Works, Chapter 8 · Section
A Good Wish about the Christians exercising himself to Godliness, on a Dying Bed; wherein the former heads are applied.
THe righteous God having appointed death to be the end of all the Children of men,The Introduction. as the common road through which they pass into the other world, to receive according to what they have done in this life, whether it be good, or whether it be evil; I Wish that I may be wise to consider of my latter end, and so live that I may rather desire then be afraid to dye, that my last days may be my best days, and I may imitate my Redeemer in bringing my God much honour, and doing his Church much service, when I am entring into my Masters joy. The evening praiseth the day, the last scene commends the Act. The rivers, the nearer they draw to the Sea, the sooner they are met by the tide. Though to guide a vessel safely along in the Ocean, argueth much skill, and such a Pilot is worthy of praise; yet at the very entrance into the… Haven, then to avoid the Rocks, and to cast Anchor in a safe Road, argueth most skill, and deserveth most praise. Musitians reserve the sweetest strain for the close of their lesson. Orators, though in every part of their speech they use great care, yet in the close of their speech they use the utmost of their Rhetorick, and put forth all their art and skill to stir up all the affections of their hearers, that they may leave at last the deepest impressions upon their hearts of those things which they would perswade to. My whole life ought to be no…thing else but a pleading with my God for mercy and a walking according to his word; but when I come to the period of my days, how powerful should my prayers, how pious my practices be? how lively my graces? how holy my whole conversation? that my God may say of me, as once of Thyatira, I know thy works and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works, and the last to be more then the first. Though violent Motions are slowest at last, as being farthest from that strength which forced them contrary to their own inclinations; yet natural motions, proceeding from an inward principle, the nearer the centre, the swifter the motion; Though Hypocrites and such as have onelyonly a form of godliness, grow worse and worse, and fill up the measure of their lusts with the measure of their lives; yet gracious persons and such as have the power of godliness, grow better and better, and compleat their task with their time; O that the longings, the desires, the faith, the hope, the delight of my soul, like the approaches of a Needle, may be so much the more quick, by how much they draw nearer to their Load-stone Iesus Christ. Lord, thou hast an absolute dominion over me, both living and dying; Its thy word, None of thine liveth to himself, or dyeth to himself; But whether they live, they live unto the Lord, and whether they dye they dye unto the Lord; and whether they live or dye, they are the Lords. O help me to glorifie thee, both by my life and by my death. Let thy spirit be strong within me, when my flesh is weak; When the Keepers of the house shall tremble, shew thy self the Keeper and strength of my heart. When the Grinders shall cease, because they are few or weak, give me to feed on the Manna of thy promises, and that bread which came down from Heaven. When the Daughters of Musick shall be brought low, let me hear by faith the song of Moses and the Lamb, sung by the celestial quire; When they that look out at the Window are darkened, let the eyes of my soul be opened, to behold, with thy dying Martyr Stephen, Iesus sitting at the right hand of God; Let my hope and desire look out at the Windows, and say, Why is his Chariot (sent to fetch me to himself) so long a comming? Why tarry the wheels of his Chariot? Make hast my beloved, be thou like the Heart and Roe, upon the Mountains of spices. Whether I perish in the field with Abel, or in the Prison with the Baptist, or in my bed with Jacob, grant me thy gracious comforting presence, and then though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear none ill. O do thou undertake my conduct in my passage over the rough waters of this Jordan, into Canaan, and then there will be no danger of drowning; Assist me so to live by faith, that I may dye in the faith, and when my friends take my earthly body to their disposal, O do thou receive my Heaven-born soul into the armes of thine infinite mercy, for thou hast redeemed it, Lord God of truth.
I Wish that I may frequently ponder what a serious solemn thing it is to dye. 1Motive. Death is a seriou… thing.How ever light, or vain, or jesting, my life hath been, my death will be in earnest; I cannot dally or trifle with it; It will not dally or trifle with me; It can be done but once, and upon it my everlasting making or marring depends. It …s so certain, that all must, willing or unwilling, ready or unready, undergo it; Neither the policy of Achithophel, nor the strength of Sampson, nor the wisdom of Solomon, nor the beauty of Absolom, nor the piety of Abraham, nor the wealth of the rich Glutton, can prevail to avoid it; No time, no place, no company, no houses, no lands, no relations, no youth, no strength, no power, no preferments, can priviledge me against the arrest of death. God hath decreed it, Sin hath deserved it, and I must expect it. It is so searching that it will discover all the Children of men, both to themselves and Angels. Though ships are usually distinguished by their Flags, yet that is no sure sign; for Mariners when in sight and fear of their enemies, will ordinarily hang out the colours of other Nations, and say they belong to them, but when they come to their Haven to unload their vessels, it appears to what Country they belong: Though men are usually distinguished by their outward behaviours, yet many for their own ends put on Christs livery, who are of Satans family, but when they come to be searched and unladen at the end of their lives, twill be known to whom they belong. When I come to dye, then the great controversie between Christ and Satan concerning my soul, will be determined, whose it shall be for ever. O my soul, that thou couldst but conceive what it will be to be sent by death into an unchangeable estate either of bliss or misery. If thou diest in thy sins, thou art killed with death. Shouldst thou now live without conscience, thou wilt dye without comfort, and remain comfortless for ever. Ponder a little with thy self the fearful death of a sinner, that thou mayst flie his wicked acts, as thou wouldst his woful end. In the midst of his jollity and mirth, when he is in an eager pursuit of carnal pleasures, and posting in the way of worldly delights, and running to all excess of riot, he is on a sudden by deaths harbinger, sickness, commanded to stand, and proceed no further; This cuts him to the very heart. His former prosperity, like Oyl, hath suppled his body, and makes him more sensible of his present pain. And his immoderate love to those fleshly delights, doth abundantly greaten his grief, and increase his loss. Now the man is thrown, whether he will or no, upon his sick bed, that must be his death bed; In this his extremity, his Companions, and Friends, and Wife, and Children, and Honour, and Places, and Preferments, and Silver, and Gold, and Houses, and Lands, and costly attire, and dainty fare, are all dry things, and unsavoury to him; no creature can afford him the least comfort. If he look into his Chamber, his Wife is weeping and wringing her hands, his Children are sighing, his friends are lamenting and wailing, but all this doth increase, not mitigate his vexation and misery. If he look into his Conscience, he finds that taking courage, and telling him to his face, that though formerly he would not suffer it to speak, yet now it must tell him the truth, that death, and hell, and wrath, are the wages of his ungodly works. It will bring to his mind, the time he hath mis-spent, the talents that he hath mis-improved, the day of grace that he hath despised, the great salvation that he hath neglected; his secret, and private, and publick sins, the sins of his Childhood, of his youth, of his riper age; those sins which he had forgotten, and thought should never have been remembred, are all set in order before his eyes; His heart which was before harder then the neather Milstone, is now pierced, though not with an evangelical contrition, yet with legal terrors and torments. His sickness will allow no rest to his body, and his sins will afford no ease to his soul. In the evening he cryeth, Would God it were morning; in the morning, Would God it were evening, because of the anguish of his spirit; His bones are filled with a painful disease, and his body with unquietness. The Arrows of the Almighty are within him, the poison thereof drinks up his spirit, and the terrors of God do set themselves in array against him. His review of his past actions, his remembring of his slighting Christ for a brutish pleasure, or a little fading treasure, or a base lust, and provoking God, and continuance in sin, against mercies, judgements, warnings, the light of conscience, the motions of the spirit, are as so many envenomed Arrows sticking in his side, and piercing him through with many sorrows, but the thoughts of his necessity of dying, and his fore-thoughts of the consequent of death, how hell rides upon its back, and eternal torments attend it; how he must fry in unquenchable flames, and take up his everlasting lodging amongst roaring Lyons, frightful Dragons, and the hellish crew sink him quite down. To add some more Gall and Wormwood to his cup of bitterness, the Devil now steps in, and sheweth him his sins in their black hew, in their bloody colour and countenance, to make him hopeless and desperate. The poor creature in this miserable plight and plunge, knoweth not what to do, whether to go for releif. Dye he would not, but must; live he would, but canno…. Now he wisheth that he had prayed and served God, and minded his soul and salvation more, and gratified his flesh, and embraced the pleasures and honours of the World less; Now he desireth that he might live a little longer, and thinks, O how would I redeem time, and follow after holiness, and walk with God, what would I not do and suffer to lay up some comfort, some cordial against such an hour! But whilst he is thus in the midst of his vain wishes, Death tells him by the violence of his distemper, that the time of his departure is at hand; His eyes now begin to sink, his speech to faulter, his breath to shorten, and his heart to fail him, and a cold sweat to seise on his whole body. He strives and struggleth with all his might to continue here, but Death like a Cruel Serjeant, drags him to the bar of God, whence he is immediately with frowns and fury dismist and haled to the dreadful and eternal Dungeon of Hell. O the howlings, the screeching, the groans, the grief which possesseth this poor soul, when he is attached by Devils, those merciless Officers, and carried by them to the lake that burns with fire and brimstone for ever. The Spirit being now gone, the Body remains a cold lump of Clay, forsaken of its dearest friends, loathsom to its nearest relations, sit for no company but the wormeaten congregation, amongst which it must abide till the last day, when it shall be joyned to the soul, and partake with it in unconceiveable and endless torments.
Ah who can read such a souls estate with dry eyes! or think of such a condition without sorrow, O my soul, what are thy thoughts of such a death! Wouldst thou for the most prosperous Worldlings life, dye such a death? Doth not thine heart ake whilst thou art musing on it? If thou wouldst not meet with the end of such men, avoid their ways; Lord, I confess my self a great sinner, and thou mightest justly leave me to walk in the counsel of the ungodly, and to go in the paths of the destroyer, that my feet should tend to death, and my steps take hold of hell, yet for thy sons sake, teach me thy way, and lead me in thy righteousness, that my soul may never be gathered with sinners, nor my life with bloody men, that I may die the death of the righteous, and my latter end may be like his.
2Motive. A dying …me is a fit season to glorifie God in.I wish that I may look upon a dying Bed, as a Fit Pulpit in which I may preach my Makers and Redeemers praise. The speeches of dying persons are often highly prized, as savouring of most sincerity, and least suspected of selfish ends. They who scorned my counsel, and rejected my advice in my health and strength, as fearing it proceeded rather from interest then simplicity of heart, will if they have the least grain of charity, believe me in earnest, and my words to be the language of my soul when I am dying, and entering into my eternal estate. The worst of men have some reverence and respect for dying Christians. What thrusting and crowding, even to the prejudice of their bodies, hath there often been to hear the speeches and last words of dying men. The vilest Malefactour, who is cut off by the Sword of justice, is permitted with patience to speak, and attended to with diligence at the Gallows. If enemies have some respect for dying Felons, and will hearken to them with meekness, what hopes may a dying Saint have of advantaging the souls of his friends? O that I might greedily embrace such an opportunity of advantaging the interest and honour of my God, the service and good of my neighbours, and by my pious language, and gracious carriage at my latter end, make others in love with holiness, holy men, and the holy one of Israel! Sinners catch hold of every season to propagate their ungodly seed, and commend Satans rotten wares to the men of the world; Why should not Saints be as vigilant as diligent for their God and Saviour? Lord, I know not in what manner, by what distemper it will please thee to call me to thy self. I beg if it may seem good in thy sight, that nothing may befal me on my dying bed, which may render me uncapable of commending thee, and thy ways, and worship to others. My chearfulness in bearing thy will, and activeness to extol thy work and reward, may through thy blessing perswade Satans drudges to forsake his slavery, and admit themselves thy servants. O that I might allure others to prepare for such a day, by lifting up my head with joy, when that day of redemption draweth nigh! The Apprentice makes merry when his time is expired, and he enjoyeth his freedom. The Bride hath a feast and musick, when her Marriage-day is come. This life is my time of service, death sets me at liberty; In this World I am contracted to my dearest Saviour, my solemn marriage is in the other world, into which I pass through death. Why should I fear that Messenger which brings such good news, and be troubled at that friend who will do me so great a courtesie? O enable me to live every day according to thy Gospel, that keeping my conscience clean, and my evidences clear, I may in the day of my death, rejoyce and be exceeding glad; Give me to savour the sweetness of thy love, the pleasantness of thy paths, to feel the powerful influences of thy spirit, the vertue and efficacy of thy word; so to rellish communion with thy self, and thy dear Son all the days of my life, that when I am going out of the world, and comming to thee; O Father, I may from my own experience quicken and encourage others to forsake earthly vanities, before earthly vanities forsake them; and to take thee for their chiefest good, and choicest happiness, who will never leave them nor forsake them.
3Motive. It is the last opportunity.I Wish that the nearer I draw to my reward, the more zealous and industrious I may be about my work, and that when my body droppeth and faileth most, my soul may be most vigorous and active in the exercise of grace. I am infinitely indebted to the blessed God, for his unspeakable grace to my precious soul, my engagements to the dearest Redeemer, for loving me and washing me in his own blood, are far beyond my apprehension. This is the last opportunity that I shall ever enjoy to testifie my thankefulness, and to do my God, my Saviour, my soul, any service. O how diligent should I be to promote their interest, and improve this season! Nature in its last conflict with a disease, puts forth it self to the utmost, it draweth in those spirits which before were scattered in the outward parts, to guard and arm the heart, it rallieth all those forces which are left, if possible, to win the day; O why should not grace in its last encounter, muster up all its strength, and put forth it self to the utmost! Lust is strong to the last, when nature is weak and spent, and the sinner disabled from his unclean or intemperate acts, even then he can hug them in his heart, and roul them under his tongue, as a sweet morsel, and commit them over and over again, in his thoughts, and fancy, and affections. The dying Theif on the Cross, when his hands and feet were nailed, and by force kept in order, could yet find his tongue at liberty before his death, to rail at, and revile the Lord of life. Ah is it not a thousand pities that grace should be outvied by lust, and that those that are paid with such lamentable wages as everlasting burnings, should dye serving their cruel Master and enter into Hell, belching out their blasphemies, and spitting their poison in the face of Heaven; and that the Children of God should do their father so little service, when they are going to their blissful mansions, and can do him no more? love to my self, as well as to my God, may quicken me to labour with all my might, when I draw near my last hour. As I fall now, I lie for ever. My eternal estate dependeth more upon my death then my life. Its possible, (though rare) that a prophane life may be corrected by a penitent death; but a wicked death can never be amended. He that shoots off a piece, if he be not steady just at its going off, loseth his Charge, and misseth his Mark; He that dieth ill, dieth ever, he is killed with death. He that goeth awry when he goeth out of the world, shall never come back to recal or amend his steps. If I am a conqueror now, I am a conqueror for ever; if I am foiled now, I am foiled for ever. Cowards will sight desperately when they are in extremity, and must either kill or be killed. The Historian saith of Cn. Piso, a confederate of Catalines, that though he had an heart like an Hare, yet he could sight like a Lyon, when he apprehended a necessity of fighting for his life. O that my pains, my diligence, may be answerable to my peril and my danger; Lord, when that day and hour draweth near, that I must go hence and be no more seen, do thou draw near in boundless mercy to my poor soul; When I must enter into the Chambers of death, and make my bed in the grave, save me from the paws of Satan, and the power of Hell, that the bottomless pit may not shut her mouth upon me; and give me to triumph in that hour of tribulation, as knowing that neither tribulation, nor persecution, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor life, nor death, can seperate me from thy love, which is in Christ Jesus my Lord.
The matter. 1. In Commending God and his ways to others…I Wish that when I am going to the place of silence, I may speak the excellencies of my God, and make his praise glorious. It is the unhappiness of worldlings and wicked men, that they cannot when they dye commend the principles whence they have acted, nor the vain pleasures which they have minded and pursued. How many of them whose lives have been nothing but a bundle of false-hood and lies, when God hath called them to leave the world, have spoken truth, and told their Friends and Relations, that sin is an evil and bitter thing, that carnal pleasures are guilded poisons, that the greatest and choicest of worldly comforts, though they may have honey in their mouths, have a sting in their tailes; and what a vain empty nothing the whole creation is? How often have they complained how the world hath deceived them, the flesh deluded them, and Devil beguiled and destroyed them? It is my priviledge as well as my duty, to extol my Master whom I have served, to commend the sweetness of his ways, the pleasantness of his worship, the reasonableness of his precepts, the richness of his promises, and the vastness of that portion which he hath laid up for his Children when they come to age. I have sometimes tasted his work and ways to be sweeter then the honey and the honey comb; I have viewed by faith his reward to be vastly glorious, and beyond all apprehensions excellent. O why should I not diswade others from their eager pursuit of foolish fading shadows, and perswade and encourage them to earnest endeavours after real substance, and durable riches! The sinner who hath wallowed all his life time in the mire of filth and wickedness, will when he comes to dye, and begins to return to his wits, from his own experience of the emptiness and unprofitableness of his ungodly courses, and from the convictions of his natural conscience, acknowledge a sober, sanctified conversation to be safest, and the ways of God to be most gainful; and upon these accounts advise his friends and relations to forsake and abandon the lusts of the world and flesh, and to follow after holiness, as they would be happy eternally. And have not I much more cause to shew my abhorrency of sin, and love to my Saviour and his image, when I am entering into my Fathers house? The sinner hath onelyonly found at last a fleshly life, to be vain and fruitless, and is like to pay dear for his learning, but I have known the paths of piety to be paths of pleasantness, and rejoyced more in them then in all riches; The sinner hath onelyonly the dim light of nature to shew him the loathsomness of vice, and the loveliness of grace; but I have the holy Spirit of my God to enlighten my mind in the knowledge of both; The sinner hath only a carnal love to his Neighbours and Kindred; he knoweth not what it is to love them in Christ, and for Christ; I have some knowledge of the love and Law of Christ, of the worth of their souls, of the price paid for them by the Lord Iesus, and their unchangeable conditions in the other world. O that my language to them, might be somewhat answerable to the love of Christ to me! Lord, It is unrighteousness to die in debt to man, and not to endeavour to make them satisfaction according to my power; I am sure to dye in thy debt; for I am less then the least of all thy mercies, and unable to requite thee for the smallest of thy favours; It is my comfort, that all the recompence thou expectest, is a thankful acknowledgement, and hearty acceptance of thy grace and good will. O what injustice and ingratitude were I guilty of, should I deny thee so small a request! Be pleased to help thy servant in his last hours, both to accept unfeignedly of thy grace for his own good, and to acknowledge thy good will, and bounty, and faithfulness to thy glory, for the good of others.
2To commend others to God.I Wish that my lost breath may be drawn Heaven-ward; I mean, that I may enter praying into the house of blessing and praise. I am no Christian if I do not give my self to prayer whilst I live. It is one choice piece of my spiritual Armour, whereby I have often assaulted and conquered my soul-enemies; It is the Ambassadour which I have many a time sent to the heavenly Court, that always received a favourable Audience, and obtained his errand. It is the Vessel which hath brought me food from far, and ever returned richly laden, if it were not my own fault. It is the element in which I live; the aliment by which I subsist; the pulse, the breath of my soul, without which it must needs dye. On my death-bed I have as much need of its succour as at any season; My adversaries will then imploy their greatest power and policy to rout and ruine me, I am but weak flesh and blood, altogether unable to combat with Principalities and Powers; and how can I expect supplies from the Lord of Hosts, unless I send this Messenger to intreat it? My wants and weaknesses at such a time will be more then ordinary. Faith must then be acted in spight of all the frights and fears which a malicious Devil, and an unbeleiving heart, from the number and nature of my sins, the strictness of the law, and the justice of God, may put me to; Repentance must then be exercised, and my sins lye nearer my heart then my sharpest diseases; In patience I must possess my soul under all the pains and pressures which the wise God shall lay upon me. I must then chearfully submit to the divine pleasure, and by my willingness to leave all the world to go to Christ, shew that I hate Father, Mother, Wife, Child, House, Lands, Life and all for Christ. Those graces and many other, must be put forth at su…h a time, none of which I can do by my own power, and therefore have abundant cause to fetch help from Heaven by prayer. Besides, the distempers of my body will discompose my soul, and unfit it in a great measure for all holy service. Again, my Benefactors, my near Friends and Relations, the poor afflicted Church of God, do all call aloud to me to pray for them, as the last kindness I shall ever do for them; I profess I love them, how can I manifest it better, then by commending them to God in prayer? Should I leave them thousands of silver and gold (if I were able) it would not all amount to the price of one fervent prayer. My riches might wrong them, through the deceitfulness of their hearts, and cause them to be contented short of Heaven; but my prayers cannot prejudice them, but may much further their eternal welfares. Men whose natures are crabbed and cruel, have granted the requests of their dying children, when they have been contrary to their own humours. How much more will God the Father of mercies, whose nature is Love, whose bowels are infinite, satisfie the desire of his dying children, when they fall in with his own design and desire? If Joab had hopes to speed in his supplication for Absolom, because he knew the Kings heart was more for it then his own, may not I be confident to speed when I beg that he would pay my debts in spirituals, with interest to those who have bestowed carnals on me for his sake; when I ask that my Children and Relations may love and fear, and worship his Majesty, and be his workmanship, created in Christ Iesus unto good works; and when I intreat that he would accomplish all the great and good things which he hath promised to his Church, the purchase of his Christ, knowing that his heart is infinitely more for these things then mine can be! Lord, when I dye, I shall no more put up prayers for my self or other particular persons; My natural obligations to my Kindred and Relations, my civil ingagements to my Friends and Benefactours, besides my spiritual bonds to them and thy whole Israel, may well provoke me to be fervent and instant with thy Majesty at such an hour on their behalves. My Redeemer before his death, wrought hard at this duty; He offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying, and tears. Ah, how should I pray for my self and others, when I am taking my leave of prayer! O let thy spirit of supplication be so poured down on me, that I may poure out my spirit in supplication unto thee… for my own and others souls, through thy Son, with the greatest success.
I Wish that the night of my death,3In exercising grace. may shine gloriously with the sparkling stars of divine and heavenly graces. In particular, I desire that when the time of my combat with my last enemy, and my last combat with any enemy shall come, I may above all take the shield of Faith, 1Faith.whereby I shall be sheltered against the sting of death, and quench the fiery darts of the wicked one. The wise Mariner, perceiving a storm approaching, makes hast to fasten his Vessel with Anchors, that it may be steady, and not altogether at the mercy of the winds; I must expect the greatest tempest, when I am entering into my eternal Haven, then all the powers of darkness will conjure up their strongest winds if possible, to shipwrack the vessel of my soul; Ah how much doth it concern me to put forth this grace, the anchor of my soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the vail, and thereby to fasten on the rock of Ages! If I fail in this, I fall, I miscarry for ever, God is a severe judge to condemn all guilty Malefactours. Without his Son, I am cloathed with guilt, and so under his boundless wrath. When Adam had disrobed himself of original righteousness, by disobeying the law, he fled from God, and dreaded the summons of offended justice. There is no appearing in the Fathers sight with acceptance, but in the garments of his Son. None can have boldness to enter into the holy of holies, but by the blood of Iesus. Its Faith onelyonly that interesteth in this blood. I know that through the red Sea of this blood I pass may safely (though enemies pursue me hard) into the Land of promise. Lord, I confess, through an evil heart of unbeleif, I have many a time departed away from the living God; yet Lord, I believe, help mine unbeleif. O Lord of life, be not far from me, when Devils and death are near me. Help me with thy servant Stephen to see Heaven open (by faith) and the Son of man at thy right hand; Enable me to disclaim whatsoever duties I have performed, or graces I have exercised, and to rely alone on a crucified Christ for pardon and life. Though thou killest me, let me dye trusting and clinging on, and cleaving to Iesus Christ; Let this Pilgrims staff of faith be never out of my hand till I come to my jo…rneys end. Thou art the Lord of Hosts, and the Captain of my salvation; O help me to put on the whole armour of God, grant me such skill to use it, that I may be able to stand in the evil day; Teach thou my hands to war, and my fingers to fight, that through thee I may do valiantly, and through thee may tread down mine enemies; Grant me so to finish my course, to fight the good fight of faith, that at death I may receive the crown of righteousness, which the righteous judge shall give to all that love his appearing.
I Wish that my faith may ripen into full assurance,Courage. that thereby I may depart with joy, and an abundant entrance may be ministred unto me, into the Kingdom of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Moses and Simeon could sing at their own funerals. The great Apostle could call to be put to Bed, expecting thereby his sweetest eternal rest. How many Martyrs have gone more joyfully to dye, then ever Epicure did to dine, and leaped when they drew near the Stake, believing that they drew near their home, their happiness, their heaven? What is it, O my soul, that makes thee start and flinch back at the sight of this bug-bear? What is there in death that is so dreadful to thee? Is it the sweetness of life, or the pain of death, or thy future estate after death? Consider them all seriously, and then judge rationally whether any of these should make the sigh, so loath to depart.
First, The love of life need not make thee so backward to obey the call of death; If all thy time were made up of Holy-days, death would bring thee greater advantage. The Garlick and Onions of Egypt are nothing comparable to the Clusters of Canaan. But alas its far otherwise, thy whole life is a civil death. Thou art born to sorrow as the sparks flye upward. Thy days are few, but full of trouble. The earth to thee is a valley of tears; the cross is thy daily companion, which accompanieth thee where-ever thou goest. The sufferings of thy flesh are neither few nor small. How many diseases in thy body, losses in thy estate? how much disgrace, ignominy, slander, oppression, art thou liable to? The sufferings of thy spirit are more and greater; Thine own sins, the provocations of others, the dishonour of thy God, the wants, and weaknesses, and oppression, and persecution of the Church of Christ, do all give thee daily occasion to mingle thy bread with ashes, and thy drink with weeping. What is this world that thou art so fond of it? Thy God calls it a Sea of glass, mingled with fire, Rev. 15. 2. A Sea for its turbulency; its never at rest, but ebbs and flows continually, though sometimes more, sometimes less; Its work is to bubble up mire and dirt, especially on them who are chosen out of the world. A Sea of glass for its fragility; All its pomp and pride on a sudden vanisheth. Glass is both easily and irrecoverably broken in peices; A Sea of glass, mingled with fire, for the fiery and dreadful miseries that befal men in it. All its apparent comforts are mingled with real crosses. In Heaven there is solace without the least grain of sorrow; In Hell there is mourning without the smallest dram of mirth; but on Earth there is no estate without mixture. The Saints have joy in God, but if need be they are in heaviness through manifold tribulations, 1 Pet. 1. 6. The merry sinners in the midst of their pleasures, have their hearts heavy; Some of the wiser Heathen, were so sensible of humane miseries, that one of them when Ancient, told his Scholar, that if it were offered him to be young again, he would not accept if. Saints of all men must expect a large draught of sufferings. The world is their enemy, and raiseth all its forces against them. If I be a Disciple I must look to follow my Master in bearing his Cross: O my soul, why shouldst thou hug that which hates thee, and doat on this world, which is neither a fit match for thee, as being unsutable to thy nature, nor (if she were, can be) faithful to thee, being made up of wavering and inconstancy! Or secondly, Is it the pain of death that thou art so frighted at? Surely the fear of it is the greatest torment; How many have felt greater pain in divers diseases, as in the Stone, or Strangury, or Collick, then in a dying hour? Some of Gods Children have felt very little pain in the judgement of those that have seen them dying; The waters of Jordan, though rough to others, have stood still when the Ark was to pass over. But though I were sure my pain should be sharp, yet I am as sure it shall be short. In a moment, in the twinckling of an eye, I shall be transported over the gulp of misery, into endless glory. My pangs will be almost as soon gone as come; Sorrow will endure but for a short night, joy will come in the morning; If I were assured of a great purchase made for me in Spain or Turky, which upon my first comming over I should enjoy, would I not adventure a passage through the boistrous Ocean, to take possession? My Saviour hath made a larger, a better purchase for me in Heaven. He is gone before to prepare a place for me; My passage thither, though it may be more painful, is less perillous; Its impossible for me to miscarry in it. O why am I so slothful to go in and possess the good Land! Surely, the pleasures of the end, may well sweeten the ways to it, were they never so bitter. With what chearfulness do some women undergo their sharp throws, and hard labours, supported with this cordial, that a child shall thereby be born to them? O how infinitely inferiour is the joy of a man child brought forth into this world, to the joy of a sanctified soul, brought out of this world into Heaven!
Again, I have a tender Father, who knoweth my frame, and will lay no more upon me, living or dying, then he will enable me to bear. He hath said it, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee; O my soul, thou hast little reason to dread a contest with this enemy for this cause. Thou mayst contentedly undergo a little pain, to go to thy dearest Lord, when many a sinner hath suffered greater to satisfie his hellish lust.
Thirdly, Is it thy future condition that makes thee unwilling to dye? Dost thou not know that death is thy portal, through which thou shalt pass into the true Paradise? Its the straight gate through which thou shalt enter into life; Though its the wicked mans shipwrack which swalloweth him up in an Ocean of wrath and torment, yet its the Saints putting into harbour, where he is received with the greatest acclamation, and richest welcom imaginable.
Travellers who have met with many dangers and troubles, in their journeys, rejoyce when they come near their own Country. I am a Pilgrim here, and used, or rather abused, as a stranger, shall I not be glad when I come near my blessed home, my eternal happy habitation? Children in some parts, when they first behold the Stork, the messenger of the Spring, testifie their joy with pleasant and loud shoutings; O why shouldst not thou lift up thy head with joy, when sickness the fore-runner of death, is come to bring thee tidings that the Winter of thy misery, and cold, and hardships is past, and the Summer of thine eternal light, and joy, and pleasure, is at hand? Thy death may well be a Free-will-offering, considering that though the ashes of the sacrifice (thy body) fall to the earth, yet that divine flame (thy immortal spirit) shall ascend to Heaven. In death nothing dyeth of thee, but what thou mayst well spare, thy sin and sorrows. When the house is pulled to peices, all those Ivy roots in the wall, shall be destroyed. The Egg-shell must be broken, that the little chick may slip out; Thy body must be dissolved, that thy …oul may be delivered; Yet thy body doth not dye, but sleep in the bed of the grave, till the morning of the resurrection. That outward apparel shall not be utterly consumed by the moth of time, but lockt up safe, as in a chest, to be new trimmed, and gloriously adorned above the Sun in his greatest lustre, and put on again, when thou shalt awake in the morning, never, never, to put off more. O that I could so live, that I might not only be always ready, but also when God calls me, desirous to dye. If I borrow any thing of my Neighbour, I pay it back with thanks. My life is Gods, he lends it me for a time. Why should I not when he calls for it, restore it with thanks, that he hath been pleased to lend it me so long? Lord, thy Children love thee dearly, and believe that when they come home to thee thou wilt entertain them kindly, yet their flesh like Lots Wife, is still …ankering after the Sodom of this World, and loath they are to leave it, though it be for their exceeding gain; Give thy servant such true faith in thy Son, that I may neither love life, nor fear death immoderately, but as the heart of Jacob, revived when he saw the Wagons which Joseph sent to fetch him to Egypt; so my heart may leap for joy, to behold the heavenly Chariot which the Son of Joseph shall send to convey me to the true Goshen.
Patience.I Wish that I may with patience submit on my dying bed to the divine pleasure. It hath been far from some Moralists, to murmure, either at the extremity of their sickness, or the necessity of dying. By impatience I do not help, but rather kill my self before-hand. Its the general lot of mankind to sicke… and dye; Am I angry that I am a man, that I am mortal? Because I know that I must be sick and dye, I know that I must submit. The knowledge of an approaching evil, is no small good, if improved. Though it cannot teach me to prevent it by all my power or providence, yet it may teach me to prepare for it, and to bear it with courage and patience. Discontent and quarrelling are great arguments of guilt, and a defiled conscience. The harmless sheep conscious of their innocency, do quietly receive the Knife, either on the Altar or in the Shambles, and give death entrance with small reluctancy; when the filthy loathsom Swine, roar horribly at their first handling, and with hideous cries are haled and held to the fatal block. The Children of God, and members of Christ, who are perfect, through their head, do often give up the Ghost, and desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ; when the souls of wicked men are required of them, and they are strangely passionate at the approach of death, and with dreadful screeches salute its Harbinger, sickness. O that patience might have its perfect work in me, when I am taking my leave of it, and its work is near an end! Lord, my heart is too prone to be impatient under thy hand, though thou art infinitely wise as well as gracious, and knowest what is best for me. In my sickness turn mine eyes upon my sins, that my discontent may be at my self, for that which is the original of all my sorrows, and then I shall never repine or murmur against thee.
I Wish that I may daily think of death,Means. A continued preparation for it in life. and wait, beleiving, and repenting, and working out my salvation, till my change shall come. My whole time is given me, that therein I might prepare and dress my soul for my blessed eternal estate; Why should it not be imployed for that end? The Child who hath all day been diligent about his duty, may expect his Fathers good word at night; But what Master will give a reward to him in the evening, who hath all the day long served his enemy? My life is the seed which will yeild a crop of horror, or comfort in an hour of death; If that be good, my Harvest will be glorious and joyful; if that be sinful, my Harvest will be bitter and sorrowful; Do men gather Grapes of Thorns, or Figs of Thistles? The Grapes of comfort are not to be expected from the Thistles of corruption; nor the Figs of peace, from the thorns of impiety. I should blush to commit to the keeping of a cleanly and considerable person, a foul and filthy vessel; With what face can I commend to the holy and glorious God, an impure and polluted soul? O how dreadful will it be to meet with my dying bed, before I have met with the Lord of life, and to be going out of the world, before I have seriously considered why I came into it? My great work in this world, is to get my depraved nature healed by the blood and spirit of Christ; if… I forget my business when I have time to do it, and trifle away my days in doing evil, or doing nothing, I lose my soul, am unfaithful to my Master, and deepen my judgement by the number of my days.… That Traveller may well be agast and perplexed, who hath a long journey to go upon pain of death in one day, for which the whole day is little enough, and seeth the sun near setting before he hath begun his journey. How ill doth the evening of my time, and the morning of my taske accord together? How justly may God reserve the dregs of his wrath for me, if I reserve the dregs of my… days for him? What folly am I guilty of, in deferring my preparation for death? If he be a ridiculous person, that having choice of lusty horses, should let them all go empty, and lay an extraordinary heavy load upon a poor tired jade, that is hardly able to go, much more foolish is he that prodigally wasteth his youth, and health, and strength, in the service of the flesh and the world, and leaves the great and weighty affairs of his soul and eternity, to be transacted on a sick or dying bed; O my soul, what little cause hast thou to future or delay thy solemn provision for the other world? First, thy life is uncertain, thou hast not another day at thy disposal.Plut. There are some creatures, they say, in Pontus, whose life lasteth but one day; They are born in the morning, come to their full growth at noon, grow old in the evening, and dye at night. What is thy life but a vapour, that soon passeth away? The first minute thou didst begin to live, thou didst begin to dye; Death was born when thou wast born, the last act of life is but the completing of death; As on thy bir…h…day thou didst begin to dye, so on the day of thy death thou dost cease to live; How many outward accidents, and inward diseases, art thou every moment liable to? May I not say to thee as Michael to David; Save thy self to night, for tomorrow thou shalt be slain? Others have died suddenly, by imposthumes, or the falling-sickness, or violent means; and if thou promisest thy self a fair warning, before the fatal stroak, thou dost but cozen and cheat thy self. But secondly, If thou wert sure to see the evening star of sickness, before the night of death overtake thee, thou art not sure thy sickness shall not be such as may not incapacitate thee for the working out thy salvation. Extremity of pain, anguish of body, lack of sleep, the violence of a fever, may indispose thee, and distract thee, that thou canst not so much as think of God. Or, thy distemper may be such that the Physitian may charge thee not to trouble thy self with melancholy or sad thoughts, lest thou wrongest thy body, and yet the Minister commandeth thee to pull up those sluces of sorrow, if thou wouldst not lose thy soul for ever. Or, cold diseases, as the Lethargy or Palsie may surprise thee, and incline thee to continual slumbers, till at last thou sleepest the sleep of death; O how sottish art thou, and how grosly doth the destroyer of souls delude thee to defer that work of absolute necessity, of conversion to God, upon which thine endless weal or wo dependeth, to a dying Bed, when thou art not sure to dye in thy bed, but mayst as well dye in thy Shop or Fields, or in the Streets; when thou art uncertain what disease, if thou shouldst meet with a dying bed, should send thee to thy eternal home; when thou art neither Master of thy time nor reason, nor of thy natural abilities, much less of supernatural grace, which is indispensably requisite to this great work! O that since I must dye once for sin, I might dye daily to sin! and as the Philistines, that they might the better deal with Sampson, cut off his Hair, wherein his great strength lay; so that I may the better deal with death, I may by faith and repentance, daily cut off and destroy sin, wherein the strength of death lieth! May I not say to thee, O my soul, as Joshua to Israel? Prepare ye victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Iordan, to go to possess the Land which the Lord your God giveth you. Prepare the spiritual food, the flesh of Christ, which is meat indeed, and the blood of Christ, which is drink indeed; an heart weaned from the world, longing to be with God; for within a few days thou shalt go in, to possess the land of promise. Lord, I know nothing more certain then death. Sin hath deserved it, my brittle body inforceth it, thou hast decreed it, and none can prevent it; I know nothing more uncertain then the time when, or the manner how. Thou hast many ways and means to bring me to my grave; not onelyonly ordinary distempers of my body, but thousands of casual dangers; I cannot promise my self freedom from it, in any place or condition; Death may seise me abroad, at home, in company, in solitude, at bed, at board. Why should I not always provide for that extremity, that enemy which I cannot avoid? Why should I not ever be ready for that which may come at any time, and will come at some time or other? Surely I do not hasten my death by preparing for it, but sweeten it exceedingly; I …hall not dye a moment the sooner, but infinitely the better. Should death overtake me in my sins, alas where am I? what will become of me for ever? I may well salute it, as Ahab Elijah, with Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? for twill come to me, as the Prophet to that King, with doleful, dreadful tidings; Twill bring me news of a dismal dungeon of darkness, to be my habitation, of Lyons, and Scorpions, and Dragons, to be my companions, of a never dying worm, an unquenchable fire, pure wrath without mixture, full torments without measure, to be my portion for ever and ever; O teach me so to live above this vain empty life, so to be crucified to this world, so to make my peace with thy Majesty, through the great peacemaker, and Prince of Peace, my Lord Iesus, so to set my heart and house, my spiritual and temporal concernments in order, that I may be delivered from the paw of the Lyon, from the teeth of this monster, from the sting of this Serpent; and though my body be destroyed, yet my soul may escape, as a bird out of the snare of the Fowler, and mount up to thy self, to enjoy that happy life which shall know no death.
I Wish that all the days of my appointed time I may exercise my self herein,Conclusion. to keep a conscience void of offence towards God, and towards all men. There are but two which can afford me real comfort in a dying hour, which always take the same side and joyn together; God and my conscience. Humane friends often stand afar off, when they should be most near, and I have most need; Some of them are loth to come to a sick mans chamber. Mournful objects must not disturb their jollity and mirth. They are sworn enemies to sorrowful occasions, and bani…h such foes their quarters, or themselves from such coasts. Others if they come to visit me, love not to see my gastly countenance, like not to hear my deep and deadly groans. But be they never so full of pity, they can onelyonly sympathize with me, they cannot relieve, refresh me. The most they can do, is to accompany me to my grave, and there they leave me; But, O the comfort which a loving God, and a conscience sprinkled with the blood of Christ, and purged from dead works, will afford me in a dying hour! The smiles of a God, and chearings of a good conscience, will be musick indeed, to welcom me to the shoar, after all my tumblings and tossings in this tempestuous Ocean. They will make my bed in my sickness, help me to lye easie, hearten me in my sighs and groans, be my feast at my funeral, bid me Be of good chear, for my sins are forgiven me; tell me that my Redeemer liveth, and because he liveth, I shall live also; lodge my body in a grave, as in a Bed of Spices, and convey my soul into my Saviours Bosome and Embraces; when my Houses, Lands, Honours, Friends, Wife, Children leave me, they will cleave to me: nay when my breath, life, heart, flesh forsake me, they will not fail me; yea, when faith, hope, patience, repentance, shall bid me farewel weeping, as Orpah did Ruth, these like Naomi will stick to me, go with me, and seek rest for me; O that my heart may be so upright in the service of my God, that when I …hall receive the sentence of death, I may be able to say with good Hezekiah; Remember now, I beseech thee, O Lord, how I have walked before thee, in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. O my soul, what a friend shouldst thou be to thy God, thy conscience, how faithful to their warnings, now in life if thou wouldst have them thy friends at death! Hereby thou mayst be able to triumph in that hour of temptation, to defie death it self, and bid it do its worst. Though it be the common gate through which the sinner goeth into prison, where he meets with Chains and Fetters, and cold, and all sorts of miseries, yet thou shalt go through it, into the Kings Pallace, where thou shalt have rivers of pleasures, and … entertainment. If Jacob went down so joyfully … Egypt, when God had said to him, fear not to go down, for I will go down with thee, and I will bring thee up again. What needest thou fear to go down into the Grave, when thy God hath undertaken to go down with thee thither, and to bring thee up again? Thy body may be turned into dust, but thy God is in Covenant with thy dust; and thy head, the blessed Redeemer, will not suffer one muscle, or nerve, or artery, or vein of any of his members to be lost. With what chearfulness mayst thou take thy leave of thy body; Farewel sweet body, thou hast been in some measure faithful to thy soul, in the service of thy Lord; Farewel, I must bid thee good…night, till the morning of the resurrection. Be thou content to go to bed and sleep in the dust, and rest in hope; for though after the skin, wormes destroy this body, yet in my flesh …hall I see God; Whom I shall see for my self, and mine eyes shall behold him, and not another, though my reins be consumed within me; Though thou art sown in dishonour, thou shalt be rai…ed in glory; though thou art sown in weakness, thou shalt be raised in power; though thou art sown a natural body, thou shalt be raised a spiritual body, and fashioned like unto the glorious body of Christ himself; Thy dust shall live, and thou shalt arise and be joyned to this soul, and both joyn with the great assembly of the sirst-born, in singing the praises of thy Master and Husband. The Souldier is glad when he is called to receive his pay, though the ways be deep and dirty through which he travelleth to the the place of Muster. The Husbandman rejoyceth when his Fields are white to Harvest, and with piping and shouting accompanieth his last load … the barn; O that my life might be so sanctified … devoted to my God, that at my death he may be my solace. Ah Lord, it matters not who be failing to visit me on my sick bed, so thou be present with me. Nay, though mine enemies come and say, When shall he dye, and his name perish? An evil disease cleaveth to him; now that he lyeth down, he shall rise up no more; If thou pleasest to visit me with thy saving health, I shall not be afraid when I walk in the valley of the …hadow of death; O when the Sun of my life shall be setting, let the Sun of righteousness so arise upon me, that I may be delivered from the power, curse, and sting of death, and may find it through his merits to be my haven of rest, after all my foul weather; a bed of ease, after my sore labour, a release out of prison, and my Iubilee to give me possession of an inheritance undefiled, incorruptible, that fadeth not away, which is reserved in heaven for me!
Amen.