A Farewell to the World

Now Farewell, World, in which is not my Treasure;I have in thee enjoy'd but little Pleasure.And now I leave thee for a Better Place,Where lasting Pleasures are, before Christ's face.

Farewell, ye Sons of Men, who do not savorThe things of God; who little prize his Favor.Farewell, I say, with your Fool's Paradise,Until the King of Terrors you surprise,And bring you trembling to Christ's Judgment Seat,To give Account of your Transgressions great.

Farewell, New England, which hast long enjoy'dThe Day of Grace, but hast most vainly toy'dAnd trifled with the Gospel's glorious Light;Thou may'st expect a dark Egyptian Night.

Farewell, young Brood and rising Generation,Wanton and proud, ripe for God's Indignation,Which neither you nor others can prevent,Except in Truth you speedily repent.

Farewell, sweet Saints of God, Christ's little Number,Beware lest ye through sloth securely slumber;Stand to your Spir'tual Arms and keep your Watch,Let not your Enemy you napping catch;Take up your Cross, prepare for Tribulation,Through which doth lie the way unto salvation.Love Jesus Christ with all sincerity;Eschew Will-worship and Idolatry.Farewell, again, until we all appearBefore our Lord, a Well-done there to hear.

Farewell, ye faithful Servants of the Lord,Painful dispensers of his Holy Word,From whose Communion and SocietyI once was kept through long infirmity.This of my Sorrows was an aggravation;But Christ be thankéd, through whose MediationI have at length obtainéd LibertyTo dwell with Soul-delighting Company,Where many of our Friends are gone before,And you shall follow with a many more.Meanwhile stand fast, the Truth of God maintain,Suffer for Christ, and great shall be your Gain.

Farewell, my natural Friends and clear Relations,Who have my Trials seen and great Temptations;You have no cause to make for me great Moan;My Death to you is little Loss or none.But unto me it is no little Gain,For Death at once frees me from all my Pain.Make Christ your greatest Friend, who never dies;All other Friends are fading Vanities.Make him your Light, your Life, your End, your All;Prepare for Death, be ready for his Call.

Farewell, vile Body, subject to decay,Which art with lingering sickness worn away;I have by thee much Pain and Smart endur'd;Great Grief of Mind hast thou to me procur'd;Great Grief of Mind by being Impotent,And to Christ's Work an awkward Instrument.Thou shalt not henceforth be a clog to me.Nor shall my Soul a Burthen be to thee.

Rest in thy Grave until the Resurrection,Then shalt thou be revivéd in Perfection,Endow'd with wonderful Agility,Clothéd with Strength and Immortality;With shining Brightness gloriously array'd,Like to Christ's glorious Body, glorious made.Thus Christ shall thee again to me restore,Ever to live with him and part no more.Meanwhile my Soul shall enter into Peace,Where Fears and Tears, where Sin and Smart shall cease.

A

From Cambridge he made his remove to Malden, and was their FaithfulPastor for about a Jubilee of years together.

Peradventure the Lord Removed me for a season that he might set abetter Watchman over his Flock, and a more painful Laborer in hisVineyard. This was one thing that I aimed at in Removing (to help thePeople's Modesty in the case), and I believe the Lord aimed at it, inRemoving me for a season.

His Faithfulness now appeared in his Edifying Discourses to those thatcame near him; much bewailing the want of a Profitable and Religiousconversation in so many that profess Religion. And that yet he mightmore Faithfully set himself to do Good, when he could not Preach heWrote several Composures, wherein he proposed the edification of suchReaders as are for plain Truths, dressed up in a Plain Meeter. TheseComposures have had their Acceptance and Advantage among that sort ofReaders; and one of them, the Day of Doom, which has been oftenReprinted in both Englands, may find our Children till the Dayitself arrive.How Faithfully did he now Deliver the Whole Counsel of God!

How Faithfully did he Rebuke Sin, both in his Ministry andDiscipline!

How Faithful was he to the Work of God in the Churches ofNew-England, and grieved at every thing that he thought had anyTendency to incommode that Glorious Work! But how Patient, howLoving, how Charitable to such as in lesser Matters differed fromhim!

His long Weakness and Illness made him an able Physician for theBody as well the Soul.

From his Exemplary Life I will single out one thing, his EARLY RELIGION.Our Wigglesworth was a Godly child, and he held on living to God andChrist until the Seventy-Fourth Year of his Age.

When he lay a Dying, some one spoke to him about his having secured hisInterest in the Favor of Heaven, and his Assurance of thatInterest. He Replyed,

I bless God I began that Work betimes, and ere I was Twenty Years Old Ihad made thorow work of it. Ever since then I have been pressing afterthe Power of Godliness, the Power of Godliness! For more than FiftyYears together I have been Laboring to uphold a Life of Communion withGod; and I thank the Lord I now find the Comfort of it!

His Pen did once Meat from the Eater fetch;And now he's gone beyond the Eater's reach.His Body once so Thin, was next to None;From hence he's to Unbodied Spirits flown.Once his rare skill did all Diseases heal;And he does nothing now uneasy feel.He to his Paradise is joyful come,And waits with joy to see his Day of Doom.