The last work of a believer his passing prayer recommending his departing spirit to Christ to be received by Him / prepared for the funerals of Mary the widow first of Francis Charlton Esq. and after of Thomas Hanmer, Esq., and partly preached at St. Mary Magdalens Church in Milk-Street, London, and now, at the desire of her daughter, reprinted by Richard Baxter. Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691. 1682 Approx. 162 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 51 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2006-02 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A69538 Wing B1298 ESTC R5056 10547773 ocm 10547773 45240 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A69538) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 45240) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 201:7, 1395:27) The last work of a believer his passing prayer recommending his departing spirit to Christ to be received by Him / prepared for the funerals of Mary the widow first of Francis Charlton Esq. and after of Thomas Hanmer, Esq., and partly preached at St. Mary Magdalens Church in Milk-Street, London, and now, at the desire of her daughter, reprinted by Richard Baxter. Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691. [14], 79 p. Printed by B. Griffin for B. Simmons, London : 1682. Reproduction of original in the British Library and Harvard University Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. 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Funeral sermons. 2005-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2005-08 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2005-10 Elspeth Healey Sampled and proofread 2005-10 Elspeth Healey Text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-01 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion THE Last Work OF A BELIEVER . His Passing-Prayer , recommending his departing Spirit to Christ to be Received by him . Prepared for the Funerals of Mary the Widow first of Francis Charlton Esq and after of Thomas Hanmer Esq : And partly Preached at St. Mary Magdalens Church in Milk-street , London , And now , at the desire of her Daughter , before her Death , reprinted . By Richard Baxter . Joh. 12. 26. If any man serve me , let him follow me ; and where I am , there shall also my Servant be : and If any man serve me , him will my Father Honour . LONDON : Printed by B. Griffin , for B. Simmons at the three Golden Cocks , at the West-end of St. Pauls . 1682. The Contents of the last work of a Believer . THE Occasion of this Discourse , pag. 1. The opening of the Text , p. 3. Doct. 1. and 2 d passed by [ that Christ is exalted in glory ] and [ is to be prayed to ] p. 5. Doct. 3. Man hath a spirit , as well as a body : And what the soul is , p. 6. Doct. 4. The spirit of man doth survive the body : It dyeth not , nor is annihilated , nor sleepeth , p. 11. Doct. 5. Christ doth receive the spirits of his Saints , when they leave the flesh . What his Receiving them is ? p. 14. Doct. 6. A dying Christian may confidently and comfortably commend his spirit to Christ to be Received by him , p. 19. The Doctrine applyed to the unregenerate unprepared soul , p. 20. Whom Christ will Receive , and whom he will not refuse , p. 26. Considerations to move them to prepare so as to be Received , p. 30. Applyed to Believers , p. 37. Encouraging proofs os Christs receiving their departed soul , p. 39. Other Vses of the Doctrine , p. 57. For the abatement of sorrow for the Death of our departed friend , p. 61. The evidences of her happiness , in the Graces in which she was eminent and exemplary , p. 63. The use of her example to them that survive , p. 70. Doct 7. Prayer in General , and this prayer in particular , That Christ will receive our departing souls , is a most suitable conclusion of all the action of a Christians life , p. 72. TO THE READER . Reader , THE person whose Death did occasion this Discourse , was one that about five years ago removed from her antient habitation ( at Appley in Shropshire ) ▪ to Kederminster , where she lived under my Pastoral care till I was come up to London : and before she had lived there a twelve-month ( for thither she removed ) she died of the Fever , then very common in the City . She lived among us an example of Prudence , Gravity , Sobriety , Righteousness , Piety , Charity and Self-denyal : and was truly what I have described her to be , and much more : For I use not to flatter the living , much less , the dead . And though I had personal acquaintance with her for no longer a time than I have mentioned , yet I think it worthy the mentioning , which I understand by comparing her last years with what is said of her former time , by those that were then nearest to her , and so were at her Death , that whereas ( as I have said ) sudden Passion was the sin that she was wont much to complain of , she had not contented her self with meer complainings , but so effectually resisted them , and applyed Gods remedies for the healing of her nature , that the success was very much observed by those about her , and the change and cure so great herein , as was a comfort to her nearest Relations , that had the benefit of her converse : Which I mention as a thing that shews us , 1. That even the Infirmities that are founded in nature and temperature of body , are curable so far as they fall under the dominion of a sanctified will. 2. That even in age , when such Passions usually get ground , and infirmities of mind increase with infirmities of body , yet Grace can effectually do its work . 3. That to attend God in his Means , for the subduing any corruption , is not in vain . 4. That as God hath promised growth of Grace , and flourishing in old age , so in his way we may expect the fulfilling of his promise . 5. That as Grace increaseth , infirmities and corruptions of the Soul will vanislh . This makes me call to mind that she was once so much taken with a Sermon which I preached , at the Funerals of a holy aged woman * and so sensibly oft recited the Text it self as much affecting her , ( 2 Cor , 4. 16 , 17. For which cause we faint not ; but tho our outward man perish , yet the inward man is re-renewed day by day , &c. ) that I am perswaded both the Text it self , and the example opened ( and well known ) to her did her much good , Her work is done : Her enemies are conquered ; ( except the remaining fruits of Death upon a corrupting Body , which the Resurrection must conquer ) . Her danger , and temptations , and troubles , and fears , are at an end : She shall no more be discomfited with evil tidings ; nor no more partake with a militant Church in the sorrows of her diseases or distresses : We are left within the reach of Satans assaults and malice ; and of the rage and violence which pride , and faction , and Cainish envy , and enmity to serious holiness , do ordinarily raise against Christs followers in the world : We are left among the lying tongues of slanderous malicious men ; and dwell in a Wilderness among Scorpions ; where the Sons of Belial , like Nabal , are such that a man cannot speak to them . 1 Sam ▪ 25. 17. The best of them is as a briar ; the most upright sharper than a thorn hedge : Mic. 7. 4. ( But the Sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away , because they cannot be taken with hands , but the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron , and the staff of a spear , and they shall be utterly burnt with fire in the place , 2 Sam. 23. 6 , 7. ) We are left among our weak , distempered , sinful , afflicted , lamenting friends ; the sight of whose calamities , and participation of their sufferings , maketh us feel the stroaks that fall upon so great a number , that we are never like to be free from pain . But she is entred into the Land of Peace , where Pride and Faction are shut out ; where Serpentine enmity , malice and fury never come : where there is no Cain to envy and destroy us ; no Sodomtes to rage against us ▪ and in their blindness to assault our doors : No Ahitophels to plot our ruin : No Judas to betray us : No false-witnesses to accuse us : No Tertullus to paint us out as pestilent fellows and movers of sedition among the people : No Rehum , Shimshai , or their society , to perswade the Rulers that the servants of the God of heaven are hurtful unto Kings , and against their interest and honour , ( Ezra 4. 9 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 22. and 5. 11. ) : No rabble to cry away with them , it is not fit that they should live : No Demas that will forsake us for the love of present things : No such contentious censorious friends as Jobs to afflict us , by adding to our affliction : No cursed Cham to dishonour parents : No ambitious rebellious Absolom to molest us , or to lament : No sinful , scandalous , or impatient friends to be our grief : And which is more than all , no earthly , sinful inclinations in our selves ; no passions or infirmities ; no languishings of soul , no deadness , dulness , hard heartedness , or we aknesses of grace ▪ no backwardness to God , or estrangedness from him , nor fears or doubtings of his love , nor frowns of his displeasure : None of these do enter into that serene and holy region , nor ever interrupt the joy of Saints . The great work is yet upon our hands , to fight out the good fight , to finish our course , to run with patience the remainder of the race that is before us : And as we must look to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith , as our great exemplar , so must we look to his Saints and Martyrs as our encouraging examples under him . Put the case you were now dying , ( and O how near is it , and how sure ! ) What would you need most if the day were come ? That is it that you need most now : Look after it speedily while you have time ! Look after it seriously , if you have the hearts of men , and sin have not turned you into Ideots or blocks . What a disgrace is it to mankind , to hear men commonly at death cry out , O for a little more time , and O for the opportunities of grace again ! and O how shall I enter upon eternity thus unprepared ! ] As if they had never heard or known that they must die till now ! Had you not a lifes time to put these questions ? and should you not long ago have got them satisfactorily resolved ? And justly doth God give over some to that greater shame of humane nature , as not to be called to their wits even by the approach of death it self , but as they contemned everlasting Life in their health , God justly leaveth them to be so sottish , as to venture presumptuously with unrenewed souls upon death , and the conceit that they are of the right Church , or party , or opinion ; or that the Priest hath absolved them , doth pass with them for the necessary preparation ; and well were it for them , if these would pass them currantly into heaven : But O what heart can now conceive , how terrible it is , for a new departed soul to find it self remedilesly disappointed , and to be shut up in flames and desperation , before they would believe that they were in danger of it ? Reader , I beseech thee , as ever thou believest that thou must shortly die , retire from the crowd and noise of worldly vanity and vexation : O bethink thee how little a while thou must be here , and have use for honour , and favour , and wealth ; and what it is for a soul to pass into heaven or hell , and to dwell among Angels or Devils for ever ; And how men should live , and watch , and pray , that are near to such a change as this ▪ Should I care what men call me ( by tongue or pen ) ? Should I care whether I Live at liberty or in prison , when I am ready to die , and have matters of infinite moment before me , to take me up ? Honour or dishonour , liberty or prison , are words of no sound or signification scarce to be heard or taken notice of , to one of us that are just passing to God and to everlasting life ! The Lord have mercy upon the distracted world ! how strangely doth the Devil befool them in the day-light , and make them needlesly trouble themselves about many things , when one thing is needful ; and Heaven is talk'd of ( and that but heartlesly and seldom ) while fleshly provision only is the prize , the pleasure , the business of their lives ! Some are diverted from their serious preparation for death , by the leastly avocations of lust and g●wdiness , and meats , and drinks , and childish sports : and some by the businesses of ambition and covetousness , contriving how to feather their nests , and exercise their Wills over others in the world ! and some that will seem to be doing the work , are diverted as dangerously as others , by contending about formalities and Ceremonies , and destroying Charity and Peace , rending the Church , and strengthening factions , and carrying on Interests hypocritically under the name of Religion , till the Zeal that Saint James describeth , ( Jam. 3. 13 , 14 , &c. ) having consumed all that was tike to the Zeal of Love and Holiness in themselves , proceed to consume the Servants and interest of Christ about them and to bite and devoure , till their Lord come and find them in a day that they locked not for him , smiting their fellow-servants , and eating and drinking with the drunken , and cut them asunder , and appoint them their portion with the hypocrites , where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth , Matth , 24. 49 , 50 , 51. O study , and preach , and hear , and pray , and live , and use your brethren that differ from you in some opinions , as you would do if you were going to receive your doom , and as will then be most acceptable to your Lord ! The guilt of sensuality , worldiness , ambition , of uncharitableness , cruelty and injustice , of losing time , and betraying your souls by negligence , or perfidiousness and wilful sin , will lie heavyer upon a departing Soul , then now in the drunkenness of prosperity you can think : Christ will never receive such Souls in their extremity , unless upon repentance by faith in his blood , they are washed from this pollution . It is unspeakably terrible to die , without a confidence that Christ will receive us : And little knows the graceless world what sincerity and simplicity in holiness is necessary to the soundness of such a confidence . Let those that know not that they must die , or know of no life hereafter , hold on their chase of a feather , till they find what they lost their lives , and Souls , and labour for : But if thou be a Christian , remember what is thy work ! Thou wilt net need the favour of man , nor worldly wealth to prevail with Christ to Receive thy spirit : O learn thy Last Work , before thou art put upon the doing of it . The world of spirits to which we are passing , doth better know than this world of fleshly darkened sinners , the great difference between the Death of a Heavenly Believer , and of an earthly sensualist . Believe , it is a thing possible to get that apprehension of the Love of Christ , that confidence of his Receiving us , and such familiar pleasant thoughts of our entertainment by him , as shall much overcome the fears of Death , and make it a welcome day to us when we shall be admitted into the Celestial society . And the difference between one mans Death and anothers , dependeth on the difference between Heart and Heart , Life and Life , Preparation and Vnpreparedness . It you ask me , How may so happy a Preparation be made ? I have told you in this following Discourse , and more fully else where formerly . I shall add now these few Directions following . 1. Follow the flattering world no further : Come off from all expectation of felicity below : Enjoy nothing under the Sun ; but only use it in order to your enjoyment of the real sure delight : Take heed of being too much pleased in the creature . Have you houses , and lands , and offices , and honours , and friends that are very pleasing to you ? Take heed ; for that is the killing snare ! Shut your eyes , and wink them all into nothing ; and cast by your contrivances , and cares , and fears , and remember you have another work to do . 2. Live in Communion with a suffering Christ : study well the whole life and nature of his sufferings ; and the reason of them ; and think how desirable it is to be conformed to him : Thus look to Jesus , that for the joy that was set before him , despised the shame , and endured the Cross , and the contradiction of sinners against himself . Dwell upon this example that the image of a humbled suffering Christ being deeply imprinted on thy mind , may draw thy heart into a juster relish of a mortified state : Sure he is no good Christian that thinks it not better to live as Christ did ( in holy poverty and sufferings in the world ) then as Croesus or Caesar , or any such worldling and self-pleasure lived . Die daily , by following Jesus with your Cross , and when you have a while suffered with him , he will make you perfect , and receive your spirits , and you shall reign with him : It wonderfully prepareth for a comfortable Death , to live in the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ : He is most likely to die quietly , patiently and joyfully , that can first be poor , be neglected , be scorned , be wronged , be slandered , be imprisoned , quietly , patiently and joyfully . If you were but at Hierusalem ; you would with some love and pleasure go up Mount Olivet , and think , [ Christ went this very way ] You would Love to see the place where he was born , the way which he went when he carryed his Cross , the holy grave where he was buried , ( where there in a Temple which Pilgrims use to visit , from whence they use to bring the mark as a pleasing badge of honour . ) But how much More of Christ is there in our suffering for his Cause and Truth ? and in following him in a mortified self-denying life , then in following him in the path that he hath trodden upon earth ? His enemies saw his Cross , his Grave , his Mother , his person : This did not heal their sinful Souls and make them happy . But the Cross that he calleth us to bear , is , a life of suffeing for Righteousness sake , in which he commandeth us to rejoyce and be exceeding glad , because our Reward is great in Heaven , though all manner of evil be spoken of us falsly by men on earth , Mat. 5. 11 , 12. This is called a being pertakers of Christs sufferings , in which we are commanded to rejoyce ; that when this glory shall be revealed , we may be glad with exceeding joy , 1 Pet. 4. 13. And as the sufferings of Christ abound towards us , so will our Consolation abound by Christ ; 1 Cor. 1. 5. Till we come up to a life of willing mortification , and pleased contented suffering with Christ , we are in the lower form of his School , and as Children , shall tremble at that which should not cause our terrour , and through misapprehensions of the case of a departing soul , shall be afraid of that which should be our joy . I am not such an enemy to the esteem of relicks , but if one could shew me the very stock that Paul and Silas sate in when they sung Psalms in their imprisonment , Acts 16. I could be contented to be put ( for the like cause ) into the same stocks , with a special willingness and pleasure : How much more should we be willing to be conformed to our suffering Lord , in a Spirit and life of true mortification ? 3. Hold Communion also with his suffering Members : Desire not to dwell in the tents of wickedness , nor to be planted among them that flourish for a time , that they may be destroyed for ever , Psal . 92. 6 , 7. I had rather have Bradford's heart and faggot , than Bonners Bishoprick . It was holy Stephen , and not those that stoned him , that saw Heaven opened , and the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God , Acts 7. 56. and that could joyfully say , Lord Jesus Receive my Spirit . He liveth not by Faith ( though he may be a hanger on that keepeth up some profession for fear of being damned ) who chooseth not rather to suffer affliction with the people of God , than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season , and esteemeth not the very reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of the world , as having respect to the recompence of reward , Heb. 11. 25. 26. 4. Live as if Heaven were open to your sight : and then dote upon the delights of worldlings if you can : Then love a life of fleshly case and honour better than to be with Christ , if yon can . But of this I have spoken at large in other writings . Christian , make it the study and business of thy Life , to learn to do thy Last Work well ; that Work which must be done but once ; that so Death which transmits unholy Souls into utter darkness and despair , may deliver thy Spirit into thy Redeemers deemers hands to be Received to his Glory ; according to that blessed promise , John 12. 26. And while I am in the flesh , beg the same mercy for Thy Brother and Companion in tribulation , and in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ . Richard Baxter . London , Jan. 31. 1661●●… A BELIEVERS Last Work. ACTS 7. 59. Lord Jesus , receive my Spirit . THE Birth of Nature , and the New Birth of Grace , in their measure resemble the Death of Saints , which is the Birth of Glory . It is a bitter-sweet day , a day that is mixt of sorrow and joy , when Nature must quit its familiar Guest , and yield to any of these Changes . Our Natural Birth is not without the throws and pain , and groanings of the Mother , though it transmit the Child into a more large , and lightsom , and desirable Habitation : Our Spiritual Birth is not without its humbling and heart-piercing sorrows : and when we are brought out of darkness into the marvellous light , we leave our old Companions , in displeasure , whom we forsake , and our Flesh repining at the loss of its sensual delights : And our passage into Glory is not without those pangs and fears which must needs be the attendants of a pained Body , ready to be dissolved , and a Soul that is going through so strait a door , into a strange though a most blessed place ; And it leaveth our lamenting Friends behind , that feel their loss , and would longer have enjoyed our Company , and see not ( though they believe ) the Glory of the departed Soul. And this is our case , that are brought hither this day , by an act of Providence sad to us , though joyous to our departed Friend ; by a Voice that hath called her into Glory , and called us into this Mourning plight : Even us that rejoyce in the thoughts of her Felicity , and are not so cruel as to wish her again into this corruptible Flesh and calamitous World , from the glorious presence of the Lord ; and yet should have kept her longer from it , for our own and others sakes , if our Wisdom had been fit to rule , or our Wills to be fulfilled , or if our Prayers must have been answered , according to the measure of our sailing Apprehensions , or precipitant Desires . But Folly must submit to the Incomprehensible Wisdom ; and the Desire of the Creature must stoop to the Will of the Creator The Interest of Christ must be preferred , when he calleth for his own ; and our temporary Interest must give place : Flesh must be silent , and not contend ; and Dust must not dare to question God : He knoweth best when his Fruit is ripe ; and though he will allow our moderate Sorrows , he will not so much damnifie his Saints , as to detain them with us from their Joyful Rest , till we are content to let them go . Thus also did Blessed Stephen depart from Glory to Glory ; from a distant sight of the Glory of God , and of Jesus standing at his right hand , into the immediate presence and fruition of that Glory : But yet he must pass the narrow Port ; enraged Malice must stone him till he die ; and he must undergo the Pains of Martyrdom , before he reach to the Glory which he had seen : And when he was arrived in safety , he leaveth his Brethren scattered in the Storm , and Devout men make great lamentation at his burial . Acts 9. 2. Though it is probable by the ordinary acceptation of the Word [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] that they were not professed Christians , but devout Proselytes , ( such as Cornelius and the Ethiopian Eunuch were ) that buried and thus lamented Stephen , as knowing him to be an excellent Person , cruelly murdered by the raging Jews ; yet their Example , in a Case not culpable , but commendable , may be imitated by Believers ; upon condition that , with our sense of the Excellency of the Persons , and of our loss by their removal , we exceed them that had but a darker Revelation , in our joyful sense of the felicity of the translated Souls . The occasion of the Death of this Holy Man , was partly that he surpassed others , as being full of Faith , and of the Holy Ghost ; and partly , that he plainly rebuked the blind and furious persecuting Zeal of the Jews , and bore a most resolute Testimony of Christ . It is an ill time when Men must suffer because they are good , and deserve not suffering , but reward : And they are an unhappy People that have no more Grace or Wit , but to fight against Heaven , and set themselves under the Stroaks of God's severest Justice , by persecuting them that are dear to Christ , and faithfully perform their Duty . It is no strange thing for the ZEAL and INTEREST of a FACTION to make Men mad ; so mad , as implacably to rage against the Off spring of Heaven , and to hate Men because they are faithful to their great Master , and because they are against their Faction ; so mad , as to think that the Interest of their Cause requireth them to destroy the best with the greatest malice , because they stand most in their way ; and to forget that Christ , the Revenger of his Elect , doth take all as done to him that is done to them ; so mad , as to forget all the terrible Threatnings of God , and terrible Instances of his avenging Justice , against the Enemies of his Servants , whom he taketh as his own ; and to ruine their own Reputations , by seeking to defame the Upright , whose Names God is engaged to honour , and whose Righteousness shall shine forth as the Sun , when foolish Malignity hath done its worst . When Christ had pleaded his Cause effectually with Saul , that was one of the Persecutors of Stephen , he maketh him confess that he was [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] exceedingly , excessively , or beyond measure mad against the Christians . But this Blessed Protomartyr , in despite of Malice , doth safely and joyfully pass through all their Rage to Heaven : By killing him they make him more than Conquerour , and send him to receive his Crown : And he shuts up all the Action of his Life , in imitation of his suffering Lord , with a two-fold Request to Heaven ; the one for himself , that his Spirit may be received ; the other for his Persecutors , that this sin may not be laid to their charge , Acts 7. 59 , 60. For so you may find Christ did before him , Luke 23. 34 , 46. Father , forgive them , for they know not what they do : ] and , [ Father , into thy hands I commend my Spirit . ] Only Christ directeth his Prayer immediately to the Father , and Stephen to Christ , as being one that had a Mediator , when Christ had none , as needing none ; and being now bearing witness , by his suffering , to Christ , and therefore it was seasonable to direct his Prayer to him ; but especially because it was an Act of Mediation that he petitioneth for , and therefore directeth his Petition to the Mediator . This first Request of this dying Saint , which I have chosen to handle , as suitable and seasonable for our Instruction at this time , in a few Words containeth not a few exceeding useful wholesom Truths . As , 1. It is here plainly intimated , that [ Jesus Christ is exalted in Glory , ] in that he hath power to receive departed Souls . 2. That Christ is to be prayed to , ] and that it is not our Duty to direct all our Prayers only to the Father . Especially those things that belong to the Office of the Mediator , as interceding for us in the Heavens , must be requested of the Mediator : And those things which belong to the Father to give for the sake of the Mediator , must be asked of the Father for his sake . I cannot now stay to tell you in particular what belongeth to the one , and what unto the other . 3. That Man hath a Spirit , as well as a Body : of which , more anon . 4. That this Spirit dieth not with the Body ( unless you will call a meer separation a dying . ) 5. That Christ doth receive the Spirits of his Saints , when they are separated from the Body . 6. That a dying Christian may confidently and comfortably commend his Spirit to Christ , to be received of him . 7. That Prayer in general , and this Prayer in special , That Christ will receive our departing Souls , is a most suitable Conclusion of all the Actions of a Christian's Life . THe first and second of these Doctrines , offered us by this Text , I shall pass by . The third is not questioned by any that knoweth himself to be a Man : But that we may understand it and the rest , we must consider what the Word [ Spirit ] doth here signifie . By [ Spirit ] here can be meant nothing but the Rational Soul , which is the principal constitutive part of the man. For , though the word do sometime signifie the Wind or Breath , and sometime the moral and intellectual Qualifications , and have divers other senses , I need not stay to prove that it is not here so taken : Stephen prayeth not to Christ to receive his Breath , his Graces , or the Holy Ghost ; but to receive his Rational immortal Soul. It is not only the Soul , but God himself , that is called [ a Spirit ] : And though the Name be fetch'd from lower things , that is because that as we have no adequate positive conception of God or Spirits , so we can have no adequate proper names for them , but must take up with borrowed Names , as answerable to our Notions . Sometime the Word Spirit ( as Heb. 4. 12. &c. ) is distinguished from the Soul : And then it either signifieth the superior Faculties in the same Soul , or the same Soul as elevated by Grace . Do you ask , What the Soul is ? You may also ask , What a Man is . And it is pity that a Man should not know what a Man is . It is our Intellectual Nature , containing also the Sensitive and Vegetative : The Principle or first Act , by which we live , and feel , and understand , and freely will. The Acts tell you what the Faculties or Powers are , and so what the Soul is . If you know what Intellection , or Reason and Free-will are , you may know what it is to have a spiritual Nature , essentially containing the Power of Reasoning and Willing . It is thy Soul by which thou art thinking and asking , What a Soul is ! And as he that reasoneth to prove that Man hath no Reason , doth prove that he hath Reason by reasoning against it ; so he that reasoneth to prove that he hath no Soul. doth thereby prove that he hath a Reasonable ( though abused ) Soul. Yet there are some so blind as so question , Whether they have Souls , because they see them not : Whereas if they could see them with Eyes of Flesh , they were no Souls : For Spirits are invisible . They see not the Air or Wind , and yet they know that Air or Wind there is . They see not God or Angels , and yet they are Fools indeed if they doubt whether there be a God and Angels . If they see not their Eyes , yet they know that they have Eyes , because with those Eyes they see other things . And if they know not directly and intuitively that they have Rational Souls , they might know it by their knowing other things , which without such Souls cannot be known . It is just with God , that those that live as carnally , and brutishly , and neglegently , as if they had no Souls to use or care for , should at last be given up to question whether they have Souls , or no. O woful Fall ! depraved Nature ! O miserable Men , that have so far departed from God , as to deny both themselves and God! or to question , Whether God be God , and Man be Man ! Return to God , and thou wilt come to thy self ; Forget not , Man , thy Noble Nature , thy chiefest Part : Think not that thou art only Shell , because thou seest not through the Shell . It is Souls that converse by the Bodies while they are in Flesh . It is thy Soul that I am speaking to , and thy Soul that understandeth me : When thy Soul is gone , I will speak to thee no more . It is thy Soul that is the Workmanship of God by an immediate or special way of Fabrication , Isa . 57. 16. The souls that I have made . ] Gen. 2. 7. He breathed into man the breath of life , and he became a living soul . ] It is thy Soul that is said to be made after God's Image ; in that thou art ennobled with a capacious Vnderstanding , and Free-will : And it is thy Soul that is the immediate subject of his Moral Image , even spiritual Wisdom , Righteousness , and Holiness : God hath not Hands , and Feet , and other Members , as thy Body hath . How noble a Nature is that which is capable of knowing not only all things in the World ( in its measure ) but God himself , and the things of the world that is to come ; and capable of loving and enjoying God , and of seeking and serving him in order to that Enjoyment ! Christ thought not basely ▪ of a Soul , that redeemed Souls at such a price , when he made his soul an offering for sin , Isa . 53. 10. Were it not for our immortal Souls , would God ever honour us with such Relations to him , as to be his Children ? ( For he is first the Father of Spirits , Heb. 12. 9. and then the Father of Saints . ) Should we be called the Spouse and the Members of Christ ? Would he be at so much cost upon us ? Should Angels attend us as ministring Spirits , if we had not Spirits fit to minister to God ? Would the Spirit of God himself dwell in us , and quicken and beautifie us with his Grace ? Should a world of Creatures ( whose Corporeal Substance seems as excellent as ours ) attend and serve us , if we were but an ingenuous sort of Brutes , and had not rational immortal Souls ? Should such store of Mercies be provided for us ? Should Ministers be appointed to preach , and pray , and labour for us , if we had not Souls to save or lose ? They watch for your souls , as those that must give account , Heb. 13. 17. Why should they preach in season and out of season , and suffer so much to perform their Work , but that they know that [ He that winneth souls is wise , ] Prov. 11. 30. and that [ he which converteth a sinner from the errour of his way , doth save a soul from death , and hide a multitude of sins . ] Jam. 6. 20. The Devil himself may tell you the worth of Souls , when he compasseth the earth ( Job 1. 7. ) and goeth about night and day to deceive them and devour them , 1 Pet. 5. 8. And yet can he make you believe that they are so worthless , as to be abused to the basest drudgery , to be poysoned with sin and Sensuality , to be ventured for a thing of naught . O , Sirs , have you such immortal Souls , and will you sell them for a Lust , for a beastly Pleasure , for liberty to glut your Flesh , or for the Price that Judas sold his Lord for ? Is thy Soul no more worth than Honour , or Wealth , or foolish Mirth ? Is thy Soul so base , as not to be worth the care and labour of a Holy Life ? Is the World worth all thy Care and Labour , and shall less be called too much ado , when it is for thy precious Soul ? Alas ! one would think by the careless felshly Lives of many , that they remember not that they have Souls . Have they not need in the depth of their Security , in the height of their Ambition , and in the heat of Fleshly Lusts , to have a Monitor to call to them , Remember that thou art a man , and that thou hast a Soul to save or lose . What thinkest thou of thy negligence and carnal Life , when thou readest that so holy a Man as Paul must keep under his body , and bring it into subjection , lest he should be a cast-away after all his Labours ! 1 Cor. 9. 25. 26 , 27. O live not as if the Flesh were the Man , and its Pleasure your Felicity ; but live as those that have Spirits to take care for . DOCT. 4 THe spirit of man doth survive the Body . It dyeth not with it : It is not annihilated : It is not resolved into the essence of some common element of souls , where it loseth its specifick form and name : It was still the Spirit of Stephen that was received by Christ . It sleepeth not : To confute the dream of those that talk of the sleeping of Souls , or any Lethargich , unintelligent or unactive state , of so excellent , capacious and active a nature , were but to dispute with sleeping men . When we say it is Immortal , we mean not that it or any creature hath in it self a self-supporting or self-preserving sufficiency ; or that they are Necessary Beings , and not Contingent ; or Primitive Beings , and not Derived from another by Creation : We know that all the world would turn to nothing in a moment , if God did but withdraw his preserving and upholding influence , and but suspend that Will that doth continue them : He need not exert any Positive Will or Act for their destruction or annihilation . Though ejusdem est annihilare , cujus est creare ; none can annihilate but God ; yet it is by a Positive efficient act of Will that he createth ; and by a meer cessation of the act of his preserving Will , he can annihilate . I mean not by any change in him ; but by willing the continuance of the creature but till such a period . But yet he that will perpetuate the Spirit of Man , hath given it a nature ( as he hath done the Angels ) fit to be perpetuated : A Nature not guilty of composition and elementary materiallity which might subject it to corruption : so that as there is an Aptitude in Iron , or Silver , or Gold , to continue longer than Grass , or Flowers , or Flesh ; and a reason of its duration may be given a natura rei , from that aptitude in subordination to the Will of God ; so there is such an Aptitude in the Nature of the Soul to be Immortal , which God maketh use of to the accomplishment of his will for its actual perpetuity . The Heathenish Socinians that deny the Immortality of the Soul , ( yea worse than Heathenish , for most Heathens do maintain it ) must deny it to Christ himself , as well as to his Members : For he used the like recommendation of his Soul to his Father , when he was on the Cross , as Stephen doth here to him . If [ Lord Jesus receive my Spirit ] be words that prove not the surviving of the Spirit of Stephen ; then [ Father , into thay hands I commend my Spirit ] will not prove the surviving of the Spirit of Christ : And then what do these infidels make of Christ , who also deny his Deity ; and consequently make him nothing but a Corpse , when his body was in the grave ! How then did he make good his promise to the penitent malefactor , [ This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise . ] But he that said . [ Because I live , ye shall live also ] John 14. 19. did live in the Spirit , while he was put to death in the flesh , 1 Pet. 3. 18. and receiveth the Spirits of his Servants unto life eternal , while their flesh is rotting in the grave : This very Text is so clear for this , if there were no other , it might end the controversie with all that believe the Holy Scriptures . I confess these is a sleep of Souls : A Metaphorical sleep in sin and in security : Or else the drowsie opinions of these Infidels , had never found entertainment in the world : A sleep so deep , that the voice of God in the threatnings of his Word , and the alarm of his Judgments , and the thunder of his warnings by his most serious Ministers , prevail not to awaken the most . So dead a sleep possesseth the most of the ungodly world , that they can quietly sin in the sight of God , at the entrance upon eternity , at the doors of Hell , and the calls of God do not awaken them : So dead a sleep that Scripture justly calls them dead , Eph. 2. 1. 5. And Ministers may well call them dead ; For alas it is not our voice that can awake them . They are as dead to us ; we draw back the curtains to let in the light , and shew them that Judgment is at hand , and use those true but terrible arguments from wrath and hell , which we are afraid should too much frighten many tender hearers : and yet they sleep on , and our loudest calls , our tears and our intreaties cannot awaken them . We cry to them in the name of the Lord , [ Awake thou that sleepest , arise from the dead , and Christ shall give thee light ] Eph. 5. 14. This Moral sleep and death of Souls , which is the fore-runner of everlasting death in misery , we cannot deny . But after Death even this sleep shall cease ; and God will awaken them with his vengeance , that would not be awaked by his Grace . Then sinner , sleep under the thoughts of sin and Gods displeasure if thou canst ▪ There is no sleeping Soul in Hell : There are none that are past feeling . The mortal stroke that layeth thy flesh to sleep in the dust , le ts out the guilty Soul into a World where there is no sleeping ; where there is a Light irresistible , and a Terrour and Torment that will keep them waking . If God bid thee awake by the flames of Justice , he will have no nay . The first sight and feeling which will surprize thee when thou hast left this Flesh , will awake thee to Eternity , and do more than we could do in Time , and convince thee that there is no sleeping state for separated Souls . DOCT. 5. CHrist doth receive the Spirits of his Saints when they leave the Flesh . Here we shall first tell you what Christs receiving of the Spirit is . The Word signifieth to take it as acceptable to himself ; and it comprehendeth these Particulars . 1. That Christ will not leave the new-departed Soul to the will of Satan its malicious Enemy . How ready is he to receive us to perdition , if Christ refuse us , and receive us not to Salvation ? He that now seeketh as a roaring Lion night and day , as our adversary , to devour us by deceit , will then seek to devour us by execution . How glad was he when God gave him leave but to touch the goods , and children , and body of Job ? And how much more would it please his enmity , to have power to torment our Souls ? But the Soul that fled to the arms of Christ by Faith in the day of tryal , shall then find it self in the arms of Christ in the moment of its entrance upon Eternity . O Christian , whether thou now feel it to thy comfort or not , thou shalt then feel it to the ravishing of thy Soul , that thou didst not fly to Christ in vain , nor trust him in vain to be thy Saviour : Satan shall be for ever disappointed of his desired Prey . Long wast thou combating with him ; frequently and strongly wast thou tempted by him : Thou oft thoughtest it was a doubtful Question who should win the day , and whether ever thou shouldest hold out and be saved : But when thou passest from the Flesh , in thy last Extremity , in the end of thy greatest and most shaking Fears ; when Satan is ready , if he might , to carry thy Soul to Hell ; then , even then shalt thou find that thou hast won the day . And yet not thou , but Christ is he that hath been victorious for thee ( even as when thou livedst the life of Faith , it was not thou , but Christ lived in thee , Gal. 2. 20. ) Thou mayst fear at thy departure , and leave the Flesh with terrour , and imagine that Satan will presently devour thee : But the experience of a moment will end thy Fears , and thou shalt triumph against thy conquered Foe . He that saved thee from the dominion of a tempting Devil , will certainly save thee from him when he would torment thee . Here he would have us that ▪ he may sift us , and get advantage on our weakness ; but Christ prayeth for us , and strengthneth , us , that our faith may not fail , Luke 22. 31. And he that saveth us from the sin , will save us from the punishment ; and from Satans fury , as he did from his fraud . 2. Christs Receiving us , doth include his savourable entertainment and welcoming the departed Soul. Poor Soul , thou wast never so welcome to thy dearest Friend , nor into the arms of a Father , a Husband , or a Wife , as thou shalt be then into the presence and embracements of thy Lord. Thou hearest , and readest , and partly believest now how he loveth us , even as his Spouse and Members , as his Flesh and Bone , Eph. 6. But then thou shalt feel how he loveth thee in particular : If the Angels of God have joy at thy Conversion , what joy will there be in Heaven at thy enterance into that Salvation ! And sure those Angels will bid thee welcome , and concur with Christ in that triumphant joy . If a returning Prodigal find himself in the arms of his Fathers Love , and welcomed home with his kisses , and his robe and feast ; What welcome then may a cleansed conquered Soul expect , when it cometh into the presence of Glorious Love , and is purposely to be received with such demonstrations of Love , as may be fitted to magnifie the Love of God , which exceedeth all the Love of man , as Omnipotency doth exceed our Impotency ; and therefore will exceed it in the effects ! Though thou hast questioned here in the dark , whether thou wert welcome to Christ when thou camest to him in prayer , or when thou camest to his holy Table ; yet then doubt of thy welcom if thou canst . O had we but one moments sense of the delights of the embraced Soul , that is newly received by Christ into his Kingdom , it would make us think we were in Heaven already , and transport us more than the Disciples that saw the Transfiguration of Christ ; and make us say , in comparing this with all the Glory of the World , [ Master , it is good for us to be here ; ] but in consideration of the full , to say , [ It is better to be there . ] But it must not be : Earth must not be so happy as to have a moments sense of the unconceivable Pleasures of the received Soul ; that is the Reward and Crown , and therefore not fit for us here in our Conflict . But low things may by dark resemblance a little help us to conceive of something that is like them in a low degree . How would you receive your Son , or Husband , the next day after some bloody Fight , where he had escaped with the Victory ? Or your Child , or Friend , that arrived safely after a long and a dangerous Voyage ? Would you not run and meet him , and with joy embrace him , if he had been many years absent , and were now come home ? I tell thee , poor Soul , thy Saviour hath a larger heart , and another kind of Love than thou , and other Reasons of greater force to move him to bid dice Welcome into his Presence . 3. Christ's Receiving the departed Soul includeth the State of Blessedness into which he doth receive it . If you ask , What that is ? I answer , It is unto himself , to be with him where he is : And that in general is full of comfort , if there were no more : For we know that Christ is in no ill place ; He is glorified at the right hand of the Majesty on high , Heb. 1. 3. And that the Souls of the Righteous , and at last their Bodies , are received to himself , he often telleth us : John 12. 26. If any man serve me , let him follow me ; and where I am , there shall also my servant be ▪ ] John 14. 2 , 3. And if I go to prepare a place for you , I will come again and receive you unto my self , that where I am , there you may be also . ] And in the mean time , when we once are absent from the body , we are present with the Lord , 2 Cor. 5. 8. and that is in [ the building of God , not made with hands , eternal in the heavens , V. 1. Paul therefore desired to depart and be with Christ , as being far better , ] Phil. 1. 23. And Christ promiseth the converted Thief , [ This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise , ] Luke 23. 43. And our State after the Resurrection hath the same description , 1 Thess . 4. 17. [ And so shall we ever be with the Lord : ] And what it shall be , he declareth himself , John 17. 24. Father , I will that they whom thou hast given me , be with me where I am , that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me . The Soul of Lazarus , Luke 16. was received into Abrahams bosom , where he is said to be comforted . The heavens receive Christ , Acts 3. 21. and therefore the heavens receive the spirits that go to him : even the spirits of the just made perfect , Heb. 12. 23. that is , that are crowned with Christ in Glory , and freed from the Imperfections and Evils of this Life . And so that 1 Thess . 5. 10. is plain , though some would pervert it , [ That whether we wake or sleep , we may live together with him ] : Not [ Whether we wake to righteousness , or sleep in sin ] ; for such Sleepers live not with him : Nor [ whether we wake by sollicitude , or sleep in security ] : Nor [ Whether we naturally wake or sleep ] only : But whether we live , or die , and so our Bodies sleep in death , yet we live together with him . In a word , Christ will receive us unto a participation of his Joy and Glory ; into a Joy as great as our Nature shall be capable of , and more than we can now desire , and that the largest Heart on Earth can justly conceive of or comprehend . And because all this tells you but to the ear , stay yet but a little while , and experimental sight nnd feeling shall tell you , What this Receiving is ; even when we receive the kingdom that cannot be moved , Heb. 12. 28. and when we receive the end of our faith , the salvation of our souls , 1 Pet. 1. 9. DOCT. 6. A Dying Christian may confidently and comfortably commend his Spirit to Christ to be received by him . Though he have formerly been a grievous sinner ; though at the present he be frail and faulty : though he be weak in faith , and love , and duty ; though his body by sickness be become unfit to serve his Soul , and as to present sensibility , activity , or joy , he seem to be past the best , or to be nothing ; though the Tempter would aggravate his sins , and weakness , and dulness to his discouragement ; yet he may , he must with confidence recommend his Spirit to Christ to be Received by him . O learn this Doctrine Christians , that you may use it in the hour of your last distress : The hour is near : the distress will be the greatest that ever you were in : As well as we seem now while we are hearing this , our turn is nigh : The Midwife is not so neccssary to the life of the Child , that Receiveth it into the world , as Christs Receiving will be then to our everlasting life . To say over heartlesly these words [ Lord Jesus receive my Spirit ] will be no more than a dead hearted Hypocrite may do : such formal lip-service in life or at death , doth profit nothing to salvation ; Now make such necessary preparation , that at Death you may have well-grounded confidence , that Jesus Christ will receive your Spirits 1. And first , let me bring this to the carnal unprepared sinner . Poor sinner , What thoughts hast thou of thy dying hour , and of thy departing Soul ! I wonder at thee , what thoughts thou hast of them , that thou canst sin so boldly , and live so carelesly and talk or hear of the life to come so senselesly as thou dost ! Thou mightest well think I wronged thee , if I took thee to be such a brute as not to know that thou must die ! Thy Soul that brought thy body hither , that causeth it now to hear and understand , that carryeth it up and down the world , must very shortly be required of thee , and must seek another habitation . What thoughts hast thou of thy departing Soul ! Will Christ receive it ? Hast thou made sure of that ? Or hast thou made it thy principal care and business to make sure ! O what doth intoxicate the brains of sensual worldly men , that they drown themselves in the Cares of this Life , and ride and run for transitory Riches , and live upon the Smoak of Honour and Applause , and never soberly and seriously bethink them , whether Christ will receive their departed Souls ! That they can fill their minds with other thoughts , and fill their mouthes with other talk , and consume their time in other inconsiderable employments ; and take no more care , and spend no more thoughts , and words , and time , about the entertainment of their departing Souls ! When they are even ready to be gone , and stand as it were on tip-toes ; when Fevers , and Consumptions , and many hundred Diseases are all abroad so busily distributing their Summons ; and when the Gates of Death have so many Passengers crowding in , and Souls are making such haste away , will you not consider what shall become of yours ? Will you say , that you hope well , and you must venture ? If God had appointed you nothing to do , to prepare for your safe passage and entertainment with Christ , you might then take up with such an Answer : But it 's a mad adventure to leave all undone that is necessary to your salvation , and then to say , You must put it to the venture : If you die in and unrenewed and unjustified state , it is past all ventures ; for it is certain that Christ will not receive you : You may talk of hoping , dut it is not a matter to be hoped for . Hope that God will make good every word of his Promise , and spare not : But there is no more Hope that Christ will Receive the souls of any but of his members , than there is that he will prove a lyar . He never promised to save any others : and that is not all ; but he hath declared and professed frequently that he will not . And you are no Believers if you will not believe him : And if you believe him , you must believe that the unbelievers , the unregenerate , the unholy and the workers of iniquity , shall not be received into the Kingdom of Heaven : For he hath professed it , John 3. 3 , 36. Heb. 12. 14. Matth. 7. 23. If Christ would Receive the souls of all , your venture then had reason for it : Or if he had left it as a thing that depended only on his unrevealed will , and not on any preparations of our own , we might then have quit our selves of the care , and cast it all on him , as being his part , and none of ours : But it is not so : I hope I need not tell you that , it is not so : Believe it , the Question must be Now resolved , and resolved by your selves , whether Christ shall Receive your departed souls , or cast them off as firebrands for Hell ? He hath made the Law , and set down the terms already to which he will unalterably stand , and which we must trust to . It is now that you must labour to be accepted of him : For we must all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ , that every one may receive the things done in his body , according to that he hath done , whether it be good or bad , ] 2 Cor. 5. 9 , 10. O Sirs , this is the reason of our importunity with you : Knowing the terrors of the Lord , we persuade men , saith the Apostle in the next words , vers . 11. We know that the sentence will be just , and that it is now in your own hands what judgment then shall pass upon you ! And if just now your souls were passing hence , before you went from the place you sit in , would you think any care could be too great , to make sure that they should go to happiness ! O that you would consider how much it is your own work , and how much it resteth on your selves what Christ shall then do with you ! Then you will cry to him for mercy , [ O cast not away a miserable soul ! Lord , receive me into thy Kingdom . ] But now he must intreat you to be saved , and to be the people that he may then Receive , and you will not hear him : And if you will not hear him , when he calleth on you , and beseecheth you to Repent and to prepare ; as sure as Christ is Christ , he will not hear you when you cry and call for mercy too late in your extremity . Read Prov. 1. and you will see this is true . It is you that are to be entreated that Christ may receive you ; for the unwillingness and backwardness is on your part : You are now poysoning your souls by sin , and when we cannot intreat you either to forbear or to take the Vomit of Repentance : yet when you are gasping and dying of your own willful self-murder , you will then cry to Christ , and think he must receive you upon terms inconsistent with his justice , holiness and truth . But flatter not your selves ; it will not be : This is the accepted time : behold now is the day of salvation : refuse it now , and it is lost for ever . O Sirs , if this were the hour , and you were presently to be received or refused , would you blame me to cry and call to you with all the fervour of my soul , if I knew that it were in your own choice , whether you would go to Heaven or Hell ? Why , now it is in your choice ! Life and Death are set before you . Christ will receive you if you will but come within the capacity of his acceptation . If you will not , there will then be no remedy : It is a doleful thing to observe how Satan doth bewitch poor sinners ! That when time is gone , and the door of mercy is shut against them , they would think no cries too loud for mercy , and no importunity too great : for Christ telleth us , Matth. 25. 10 , 11. that they they will cry [ Lord , Lord , open to us : ] And yet now when the door stands open , no arguments , no earnestness , no tears can intreat them to enter in ; Then there is not the most senseless sinner of you all , but would cry more strongly than Esau for the blessing , ( when his tears could find no place for repentance , Heb. 12. 16 , 17. ) [ Lord receive a miserable soul ! O whither shall I go , if thou receive me not ! I must else be tormented in those scorching flames : ] And yet now you will sell your birthright for one morsel ; for a little of Judas , or Gehezi's gain , for the applause of worms , for the pleasing of your flesh that is turning to corruption ; for the delights of gluttony , drunkenness , sports or lust . There is not a man of you but would then pray more earnestly than those that you now deride for earnest praying , as if they whined and were ridiculous : And yet now you will neither be serious in prayer , nor hear Christ or his messengers , when he maketh it his earnest request to you to come in to him , that you may have life , John 5. 40. Then you will knock when the door is shut , and cry [ Lord open to a miserable sinner : ] and yet now you will not open unto him , when by his word and spirit , her mercies and afflictions , he standeth at the door of your stubborn hearts , and calleth on you to repent and turn to God ; Now our intreaties cannot so much as bring you on your knees , or bring you to one hours serious thoughts , about the state of those souls that are so near their doom . O Sirs , for your souls sake , lay by your obstinacy : Pity those souls that then you will beg of Christ to pity . Do not you damn them by your sloth and sin , in the day of your visitation , and then cry in vain to Christ to save them , when it is too late . Yet the door of grace is open : But how speedily will it be shut ? One stroak of an Apoplexy , a Consumption , a Fever , can quickly shut it ; and then you may tear your hearts with crying [ Lord open to us ] and all in vain . O did you but see departed souls , as you see the corps that is left behind ! Did you see how they are treated at their removal from the flesh ? how some are taken and others left ! how some are welcomed to Christ , and others are abhorred , and turned over to the tormenter , and thrust out with implacable indignation and disdain ( Luk. 13. 28. Prov. 1. 24 , 26 , 27. ) sure you would enter into serious consideration this day , What it is that makes this difference ; and why Christ so useth the one and the other ; and what must be done now , by the soul that would be received then ? Alas , men will do any thing , but that which they should do ! Among the superstitious Papists , the conceit of a deliverance from Purgatory makes them bequeath their Lands and Moneys to Priests and Friars to pray for them when they are dead , and to have other men cry to Christ to receive them , and open to them , when time is past : And yet now in the accepted time , now when it is at your choice , and the door is open , men live as if they were past feeling , and cared not what became of them at the last , and would not be beholden to Christ to receive them , when the deceitful world hath cast them off . And now , Beloved Hearers all , I would make it my most earnest request to you , as one that knoweth we are all passing hence , and foreseeth the case of a departed soul , that you would now without any more delay , prepare and make sure that you may be received into the everlasting habitations : And to this end , I shall more distinctly , though briefly tell you , 1. What souls they are that Christ will receive , and what he will not : and consequently , what you must do to be received . 2. What considerations should stir you up to this preparation . I. Nothing is more sure than that Christ will not receive , 1. Any unregenerate , unconverted soul , John 3. 3 , 5. Matth. 18. 3. that is not renewed and sanctified by his spirit , Rom. 8. 9. Heb. 12. 14. Acts 26. 18. They must have the new and heavenly nature that will ever come to Heaven : Without this you are morally uncapable of it . Heaven is the proper inheritance of Saints , Col. 1. 12. This heavenly nature , and spirit , is your earnest : If you have this , you are sealed up unto salvation , 2 Cor. 1. 22. Ephes . 1. 13. & 4. 30. 2. Christ will receive none but those that make it now their work to lay up a treasure in heaven , rather than upon the earth , Matth. 6. 20 , 21. and that seek it in the first place , Mat. 6. 33. and can be content to part with all to purchase it , Matth. 13. 44 , 46. Luk. 14. 33. & 18. 22. An earthly-minded worldling is uncapable of heaven , in that condition , Phil. 3. 17 , 18. Luk. 16. 13. You must take it for your portion , and set your hearts on it , if ever you will come thither ; Matth. 6. 21. Col. 3. 1 , 2 , 3. 3. Christ will Receive no soul at last , but such as sincerely received him as their Lord and Saviour now , and gave up themselves to him , and received his Word , and yield obedience to it , and received his Spirit , and were cleansed by him from their iniquities , John 1. 11 , 12 , Luk. 19. 27. 2 Thes . 2. 10 , 12. [ That all they might be damned that believed not the truth , but had pleasure in unrighteousness . ] ( They are God's own words : be not offended at them , but believe and fear . ) He hateth all the workers of iniquity , and will say to them , Depart from me , I know you not , Psal . 5. 5. Matth. 7. 23. 4. He will receive none but those that loved his servants , that bore his holy image , and received them according to their abilities , Matth. 25. 40 , 41 , &c. And if he will say to those that did not entertain them [ Depart form me ye cursed into everlasting fire , ] what will he say to those that hate and persecute them ? 1 Joh. 3. 14. & 5. 2. 5. He will receive none but those that live to him in the body , and use his gifts and talents to his service , and make it their chief business to serve , and honour , and please him in the world , Matth. 25. 21 , 26. 2 Cor. 5. 9 , 15. Gal. 6. 7 , 8. and live not to the pleasing of the flesh , but have crucified it and its lusts , Rom. 8. 1 , 13. Gal. 5. 24. Examine all these Texts of Scripture ( for the matter is worthy of your study ) and you will see what souls they are that Christ will then Receive , and what he will reject . You may see also what you must now be and do , if you will be then Received . If you are not regenerate by the Spirit of God , ( though you may be Sacramentally regenerate in Baptism ; ) If you are not justified by Christ , ( though you may be absolved by a Minister ; ) If If you seek not Heaven with higher estimation and resolutions that any felicity on earth , and take not God for your satisfying portion ; ( though you be never so Religious in subserviency to a fleshly worldly happiness ; ) If you Receive not Christ as your only Saviour , and set him not in the Throne and Government of your hearts and lives ( though you may go with men for currant Christians ; ) If you hate not sin , if you love not the holy image , and children of God , and use them not accordingly ; If you crucifie not the flesh , and die not to the world , and deny not your selves , and live not unto God , as making it your chief business and happiness to please him : I say , if this be not your case , as sure as you are men , if you died this hour in this condition , Christ will not own you , but turn you off with a [ Depart ye cursed : ] You may as well think of reconciling light and darkness , or persuade a man to live on the food of beasts , or the stomach to welcome deadly poyson , as to think that Christ will receive an ungodly , earthly , guilty soul . Deceive not your selves sinners : If God could have entertained the ungodly , and Heaven could hold unholy souls , answer me then these two or three Questions . 1. What need Christ then to have shed his blood , or become a sacrifice for sin ? if he could have received the ungodly , he might have done it upon cheaper rates . This feigneth him to have died to no purpose ; but to bring the unsanctified to heaven , that might have been as well entertained there without his sufferings . 2. To what use doth Christ send the Holy-Ghost to sanctifie his Elect ? Or send his Word and Ministers to promote it , if they may come to heaven unsanctified ? 3. If the ungodly go to Heaven , what use is Hell for ? There is no Hell if this be true ! But you will quickly find that to be too good news to the ungodly to be true . II. In Luk. 16. Christ teacheth us our duty by the parable of the Steward , that asketh himself before-hand , What he shall do when he must be no longer Steward ? and contriveth it so that others may receive him when he is cast off : And he applieth it to us hat must now so provide , that when we fail , we may be received into the everlasting habitations . This is the work that we have all to mind ! We always knew that this world would fail us : O how uncertain is your tenure of the dwellings that you now possess ! Are you provided , certainly provided whither to go , and who shall Receive you when your Stewardship is ended , and you must needs go hence ? O think of these considerations that should move you presently to provide . 1. Your Cottages of earth are ready to drop down ; and it is a stormy time , there are many sicknesses abroad : One blast may quickly lay them in the dust ; and them the flesh that had so much care , and was thought worthy to be preferred before the soul , must be laid and left to rot in darkness , to avoid the annoyance of the living : And when you may justly look every hour when you are turned out of these dwellings that you are in , is it not time to be provided of some other ? 2. Consider , if Christ should not receive thy spirit , how unspeakably deplorable thy case will be ? I think there is no man in all this Assembly so mad , that would take all the world now , to have his soul refused then by Christ ; that would professedly make and subscribe such a bargain : And yet alas , how many are they that will be hired for a smaller price , even for the pleasure of a sin , to do that which Chirst himself hath told them , will cause him to Refuse them ? O Sirs , for ought you know , before to morrow , or within this week , you may be put to know these things by tryal , and your Souls may be refused or received : And wo to you that ever you were Men , if Christ receive you not . Consider , 1. If Chirst receive thee not , thou hast no Friend left then to receive thee . Thy House , and Land , an Riches , and Reputation , are all left behind ; none of them will go with thee ; or if they did , they could afford thee no relief . Thy Bosom-friends , thy powerful Defenders , are all left behind ; or if they go before or with thee , they can do nothing there , that could do so much for thee here . No Minister so holy , no Friend so kind , no Patron so powerful , that can give thee any entertainment , if Christ refuse to entertain thee . Look to the right hand or the left , there will be none to help thee , or care for thy forsaken Soul. Then thou wilt find , that one Christ had been a better Friend , than all the Great ones upon Earth . 2. If Christ then receive not thy departed Soul , the Devils will receive it . I am loth to speak so terrible a word , but that it must be spoken , if you will be awaked to prevent it . He that deceived thee , will then plead Conquest , and claim thee as his due , that he may torment thee . And if the Devil say , This Soul is mine ; and Christ do not rescue and justifie thee , but say so too , no heart is able to conceive the horrour that will then overwhelm thee : Doth not the reading of the Sentence make thee tremble , Matth. 25. 41. [ Depart from me ye cursed , into everlasting fire , prepared for the Devil and his Angels ] ? This is that dreadful delivering up to Satan , when the Soul is excommunicated from the City of God. O therefore if thou be yet unreconciled to God , agree with him quickly , while thou art here in the way , lest he deliver thee to this terrible Jaylor and Executioner , and thou be cast into the prison of the bottomless pit : Verily I say unto thee , thou shalt by no means come out thence , till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing , Mat. 5. 25 , 26. 3. The greatness of the change will increase the amazement and misery of thy Spirit , if Christ receive it not . To leave a World that thou wast acquainted with , a World that pleased thee and entertained thee , a World where thou hadst long thy business and delight , and where ( wretched man ! ) thou hadst made thy chief provision , and laid up thy treasure ; this will be a sad part of the Change. To enter into a World where thou art a stranger , and much worse , and see the company and the things that before thou never sawest , and to find things go there so contrary to thy expectation ; to be turned with Dives from thy sumptuous Dwelling , Attendance , and Fare , into a place of easeless torment ; this will be a sadder part of thy Change. Here the Rich would have received thee , the Poor would have served and flattered thee , thy Friends would have comforted thee , thy Play-fellows would have been merry with thee : But there , alas , how the case is altered ! All these have done ; the Table is withdrawn , the Game is ended , the Mirth is ceased ; and now succeedeth , [ Son , remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things , and Lazarus evil things : but now he is comforted , and thou art tormented , ] Luke 16. 25. O dreadful Change to those that made the World their home , and little dreamed ( or did but dream ) of such a day ! Never to see this World again , unless by such reviews as will torment them ! never to have sport or pleasure more ; and for these to have such Company , such Thoughts , such Work and Usage , as God hath told us is in Hell ! 4. If Christ receive thee not , the burden of thy sins will overwhelm thee , and conscience will have no relief . Sin will not then appear in so harmless a shape as now ; it will then seem a more odious or frightful thing . O to remember these days of folly , of careless , sluggish , obstinate folly , of sottish negligence , and contempt of Grace , will be a more tormenting thing than you will now believe . If such Sermons and Discourses as foretel it are troublesom to thee , what then will that sad Experience be ? 5. The wrath of an offended God will overwhelm thee . This will be thy Hell. He that was so merciful in the time of Mercy , will be most terrible and implacable when that time is past , and make men know that Christ and Mercy are not neglected , refused , and abused at so cheap a rate , as they would needs imagine in the time of their deliration . 6. It will overwhelm the Soul , if Christ receive it not , to see that then art entring upon Eternity , even into an everlasting state of Woe . Then thou wilt think , O whither am I going ? What must I endure ? And how long ! How long ! When shall my misery have an end ! and When shall I come back ! and How shall I ever be delivered ! O now what thoughts wilt thou have of the wonderful Design of God in Man's Redemption ! Now thou wilt better understand what a Saviour was worth , and how he should have been believed in , and how his Gospel and his saving Grace should have been entertained . O that the Lord would now open your hearts to entertain it , that you may not then value it to your vexation , that would not value it now to your relief ! Poor sinner , for the Lord's sake , and for thy Souls sake , I beg now of thee , as if it were on my knees , that thou wouldst cast away thy sinful Cares and Pleasures , and open thy Heart , and now receive thy Saviour and his saving Grace , as ever thou wouldst have him then receive thy trembling departed Soul ! Turn to him now , that he may not turn thee from him then : Forsake him not for a flattering World , a little transitory vain Delight , as ever thou wouldst not then have thy departed Soul forsaken by him ! O delay not , Man ; but now , even now receive him , that thou maist avoid so terrible a danger , and put so great a question presently out of doubt , and be able comfortably to say , [ I have received Christ , and he will receive me ; if I die this night , he will receive me . ] Then thou maist sleep quietly , and live merrily , without any disparagement to thy Reason . O yield to this Request , Sinner , of one that desireth thy Salvation . If thou wert now departing , and I would not pray earnestly to Christ to receive thy Soul , thou wouldst think I were uncharitable : Alas ! it will be one of these days : and it is thee that I must entreat , and thy self that must be prevailed with , or there is no hope : Christ sendeth me to thy self , and saith , that he is willing to receive thee , if now thou wilt receive him , and be sanctified and ruled by him : The matter stops at thy own regardless wilful heart . What sayst thou ? Wilt thou receive Christ now , or not ? Wilt thou be a new creature , and live to God , by the Principle of his Spirit , and the Rule of his Word , to please him here , that thou maist live with him for ever ? Wilt thou take up this Resolution , and make this Covenant with God this day ? O give me a word of comfort , and say , Thou art resolved , and wilt deliver up thy self to Christ . That which is my comfort now on thy behalf , will be ten thousand-fold more thy comfort then , when thou partakest of the Benefit : And if thou grieve us now , by denying thy Soul to Christ , it will be at last ten thousand-fold more thy grief . Refuse not our requests and Christs requests now , as ever thou wouldst not have him refuse thee then , and thy requests . It is mens turning away now from Christ , that will cause Christ then to turn from them , Prov. 1. 31. 32. The turning away of the simple slayeth them , and they then eat but the fruit of their own way , and are filled with their own devices . ] See then that ye now refuse not him that speaketh : for there is no escaping if you turn away from him that speaketh from heaven , ] Heb. 12. 25. What would you say your selves to the man that would not be dissuaded from setting his House on fire , and then would pray and cry importunately to God that he would keep it from being burnt ? Or of the man that will not be dissuaded from taking Poyson ; and then when it gripeth him , will cry to God to save his life : Or of the man that will go to Sea in a leaking broken vessel , yea himself will make those breaches in it , that shall let the Water in , and when it is sinking , will cry to God to save him from being drowned ? And will you do this about so great a matter as the everlasting state of your immortal Souls ? Will you now be wordlings , and sensualists , and ungodly , and undo your selves , and then cry [ Lord Jesus receive my Spirit ] at the last ? What! receive an unholy Spirit ? Will you not knock till the door is shut ? when he telleth you , Math. 7. 21. That it is not every one that will cry Lord , Lord , that shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven , but he that doth the will of his Father which is in Heaven . ] Lastly , consider with what unspeakable joy it will fill thy Soul , to be then received by the Lord. O what a joyful word will it be , when thou shalt hear , [ Come ye blessed of my Father , inherit the Kingdom prepared for you . ] If thou wilt not have this to be thy case , thou shalt see those received to the increase of thy grief , whom thou refusedst here to imitate : There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth , when ye shall see Abraham , Isaac , and Jacob , and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God , and those that from East , West , North and South shall sit there with them , and thou thrust out , ] Luke 13. 27 , 28 , 29. I have been long in this part of my application , having to do with Souls that are ready to depart , and are in so sad an unprepared state , as is not to be thought on but with great compassion : I am next to come to that part of the application , which I chiefly intended ; to those that are the Heirs of Life . II. O You that are members of Jesus Christ , receive this Cordial which may corroborate your hearts against all inordinate fears of Death : Let it come when it will , you may boldly recommend your departing Souls into the hands of Christ . Let it be by a lingring disease , or by an acute , by a natural or a violent death , at the fulness of your age , or in the flower of your youth , death can but separate the Soul from Flesh , but not from Christ , Whether you die poor or rich , at liberty or in prison , in your native Country or a forein Land , whether you be buried in the Earth or cast into the Sea ; death shall but send your Souls to Christ . Though you die under the reproach and slanders of the world , and your names be cast out among men , as evil doers , yet Christ will take your Spirits to himself . Though your Souls depart in fear and trembling , though they want the sense of the Love of God , and doubt of pardon and peace with him , yet Christ will receive them . I know thou wilt be ready to say , that thou art unworthy , [ Will he receive so unworthy a Soul as mine ? ] But if thou be a member of Christ , thou art worthy in him to be accepted . Thou hast a worthiness of Aptitude , and Christ hath a worthiness of merit . The day that cometh upon such at unawares that have their hearts over-charged with surfeiting , drunkenness , and the cares of this life , and as a snare surprizeth the inhabitants of the earth , shall be the day of thy great deliverance : Watch therefore and pray alwayes that you way be accounted worthy to escape all those things that shall come to pass , and to stand before the son of man ; Luke . 21. 34 , 35 , 36. They that are accounted worthy to obtain that world , can die no more ; for they are equal to the Angels , and are the children of God , Luke 20. 35 , 36. Object . O but my sins are great and many ; and will Christ ever receive so ignorant , so earthly and impure a Soul as mine ? Answ . If he have freed thee from the reign of sin , by giving thee a Will that would fain be fully delivered from it , and given thee a desire to be perfectly holy , he will finish the work that he hath begun ; and will not bring thee defiled into Heaven , but will wash thee in his Blood , and separate all the remnant of corruption from thy Soul , when he separateth thy Soul from flesh : There needs no purgatory but his blood and Spirit in the instant of death shall deliver thee , that he may present thee spotless to the Father . O fear not then to trust thy Soul with him that will Receive it : And fear not death , that can do thee no more harm . And when once thou hast overcome the fears of death , thou wilt be the more resolute in thy duty , and faithful to Christ , and above the power of most temptations , and wilt not fear the face of man , when Death is the worst that man can bring thee to . It is true , Death is dreadful : but it is as true that the arms of Christ are joyful . It is an unpleasing thing to leave the Bodies of our friends in the earth : but it is unspeakable pleasure to their Souls , to be Received into the Heavenly society by Christ . And how confidently , quietly , and comfortably you may commend your departing Spirits to be received by Christ , be informed by these considerations following . 1 , Your Spirits are Christs own : And may you not trust him with his own ? As they are his by the title of creation , ( All Souls are mine , saith the Lord Ezek. 18. 4. ) So also by the title of redemption : We are not our own , we are bought with a price , 1 Cor. 6. 19. Say therefore to him , [ Lord I am thine much more than my own ; Receive thine own ; Take care of thine own ! Thou drewest me to consent to thy gracious Covenant , and I resigned my self and all I had to thee ! and thou swarest to me , and I became thine , ( Ezek. 16. 8. ) : and I stand to the Covenant that I made , though I have offended thee ! I am sinful , but I am thine , and would not forsake thee ! and change my Lord and Master for a world : O know thine own , and own my Soul that hath owned thee , though it hath sinned against thee : Thy sheep know thy voice , and follow not a stranger : Now know thy poor sheep , and leave them not to the devourer : Thy Lambs have been preserved by thee among Wolves in the world : Preserve me now from the enemy of souls . I am thine , O save me , ( Psalm 119. 94. ) and lose not that which is thine own . 2. Consider that thou art his upon so dear a purchace , as that he is the more engaged to receive thee . Hath he bought thee by the price of his most precious blood , and will he cast thee off : Hath he come down on earth to seek and save thee , and will he now forsake thee ? Hath he lived in flesh a life of poverty , and suffered reproach , and scorn , and buffetings , and been nailed to the Cross , and put to cry out , [ My God , My God , why hast thou forsaken me ! ] And will he now forget his love , and sufferings , and himself forsake thee after this ? Did he himself on the Cross , commend his spirit into his Father's hands , and will he not receive thy spirit when thou at death commendest it to him ? He hath known himself what it is to have a humane soul separated from the body , and the body buried in a grave , and there lamented by surviving friends : And why did he this , but that he might be fit to receive and relieve thee in the like condition ? O who would not be encouraged to encounter death , and lie down in a grave , that believeth that Christ did so before him , and considereth why he went that way , and what a Conquest he hath made . I know an Argument from the Death of Christ , will not prove his love to the souls of the ungodly , so as to infer that he wil receive them : but it will prove his Reception of Believers souls : [ He that spared not his own Son , but gave him up for us all , how shall he not with him also freely give us all things ! ] Rom. 8. 32. is an infallible argument as to Believers , but not as to those that do reject him . Say therefore to him , [ O my Lord ! Can it be that thou couldst come down in flesh , and be abused , and spit upon , and slandred , and crucified ! that thou couldst bleed , and die , and be buried for me , and now be unwilling to receive me ! that thou shoulds pay so dear for souls , and now refuse to entertain them ! that thou shouldst die to save them from the devil , and now wilt leave them to his cruelty : that thou hast conquered him , and yet wilt suffer him at last to have the prey ! To whom can a departing soul fly for refuge and for entertainment , if not to thee that diedst for souls , and sufferedst thine to be separated from the flesh , that we might have all assurance of thy compassion unto ours ! ] Thou didst openly declare upon the Cross , that the reason of thy dying was to Receive departed souls , when thou didst thus encourage the soul of a penitent Malefactor , by telling him , [ This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise . ] O give the same encouragement or entertainment to this sinful soul that flyeth unto thee , and trusteth in thy death and merits , and is coming to receive thy doom . ] 3. Consider that Jesus Christ is full of Love , and tender compassion to souls : What his tears over Lazarus compelled the Jews to say , John 11. 36. [ Behold how he loved him ! ] the same his incarnation , life and death should much more stir us up to say , with greater admiration , [ Behold how he loved us ! ] The foregoing words , though the shortest verse in all the Bible , [ vers . 35. Jesus wept , ] are long enough to prove his love to Lazarus : and the Holy Ghost would not have the tears of Christ to be unknown to us , that his love may be the better known . But we have a far larger demonstration of his love : He loved us , and gave himself for us , Gal. 2. 20. And by what gift could he better testifie his love ? He loved us , and washed us in his blood , Rev. 1. 5. He loveth us as the Father loveth him , John 15. 9. And may we not comfortably go to him that loveth us ? will Love refuse us when we fly unto him ? Say then to Christ [ O thou that hast loved my soul , Receive it ! I commend it not unto an enemy : Can that Love reject me and cast me into hell , that so oft embraced me on earth , and hath declared it self by such ample testimonies ? ] O had we but more love to Christ , we should be more sensible of his love to us , and then we should trust him , and love would make us hasten to him , and with confidence cast our selves upon him . 4. Consider that it is the Office of Christ to save souls , and to receive them , and therefore we may boldly recommend them to his hands . The Father sent him to be the Saviour of the world , 1 John 4. 14. And he is effectively the Saviour of his body , Eph. 5. 23. And may we not trust him in his undertaken office , that would trust a Physician or any other in his office , if we judge him faithful ? Yea , he is engaged by Covenant to Receive us : When we gave up our selves to him , he also became ours ; and we did it on this condition , that he should receive and save us : And it was the condition of his own undertaking : He drew the Covenant himself , and tendred it first to us , and assumed his own Conditions , as he imposed ours . Say then to him , [ My Lord , I expect but the performance of thy Covenants , and the discharge of thine undertaken Of●●ce : As thou hast caused me to believe in thee , and ●●●…e and serve thee , and perform the conditions which ●●…ou laidst on me , though with many sinful failings which thou hast pardoned : so now let my soul that hath trusted on thee , have the full experience of thy fidelity , and take me to thy self according to thy Covenant . O now remember the word unto thy servant , upon which thou hast caused him to hope ! ( Psalm 119. 49. ) How many precious promises hast thou left us , that we shall not be forsaken by thee , but that we shall be with thee where thou art , that we may behold thy glory ! For this cause art thou the Mediator of the New Covenant , that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament , they which are called might receive the promise of eternal Inheritance : ( Heb. 9. 15. ) According to thy Covenant , Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is , and of that which is to come , 1 Tim. 4. 8. and when we have done thy will ( notwithstanding our lamentable imperfections ) we are to receive the promise , Heb. 10. 36. O now receive me into the Kingdom which thou hast promised to them that love thee , James 1. 12. 5. Consider how able Christ is to answer thine expectations : All power is given him in Heaven and Earth , Matth. 28. 19. and All things are given by the Father into his hands , John 13. 3. All Judgment is committed to him , John 5. 22. It is fully in his power to receive and save thee : And Satan cannot touch thee but by his consent : [ Fear not then , he is the First and Last , that liveth , and was dead , and behold he liveth for evermore , Amen ; and hath the Keys of Hell and Death . ] Rev. 1. 17 , 18. Say then , If thou wilt Lord , thou canst save this departing soul ! O say but the word , and I shall live : Lay but thy rebuke upon the destroyer , and he shall be restrained : When my Lord and dearest Saviour hath the Keys , how can I be kept out of thy Kingdom ? or cast into the burning lake ? Were it a matter of Difficulty unto thee , my soul might fear lest Heaven would not be opened to it : But thy Love hath overcome the hindrances : and it is as easie to receive me as to Love me . ] 6. Consider how perfectly thy Saviour is acquainted with the place that thou art going to , and the company and employment which thou must there have : and therefore as there is nothing strange to him , so the ignorance and strangeness in thy self should therefore make thee fly to him , and trust him , and recommend thy soul to him , and say , [ Lord , it would be terrible to my departing soul , to go into a world that I never saw , and into a place so strange , and unto company so far above me ; but that I know there is nothing strange to thee , and thou knowest it for me , and I may better trust thy knowledg than mine own : when I was a child , I knew not my own inheritance , nor what was necessary to the daily provisions for my life ; but my parents knew it , that cared for me : The eyes must see for all the body , and not every member see for it self ; O cause me as quietly and believingly to commit my Soul to thee , to be possessed of the Glory which thou seest and possessest , as if I had seen and possessed it my self : ad let thy knowledg be my trust . ] 7. Consider , That Christ hath provided a glorious receptacle for faithful Souls ; and it cannot be imagined that he will lose his preparations , or be frustrate of his end . All that he did and suffered on earth , was for this end . He therefore became the Captain of our salvation , and was made perfect through sufferings , that he might bring many sons to glory , Heb. 2. 10. He hath taken possession in our Nature , and is himself interceding for us in the Heavens , Heb. 7. 25. And for whom doth he provide this Heavenly Building not made with hands , but for Believers ? If therefore any inordinate fear surprize thee , remember what he hath said , John 14. 1 , 2 , 3. [ Let not your hearts be troubled ; ye believe in God , believe also in me : In my Fathers house are many mansions ; if it were nor so , I would have told you : I go to prepare a place for you : And if I go and prepare a place for you , I will come again and receive you unto my self , that where I am , there ye may be also . Say therefore , [ Lord , when thou hadst made this lower narrow world , thou wouldst not leave it uninhabited : for Man thou madest it , and Man thou placedst in it . And when thou hast prepared that more capacious glorious World , for thy redeemed flock , it cannot be that thou wilt shut them out . O therefore receive my fearful Soul , and help me to obey thine own command , Luke 12. 32. Fear not , little flock , for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the kingdom . ] O let me hear that joyful Sentence , Matth. 25. 34. Come ye blessed of my Father , inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world . ] 8. Consider , That Christ hath received thy Soul unto Grace , and therefore he will receive it unto Glory . He hath quickned us who were dead in trespasses and sins , wherein in time past we walked , &c. But God , who is rich in mercy , for his great love wherewith he loved us , even when we were dead in sins and trespasses , quickned us together with Christ , and raised us up together , and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus , Ephes . 2. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6. The State of Grace is the kingdom of heaven , as well as the State of Glory , Matth. 3. 2. & 10. 7. & 13. 11 , 24 , 31 , 33 , 44 , 45 , 47. By Grace thou hast the heavenly birth and nature : We are first born to trouble and sorow in the World ; but we are new born to everlasting joy and pleasure . Grace maketh us Heirs , and giveth us Title ; and therefore at death we shall have possession . The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ , according to his abundant mercy , hath begotten us again unto a lively hope , by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead , to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled , and that fadeth not away , reserved in Heaven for us , 1 Peter 1. 3 , 4. The great work was done in the day of thy Renovation : Then thou wast entred into the houshold of God , and made a fellow Citizen with the Sants , and receivedst the Spirit of adoption , Eph. 2. 19. Gal. 4. 6. He gave thee life eternal when he gave the knowledge of himself and of his Son , John 17. 3. And will he now take from thee the Kingdom which he hath given thee ? Thou wast once his Enemy , and he hath Received thee already into his favour , and reconciled thee to himself : and will he not then receive thee to his Glory ? Rom. 5. 8 , 9 , 10 , 11. God commendeth his Love towards us , in that while we were yet sinners , Christ dyed for us : Much more then being now justified by his blood , we shall be saved from wrath through him . For if when we were enemies , we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son ; much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life : And not only so , but we also joy in God , through our Lord Jesus Christ , by whom we have now received the attonement . ] And when we have peace with God , being justifiied by faith , ( Rom. 5. 1. ) why should we doubt whether he will receive us ? The great impediments and cause of fear are now removed : Unpardoned sin is taken away : Our debt is discharged . We have a sufficient Answer against all that can be alledged to the prejudice of our Souls ; yea , it is Christ himself that answereth for us , It is he that justifieth , Who then shall condemn us ? Will he not justifie those at last , whom he hath here justified ? Or will he justifie us , and yet not receive us ? That were both to justifie and condemn us . Depart then in peace , O fearful Soul : Thou fallest into his hands that hath justified thee by his Blood ; will he deny thee the Inheritance of which he himself hath made thee Heir ? yea , a Joynt-heir with himself , Rom. 8. 17. Will he deprive thee of thy Birth-right , who himself begot thee of the incorruptible Seed ? If he would not have received thee to Glory , he would not have drawn thee to himself , and have blotted out thine Iniquities , and received thee by reconciling Grace . Many a time he hath received the secret Petitions , Complaints , and Groans which thou hast poured out before him , and hath given thee access with boldness to his Throne of Grace , when thou couldst not have access to Man ; and he hath taken thee up , when Man hath cast thee off . Surely he that received thee so readily in thy distress , will not now at last repent him of his love . As Manoah's Wife said , Judges 13. 23. If the Lord were pleased to kill us , he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands , neither would he have shewed us all these things . ] He hath received thee into his Church , and entertained thee with the delights and fatness of his House ( Psalm , 36. 8. ) and bid thee welcome to his Table , and feasted thee , with his Body and his Blood , and communicated in these his quickning Spirit : And will he then disown thee ▪ and refuse thee , when thou drawest nearer him , and art cast upon him for thy final doom ? After so many receptions in the way of Grace , dost thou yet doubt of his Receiving thee ? 9 , Consider , How nearly thou art related to him in this state of Grace : Thou art his Child ; and hath he not the bowels of a Father ? when thou didst ask bread , he was not used to give thee a stone : and will he give thee Hell , when thou askest but the entertainment in Heaven , which he hath promised thee ? Thou art his friend , John 15. 14. 15. and will he not receive his friends ? Thou art his Spouse , betrothed to him the very day when thou consentedst to his Covenant ; and where then shouldst thou live but with him ? Thou art a member of his body , of his flesh and bone , Eph. 5. 30. and no man ever yet hated his own flesh , but nourisheth and cherisheth it , even as the Lord the Church , ver . 29. As he came down in flesh to be a Suitor to thee , so he caused thee to let go all for him ; and will he now forsake thee ? Suspect it not ; but quietly resign thy soul into his hands , and say , [ Lord take this Soul , that pleads Relation to thee : It is the voice of thy Child that cryeth to thee : The name of a Father , which thou hast assumed towards me , is my encouragement : When thou didst call us 〈◊〉 out of the world unto thee , thou saidst , [ I will receive you , and I will be a Father to you , and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters , 2 Cor. 6. 17 , 18 , O our Father which art in Heaven , shut not out thy Children ; the Children of thy love and promise : The compassion that thou hast put into Man , ingageth him to relieve a Neighbour , ●ea an Enemy ; much more to entertain a Child : Our Children and our Friends dare trust themselves upon our kindness and fidelity ; and fear not that we will reject them in their distress , or destroy them , though they do sometime offend us : Our kindness is cruelty in comparison of thine : Our Love dserveth not the name of Love , in comparison of thy most precious Love : Thine is the love of God , who is Love it self , ( 1 Joh. 4. 8 , 16. ) and who is the God of Love ? ( 2 Cor. 1. 13 , 11. ) and is answerable to thine Omnipotency , Omniscience , and other Attributes ? But ours is the love of frail and finite sinful men : As we may pray to thee to Forgive us our trespasses , for we also forgive those that have trespassed against us : So we may pray to thee to receive us , though we have offended thee ; for even we receive those that have offended us : Hath thy Love unto thine own its breadth and length , and height , and depth , and is it such as passeth knowledge ( Ephes . 3. 17 , 18 , 19. ) and yet canst thou exclude thine own , and shut them out that cry unto thee ? Can that love which washed me , and took we home , when I lay wallowing in my Blood , reject me , when it hath so far recovered me ? Can that Love now thrust me out of Heaven , that lately fetch'd me from the gates of Hell , and placed me among thy Saints ? Whom thou lovest , thou lovest to the end , John 13. 1. Thou art not as man that thou shouldst repent , ( Num. 23. 19. ) with thee is no variablenes or shadow of turning : ( Jam. 1. 17. ) If yesterday thou so freely lovedst me , as to adopt me for thy child , thou wilt not to day refuse me and cast me into Hell. Receive Lord Jesus a member of thy body : A weak one indeed , but yet a member , and needeth the more thy tenderness and compassion , who hast taught us not to cast out our Infants , because they are small and weak : We have forsaken all to cleave unto thee , that we might with thee be one flesh and spirit , Ephes . 5. 31. 1 Cor. 6. 17. O cut not off and cast not out thy members that are engrafted into thee ! Thou hast dwelt in me here by faith ; and shall I not now dwell with thee ? ( Ephes . 3. 17. ) Then hast prayed to the Father , that we may be one in thee , and may be with thee to behold thy Glory , ( John 17. 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24. ) And wilt thou deny to receive me to that glory , who pray but for what thou hast prayed to thy Father ? Death maketh no separation between thee and the members : It dissolveth not the union of souls with thee , though it separate them from the flesh : And shall a part of thy self be rejected and condemned ? 10. Consider , That Christ hath sealed thee up unto salvation , and given thee the earnest of his Spirit ; and therfore will certainly receive thee , 2 Cor. 1. 22. and 5. 5 Eph. 1. 13 , 14. and 4. 30. Say therefore to him , [ Behold Lord , thy mark ▪ thy feal , thine earnest : Flesh and blood did not illuminate , and renew me : Thy spirit which thou hast given me , is my witness that I am thine , Rom. 8. 16 And wilt thou disown and refuse the soul that thou hast sealed ? ] 11. Consider , That he that hath given thee a Heavenly mind , will certainly Receive thee into heaven : If thy treasure were not there , thy heart would never have been there , Mat. 6. 21. Thy weak desires do shew what he intends thee he for , kindled not those desires in vain . Thy Love to him ( though too small ) is a certain proof that he intends not to reject thee : It cannot be that God can damn , or Christ refuse a Soul that doth sincerely Love him : He that Loveth , dwelleth in God , and God in him , 1 John 4. 15 , 16. And shall he not then dwell with God for ever ? God fitteth the nature of every creature to its use , and agreeably to the element in which they dwell : And therefore when he gave thee the heavenly nature , ( though but in weak beginnings ) it shewed his will to make thee an inhabitant of heaven . Say therefore to him , [ O Lord , I had never loved thee if thou hadst not begun and loved me first : I had not not minded thee , or desired after thee , if thou hadst not kindled these desires : It cannot be that thy Grace it self should be a deceit and misery , and intended but to Tantalizeus ; and that thou hast set thy Servants Souls on longing for that which thou wilt never give them . Thou wouldst not have given me the wedding garment , when thou didst invite me , if thou hadst meant to keep me out : Even the grain of mustard-seed which thou sowedst in my heart , was a kind of Promise of the Happiness to which it tendeth ▪ indeed I have loved thee so little , that I am ashamed of my self , and confess my cold indifferency deserves thy wrath : But that I Love thee and desire thee is thy gift , which signifieth the higher satisfying gift : Though I am cold and dull , my eyes are towards thee ; It is thee that I mean when I can but groan : It is long since I have bid this world away ; It shall not be my home or portion : O perfect what thou hast begun : This is not the time or place of my perfection : And though my life be now hid with thee in God , when then appearest , let me appear with thee in glory , Col. 3. 4. and in the mean time let this soul enjoy its part , that appeareth before thee : Give me what thou hast caused me to Love , and then I shall more perfectly love thee , when my thirst is satisfied , and the water which thou hast given me , shall spring up to everlasting life , Joh. 4. 14. 12. Consider also , That he that hath engaged thee to seek first his Kingdom , is engaged to give it them that do sincerely seek it . He called thee off the pursuit of vanity , when thou wast following the pleasures and profits of the world ; and he called thee to labour for the food that perisheth not , but endureth to everlasting life , John 6. 27. Since then it hath been thy care and business , ( notwithstanding all thine imperfections ) to seek and serve him , to please and honour him , and so to run that thou mightest obtain . Say then , [ Though my sins deserve thy wrath , and nothing that I have done deserve thy favour , yet Godliness hath thy Promise of the Life to come ; and thou hast said , that he that seeks shall find , Matth. 7. 7. 8. O now let me find the Kingdom that I have sought , and sought by thy encouragement and help : It cannot be that any should have cause to repent of serving thee , or suffer disappointment that trusts upon thee : My labour for the World was lost and vain ; but thou didst engage me to be stedfast and abound in thy work , on this account that my labour should not be in vain , 1 Cor. 15. 58. Now give the full and final answer unto all my Prayers : Now that I have done the fight , and finished my course , let me find the Crown of righteousness which thy mercy hath laid up , 2 Tim. 4. 8. O Crown thy graces , and with thy greatest mercies recompence and perfect thy preparatory mercies , and let me be Received to thy glory , who have been guided by thy counsel , ( Psalm . 73. 24. ) 13. Consider , That Christ hath already received millions of Souls , and never was unfaithful unto any , There are now with him the spirits of the just made perfect , that in this life were imperfect as well as you . Why then should you not comfortably trust him with your Souls ? and say , [ Lord thou art the Common Salvation and refuge of thy Saints : Both strong and weak , even all that are given thee by the Father shall come to thee ; and those that come thou wilt in no wise cast out : Thousands have been entertained by thee , that were unworthy in themselves as well as I : It is few of thy members that are now on earth , in comparison of those that are with thee in Heaven : Admit me Lord into the new Jerusalem : Thou wilt have thy house to be filled : O take my Spirit into the number of those belssed ones , that shall come from East , West , North and South , and sit down with Abraham , Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom , that we may together with eternal joyes , give thanks and praise to thee that hast redeemed us to God by thy blood . 14. Consider , That it is the will of the Father himself that we should be glorified : He therefore gave us to his Son ; and gave his Son for us , to be our Saviour , that whoever believeth in him , should not perish , but have everlasting life : All our Salvation is the product of his Love , Joh. 3. 16 , 17. Eph. 2. 4. Joh. 6. 37. Joh. 16. 26 , 27. I say not that I will pray the Father for you ; for the Father himself loveth you , because ye have loved me , &c. ] John 14. He that loveth me , shall be loved of my Father , and I will love him , and will manifest my self to him . Say therefore with our dying Lord , [ Father , into thy hands I commend my Spirit : By thy Son who is the way , the truth and the life , I come to thee , ( Joh. 14. 6. ) Fulness of joy is in thy presence , and everlasting pleasures at thy right hand ( Psalm . 16. 11. ) Thy love redeemed me , renewed and preserved me : O now receive me to the fulness of thy Love : This was thy will in sending thy Son , that of all that thou gavest him he should lose nothing , but should raise it up at the last day . O let not now this Soul be lost that is passing to thee through the straits of death ! I had never come unto thy Son , if thou hadst not drawn me ; and if I had not heard and learnt of thee , John 6 , 44 , 45. I thank thee O Father , Lord of Heaven and Earth , that thou hast revealed to me a babe , an ideot , the blessed mysteries of thy Kingdom : ( Luk. 10. 21. Acts 4 13. ) O now as the vail of flesh must be withdrawn , and my soul be parted from this body , withdraw the vail of thy displeasure , and shew thy servant the glory of thy presence : that he that hath seen thee but as in a glass , may see thee now with open face : and when my earthly house of this Tabernacle is dissolved , let me inhabit thy building not made with hands , eternal in the heavens , 2 Cor. 5. 1. 15. Lastly consider , That God hath designed the everlasting glory of his name , and the pleasing of his blessed will , in our salvation : And the Son must triumph in the perfection of his conquest of Sin and Satan , and in the perfecting of our Redemption . And doubtless he will not lose his Fathers glory and his own : Say then with confidence , [ I resign my soul to thee O Lord who hast called and chosen me , that thou mightest make known the riches of thy glory on me , as a vessel of mercy prepared unto glory , ( Rom. 9. 23. ) Thou hast predestinated me to the adoption of thy child by Christ unto thy self , to the praise of the glory of thy grace , wherein thou hast made me accepted in thy beloved , ( Eph. 1. 5 , 6 , 11 , 12 ) Receive me now to the glory which thou hast prepared for us , Mat. 25. 34. ) The hour is at hand , Lord glorifie thy poor adopted child , that he may for ever glorify thee ( Joh. 17. 1. ) It is thy Promise to glorify those whom thou dost justify , ( Rom. 8. 30. ) As therere is no condemnation to them that are in Christ , ( Rom. 8. 1. ) so now let him present me faultless before the presence of the glory with exceeding joy , And to thee the only wise God our Saviour , be the glory , Majesty Dominion and Power for evermore , Amen . : Jude v. 23 , 24. WHat now remaineth , but that we all set our selves to learn this sweet and necessary task , that we may joyfully perform it in the hour of our extremity , even to recommend our departing Souls to Christ , with confidence that he will receive them ! It is a lesson not easie to be learnt : For Faith is weak , and doubts , and fears will easily arise ; and nature will be loth to think of dying ; and we that have so much offended Christ , and lived so strangely to him , and been entangled in too much familiarity with the World , shall be apt to shrink when we should joyfully trust him with our departing Souls . O therefore now set your selves to overcome these difficulties in time ! You know we are all ready to depart : It is time this last important work were throughly learned , that our death may be both safe and comfortable . There are divers other Uses of this Doctrine that I should have urged upon you , had there been time . As , 1. If Christ will Receive your departing Souls , then fear not death , but long for this Heavenly entertainment . 2. Then do not sin for fear of them that can but kill the body , and send the Soul to Christ . 3. Then think not the righteous unhappy , because they are cast off by the world ; neither be too much troubled at it your selves , when it comes to be your case : but remember that Christ will not forsake you , and that none can hinder him from the Receiving of your Souls : No malice nor slanders can follow you so far as by defamation to make your justifyer condemn you . 4. If you may trust him with your Souls , then trust him with your friends , your Children that you must leave behind , with all your concernments and affairs ; and trust him with his Gospel and his Church ; for they are all his own , and he will prevail to the accomplishment of his blessed pleasure . But , 5. I shall only add that Use which the sad occasion of our meeting doth bespeak . What cause have we now to mix our sorrows for our deceased friend , with the joyes of faith for her felicity ! we have left the body to the earth , and that is our lawful sorrow ; for it is the fruit of sin : But her spirit is Received by Jesus Christ : and that must be our joy , if we will behave our selves as true Believers . If we can suffer with her , should we not rejoyce also with her ? And if the joy be far greater to the Soul with Christ , than the ruined state of the body can be lamentable ; it is but reason that our joy should be greater for her joy , than our sorrow for the dissolution of the flesh . we that should not much lament the passage of a friend beyond the Seas , if it were to be advanced to a Kingdom , should less lament the passage of a Soul to Christ , if it were not for the remnant of our woful unbelief . She is arrived at the everlasting Rest , where the burden of corruption , the contradictions of the flesh , the molestations of the Tempter , the troubles of the world , and the injuries of malicious men , are all kept out , and shall never more disturb her peace . She hath left us in these storms , who have more cause to weep for our selves and for our Children that have yet so much to do and suffer , and so many dangers to pass through , than for the Souls that are at Rest with Christ . We are capable of no higher hopes than to attain that state of blessedness which her Soul possesseth : And shall we make that the matter of our lamentation as to her , which we make the matter of our hopes as to our selves ? Do we labour earnestly to come thither , and yet lament that she is there ? You will say , It is not because she is cloathed upon with the house from Heaven , but that she is uncloathed of the flesh : But is there any other passage than Death unto immortality ? Must we not be uncloathed , before the garments of Glory can be put on ? She bemoaneth not her own dissolved Body : The glorified Soul can easily bear the corruption of the flesh : And if you saw but what the Soul enjoyeth , you would be like minded , and be moderate in your griefs . Love not your selves so as to be unjust and unmerciful in your desires to your friends ! Let Satan desire to keep them out of Heaven , but do not you desire it . You may desire your own good , but not so as to deprive your friends of theirs ; yea of a greater good , that you may have a lesser by it . And if it be their company that you desire in reason you should be glad that they are gone to dwell where you must dwell for ever , and therefore may for ever have their company : Had they stayed on earth , you would have had their company but a little while , because you must make so short a stay your selves . Let them therefore begin their journy before you , and grudge not that they are first at home , as long as you expect to find them there . In the mean time , he that called them from you , hath not left you comfortless : He is with you himself , who is better than a Mother , or than ten thousand friends : When grief or negligence hindereth you from observing him , yet he is with you , and holdeth you up , and tenderly provideth for you : Though turbulent passions injuriously question all his Love , and cause you to give him unmannerly and unthankful words ; yet still he beareth with you , and forgiveth all , and doth not forsake you for your peevishness and weakness , because you are his Children , and he knoweth that you mean not to forsake him : Rebuke your passions , and calm your minds ; Reclaim your thoughts , and cast away the bitterness of suspicious quarrelsome unbelief ; and then you may perceive the presence of your dearest friend and Lord , who is enough for you , though you had no other friend . Without him all the friends on earth would be but silly comforters , and leave you as at the gates of Hell : Without him all the Angels and Saints in Heaven would never make it a Heaven to you . Grieve not too much that one of your Candles is put out , while you have the Sun : Or if indeed it be not day with any of you , or the Sun be clouded or ecclipsed , let that rather be the matter of your grief : Find out the cause , and presently submit , and seek reconciliation : Or if you are deprived of this Light , because you are yet asleep in sin , hearken to his call , and rub your eyes , Eph. 5. 14. Awake thou that sleepest , and arise from the dead , and Christ shall give thee light . Rom. 13. 11 , 12 , 13 , 14. Knowing that it is now high time to awake out of sleep , our salvation being nearer than when we first believed : the night is far spent , the day of eternal light is even at hand : cast off therefore the works of darkness , and put on all the armour of light : walk honestly and decently as in the day . And whatever you do , make sure of the friend that never dyeth , and never shall be separated from you , and when you die , will certainly Receive the souls which you commend unto him . And here , though contrary to my custom , I shall make some more particular mention of our deceased friend , on several accounts . 1. In prosecution of this Use that now we are upon , that you may see in the evidences of her happiness , how little cause you have to indulge extraordinary grief on her account , and how much cause to moderate your sense of our loss with the sense of her felicity . 2. That you many have the benefit of her example for your imitation , especially her Children that are bound to observe the holy actions as well as instructions of a Mother . 3. For the honour of Christ , and his Grace , and his Servant : For as God hath promised to honour those that honour him , 1 Sam 2. 30. and Christ hath said , If any man serve me , him will My Father honour , John 12. 26. So I know Christ will not take it ill to be honoured in his members , and to have his Ministers subserve him in so excellent a work : It is a very considerable part of the love or hatred , honour or dishonour that Christ hath in the world , which he receiveth as he appeareth in his followers . He that will not see a cup of cold water given to one of them go unrewarded , and will tell those at the last day that did or did not visit and relieve them , that they did or did it not to him , will now expect it from me as my duty , to give him the honour of his Graces in his deceased servant , and I doubt not will accordingly accept it , when it is no other indeed than his own honour that is my End , and nothing but the words of Truth and Soberness shall be the means . And here I shall make so great a transition as shall retain my discourse in the narrow compass of the Time in which she lived near me and under my care , and in my familiar acquaintance , omitting all the rest of her life , that none may say I speak but by hear-say of things which I am uncertain of : and I will confine it also to those special gifts and graces in which she was eminent , that I may not take you up with a description of a Christian as such , and tell you only of that good which she held but in common with all other Christians . And if any thing that I shall say were unknown to any Reader that knew her , let them know that it is because they knew her but distantly , imperfectly , or by reports ; and that my advantage of near acquaintance did give me a just assurance of what I say . The Graces . which I discerned to be eminent in her , were these . 1. She was eminent in her contempt of the Pride , and Pomp , and Pleasure , and Vanity of the World , and in her great averseness to all these . She had an honest impatiency of the life which is common among the rich and vain-glorious in the world : Voluptuousness and Sensuality , Excess of Drinking , Cards and Dice , she could not endure , what ever names of good house-keeping or seemly deportment they borrowed for a mask : In her Apparel she went below the garb of others of her rank ; indeed in such plainness as did not notifie her degree : but yet in such a grave and decent habit , as notified her Sobriety and humility : She was a Stranger to Pastimes , and no Companion for Time-wasters , as knowing , that Persons so near eternity , that have so short a life and so great a work , have no time to spare . Accordingly in her latter dayes , she did ( as those that grow wise by experience of the vanity of the world ) retire from it , and cast it off before it cast off her : She betook her self to the society of a people that were low in the world , of humble , serious , upright lives , though such as had been wholly strangers to her : And among these poor inferiour strangers she lived in contentent and quietness ; desiring rather to converse with those that would help her to redeem the time , in prayer and edifying conference , than with those that would grieve her by consuming it on their lusts . 2. She was very prudent in her converse and affairs ( allowing for the passion of her sex and age ) ; and so escaped much of the inconveniences that else in so great and manifold businesses would have overwhelmed her : As a good man will guide his affairs with discretion , Psalm 112. 5. so discretion will preserve him , and understanding will keep him , to deliver him from the way of the evil man , who leaveth the paths of uprightness to walk in the way of darkness , Proverbs 2. 11 , 12 , 13. 3. She was seriously Religious , without partiallity , or any taint of siding or faction , or holding the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ in respect of persons : I never heard speak against men , or for men , as they differed in some small and tolerable things : She impartially heard any Minister that was able , and godly , and sound in the main , and could bear with the weaknesses Ministers when they were faithful : Instead of owning the names or opinions of Prelatical , Presbyterian , Independent , or such like , she took up with the name and profession of a Christian , and loved a Christian as a Christian , without much respect to such different tolerable opinions . Instead of troubling her self with needless scruples , and making up a Religion of opinions and singularities , she studied Faith and Godliness , and lived upon the common certain truths , and well-known duties , which have been the old and beaten way , by which the universal Church of Christ hath gone to heaven in former Ages . 4. She was very impartial in her judgment about particular cases : being the same in judging of the case of a child and a stranger : and no interest of children or other relations , could make her swerve from an equal judgment : 5. She very much preferred the spiritual welfare of her children before their temporal ; looking on the former as the true felicity , and on the later without it , but as a pleasant voluntary misery . 6. Since I was acquainted with her , I alwayes found her very ready to good works , according to her power . And when she hath seen a poor man come to me , that she conjectured solicited me for relief , she hath reprehended me for keeping the case to my self , and not inviting her to contribute : And I could never descern that she thought any thing so well bestowed , as that which relieved the necessities of the poor that were honest and industrious . 7. She had the wonderful mercy of a man-like Christian patient spirit , under all afflictions that did befal her , and under the multitude of troublesome businesses , that would have even distracted an impatient mind . Though sudden anger was the sin that she much confest her self , and therefore thought she wanted patience , yet I have oft wondered to see her bear up with the same alacrity and quietness , when Jobs messengers have brought her the tidings that would have overwhelmed an impatient soul . When Law-suits and the great afflictions of her children have assaulted her like successive Waves , which I feared would have born her into the deep , if not devoured all her peace ; she sustained all , as if no great considerable change had been made against her , having the same God , and the same Christ , and promises , and hope , from which she fetcht such real comfort and support , as shewed a real serious faith . 8. She was alwayes apt to put a good interpretation upon Gods providences ; like a right Believer , that having the spirit of Adoption , perceiveth Fatherly love in all : She would not easily be perswaded that God meant her any harm : She was not apt to hearken to the enemy that accuseth God and his wayes to man , as he accuseth man and his actions to God : She was none of those that are suspicious of God , and are still concluding death and ruine from all that he doth to them , and are gathering wrath from mis-interpreted expressions of his love : who weep because of the smoak , before they can be warmed by the fire . Yet God is good to Israel ; aud it shall go well with them that fear before him , ( Psa . 73. 1. Eccles . 8. 12 , 13. ) were her conclusions from the sharpest providences : She expected the morning in the darkest night : and judged not of the end by the beginning ; but was alwayes confident , if she could but entitle God in the case , that the issue would be good . She was not a murmurer against God , nor one that contended with her Maker ; nor one that created calamity to her self by a self-troubling unquiet mind : She patiently bore what God laid upon her , and made it not heavier by the additions of uncomfortable prognosticks , and misgiving or repining thoughts . She had a great confidence in God , that he was doing good to her and hers in all ; and where at present she saw any matter of grief , she much supported her soul with a belief that God would remove and overcome it in due time . 9. She was not troubled ( that ever I discerned ) with doubtings about her interest in Christ , and about her own Justification and Salvation : but whether she reached to assurance or not , she had confident apprehensions of the Love of God , and quietly reposed her soul upon his grace . Yet not secure through presumption or self esteem ; but comforting her self in the Lord her God : By this means she spent those hours in a chearful performance of her duty , which many spend in fruitless self-vexation for the failings of their duty , or in meer enquiries , Whether they have Grace or not ? and others spend in wrangling perplexed Controversies about the manner or circumstances of duty : And I believe that she had more comfort from God by way of reward upon her sincere obedience , while she referred her soul to him , and rested on him , than many have that more anxiously perplexed themselves about the discerning of their holiness , when they should be studying to be more holy , that it might discover it self . And by this means she was sit for praises and thanksgiving , and spent not her life in lamentations and complaints : and made not Religion seem terrible to the ignorant , that judge of it by the faces and carriage of professors : She did not represent it to the world , as a morose and melancholy temper : but as the rational creatures cheerful obedience to his maker , actuated by the sense of the wonderful Love that is manifested in the Redeemer , and by the hopes of the purchased and promised felicity in the blessed sight and fruition of God. And I conjecture that her forementioned dispositiou to think well of God and of his providences , together with her long and manifold experience ; ( the great advantage of antient tryed Christians ) did much conduce to free her from doubtings and disquieting fears , about her own sincerity and Salvation . And I confess , if her life had not been answerable to her peace and confidence , I should not have thought the better , but the worse of her condition ; nothing being more lamentable than to make hast to Hell , through a wilful confidence that the danger is past , and that they are in the way to Heaven as well as the most sanctified . 10. Lastly , I esteemed it the height of her attainment , that she never discovered any inordinate fears of death ; but a chearful readiness , willingness and desire , to be dissolved and be with Christ . This was her constant temper both in health and sickness , as far as I was able to observe : She would be frequently expressing how little reason she had to be desirous of longer life , and how much reason to be willing to depart . Divers times in dangerous sicknesses I have been with her , and never discerned any considerable aversness , dejectedness or fear . Many a time I have thought how great a mercy I should esteem it , if I had attained that measure of fearless willingness to lay down this flesh , as she had attained . Many a one that can make light of wants , or threats , or scorns , or any ordinary troubles , cannot submit so quietly and willingly to death : Many a one that can go through the labours of Religion , and contemn opposition , and easily give all they have to the poor , and bear imprisonments , banishment or contempt , can never overcome the fears of Death : so far even the Father of lies spake truth , Joh. 2. 4. Skin for Skin : yea all that a man hath will he give for his Life . I took it therefore for a high attainment , and extraordinary mercy to our deceased friend , that the King of Terrours was not terrible to her : Though I doubt not but somewhat of aversness and fear is so radicated in natures self-preserving principle , as that it is almost inseparable ; yet in her I never discerned any troublesome appearances of it . When I first came to her in the beginning of her last sickness , she suddenly passed the sentence of death upon her self , without any shew of fear or trouble ; when to us the disease appeared not to be great : But when the disease encreased , her pains were so little , and the effect of the Fever was so much in her head , that after this she seemed not to esteem it mortal , being not sensible of her case and danger : And so as she lived without the fears of death , she seemed to us to die without them : God by the nature of her disease removing death as out of her sight , when fhe came to that weakness , in which else the encounter was like to have been sharper than ever it was before . And thus in one of the weaker sex , God hath shewed us that it is possible to live in holy confidence , and peace , and quietness of mind , without distressing griefs or fears , even in the midst of a troublesom world , and of vexatious businesses , and with the afflictions of her dearest Relations almost continually before her : And that our quiet or disquiet , our peace or trouble dependeth more upon our inward strength and temper , then upon our outward state , occasions , or provocations : And that it is more in our hands , than of any or all our friends and enemies , whether we shall have a comfortable , or uncomfortable life . What remaineth now , but that all we that furvive , especially you that are her Children , do follow her as she followed Christ ? Though the Word of God be your sufficient Rule ; and the Example of Christ be your perfect pattern ; yet as the Instructions , so the Example of a parent must be a weighty motive , to quicken and engage you to your duty ; and will else be a great aggravation of your sin : A holy Child of unholy parents , doth no more than his necessary duty ; because whatever parents are , he hath an holy God : But an unholy Child of holy parents , is unexcusable in sin , and deplorably miserable ; as forsaking the Doctrine and pattern both of their Creator and their Progenitors , whom Nature engageth them to observe : And it will be an aggravation of their deserved misery , to have their Parents witness against them , that they taught them , and they would not learn , and went before them in a holy life , but they would not follow them , Prov. 1. 8. My Son hear the instruction of thy Father , and forsake not the law of thy Mother ; for they shall be an Ornament of Grace unto thy head , and chains about thy neck . Read and consider Prov. 30. 17. and 15. 20. and 23. 22 , 25. sins against Parents have a special curse affixed to them in this life ( as the case of Cham sheweth ) : And the due obsevrance and honouring of Parents hath a special Promise of Temporal Blessings , as the fifth Commandment sheweth , Ephes . 6. 1 , 2 , 3. Children obey your Parents in the Lord for it is right : Honour thy Father and Mother , ( which is the first Commandment with promise ) that it may be well with thee , and thou mayest live long on the earth . ] The Histories of all Ages are so full of the instances of Gods judgements in this life upon five sorts of sinners , as may do much to convince an Atheist of the Government and special Providence of God ; that is upon Persecutors , Murderers , Sacrilegious , False-witnesses ( especially by Perjury ) and Abusers and Dishonourers of Parents . And the great Honour that is due to Parents when they are dead , is to give just honour to their Names , and to obey their Precepts , and imitate their good examples : It is the high commendation of the Rechabites , that they strictly kept the ●recepts of their Father , even in a thing indifferent , a mode of living ; not to drink wine , or build houses , but dwell in tents : an God annexeth this notable blessing , [ Thus saith the Lord of hosts , the God of Israel , because ye have obeyed the commandemtent of Jonadab your Father , and kept all his Precepts , and done according to all that he hath commanded you , Therefore thus siath the Lord of Hosts , the God of Israel , Jonadab the Son of Rechab shall not mant to stand before me for ever . ] Jer. 36. 6 , 7. 18. 19. But especially in the great duties of Religion , where Parents do but deliver the mind of God , and use their authority to procure obedience to Divine authority ; and where the matter it self is necessary to our Salvation , the obligation to obedience and imitation is most indispensable ; and disobedience is an aggravated iniquity , and the notorious brand of infelicity , and Prognostick of ensuiing woe : The ungodly Children of godly Parents being the most deplorable , unhappy , unexcusable persons in the World , ( if they hold on . ) There is yet another Doctrine , that I should speak to . Doct. 7. PRayer in general , and this prayer in particular , that Christ will Receive our dep●rting souls , is a most suitable conclusion of all the action of Christians life . Prayer is the breath of a Christians life : it is his work and highest converse , and therefore fittest to be the concluding action of his life ; that it may reach the end at which he aimed : We have need of Prayer all our lives , because we have need of God , and need of his manifold and continued Grace : But in our last extreamity we have a special need : Though sloath is apt to seize upon us , while prosperity hindreth the sense of our necessities , and health perswadeth us that Time is not near its journies end ; yet it is high time to pray with doubled fervour and importunity , when we see that we are near our last : when we find that we have no more time to pray , but must now speak our last for our immortal Souls , and must at once say all that we have to say and shall never have a hearing more ; O then to be unable to pray , or to be faithless , and heartless , and hopeless in our prayers , would be a calamity beyond expression . Yet I know ( for ordinary observation tells it us ) that many truly gracious persons may accidentally be undisposed and disabled to pray , when they are near to death : If the Disease be such as doth disturb the Brain , or take them up with violence of pain , or overwhelm the mind by perturbation of the passions , or abuse the imagination , or notably waste and debilitate the spirits it cannot be expected that a body thus disabled should serve the Soul , in this or any other duty . But still the praying Habit doth remain , though a distempered body do forbid the exercise : The Habitual desires of the Soul are there : and it is those that are the soul of Prayer . But this should move us , to pray while we have time , and while our Bodies have strength , and our spirits have vigour and alacrity to serve us , seeing we are so uncertain of bodily disposition and capacity , so near our end : O pray , and pray with all your hearts , before any Fever or Deliration overthrow your understandings or your memories ; before your thoughts are all commanded to attend your pains ; and before your decayed spirits fail you , and deny their necessary service to your suits ; and before the apprehensions of your speedy approach to the presence of the most Holy God , and your entrance upon an endless state , do amaze , confound and overwhelm your Souls with fear and perturbation . O Christians , what folly , what sin and shame is it to us , that now while we have time to pray , and leave to pray , and helps to pray , and have no such disturbing hindrances , we should yet want hearts ; and have no mind , no life and fervour for so great a work ! O pray now , lest you are unable to pray then : And if you are then hindred but by such bodily undisposedness , God will understand your habitual desires , and your groans , and take it as if you had actually prayed ; Pray now , that so you may be acquainted with the God that then you must fly unto for mercy , and may not be strangers to him or unto Prayer ; and that he may not find then that your prayers are but the expressions of your fears , and not of your Love , and are constrained and not voluntary motions unto God : Pray now in preparation to your dying prayers . O what a terrible thing it is to be to learn to pray in that hour of extreamity ; and to have then no principle to pray by but natural self-love which every Thief hath at the gallows ! To be then without the Spirit of prayer , when without it there cannot an acceptable word or groan be uttered , and when the rejection of our suits and person , will be the prologue to the final judicial rejection , and will be a distress so grievous as presumptuous Souls will not believe , till sad experience become their Tutor : Can you imagine that you shall then at last , be taught the art of acceptable Prayer , meerly by horrour , and the natural sense of pain and danger , as Sea-men in a storm , or a Malefactor by the rack , when in your health and leasure you will not be perswaded to the daily use of serious Prayer , but number your selves with the families that are under the wrath of the Almighty , being such as call not on his name , Jer. 10. 25. Psalm 79. 6. Indeed there are many prayers must go before , or else this Prayer [ Lord Jesus receive my spirit ] will be in vain , when you would be loth to find it so . You must first pray for renewing Sanctifying grace , for the death of sin , and the Pardon of sin , for a holy life and a Heavenly mind , for obedience , patience and perseverance ; and if you obtain not these , there is no hope that Jesus Christ should receive your Spirits , that never received his sanctifying spirit . How sad is it to observe that those that have most need of Prayer , have least mind to Pray , as being least sensible of their needs ? Yea , that those that are the next step to the state of Devils , and have as much need of Prayer as any miserable souls on earth , do yet deride it , and hate those that seriously and fervently perform it : a man of prayer being the most common objct of their malicious reproach and scorn ! O miserable Cainites , that hate their brethren for offering more acceptable sacrifice then their own ! little do they know how much of the very Satanical nature is in that malice , and in those reproachful scorns ! and little do they know how near they are to the curse and desparation of Cain , and with what horrour they shall cry out , [ My punishment is greater then I can bear ] Gen. 4. 11 , 13. If God and Good men condemn you for your lip-service , and heartless devotions , and ungodly lives ; will you therefore hate the holy nature and better lives of those that judge you , when you should hate your own ungodliness and hypocrisie ? Hear what God said to the leader of your sect , Gen 4. 6. Why art thou wroth ? and why is thy countenance faln ? If thou do well , shalt thou not be accepted ? and if thou dost not well , sin lyeth at the door . ] Have you not as much need to pray as those that you hate and reproach for praying ? Have you not as much need to be oft and earnest in prayer as they ? Must Christ himself spend whole nights in prayer , Luke 6. 12. and shall an ignorant sensual hardened sinner think he hath no need of it , though he be unconverted , unjustified , unready to die , and almost past the opportunity of praying ? O miserable men , that shortly would cry and roar in the anguish of their Souls , and yet will not pray while there is time and room for prayer ! Their judge is willing now to hear them , and now they have nothing but hypocritical lifeless words to speak ! Praying is now a wearisom , tedions and unpleasant thing to them , that shortly would be glad if the most heart-tearing lamentations could prevail for the crums and drops of that mercy which they thus despise , Luke 16. 24. Of all men in the world , it ill becomes one in so deep necessities and dangers to be prayerless . But for you Christians , that are daily exercised in this holy converse with your Maker , hold on , and grow not strange to heaven , and let not your holy desires be extinguished for want of excitation : Prayer is your ascent to heaven ; your departure from a vexatious world , to treat with God for your Salvation : your retirement from a World of dangers into the impregnable fortress where you are safe ; and from vanity unto felicity ; and from troubles unto Rest : Which though you cannot come so near , nor enjoy so fully and delightfully as hereafter you shall do , yet thus do you make your approaches to it , and thus do you secure your future full fruition of it . And let them all scoff at hearty fervent Prayer as long as they will , yet Prayer shall do that with God for you , which health , and wealth , and dignity , and honor , and carnal pleasures , and all the World shall never do for one of them . And though they neglect and villifie it now , yet the hour is near , when they will be fain to scamble and bungle at it themselves ; and the face of death will better teach them the use of prayer , than our doctrine and example now can do . A departing Soul will not easily be prayerless ; nor easily be content with sleepy prayers : But alas ! it is not every Prayer that hath some fervency from the power of fear , that shall succeed : Many a thousand may perish for ever that have prayed [ Lord Jesus receive my Spirit ] But the Soul that breatheth after Christ , and is weary of sinning , and hath long been pressing toward the mark , may receive incouragement for his last petitions , from the bent and success of all the foregoing prayers of his life : Believe it Christians , your cannot be so ready to beg of Christ to Receive your souls , as he is ready and willing to receive them . As you came praying therefore into the world of Grace , go praying out of it into the world of Glory . It is not a work that you were never used to ( though you have had lamented backwarness , and coldness , and omissions ) : It is not to a God that you were never with before : As you know whom you have believed , so you may know to whom you pray : It is indeed a most important suit to beg for the Receiving of a departing soul : but it is put up to him to whom it properly doth belong ; and to him that hath encouraged you by answering many a former prayer with that mercy which was the earnest of this ; and it is to him that loveth souls much better than any soul can love it self . O live in prayer , and die in prayer : And do not as the graceless witless world , despise prayer while they live , and then think a Lord have mercy on me , shall prove enough to pass them into heaven : Mark their Statutes and Monuments in the Churches , whether they be not made kneeling and lifting up the hands , to tell you that all will be forced to pray , or to approve of prayer at their death , whatever they say against it in their life . O pray and wait but a little longer , and all your danger will be past , and you are safe for ever ! Keep up your hands a litte longer , till you shall end your conflict with the last enemy , and shall pass from Prayer to everlasting Praise . FINIS . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A69538-e670 * Good old Mris. Doughty , sometime of Shrewsbury , who had long walked with God , and longed to be with him ; and was among us an excellent example of holiness , blamelesness , contempt of the world , constancy , patience , humility , and ( which makes it strange ) a great and constant desire to die , though she was still complaining of doubtings and weakness of assurance .