in all Cafes, fo neceffary in fome, and encouraged by Promifes Evangelical, by Scripture Precedents, by the Example of both Teftaments, and prefcribed by Injun&tions Apoftolical, and by the Canon of all Churches, and the Example of all Ages, and taught us even by the Proportions of Duty, and the Analogy to the power Minifterial, and the very Neceflities of every Man ; he that for Stubbornnefs or finful Shamefacednefs, or Prejudice, or any other Criminal Weaknefs fhall decline to do it in the Days of his Danger, when the Vanities of the World are worn off, and all Affections to Sin are wearied, and the Sin itself is pungent and grievous, and that we are certain we fhall not escape Shame for them hereafter, unless we be ashamed of them here, and ufe all the proper Inftruments of their Pardon; this Man, I fay, is very near Death, but very far off from the Kingdom of Heaven. Qui homo culpam admifit in fe, nullus eft tam parvi pretii quin pudeat, quin purget fefe. Plant. Auinl. 2. The fpiritual Man will find in the Conduct of this Duty many Cafes and varieties of Accidents which will alter his Courfe and Forms of Proceedings. Most Men are of a rude indifferency, apt to excufe themselves, ignorant of their Condition, abufed by evil Principles, content with a general and indefinite Confeffion; and if you provoke them to it by the foregoing Confiderations, left their Spirits fhould be a little uneafy, or not fecured in their own Opinions, will be apt to fay, They are Sinners, as every Man bath his Infirmity, and he as well as any Man: But God be thanked they bear no ill-will to any Man, or are no Adulterers, or no Rebels, or they fought on the right fide; and God be merciful unto them, for they are Sinners. But you fhall hardly open their Breafts farther: And to enquire beyond this, would be to do the office of an Accufer. Verùm hoc fe amplectitur uno, 3. But, which is yet worfe, there are very many Perfons who have been fo used to an habitual course of a conftant Intemperance or Diffolution in any other inftance, that the Crime is made natural and neceffary, and the Confcience hath digefted all the trouble, and and the Man thinks himself in a good Eftate, and never reckons any Sins, but those which are the egreffions and paffings beyond his ordinary and daily Drunkennets. This happens in the cafes of Drunkennefs, and intemperate Eating, and Idlenefs, and Uncharitablenefs, and in lying and vain Jeftings, and particularly in fuch Evils which the Laws do not punih, and publick Cuftoms do not fhame; but which are counte nanced by potent Sinners, or evil Cuftoms, or good Nature, and mittaken Civilities. Inftruments, by way of Confideration, to awaken a careless Perfon, and a stupid Confcience. IN * N thefe and the like Cafes the fpiritual Man, muft awaken the Lethargy, and prick the Con fcience, by reprefenting to him, *That Chriftianity is a holy and a ftri& Religion. * That many are called but few are chofen. *That the number of them that are to be faved is but a very few in respect of those that are to defcend into Sorrow and everlasting Darkness. That we have covenanted with God in Baptifm to live a holy Life. That the meafures of Holiness in Chriftian Religion, are not to be taken by the evil proportions of the Multitude, and common Fame of loofer and lefs fevere Perfons; becaufe the Multitude is that which, does not enter into Heaven, but the few, the elect, the holy Servants of Jefus.* That every habitual Sin does amount to a very great Guilt in the whole, though it be but in a small Inftance.* That if the Righteous fcarcely be faved, then there will be no place for the Unrighteous and the Sinner to appear in but places of Horrour and Amazement. *That Confidence hath deftroyed many Souls, and many have had a fad portion who have reckoned themfelves in the Calendar of Saints. *That the Promifes of Heaven are fo great, that it is not reasonable to think that every Man, and every Life, and an easy Religion fhall poffefs fuch infinite Glories. That although Heaven is a Gift, yet there is a great feverity and ftrict exacting of the Condi to require them, is alfo tied to do it when he can know them, and his own Neceffity. It is a very great evil both in the matter of Prudence and Piety, that they fear the Priest as they fear the Embalmer, or the Sexton's Spade: And love not to converfe with him, unlefs they can converfe with no Man else; and think his Office fo much to relate to the other World, that he is not to be treated with while we hope to live in this; and indeed, that our Religion be taken care of only when we die: And the Event is this (of which I have feen fome fad experience) that the Man is deadly fick, and his Reafon is ufelefs, and he is laid to fleep, and his Life is in the confines of the Grave, so that he can do nothing toward the trimming of his Lamp; and the Curate fhall fay a few Prayers by him, and talk to a dead Man, and the Man is not in a Condition to be helped, but in a Condition to need it hugely. He canot be called upon to confefs his Sins, and he is not able to remember them, and he cannot understand an Advice, nor hear a free Difcourse, nor be altered from a Paffion, nor cured of his Fear, nor comforted upon any Grounds of Reafon or Religion, and no Man can tell what is likely to be his Fate; or if he does, he cannot Prophefy good Things concerning him, but evil. Let the Spiritual Man come when the fick Man can be converfed withal and instructed, when he can take medicine and amend, when he understands or can be taught to understand the Cafe of his Soul, and the Rules of his Confcience; and then his Advice may turn into Advantage: It cannot otherwise be useful. 2. The Intercourfes of the Minifter with the fick Man have fo much variety in them, that they are not to be tranfacted at once: And therefore they do not well that fend once to fee the good Man with Sorrow, and hear him pray, and thank him, and dismiss him civilly, and defire to fee his Face no more. To dress a Soul for a Funeral, is not a Work to be difpatch'd at one Meeting: At first he needs a Comfort, and anon fomething to make him willing to die; and by and by he is tempted to Impatience, and that needs a fpecial Cure: And and it is a great work to make his Confeffions well, and with advantages; and it may be the Man is careless and indifferent, and then he needs to understand the evil of his Sin, and the danger of his Person; and his Cafes of Confcience may be fo many and fo intricate, that he is not quickly to be reduced to Peace, and one Time the holy Man muft pray, and another Time he muft Exhort, a third Time adminifter the holy Sacrament; and he that ought to watch all the periods and little portions of his Life, left he shou'd be furprized and overcome, had need be watched when he is fick, and affifted, and called upon, and reminded of the feveral Parts of his Duty, in every inftant of his Temptation. This Article was well provided for among the Eafterlings; for the Priefts, in their Vifitations of a fick Perfon, did abide in their attendance and miniftry for feven Days together. The want of this, makes the Vifitations fruitlefs, and the calling of the Clergy contemptible, while it is not fuffered to. imprint its proper effects upon them that need it in a lafting Ministry. 3. St. James advises, that when a Man is fick, he should Jam. 5. 14. fend for the Elders; one fick Man for many Presbyters: Gabriel in 4. fent.dift.23. And fo did the Eaftern-Churches, they fent for feven: And like a College of Phyficians, they miniftred fpiritual Remedies, and fent up Prayers, like a Choir of finging Clerks. In Cities they might do fo, while the Christians were few, and the Priests many: But when they that dwelt in the Pagi or Villages ceafed to be Pagans and were baptized, it grew to be an impoffible Felicity, unless in few Cafes, and to fome more eminent Perfons: But because they need it moft, God hath taken care that they may beft have it; and they that can, are not very prudent if they neglect it. 4. Whether they be many or few that are fent to the fick Perfon, let the Curate of his Parish or his own Confeffor be among them, that is, let him not be wholly advised by Strangers who know not his particular Neceffities; but he that is the ordinary Judge cannot fafely be paffed by in his extraordinary Neceffity, which in fo great portions depends upon his whole * That Conditions on our part to receive that Gift. fome Perfons who have lived ftrictly for forty Years together, yet have miscarried by fome one Crime at laft, or fome fecret Hypocrify, or a latent Pride, or a creeping Ambition, or a phantaftick Spirit; and therefore much lefs can they hope to receive fo great portions of Felicities, when their Life hath been a continual declination from thofe Severities which might have created Confidence of Pardon and Acceptation, through the Mercies of God, and the Merits of Jefus. *That every good Man ought to be fufpicious of himfelf, and in his Judgment concerning his own Condition to fear the worst, that he may provide for the better. * That we are commanded to work out our Salvation with Fear and Trembling. That this Precept was given with very great reafon, confidering the thoufand thoufand ways of mifcarrying.* That St. Apud Suri- Paul himself, and St. Arfenius, and St. Elzearius, and die 27 divers other remarkable Saints, had at fome times Sept. great Apprehenfions of the Dangers of failing of the mighty prize of their high calling. That the Stake that is to be fecured is of fo great an Intereft, that all our Industry, and all the Violences we can fuffer in the Profecution of it are not confiderable. * That this Affair is to be done but once, and then never any more unto eternal Ages. *That they who profess themselves Servants of the Inftitution, and Servants of the Law and Difcipline of Jefus, will find that they muft Judge themselves by the proportions of that Law by which they were to Rule themselves. * That the Laws of Society and Civility, and the Voices of my Company, are as ill Judges as they are Guides; but we are to stand or fall by his Sentence, who will not confider or value the Talk of idle Men, or the perfuafion of wilfully abused Confciences, but of him who hath felt our Infirmity in all things but Sin, and knows where our Failings are unavoidable, and where and in what degree they are excufable; but never will endure a Sin fhould feize upon any part of our Love and 1Joh. 3. 20. deliberate Choice, or carelefs Cohabitation. * That if Cot. 4. 4 our Confcience accuse us not, yet are we not hereby ju ftified, |