worm never dies, and the Fire shall never be extinguished. If a man should come once in a thousand Years, and take a Pail of Water out of the Ocean, it would be long a emptying, yet at last it might be. But in a million of Ages not one drop of the Ocean of God's Wrath is to be removed from you. Tho you cry then as Job. O! That we were as in times past! 29. Job. 2.10. Hos. 8. Or as those in Hosea, come ye Rocks, come ye Mountains! fall upon us, and hide us from the Face and fierce Wrath of God. Yet it will be to no purpose, there will be no possibility of evading or avoiding it. Time was when it might have been: but that time is past; your Condition is now unalterable; 'tis Eternal. When Lysimachus sold his Kingdom for a Draught of Water; he cried out, how dearly have I bought a shortliv'd Pleasure! Sinners! you will say the same. Sin never quits Costs; 'Tis the dearest Bargain you ever purchased. You must pay for it always, and yet your Debt will be never paid.
And so much for the Object.
2. Let's a little consider the Acts conversant about this Object, and they be these two, Understanding and Considering. O! That they Understood this? O! that they would Consider Death and Judgment to come. O! that they would have serious Thoughts about them, and religious Preparations for them.
Question. What is there imported in these Acts?
I Answer. 1. Ignorance, Nescience of this Fundamental is positively condemned, he that knows not whether there be a Life after Death, a Day of Judgment for the Just and Unjust, 19. Prov. 2. is in a miserable case. Without the knowledg of this Article of our Religion, the Heart cannot be good.
[Page 11] 2. There must be a Faith and Belief of it. There must be a firm and full Perswasion of approaching Death and Judgment, an unfeigned Assent and Consent to their Truth and Being; There must be no doubting nor rejection of this Article. The Devils by the Dictates of their own Consciences, are forced to avow there is a Judgment to come. They believe all the Articles of the Creed. Art thou come to torment us before the time; 2. James 19. 8. Mat. 29. As if they had said: We know thou art our Judge, we know we shall be damned, we know and believe we shall be tormented most exquisitely and eternally at last: But shall our Torments begin now? before that great and last Day! Sirs, have as great and better Faith than the Devils, or you are undone.
3. The Meditations and Reflections on them must be serious, you must be fixed, dwell, and feed upon these Objects, Death and Judgment: Our Thoughts must not do as the Dogs of Egypt, that lap at the Nilus, and for fear of the Crocodyle are immediately gone; nor as the Swallow that swiftly flies by, and as swiftly flies from us. No, the Terrors of Death, the Horrors of the day of Judgment, should not deter us from musing and meditating on them: Tho when we hear and read them our Bellies tremble, our Lips quiver at their Voice and Report; tho Rottenness thereby enter into our Bones; yet think and think again fixedly, religiously of them, and you shall have rest in the day of Trouble.
Consider seriously Sirs of Death: consider seriously of Judgment to come. This Consideration carries in it. 1. The Attention, and Intention of the Soul unto its Object. It must be as it were joyned and glewed to it, wedded and incorporated with it. 2. There must be awakened, melting Affections. The thoughts of our latter End, the Consideration of Death and Judgment should rouse up our drousie Spirits from their sinful Lethargy's, and put us upon serious Inquiries, how to escape Eternal [Page 12]Death, how to subsist comfortably in the Day of Judgment: The Fear of this Wrath to come, the Terrors of that dreadful Day should be so potent upon our Souls, that Night and Day, we should be inquiring the way to Heaven. O! What shall I do to be saved?
3. Hereupon there must be holy Resolutions, and religious powerful Purposes to abandon all Sin, to get all Grace, to perform all Duties, to use all Ordinances, and to improve all the Providences of God. Since you know the Terror of the Lord, you must be perswaded and prevailed with, not to Conform to this present World, but to be Transformed by the renewing of your Mind, and to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect Will of God. You must renounce all Ungodlyness and worldly Lusts, and live soberly and religiously in this present World. You must present your Bodies a living Sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable Service. You must resolve to be Christians indeed, to deny your selves, to take up your Cross, and follow the Lord Jesus, wherever he shall lead or call you.
In short, there must be laborious, restless Indeavours to please and glorifie God, whatever you do in things Natural, Civil or Religious, in Secret or Publick, at Home or Abroad, you must do it ultimately and intentionally for his Glory. That must be the Mark and Butt at which you should always level in your Thoughts and Actions; you should not as Balaam be full of good Wishes, and destitute of good Performances, you must not only desire to dye the Death, but endeavour to live the Life of the Righteous. Religion must be your Work, your Business. Your Relations must be filled up with Grace, your Conditions with Grace, yea there must be a Vein and Stream of Grace running through all your Imployments: you must labour whilest present in the Body, to be accepted with the Lord. If ever you will consider your latter End to saving Ends and Purposes, if ever you will [Page 13]prepare for it seriously and religiously, you must be fixed, immoveable, always abounding in the Work of the Lord, unto all well pleasing.
3. The effect and Fruit of this Knowledg and Consideration had of our latter End, is, that it will evidence our being in a state of Grace, that we are possessed of Saving Wisdom.
For 1. The main is secured, the everlasting Weal and Welfare of our pretious Souls is happily provided for. Let Death come when it will, it will be welcome, you will be no losers: let it hurry you to the Bar of Christ you have made the Judge your Advocate, you are capacitated for the blessed Vision, and everlasting Fruition of God.
2. You have laid up a good Foundation for Eternity, for blessed Immortality. A wise Man builds sure; he looks to his End, he prevents fore-seen Dangers, and provides for to morrow. So did that Steward make Friends to himself against the Day of Expulsion from his Stewardship; and 'twas his Wisdom: So did Noah build his Ark before the Flood: So did Joseph lay up Food against the Years of Famine: So did the wise Virgins take Oyl in their Vessels before the Bridegroom came.
Lastly. You have God's Assertion of it, and Attestation to it: Besides our Text, read but that one Scripture more, 10. Prov. 5. He that gathereth in Summer is a wise Son, but he that sleepeth in Harvest is a Son that causeth Shame. A wise Man will lose no time, He takes Opportunity by the Fore-lock for the Dispatch of Business. Let's tarry a little longer, said a great Statesman, and we shall have done the sooner. But tho this may be true in Politicks, 'twill not hold in Religion: Delays here are dangerous: Soul-Affairs must be dispatch't with the first. The Husband-man will not trifle away a fair Day in Harvest: The Marriner will not lose a fair and prosperous Wind: The General of an Army will take his first Advantage. [Page 14]There are no Errours in War twice: I hastned and delay'd not, said Holy David, to keep thy Righteous Judgments. This is an Argument of true Wisdom; this is an Evidence of saving Grace.
Application.
1. Use. Is this Wisdom from above to be mindful and careful about our latter End? then what Sots and Bruits are they who put the Thoughts and Considerations thereof far from them? 24. Acts 25. Felix trembled at the hearing of such a Sermon, and desired Paul to preach no more any such terrible Doctrine to him. Lewis the 11th of France forbade all his Courtiers and Attendants to speak of Death to him. In truth Malefactors can't indure the Thoughts of Judges or Assizes: Such serious Discourses must be deferr'd till to morrow, 'till a more convenient time. The Duke of Alva being demanded by the King of Navarr, whether he had seen and observed that famous Comet in Cassiopaeia, reply'd; Sir, I have so much Business to do on Earth, that I have no leisure to look up to Heaven Indeed! Have wise and great Men no leisure to look after God, and their Souls, and into their eternal Condition! Our Glorious Queen Elizabeth told Archbishop Whitguift, that she always thought of God, her Heart and Thoughts never strayed from him. 'Tis Folly and frenzy, foolishness and madness not to intend and mind the one thing necessary. 6. Prov. 6.7.8.8. Jer. 7.8.9. Go to the Ant thou Sluggard, consider her ways and be wise, which having no Guide, Overseer nor Ruler, doth provide her Meat in Summer, and gather her Food in Harvest! The Storks, and the Cranes, and the Swallows know their appointed Times, and observe the proper Season for their coming. 'Tis sad, that man must be sent to School, to learn Wisdom from Birds and Insects, and yet he will not learn the Judgment of the Lord, nor know the Day of his Visitation. Oh! how brutish is the Heart of man since the Fall!
Let's expostulate a little with these Beasts in the shape of men.
1. Have you any business of greater Importance and Concern than those of Death and Judgment to come? Soul-Affairs certainly should have the Preheminence. Wordly Matters are but Digressions, or Parentheses, things by the by in comparison of Spirituals. Charge them, saith the Apostle, that are rich in this World, not to be high-minded, nor trust in uncertain Riches: 1. Tim. 6.17.19. That they do good, and lay up in store for themselves a good Foundation against the time to come, that they lay hold of Eternal Life. We look not, saith the same Apostle, we do not aim at, we do not make our Mark and end things which are seen, these are temporal; 2. Cor. 5.18. these are fleeting and fading, vanishing and perishing, uncertain and unsatisfying. No; but we look at things Invisible, which are durable and eternal. No man in his right Wits will prefer Brass and Dross to Gold, the Case unto the Jewel. Worldly matters are unprofitable and impertinent as to our everlasting Estate, what are these to the purpose and business of Eternity? 'Tis but building Castles in the Air, projecting Fallacies and impossibilities, courting Fancies, and embracing Clouds and Shadows, all this toyl and adoe that our Pragmatical Hearts make about the World; here is nothing in it that can satisfie the Desires, or supply the wants of our Souls. Nothing in the whole World can stand you in any stead, or do you any good in the needful Hour. Riches, Honours, Friends, and Pleasures, profit nothing in the day of Wrath; they cannot preserve from Death; they cannot secure you from Judgment; who then would busy himself about those lying Vanities, to the forsaking and forfeiting of Divine Mercies?
2. 1. Cor. 7.29.40. Esay. 6, 7, 8. Have you time and strength enough to ensure the Concerns of your Souls? Time is short: We are but withering Grass, a fading Flower: Our Days upon Earth are [Page 16]a Shadow; 14. Joh 2.102. Psal. 11.4. Jam. 14.2. Esay, ult. 90. Psal. 9. when it grows longest, it declines soonest, and is nearest its end. Our Life is a Vapour, a Bubble exhaled out of the Earth, and presently dissipated and dissolved: 'Tis but a little Breath, a puff of Wind, if it be stopt in our Nostrils, farewell to us! we are in this World no more. Our Life is a Speech, a short Tale, a Word, a Meditation, no sooner thought and uttered but ended. A Word hath its being in speaking, its Death in silence; such is the Life of Man, the Epitome of Brevity, and Vanity. Now then in this short inch of time are you able to secure your everlasting Concerns? You have lost much of this little time, are you sure of any more! Are you sure of another day to do the Businesses of your Souls? A wise Man will not do that to morrow, which may and must be done to Day. 27. Prov. 1. Boast not of to Morrow; For thou knowest not what the Womb of a day may bring forth: 'Tis madness to crack and brag of Years, when we are not sure of Hours.
3. Are you certain that hereafter you shall have an Heart to prepare for Death and Judgment? Suppose God should give you a longer time, you are not assured that he will give you more Grace. His Spirit shall not always strive with Man. To day, whilest 'tis called to day, you must hear his Voice. If you do not hear now, God may not hear you to morrow: The Lord hath not promised always Attendance on the Heels of Sinners. He now waiteth to be Gracious, and now is the accepted time: neglect this, and you may never recover the like more. Now God may be found, if you will seek him with your whole Hearts. If you let this Season of Grace once slip away, who knows but that the Bridge of Mercy may be drawn up? And the Gate of Glory fast shut against you? God now displays the Banner of his Love, holds out a white Flag of Truce and Peace unto you: You may come in now upon terms of Advantage, if you will: If you will not: the Standard of War, the red Flag. of Death will [Page 17]be set up against you, and then 'twill be too late. The Lord will not always bear the Provocations of Sinners: He gives them time now to bethink themselves, and to better their Estates: but he hath never promised that he will give them an Heart upon their present Neglects to do it to morrow. Sirs, we in the Ministry cannot Preach to you as Noah did to the Old World, Yet an hundred and twenty Years, and you shall be destroyed: Nor as Jonah did to Nineveh, Yet fourty Days and you shall be destroyed: 12. Luk 19.19. Gen. 15 16. But as our Lord did to that rich Fool, This Night, and thy Soul may be required at thy Hands: And as the Angel did to Lot, Hast, Fly for thy Life out of Sodom, out of Sin, or within an Hour, a Moment thou mayest be a burning in Hell. Henry the Eight, told Archbishop Cranmer offering to pray with him upon his Death-Bed, that he would first take a Nap, and then he would Pray; but when he a woke, he grew Speechless. You Sinners, if you nap longer in Sin, you may grow speechless, and Senseless also.
4. Suppose you should have more time, would your Preparations be effectual and succesful? How many climbed about the Ark, and desired admission into it, when the Flood came, and were drowned? The Foolish Virgins having bought their Oyl, Cryed, Lord, open to us! Lord, open to us! but the Door of the Bride-Chamber was bolted upon them; they came too late. Now Holy Duties, Hearing, Praying, Fasting may do you good, but you are not sure if now neglected, that hereafter they will be beneficial to you. How many have repented in this Life, when it was too late, and to no purpose? Esau sought the Blessing with Tears, and yet went away without it. An Old Sinner crying unto God for Mercy on his Death-Bed, heard this Voice from Heaven, where thou hast spent thy Wheat, there spend thy Brann, where thou hast spent thy Floure, there spend thy Chaff; I will not be put off with the Devil's Leavings,
[Page 18] 2. Use. Young and Old, Consider and Prepare for your latter End. Number your Days and apply your Hearts to Wisdom. God doth not compute your time by Years, but Days: Do not you put Cyphers for Figures, and instead of Substraction and Reduction become guilty of Additions and Multiplications. Live every day as if it were your last. Be prudent and thoughtful. Cast upon to morrow, upon Eternity. You are entring into it, you are treading upon the Threshold. Where shall you be a thousand years hence? Where in the hour of Death? Where in the day of Judgment? In what place? In Heaven, or Hell? With what Company? With God or Devils? O! My Friends you have great receipts, a very great Steward-ship, think and think again with the greatest seriousness upon your Accounts. Since you must die, since you must be dissolved, since you must suddenly appear at the Judgment seat of Christ, O! What manner of Persons should you be in all holy Conversation and Godliness, looking for, and hastning to the coming of the great God and our Saviour. Apelles being demanded why he was so exact and Curious in limning of his Pieces, answered, because he painted for Eternity. You are now living for Eternity, live with the greatest strictness and Seriousness, live as those that believe and see it, live as those that are at the very Door of Eternity. Our Lord commended the Wisdom of the Unjust Steward, tho he acted wickedly yet he acted prudently in providing against an evil Day. Learn Wisdom and holy Forecast, O ye Children of Light! from vile Worldlings.
1. You that are Young, do you consider in time your latter End; 12. Eccles. 1. Remember now your Creator in the Days of your Youth. Do not toy and play away the Grace of God that is exhibited to you. Take heed, do not lose your Souls, your God, your All. If ever you will escape Hell and get to Heaven, now or never; This is your time, you are sure of none other.
For 1. Death steals upon you at an unawares; it lies in Ambush for you: Multitudes of young Persons have been surprized by it O! See that you be not unprovided: In what a doleful and deplorable Condition must that Soul be that is hurried out of the Body into Eternity unprepared, unconverted? None ever dropt into that other World and got Grace there: if you do not get it here, you shall never get it there. 28. Job 22 Death and Destruction have heard the Fame of Wisdom. The Dead and Damned had once the Wisdom of God Crying, Preaching, Wooing, Courting, and beseeching them to become Converts, to be reconciled unto God, to be molded into the Image of God, but like deaf Adders they would not be charmed out of their Sins: and now there are no more Crys nor Calls, no more Summons nor Sermons of Repentance to them. Read and Understand, Read and Muse upon that Scripture, 21. Prov. 16. The Man that wanders out of the way of Understanding shall remain in the Congregation of the Dead, of the Rephaim, of the Gyants of the Old World. God's holy Spirit wrestled with them for many Years together by the Ministry of Noah, but they slighted and despised all his Sermons, they rejected all his Counsels, they would not build their Ark, and at last the Flood came suddenly upon them, as a Dart swiftly flung out of the Hand of God, and swept them into the Prison of Hell. See to it, that you come not among them: Young ones! that now hear me, beware of despising God's Word, beware of setting at nought God's Counsel, lest he laugh at your Calamity, and mock when your Fear cometh, when your Destruction cometh as a Whirlwind suddenly, and unavoidably.
2. Cast your Eyes upon the inestimable worth and value of your Souls, will you lose these for ever, these pretious Jewels? that all the Gold and Silver, all the Treasures of this World are never able to retrieve out of the Hands of Divine Justice: Shall they be lost by [Page 20]your Negligence and Sloath? The Redemption of your Souls is Pretious and ceaseth for ever: What will it profit you to gain the whole World and lose your Souls? Or what will you give in exchange for your Souls? Nothing can buy you out of the hands of Wrath, if you once fall under it. O! do not by your Lazyness and Forgetfulness lose the only Jewel of the World. Do not as that Woman, who when her House was on Fire busied her self in saving her Goods, but forgot her Child that was a burning in the Flames: Do not you I say busy your selves about your worldly Goods, your youthful Lusts and Pleasures, and at last let your Souls burn in the Flames of Hell; you may now, if you will, preserve and save them. Do not as Frantick and Desperate Gamesters, 4. Deut. 9. play away your whole Estate upon the cast of one Dye. Keep your Souls carefully; only keep them. They are your Darlings and God's also.
3. Farther to quicken you, consider the duration of Eternity into which you are agoing. Every Step you tread is towards the Grave, from whence there is no returning: 16. Luke 26. There is a wide Gulph between Time and Eternity that can never be passed over twice: Your Condition, when once you are out of the Body will be Unchangeable. Here it may be altered and bettered, but there it cannot be: As the Tree falls, so it lies, and lies for ever. Hell's called the bottomless Pit, because you shall ever be descending into it, but never come out of it: 'Twould be a singular Comfort if at last there might be a Release, a coming forth of that Dungeon: Here is a Gaol-Delivery. A Prisoner may become a Free-Man: But from the Gaol of Hell there is no Discharge; the Spirits that are once in Prison there, are never freed any more: It was Origen's Dream, that the Devils and Damned Souls after 6000 Years Pennance and Torments undergone in Hell, 9. Mark. 44.48. should be rescued and Saved. And the Papists do but Fable when they talk of Judas his Frydays Happyness: There [Page 21]is no Remission nor Intermission of their Torments. O, Eternity! Eternity!
4. What abundance of pretious Time have you lost, and mispent already? All the Years that you have lived unconverted, you have bin dead whilest you are alive. In green Years there may be Gray-Hairs, young Bodys, but old Sinners; This, if ever the Lord work savingly upon you, this very Consideration, that you have given away from God your Fat and Blood, the Prime of your time, the Cream and Flower of your Youth, unto Sin and the World, will break your very Spirits, and a thousand to one, but overwhelme you with unmeasurable and unsupportable Grief. I was ashamed, yea and Confounded, for that I bore the Reproach of my Youth, saith penitent Ephraim. 31. Jer. 18, 19.
5. How impossible is it to provide for Eternity upon a Sick-bed, or in your declining times? Aches, Pains and Sicknesses will take you off then from that Work. O! with what difficulty will you be able to Pray, or Meditate, or review your Life, or exercize Repentance, Faith, and Love, and Hope, and other Graces, when your Spirits will be taken up with resisting the strength of your Disease, and opposing the dreadful Assaults of the King of Terrors? A Minister had this Answer from one he visited on her Death-Bed, tho she had been a full year upon it, "Sr. I am not able to bear good Discourses, I am not at leasure to entertain good Thoughts. If once Vanity be come habitual, customary, and predominant in your Minds and Affections, and be not mortified and subdued by the Power of Victorious and Heart-changing Grace, you will be as vain and foolish, as full of false and flattering Hopes, as full of Worldlyness, Sins and Lusts upon your Death-Bed, as ever you were in your most healthful Days. Besides, what and if you should lose your Sences, your Reason and Understanding? what and if through the Violence of your Disease you should grow [Page 22] Delirious, Mad and Raving, or Foolish and Childlish, would you be then able to redeem lost Time? to level your Accounts with God? to prepare effectually for your great and last Change? I speak to young Men, and young Women; make use of your Reason; have your Wits about you: you will find it the most rational thing in the World to be Religious betimes.
6. Consider the Inevitable necessity of Death, and yet it's Uncertainty. As there is a time to be Born, a time to Live, 3. Eccles. 7. Job. 1. so there is a fixed and determinate time for Death. There is an appointed time for Man upon Earth by God, beyond this you shall not pass: Your Days are like the Days of an Hireling; when your Work is ended, your Life shall end also, that you may receive your Wages. The Law of Death is more Inviolable than that of the Medes and Persians. 8. Eccle. 8. There is no man hath Power over his Soul to keep it in his Body, when God that gave it calls for it: None hath Power in the Day of Death: There is no discharge in that VVar: VVickedness shall never save nor deliver those from Death that are addicted to it. Death steals upon you at unawares; it creeps in slily and unperceptibly upon you as a Thief in the Night. When young ones, cry Peace, Peace, then Death oftentimes comes as Travel-Pangs upon a VVoman with Child. You are young, and yet know not the Day, the Place, nor the manner of your Death. Take heed you Die not in your Sins, beware you get not into Hell before you think on't.
7. How acceptable unto God is holy Seriousness and true Godlyness in Youth? How beneficial and advantagious unto your selves! 2. Cron. 14.2. 2. Tim. 3.14, 15.21. Acts 16. 1. Kings 14.12.13. Young Saints are God's chiefest Favourites. God sets a Remark of Honour upon King Josiah, That whilest he was yet Young he began to seek after the God of his Father David. So Timothy is honoured, for learning the Scriptures in his Child hood, and Mnason for being an old Disciple. And the Godly young [Page 23]Son of wicked Jeroboam, went to his Grave in Peace, when the rest of his Father's House were destroyed Root and Branch. 'Tis good to bear the Yoak of Christ in your Youth, and betimes to seek and serve the Lord, you will reap the Benefits and Blessings thereof in your old Age. God never casts off his aged Servants: none ever repented that they began too soon, or continued too long in God's Service.
8. What sweet Calms will you have in your own Soul when the Main is secured? Peace with God, assurance of his Love is an Heaven upon Earth: You shall not be ashamed to Live, nor afraid to Die. You will have an incomparable Quiet, an inexpressible Sweetness and Peace in your own Consciences and Bosoms. 32. Esay. 17. The VVork of Righteousness is Peace, the Fruit and effect of Godlyness is Quietness and Assurance for ever more. In the greatest Difficulties and Storms your Hearts will be fixed, trusting in the Lord. 1. Cor. 15.55, 56, 57. 1. Phil. 23.22. Revel. Penult. You may be able to triumph over the King of Terrors, and sing that Divine Epinikion, Death is swallowed up in Victory. O Death! where is thy Sting? O Grave! where is thy Strength? You will desire to be dissolved, that you may be at home with Christ. Come Lord Jesu! O come quickly! why are thy Charet VVheels so long a coming?
9. By preparing for your latter End, 1. Tim. 4.8.12.22. Prov. 29.12. Gen. 1.4.13. Gen. 2. your worldly Businesses will go on the smoother, and succeed more prosperously. You know not what Blessings God may accumulate upon you, by your Obedience and Godlyness. Godlyness hath the Promises of this Life, and that which is to come.
10. Consider the Terrors and Horrors of the Ungodly because of their Neglect of this and other Duties. Put your Ears to the Gate of Hell, and listen awhile to the Groans of the Damned, and you will hear them Curse the Hour they omitted this important, this indispensible Duty, and slighted and neglected their pretious [Page 24]Souls; How do they wish themselves back again into this World, and that God would but prove and try them with another day of Grace! But 'tis to no purpose. Dives could get no Relief, 16. Luke 25. no Release, not one Hour, not one Moment more in this World, not one Drop of Refreshment, not one Beam, not the least glimpse of Hope. This is exceeding Terrible.
VVork then the VVorks of God that sent you into the World whilest 'tis called to Day, before the Night come wherein there is no working. VVhatever your Hands find to do (and you have more than enough to do for your Souls,) do it with all your Might; for there is no VVork, nor Device, nor Knowledg, nor VVisdom in the Grave, to which you that are young are hast'ning.
Object. But Sr. I am young enough, and have time enough; I may now take my Pleasure, and think of Death and Judgment when I am old.
Answer. Sirs, so young as you are, you are old enough to Die. How many younger and stronger than your selves, have got the Start of you into Eternity? Roses are oftentimes nipt in the Bud: 'Tis an Observation of that Noble and Judicious Lord Verulam, that more die before they be one and twenty than after: Read that cooling Card to your Pride and Self-conceitedness. 11. Eccles. 9. Rejoyce, O young Man in thy Youth, and let thy Heart cheer thee in the days of thy Youth, and walk in the ways of thine Heart, and in the sight of thine Eyes: But know thou that for all these things, God will bring thee to Judgment.
Object. But Sr. if I take this Course, I shall be counted a Fool and a Fanatick.
Answer. But will God count thee so? will the Lord thy Soveraign Judge repute thee one? will the Holy Angels of God? will the Wise and Judicious Saints of God reckon thee for one? will thine own inlightned Censcience Accuse and Condemn thee for a Fool? will these [Page 25]very Sinners and Devils at last do it? No, they will laugh at thee in Hell (if there be any laughing there) for thy Folly and Madness in leaving Heaven and Glory to be lodged among them in that Lake of Easeless and Endless Torments. Hell from beneath is moved for thee, 14. Es. 9.10. to meet thee at thy coming, it stirreth up all the Damned for thee, all of them shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also such a Fool to become one of us! Like unto us in Sin and Misery? Poor young Man! I pitty thy weakness that thou canst not bear a Scoff for Christ, that thou wilt be jear'd out of Heaven and Glory, and rather be damned Eternally, than suffer a little Disgrace for thy God and Souls Sake. More Wit had that Athenian Miser, who being taunted at by the Boys for his Covetousness; gets him home, and hugging his Baggs in his Arms, tells them, these shall do me more good, than all your Scoffs and Jears shall do me harm. Reproaches shall never do you so much hurt, as the performance of this your Duty shall do you good.
2. Let me subjoyn a word unto the aged, and I have done. You are upon the Skirts and Borders of Death, you tread upon the Territories of the King of Terrors, you have one Foot in the Grave already, your Grashopper is a Burden, your Almond Tree Blossoms, the Pillars of your House Tremble, Come dig your own Graves, enter into a Charnel House, present your selves before the Judgment Seat of Christ. Let your first Thoughts in the morning, and last at night be of your latter End: Feed as the Egyptians did at their Feasts upon a Deaths-Head. Remember you have lived long enough to the World, to Self and Sin, begin now to live to God at last. 'Tis a rare thing I confess to see an old Sinner become a new Creature; but 'tis not impossible. Nicodemus was a Convert in his Old Age: Yet time is afforded, 3. John 3.7. yet Grace is tendered to you; your Accounts may be ballanced, and all may be evened between God and your Souls if you will: Hell [Page 26]is yet avoidable, 5. Eph. 15.16. Heaven is yet attainable, whilest there is Life there is some hope. See then that you walk Circumspectly, not as Fools, but as Wise, redeeming the Time. Remember there is but one Step between you and your unchangable Condition: O! do not Slumber nor Sleep away your Salvation any longer. Travellers when the Night draws on, hasten their Pace homeward. Bees before a Storm are most laborious: The Husband-Man plyes his harvest-work in a fair day. When the Virgins heard the News of the Bridegroom's coming at Midnight, They arose and trimmed up their Lamps. Take heed lest God upon your Neglect of this weighty Duty should give you up to your Folly and Frenzy. 9 Eccle. 3. The Heart of the Sons of Men is full of Evil, and Madness is in their Heart while they live, and after that they go to the Dead, 1. Rom. 24.28. said that Royal Preacher. God doth oftentimes judicially harden Sinners: So did he Pharaoh: So did he the degenerate Heathen: So did he Hypocriticial and Prophane Jerusalem. 24. Eze 13. Because I would have purged thee, and thou wouldest not be purged, but in thy Filthiness there is Lewdness, therefore thou shalt never be purged. Let not God say of you, 2. Sam. 19.34, 35. as of the barren Figtree, Henceforth let no Fruit grow on thee! Or, I have waited these many Years, expecting Fruit but find none; Hew them down, and cast them into the Fire. Imitate aged Barzillai, go home, and set your House in order because you must shortly die. How long have you to live? Is it the eleventh Hour, the last Hour of the Day, and of your Life, and are you Idle? Come up and do your present Work: Be not diverted from it by any worldly Business: Your work is very great, your Strength very small, you have left you but a few Minutes. Death stares you in the Face; Time and Tide stay for none. Let not worldly Thoughts, secular Cares as Pharo's lean kine, eat up and devour your heavenly Concerns. Be not wise when it is too late, after-Wit is never good: you may buy Gold too dear, and Repentance in Hell is a very dear Penny-worth. In short [Page 27]rake the Word of Exhortation. O! that you would be Wise! that you would understand this! that you would consider your latter End! God is well pleased with it, that you should be truly Godly, and everlastingly happy. 23. Pro. 15. If thine Heart be wise, my Heart shall rejoyce, even mine. I will shut up all with a short Story: Three Slaves in Turkey ran away from their Patron into the Wilderness, where they were pursued by a Lyon: The poor Wretches flee for their Lives, to a tall Tree that hung over a fearful Precipice; getting to it, they spy at the top an Hive of sweet Honey, and climbing up they sit and feed joyfully upon it, and forget the Miseries of their Captivity, and Dangers from the Lyon: But in the midst of their Mirth two Worms eat out the Tree Roots; and then Tree, Hive, Men, Honey and all tumbled headlong into Destruction. These Slaves, Sirs, are you and I, Young and Old, every Mothers Child of us, who have ran away from God our Heavenly Master; the Wilderness in which we are wandering is the World; the Lyon that pursues us is Death; the Tree to which we run for Shelter, is the false Hopes of long Life; The Honey on which we feed, are the Pleasures, Profits, and Honours here below, which whilest we are feeding immoderately upon, and forget God, our Souls, and last End: The two Worms of Day and Night do gnaw out the Heart-Roots of our LIfe, and we are precipitated headlong into the bottomless Gulph of Hell. The good Lord avert the Omen.
And now I have done with my Sermon.
Yet is there one Word more that I must add, and 'tis added not so much for the sake of the Deceased, as of the Living. 'Tis true I have rarely spoken on such Occasions, lest I should be taxed with Flattery. Besides, Funeral Sermons are not ordained for the Praise of the Dead, but the Edification and Comfort of their Surviving Friends. Touching our Brother, who lieth in this Coffin before us, there is but one Person I think in the Congregation that hath known him longer than my self, who have known him from a Child. He had a Religious Education, under a most Vertuous Godly Mother, Sanctified by many Afflictions: And he never deceived, but fully answered her Hopes and Expectations from him, and Prayers for him. The only Disappointment she hath met in him, will be to hear of his Death before the News of his Sickness; but that argues her Misery, not his Guilt. He had a very great concern for her on his Death-Bed, being the Staff of her old Age, and two hundred Miles distant from her; and a longer Life had been welcome to him, that he might have continued the Testimonials of his Duty, of his Filial Piety to her, now she hath so great need of him. But he acquiesced in the Will of God, and so must she also. I confess a Son of so much Piety towards God, and of Love, Honour, and Obedience to a Mother is very rare in this degenerate Age. But if Protestant, Professing Parents would be more Conscientious in Inspecting their Childrens Education, in training them up in the Fear, Nurture, and Admonition of the Lord, in giving them from themselves Patterns and Examples of Godliness: They might have more Comfort in their Children, and Church and State also better Hopes of the Rising Generation.
He began to seek after God betimes, and entred upon the ways of Religion very early, yea he embraced the Profession of it under hard Circumstances: But he knew Christ must be taken with his Cross, if he would have his [Page 29] Crown, and that the way to Heaven is not strowed with Roses, nor paved with Pleasures: God's Saints do not ride in Coaches, but in Chariots of Fire to Glory. He had the Comforts of serious Godlyness, of a Holy and Religious Life upon his Death-Bed: He gave me singular Satisfaction as to his Spiritual Condition, and solid, well-grounded Hopes and Evidences for his everlasting Salvation. He was a most diligent hearer of the Word, had fervent Affections for it, and would not lose his golden Opportunities of getting Acquaintance, and holding Communion with his God. He was frequent (I take it monthly) in his Attendance on the Lord's Table. He was a Closet-Christian, and drove on a thriving Trade in Secret Heaven-ward. He lived Holily, and died Comfortably. Most of his Sickness was spent in Prayer, and he died Praising. One thing I may not omit, his Gratitude to that most Noble Lady, to whom he had the Honour of Retaining; He could never mention the Respects and Care she had for him now in his Sickness, without Terms of great Thankfulness and Veneration. He had been a good Servant unto God, and therefore unto that illustrious Personage. But his Work being done on Earth, The Lord called him home unto himself, that he might receive his Wages; and a rational Charity bids me hope he is now at Rest in his Masters Joy.
Young Persons, do you make this Use of this Example, to Fear and Glorifie the Lord, that you may have Peace at last. Mark the Perfect Man; Behold the Upright, for the End of that Man is Peace. They were very sad Words that dropt from that great Cardinal Wolsey upon his Death-Bed, had I bin as careful to have served my God, as to have pleased my King, he would never have forsaken me in my old Age. But God doth not forsake his Young nor Gray-headed Servants.
These Books are lately Printed for Nathanael Ranew at the Kings-Arms in St. Pauls Church-Yard.
REmarks on Dr. Stillingfleet's late Book Entituled the unreasonableness of Separation, by a Conformable Clergy Man of the Church of England.
The Virtuous Woman Found, her Loss bewailed and Character improved, in a Sermon at the Funeral of that eminently, Religious Lady Mary, Countess Dowager of Warwick, the most Illustrious Pattern of Sincere Piety, and Sollid Goodness this Age hath produced: To which is annexed some of her Ladyships pious and useful Meditations, written with her own hand.
The great Evil of Procrastination, or the Sinfulness and Danger of deferring Repentance, in several Discourses.
Say On: or a seasonable Plea for a full hearing betwixt Man and Man, and a serious Plea for the like hearing betwixt God and Man, in an Assize Sermon at Chelmsford in Essex.
A Sermon Preached at St. Anne Black-Friars, before the Company of Apothecaries of London, September 8, 1681. And at their Desire made Publick.
These four last are published by Anthony Walker D. D.