THE HAPPINESS OF A Quiet Mind BOTH In Youth and Old Age, With the way to Attain It.  
In a DISCOURSE occasioned by the Death of Mrs. Martha Hasselborn, who died March 13th, 1695/6. in the 95th year of her Age.  
By TIMOTHY ROGERS, M.A.  
LONDON: Printed for john Salusbury at the Rising Sun in Cornhill, MDCXCVI.   

THE Epistle Dedicatory. TO Mr. Jacob Hasselborn, Merchant.  
THere is nothing Men are more apt to value themselves upon, than the being descended from Great and Honourable Persons; who have either had Noble Blood running in their Veins, or have signalised themselves by a series of Heroical Actions for the good of their Country; and by this means have delivered their names down to Posterity, Crowned with those Garlands, which the thirst of Glory made them to desire: And yet many thus descended, slain the Memory of their Predecessors; and as far as in them lies, make all their Laurels whither, by Lives led according to their own humour and fancy, and the contagious Examples of a depraved Age.  
But you have the Honour to be akin to one who was on earth related to the family of Heaven. Your Good Mother after having with continued Patience, sustained the troubles of her weary Pilgrimage calmly at length arrived at her dearest home, where she longed to be.  
The Remembrance of her, I doubt not, is a great help to you in your Christian Race, such an example of goodness, so unaffected and sincere, whilst it is always brightly shining before your Eyes, gives you both light and strength to follow her, in the same happy path wherein she went: The frequent thinking on the Holiness of her Life, will be a great Motive to quicken you to be like her in every commendable and praise worthy thing. To think of her Faith, and Meekness and Patience, will make you flourish in the same Virtues: As young Painters increase their skill, by frequently Copying old and excellent Originals. In your pious Mother you have seen living and exemplified Religion, a quiet Mind, not as represented in the coldness of Precepts, but as warmed and animated by the blessed Spirit, and Patient holding out to the Conclusion of a great Age; such a Patience as is to be admired, but not to be described; for no Colours can be soft enough to draw this Admirable Grace.  
St. Paul rejoiced in his beloved Timothy, and expressed a very lively pleasure upon the thought of one that had very good Parents, and was himself ve-very good: When (says he) I call to remembrance the unfeigned Faith that is in thee, which dwelled first in thy Grandmother Lois and thy Mother Eunice; and I am persuaded in thee also, wherefore I put thee in remembrance, etc. I hope that the pure and constant Faith that was in your Mother is passed into you; not by a propagation of Blood, but of Spirit; not of Nature, but of Grace. That you and your Relations may meet her and all the blessed Saints with comfort at the Great Day; live together in that place where there will be no Sin nor Pain, nor Old Age, but an Eternal Holiness, Spring and Youth; and where our present Weakness shall be swallowed up of Strength, is the hearty Prayer of  
Your Real Friend And Servant T. Rogers.   
Psal. XL. Verse 1. 
I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.  
AS of all the Ages of the Life of Man, Infancy is the most Innocent, and Childhood the most Vain, and Youth the most Brisk and Daring; so Old Age is the most clogged with Pains and Miseries. In other Stages of our Journey we are annoyed now and then with Trouble and Calamity, with Sickness and decays of Strength; but this last part of our Pilgrimage, this feeble part of Life, is its self a Disease. 'Tis so weak, that generally the Powers of the Soul, as well as the Members of the Body, have not the Liveliness and Vigour that they had in their greener Years; the Evening is much more Cloudy and Tempestuous, more Dark and Frightful than the Morning of their Days. And yet there are found some Blessed Souls that flourish even in Winter; neither the sharpness of the Wether, nor the uncomfortableness of the Season hinders their being over Green. Such an one was David, as he was all his Life Musically given, of an Harmonious Heavenly Temper: in his pleasant Angelic Airs he had often mounted up to Heaven; and at last, with praise, he took his Flight thither, to change his Hymns into sweeter Hallelujahs. 1 Chr. 29.10. He blessed the Lord before all the Congregation: v. 20. He said to all the Congregation, Now bless the Lord. V 28. He died in a good old Age, full of Days, Riches and Honour. So old Jacob, when the decays of Strength, and the weakness of his Age would not allow him to be long in his Devotions; he improved the more easy Intervals of his Illness to breath after God. Gen 49.18. I have waited for thy Salvation, O Lord: His Expression was short, but his Faith and Patience were very great. So Moses prepared his Soul for the Joys of Heaven, by tuning his Harp below, he Sung before he died. Deut. 32. And before his death he blessed the Children of Israel. Ch. 33. And after this he went up to the Mount, and put off his Body to be Clothed upon with Life and Immortality, Deut. 34.5. And good old Simeon, who had a Promise, that he should not departed till he had seen the Lords Christ: He did not hid himself from the glorious sight, tho' he knew, that after that he must quickly die; but he came by the Spirit into the Temple, and there he met with the Child Jesus, that for many past years he had longed to see: And having seen the Blessed Babe, he took him up in his Arms, and was full of Transports, saying, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant departed in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation, Luke 2.27, 28. I might allege the Example of Paul the Aged, who was then in Chains, and near his Execution by the Lion Nero; and yet after having served several Years under the Banners of Christ, neither the Cruelties of his Imprisonment, nor the prospect of death, nor all the weight of Age that laid upon him, did abate his hope in God; nay, his hope was ripened to assurance, when he says, I have fought the good fight: He spoke as if he had been in Paradise; as if the Crown of Glory had been already on his Head; to all these I may join, that daughter of Abraham, for whom I Preach this Funeral Sermon, who served God with cheerful hope many years, and bore all the advances of Death, as well as her declining Age, with admirable Calmness and Resignation, and long continued Faith and Hope, and died near an Hundred Years old; dropping into the Grave like Fruit from the Tree, when 'tis fully Ripe. She had no Clouds and Darkness in her Soul; she was all calm and serene; she lived in Joy, and she died in Light; she set in Beams: And that which greatly contributed to the pleasure of her Life, and the calmness of her death, was the quietness and stillness of her Soul; using frequently, upon all occasions, this very passage of the Holy Prophet, I waited patiently for the Lord: From these words I observe,  
First, That is not below the greatest and most honourable Persons to wait on God. The Grandeur of a King is no bar to his dutiful Attendance on his Maker; and the Crowns of those Princes shine with the highest Lustre, that are laid at the Feet of God. Those that honour him he will Honour. The Angels that are the Courtiers and Nobility of Heaven, and in constant waiting know their distance; and tho' they are of the highest rank of Creatures, they remember they are Creatures still; and whilst they wonder at the Glory of the Divine Majesty, they know they cannot comprehend it! They do not sit upon the Throne, but are in postures, full of Reverence, employed round about it. They are very humble even in their highest ecstasies and cover their Faces when they cry to one another, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is full of his Glory, Isa. 6.3.  
Secondly, When any affliction or trouble is upon us, it is our most becoming and most Advantageous Duty, to wait upon God with patience, and to pray for his relief and help.  

I. What is implied in this patiented waiting?  
II. What obligations we are under to it?  
III. The Application.   
First, In this patiented waiting there is included a most entire and free submission to the Will of God, as to the nature and duration of our Trouble. That it come and tarry just as long as he pleases; a waiting Christian looks upon his Father's Hand, and is not with such a view frighted at the most bitter Cup: He is not hurried away with violent Passions, with murmuring or uneasy Thoughts. The Divine Wisdom that knows when and how to deliver, produces the most refreshing acquiescence; he is not surious and precipitant, no fluctuation of Spirit discovers itself in his Speech or Actions, Isa. 30.18. When the Storms are high, he is still: In all varieties of Providence, in all the changes of his Health or Life, he is peaceable within; no Bitterness, no Thorns, no Canker in his Soul; he leaves the time of his Deliverance to his alwise Creator, and waits in quiet till the time come, without complaining or finding fault with the pressure of the Cross, or the slow advances of his help. He knows, that uneasiness and displeasure at the Proceed of the Most High, is the mark of a fallen Angel, and not the Character of a Saint.  
Secondly, This patiented waiting upon God, is attended with Faith and Hope. With Faith concerning the reality of good to come, and with Hope concerning the seasonable fulfilling of the Promises that he relies upon: What wait I for, my hope is in thee, Ps. 39 Hope is the lively Spring of Action, infuses Life and Spirit into the feeble and the most humbled, but despair cramps and freezes, and enervates all the Powers of the Soul: It reflects upon the Goodness and Mercy of God, and makes us sink into the lowest depths with its kill weight: It swells our Sorrows, and turns our Sighs into Roar, and our Tears into Seas of Grief. Whereas he that patiently waits, knows that after the blackest Night and most Tempestuous, the Sun will rise again, and cheer him with his reviving help; he knows that Celestial Comforts are many times Neighbours to the most doleful fears; and sometimes the howling Wilderness is the way to Canaan, and the Waters may be troubled, when the healing moment comes; the face of the pool was not so smooth when the Charitable Angel descended as it was before, but it was more useful and medicinal. Never was any Season more gloomy, then when our Saviour was upon the Cross; never was any bordered with more glorious Events. It was a dark Night when he Suffered, but 'twas a glorious day when he Risen again. He that patiently waits remembers that the Church has been most dear to God, and most fruitful in good Works, when tossed with Storms; it has flourished most, when the Devil and his Angels have endeavoured to depress it; he waits for help, as they that watch for the Morning, they look and hope for the dawning of the Day, watch the first streaks of rising light, and rejoices to see it, Ps. 130.6.  
Thirdly, This patiented waiting upon God, is attended with earnest desires and prayers for his merciful Appearance. I waited and I cried unto the Lord, O for that sweet and pleasant Hour, when I shall be Saved! that the time to favour me, even the set time were come! O that I had the Wings of a Dove, that I might flee away from the windy Storm and Tempest! O Lord behold my distressed Case, oh send me some help for thy mercy's sake; remember my weakness, and thy own Promise; hear my groans, and perform the word on which thou hast caused me to hope; do not cast out my Prayer, do not suffer me to Perish in my low Estate: All this earnestness is submissive, full of Resignation and Tranquillity: The Sick desire many times to die from weariness and pain; but a good Christian shows that he is ready to departed, but is willing to stay till God bid him go; he waits for Christ with a longing craving Eye, as for a dear friend from a far Country; he bears his absence with Patience, but would be very glad to see him come: Heaven is welcome to such a panting Soul, as the Port, to one that has been frighted and endangered by the Storms; such an one when confined by trouble, longs for a Release, but will not break his Prison; He waits, till the hand that Bound him shall break his Bands asunder; remembering that God is as Jealous of his word, when he promises favours to his Children, as when he threatens punishment to his obstinate and hardened Enemies. The desires of Persons in distress are most serious and importunate: When Peter was like to sink, how hearty and with all his force may we imagine that he cried out, Master save me, Matth. 14.30. So our Saviour, in the days of his Flesh; used strong Cries; and the Prayers of the Mariners in Ionas were as loud as the Storms; these were not more blustering than those were affectionate. People that are just like to be Drowned, have no time to Compliment, their danger swallows up all other thoughts, but those that relate to their present Circumstances.  
Fourthly, This patiented waiting directs the quiet Soul in such a manner to God, that he uses no undue reflections upon the Instruments, or more immediate occasions of trouble. When he is sick he does not rail at the Physician, because he does not give him ease; but considers, that the Wisdom of the most Wise, and the Skill of the most Skilful will not avail: When he is Plundered, he does not inveigh against the vile Engines of his Misery, but bewails his Sin that provokes God to turn the Lions and the Bears lose upon him; when the Sabeans and Chaldeans had spoiled the Patient Job, he calmly said, The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken, ch. 1.21. A quiet Christian, when he is falsely accused of things that his Soul abhors; and sees in such an accusation the hand of the Devil, using weak and malicious People as his Agents to Coin and Spread his Lies: He pities their cruel Malice; and in a Contempt of these mean Arts of Hell, says, The Lord that has chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: Or when he hears a Shimei rail, for some take delight in railing, they are a Generation of Vipers, Poison and Stings are in their Make and Constitution; to such he only says, It may be the Lord has bid them Curse us, Ps. 37.7. When others are planting Thorns and Briars to vex him, he will not torture and distress himself; when they wound him, he'll not enrage and multiply the Wounds; such a Christian in every State is calm and quiet: He knows, that God is the Author of all Good, and the Ruler of Evil; that all his Diseases have their Commission from him, as the God of Nature; and all inward Troubles are under his direction, who is the Father of Spirits, and that in both he will be gracious and merciful.  
Fifthly, Patient waiting upon God implies, that a man do not use any unlawful methods, to rid himself of trouble. If we use any sinful arts, to escape from this or that Affliction, it is an argument of exhausted Patience, and that our strength is gone; 'Tis heinous unbelief, with reference both to the Power and Goodness of God, as if he were not able, or not inclined to help us: If we have not the presence of our Saviour, as formerly, we must not with Saul go to the Witch of Eaden, or imagine that the Devil can help us when God has left us; we may in all trouble use all the good means for escape that we can; providing they be such as are not inconsistent with the Wisdom of a Man, or the Innocence of a Christian, we are to wait on the Lord, and to keep his way. As the Eyes of an Handmaid are fixed on her Mistress, being ready, with patiented attention, to know and do her pleasure; so must our Eyes with the like dutiful regard be fixed on Heaven. The Precepts of the Gospel are in all these cases quite opposite to the Maxims of the Stoical Philosophy, that gave its wise Men leave to end their own Lives, when they found their Pains and Griefs many and insupportable; this indeed, as some observe, shown the falseness of their Patience, and this was opposite to other Opinions of the same; for they said, there was no Grief, how violent soever, that could overwhelm a wise Man. Zeno the famous Author of their Sect strangled himself: A patiented attender on God, must not do any thing to shorten or destroy his own Life, by Surfeits, Drunkenness, Intemperance, or any other wicked Action whatsoever.  
Sixthly, This patiented waiting on God includes a constant perseverance in all good Duties, till Relief and Mercy come. We must wait during the sweetness of the Spring, and the Rigours of the Winter, when we are at ease, and when we are in pain; when we prosper in our Affairs, and when we meet with unlooked for sad Events; we must begin to wait in Youth, and not fall till old Age shall Snow upon us, Job 14.14. as a Sentinel keeps his Post till he be Relieved, if help come not this hour or moment, it may the next: We shall never be ashamed of our hope, if afflictions do ne'er so closely Besiege us, our Saviour in due time will march to our assistance, and reward our Courage and Fidelity, Exod. 14.13. The Husbandman waits for the precious Fruit of the Earth, notwithstanding he now and then sees unseasonable weather, and very sharp Seasons, yet nothing does abate his hope of Harvest; he knows the joyful day will surely come; he does not tarry lazily at home, when the Season does invite him to Sow his Seed; he rouzes himself, summons his Servants, and all in earnest go to work together; he is not discouraged with a stormy day, nor folds his Hands because the Sun does not shine, nor the wind blow as he would have it, Ecces. 11.14. But alas, how many excuses do we make, to evade our Duty and put it off; 'tis too hot or too cold, too soon or too late to begin to work; many will not be good, because the days are bad, they'll not travel, because they are afraid of Rain; whereas that Rain they fear might lay the dust, that affliction they meet with in the Road, might deliver them from those hurrying cares that at other times blind their Eyes, and obsoure their Judgements. Let us take heed lest the Patience of the Husbandman condemn our peevishness, and our fearful haste, who if we have not help immediately think, we are undone; whereas, that quiet Son of Adam, having Ploughed his Ground and Sown his Seed, takes no further care about it, but leaves the rest to the Influence of Heaven, and the God of Nature: He quietly waits for the Harvest; and for the Rain that plumps the Corn; he would not cut it down when it first gins to spring above the Ground, but stays till 'tis fully ripe. Those Christians that are in darkness should consider, that Light is sown for the Righteous, Ps. 92.11. Let us not desire to reap before the time, not with a vain labour strive to hasten the Months of Harvest, Jer. 5.24. We shall reap in good time, our Salvation is nearer than when we first believed, and we may with the Husbandman find a deal of work to do before the Harvest come. So a Christian knows, if no Salvation from trouble come in this World, yet Death will set him free; and then the tedious hours of pain, will return no more for ever: 'Tis very hard indeed long to wait it, very grievous to Flesh and Blood; but it's highly agreeable to the brightness of our Faith, and the greatness of our Hopes; for what is this poor short Life to a long Eternity? Simeon and Jacob, and the rest of the waiting Saints, are now at rest in the full enjoyment of their blessed Hopes: Long Attendance upon God, shows a firmness of uncommon Courage, and a most profound Humility. Whereas, to be angry and uneasy, that we are not delivered just when and how we please, betrays too great an Opinion of our selves; for if we were less proud, we should be more patiented; if we thought of what we deserve, we should not murmur at the burden that is laid upon us, 1 Sam. 13.11. The hastiness of Saul brought on his Ruin; he could not wait, and so he Rebelled; he acted as if he had been bewitched, for the Rebellion of Princes against God, as well as of their Subjects against them, is as the sin of Witchcraft; but to stay till he that sends trouble think fit to call it off, shows a temper truly Christian, and is an evidence of a subdued and a resigned Will.  
Secondly, We are to consider the Reasons that should oblige us to this patiented Waiting.  
Reas. 1. We should patiently wait on God for our many miseries and sorrows, call for such a frame of Soul. The Thorns in our flesh, and the troubles of our minds, our pains and our fears call for it; our Voyage to Heaven may prove very full of Storms, and by this patience we shall escape Shipwreck, and not be left to the mercy of the Waves, but have a wise Pilot to steer us, and a sure Anchor within the veil: God may give the Devil leave to vex us, an Angel of Satan may buffet us, he may torture and distress us very sore, tho' he have not leave to kill us. The roaring of the Lion makes the Beast tremble, tho' they are not within his devouring Jaws. The Devil is often instrumental to bring sickness and pain upon us: The worst of Men serve for common Executioners, and the basest of Spirits may serve to bring Judgements. And besides, God will have no Creature useless; even Storms and Vapours, and Lightning and Thunder fulfil his Will: But now by our patiented hope in God, the Malice of the Devil will be turned to Good; his buffeting will teach us the need we have of Christ, it will make us watchful, it will make us full of gentleness and pity, to such as he falls upon, when we are escaped our Bowels will earn over them: This waiting upon God will reconcile us to the most painful, and the sharpest methods of his Providence; this disappoints the Devil, who would have us when the hand of God smites us, to torment our own Souls; he will be disappointed if we are not fretful tho' we be diseased; by patiented waiting we pull out the sting of troubles; we Conquer Sin, that would otherwise embitter all our Comforts, and rob us of our Peace and Hope, and make God to be our Enemy, and every frown of his is more frightful and astonishing then the united threats of Men: Every touch of his hand is heavier than their combined strength; one drop of his Anger will overwhelm us more than the floods of many Waters: Innumerable Evils in this Life will assault us, both as we are Men and Christians, and therefore we have need of Patience; Patience to steer a right course to Heaven; for we shall meet with many rough and contrary Winds, that will blow upon us from every quarter: Only by this quietness of waiting we shall be happy, as to have no Tempest within, though there may be Storms abroad. We have need of Patience, for we may meet with many Tribulations that will shake our confidence, and put our strongest Faith to a very sharp Trial, and make the bruised Reed bend very much, though it do not break. If we have never so many years of smiling shining Light, the days of darkness will at length come, and the shadows of the Evening be stretched out: Our greener Youth knows but little sorrow, but it hangs with a mighty weight upon decaying age. A thousand Miseries come crowding thick upon old folks; and after all these, comes the shady veil and bitter death. When we stand upon the shore, and view the blustering Winds and the rough Seas that we are to encounter, surely we need a deal of patience of waiting, and of prayer; and our great afflictions will not be well born, with a little Grace: fiery Trials will consume us if we are not fortified before we are thrown into the Furnace. We need a vast Treasore of Grace, when we consider, what paint we may live to feel, and what stinging troubles and provocations we may meet withal.  
Reas. 2. We should patiently wait upon God, for by our most painful troubles he designs our Welfare; and if we are not wanting to ourselves in a due improvement of our Crosses, we may reap unspeakable advantages: The ruggedness of Adversity may be more useful to us, than all the smoothness of our most unclouded and most easy days, our Souls may thrive with the fairest and most lasting qualities: When our Bodies languish and decay, as 'tis commonly observed, that the People in cold Northern Climates, are more robust and longer lived, than those that are nearer to the South, who are daily broiled with excessive heats, which, by quick degrees, melt their Lives away. In our most overflowing afflictions, we are like those that are at Sea; Ps. 107.24. We see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep, a thousand strange things are discovered to them that are in the midst of the gaping Waves; that are not seen by those that are upon the Land; they see the wonders of his Power in their support, the wonders of his Wisdom, in finding out ways to save them in the midst of danger. We should particularly wait on God in all our sickness, for he than teaches us to know ourselves, our weakness, our ignorance, and the folly of our careless unthinking health; he teaches us to see, that we and others in our best estate are altogether Vanity. The smartness of our pains makes those instructions that are given us by the Rod, to be more remembered and more abiding, we cannot after bitter experience forget what a terrible thing Sin is, that makes our Body pine, and our Souls droop. Our troubles that are deep and lasting, teach us to see, that none of our fellow Creatures in the very height of their Grandeur and Prosperity are to be the marks of our envy: for they may in one moment be as low as we. We that have been scorched with fiery Trials, must pity those poor Men that have been singed in the Flames: We should not be uneasy nor grieved at the Cross, for our pain will soon be passed, and our past pain gives a mighty relish to our present ease; and we may hope that in the midst of those Sorrows that God sends, he will give us the most refreshing discoveries of his Love, and by the Inconveniencies that seize our Bodies, remedy and abolish the far greater disorders of our Souls; such as unbelief and ignorance, and self-conceit, and vain glory, and a too great admiration of the world. No Books, nor no Preachers can teach us that which our own painful feeling and sensation does; a few days sickness causes a mighty alteration in all our thoughts, and apprehensions; by this we judge of all things, by a different and a truer Light. We look upon this alluring world with other fort of eyes than we did before; all its paint and varnish does not change its bewitching quality, nor after having seen it at the borders of the Grave, can we think it beautiful or dote upon it: And such a discovery we then make of ourselves and our own evil hearts, as we never had before. We could not have imagined that our Faith had been so weak, till the Storms came and made us tremble. While we are in a calm, and on the quiet shore, we do not so well know our weakness; but when we put out to Sea, and have lost the sight of Land, and the Wind and Waves roar about us, than we are amazed and astonished. All the Medicinal strokes of God to his Servants, are the product of his Love: He could take all their Burdens off in one moment, but he sees that their Faith and Patience in the midst of troubles, is beneficial to themselves and others: Without some of the calmness that is in their Souls, this World would be an Hell, a Region of blasphemous discontent in their afflictions; his People have a dearer love to Christ, and new manifestations of his faithfulness, and of the wisdom of his Conduct.  
Reas. 3. This quiet waiting upon God makes us in all sickness, pain and trouble, easy to ourselves and others. It makes us possess our Souls in patience; but to be fretful and peevish, and quarrelsome at our burden, makes it more burdensome, and splits one cross into a thousand; fills our bitter Cup, and makes that which before was but half full, to run over with Gall and Wormwood; a fore uneasy temper of mind, makes us that we cannot rest in any posture, and no Pillar will be soft enough for us, when we Crown our Heads with Thorns, an uneasy disquietness of Spirit approaches near to the tormenting fury of the damned. Hell is an abode of horrible rage and discontent; they are ever angry at God, and at themselves, continually burnt with Flaming thoughts: But a patiented Soul is like the milky way, no Clouds obscure the brightness of his Grace: He shines with a crowd of graces joined together: His Innocent sense of grief, and his expressions of his affliction, fall like the drops of dew in the silent Night; they fall very gently: and wherever they come, they make all very green and flourishing. The words of the patiented edify the by standers, and show to them the strength and beauty of Religion. What an attractiveness is there in a composed quiet Soul. How Serene! how Lovely! 'tis entertained with Music, lives and dies in Harmony. When Storms are without, all is still within; but an impatient man vexes himself and others, runs upon the Rocks and suffers Shipwreck; he is overloaded with anxious cares, and sinks beneath the bulky weight, and often in his prosperity he is overset with too much sail, his pride and ambition, with too strong a gale, blow him on the shelves. Let us therefore strive to keep our Spirits under Government, for the Scorching of a Fever, and all the violence with which it preys upon the blood, are not surer indications of abated Health, then tumultuous fluctuating passions, and discontented thoughts, and murmuring expressions are of a bad state of Soul.  
Reas. 4. Because such evil days may come upon us, wherein we shall by our decaying age and trouble be unqualified for active service. We need patiently wait, for it may be long before our Sorrows have a period. Many a weary step may we have to take, and many a burden to bear, before we come to our Journeys end. The time may come, when nothing that offers itself to your Eye, your Ear, or your Taste, will give you pleasure; and you'll neither be fit for business nor recreation; and the motions of your graces will share in the decays of your age. When you are a burden to yourself, you'll find no content in other things. Not all the grandeur of preferment could tempt old Barzillai to a Court Life; and you'll be very little capable of Spiritual Improvements, when your faculties are weak. When old age with its pale attendants shall seize upon us, it will be very well, if in the Winter of our Life there be any vigour in our hope: All the Oil we have put into our Lamps, will be little enough to serve us in our passage through the dark and shady veil. We are to take great care, lest when the Night comes, our Stock and Treasure of Grace should be spent; and we shall find it hard to have inward liveliness and health, when our outward Man decays. 'Twill be hard to rouse our Courage to new Conflicts, when we come lagging like weary Soldiers from the field of Battle. We can go but a very flow pace towards Heaven, when old age has maimed us, and when our Blood gins to freeze and stagnate in our Veins. In this nearness to the Grave, People are generally so very feeble, that they are fit for nothing. They are blessed, that in circumstances so afflicted, have learned calmness and resignation, and can patiently wait. For by this means a pleasant Harvest, and sweet and easy thoughts will arise in those furrows that are Ploughed with Age; and while their Foreheads are wrinkled, the face of their Soul will be very smooth: No thorny cares, no weeds nor thistles will be growing there. In such a case, if you patiently wait, you will have the root of the matter; and that Root will be fixed like some stately Cedar, that has taken deep hold and is not easily torn up; keeps its Station when its leaves are fallen off. In the withering decays of Age, you cannot indeed run very fast in the ways of God, but you may travel by soft and easy Journeys to the Grave, and your Souls be recreated with the bright views of Heaven, whilst your Bodies stoop with the weight of many years. Tho' your hearing fail, you'll be saluted by good News from within; Music will be in your own breast, when the Daughters thereof are brought low. And you'll have this happiness in the want of that sense, that you'll hear no slanders nor sad tidings. When your gust and relish of other things is gone, you'll feed upon the Bread of Life: When your Eyes are sunk your heart will be in Heaven: And when your Memory is failed, God will not forget you; His word will be the staff that your tottering Age may lean upon.  
Reas. 5. By patiented waiting upon God we shall have renewed strength, and fresh Experience of his Love; We shall have help both for our Bodies and our Souls; a Life of patience tends to its own preservation; keeps the humours from overflowing their just bounds, and the Spirits from irregular fermentation; whereas the peevish and impatient chafe themselves into a continued Fever, and their strength declines and evaporates. It's said, Deut. 12.3. That the man Moses was very meek, above all the men that were upon the face of the earth: And in Ch. 34.7. He was an hundred and twenty years old; when he died his eyes were not dim, nor his natural force abated. He had as a man may say, a springing Winter, or a youthful Age, a remaining unperisht vigour in every part. 'Tis most certain, that patiented waiting upon God, will make him not to send those Judgements that waste and shorten Life; such as are those raging Plagues, Famines and Devastations, which send many thousands early to the Grave: We shall by this means not pass our days in his wrath. An aged Christian that has been patiented for many years, comes at length, like a Vessel richly laden home, after a tedious and stormy Voyage, full of reviving Experiences of the Divine Goodness, from the Morning to the Noon, and to the Evening of his Life. Ps. 71.17, 18. He calls to mind with joy the various and admirable conduct of his Heavenly Father, and sleeps in quiet on the lap of Providence. Seeing with what beautiful Wisdom he had laid the soundation of his Happiness, and carried on the Structure; how he healed his Diseases, and has safely brought him to the borders of a perfect cure: How they were planted as Trees of Righteousness, and by various Acts of Love and Power maintained in the Vineyard; how they were in pain, and how they were eased with his tender hand; how they wept in agonies, and how he wiped their tears away; new support arises to the patiented holy Soul, Isa. 40.31. It hastens our escape from trouble; as the stillness and composure of any Person in a Fever, tends to mitigate its force; but a restless agitation of the Body, does more and more inflame and fire the Blood. By suffering we learn to suffer, and patience reconciles us to the Cross, Ps. 27.14. No studied arguments, no fine Sentences do so fortify the Soul in trouble as its own experience: This is the Lenitive of anxious and unquiet thoughts; gives a secret refreshing, and a mighty strength; this pours balm into those Wounds, that otherwise might gangreen and fester; when clogged with outward infirmities, and when there are the marks and signs of a falling habitation; there will be the prospect of an house not made with hands; and when death is in the windows, there will be strength in the heart.  
Reas. 6. This patiented waiting does most excellently prepare for the mercies waited for, and gives them when they come the sweetest relish; they are welcome as rest to weary Travellers, that long to be at home. When God and a waiting Soul meet together, What transports and joys are there? O he is come, he is come, that I longed to see! it revives me to hear his cheering Language, to see his smiling face. In what an ecstasy was Old Simeon, whilst he embraced his Saviour; many a long year had he waited for the blessed sight. O happy eyes that saw that Sun begin his Race! happy Arms that embraced and hugged so great a Treasure! Luke 2.36. O what a joy to a Father, to see a Prodigal returning home, after he had long stayed and waited for his return? With what Music, with what Joys, with what Feasts does he solemnize such a pleasant day? Thus 'tis reported of Augustin's mother, what a concern she had for her Son, he was the daily Subject of her Prayers and Tears; that St. Ambrose often when she mourned, sent her away with this Answer, That it was not possible, that a Child of so many Prayers should perish. No sooner was he Converted, but her Spirit was at ease, and she now desired no more. He tells us in his Canfessions, that when the day approached that his Mother was to pass to a better Life, as they were talking together of the joys of Heaven; in the Conclusion of this Conference, which was the most agreeable in all the World; she said to me, My Son, I avow to you, that as to what relates to myself, that I have now no further hopes nor pleasure in this world: I know not what I do here, for I have nothing more to look for. The only thing that made me desirous to live, was to see thee a good Christian before my death; now my good God has granted me so great a favour, as to see thee become entirely his Servant, by the contempt that thou hast of all the goods and pleasures of this Life, Why then do I tarry here any longer.  
Reas. 7. It cures the frowardness of our spirits in our last sickness, and makes death very happy, and Heaven very sweet, not an unbecoming thought nor word of God. The Conclusion of such a serene Life, is still and fair as the Evening of a Summer's day: Such an one is not pushed or hurried out of the World; but walks out as from one Room into another; sleeps in death, with the composure of an Infant sucking at its Mother's Breast; they go by a smooth descent to death: some without much pain; tho' but rarely is that exemption from the assaults of the last Enemy granted. Some are laid down very gently on their bed of dust, and others with groans and sighs extinguish the dwindgling lamp of Life. A patiented Soul is ready, and if God give the word, it gladly flies away; it longs and flutters to be gone; and in the parting moment, such an one shall not be left: a Convoy of Angels shall wait upon it, to see it safe through all the Regions of the Air, where the Evil Spirits would dispute its passage to Glory. Oh how welcome is Heaven to a troubled weary Soul! How welcome are Hallelujahs to one, that upon Earth heard the slanders and reproaches of many a bitter Tongue; the Clouds of Life are then scattered, and there succeeds an eternal day: Then patience has no further work, for there is no pain; there hope is vanished, for the Good that was once desired is possessed. The calm of that quiet Region into which we enter after death, will make amends for all the Storms we met with in the way thither. How many Blessed Souls shall we meet that were in Storms as well as we? that were sick and tempted, and scorned and afflicted, that had weak Bodies and fearful Spirits? and to go thither from such a World as this, from the Suburbs of Hell into the New Jerusalem. Tho' we are in Tempests, yet we are not to live upon the Sea. Our Life may be very calamitous, but 'tis also very short: Tho' loaded with bitter and uneasy griefs, yet in Heaven there is no more sorrow, for there is no sin: there will be light in our Minds, peace in our Consciences, and comfort in our Hearts; there will be no more fear in the place of Eternal Love, no trembling doubting Soul in all the vast Assembly: they cannot question whether they Love Christ or not, when they are with him. All their former suspicions are turned into pleasant wonder, Isa. 60.2. It's an Honour to be in Christ betimes, an Honour to be Christ's Disciple, and much more Honourable to be in his glorious Temple. Oh Blessed are they that are at their Journeys end, after having waited long for God; he seeing they could find no durable rest below, put out his hand, and took them into his Ark above. How can we almost forbear congratulating those happy Souls, that have fought the good fight of faith, and have got the Victory. While we sin they are absolutely pure; they Rejoice while we Mourn: tho' thanks be to God we mourn in hope; what we pray for, they enjoy. When we see these calm and patiented Christians going to Heaven; we say, O our fathers, our fathers, the Horsemen of Israel, and the Chariots thereof, ye were our Defence and our Glory; we can hardly forbear saying, Oh that we were with you, why have you left us behind? but you were in Christ before us, and are with him sooner; you entered into the Vineyard sooner, and so before us are rewarded; we will endeavour to tread in your steps; than you and we, nay Jesus, our dearest Jesus and we shall meet together! I often think of that place, Eccl. 4.1, 2. because so many afflictions and miseries, and judgements, are the portion of the Living. Blessed are they that sleep in the quiet Grave, no more terrified with Dreams, no more complain of restless Nights, and of Months of Vanity; no more do they hear the Confusions and Disorders of our World. And to the quietness of our slumbers there, nothing contributes more than patiented waiting when we are alive. How did Jacob bless his Sons before he died? and how sweetly did he yield his Breath? Gen. 49.3. O happy death to wait for God's Salvation, and to see the Salvation that he waited for; Salvation carries a very pleasant sound; but the Salvation of a God is very great and glorious. The hope of this sweetens the lives of the blessed Heirs of Heaven; it pulls out the thorns of sickness, and the sting of death; it relieves their age; it makes the Grave to lose its horror; it makes their Bed of dust very soft; they live in motion, and they rest in peace: They exhaust their Spirits in the work of God; but they never come to the dregs of Life, for theirs is clear and pure to the very bottom.  

Exhortations to those that have patiently watied on God even in Old Age.  
Reflect. 1. How gracious he has been to you, in giving you many years, wherein to get Oil, and to trim your Lamps, and to prepare for another World. How many storms have you outlived that made others sink? Many, many young People are gone to Judgement a great while ago, while that Hand that crushed them, has been very gentle and merciful to you. You have survived the dangers, and the sins, and the giddiness of Youth, and are now almost at our Journeys end.  
2. Endeavour to do good to others, that have not had such experience of God as you. Thus you bring forth fruit in old age, and are fat and flourishing, Ps. 92.14. you do, as it were, grow young again, with a vast accession to your Spiritual stature. When you are full of patience, and by your Example and your Words declare to others how faithful and how kind God has been to you: So, by teaching them knowledge, you will rekindle and inflame your own Light; whilst others younger than you decay, you shall thrive and prosper. He that planted you makes the green Tree to whither, and the dry to grow. You'll not only go to Heaven fully ripe for Glory, like a shock of Corn gathered in due season, but there will be something for others to glean when you are gone: And in the mean time Summer and Winter. Youth and Old Age, do as it were meet in you; the decays of one, and the fruitfulness of the other. In your Evening there is Light, Zech. 8.4, 5. Fortify yourselves with the Experiences of God, goodness whenever your patience is like to tyre, as Polycarp said, when he was urged by the Proconsul to deny Christ, or to do something like it: These fourscore and six Tears, have I served Christ, and he never did me any harm; and how can I then blaspheme my Master and my Saviour. Exhort others to fear, and love, and trust God, as you have done; by your Holy Awe and Reverence, seek upon all occasions to Correct their Lightness and their Vanity. You have served a good Master, and you have had the Honour to serve him very long; be not now weary of his work, be not now for going out of his Vineyard, when he that employed you, is just coming to reward your diligence. Be of good Courage, The Lord is at hand; O ye aged People bless the Lord your Preserver, and daily sing his praise; let your Winter, as well as the Spring of Youth, praise the Lord. How few have had that time for Heaven, that you have had? Oh the blessed Seasons and Days of Grace, that you have had! It's a wonderful Honour to those that are old, that they have so large a space, wherein to do a World of Good, to enlarge the Kingdom of Christ, and to make their future Crown more weighty: And none should grudge to labour for fourscore or an hundred Years, when for so short a Duration of painful Diligence, he shall have an Everlasting Recompense. By living to old Age, you have more Wisdom, and Experience, and Skill, than others; your Graver Years teach you to beware of several Rocks that they split upon. And all these Mercies are heightened to such as arrive to an Healthful old Age, not loaded with the usual Pains and Griefs, and Languishing Motions of decaying Age, for then the longer the Life, the more the Misery, Joshua 14.10, 11. Thus Life does smoothly take its course, without meeting with great Obstructions in the way, and is not only Long but Happy too. This was the peculiar Felicity of the Patriarches before the Flood, their Lives were extended to almost a thousand Years, and yet we read of none of those Sad Symptoms attending them, that attend us now at fourscore, Psal. 90.10. It's a very comfortable thing, to have neither a poor nor sickly Age, neither to want Necessaries, nor to be in Pain: 'Tis a Blessing to live to see your Posterity, and a greater Joy to see them walking in the Truth, Psal. 128.6. but yet none can expect to be freed from the evil days mentioned Eccles. 12.1. full of trembling Palsies, grievous Aches, linger Pains, and innumerable Evils; but if you patiently wait on God, and improve well your declining Years, you'll at length be satisfied with living as 'tis said of Job, Chap. 42.17. He died, being old and full of days. He rose as from a Feast, not Surfeited, but well pleased with the Joys and Plenty of his latter Days. He was once indeed in another Frame, when his Spirits were overclouded with Melancholy, and his Soul was burnt with Anguish, when he had restless Pain by day, and no sweet Sleep at night, Chap. 7.4. than he wished for any sort of Death, tho' Shameful and Untimely, tho' Violent and Uncommon, Verse 5, 16. But this was more Job's Disease than his Grace, 'twas a most rash and hasty Wish; to die in Terror and Anguish, is a forlorn and doleful way of dying: He eagerly thirsted for the Grave, but at last he looked upon it with another Eye, and went to it as a weary Traveller goes to Bed: He looked for the finishing of his Course with submissive regular Desires, and Quiet Hopes: So refreshed and satisfied with living, are those that are good in Age, but a Sinner an hundred year old is accursed. Cursed in his neglect of the Business of Life, Cursed as condemned by a perpetual Desire of Longer and Longer Time, he is pained with Trouble, and afraid to die. The Sins of his Youth have a Resurrection in his Thoughts, and scare him with the sight of Death, as knowing they will not only lie down with him in the Grave, but rise with him thence. And yet amidst such hideous Views and Apprehensions, he has an unquenchable and painful Thirst after those Pleasures that are passed away: His Lust is fresh and lively when his Head is grey; every thing about him grows old but his Sin; and a long Life to such an one, is but a continued Load of Gild, a daily treasuring up of Wrath against the Great Day: But nothing is more Decent or more Lovely, than to see a remaining Green under the Snow of Age: The Beauty of an old Man, is his Grace as well as his Years: To be full of Days, and to be full of Grace, full of Faith, and Hope, and Joy in God, is to be as beautiful as ever any was in the most blooming gayest Youth. Job 5.26. Thou shalt come to thy Grave in a full Age, like as a Shock of Corn cometh in his season. It sheds and spoils if it stay too long, if it be not gathered when 'tis fully Ripe, and the Season of it is as well lost, as when 'tis taken too green. Do you that are Old, take care of all the Evils proper to your advanced Age, of Peevishness, and Moroseness, and Sourness, and Covetousness; and let those that are Young, be Temperate and Sober, and useful to the World, that they may either live to be old, or get to Heaven betimes. Do you that are Aged improve your leisure Hours to prepare for your Change; and do you that are Young, listen to the Speeches and Directions of those that are near their latter end. In your old Age recreate yourselves with looking forward to a better State; and when you do but very faintly draw your Breath, yet be breathing after Heaven; and your sincere Sighs and Groans shall be as acceptable as all the Motions of your swifter Youth: And when your Tongues begin to falter, let your Actions speak your Patience and Submission to the Will of God: And when you are even like to sink with Pains and Miseries, Oh remember you are almost at home; you have but a little while to run, and you shall obtain; a little while to fight, and you shall be Crowned: Watch a little longer, the Sun is just setting, and in a few Moment's you may be allowed to go to sleep; there is but a little Sand left in your Glass; your Life is like a Candle burned quite to the bottom: And though the Religion of young People is very pleasant in the Eye of God, their Graces send forth a sweet Perfume; and when he walks in his Garden, 'tis agreeable to him to see the moist Flowers breathe out their Morning Incense; yet he loves old Disciples too, and he gives them his Word and his Promise for their tottering Age to rely upon. Be sure to improve the leisure of your declining Years to the best Purposes, and be thankful that you are now retiring from the Noise and Hurry of the disagreeing busy World. As Sir Henry Wotton said after a kind of tempestuous Life, I have a great Advantage from my God, that makes the Out-going of the Morning to Praise him; I daily magnify him for his particular Mercy, of an Exemption from Business, a quiet Mind, and a liberal Maintenance, even in this part of my Life, when my Age and Infirmities seem to sound a Retreat from the Pleasures of this World, and invite me to Contemplation, in which I have ever taken the greatest Felicity. You may make use of all the Remembrances of the places where you have lived, to help you in the best things. As Mr. Walton tells us of the aforesaid Politician, that he said upon his being in his old Age in Winchester School, My being in this School, and seeing the very place where I sat when I was a Boy, occasioned me to remember the Thoughts of my Youth that then possessed me, Sweet Thoughts indeed, that promised my growing Years numerous Pleasures, without mixtures of Cares; and those to be enjoyed, when time (which therefore I thought slow paced) had changed my Youth into Manhood: But Age and Experience have taught me, those were but empty Hopes; for I have always found it true, as my Saviour did foretell, Sufficient to the day is the Evil thereof. I have, says he to Mr. Hales then of Eton, in my passage to my Grave, met with most of those Joys of which a discursive Soul is capable, and have not wanted those that were inferior. Nevertheless, I have not in this Voyage always floated on a Calm Sea, but have often met with cross Winds and Storms, with many Troubles of Mind, and Temptations to Evil. And yet though I have been and am a Man compassed about with Humane Frailties, Almighty God has, by his Grace, kept me from making Shipwreck of Faith and a good Conscience, the thought of which is now the Joy of my Heart, and I most humbly praise him for it; and I humbly acknowledge, that it was not myself, but he, that hath kept me to this great Age, and let him take the Glory of his Mercy. And now my dear Friend, continues he, I now see that I draw near my Harbour of Death; that Harbour that will secure me from all the future Storms and Waves of this restless World; and I praise God I am willing to leave it, and expect a better; that World, wherein dwelleth Righteousness. And to him I add the Example of Mr. George Herbert, that blessed Man, that other David, that tuned his Soul with Heavenly Thoughts, and Musically lived, and Musically died. Mr. Walton in his Life tells us, that in the time of his last Decays, he did often thus express himself to Mr. Woodnot and his other Friends, that attended him in his Languishing Condition.  
I now look back upon the Pleasures of my Life past, and see the Content I have taken in Beauty, in Wit, in Music, and pleasant Conversation are now all past by me, like a Dream, or as a Shadow that returns not, and are all now become dead to me, or I to them: And I see, that as my Father and Generation has done before me, so I also shall now suddenly (with Job) make my Bed in the dark and I praise God I am prepared for it; and I praise him that I am not to learn Patience, now I stand in such need of it, and that I have practised Mortification, and endeavoured to die daily, that I might not die Eternally: And my Hope is, that I shall shortly leave this Valley of Tears, and be free from all Fevers and Pain: And which will be a more Happy Condition, I shall be free from Sin, and all the Temptations and Anxieties that attend it; and this being past, I shall dwell in the New Jerusalem, dwell there with Men made perfect; dwell where these Eyes shall see my Master and Saviour Jesus, and with him see my Relations and my Friends: But I must die, or not come to that happy Place; and this is my Content, that I am going daily towards it; and that every day that I have lived, hath taken a part of my appointed time from me: And that I shall live the less time for having lived thus, and the day past— And to another he said, My dear Friend, I am sorry that I have nothing to present to my merciful God but Sin and Misery; but the first is pardoned, and a few hours will now put a period to the latter.  
Thirdly, Do not murmur, if some that began to wait upon God later than you, yet have more Joys. He is gracious to you still, and he may do with his own what he will. Though it is your Privilege to have served him long, yet remember you are at the best, and when you have done all, but unprofitable Servants; they that came in later to the Vineyard, may have as much Joy as you, but you have as much as you deserve: He may give to his Returning Prodigals very noble Entertainment, but you that are elder are not excluded from the Feast, you may come and taste of the Fatted Calf, and share in all the Festival Solemnities and Joys of others. The Surliness of the elder Brother in the Parable, discovered a great deal of Spiritual Pride; made him undutiful to his Father, and unkind to his Brother, whom in Union to his Father's Carriage, he should have welcomed home. There was in all the Behaviour towards him, nothing of Injustice or Partiality, he took nothing from the Elder to give the Younger, he did not strip him to  his Brother. Can you who are Aged murmur who must have Heaven at last? In the mean time God is yours, all that he hath is yours, his Son, his Word and Promises, and Innumerable Blessings. It should rejoice you, to think that these younger Servants of your Master may prove eminent Instruments of his Glory, when you are at rest from your Labours.  
Fourthly, With humble reliance on the Grace of God, endeavour to persevere in his Service to the last moments of your Lives. You have done a great deal for Christ, which is matter of Joy, but you have done it all with his assistance, which is matter of Humility, 1 Cor. 15.9, 10. Alas, how little have you done for God, of what you might have done: It was a great Favour to you, that you did not grow old among his Enemies; but it is a Favour that obliges you to a particular Acknowledgement. Oh take heed least having begun in the Spirit, you end in the Flesh, and degenerate to Formality and Worldliness, and a vain Religion: Take heed lest your latter end be not worse than your beginning; Paul the Aged, and a Prisoner, was still doing good, Philem. 9 Some will say I have laboured so hard, and done so much, I hope I may now sit still and take mine ease. You must labour till your last Sand be run; you must labour from your first Morning to the conclusion of your day, from your Conversion to your Death; and you must strive that your last days may be your best.  
To all such aged Servants of our Lord, so Steady, so Religious, and so Fruitful, there is a great Reverence due from young People: We must not despise those that are Old, for if we live we shall be so too, and then others may with justice treat us as we treated them; a good old Man or Woman are never to be spoke of, but with terms of Respect, and not with such a slight Air, and jeering Contemptuous sort of Expression, that is usual with many giddy People; with all imaginable deference does St. Paul speak of Andronicus and Junia who were in Christ before him, Rom. 16.7. And as Solomon observes, Prov. 16.31. The hairy head is a Crown of Glory, if it be found in the way of Righteousness, that is, Old Age is very honourable, if it do not dishonour itself by a Course of wicked Actions. The wise King intimates, that a great respect is to be paid to one who has long traveled in the best way, somewhat resembling that which is to be given to a Crowned Head. It's a most comely thing to see Grace ripening with the Maturity of Age; and the number of Services to God and Men, bearing proportion with the number of increasing Years: Old Age, though decrepit, is honourable, like the Ruins of some noble Palace, there remains in the Fragments of the stately Structure, some Gracefulness and Beauty, something uncommon and Magnificent. It may be said of Goodness of a long standing, as of old Gold, old painting, Sculpture, Statuary and Architecture; the Pieces that have most Antiquity, are generally most valuable, their Duration does not lessen, but increase their Excellence: Good old Age is, to the true discerners of things, full of Wonder and Observation, as in a Winter or a Frost Landscape may be expressed a curious deal of Art, though such as are young Practitioners in Painting, may perhaps be more affected with those Descriptions that represent the blooming Spring. 'Tis certain that Persons advanced in years and Grace, have a more established Love to God than younger People; and we may, as to this, prefer their more grounded Knowledge, before that of such as have been but a while tutored and disciplined in the School of Christ.   

The more General Use.  
First. IN all your Troubles, to further your patiented waiting upon God, be sure to pray unto him for Support, or for Deliverance. When St. Paul had a Thorn in the Flesh, a painful Disease, that created as much trouble to him, as a Thorn usually does in the tender Flesh; He sought the Lord thrice, which denotes his earnestness and his fervent Desire to have the Cross removed; as to that he was not heard, but he obtained sufficient Grace, which was infinitely better than external Ease and Comfort: Say when you are deeply distressed, O Master save me or else I perish: And when Troubles increase, we must renew our Cries, as the Mariners double their Cable of the Anchor when the Storm grows more furious; and it is far from being a Sin, to pray against violent and sharp Afflictions, because it argues a right Knowledge of our own Weakness, and that we are not able to bear a Burden that is very heavy? We may lawfully desire to be freed from tedious, and linger, and sharp Pain, for the length of it is a very great Temptation. There are two things which we may pray against, 1. Reproach, That like some Indian Poisons Murders us by slow degrees, and shoots its envenomed Arrows in the dark, we are wounded, and we know not who it is that bends the Bow; the blasting of our good name, is a Persecution of the worst kind, 'tis one of the most refined Stratagems of Hell; and such as slander their Neighbour, either know not what they do, and then they are Fools, or they do it wilfully, and then they are Devils, they smell rank of Fire and Brimstone: Some are as forward to put off all the Productions of their gangrened ulcerated Spirits, as if they had got a Patent for Lying, as if they had engrossed and monopolised this Sin; they think a little Backbiting has no great harm in it, whereas there may be Death in a Whisper, as well as Murder in a Wish. We may pray against Anguish and Terror of Soul, which is like a fiery Furnace and scorches us on every side, and imbitters all that others call the Pleasures and the Sweets of Life: Especially must we pray, that when sickness or pain robs us of our Health, sin may not at the same time rob us of our Faith and Hope in God: as also that it would please him not to allow Satan to rake in our wounds; and when his Almighty hand has smitten us, that he would not leave his Enemy and ours to touch us to the Quick as he did Job: and that at last all his malice may be defeated, and that thirst extinguished whereby he so eagerly thirsts and longs for our Ruin; and if we patiently wait, we must in all our Pains maintain a most entire Compliance with the Will of our Corrector, both as to the continuance and removal of our Sufferings: And while they last, let us open with all the freedom imaginable our whole Case, and all its circumstances to the Father of our Spirits; and when we open our Griefs, his Bowels will earn over us: our very miseries have with him a pleading and a moving Eloquence. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him. You may cry to the Lord, which implies a vehement eager motion of the Soul, and an outward expression of your sense of Grief: The best of men have not been insensible of pain and trouble; Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob and the other Patriarches felt these Inconveniences of Life as well as other men. 'Tis said of Jacob, Gen. 48.1. that he was sick; and ver. 10. that his eyes were dim for age, so that he could not see: he was bedrid sometime before his death, and no doubt had his Groans and his Cries like other Aged men. David with all his Music could not preserve an undecaying Youth, nor charm away the cold Winter of his Life. When he was old and stricken in years, they covered him with clothes, but he got no heat, 1 Kings 1.1. And in other seasons of his Life, he says, the pressure of his grief was so very weighty, that it made him groan all the night, and he was weary with his groaning, and his bed swimmed in an inundation of overflow-Tears, Ps. 6.6. and Ps. 38.8. I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart. This Roaring, notes the Loudness and Vehemence of his Cries. And says the poor desolate Job, when his melancholy and terrors were upon him, chap. 30.28. I went mourning without the Sun: I stood to and cried in the Congregation. I had, during my tempestuous Night, scarce a glimpse or beam of Joy. I was in such flaming Anguish, that scorched my Body, and preyed upon my Soul; I was in such dreadful and amazing fears that I, was not able to keep silence. My inward torment, even when I was in any public Assembly, made me shriek and cry aloud. And Hezekiah says of his sick and languishing condition, Isa. 38.14. Like a Crane or a Swallow, so did I chatter; I did mourn as a Dove. His Cry was quick, and frequent, and loud, and frightful; with a very sorrowful and doleful Tone: His Eyes failed with waiting, and his Heart was even like to break. These Examples I allege to show you that the best of men may be sensible of pain, and yet be submissive to the Author of it. Loud Groans and Cries are no marks of an inward Impatience and disorder; for by these troubled Nature gives itself a little vent, and it gives a little ease, tho' indeed but very little; because our returning Grief makes our Groans and Cries return. Tho' they are innocent and unavoidable expressions of some weighty sorrow that is like to crush us. Grace does not overthrow Nature, tho' it corrects all its excesses and disorders. We know that the Language of the Sick has not the livelyness the briskness and strength of those that speak in health: their Countenance, their Looks, their Actions, their words are all changed. All indeed are not equally sensible, for some persons have a finer set and contexture of Spirits, and consequently a quicker sense of Pain than those that are of a heavier and duller Constitution. The delicate temper of the Body of our Saviour, was more susceptible of grief than the Bodies of the Thiefs that were Crucified with him.  
2dly. When you pray, do not wonder if you are not immediately answered: do not murmur at the slow pace of Divine Mercy. You shall have help in the most beautiful season, when the glory of God and your good may be most promoted. If he as yet delay to hear your very earnest and importunate Cries, remember that his Elect cry to him day and night, and he will at length avenge their Cause. The Souls under the Altar cry; all Nature, Groans and Cries to be eased of the miseries that our sin has brought upon it. We must pray, but not presame to tell our Benefactor what, and when he is to give. 'Tis an excellent posture to be found waiting on our Knees, tho' mercy and deliverance come not just when we would have it.  
1. Those things which we many times most earnestly ask might be vastly prejudicial to us. Many an one says, give me this or that or else I die; and the very things they prayed for, when obtained, prove a curse; and those in which they hoped to rejoice many years, send them betimes mourning to the grave. Rachel said to Jacob, give me Children, or else I die. There was in her speech a great deal of childish weakness and impatience: She hoped the having a Child, would prolong her life, and she smarted for her wish, she died in her Lying In. Many are very importunate with God, and nothing will serve them but this or that particular Comfort, I must have it, or I am undone; and when they have the Idolized Vanity that they doted on, they quickly find cause to repent of their hasty follies. The Israelites were fond of a King, but they had a long time wherein to repent of that fondness. You may perhaps have what you ask, but you may have it with a frown, with such displeasure as will change your Wine to Vinegar; and your smoothest delights into the roughest thorns, Psal. 78.31. It is a friendly act of God to refuse us often what we ask, when it is really for our hurt; and to save us from our misguided wishes is the love and kindness of a Father. If Paul had had his thorn removed immediately he might too greatly swell with his Gifts and Revelations, or be like a Saul again.  
2dly. Tho' God do not immediately hear our Cries, yet he may gratify us in better things. Moses begged to enter into Canaan, but he had no remaining longing after that happy Land, when he was once in Heaven. The joys of Paradise had with him a sweeter taste than all the Milk and Honey of that could ever give. We have no cause to grumble that our Suits too long depend, if in the delays of desired help, he now and then gives us a sight of his amiable Face: The Cross will not overwhelm us, when his Arms are underneath: when, tho' he do not remove the Cup, yet he sweetens it with his Love: he delays to save us to try our faith, and to make his Salvation more illustrious. As Jesus, tho' he heard that Lazarus was sick, Joh. xi. 6, 7. he did not hasten to his dying Friend, as knowing he intended to glorify his power in his Resurrection.  
3. He delays an immediate Answer to our Cries, to see whether we can patiently wait, and believe his promise, when we have no sensible proofs of his good will. Whether with the Woman of Canaan we will continue Suppliants when he seems to chide us from his presence. This is an evidence of confirmed patience when we abide waiting at his door, tho' for several hours or days he seems to take no notice of our Cries.  
4. He suffers us to wait a long time before he hear our Cries, to bring our sins to remembrance; and to put us in mind how we used him, how long, how many a tedious hour we made him stay before we bid him welcome to our hearts, a long time he knocked  we let him in: It's no wonder that he uses us as we used him, 'tis a most equitable and unblameable retaliation, that we should taste of the Fruit that we have planted.  
5. He loves to see his Servants in a praying posture, for it is an argument of Love and of Humility; their Tears are bottled; he knows that these Sorrows, like April showers, will make them more fruitful afterwards; and that by praying they learn to pray; and the frequent returns of duty make them to perform it with greater zeal and skill.   

As to your Cries to God for help in trouble, observe these Rules.  
1. Be sure to offer up all your Cries in the Name of Christ, and all the while you pray think of his kind, and compassionate, and prevailing Intercession. Cry in his Name for you are encouraged so to do, from his Promises, from the virtue of his Blood and Merits, from his nearness to God, and his Love to you. You find Mat. 14.23. that he was praying on the Mountain when his Disciples were in a storm at Sea. As he suffers not in all our Agitations, so he is not unmindful of our Troubles: when we are tossed hither and thither by the changes of our bodies or our Souls; He is the same yesterday, to day, and for ever, Heb. 13.8. How many Gulfs would swallow us up, and against how many Rocks should we be dashed if it were not for the powerful and tender remembrance of our Saviour. Let us under every Cross pray to God in his Name; for by his sufferings we are reconciled, and have access to the Throne of Grace, a Throne sprinkled with Blood; whereas without him we had trembled at the Bar of strict Justice: And he prays for us, not only as a Favourite, but as the Surety of the Covenant; not merely by entreaties, but in the virtue of his Blood. And whenever we make mention of his blessed Name, it must be with the lowest reverence, with a due apprehension of our unworthiness, and an high value of the Love and Grace of Christ; and take care to avoid whatsoever may obstruct the success of your repeated Cries. For says the Apostle, Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, James 4.3.  
2. When you have Prayed and Cried, look for an answer of your Prayers. Let not your Requests be shot at random, propose to yourselves some good end, and see whether you have obtained it. If you have asked peace of Soul, inquire whether all be still within, and whether his Light has shined upon you with its cheering Beams. If you have begged Patience, inquire whether you have more willingness to suffer; and so in all other Cases it argues that we perform our duties as a Task, and from a slavish temper or a cold indifference, when we never concern ourselves for the success: and it is a withholding of that Glory that is due to God; for upon every answer of our prayers we should give him fresh Acts of Praise. If we have a Petition depending in any Court, as we wait with hope, so we fail not on all occasions to inquire whether it be remembered and kindly received; and whether we are like to have what we petitioned for. But if we neglect to review this part of solemn Worship, we lose that trust and hope that we might have had, and we weaken our own hands. For to mind our answered prayers would increase our Love, Psal. 116.1. and our neighbours far the worse for this Omission, we do not encourage and invite them to praise God with us.  
3. Wonder greatly that such poor Cries as yours should reach Heaven. It was matter of great thought to Solomon, when he said, 1 Kings 8.27. Will God indeed dwell on the Earth? He that has all the spacious Heavens for his Circuit and Dominion, will he not only visit this Earth, but dwell there? So may you say, will he whose Court is thronged with Angels and happy Saints, regard such a poor Wretch as I? Will he that sits upon a Throne regard me a Prisoner on this Earth? Will he that is surrounded with Hallelujahs, regard my sight, my groans, my tears? Oh what Grace is this! What adorable condescension! I know he would not regard me, but for the sake of Christ; Glory be then given to him that fits upon the Throne, and to the Lamb. I am not worthy to look towards Heaven, what am I then that my prayers should reach thither, and enter, and be recorded, and answered there? A poor Beggar is not disdained by the King of Kings, he does not trample on a worm, Ps. 34.3, 6. O what am I that I should be admitted into the Presence, and have audience of the King of Heaven; Lord what is man, or the son of man?  
How shall I know that God has heard my Cry, and that my patiented waiting has not been in vain.  
1. If he bestow upon you the very thing that you requested: If after your cry for ease you are eased; if you are recovered after you have prayed to be brought from the Gates of Death? If after having had many solicitous thoughts about your being falsely accused, God is at length pleased to scatter the Cloud, and make your Innocence appear to the shame of your malicious Enemies? Thus Jabez prayed in 1 Chro. 4.10. That God would bless him, and enlarge his Coast. And he granted him that which he requested. It was a superabundant kindness to one desirous of Grandeur and Dominion, for Jabez might have been a very happy man, tho' his Coast had not been enlarged; he might have governed and enjoyed himself and his Friends in a little room; and he might have gone to Heaven by the way of grief.  
2. Your Cries are heard when God gives you resignation to his Will, even in the absence of that which you most eagerly desired: if after having poured out your supplications, you return from his presence cheerful, and easy, and well pleased, leaving him that is infinitely wise to do with you and your Bodies, with you and your Friends, what seems best to him: when you find your hearts unbroken with anxious cares and solicitude whether you are gratified or no: This secret contentment is a foretaste of Heaven, and a pledge and instance of Divine Love.  
3. 'Tis a most certain sign of your Cry, being heard, when even in the delays, of the desired Comfort, you love God more than you ever did. When your thoughts of him are more frequent and delightful: when your love to all his appointments, and even to paintful Duties is increased, and that you are thankful for the smallest mercies, for the smallest intervals of pain and trouble; and when even in the way of his judgements you wait for him; by all which you may plainly perceive that your prayers may be heard when your affliction is not removed, and many times the Mercies may be given, and they are so sudden or surprising, that you scarce can believe yourselves delivered, even when you are delivered, Psal. 126.1. and Acts 12.14. tho' they had the faith to pray for Peter, they had not the faith to believe that he was escaped, and knocking at the door.  
The Second General Head, in order to your patiented waiting upon God, you must endeavour to keep up in your minds good and honourable thoughts of him all the while you are in trouble. It is with great industry and art that the Devil takes occasion from our affliction to possess us with unbecoming thoughts of him that is our best Friend: and to make him, during our dark and gloomy seasons, to pass for an Enemy; as the Disciples in the storm mistook their approaching Saviour for a Spirit; and in hideous consternation shouted out, as thinking some Evil Spirit was come to make their Death more terrible, for they looked upon themselves as just drowning. If we have irregular apprehensions of God, as rigorous and inexorably severe, as rousing up the greatness of his Power to crush and ruin us, such undue thoughts breed black and superstitious fears, and shrink all the faculties of our minds with despairing unbelief; our minds are weakened and cramped by the terror of our thoughts; and the consequent of this will be, that we shall either give him no service, or that which is very trifling, and full of vain and idle Ceremonies: For to such a sort of pompous insincere Worship does Superstition lead those poor People, whose Eyes are hoodwinked and blinded with it. Under our dark mistaken thoughts of God and his Designs, our Obedience is the Action of a Slave; 'tis with unwillingness and constraint that we Obey, retaining at the same time a disposition to throw off the Yoke. We proceed in our Devotions like those that Row in Galleys; 'tis with a backward Heart, and an unwilling Shrug. Whatever we give to our Maker, is with a convulst and stingy Hand; for we apprehend him as a severe and a rugged Master, as full of stern and ghastly Majesty. Now to remedy these uneasy fears, our Saviour came into this World, to give us admiring thoughts of God, to represent him as aimable and worthy to be delighted in; to make him the object of our Trust and Hope, and not of our Dread: As a Benefactor, or a most liberal Physician most tender and compassionate, that wounds us in order to a lasting Cure; and his Spirit is sent to promote our Love to him: and St. John, whose Soul was most full of Love, was the most beloved. God has in a great measure left off dealing with Men in visible terrors, as he did heretofore. Nay, says the Apostle, Tho' we know the terrors of the Lord, yet 2 Cor. 5.11. we persuade Men, we use towards them the most gentle, and soft, and easy Methods; we are to say to them, Behold the Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world; and there is nothing frightful in him, that has all the tender Qualities of one of the meekest of all Animals, a Lamb.  
Thirdly, If you would patiently wait upon God, beware of having only little Faith. We are not to lay the blame of our being troubled so much on the greatness of our danger, as on the weakness of our Faith; when we doubt and tremble, then, with Peter in the Storm, we begin to sink. That our Faith may grow, we must use all the good means we can to enlarge our knowledge of God and Christ; for the dwarfishness of our trust, is owing to the darkness of our Minds; They that know thy Name will trust in thee. Knowledge of its self does not produce this admirable reliance of the Soul: The Devils are very Learned and Knowing Spirits, but their Light does only serve to scorch them; it gives no comeliness to their horrid shape, nor to their Flaming Torments any Relaxation: But such a Knowledge as is founded upon Love and Hope, and sweet Experiences of the Truths and Mercies of God, will convey to us great degrees of Strength. In order to remove our little Faith, we may make frequent and delightful use of Christ; we must run to his Arms with all the speed and force we can; and by being near to him, we shall learn to bear the Crosses of this Life; and how to long for that which is to come. Such whose Faith is rooted and spread to a mighty breadth, and of a tall Stature, scruple none of the greatest Tribulations; and many of them go to Heaven with as much calmness, as if they were but going into another Room, or changing their Rags for a new Suit of . But a little Faith shivers and trembles, and is loath to go hence, as amazed at the painfulness of the Passage, and the greatness of the Change. In no case let us blame God for his Rigour, but ourselves for our unbelief. In this Life we are exposed to very great Trials, and these will not be patiently born with a little Patience. O! What a Contest is there between great Storms and little Faith? The time will come, when we shall wish to have had more Oil in our Lamps, and more Grace in store against an evil day; when the Devil and his Temptations and Diseases, and pale and dreadful Death, with all his mourning Train of Evils will set upon us; How shall we meet such Enemies, without well-polisht Armour on? What shall the Sick, and the Lame, and the Blind, and the Decriped do, in the day of Battle? Will not our little Faith be a most unkind and disingenuous return to the great Love of Christ? How unsuitably do these two look, his Love in its strength, and our Faith in its decay; his Love in its flourishing perfection, and our Faith withered and liable to be extinguished, almost with every little breath? And our grief will be increased from the time we had wherein to prepare for all the sorrows that might come upon us; the leisure and the helps of many Years: But if our Faith be strong we shall not be discouraged with the delays of God; we shall trust him tho' he kill us, and cast our Anchor in the dark; we shall look to, even an absent Saviour; and wait for his Salvation, when there is no deliverance within the Ken and View of Sense, when all other resuge fails; when all the Greatures cannot help us, even in the most threatening and the last extremities; when we see no light, we shall cast ourselves at the Power and Love of God.  
Fourthly, If you would patiently wait upon God in trouble, you must have suitable promises to rely upon. You have but small encouragement to wait, if you have no promise that your waiting shall not be in vain: We are not with vexatious labour to pain ourselves, by stretching our thoughts too much upon futurity; or to plunge ourselves into the unfathomable depths, to know the secret decrees of God. Our Eyes are too weak to read the Records of Heaven, and they are far distant from our Sight: But it is more easy and profitable to look into the Revelation, that is made to conduct our lives, both in Prosperity and in Trouble; and in this Revelation there are abundance of very reviving Promises for the most trembling Soul to rely upon. And all those are most sincerely true, not like those of many Men in high Places, who draw along such as wait upon them, with large Promises, most kind Looks, and obliging Words, but never think much of what they Promise; and so make the poor Expector of Preferment, at length to go away ashamed; after having spent a deal of time, and perhaps Money too, to no purpose: And so all they gain is a little bought Wit, which alas they dearly bought, with the Circulation of many torturing and unquiet Hopes. But it often happens, that they go away both with their Heads and their Purses empty. But now they that wait upon the Lord, shall not be ashamed of their hope, Psal. 34.5. Psal. 25.3. they shall at length obtain what God hath promised, and what they waited for.  
Fifthly, That you may patiently wait upon God, remember how many kind experiences you have had of his love hitherto, 2 Cor. 1.10. Without this Reflection, you'll be startled at your new Trials: But no Goliath, with all his stalking Greatness and his big Words, will make you quit the Field; if you consider how God has often secured you from as near and as bulky dangers; from the hissing Serpents that were swollen with Venom, and ready to spit it all upon you; and from the paw of the Lion and the Bear: But unless we call to mind the years of the right hand of the most High, every present Storm will always seem the most blustering, and every present pain the most sharp, it will be a most unreasonable thing for us now to sink, when we have been formerly delivered from as near and as great Calamities. That arm that saved us once, is not now shortened that it cannot save: The sweet Experiences we have had of God, should cause us to be assured, that when we wait on him we do not wait in vain; and no Evidence can give us so unshaken a certainty, both of his Being and his Providence, as those inward tastes and relishes of his Love. This inward Sensation is extremely quieting; 'tis a beam of Divine Light: Nor can we by any troubles, how long or how sharp soever, be forced to quit our Religion and our Faith, when we have once felt the joy and pleasure of them. A good Man has Two Harvests every Year, one from the Furrows of the Field, and another from his own Thoughts. Such efficacious Faith, diffuses a vital warmth over every faculty, and is no more to be separated from a Christian, than he can be divorced from himself; and keeps the pleased recreated Soul from being listless and indisposed, from being chilled and frozen with excessive fear and anguish. To have a Treasury of Experiences whereto to have recourse, is the Privilege of those that are arrived to a good old Age; every year of their Pilgrimage, they have had new Experiences of the kindness of their unerring Guide; they can look back and see wonders of Mercy and Deliverance. O! What a Catalogue of joyful passages offers its self to their Observation? How often they were dying, and God made them to recover; how often they were sinking and afraid, and he bid them be of good Courage. It's comfortable to old People to have a great deal of Money by them, which they got in the Spring and Summer of their Active Life: It supplies their wants, makes their Attendants respectful, and the decays of weary Age more tolerable, when they cannot work for a livelihood as they used to do. But O! How much more comfortable is it to be Rich in Faith, such their good Master looks upon with a pitiful and watchful Eye: He takes care of their weakness, as all good People have a great kindness for an old Servant, that has lived many years in their Family. Very Honourable and Blessed is that Age, that has been long faithful to God. Besides, Such as have been careful to remember their Experiences of his Mercies, may plead them with hope in Prayer, Judg. 15.18. Psal. 77.7. Lord, thou hast been my Father hitherto, be not now my Enemy; thou hast heretofore dealt graciously with me, do not now overwhelm me with the weight of numerous and too great Afflictions: In other distresses I have had thy Presence, O be not now a stranger to me!  
Sixthly, That you may patiently wait on God, maintain in your Spirits a great indifference to the things of this World; that you may be prepared upon the first Summons to take your flight from it: Regard without concern or too passionate Affection all that is dear to you in this Life; and while you are on Earth, let your Eye be on Heaven. Cease to live to sin, that you may not be torn from your Enjoyments; but bid them farewell without a sigh: by a continued progress in Mortification, you will out-grow that anxiety of thought which others have, as to what shall befall the World or themselves; this Earth by most of its Inhabitants is overrated, and so they are loath to quit it.  
Seventhly, That you may patiently wait on God, keep your Eye most constantly and steadily fixed on your blessed Master. When the Storms arise, look on him whose Power can in a moment make the Sea calm, and the lowering Sky clear again: In your trouble look to your Helper, as when we ford a deep River, we look to the further side. Whereas, if we only poor upon our Miseries, we tyre our Spirits, and raise to ourselves more hideous prospects of Calamity. You need not go far to see your Saviour, for he is with you in your Assemblies, in your Closets; he is in the Scriptures, and in all the Promises; no part of the World is out of his Dominion, and he has all Power in Heaven and Earth. The Prince of the Air that is limited to his own Principality, and to his changeable Empire, cannot raise a Storm without his leave; tho' he is in himself very powerful, yet he is Subject to a greater Power. The Apostle directs the Christians of his days to wait for the Lord from Heaven, 2 Thes. 3.5. To wait for the sight of that glorious Person on whom they have believed, with whom they hope to live for ever; the sight of him is what they extremely long for. It will be an Heaven to see him who has done so much for them, and of whom they have heard so very much: When he comes, he will reward his patiented Servants; he will manifest their Grace, and make the World to wonder at his Power in their support: Behold the Faith and Patience of the Saints. Thus in the Text, David says, I have waited for the Lord. I have not waited so much for mine own Exaltation or the Conquest of mine Enemies, as for the Favour and the Love of God. I have not longed to see mine House flourish, and my Friends enriched, or my Name perpetually celebrated on Earth. No, truly Lord, I have longed for thee, and thee alone. This is all my Satisfaction, this is all my Desire; tho' no Deliverance come, yet if thou, O my God, dost thyself come, I shall have enough. Another sort of Spirit have those who are only of this World, they all would climb, and are uneasy to attain some high or Lofty things. Oh that I were Honourable says the Rich; and O that I were Rich, says the Poor Man: Every one that has Money would fain have more, and he that has a deal of Land, would fain be Master of another Field; he that is obscure would fain be noted; and he that is publicly talked of, would fain be more popular. These are the things they long and wait for; not satisfied with what God thinks fit to give them. Even Princes sometimes think they have not room enough, unless they invade the Dominions of others, as well as lord it in their own. And Ahab a wicked King, could find no pleasure in his Crown, unless he had the Vineyard of honest Nabaoth. But be you satisfied with whatever is allotted you by Providence; and do not grumble if you meet with Pain, Reproach, Poverty, and various Crosses: For all the Saints in Heaven, went through great Tribulations thither; most of the Illessed Saints performed their Voyage to that happy Land.  
And now I come to speak of our Departed Friend Mrs. Hasselborn, who died this Month, in the 95th Year of her Age; in a good old Age indeed. Few, very few of all the Sons and Daughters of Adam, have, in these times of the World so long a Life: few of those that die of Age, hold out so long as she. I shall make no manner of excuses, nor tell you, whilst I am praising her, that I am not for praising those that are Departed; nor confute myself, as some do, that say they are against commending the Dead, even when they say of them all that ever they can. Our Saviour said of this or that Person, O Woman, great is thy Faith; and he that commends his Saints when they live, would not have their Memory roughly treated when they are Dead. No body will suspect the Humble Jesus as guilty of Flattery, or of over-admiring any Persons; and yet what a large Character does he think fit to give of his Predecessor, Matth. XI. 11. Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of Women, there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist. And the  free-spoken Paul, that never never balked the boldest truth, or the most searching reproof; yet he was not so morose, as to chide the People for commending Dorcas, for her good Work, and Almsdeed, for the Coats and Garments which she made, Acts 9.36. Nay, so far was he from so four a temper, that he highly extols Andronicus and Junias who were in Christ before him, and who were of note among the Apostles. It is a fault not to commend good People, if it be done with truth and modesty; especially in an illnatured Age, where those that God will own as his Jewels, are trampled on; and those that he will commend and accept are Censured and Reproached, though for their hard speeches that Men utter against the Innocent, they must be rigorously Judged; therefore, for my part, I reckon it my Duty to contribute what I can to embalm the Memory of such as were dear to Christ on Earth, and now live with him above. All the Graces of the blessed Spirit, are too valuable to be neglected or obscured in the dark: We are to invite others to behold the aimableness and beauty of Religion; behold how it shines and triumphs, and spreads its healing Beams. Behold, an Israelite indeed, John 1.47. And it's an Encouragement to others to be good, when they find their works shall praise them in the gates of Zion, it shall be said, this or that man was born there; we ought with great freeness and candour to acknowledge the Gifts and Graces that are bestowed on others. Let us not bury the remembrance of their excellent Actions in the Grave: Thus we may lawfully give them Praise, while we do not give them Worship. We think the Virgin Mother blessed among Women, and to all Generations she is blessed: We will honour her Memory, but never think she is above her Son; nor will we take the Crown from his Head, to place it upon hers: We will imitate the Examples of the Saints Departed, but not pray to them; for even Abraham himself is ignorant of us. In preserving the Memory of good People, we act suitably to the Design of God, who has taken care to Record several of his Excellent Servants, of whom we otherwise had never heard: As they were zealous for his Glory whilst they were alive, he will not let their Names be trampled on with the Feet of Pride, when they are Departed: Such Persons are like withered Flowers: In their flourishing Condition they recreated and pleased their Acquaintance with the sweet Odours of their Charity, their Meekness and their good Works. For when the Flower and the Green is Blasted by the cold of Death, they are after all, like the tender Plants Medicinal, even when dried and in their most unbeautiful State, of great use and service to the World. The Scripture perpetuates the Memory of several good Women, as well as Men, as Sarah, and Rebeccah, and Rachel, and Miraim, and Hannah, and Deborah, and the Blessed Virgin; and that affectionate Person, that scrupled no cost to show her respect to our Saviour, Mark 14.9. And Jesus loved Martha, and her Sister, and Lazarus, John 11.5. He often met with a welcome at their Hospitable House. And St. Paul greets Priscilla as well as Aquila, and Mary and Julia, and several others, in Rom. 16.  
This Old Disciple of Christ, of whom I am now to speak, had spent her years in the Fear and the Love of God, and full of Days; full of pleasant quietness and hope she is gone to Rest: She calmly Sleeps till the Morning of the Resurrection; when she will have a Body without all the marks of withering and decayed Age; a Body full of Lustre, full of Activity; and, Like to the glorious body of our Lord: Like the Angels that possess an eternal Youth, their Beams never dimly shine, their Light never weakly burns: After a long Circulation of Hymns and Joys, their Praises are as cheerful, and their Voices as loud as ever.  
This aged Servant of our Lord, had made it her great business to trust in him; and in the midst of Revolutions, that were attended with threatening Prospects, she remained unmoved: When others were frighted with Alarms, and the imagined approaches of Bloody Enemies, she was undisturbed, saying, I have a good God, and I fear nothing; and often used to say, They are well kept that God keeps, for she safely dwelled under the shadow of his Wings; and as one that knew, that the thoughts and discourse of worldly things, were very unseasonable in a dying Hour, she settled all her affairs before Death gave the last Summons, and so was prepared to die.  
She possessed to almost an Hundred, a a very good Age, without pineing weakness, and the sorrows that cloud others, and send them early to the Grave: She was now and then afflicted, but she was never overwhelmed.  
This good Woman spent her time in Prayer, and Reading of the Holy Scripture, that best of Books, that great Conveyer of all Heavenly Light and Heat; Where are the gracious Souls, to whom this Revelation was not dear and precious? What sort of People are those, whose Ignorance and Rudeness forces them to Ridicule, what others lay their whole stress for another World upon? Dear to her, as well as to all other Holy Souls, was her Bible: there she placed her trust, thence she drew her Supports and Consolations. This was her Lantern in this World, during the darkness of her Pilgrimage; she now needs it not, where there is everlasting Day. Next to the Blessed Scripture, she often read in Dr. Preston, Dr. Sibbs, and in the Lives of Luther and Calvin, and some of their Works in English: On Precious and Reviving Names of Men, that were Stars of the first Magnitude, that shined in the Church! And when they were placed in superior Orbs, lest their influence and heat behind; they still edify the Church by their Grave and Learned Writings, in which every thing is manly and substantial, and nothing slovingly or ridiculous, or trifling and unbecoming the Majesty of Divinity, and the Character they bore: How much more happy were those useful Men, in leaving such solid Writings behind them: then are some of the Poets of our days, who sauce a great part of their Composures with Wit and Folly; or as I may say, with foolish Wit, whilst they content themselves in dressing up Vice with soft and easy Names; and accommodate every thing to the gust and humour of a depraved Age; and do not so much Combat with Sin, as discover it; study more to please then to profit; their Books are Contagious, whilst the Authors are alive; and when they die, they do, like Nero, leave Poison behind them, and propagate infection for a long time together.  
Among all the rest of the Old Divines, she had a particular respect to Dr. Preston; which shown, that she had both a good Taste and Judgement in Divine things. His solidity and wise management of truth, gave Light to her Understanding; and his serious and devout Applications warmed her Heart: And of all the Works of this Pious Doctor, she was most pleased and edified with his Discourse about God's All-sufficiency; and so was another Old Disciple, that I knew of above 90. that found always a peculiar refreshment in that very Treatise. So wisely did these Aged People, having sorrowfully viewed the Vanities of Life, and of all Creatures betake themselves to God alone, whose help they sought, and whose help they found.  
As she was careful to prepare her own Soul for another World, she also thirsted for the welfare and happiness of others; and often passed the moments that were most free from pain, in pressing them to mind things of the greatest and most lasting Consequence, desiring them to prepare to die; and earnestly moving them, in order to this, to live an Holy Life; fully thinking, with the great Apostle, that Without holiness none can see the Lord. The sight of the pure Majesty of Heaven, would be amazing and astonishing to a Soul full of evil inclinations to objects terrene and sensual: Therefore this excellent Woman, did often desire her Friends to take care lest they were in their way of living, like persons walking in a Gallery, that went forwards and backwards without advancing any nearer to their Journeys end; intimating, that she wished they might every day be nearer Heaven than they were before.  
With a mighty pleasure, when I was once with her, she discoursed of the forementioned famous Divines, and of the advantages she had by the Preaching and Sermons of many worthy Men, such as Mr. Burroughs, Mr. Lockyer, old Mr. Calamy, and several others, whom she had long Survived. Her Lot indeed was cast in happy times; and she had the favour to live in the days of our Forefathers, when Religion was more practised and esteemed, then alas now it is. The Puritans disputed less than we, and lived better: Oh that their Catholic Charity, their peaceable Spirit, and their innocent simplicity might have a Resurrection!  
She lived to see most of her old Acquaintance removed by Death, and so was, after having been satisfied with living, very willing to departed, that she and her Friends might meet again. She trusted God in her Health, and so she died, when her Pain and Sickness came upon her. She often desired one that attended her in her near approaches to Eternity, to read the first words of the 40th Psalm, as extremely suitable to her own Case and Temper. She was very humble and very patiented in her illness; she had no fretful disordered Expressions; she bore her burden laid upon her by God; tho' her earnest desire to see him, made her now and then say, O why does he tarry? On her Sick Bed she kept her Eye fixed above, and sent before her arrival at Heaven, her longing Prayers thither; begging that her Iniquity might be blotted out, and wishing to be with Christ. And when her Daughter attending on her Ministered to her support, with a language proper for one just in the close of Life; and told her, God would receive her into the Arms of his Mercy; she with the composure of a Soul bordering upon Happiness, answered, She had laid herself as the feet of Jesus Christ, and had submitted to him, who was able to save to the uttermost; which words she often uttered in her former and latter Years. And a Night or two before she was called away, she repeated part of 39th Psalm, Verse 8, 9, 10. and such was her Faith and Hope, that she was able to apply to herself, those Triumphant words of that patiented Job; I know that my Redeemer lives, and that she should see him for herself, and this Redeemer she is now gone to see: In his Arms we leave her, till he, and all that sleep in him, shall come together at the last day.  
And now my Friends, from all that I have said concerning this departed Saint, we may without any difficulty observe, that Meekness and Patience is the ready way to long Life: I do not believe this good Woman had lived so long, had she not been of a calm and quiet Spirit. Those that are furious and passionate, and illnatured, corrode and vex themselves, and with haste snap asunder the Thread of Life. There are two things to be wondered at with respect to this Person: First, That she should live so long, as being one of the weaker and feebler Sex; and Secondly, That her Patience should not be tired during so long an abode in this World as 95 Years, but be continued to the last moment of her Life. How illustrious is that Power, that kept so frail a Vessel from being dashed in pieces? How glorious is that Grace, that enabled her to persevere in the Love of God?  
We may further consider that Death is the Lot of all those that are the most Aged, are not immortal; they most at length go to their Long Home, tho' many Thousands go with quicker and more hasty steps than they. The Oak that is the oldest Father of the Forest, that has survived many scorching Summers, and many cold blasts of Winter, must at length feel the decays of Age; and perish as surely, tho' not as soon as the little Trees: the longest day will have a concluding Night. Those that are an hundred years old, and those that are but Twenty, must both in a while lie down in a Bed of Dust. Methusalem lived many long Years, but he did not live for ever. O let us, by the thought of this, be moved to lay hold on a Life that is Eternal; a Life that has no mixture of Corruption, and has no fears of decay, and such a life the blessed live in Heaven; there is no death.  
Again, Let none here fancy, because they now and then hear of such an one, that has attained to almost an Hundred, that therefore they shall live as long; and having such a prospect, may spend their present days in Jollities and Mirth, as believing they have an huge deal of time lying on their hands: For what a surprise will it be to stumble into the Grave in Youth, when they imagined they should not come thither till they were Old. If you Examine the weekly Bills, you'll find few dye of Age comparatively, to what die of other Diseases; more dye before thirty, then live to Fourscore. The youngest here have seen younger than themselves snatched away by Death; and many a Flower is withered, when it just began to open. The Sun with many goes down at Noon: As well might every Disciple of Christ expect to live as long as St. John, who was to tarry longer on Earth than most of the rest, and Died at 93. Simeon the Son of Cleophas, Brother of our Lord, lived an 120. Length of Life, is not of all other Blessings the most desirable; and as one observes, it was not peculiar to Grace, or the Holy Line; for there are reckoned of the Fathers to the Flood Eleven Generations, but of the sons of Adam by Cain, only Eight Generations so as the Posterity of Cain may seem the longer lived. The good Men and good Women too, sometime lived very long; as Abraham to One hundred seventy five, Isaac to One hundred and Eighty, Jacob to One hundred forty seven: Sarah, whose years only among Women are Recorded, died in the One hundred twenty seventh year of her Age, an excellent Mother and a good Wife, Luke 2.36, 37. Anna is said to be of a great Age, a very patiented Person: For when she was about Eighty four, she departed not from the Temple.  
As to you that are the Relations of this good old Disciple, do not water the Grave of your Friend with useless Tears: There is indeed great cause to Lament, when an useful serviceable Person is taken away by sudden or untimely death; 'tis the falling of Fruit before Autumn come. But such as have been a Blessing, and a long example of Piety, to the very last step of Humane Life, are not so to be lamented, as having most regularly finished their Course; and were not cut off in the middle of their Race. And yet, as one says, it is to be observed, that the Saints of God, tho' never so Old, and brought never so low through the Miseries attending them, when they changed this Life for a better, were still buried with great Lamentation. Abel-mizraim, Gen. 5. was a place never to be forgot, either by the Egyptians or the Canaanites; and not Jacob only, but Moses and Aaron, and Samuel, were buried by the People of Israel, and great Public Mournings made made.  
It would be very unreasonable for you to Mourn, and needless for me to desire you not to do it. She prayed and longed to be with Christ, and would you mourn that God has heard her Prayers, and that she now is where she longed to be. It would be a most unjust thing to be sorry that a Labourer is gone to rest, or to bewail the death of one that is Ninety Five; who was not gathered till the fullest time of Harvest, and when she was duly ripe for Glory. Oh be thankful that God has at length comforted this Handmaid of his, that waited for his Consolations. Be thankful that you so long have had the benefit of her good advice, her shining example, and her holy prayers. Let the remembrance of her Faith and Patience, and Hope, and her other excellent Qualifications kindle in you the like Graces. Consider the end of her Conversation, with what peace she lived, and with what joy she died. Do nothing unworthy of the Children of so good a Mother; tread in her steps, and follow her in the practice of all praise worthy things, that so she and you may comfortably meet at the last day, and never never part again. Amen.   
The End.   

Erratas.  
Page 5. line 5. after that Read it is. P. 13. l. 16. for Eaden R. Endor. P. 1●. l. 13. after it R. is P. 19 l. 9 R. Beasts. P. 26. l. 11. R. Pillow. P. 36. l. 11. R. dwindling. P. 41. l. 25. R. God's. P. 52. l. 9 for thus R. this. P. 75. l. 21. R. Amiable. P. 88 l. 15. after Land R. in Storms. P. 90. l. 20. R. Amiableness.   

THE Changeableness of this World, with Respect to Nations, Families, and particular Persons, with Practical Applications thereof to the various Conditions of this Mortal Life. By Timothy Rogers, M.A. Price 1 s. Printed for J. Salusbury at the Rising Sun in Cornhill.