Death unstung a sermon preached at the funeral of Thomas Mowsley, an apothecary, who…

Oh that he should stand weeping, knocking, begging, and waiting, and crying, Open to me; Oh that his tears should beg, and his groans knock, and that his patience should tarry and wait, and all should so long cry, Oh open to me, open to me, Oh that sin and self should lodge in my heart and Christ wait so long at the door; Oh, that I should carry damnation within and let salvation wait without, and now I should go about to offer praises to God for this; Oh I wish that I could, but truly I cannot as I would; Oh I cannot, and I humbly desire to acknowledge the barrenness of my heart in this, and am silent, and now pray lend me your patience but a very little, and I fear your heart will be straightened with praises to God as well as mine; for now the Lord was pleased to incline my heart to read part ⟨p. 151⟩of two books, one of the two was that which I above two years before rejected, I will name them (viz. the sincere Convert and sound Believer, both by one Author, T. S.) and when I was Reading concerning the souls resting in duties, and how hard a thing it was to forsake all its own good, and wholly to throw it self upon a naked Christ, and then concerning the nature of true humiliation, I was much troubled and my thoughts were much perplexed, in so much that I thought to open my case to some Divine; but to this trouble another was added, which was that at that time the Lord was pleased to let me see my own nakedness so much, and that which I took to be a covering to it, made it seem to be much more naked than I could have imagined it to be;

Oh that he should stand weeping, knocking, begging, and waiting, and crying, Open to me; Oh that his tears should begg, and his groans knock, and that his patience should tarry and wait, and all should so long cry, Oh open to me, open to me, Oh that sin and self should lodge in my heart and Christ wait so long at the door; Oh, that I should carry damnation within and let salvation waite without, and now I should go about to offer praises to God for this; Oh I wish that I could, but truly I cannot as I would; Oh I cannot, and I humbly desire to acknowledge the barrenness of my heart in this, and am silent, and now pray lend me your patience but a very little, and I fear your heart will be straightened with praises to God as well as mine; for now the Lord was pleased to encline my heart to read part ⟨p. 151⟩of two books, one of the two was that which I above two years before rejected, I will name them (viz. the sincere Convert and sound Believer, both by one Author, T. S.) and when I was Reading concerning the souls resting in duties, and how hard a thing it was to forsake all its own good, and wholly to throw it self upon a naked Christ, and then concerning the nature of true humiliation, I was much troubled and my thoughts were much perplexed, in so much that I thought to open my case to some Divine; but to this trouble another was added, which was that at that time the Lord was pleased to let me see my own nakedness so much, and that which I took to be a covering to it, made it seem to be much more naked than I could have imagined it to be;