A spiritual antidote against sinful contagion in dying times a cordial for believers in dying times with a corrosive for wicked men in dying times / at first written as a letter to private friends in daily expectation of death by the plague, and afterwards printed for more public good.

A CORDIAL for BELIEVERS IN Dying Times.

SAd are the Tidings which you frequently send of the raging Plague amongst you; dolo∣rous are the complaints that you fill your Letters with, be∣cause of the many breaches that Death is making in your Families: One, My Hus∣band and Children are dead; another, My Wife and Children dead; a third, that such a Family is wholly removed, Parents and Children too; Master and Servants too. There is Death in e∣very Letter, and Death almost in every Line, and you in fears concerning your selves: Oh my friends let us now spend our little time rather in preparation for our own, then in lamentation of others Death; for that they shall not return to us, but we shall go down to them. You are

indeed walking in the valley of the shadow of Death; but yet the Lord is your Shepherd; there∣fore why should you fear inordinately; I pray, for your comforts in this day of distress, have in your mind such things as these? Let me ask you;

First, When you look upon your self as a dy∣ing man, will not this delight your Soul, That your name is written in the Book of Life? That your name is enrolled in the Record of Heaven? And what will it be to be put into the Bill of Mortality, when you are first in the Book of Life? Are you not a chosen vessel? hath not God set his heart upon you? were you not in his thoughts of love, when he was appointing what should be the place of the Eternal abode of every man? if you would but dwell in your believing thoughts upon Gods eternal Electing love it would wonderfully comfort you, though you were a dying: Oh! why are you so exceedingly sadned, because of slaughtering Death? Let Reprobates and Souls passed by, stand trembling, and be filled with Horror at the ap∣proaches thereof: But shall you that are elected? shall you that have some discoveries of Gods eternal choice of your pretious Souls? tell me I beseech you.

1. Can you consider who it is that hath chosen you, and yet put by the comfort of it? God, and not man; the King of glory, and the mighty God hath fixed his eyes upon you.

2. Can you consider when this choice was made, and not be comforted? Election is an

Eternal act of God, it was concluded by the God of Heaven before this world began, that you should be happy with himself, when this world shall be no more.

3. Can you consider what it is that he hath chosen you from, and not be comforted? from Sin and misery, from a loathsome state in which you were; shall a man be chosen from the dunghill, to a place of Honor, and not be affected with the favor of the Prince that makes that choice?

4. Can you consider what it is that God hath chosen you to, and not have your hearts re∣vived at the thoughts thereof? Is it not to a Kingdom and a Crown; a Crown of glory, that is undefiled, that fadeth not away, reser∣ved in the Heavens for you. 1 Pet. 1. 4, 5. To an eternal mansion, to the beatifical vision, to the everlasting, immediate, full fruition of the chiefest good.

5. Can you consider why it was that God did chuse you, and not have your Soul won∣derfully affected therewith? was it because you were better then others? was it because you would honour him more then others? Oh no: there was nothing in you as a motive, reason, cause, ground, or Antecedent to this choice, but because he would. He did chuse you, because it was his pleasure so to do. Rom. 9. 15. I will have mercy, on whom I will have mercy; I will have compassion, on whom I will have com∣passion.

6. Can you consider how long this glory shall remain, that he hath chosen you unto, and not admire him for his love? had God chosen you to live in honor, and in happiness a little while, or for some thousand of years, and then to suffer you to live in shame and everlasting contempt? Is it to some temporary honor? is it to some transitory dignities? Oh no, it is to an everlast∣ing blessed state.

7, Can you consider whom it is that God hath chosen, viz. you, and not have it a refresh∣ment unto your Soul? a Man, a Woman, a great Sinner, that wert a Sinner a great while; oh what kind of condescention is this in God to you! Oh what kind of honor is this conferred by God upon you! that God should chuse any man was wonderful, but that he should chuse you and not another; this to you should be more wonderfull and affecting.

8. Can you consider how few these are that are chosen by God, and will it not raise your heart in dying times, that you should be one of those few? if there should be but a few that should escape this Plague, (which God prevent) and you should be one of those few, would you not own it as a strong engagement to love God, and live unto him, and reioyce in him? Oh how much more, when but a few are elected; and you should be of that little number! If God had chosen all but one man, you might have been left to have been that only Reprobate person: Oh then in dying times let this be your comfort! that though God hath chosen but a few, you are

one of the number. Some of you may be so mean, that Men will not vouchsafe to chuse you to a place of office among men; and yet the great God hath chosen you to life and glory.

9. Can you consider the peculiar care that God takes of his chosen ones, in times of judg∣ment, and not rejoyce that you are one of them? God will not lose one of his elect, though they may dye in a general calamity, and be cast into the same common grave, yet God knows who are his. 2. Tim. 2. 19.

You will reply, If I did know indeed, that I were elected of God to eternal life, it would be a Cordial to me indeed, though I were sick of this uncomfortable disease. But alas, that is my doubt, that is my fear: I am afraid God will cut me off by death, and cast me off for ever. I am afraid God hath not chosen me; I pray you Sir, tell me how I should do to know it. I an∣swer,

1. If you have chosen God, undoubtedly God hath chosen you; not that your choice of God, precedes Gods choice of you. That follows it. God chuseth us first, and then he causeth us to chuse him; what say you then? speak I pray you as a dying man should speak, deny nor affirm more then is true. Have you not after you have experienced the vanity of the Creature, upon your serious and mature deliberation, chuse God for your portion, and your treasure, and your chiefest joy? could you not be thankful for a share in God, though you had nothing besides? doth your judgement value him, and

your will chose him, and are your affections set upon him above all things; that you prise nothing more, and love nothing more? You may certainly thankfully conclude, that God hath chosen you. For as we love God because he first loved us; so we chose God, because he first chose us. There is no reason why you should say you have made choice of God, but you fear he hath not chosen you.

2. If you have a Christ-prizing heart, purify∣ing Faith, certainly you are elected of God unto eternal life; therefore such a Faith, it is called the Faith of Gods elect. Tit. 1. 1. and Faith is the true and infallible consequent of Gods election. Acts 13. 48. And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Therefore prove that you do believe, and you may be sure that you are chosen.

3. If you are effectually called, then you are certainly elected, 2 Pet. 1. 10. Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure. There is a connexion betwixt calling and election: Though every one that is elected, is not yet called; yet every one that is called, is elected; and we must by our calling make our election sure. Tell me then, Hath not God opened your eyes, and caused you to see your sin and misery, and broken your heart, and made you mourne for your sin, and given you a sight of Christ, and instructed you in the terms of the Covenant of Grace [viz. To take him for your Lord and Sa∣viour,] and are not you willing to take him into your heart upon those terms? Dare you say

this if you were now a dying? Oh certainly there is something in Gods eternal choice of you, to support and comfort you in sickness, and judg∣ments, and death; if you would believe it, and evidence it to your soul, and work the thoughts thereof upon your heart.

Secondly, When you look upon your self as a dying man, will not this delight your Soul, that God is at peace with you, and you actually, really, and eternally reconciled to God? if you dye in this Plague, you will not dye an enemy to God, nor God be an enemy to you. As God is the forest enemy, so God is the surest friend. As it is most dreadful in dying times, to have God to be ones enemy; so it is in the same times most comfortable to have God to be at peace. If the Plague doth come and seize upon you, it comes from your friend; your God. This one word, he is yours, will be ground enough of solid comfort in all times, conditions, and places. This is the very quintessence of the Covenant of Grace, the very extract and love of all the promises of the Gospel; nay, these words, I will be your God, are the very spirits of the Gospel promises, which will appear, if you consider, what is comprehended in this prin∣cipal promise.

1. I will be your God, i. e. I will love you with the choicest, freest, and with the tenderest love; and can you conceive God speaking thus unto your Soul, and can any outward judge∣ment be so heavy, as to weigh your Spirit down with slavish fears thereof?

2. I will be your God, i. e. I will bestow my felf upon you. God giveth riches to the wicked, and bestoweth honor upon the ungodly, but he bestows himself upon his people. What will God make himself over to you, and yet Plague and Death more affright you, then the thoughts of this shall content and support you?

3. I will be your God, that is, I will oblige my self to communicate to you all the good I see necessary to the life of Grace and Glory; any thing that is good for you (whether Health, Life, Plenty,) I will not with-hold from you.

4. I will be your God, i. e. It doth include the continuance and duration of this Relation betwixt God and your Soul. He doth not say only he is your God, but he will be your God, in Health, in Sickness, in Death. You may com∣plain you want comfort in times of great Mor∣tality, but you cannot say, you have not ground of comfort, while this promise stands recorded in the Scripture. When you come to dye, and your external parts of your body begin to be cold, this promise laid warm unto your heart, will minister matter of Spiritual joy to your departing Soul. To have a good God to be your God, a merciful God to be your God, and a faithful and eternal God to be your God, will be more to you when you come to dye, then to have thousands of Gold and Silver to be yours.

Quest. But you will say, How shall I know, that God is my God?

Ans. 1. If you have really and heartily re∣signed your self to God, to become his, then he is yours. In every Covenant there is a mu∣tual consent, else it is no Covenant. I will be your God, and there is added, You shall be my people. If you are one of these people which are a willing people; in the day of Christs power willing,

1. To forsake every Sin.

2. To do every Duty.

3. Willing to bear every burthen, willing to bear any thing, to do any thing; then you have a propriety in God.

2. If you have real love unto him; for such a Covenant relation cannot be without affecti∣on. If you did not love him before you took him for your God, yet you do now.

3. If you have received some special Co∣venant tokens from him. He never becomes a God in Covenant with any Soul, but he gives to such an one Covenant Graces, and Covenant Blessings and Priviledges; Such as are a soft Heart, sense of Hardness, Spiritual life, the Spirit of Prayer, Holiness of Heart and Life in some measure; which if you have received, assuredly God is your God. Now will it not comfort you, whether you be well or sick, to say, God is a tender-hearted God, and he is mine; an All-sufficient God, and he is mine. Oh let life be continued, or let Death approach, he is mine, let me live or die! This is enough, that God is mine.

4. If you have broken league with Sin, and Sin be not yours by Covenant and free consent, when God is yours. Every man in the World is in Covenant with God or Sin, and these are inconsistent the one with the other; if Sin be not your Lord, and bear Dominion in your Soul, then God is your God, and your Lord. Oh break of your Covenant with Sin while you live! and God will be your God while you live, and when you dye.

Thirdly, When you look upon your self as a dying man, will not this delight your depart∣ing Soul, that you shall still remain united unto Christ. Do you fear death, because it will se∣parate you from your dear relations? yet it shall not separate you from Christ. Do you fear it, because it will separate your body and your Soul, these two that were together in the same womb, and lived together in this World? yet know and study it, and dwell upon it in your thoughts, till it doth overcome your fears; it shall not separate the union betwixt you and your Redeemer. Death indeed will dissolve the Natural union betwixt Body and Soul, the Conjugal union betwixt Husband and Wife, the Political union betwixt Magistrate and Subject; but not the Mystical union be∣twixt you and Christ. Your body when it is sleeping in the dust, shall still be united to him; nay, your body turned unto dust, shall still retain this union and your Soul when it's got into the highest Heavens. Oh, what did God do for you, when he did by his Spirit on his

part; and by Faith on your part, unite you unto Christ! Oh ponder a while upon this union in these properties of it!

1. In that it is a Spiritual and an Invisible union: it is to be perceived by Faith, and not by Sense. Carnal men they have it not, and they have no experimental knowledge of it: They may talk of it, but have no benefit by it, because they are not partakers of it. It is a scorn to the ungodly world, but you have tasted the sweetness of it.

2. In that it is an unspeakable union. There are three unions very admirable; the union of three persons in one Nature; the union of two natures in one Person; and the union of Christ to Believers.

3. In that it is a sympathizing union; by vertue of this union, Christ hath a feeling of all the evils that befall you. You cannot be sick, but Christ is sensible of it. Your head cannot ake, but Christ sympathizeth with you; and you shall not go through the pangs of death, but he will be afflicted with you. Isai. 63. 9. In all their afflictions he was afflicted, Heb. 4. 15. For we have not an high Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities by ver∣tue of this union. It was that Christ did call from heaven, when Saul was making havock of his members: As there is a sympathy betwixt the head and the members of the body natural, so there is betwixt Christ the Head and every Mem∣ber of his Body Mystical:

4. In that it is an indissoluble union: De∣vils cannot break it, men can never break it, sin and death can never break it. Once united to Christ, and you are for ever united to him. There is nothing you can call for ever yours, but God and Christ; and the special things you receive from them. You cannot look upon your Children; and say, these are for ever mine; nor upon the Wife of your bosome, and say, this is for ever mine; for our relation and our title to these, doth cease at death: But because this union is inseparable, you may say, this God and Christ is for ever mine. If sickness and death could part you and your Lord, your heart might break at the thoughts thereof; but since it is not in their power, be filled with such joy both in sickness and in death, as doth become one that doth in∣deed believe it.

Fourthly, When you look upon your self as a dying man, will not this delight your Soul, that your Sins are freely, fully, everlastingly forgiven? Were you indeed to dye in your Sins, and go out of the World with all your guilt upon your Souls, you had cause then to be filled with horror of conscience, and unspeakable perplexities of mind; but through mercy this is not your case. The Debt is discharged, the Bond is cancelled, the Book is crossed; it is guilt that maketh death more terrible then the bare distruction of nature would make it to be. Oh! what if you be a dying man! yet you are a pardoned man. It is guilt that is the sting

of death; and when the guilt of sin is removed, the sting of death is taken away. This is your comfort, you shall not dye in debt, because your surety hath already paid it for you. Oh! con∣sider seriously the greatness of this blessing; for,

1. It is a blessing which none can give but God himself; none can take off the obligation that lies upon a sinner unto eternal condem∣nation, but that God against whom the sin is committed.

2. It is such a blessing, that none could pur∣chase, but the Son of God.

3. It is such a blessing, that he did purchase with his blood. Blood was the price of pardon, and not common but precious blood; the blood of Bulls and Goats could not have done it; the blood of an Ordinray, no nor of an In∣nocent man, had there been any such meer man to be found; but it must be the Blood of God and Man; and that not a little of his blood, but it must be the Life-blood, the very Heart-blood of this precious person that could procure it for you.

4. It is such a blessing, that doth sweeten all your mercies; what were other mercies, if your sins had not been pardoned? what if you could say, that you are rich, but not pardoned? Pardon giveth a better rellish to your other blessings.

5. It is such a blessing that lightneth all your burdens; it makes poverty easie, and death com∣fortable.

6. It is a blessing which God giveth alwaies in his love. God doth not use to give pardon

in his anger, to remit sins in his displeasure. Whom he pardons them he loves; and if he did not love you, he would not have pardoned you

7 It is such a blessing that is peculiar to Gods own; it is a mercy that a Hypocrite never had; it is a blessing that a Reprobate never shared of.

8. It is such a blessing that might comfort you against the fears of being cast out of the love of God. What is it that maketh you fear that God should cast you off? is it your poverty, and your meanness in the World? No, but it is the thought of sin that filleth you with these fears; but need you fear this, when your sin is pardoned? God never did, and never will cast off a pardoned Sinner; and are you par∣takers of so great a mercy, and will you be so much perplexed with the thoughts of sickness and death? When you are visited, remember you are pardoned; when you are at the very point of death remember you are pardoned; and this will sweeten your passage into another life: When the Plague is upon your body, remember the great Plague of all is removed from you.

Fifthly, When you look upon your self as a dying man, will not this delight your Soul, that the Righteousness of Christ is imputed to you? your sins were imputed to him, and his righte∣ousness to you, 2 Cor. 5. last. Oh wonderful exchange! If you were to dye and appear before God in your sins, your case were miserable. And if you were to dye, and appear before God

in your own righteousness, your condition were deplorable: But the remission of sins pre∣vents the former, and the imputation of Christs righteousness the latter. Is it a trouble to you to look back upon your life, and see how you have transgressed Gods Law, which is holy, just, and good? but Christ he hath kept the Law, and satisfied for your breaking of it, and both these imputed unto you. Christs Active obe∣dience is imputed unto you; and Christs Passive obedience is imputed unto you. i. e. There is a free donation, adjudication, application of the righteousness of Christ unto you [believing] as if it had been performed by you; for as our sins were so laid upon Christ and imputed unto him, as if he had been the sinner, who yet knew no sin; so Christs Righteousness and O∣bedience is reckoned unto us, as if we had obeyed in our own persons, who yet had no righteous∣ness of our own. Rom. 4. 6. and 5. 18, 19. 2 Cor. 5. 21. If you look within you, you may find something that is a pledge of future happi∣ness; but there is nothing within you can satisfie you before God, all your righteousnesses are as filthy raggs. Isai. 64. 6. And if we trust in our own righteousness, we shall perish. Duties are good means, but bad servants. Oh! lay hold upon the righteousness of Christ, and see that he be made of God to you, Wisdom, Righ∣teousness, Sanctification, and Redemption, 1 Cor. 1. 30. There is enough in Christs Righteousness to comfort a believers Soul against the fears of death, that is so formidable; for

1. It is the Righteousness of God. The Righ∣teousness of Adam in his Innocency, was but the Righteousness of a meer man; at his best, he was but a man; but that Righteousness which is yours by imputation, is the Righteousness of one that was God and Man. 2 Cor. 5. 21. That we might be made the Righteousness of God in him.

2. It is perfect Righteousness; there is no blemish in it, nothing wanting, nothing short.

3. It is the Righteousness of Faith, Rom. 4. 13. It is a Righteousness which is of Faith. Rom. 10. 6 It is a Righteousness by Faith. Rom. 3. 22. Phil. 3. 9. i. e. It is a Righteousness which is to be received and imbraced by Faith. You are not to be justified by your works, but believe and you shall be justified.

4. It is a Righteousness that cannot be lost; if it be once imputed, it shall never be revoked. Adams Righteousness was perfect, it wanted nothing that should be found in him; but it was mutable, it was righteousness that might be lost, that was lost. Would you count your self happy if you were in your first estate, if you were in your Primitive condition? Why? Though in many respects our condition is worse, yet in some respects our condition is better; as,

That the Righteousness that is really ours by imputation, is more excellent then Adams, as Christ is more excellent then Adam.

And that this Righteousness is permanent; it is lasting Righteousness; Death, nor Men, nor Devils, cannot rob us, spoil us of it. And God will not so far forsake his, that by their

sin they should be deprived of it. When you die, you must put off this body, but not this garment of Christ Righteousness; you shall not appear naked before Gods tribunal.

5. It is a Righteousness that shall make you appear without spot, or wrinkle, or blemish, or any such thing. You now complain of the many blemishes in your Soul; of your spots and im∣perfections, but being cloathed with this Righteousness; you shall be presented unto God without any such thing.

Sixthly, When you look upon your self as a dying Man, will not this delight your Soul, that death comes peaceably to you; that it comes without a sting? You may see some smiles in the face of death it self; for death is to a Man, as God is; if God be a Mans enemy, so is death. If God be a Mans friend, so is death. Out of the eater comes forth meat; death eats up all mankind; and yet there is food in death for a believing Soul. Death is part of your Christian Charter. 1 Cor. 3. 21, 22. All things are yours, whether the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come. It is your Chariot to wheel you away into everlasting glory. The outward marchings of death towards you, may be the same as to other men; it might come by the same disease, by the same Plague to you, as to a wicked man; but it is not really to you, as it is to the wicked. It is their real enemy, it stings them to death, it doth but lay you asleep; it is to them an out-let from their seeming happi∣ness, and an in-let to their real misery; it is to

you an out-let from your present trouble, and an in-let to your future happiness. Consider,

1. Is it not a mercy that God hath shortned the daies of man upon earth? as it is the fruit and desert of sin, it is a punishment; but God doth turn it into mercy. If you should live longer, you would sin longer, and you would sorrow longer, and you would be afflicted longer; and are these so pleasing to you, that you would not die?

2. How would you go to Heaven, if you would not die? must you not die, and so enter into glory? Would you have God to translate you, that you should not see death? but that is not the common road to Heaven. Be content to go the same way as others do, though it be dark and uncomfortable in it self, and be glad that by dying you may go to Heaven. Have you forfeited Heaven, and do you think much that you must die to take possession of it?

3. Though the entry and passage of death be dark, yet you have the light of Gods coun∣tenance shining upon you; he is with you, he will not leave you at the gates of Death, but through them will bring you to the gates of life everlasting.

Seventhly, When you look upon your self as a dying man, will not this delight your Soul, that God doth bear a special love unto you? that as he loved you from eternity, with a love of purpose to do you good; so now in Christ, he loveth you with a love of complacency and de∣light,

and rejoyceth over you to do you good. Oh, what Cordial like to the love of God in times of Plague, or Sickness, or Death! To be sick, and have God hate one, is the Sting of the Affliction. But what is Sickness, when Love is mixed with it, when indeed it doth proceed from Love! Will a God that loves you, do any thing to hurt you? and will he that hath imbraced you in his Arms, and engraven you upon the Palms of his Hands, be forgetful and unmindful of you, in time of Plague or Death? Can you forget your Children whom you love? and what is your love to yours; to Gods love to you? it is little, short and scanty love, in comparison of his to you. Oh! dwell upon the love of God, in the believing thoughts thereof, and tell me then, if it warm not your hearts in the sorest of Afflicti∣ons.

1. Gods love to you is a free love, Hos. 14. 14. I will love them freely. This will satisfie all your doubts about your own unworthiness, and about your own loathsomness. Will God love a piece of breathing, creeping, living Clay, Dust, and Sin, molded and mingled together? Gods love is free, in that there was no Motives nor attracti∣on of his love.

First, There was nothing truly spiritually good in you, to move him to set his love upon you; there was enough in you, to have moved him to hate you: Your pride, your worldliness, your unbelief, might have made you the object of his hatred; but yet he hath freely loved you.

Secondly, There was no beauty nor comeli∣ness in you to move him to set his love upon you. You had defaced the Image of God which was the beauty of your Soul, and yet he hath loved you.

Thirdly, You had no likeness in your heart to God, that should have moved him to love you. Likeness is a ground of love among men; but there was in you the greatest contrariety and dissimilitude unto God, and yet he hath loved you.

Fourthly, There was no love in you to God, and yet there was love in God to you; and did he love you when you had none of these, and will he not love you, when he hath himself wrought all these in your Souls? when he hath made you good, and comely, and like himself, and set your love upon himself; will he not now much more love you?

2. Gods love to you, it is an everlasting and unchangeable love Your love is not always the same in degree and act to him, but his is always the same to you, though not always the same in the manifestations thereof unto your Souls. This love to you never did begin to be, and his love to you will never cease to be. Jere. 31. 3. Joh. 13. 1. The love of the Creature might be turned to hatred, but so will not the love of God.

3. Gods love to you, is a matchless and unpa∣ralleld love. There is no love like it; there is no love equal to it. The natural love of Parents to their Children, will not equalize this love of God. The conjugal love betwixt Husband and Wife

comes short of this love of God, who hath mar∣ried you to himself. The moral love of a friend to his friend, is exceedingly disgraced by this love of God to those whom he hath taken into friendship with himself. Oh! read and wonder at the love of God, when he hath loved you, as he hath loved his onely begotten Son! Joh. 17: 23. And hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

4. Gods love to you, is manifest and undeni∣able love. Hath God given you such eminent de∣monstrations of his Sons unto you, and yet can you question his love? Hath God given his Son to die for you, and yet deny he loveth you? 1 Joh. 4. 9. In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because God sent his onely begotten Son into the World, that we might live through him. Hath God sent his Spirit into your heart, and yet deny he loveth you? Hath God oftentimes come to you, when you were upon your knees, and melt∣ed you hearts, and wiped your eyes, and com∣forted your Souls, and yet deny that he doth love you?

5. Gods love to you, it was a seasonable love. He loved you in your low condition, when you stood in real need of the fruits of his love; he loved you then, when you must have perished and been damned, if he had not loved you. Ezek. 16. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. When you were in your blood, and were cast out to the loathing of your person, then God passed by and looked upon you, and behold, that time was the time of love. Did he love you when you were a sinner, and will he not love you when you are sick?

6. Gods love to you, is a tender love. There are bowels of compassion in his love; what is the tenderness of your love to your Children, when they are sick? How do you pitty them? how do you take care of them, and for them? Oh! how tender is the love of God to his peo∣ple in their troubles? When you are sick, he will hold your head, and he will make your bed, and will comfort your heart.

Doth God love you with so great a love, and will he forsake you when you are sick, and come to die? Doth he in this manner love you, and will he deny any thing unto you? If he denyeth any thing unto you, it will be such things, the denial whereof is consistent with his love; yea, it will be his love to deny them to you; or will you reply, Alas this is my fear, that God doth not love me! could I but perceive his love, I could be com∣forted whatever doth befal me: If I should be sick, this would comfort me; if I come to die, this would comfort me. But how shall I know Gods love to me? I answer, you may know Gods love to you, by your love to him: You could never have loved God, if he had not first loved you. Your love to God, is a fruit and evidence of Gods love to you, 1 Joh. 4. 19. We love him, be∣cause he first loved us. Can you say you love him with a superlative love? that you love him more then sin, self, and the World? Can you say, you love to be where God doth show himself unto his people, and are grieved at his absence, and do rejoyce when he is present in your Souls? Are your desires after him so, that they cannot be

satisfied till you do enjoy him? Do you long af∣ter communion with him, and look, and wait, and prepare for his appearance? then may you assuredly conclude, that he doth love you; and is there no vertue in the love of God to support you, in the saddest time of the sorest sickness that you may be cast into? If you be sick, and God doth love you; if you come to die, and God doth love you, will not this fill your Soul with delighting joys? and make you to say, Though my affliction be great, yet Gods love to me is greater, and my affliction is so much the less, by how much the more I perceive the love of God unto my Soul. Study then the love of God.

Eighthly, When you look upon your self as a dying man, will not this delight your Soul, that the Comforter is with you? God himself will be with you in your affliction; he will stand by your Bedside, when you are sick; when you are in the fire of affliction, he will sit by the furnace; and the Spirit of God, whose work and office is to comfort them that are the Lords, John 14. 16, 17, 18. you shall finde him in your affliction to be.

1. An inward and effectual Comforter; he will comfort you indeed. Ministers may pro∣pound ground of comfort to you when you are sick, but this is but to the ear, and might be in∣effectual: Doubts might still remain, but the Spirit of God will speak comfort to your heart; and rather then you should be comfortless, he will create comfort for you. Isai. 66. 17. As one

whom his mother comforteth, so I will comfort you, and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. Ministers might comfort you, and you will not be comforted; but when the Spirit of God will come to comfort you, you shall be com∣forted.

2. The Spirit of God will be to you a sea∣sonable Comforter; he will bring suitable com∣forts into your Souls. If you lie under guilt, he will comfort you from the Merits of Christ, and the Mercy of God. If you be in sick∣ness, he will comfort you against the fears of Death.

3. The Spirit of God he will be a present Comforter: When you are sick, all other com∣forters might be absent, or may on purpose ab∣sent themselves, that your heart may break, and your spirits sink under your griefs and sorrows: But this Comforter is always at hand. If you be mourning in your Closet, he is there; if you be upon a Bed of sickness, he is there.

4. The Spirit is an Everlasting Comforter. The comforts you fetch from the Creature, are fleeting and unstable comforts: Your outward comforts, and your outward comforters may both fail. Your Relations might now be comfort∣ers to you but they will die; but this Comforter remaineth, and will live for ever,

5. The Spirit of God will bring in substantial and real comforts to your Souls, bottomed upon grounds of Truth and Verity. The way of the Spirit in comforting, is,

First, By bringing to your minde some pro∣mise of God, and so he layeth some foundation of your comfort. The promises are the Brests of Consolation: When you are under guilt, he will bring to your minde some promise of a par∣don: When you are under the fears of falling away, he will bring some promise of God, that you shall never depart from him. In time of af∣fliction, that all things shall work together for your good.

Secondly, By enabling you to act Faith upon his promise, and to apply it to your self; by help∣ing you to say, Here is a promise of God, and this is made to me, He will help you. Lean, and rest, and hope in a word of Promise, and that will comfort you.

Thirdly, By bearing witness with your Con∣science, that you are specially related unto that, and that the things promised do belong to you; and by giving you some real inward taste and rellish of the things that God hath promised to you.

Fourthly, By shedding abroad the love of God in your heart, by giving you a real sense and experimental feeling of the joys and com∣forts of the Holy Ghost. Rom. 5. 5. The love of God is shed abroad into our hearts by the Holy Ghost that is given to us.

Ninethly, When you look upon your self as a dying man, will not this delight your Soul, that you shall escape the torments of the damn∣ed? That though you must go down into the Grave, yet you shall not go down to Hell;

the second Death shall have no power over you; if you must be reckoned among the dead, yet believing, you shall not be numbred amongst the damned. Death is terrible then, when Hell comes after it; when you are going towards your Grave, you are not going towards eternal darkness. And that you shall (if you do be∣lieve) escape damnation of Hell, is most cer∣tain.

1. In that Jesus Christ, your surety, hath sa∣tisfied Gods Justice for you; he hath paid your debt; and God will not require it from him, and you too. He hath undergone what your sins did deserve.

2. In that he hath for this satisfaction of Christ, remitted your sins; and so the obligation that lay upon you to eternal torments, is re∣moved.

3. In that God hath prevailed with you by his Spirit, to leave the broad way that leads unto damnation. He that walketh not in the way to Hell, shall not come there. He hath taken down the dominion of sin, in a Believers heart; and when sin is not in dominion, it shall not bring damnation.

4. In that Satan, the Prince of Darkness, is dispossessed and turned out of your hearts. The Divel rules in them now, that shall be damned with him hereafter, but Christ hath come and bound him, and sealed a Lease of Ejectment to throw the Devil out of your heart. If the Devil could not keep you, when he had you in possessi∣on, he shall never bring you to damnation.

5. In that you are exempted from that con∣dition to which the threatnings of damnation are made. God threatens the unbeliever, that he shall be damned, Mark 16. 16. But God hath given Faith to you: God threatens the Hypocrite with damnation, Matth. 24. 51. but in the judgment of Charity, I believe your heart is upright and sincere towards God.

6. In that you come under the promise of Life and Glory. When you make out unto your self the truth of your Faith, you will see the promise of Salvation belong unto you. Oh! what is sickness now, and what is death now, when you shall be delivered from the flames of Hell? It is not so much the stroke of Death, that makes many men so exceedingly fear it, as the dreadful after-clap in Hell. When a man looks upon himself as an Hell-deserving sinner, and cannot see his deliverance from it; and yet some secure sinners are not so much affraid of Hell, as the other are of the Grave. When you die (if you believe) you have Gods infalli∣ble Word to secure your Soul, you shall not be damned, O let that comfort you!

Tenthly, When you look upon your self as a dying man, will not this delight your Soul, that you are going home to your Fathers House? There shall you see such sights as you never saw, and there shall you hear such praisings of God as you never heard; and there shall you have such joys as you never had. Can you think what a place it is you are going from, a place of sin, a valley of tears, a world of sorrow and

trouble; and what a place you are going to, and not be delighted in your nearness to it, when you come to die?

1. The very names of the place you are going to, should make you willing to be there.

First, Will you be loth to go and repose your self in Abrahams bosom? Luke the sixteenth and the two and twentieth.

Secondly, Will you be unwilling to remove from a Cottage upon Earth, to a Paradise in Hea∣ven? Luk. 23. and the 43.

Thirdly, Will you be unwilling to come out of your non-age and minority, to take possession of your inheritance among the Saints in life? Col. 1. 12.

Fourthly, Shall it be said, that you are unwil∣ling to have a Crown of Righteousness set upon your head? 2 Tim. 4. 8.

Fifthly, Shall it be ever said, that you are un∣willing to be possessed of an Everlasting King∣dom? 2 Pet. 1. 11.

Sixthly, Will you be unwilling to go from weeping and mourning, to enter into your Ma∣sters joy? Matth. 25. 21.

Seventhly, Will you be unwilling by Death to go into eternal life? Matth. 25. 46.

Eighthly, Will you be unwilling to go into the new and heavenly Jerusalem? Heb. 12. 22. Oh reason your self out of this backwardness to leave this World, when you have a better place, Infinitely better, to be possessed of!

2. The properties of this place should make you willing to be dissolved, that you might be settled in it, as

First, Heaven is a resting place; it is called Abrahams Bosom; and the Bosom is a place of Rest and Love. This is your place of work and labor; here is various work for you to do, Civil and Religious; here you have praying work and heart-searching work to do; and humbling work, and sin-mortifying work to do. And these are the best of works and labors: But there are many others of far more inferior na∣ture, which have nothing pleasant or delightful in them, but in the reference to your ultimate end. But you are going to your resting place, and you must not look for perfect rest, till you come thither. Your rest is not here, but it doth remain, Heb. 4. 9. And is a man that hath plied his work, and been laborious all the day, loth to go to his Bed of Rest, when the night doth come?

Secondly, Heaven is an holy place, and no∣thing that is defiling or unclean, shall enter in thereto. Isai. 57. 15. Revel. 21. 27. and all that is there, is holy. The God that dwelleth there, is an holy God; and the Angels that are there, are holy Angels; and the Souls of Believers de∣parted to that place, are holy Souls. Hell is a place where onely unholy spirits are; Earth is a place of persons holy and unholy, but Heaven is the place where none but holy are. There are no Drunkards there; there are no rotten heart∣ed Hypocrites there. This World is a place of

sin; where you see your God is dishonored, your Lords glory trampled under feet by the wicked and unholy; where you see his holy day pro∣phaned, and hear his holy name blasphemed. But when you are removed from hence, none of all this shall grieve your heart any more; nor fill your Souls with sorrow, and your eyes with tears, as by the now beholding of the wicked conversa∣tion of unholy men.

Thirdly, Heaven it is an abiding place. John 14. 2. In my Fathers house are many mansions, a∣biding places. Heb. 13. 14. Here we have no con∣tinuing City, but we look for one that is to come. Heaven is a City that hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is the Lord; it is an eternal House, 2 Cor. 5. 1.

Fourthly, Heaven is a large and spacious place. Capacious to receive all the elect of God, that shall live from the Creation to the Dissolu∣tion of the World.

Fifthly, Heaven is a well furnished place; there is nothing wanting; all is there, because God in an special glorious manner is there. There is no need of meat and drink; there is no need of these outward things; there is no need of Sun or Moon, for the Lamb is the light thereof. Revel. 21. 23. Nay, there needs no Ordinances there, nor Preaching there; no Sacraments there: There you will need none of all these. Revel. 21. 22. And I saw no Temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty, and the Lamb, are the Temple of it.

Sixthly, Heaven is a glorious place. The A∣postle sets it forth by the most excellent things in this World, though they come short of the glo∣ry of this place, Revel. 21. 18, 19, 20, 21. The glory of it far surpasseth the glory of the Sun in the greatest shine and lustre. The glory of the Out-house is so great, that with stedfast eyes you cannot behold it. And what a darksome Dunghil doth this World seem to be, when your eyes have been dazled with the glory of the Sun? But Oh! how would the excellency and glory of this World, vanish, disappear, and shrink up to nothing, if you had but once a view of this glo∣rious place that is above.

Seventhly, Heaven is a priviledge place. Many priviledges the people of God enjoy in this life, that are great and precious priviledges: But the priviledges that are above are many, and all glorious priviledges. Heaven is a priviledge place, in regard

1. Of the immunities from evil; from all evil of all sorts: As

First, In Heaven you shall be free from the evil of sin. You shall there no more complain of your unbelieving, proud, and peevish heart; nor of your hard, and worldly sensual heart; nor of vain, distracting thoughts; nor of a dull and stupid Soul. Oh how much better were it, if your work were done, to die and take posses∣sion of this place!

Secondly, You shall be free from all affliction upon your body. This is the fruit of sin; and when you shall sin no more, you shall be sick no

more. There is no crying out in Heaven; Oh my aking head! Oh my pained Bowels! Oh my languishing body! There are (my Friends) no Plague sores above; no contagion nor in∣fection there.

Thirdly, In Heaven you shall be free from the evil of Desertion: Get but thither, and God will never withdraw from you more; and so you shall never doubt more, nor be filled more with fears, that God doth not love your Soul, or that you do not love God; no apprehensions there of Gods displeasure. Oh! who would not pray much, and examine himself much, and deny himself much, that he may be received in∣to this priviledge place!

Fourthly, From the evil of temptation. The Devil crept into Paradise, but he shall not come to tempt in Heaven. He shall buffet you no more, nor molest you with his suggestions more. Oh tell me! Oh my Friend! if that will not be a priviledge place, where the Devil cannot come, and when you shall be for ever free from his assaults?

2. Heaven is a priviledge place in regard of the good that shall be enjoyed there, above what in this World can be reached unto.

First, In Heaven you shall have perfection of Grace. Here you have but little, that makes you question sometimes, whether you have any or no. Now you love God but a little, and delight, and joy in him but a little; but in Heaven you shall have perfect love, and perfect joy, and per∣fect delight. There you shall love God, and do

nothing else but love and praise, and admire him.

Secondly, In Heaven you shall have better company and society then on Earth: The spirits of just men made perfect.

Thirdly, You shall have communion with God and Christ, above what you ever had. Now your communion with God is little and incon∣stant, sometimes some warmth of heart in holy Prayer, and you lose the sense thereof. Again, you have had your heart quickned some∣times in a duty, and you grow dull again; but it will be constant and perpetual when you are pos∣sessed of this place. And who would think we did believe, that Heaven were such a place as this, that see how loth we are to go unto it? Oh how few have lively believing thoughts of this holy place, that work their hearts into a longing, breathing, panting after it!

Eleventhly, When you look upon your self as a dying man, will not this delight your Soul, that Christ is in Heaven interceding for you? How do the people of God prize the Prayers of the Saints on Earth! and bespeak their Prayers for them in their sickness, and say to them that have an interest in God, Oh pray for me, Oh do not forget me, when you are upon your knees, at the Throne of Grace! And without doubt it is a sin∣gular priviledge to have a share in the Prayers of the people of God. Prayers you have going for you, by them that know you, and your condi∣tion: Conscience of their duty, the love they bear unto you, the earnest desire after your tem∣poral

and eternal welfare, doth engage them to it: And by them that know you not, though not in particular, yet as an afflicted member of the Church of God. Colos. 2. 1. For I would that you knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh. But the greatest comfort is, that Christ at the right hand of God is making intercession for you. Did Christ suffer, and bleed, and die for you; and will he not intercede for you? Joh. 17. 20. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. And when you question, whether God will hear your own Prayers for your self, yet you hope, the Prayers of others may prevail on your be∣half. But if you question, whether God will hear the Prayers of his people for you, yet can you doubt, whether the intercession of Christ shall be effectual on your behalf, when you hear Christ giving thanks to God, when he was upon the Earth in the estate of Humiliation, that he heard him always? Would it comfort you, if Christ were by your Beside, praying for you in the time of sickness? And is it not as great a comfort, when he does it in Heaven? His heart is the same towards his people now he is in Hea∣ven, as it was when he was upon the Earth. When you are dying, believe that Christ is praying for you, and be comforted.

Twelfthly, When you look upon your self as a dying man, will not this delight your Soul, that the holy Angels of God are present with you to

conduct it into the place of Rest and Joy? They are Ministring Spirits for your good, while you live: And they will attend your Soul for good, when you come to die. The damned Devils, and the cursed Fiends of Hell, are watching for the departing Soul of a wicked man. Luk. 12. 20. Thou fool, this night shall thy Soul be required of thee: Or you may read it, Do they (that is, the Devils) require thy Soul. But the Blessed An∣gels of God are waiting to transport you into your Fathers presence.

But perhaps you will reply, If Christ would come and take you as you are, without the dis∣uniting of Body and Soul, you could be willing; but that you must die before you go into this place, this is that which troubles you, to leave your Body in the dust, to put it off, and have it rot in a cold and darksome Grave.

1. And will you not be willing to go unto this blessed place of Joy, and Peace, and Rest, but upon your own terms? And will you indeed pre∣scribe to God, and capitulate with him, when you might and should have died eternally, except his Mercy had been extended to you? and will you think it hard measure by temporal death to go into eternal life?

2. Your Body is not lost, but shall be raised again, and be really and eternally partaker of the joys and happiness of another World. Do not you your self cast your Corn into the Ground to die, that it may be quickned with advantage?

3. Fix your eye more upon the place where your Soul shall rest, and be presently, and im∣mediately

happy, then pore so much upon the Grave where your Body must be laid. And if it be late before your Body shall be there, yet your Soul shall be there forthwith, after it is disunited from the Body.

4. Hath it not been the way that Divine Wis∣dom hath proceeded in from the beginning, ex∣cept a few that shall be found alive at the coming of the Lord, and such that have been translated from this Earth? Is your Body better then the Body of David, or Abraham, or Paul, that you are so nice of it, above the rest of Gods eminent Saints? Oh my Friends! if God will take you to himself, judge it infinite Mercy, though it be by Death, and the dissolution of the Body and the Soul. And think not that Messenger to be too harsh that comes from God, to open the door to let you in to his glorious Kingdom, where you shall be for ever with your Lord.

Notes

• Comfort
• Comfort,
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• Comfort.