Practical Discourses on Sickness and Recovery, Sermons · Sermon 2

Practical Discourses on Sickness and Recovery · Sermons · Sermon 2

p. 56Practical DISCOURSES OF Sickness and Recovery.

SERMON II.

PSAL. 30. ver. 3, 4.

O Lord, thou hast brought up my Soul from the grave, thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

Sing unto the Lord, O ye Saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.

Reason 4. DEliverance from the Rea. 4.Grave is a great Mercy, and greatly to be acknowledged, because by that means a man has a longer time in which to prepare for another World. And this is more a Mercy because it must p. 57go with us for ever, according to what we have done in these bodies, whether good or evil. This Life is our onelyonly state of Tryal, and so shall it fare with us hereafter as we now behave our selves. There is no knowledge nor invention in the Grave whither we are going. None of those things can be performed there, which to perform now is our most seasonable and necessary Duty. If a man were to have a Tryal for his Estate or Life, he would take it for a favour to have leisure given him wherein to make ready for it, and to put his Affairs into the best posture that he could, it ought to be reckoned a much greater kindness to have notice and time afforded us wherein to prepare for the Last determination of the State of our Souls which is vastly more weighty and Considerable. It is a Mercy to have Sickness or some tollerable Affliction sent to summon us before the Arrival of the King of Terrours, and to bid us put our Houses, and our Minds in Order, lest by sensual Enjoyments, or the pleasing Enjoyments of the Flesh, p. 58that Day come upon us unawares; and left we be in a slumber when the Voice shall say, Behold the Bridegroom eomes, go ye out to meet him. There is no question at all but that 'tis very Lawful with submission to pray against Sudden Death; for though it be a Mercy to those whose Grace is eminently strong and who are alwayes ready, to dye without Lingring Pains and a Complication of acute and violent Diseases, which make Death much more a Death than it would be without them, yet to the most the danger of Surprisal is so very great, and of being hurried to the Bar, and judg'd to an Eternal Condition before we have done what we ought to do in time, that we may esteem it none of the least Mercies of God that he does by some shaking blowes warn us before he give the last stroak and cut us down. It is not onelyonly the practise of an Holy Life, and an Habitual Readiness which Believers have by Faith, and the renewing Operations of the Spirit, by the uprightness of their Carriage and the Constancy of their Prayers, but p. 59a more particular preparation that they need. 'Tis necessary for them not onelyonly to have Oyl in their Lamps, but their Lamps burning; not onelyonly the Graces of the Spirit, but those Graces in the fullest brightness and strength, to which they can attain in this Mortal State. The best can never be so much prepar'd for Death, but they may be more so. They never have proceeded so far in their Mortification but they are sensible that they have still more sins to mortifie; they have never so much warmed their Hearts with the love of God, but that they may still glow with a purer and an hotter Flame. It is very desireable to the best to have their Faith more strong, their submission more calm, and their hope more lively. 'Tis very desireable to have more Acquaintance and Familiarity with God before they appear at his Tribunal to receive their final Sentence. They know well that it is a great Work, impartially, seriously and constantly to search their own Hearts, and to judge themselves aright that they may not be judged of p. 60the Lord. As also to discharge all the duties that they owe to God; to themselves, to their Neighbours and their Countrey, and they cannot but be very thankful that they are allow'd more time to do it in. That they may purifie their Consciences, raise their Affections, and review their Lives with exactness and Care when they are shortly to be lookt into by an Omniscient and unerring Eye. They know it is a Mercy to be able to loosen their Hearts from the World, which they are too much apt to love, and in a weanedness from what is sensible to dye before they dye. The most Religious have the clearest Apprehension that to appear before Christ is no sleight or Common thing; that they must be such in whom he may take delight, and be as a Bride adorned for her Husband. They know that the Celebration of the Lords Supper, and the hearing of the Word, and Fastdayes and extraordinary Seasons of Prayer, are such duties as require the preparations of Humbling Sorrows, lively Desires, awful Reverence, Meekness, p. 61and Self-denial, because God will be sanctisied of all that draw nigh unto him. They dare scarcely go to the Lords Table without Fear and Trembling much less dare they go to the Lord himself without a most solemn Preparation. What Care do men use if they are but about to Transplant themselves into some Foreign Countrey, what Inquiries do they make about it? What laying in of all necessary Stores that they may not be destitute of suitable accommodations when they come to the new place where they design to fix. And 'tis not to be wondred at, that such as are to be removed into another World, are very solicitous about it, and very thankful that their season and their day of Grace is lengthned out. Whoever Considers the many duties which the Scripture requires of those that believe, what obligations they are under to their Saviour, what, to their Fellow-Christians, and to those who are yet strangers to the Faith. How many Omissions and Commissions they are guilty of, and p. 62what need there is of running, watching and striving with all their might that they may not loose Heaven and Glory; whoso thinks of this, must account it a Mercy that they have opportunity wherein to do what is so great and so indispensable. And as the Apostle speaking of the new Heavens and new Earth inferrs, What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness, 2 Pet. 3. 11. So in this Case we may say what manner of persons ought they to be who must quickly go into Eternity? How should they labour to increase with all the increase of God, to have suitable Promises laid up in their Hearts, from which in the sorest Distresses they may fetch Relief? What need have they of manifold Expersences, and of the Compleat Armour of Righteousness, which may enable them to wrestle with, and to subdue, the various and unknown difficulties and Tentations of a dying Hour; to have their Evidences for Salvation clear and unquestionable; to know that they are in a state of Grace, and that they p. 63have finished the work of their Generation. Indeed the Careless part of Men think that the Prolongation of Life is not in this respect so great a Mercy. For they think that it is a most easie thing to be ready for Death and Judgement; they think that a few Prayers at last, a few Tears and Cryes to God, with a Confession of their Miscarriages, and a few Resolutions against what they once did amiss, will put them into a good frame and serve their turn; and so the time that was given them wherein to prepare for another World is lost and unimproved, because they understand not the greatness of their Work, nor the preciousness and value of that Time which is given them to do it in. They ought to Remember if they have been near to death, how that nearness changed their Thoughts, and that they then found by the hurry and confusion of their Apprehensions, that Sickness was no proper season wherein to begin an holy Course or to repair the disorders of an ill one. Of all men in the World those who are recover'd from p. 64a Sickness that found them in their Impenitence have most Reason to be thankful because had they died in that Condition they had died for ever, what thanks owe they to God that they are under Hope in the use of Means, yet upon his Earth and not in Hell. And there are two things with respect to our dying, which render the Continuance of our Life a great Mercy.

First, The small Acquaintance 1.which we have with the Future state, and the necessity we are under to get as lively apprehensions of it as we can. There are many strange Vicissitudes in this World, many changes that we see in Countreys, when Kingdoms pass from one to another; in Families, when the number is either increased or diminished; and we suffer many changes in our Bodies from Sickness to Health, and from Health to Sickness again, but there is no change that is so great as this by Death. It is a thing of which we know but little, and none of the Millions of Souls that have past into p. 65the invisible World have come again to tell us how it is. All that go hence remain fixed in their own state, some expecting, and others fearing the Resurrection and the Great Day. We have but very obscure apprehensions of that separated state, we know but little of the Great All-comprehending Spirit, and little with clearness and full satisfaction of our own Souls. When we know something of Spirits by their effects and the discoveries they make of themselves, and would more fully know their nature and have adequate Conceptions of them; we are like little Children that see the Image and Representation of some delightful object in a Glass, and then turn the glass hoping to see it in its full dimensions but by that means lose the sight of it altogether: so it is with us in our most Critical Inquiries into Spiritual and Immaterial Substances. Nevertheless it is very desireable to know in what condition our Souls will be when they leave the Body, and what is the nature of that abode into which we must go but which we never saw. p. 66Into what Regions we must then take our flight and after what manner this will be done. When that Soul which touch't and wrought by our hands, spoke by our tongue and heard by our Ears, shall have her present Organs taken from her, and pass from sensible objects on Earth to a spacious unseen World. When as in the twinkling of an Eye our spirits will go from this lower state through the Aiery Region and the visible Heavens soaring till they come to the Throne of God. All the Animal Actions of Nourishment and Growth, all the Sensations that arise from outward and Material objects will cease, and these spirits will be more vigorous and Active than now they are. When Death comes it leaves the body though far different from what it was yet still in our view. We see where it is, and what Qualities it is invested with; how it is disposed of we know, and are able to give some exact Account of its Condition, of this we have a more distinct Apprehension, but none of a separated Soul but what is very imperfect.

p. 67'Tis certain **Vide M. Amyraut Disc. de Lestat des Fideles Apres La Mort. pag. 15. &c.the Soul will then preserve the Faculties that are natural to it, viz. to Understand, to Will, to Remember, as 'tis represented to us under the Parable of Dives and Lazarus. So long as 'tis lodged here it sees and perceives Corporal things by the Organs of the Senses, and reasons upon the Images that are labour'd in the Phantasie; but there are in our Souls Idea's purely intellectual, and which have in them nothing Material as the Contemplations of the Nature of God and of his Attributes. We little know how the People of the disembodied Societies Act, and Will, and Understand, and communicate their Thoughts to one another. What Conception can we have of a separated Soul, but that 'tis all thought, and that either in the Calmness of an elevated Joy, or the bitterness of overwhelming Anguish, according to the state in which it is and the sentence that is past upon it. When a Mans Body is taken from him by Death, he is turn'd into all Thought and Spirit, either infinitely more pleas'd or more amaz'd p. 68than he could be in this World. How great will be its thoughts, when it is without any hinderance from these material Organs that now obstruct its operations. In that Eternity (as one expresses it) the whole power of the Soul runs together one and the same way. In this World the soul sends out Parties of it self, divers wayes, or to several ends; the Judgment may be pleased in the main, and yet the Affections disturbed; or these more still, and yet the Judgment dissatisfied and disturbed: One thought goes out in high discontent, another flyes after it, recalls and reconciles it: On the other side, one thought leaps out of the Soul with pleasure, another reproves daunts and dejects it, with a correction of its haste. But in Eternity the soul is united in its motions, which way one Faculty goes, all go; and the Thoughts are all Concentred as in one whole Thought of Joy or Torment. Beverley Great Soul of Man, pag. 292. These things cannot but occasion great variety p. 69of thoughts in every Considering Man; and the soul especially when it looks toward that World and thinks it self near it, can no more cease to be Inquisitive about it than it can cease to be a soul. We may indeed be too curious in this matter, though it seems to be a Curiosity that is most excuseable, because it concerns a mans self, his own soul, and his own Eternity; and when we have searched as deep as we can, we must confess our Ignorance, and say with the Prophet upon another occasion, Lord thou knowest! In these Contemplations we must make the Word of God our onelyonly Guide, and it is a Mercy greatly to be acknowledged that God allows us time wherein to Converse with that Gospel that has brought life and immortality to light; and with that Saviour who is the great Prophet and Teacher of the Church, who came from Heaven, and is now gone thither, and we may fully rest and Acquiesce in the discoveries that he has given us of that Countrey for he knew it very well, was very faithful in the discharging of his office, and does not impose upon us any p. 70thing that is either false or incredible; by our Holy Prayers we are to maintain a Commerce with him and with that World, and by our frequent going thither in our Meditations we may gain a clearer knowledge of it. Though there are no bounds on which our thoughts can terminate, but onelyonly the Revelations which God has been pleas'd to make in his own Word. What is above those Heavens, and that Firmament that we see, there's none can tell us but God and our Saviour who are there. For when Men have abstracted their Thoughts with as much industry as they can from All that is material and sensible, when they have refin'd their Understandings to the greatest spirituality, and pored never so long upon the state of separation, they will still remain in the dark about it. And he is the most happy Man who in the sincere performance of the Duties of Religion can resign his Soul to Christ in Death, and trust him though he is to be removed to a strange and a new World. For immediately after he p. 71is loos'd from the Body he will understand more in an instant then all the most Learned in this World have ever understood by the labour and diligence of many years.

Secondly, That which renders the 2.continuance of Time to us wherein to prepare for Death, a great Mercy, is because we are to dye but Once; and upon the well or ill doing of it depends our future Happiness or Misery. It is a great Mercy that we have time wherein to make ready for our last Combat, for if we lose the Battle once we are overthrown for ever, it must not be fought over again. It is a Mercy that we have leisure to compleat our journey well, for we must never travel over the same Road again. There will be no second Edition wherein to Correct our former Errors, when a period is once put to the last Line of Life. Oh what Faith, what Courage, what Strength is necessary to Conquer the Fears of Death, and Death it self? If men fail in their Trades they may by the kindness of their Friends be p. 72set up again, if they have suffer'd Losses by Shipwrack, by Fire or by Plunder, they may be repaired, but a Soul once lost will remain so for ever. 'Tis a long, long Eternity that succeeds our Time; if we should live on Earth as many Hundred years as the most Aged live Months, it would bear no proportion with that vast and endless duration. Whoever compares the shortness of our present state with the continuance of that into which we enter when we are to dye, cannot but esteem the being brought back from the Grave to be a great Mercy. If you have been careless of hearing at one season you may hear the Word again at another; if you have heretofore been cold in your Prayers, you may now excite your Hearts, and pray with more fervour; but if you once dye ill, you must never mend so concluding a Miscarriage. All the Tears we shed cannot give Life to the Body from which the Soul is fled. All the Anguish of Miserable Souls cannot procure for them another Tryal. They that are p. 73once cut down must never be planted by the Rivers side any more. There is hope of a tree, if it be cut down that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; yet through the scent of Water it will bud and bring forth boughs like a plant. But man dieth and wasteth away, yea man giveth up the ghost, and where is he. Job 14. 7, 8, 9, 10.

Reason 5. Those who are brought up from the grave have cause to be thankful, Rea. 5.because by that means they have more opportunity to be serviceable to the Glory of God, and to be useful in the World. Meerly to live is not a thing very desireable, considering how many Miseries there are in Life, to what Evils and Inconveniences our Bodies are obnoxious, and that the pains which they may suffer may be both very long, and so secret that none can understand either what they are or how to remove them. But it is a most desirable thing to p. 74Live when we can thereby obtain the Ends that are truly Great and Noble. For,

First, Hereby a man may do good 1.to others. He may teach the Ignorant, reduce the wandring; and by the sincerity of his Counsel, by the zeal of his Prayers, and the Lustre and Holiness of a good Example, advance the power of Religion. Our Lives are not our own, they are Gods by a double, title both of Creation and Redemption; they are to be us'd for him who preserves, or takes them away as he will. Not onelyonly Ministers but every private Christian is obliged by the Name he bears, and by the Relation that he has to the holy Society of Believers, and to the Kingdom of Christ, whereof he is a Subject, to enlarge it by all good ways that he can; and every man is the more obliged to this when God has bestow'd a new Life upon him. When we are near to the Gates of the Grave, and look back and see with how little Zeal and Diligence we had spent our p. 75time, and how little we had done for him who blest us all our dayes, then we are enclined most earnestly to beseech him that he would grant us another Tryal, and that then we would improve it much better than we did our former time, and when he does grant us what we have askt, then it should be our great indeavour not to frustrate and disappoint the designs of his Goodness and Mercy. Then must we teach transgressors his way, telling them how dreadful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Then we may tell the Healthful what Sickness is, what we have found it to be by our own Experience, then we may tell them how it makes very uneasie and troublesome Companions of our now beloved Bodies. How it deprive us of all our Pleasures and Recreations, in the day, and of our rest at night. That all their Friendships, Conversations, and Merryments without true Religion are altogether vain; and not onelyonly so, but they leave a sting of guilt behind when the sweetness that once allur'd is p. 76gone away. We may warn them to provide for the dayes of darkness, and for the many Miseries of Life that will sooner or latter overtake them. When we are Recover'd we can tell the Diseased, of the Goodness and the Power of God, that they can never be so distressed, but that it is still in his power to help them, and a Word of his Mouth can heal them when other Physitians are of no value. We can then by what we felt our selves tell them something of the Evil effects and bitterness of Sin. Though what we feel in some Cases is far more then what we can express. We can after our Sickness excite all our Acquaintance to Fear and to love God, to fear him who can in a few dayes bring them very low, and to love him who can quickly raise the lowest up again. A Man has much more to do on Earth than to secure his own Salvation: The World, the Church, the Nation to which he belongs, do all claim a part in him. The Converted and the Unconverted, his Relations and Friends, p. 77the good and the bad do all need and require his help; and it is a Mercy greatly to be acknowledged, that God renewes our strength and opportunity that we may do some service for him before we dye. There are many Duties to be performed here, which cannot be done in another World, Psal. 88. 11. His loving kindness cannot be declared in the Grave nor his Faithfulness in destruction. Psal. 6. 5. In death there is no remembrance of thee, in the grave who shall give thee thanks. Psal. 115. 17. The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence. Now it is a blessed and a glorious priviledge to praise him here on Earth; for though he be praised among the glorify'd, it is without any propogation of praise to the name of God, for that is the Priviledge of the Saints on Earth, where they make known his name to those that knew it not before, or make it more known to those that knew it. As also to advance the Kingdom of Christ in the World, to which the dead contribute p. 78nothing at all, and to give good Examples by the sincerity and inoffensiveness of their Carriage, for in heaven there is no need of good Examples. There is no Evil Person to be reduced, and all there are possest of their Happiness. Vid. Hook's Priviledge of the Saints on Earth beyond those in Heaven in regard of many duties, pag. 12. Here it is that we may feed the Hungry, cloath the Naked, visit the Sick, lodge the poor that have no dwelling place. Here it is by our Sympathy that we may weep with those that weep, and in some respect imitate the kind Incarnation of our Saviour by putting on the Wants and Miseries of others. But in Heaven there is no Miserable person to relieve, no opportunity to shew our Mercy and Compassion to the afflicted, and yet this Grace is one of the fairest Lineaments of the new Creature, and which causes in us a near resemblance of our Heavenly Father. Here we may pray for the Sick, the Tempted and the Persecuted, but there is an happy freedom from p. 79Sickness and Temptation. While we live we may by Intercession and Prayers for our Friends do them good, but in that World for ought we know, such an Intercession ceases; and we are sure there is neither Command, Example or Promise in all the Scripture to encourage us to make our Application to the Saints departed for the Relief of our wants; that Homage is alone due to Christ the Great and onelyonly Mediatour, whose Mediation is founded on the excellency of his Person, and the Ransom that he gave to God. 'Tis here on Earth that the strong in Faith may assist the weak; 'tis here they may speak words of Comfort and Refreshment to the weary soul; whereas above they all rest from their Labours. 'Tis here they must strengthen the weak hands, and Confirm the feeble knees, and say to them that are of a fearful heart be strong, fear not; Isa. 35. 3, 4. 'Tis here that the fathers to their children must make known his truth, Isa. 38. 19. and endeavour that his name may be celebrated from p. 80Generation to Generation, and that the people which shall be created may praise the Lord. Psal. 102 18. 'Tis here that in the midst of sore Tryals we must exercise our Faith, for there it will be turned into sight and full Assurance. 'Tis here that we must wait in hope for there the good which we expect will be possest. 'Tis here that we must love our Enemies and bless them that Curse us. And this Faith and Hope and love are greatly serviceable to the Propagation of the Gospel. 'Tis here on Earth that we must acquire and use these Graces and exercise the Gifts which God hath given us for the common good. For whether there be prophesies they shall fail, whether there be tongues they shall cease, whether there be knowledge it shall vanish away, 1. Cor. 13. 8. What a Mercy is it to have Life and time wherein to perform so many good Works for the advantage of our Neighbours? What a Mercy is it for a Magistrate to live, that he may shine with more brightness and fill his higher Orb with clearer p. 81Light: That he may by his own good Example and by his discouraging of Prophaneness and Irreligion, promote the Kingdom of Christ as well as contrive for the Honour of his own Dominions? What a Mercy is it to a Minister that he may live to speak in the name of God, to bring the glad tidings of Salvation, and to be long employed in bringing home poor wandring sinners to Jesus Christ? To unfold the Mysteries of the Gospel and the unsearchable riches of Grace and Mercy that are therein, and to use the Talents that are given him for his Masters Glory. How much more desireable is it to such an one to be speaking in the Pulpit than to be silent in the Grave? and to have all his knowledge that he acquired with painful Labour and waking Thoughts to be as it were buried with him, or at least not to be of any further use to the World? What a Mercy is it to a Parent that he may Live to educate his his children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; that he may instruct and Antidote them against the Contagions of this World, where Evil Examples are so numerous and good p. 82ones so very rare to give them warning of the dangers which he himself narrowly escap'd, and to acquaint them betimes with the wayes of God? and by his conduct and prudent advice, and frequent Exhortations and constant prayers to recommend them frequently to the blessing of Providence, and to fortifie them against the rashness, and haste, and folly of their Careless Age. 'Tis easie indeed for those that are faithful in their several stations to desire Death, as a Traveller desires the shadow of a Rock in a weary land; and as a Labourer after a days hard labour is glad of the approaching Night that he may go to bed. 'Tis a piece of self-denial for very Holy Men to be content to Live and to stay on Earth when they have a well-grounded hope of Heaven. To stay in the midst of hard service, Tentations and Tryals, and to endure the heat of the day when they might have their Reward; especially if they be afflicted with tedious bodily pains, for to serve God with chearfulness in the midst of pain is a noble effect of Faith. It is a very Generous thing to desire to Live when they have no pleasure in Life but p. 83as it gives them an occasion to be serviceable to the Church. It is not altogether so with those who are in full health and Ease. For as their strength is greater, so their work on that account is more delightful, and may be done with more vigour. There is not amore Remarkable Instance in History than that of our Apostle, Phil. 1. 21, 22, 23. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall chuse I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ which is far better. Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. **Vide Chrys. in Loc.Was there ever seen any thing in the World greater then the frame and behaviour of this Apostle, this Holy Man of God; this Angel in Flesh we might have called him but that he speaks of dying? 'Tis no great matter for a Man to desire to Live and to be serviceable, who is under Doubts and Fears about his Salvation; 'tis what he ought chiefly to desire, that he may renew his Evidences and work out his Salvation with more diligence. But this was not the case of Paul, he knew p. 84that to dye would be his gain. It was (as it were) put to his choice whether he would go to Christ, to that dear Master who had loved him and whom he had lov'd, or stay below in this World, a World that had given him very coarse and rude Entertainment, that had afflicted and scorn'd and vilified and persecuted him wherever he came. And yet this poor weary Traveller is willing still to travel for the good of others when he might have been at home. He is willing to stay amidst the reproaches and pains and sorrows of this Earth, when he might have gone to Heaven where he would have had a Crown of Glory and have been in the midst of Joyes and Hallelujahs. He might have gone to Triumph and Victory, but for the sake of his Neighbours and his Friends he is willing to renew the Combat. He had been long tost on a very stormy Sea, and might now if he had so pleased have gone into the Port; but for their sakes he is willing, from the very Harbours Mouth, to put to Sea, and to abide new dangers and storms again. No Soul, excepting that of Christ, was ever sired with a greater p. 85Zeal for God, and the Salvation of others, than this of Paul. There is a different behaviour visible in Hezekiah, who when it was told him by the Prophet, Isa. 38. 1, 2. Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live. He turned his face to the wall and prayed, and wept sore, ver. 3. One would have thought it should not have been an unwelcom Message to a good man, especially to one who could reflect upon his Sincerity, and appeal to God about it; to one that as we may Imagine might have been, after so pure and so sincere a Life, accustom'd to the Thoughts of so great a Change; that knew that the setting of his Sun, was that it might rise again in a glorious Immortality. It is a wonder to see those Cheeks bedewed with Tears which one would have thought should have been adorn'd with smiles; as a Soldier is glad to be discharged from long duty, or after having long maintained a Place with great Hardships, to have the Siege raised, and to be set at Liberty. But there are Three Reasons usually, assign'd for it.

p. 86First, Though he was a very good Man, yet he was still but a Man, had those Humors and Passions which are usually put into a great agitation upon the thoughts of sudden Death. The Body and the Soul have been so long Acquainted that they are loth to part.

Secondly, Because he had no Issue, he was descended from David, and in a probability as he might think of having the Messiah come of him according to the Flesh. And,

Thirdly, He desired to Live longer for the Reformation of the Church. For his Age is reckoned to be then but 39, and that he dyed at **Fuller's Life out of Death. p. 4.54. We ought to be very thankful when God brings us from the Grave and will use us in his service. He needs us not; if a thousand such as we are should dye, how quickly can he supply our places with such as may be more faithful, and on whom he will bestow more Grace and better Gifts. When he took away such great Men as Moses, Aaron and Elias, he found others to put in their steeds, and the Church and the Interest of Christ will not dye with us. Those that are most devoted to the service of God, would p. 87not have the opportunities even of difficult obedience taken from them too soon. Having often dishonoured God in the time of their Health, they would still serve him though it be in pain. Indeed though Believers may sometimes earnestly desire to go to Heaven when this World through their languishing Afflictions and sore Tryals is become uneasie to them, yet God will have them to serve him here on Earth tho' it be with much trouble. Christ prays not that he would take his disciples out of the World. Tho' they were presecuted and hated in it, Joh. 17. 15. And this may give us some Light into one of the most mysterious parts of the Providence of God, why he suffers his servants to conflict with violent pains when he could ease them with a word; why he suffers them to make their Couches to swim with Tears, when he could quickly wipe all their Tears away; why he suffers them to groan long in Misery, when if he pleas'd he could translate them to Heaven without a sigh. 'Tis, that they may live to serve him even in these Afflictions, and by the Experiences which they have of his Faithfulness be encouraged more and more p. 88to trust in him. He could at their first Conversion give them the Reward, and as soon as they are adopted to be his Sons, make them actual Possessors of that Inheritance to which they are Heirs. Or he could strengthen their Sanctification and compleat their Grace, that they should not complain and mourn as they now do, for the hardness of their hearts, their deadness and unbelief. It is not that he takes delight in their Grief, or that he finds an Harmony in their Groans. 'Tis because even they shall feel the bitterness of sin, they shall know the way to Life to be strait and narrow; that so they may at length wonder more at the riches and freeness of his Grace, that brings them to Glory even by such unlikely wayes. He will have them to be train'd up with difficulties, to strive, and to wrestle with them, that so their Fervour may shame the coldness and indifference of others who take no pains for their Salvation. He will have them to go laden under the sense of their Corruptions, that so finding their daily need of Christ, they may still remember him who is their help, and finding so much guilt in themselves they may apply themselves p. 89to his unspotted Righteousness for Justification, and to his Word and Spirit for new degrees of Holiness; that they may have experience of his Goodness and he of their Obedience and Love; that they may know the Loving-kindness, the Care, and the Wisdom of that God that Pilots their Ship when it is covered with waves and stormes; for stormes are the Triumph of his Art and he steers even the sinking Vessel to the Port.

Secondly, By being brought from the Grave, a Man may be enabled to do 2.much good to himself as well as to others; that so he may at last with joy give an account of his Stewardship; that he may increase his own reward, and by Gods Grace make his Crown of Happiness more sparkling and more full of weighty Glory. As no man ought to be satisfied with the lowest degrees of grace, so every one may and ought by an Innocent Ambition, and a multitude of good Works, to indeavour to sit near to the Throne, and not only to save himself, but to carry others with him to heaven that may be his Joy and his Crown in that Day.

p. 90Reason 6. and Lastly, There are several Rea. 6.circumstances that may enlarge the kindness of being brought from the Grave, and which ought to render us more thankfull for it. Those that are good may have their iniquities visited with stripes, and it cannot but be a terrible thing to fear that they shall be snatcht away whilest they are punisht with the rods which their own Sins have made. As the Prophet was devoured by a Lion for his Disobedience to the command of God, 1 King. 13. 21. It is a great Mercy to live to see the good of his Chosen, and it is a punishment to be taken away just when some great deliverance is coming to the Church. It was a thing which Moses greatly desired to see the Promised Land, and to go thither; to see it indeed was granted him, but to enjoy it was denied him because of the provocation at the Rock. It is a Misery to see Plenty for others, and not to taste thereof our selves like that Lord of Samaria who perished for his unbelief, 2 King. 7. 2. 17. 18. It is a great Mercy to be delivered after we have been afflicted and ready to dye, when the terrors of God have amazed us and his fierce wrath has gone over us, p. 91Psal. 88. 15. How sad a thing is it to dye under a sense of the weight of sin, and to have no prospect of a Pardon; to feel as it were the very scorching flames of Hell, and to have no hope that these will ever be cool'd or remov'd, but rather grow more hot and scorching; to have no Comfort from Heaven or Earth, no rest for the Body, no composure for the Soul; to be sinking and to have nothing to lay hold upon, to stand shivering on the brink of destruction and to see no way of escape, to be compassed in with sin behind and with Miseries before, to be in darkness and to see no light, not to know where our Lot will be fixt, not to know but that it may be among the damned. To be near to the Judgment Seat of Christ, and to be afraid of appearing there. This is a state in which no man would chuse to dye for it is inexpressably terrible; and it is a most wonderful mercy to be delivered from a Case so sad as this. For how uncomfortable is it to a mans self to be roaring in the disquietness of his soul, not to be able to live because of the insupportableness of his Pain, nor to dare to dye because of the greatness of his sins that are always p. 92before him, and that are like to lye down with him in the dust. How uncomfortable is it to the Relations and Friends of the sick and dying, that see him strugling and crying under pains which tear him to pieces. How uncomfortable is it to them, to hear his doleful Expressions about his Eternal state, to see the anguish of his soul and the arrows of the Almighty sticking in it, which makes him a terror to himself, and to those that are round about him. How woful a thing is this! and if a man get to Heaven at last by the mighty Grace of God, yet it is a thing very undesireable to go thither as by the very gates of Hell▪ for a man to have his days shortned and his strength weakned in the way, Psal, 102. 23. and to have his Sun go down at noon, looks like the displeasure of God; and no man would dye by the frown of God. A man cannot be blamed who is loth to dye till he save some Hope that it shall go well with him for ever. 'Tis a sore Evil to be thrown aside as a broken vessel in which there is no pleasure, Jer. 22. 28. It is a great mercy to be kept from raging violent distempers, and to be deliver'd from such, after we have long groaned under p. 93them. It is a great Mercy to have such a sickness as will allow us time to exhort, and direct and counsel others; and 'tis very desireable that we may by a Christian Carriage set our Seal to Religion, and shew its Power and Reality. 'Tis a most glorious thing to dye in the Lord, i. e. as one Paraphrases it, in the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Spirit of Faith and Love, in a Spirit of Elevation towards God which makes the dying believer to go towards Heaven with all his force, and like his Saviour commit his soul with joy into the hands of his heavenly Father. Du Bosc Sermons. p. 354. We ought to pray that we may not be like the wicked in our death, and that we may be found of our Lord in peace; and that we may say with old Simeon, when after long expectation he saw the Messiah and embraced him in his arms, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Luk. 2. 29, 30. This we may beg of God, for it is not only for our happiness but for his Glory, when we can trust him tho' we go into a state which he has promis'd indeed, but which we never saw. What a glorious thing is it, when we are p. 94drawing near to the end of Life to be able to wait, and not only to wait, but to long; not only to believe and hope, but to rejoyce and triumph in the thought of seeing God? To give to those that live, an Example of dying well, which is the most difficult thing in the World. What a mercy is it when a man after many long and weary steps on Earth is going stored with Experiences and a well-grown Faith to his Journeys end? When a man arrives at Heaven like a vessel well fraighted and richly Laden, that after a long and dangerous Voyage is coming home. To shine all his Life with the beauties of Holiness, and when he dies to set like the Sun in beams, to rise again. Oh what a pleasant thing is it to a Believer to have the sweet foretastes of heaven here, and hereafter to enter into the joy of his Lord? To be blown along with a full gale of assured and undaunted Hope. To be able to say, I know whom I have believed, I have fought the good fight of faith, I am going to that God whose I am and whom I serve; to that God who has loved me, and whom I have loved, who will be my own God for ever and ever. What a glorious thing is it when a p. 95Christian by the assistance of the blessed Spirit has mortified all inordinate desires after any thing in this life; when he can say, Let me arise and go hence to a better place; when the Affections and all the powers of the Soul are on the wing to meet its Saviour on the way; when it is in an actual readiness, and as soon as ever it hears the voice saying, Come up hither, will freely go and with such holy haste as if it would prevent Christ in his coming to fetch it. It is a thing greatly to be desired and prayed for, that when our last hour comes, we may not onelyonly in the General be prepared to dye, but that we may be in a dying Frame; and a man is so when he is very submissive to God and his blessed Will, when he is pleas'd with that order of his Providence, that calls him hence. When by Faith he is intirely loosen'd from the World and Worldly things, and in assurance of Salvation can yield up his Life with this, Lord Jesus receive my Spirit.

Inf. 1. If being brought from the Grave be so great a mercy, and for which we ought I….to be thankful, then what cause have those to be thankful who are delivered so as never to be in danger of dying any more. Happy p. 96are they who are deliver'd so as ever to be deliver'd, never to feel the same bitterness which they once felt, nor to groan under the same Miseries and Calamities. We praise God here on Earth but alass how low and how weak are our Praises to what he deserves for his own Excellencies, and for his Mercy to us? How cold are our warmest praises to theirs above, who are all in admiration, Extasie and Love? And well may they praise him in the most elevated manner, that certainly know that all their diseases are heal'd and their Iniquities forgiven. That by their nearness to God see his Face and how well-pleas'd he is with all they do, they praise the riches of his Grace in pardoning so many sins and so great; they praise his power and his Wisdom that guided their poor trembling Souls to his own Glory; their hearts are full of Love, and 'tis that which produces Praise and Joy. Oh what a chearful Society is above in Heaven, where so many Milions of Angels, and so many Saints joyn together in the same blessed work, and all their several Anthems meet in one loud and pleasant Hallelujah, how vastly different is their Assembly from such an p. 97one as this? Here we are with our unbelief, with our fears, with our strong Corruptions, and with our many sins, whereas they are all perfect and compleat in Holiness. Here are we liable to manifold Calamities, the very thoughts of which may be justly afflicting to us, but in their World they have no change nor variation. They have one continued and unalterable Felicity, after a long and doleful sickness, it is a pleasant thing to behold this World again; it looks as a new World to me who have dwelt for so many Months on the very borders of the Grave. But alass what is this World that at the best is a Region and a state of death, to that above which is a Region and a state of pure and undisturbed Life. The deliverance which God has been pleased to give to Me is in many respects as a Resurrection, but it is such an one as that of Lazarus; after which I must be sick again and dye, for Recovery is but a delay of certain death. And indeed our praises for our escape from death are very much damp'd and allayed by this thought, that we must for all the deliverances we have at present, yet in a little while go into p. 98the Grave. The remembrance of those fore and dreadful Calamities that surrounded me, and this Consideration that I am, whilest in this body, obnoxious to many thousand more distresses makes me to rejoyce with trembling. It is a very sad Consideration when a man looks upon such a number of people as is here this Evening, to think, how many several sorts of miseries may be our Lot before we dye. All of us are born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. We can no more avoid affliction then we can run away from our selves. What vexations may you Parents meet withal in disobedient Children, that may send you mourning to the dust? What Curses may come to you who have careless Parents that suffer you to wander in the way of death? What disappointments and losses and decayes may you that are Tradesmen meet withal, or if you avoid all these yet that which is worse may come upon you. I mean sharp and violent diseases, and these I call worse because a man will better bear any inconvenience without him, then that which fills his body with uneasieness and pain, and his Soul by its sympathy p. 99with its dear Companion with Anguish and Vexation. In how little a while will all, who are now alive, be dead! In how little a time may the most strong and healthful person here, be taken off by sickness from all Employment and business! How does it trouble us many times to see the Tears and Sorrows of our nearest Friends, and we cannot mitigate them; with what earnest looks do they move our pity when they are in great pain but we cannot help them, their shrill Cryes, and their doleful groans may pierce our hearts but we know not how to remove them. We stand by their Bedsides and see their Agonies, but by being sorrowful we do but for the most part add new grief to theirs. We see their Countenances change and how at length they pass away, and that shortly in such a case shall we our selves be. But oh what a welcom and glorious day will that be, when we shall see those very friends alive again whom we once saw in the most dreadful Agonies of death? When though we parted with Tears, yet we shall meet with Joy. It will be a welcom day indeed, when their Looks, their Expressions, their Carriage, p. 100will all be changed for the better. There will be no appearance of any thing that is dismal and grievous, and it will be more welcom to us because we and our friends, so suitable, so loving and so perfect shall never part again? Oh what a comfortable thought is this? Oh what will our praises be when we are there, where there will be no more sickness, no more death for ever. We shall behold what we were in our Mortal State, how vain and how short-lived, and what we are when we are made Immortal. There will be no more restless and weary dayes, nor nights as restless as the day, not a sigh nor a groan will be heard in all the blessed place above. What would one that is in great pain give for ease, most readily would he give all he has in the World, but upon our first entrance into that Land of pleasure and of health, all our Diseases will be cured, and so fully cured that we shall never Relapse nor be diseased again. There will be no pain. This to those that are at ease may seem a little part of Heaven but to those of us that have been in long and terrible sickness, 'tis a very sweet and reviving Consideration. p. 101In this World one affliction is scarce past till another comes, usually there is breach upon breach, and a new sorrow treads upon the heels of the old one, as one wave upon another. We have scarcely dryed our eyes for one loss but another comes that will make us weep again; but in the Heaven which we hope for, there is no Language but that of Praise. Here we are alwayes either bewailing our own Miseries or those of our Friends and Neighbours; but there it will not be so. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away, Rev. 21. 4. Oh what a joy will it be to us, to be past death, that is so terrible and to be for ever past it! The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with sons, and everlasting joy upon their heads, tĥey shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away, Isa. 35. 10. We praise God indeed here and we have Cause to praise him, but our Victories are not so compleat as to make a perfect Triumph, we have one great Battel yet to fight, and p. 102one great Gulph to shoot, and a dark and a solitary way to go. This is that which is grievous to our thoughts; but oh what a joy will it be to us when we are past death and have dyed well, who can express the mighty pleasure of it? When the deliver'd Soul can say, I that have been so furiously tempted, so violently assaulted, so siercely shaken by the blast of the terrible one, shall be so no more, all the Rage of Satan shall not come near me nor give me an unquiet thought for ever. And I, that griev'd and was disconsolate with tedious and uncommon pain, shall never droop nor languish any more. What a reviving prospect will it be when we stand on the other side of the Grave, when the terrible forerunners of Death, and Death it self shall be no more? Then we may say indeed, Oh death where is thy sting, oh grave where is thy victory? What consternation, fear and perplexity fill'd the hearts of the poor Israelites when they were going out of Egypt when they were environed with rocks, with their Enemies behind, and with the Sea before? They were in great trouble and knew not what to do. But how different were p. 103their looks and Apprehensions when they beheld the Sea to give way, and by an unheard of Miracle stand as a Wall on either hand till they past thorough! How delightful was it to them, when they were on the firm Land, to see those very Enemies, that Pharaoh and those Cruel Masters, that had for so many years kept them in cruel bondage to find a grave in that Element which yielded and made a way for them; Exod. 15. 1, 2. So will it be with us when we shall see all our diseases, all our Fears, all our Temptations, all our sinking thoughts to be destroy'd for ever. The day of our death that will convey us to the blessed State, will be better to us then the day of our birth that brought us into such an evil World as this. Our Eyes will then no more behold grievous objects; our Ears will no more hear any sad or doleful news. Here we have many National and Personal Deliverances, but alass we sin again, and so bring upon our selves new Judgements: But there, which every sincere Soul reckons to be a great part of Heaven we shall sin no more for ever. I that am now speaking come to you as from the Grave, p. 104and can give you an account of Pain and Sickness, but am not able to give you so distinct an Account of the Holy & Cheerful Employment that is above. But if one were to come to you from Heaven, if he were but enabled to tell what he felt, and your Capacities enlarged to understand the pleasing Narrative, how would your glad hearts melt with an Admiring Joy, and your Souls be raised to Praise and Wonder! they will be much more raised and more joyful when you have your compleat and final Deliverance. Then you shall say with those in Rev. 5. 12, 13. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing. And again, Blessing, honour, glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

The End of the Second Sermon.