Advice to Mourners Under the Loss of Dear Relations, Paper 2
PAPER II.
DO thou, by a patient Continuance in Well-doing, seek for Glory, and Honour, and Immortality, and Eternal Life. Be not weary of Well-doing, for in due time thou shalt reap if thou faint not. Is there Glory, Honour, Immortality, and Eternal Life set before me, and yet shall I tire and wax weary? Dare I be impatient and fret at any of the Lord's Dealings towards me? If Heaven were oftner in my Eye and View, I should be more calm and composed in the midst of all Trials, Troubles and Afflictions that do or may overtake me during my Abode in this distracting and Sin-defiling World. Is there Glory to be had hereafter, and shall not I endeavour to be a Sharer therein? Is there Honour to be conferr'd upon those that are true Worshippers of the Lamb, and shall I be dull, and dead, and sluggish, and unmindful of the Honour that shall be bestowed upon the Saints? Is Immortality set before me, and yet I so glued to this mortal Life, that the Interests and Concernments thereof so fill up my Time and Thoughts, that these Heavenly Objects are too seldom thought of, and presented to my Mind? An eternal Life is offered in the Gospel to all those that by Faith lay hold on it, and yet I, Fool that I am, so solicitous for this temporal Life, this animal, this perishing, this fading Life, so that I do too too much neglect my precious, immortal, never-dying Soul? so that should I hereafter be banished thy comfortable Presence, and excluded from those Joys and Pleasures that are injoyed by those admitted to thy Kingdom and Glory, I could blame none but my self, who have not in a due manner sought the Welfare of my Soul. I have a blessed Hope of the glorious Appearance of the Great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ, which I pretend to look, long, and wait for: but do I live as an Expectant of such tremendous Appearances? Can I, with Comfort, and Confidence, and Hope, look for this glorious Appearance of the great God, when he shall come in flaming Fire, taking Vengeance on them that know him not, nor obey his Gospel? If I be found in this Number, how sad and deplorable will my Case be? Help me, O Lord, to search and see how Matters go with my Soul: If thou art not in Christ; If I have not got an Interest in God the Father, Son, and Spirit, there will be no blessed Hope for me, but a fearful Expectation of the fiery Indignation that shall consume his Adversaries: O! to be found an Enemy to God, and he an Enemy to any at Death and Judgment, is an astonishing thing! therefore fly for Refuge, lay hold on the Hope set before you. Christ is the only Refuge for a poor undone Sinner to fly to: in his Name, and for his Sake, thou mayst be accepted, and not only pardoned, but restored to Favour and Friendship: Not only be delivered from the Terrors of Hell, but be made an Heir of Eternal Life. O blessed are those that have secured an Interest in the Eternal God; for to those he will be a Sun and Shield, he will give Grace and Glory: And though they may meet with many Troubles in this Life, many Ups and Downs in the World, yet if they bear it with Patience, Heaven will make amends, and will pay for all. I am sensible, O Lord, that I stand in need of a great Almighty Power to keep me from falling; let me be kept through Faith unto Salvation: Let me not be frustrated of that blessed Hope that thy Word reveals, whereof many shall be Partakers: O let not me be excluded, but permit me to be a Beholder of those glorious Appearances that shall be revealed to all those that love, serve and obey thee. If thou shouldst say unto me. I know thee not, depart from me, thou hast wrought Iniquity, and done foolishly, therefore depart, depart into everlasting Fire: Though this Sentence would be severe, it would be but just, for I have deserved a perpetual Banishment and Separation from thy comfortable Presence. But, Lord, suffer me to plead with thee: Is there not a Refuge for poor distressed Sinners to fly to, even the Blood of Christ, which cries louder for Mercy than my Sins can cry for Vengeance? In him alone I desire to be found; for his sake only I desire Acceptance. O let not my Name be blotted out of thy Book, but give me some comfortable and sure Evidence that I am thine, that so I may run the Ways of thy Commands, and not tire and wax weary, but may, by a patient Continuance in Well-doing, seek for that Glory, Honour and Immortality, and that Eternal Life which thou hast laid up for those that persevere in Holiness, and go from one Degree of Grace to another, till they come to appear before thee their God in Sion. Hold out Faith, hold out Patience, it will not be long, O my Soul, e're thou be at thy Journey's End; therefore do and suffer the Will of God patiently: If he see sit to deprive thee of those Comforts that thou hast and dost now injoy, be content; e're long it will not be a Pin to choose what part thou hast acted here upon the Stage of this World. You must (shortly) appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ, that you may receive according to the things done in the Body, whether it be good or bad. O what a dreadful and fearful Account have I to give; the Sins of my Youth and riper Age are so many and so great, that I am confounded and amazed when I (though slightly) take a View of them. My Omissions, and my Commissions, my original and my actual Sins are such, that I cannot bear the Scrutiny of my own Conscience, how then shall I do when the Almighty contends with me? My Sins of Ignorance, and Sins against Knowledg, my presumptuous Sins, my Abuse of Mercies, my Incorrigibleness under Judgments, my Unthankfulness for former Mercies, and my Distrust of the Goodness of God for the future; these may justly provoke God to depart from me, and say, he will have no more to do with such a vile Wretch as I am. But blessed Father! I humbly implore, that thou wilt not leave nor forsake the Work of thy own Hands: Thou canst make me clean; O when shall it once be? Let my Sins be all done away, and let me (me poor Sinner) be made meet to partake of thy Kingdom and Glory. O that my Saviour would say, as Paul did of Philemon, What he oweth, put that on mine Account. Lord, my Sins are so many and so foul, that I cannot answer for one of a thousand; how then shall I appear before thy Tribunal, where I must give a strict Account of all I have done in the Body, whether it be bad or good? Lord, I cannot answer for my numberless Number of Sins: Since thou hast (dear Redeemer) died for Sinners, let me not die in my Sins. Thou hast paid a sufficient Price for the Sins of the whole World; let not mine be laid to my Charge, nor rise up against me in this World to shame me, nor in the other to condemn me. Remit my Debt, too vast for me to pay, before the last accounting Day. Let me have some well-grounded Hope, that the State of my Soul is in good Plight; that however it goes with my Body and bodily Concerns, that I may be assured it will go well with me to all Eternity, and then I may be inabled to bear the Inconveniences of my Pilgrimage-State. Lord, I humbly beg thou wouldst take Care of me, and provide for me what thou in thy infinite Wisdom and Goodness seest fit for me, and let me be perfectly willing to be, do, and suffer what my God seeth good: not my Will, but thine, O Lord, be done in all things; only I beg I may not be left to unsupportable Difficulties. Let me have thy Love to sweeten all, and carry me patiently through the remaining part of my Days and Trials. Be with me when I pass through the Fire, and through the Water, for my Eyes are unto thee, O Lord my God; in thee is my Trust, leave not my Soul destitute.