but to provide for Praecipua Cura esse debet non legatorum institutionis haeredis sed ut eorum quos dominus Curae nostrae commisit saluti consulatur the salvation of those whom God has committed to our care This I say and am content to think the Author supposed ought to be practised at a covenient distance as near as we can from death and before we make our wills for then commonly it is of the latest However this leads to the next particular § 7. 5ly If thou wouldest have thy mind in such frame and thy worldly matters in such order as to be ever ready at thy Lord's call Live not without a Will by thee supposing thou hast any thing to dispose of This is not only prudence but ordinarily duty For in case we should be suddenly taken away how else can we be just to others either to our neighbours abroad or to those at home of our own Blood and Family It was we know in express terms by God commanded to good Hezekiah as a preparative for Death Isa 38. 1. And we may observe some who have had little care of making any other preparation for Death not to have been negligent in this behalf Achitophel would set his house in order though his next business was to hang himself A dreadful instance of a worldly wise but irreligious desperate man Notwithstanding what may well mind us of our Lord's observation on Mammonists The children of this world are in their generation wise than the children of light Luk. 16. 8. Let us not then disdain to imitate any in whatsoever they do wisely as long as it is consistent with good conscience And such certainly is what at present is urged Now as concerning making our wills let us consider it is one of the solemnest and weightiest acts of our lives and therefore to be done 1 In the fear of God and with great consideration and conscience without Passion and fond Partiality For a Man's last Will and Testament is to survive him let it not therefore be a Monument of the Testator's folly injustice or Vice and the effects of it may be almost immortal Wherefore 2. it will not be amiss ordinarily to take advice not so much of Learned Lawyers though in many cases that also is to be done as of prudent and serious Christian Friends by whose direction if not on our own heads we may insert into our wills some Tokens of our Faith and Christian Hope some Injunctions Proviso's or Conditions which may oblige our posterity to what they perhaps would otherwise neglect we may hereby be Benefactors to their souls a long time after our death However certainly a Christian Man's Will should bespeak him seriously a Christian And Lastly If we have wherewithal let us not forget the Poor It were better indeed to do that sooner that we might have the Prayers of the Poor to accompany our departing souls Luk. 16. 9. But whether we have been liberal before or not something of this kind ought not to be omitted in any able persons last Will. The best of us commonly have some odd ends of Debts of Charity if not of just recompence to the Poor which it is needful we pay when going our long journey § 8. 6thly Besides this Charity in giving there may be also another part in forgiving very necessary to the composing of most persons minds especially when they are looking toward death as well as otherwise requisire to the qualifying them for appearing before God For if ye forgive men their trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you But if you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses Mat. 6. 14 15. Reconcile therefore thy self as far as possible to Mankind and take care to live so reconciled As to making amends for any satisfiable wrong done by our selves as it is comprized in the nature of true repentance so it has been there and lately lookt to and prest and is supposed already done But we may also have suffered as well as done wrong and whether all men may have been just to us or no we are as we have seen by the condition assigned by our Lord for our very own pardon obliged to be charitable to them Let therefore no mans injustice imbitter our spirits for any revengeful inclination or affection will be doubly to our own injury first in obstructing our pardon in the Court of Heaven then in disturbing our peace within our selves The desire of revenge is very far from being in it self at any time an easie and tame passion much less can it be matter of comfortable reflection to any one of good Conscience or consisting with inward peace And certainly we have need of all good Conscience of all comforts and peace possible to fortifie us against death that last Enemy Nor will a good man only take care that his own heart be pacified but he will have so much charity for others who perhaps have been uncharitable enough to him to endeavour the pacification of theirs also before he go out of the world If any man bear me a grudge though without my fault I cannot give a more Christian Testimony of my forgiving him than by endeavouring to deliver him before I die from under that sin And I ought to be the more careful herein because I cannot tell but some sinful infirmities of mine own may have more provoked him and given him in his opinion juster cause of offence than I am aware of and what is just in his opinion it is reasonable for him to adhere to till he be convinced otherwise Now what so happy way to bring such person to reason as the melting addresses of a dying man or of one who is as dying The making up therefore of all quarrels betwixt us and others yea though we are the injured not the injurious party is very requisite where possible to compleating our peace both with God and in our selves The Apostle's Rule is If it be possible as much as in you lieth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rather as to your part else it seems a little Tautological if it be possible ON YOVR PART says he live peaceably with all men and much more die so § 9. 7thly As to parting with Friends and Relations as well as with persons more estranged from us some consideration is to be had But the larger Directions will be of another place Mean while as to any Admonitions and the words of dying men or of men speaking as if upon their death-bed sink deep and stick long whatsoever serious counsels there are which we should give to any of our Friends were we now at point of death nothing hinders but at some convenient time even in the state of health we may gravely and affectionately give them these Prefacing them in this or such like manner My Dear Child Friend or otherwise as occasion requires I must die I know not how nor how soon but if
hast received at his hand and believing all is for thy good But in such mean and poor condition to carry on the mind to as much Settlement and so to as much preparedness for Death as we can Either we have a reasonable prospect of surviving these our present preparations or not If we have it will be meet 1. To consider how we may honestly put our selves and ours into a better condition How we may get rill of our Incumbrances To this purpose review the Directions in the Chapter consull Friends c. 2. Resolve on what offers it self fittest and practise it without distraction and with as heavenly calm contented mind as thou canst 3. By Earnest Prayer more largely as thou art able at present and according to convenience in thy daily Devotions beseech God 1 To guide assist and bless thee even in thy very common affairs throughout the remaining part of thy Pilgrimage by his Providence leading thee into the meetest way of living quickning thy industry giving thee skill and prudence in thy business Isa 28. 26. giving success to thy endeavours 2 By ways and means best known unto him to provide for thee and thine And above all 3 To give to thee and keep in thee a quiet content and heavenly mind all thy days whatsoever thy portion here shall be But if we have little or no hopes of longer continuance in this world then according as directed what can be done must be done to go honestly out of it And when we have done our utmost to be honest but not till then we may upon Repentance for our mismanagements quiet our selves through Faith and Hope notwithstanding all our Poverty and it will concern us in secret 1. To Resolve upon and actually endeavour such Quiet 2. To pray to God that by his Spirit he will strengthen our Faith and Hope and bestow upon us Peace 3. By Prayer to commit our helpless ones to him who seedeth the Ravens and cloatheth the Lilies of the Field We may well trust our Relations with him with whom we trust our Souls But whether rich or poor supposing our selves qualified we must by no means neglect our Will. And this being an Act of Justice and Charity to the World ought be thought on in secret before God Being then thus prepared we may proceed to the Practice of the next Directions of Disposing of our Families or Relations if we have any and making our Wills which though they may take up more time and need more Assistance than we can have in our Closet yet here most conveniently shall we first consider and resolve thereon Particular Ways or Methods may be thought of afterwards and such Considerations which have been at first in private taken up by Advice with Friends meliorated or altered for the better Touching making a Will to the Directions given in the body of the Chapter it may not be amiss to add here as fit for our retired Thoughts 1. If by any thing in thy Life the World have had Reason to suspect thy Religion or if thou hast ever heard or understood thy self to have been a Person suspected in point of Religion either as having none at all or being corrupt therein In the beginning of thy Will put this Matter out of Question by making therein a short but pathetical Profession of thy Faith and Hope 2. From thence proceeding to dispose of what thou hast Beware thou bequeath not any thing ill got to any but the Poor Even to them it may not be bequeathed if thou knowest how to restore it to those to whom of right it appertaineth For God the Lord loves Judgment that is Justice and hates Robbery for a burnt offering Isai 61. 8. But in case the true owner cannot be come qt the Poor are God's and their most proper Receivers 3. Consider and weigh diligently the different Condition Temper Humour and Manners of thy Relations or Dependents Some haply may be of more easy Natures less capable to bustle in the World Others more able to help themselves or get their own Some more improvident and less Masters of themselves I mean less apt to keep what they have Others more thrifty and apt to improve Some have been sober orderly obedient and dutiful others clear contrary All these and the like Qualities or Circumstances ought to be maturely weighed in the Fear of God and as before him to whom we must shortly give an Account of our Stewardship And whatsoever there is of Legacies to each ought to be suited accordingly The weak should not have any thing that is litigious or perplext left them The Improvident not trusted with too much in their own Hand or not with all at once The Dutiful should have a mark of Kindness set upon them yet not so as to deprive the First-born of his Right These Points require Thought before God Prayer and Advice 4. Consider also whether through any oversight of thine or otherwise there be any Flaw or Intanglement to which any part of what thou hast is obnoxious and before thou goest out of the World openly and candidly discover all to prudent Friends or to the Persons concern'd A few Words from thy self who must be supposed to know the State of thy Affairs better than Strangers or those who come after thee may clear what when thou art gone would be mightily and Intricately involved Lastly Examine thy self whether there be no Trusts reposed in thee or no Secret deposited with thee and in these and any like Cases provide for the discharge of a good Conscience These Directions indeed belong chiefly to the richer and abler sort of People though as to some Points they may not be unserviceable in some Proportion to most who have Families or Relations in the World Every one may and ought to consider what their present Condition is in this world what little they are possessed of what they have to do with that little and resolve to make the best of all for their safe dispatch to Heaven There are indeed some Persons and those sometime intelligent too contemptible for nothing except Poverty at so low an Ebb that instead of Legacies to those whom they leave behind them they have only Counsels Directions or Commands to bequeath to them Or possibly they may have Christian Friends to whose Care and Bounty they can be bold to commend their helpless Family Such things ought By those who would be in this Condition prepared for Death to be thought on betimes even before God in secret and Order taken either using their own Endeavour or advising with Persons proper and especially with a spiritual Guide if need be for best managing and settling their poor Affairs And thus of what we are to consider and examine our selves of in private as to worldly Matters and Concerns There remains now only Prayer and Resolution suitable to the last Direction which no one can be at a loss for who considers how easily the body of the Direction runs either into Prayer or Resolution As for Instance Lord I have done my best to my Power with good Conscience to settle both my Affairs and my Mind And now as fully and intirely as if I were at present to die do I desire with comfort and quiet to resign my self and all mine to thee From henceforth work thy will O Lord and dispose of me and mine as thou pleasest c. No understanding Person who has the Directions before him and a Sense thereof but will be able by the usual Assistances of God's grace to procced in a Way acceptable to God and comfortable to himself FINIS
way of handling the Case put which in this polite Age may to many seem mean yea even contempible But the Author hopes his Readers will be so prudent or favourable as to remember The Subject Matter here treated is to be understood by the meanest and plainest people and therefore to be made as plain as may be The Study of such Plainness has many times occasioned more variety and even Baldness of Expressions for the same thing than would have been otherwise pardonable which varied Expressions are sometimes put in Parentheses sometimes brought in by That is or otherwise And if the Authors Intention herein be understood it will appear this way of Explanation of a harder Word or Form of Speech by an easier is several ways useful and so to the generality of People far above Contempt Instances hereof the Judicious Reader may observe almost in every Page But to assign a few Pag. 26. the Term To redeem all time possible is used Now what the Author's meaning in that Phrase is every poor plain Man or Woman may not perhaps understand therefore in a Parenthesis it follows that is to make use of all Opportunities and Advantages thou hast to prepare thy self for the other World Thus it is plain to all what the Author there meant by redeeming of Time Again p. 22. lin 11. Meditate that is think and consider Meditation is nothing but Thought and Consideration Sometimes again the Particle Or is used to the same purpose as That is So p. 47. Decalogue or Ten Commandments It is almost impossible to write as our Language now stands but now and then a hard or uncertain and dark Expression must drop But such Explication or ascertaining it as I have used I hope makes amends for those Mishaps and more needs not be said on this Point A Word or Two may be needful to be added touching the seeming Meanness or even Baseness of divers Materials and Observations which go to the making up this Piece As to which Point no more shall be said but that it is to be considered sundry things herein are writ even for the meanest poorest People that live for such the Author has had occasion to converse with and such he is not ashamed to own that he many times visits People who live upon their daily Labours nay possibly upon Alms. These poor Creatures have Souls to save as precious in the Sight of God as Rich Mens and therefore are to be exhorted and encouraged to such good Works as are incident to their Condition or as they are capable of They are also to be spoken to in Language befitting their Capacities and Circumstances Now to such as these it is plain the Author had an Eye as in other places so especially in pag. 162 163 c. Let all Peoples Needs be considered and each sort take their Share and perhaps little will be found contemptible or such which might have been spared And thus much as to this First Part. The Second Part fitted to Persons of more Proficiency and who have leisure and possibly a Prospect of more time before them than some miserable Creatures that may be concerned in this First Part is as good as finish'd and shall God willing be publish'd as this finds Acceptance with Serious and Devout Christians From such the Author hopes he may gain some Intimations both how he may amend this Part and make the other more compleat And the number of such Souls may the God of all Grace daily encrease and both perfect all that are such already and preserve them to his Heavenly Kingdom Good Reader make the same Prayer for thy true Well wisher the Author ER. ERRATA PAge 10. Line 6. read Conscience p. 14. l. 19. blot out they p. 23. l. 21. r. thee in the Knowledge of p. 30. l. 1. r. some others p. 31. l. 17. r. in Persons of riper Years p. 51. l. 2. r. fix p. 61. l. 20. r. First Stage p. 69. l. 7. r. submit to Truth p. 80. l. 4. r. we meet with p. 125. l. 11. r. Grace p. 174. l. 2. r. resigning then p. 175 l. 25. r. plodding Escapes of some false Points and Accents are waved as less material The CONTENTS of the several Chapters and Sections of the First Part. Quest. WHat Course people should take to be ready for Heaven Or which is much the same to be always prepared for Death and Judgment CHAP I. § 1. To be ready for Heaven and to be always prepared for Death and Judgment are the same § 2. Yet this Question contains two Questions in it § 3. This Question no where expresly out or closely resolved in Scripture and some probable Reasons why § 4. But Preparation or being always ready for our Lord 's Coming frequently enjoined and its Nature set forth at large throughout the whole Scripture § 5. The Design of this Treatise and General Branches of the Preparation necessary § 6. The work of this preparation must not end but with our lives yet is to be begun as early as may be Matter and a Method for Devotions suitable to the First Chapter CHAP. II. The first Duty advised to Religion in good Earnest § 1. The first rank of people to be prepared for Death and Judgment such who are perfectly to begin § 2. Provision for removing the Scruples of some § 3. What Death and Judgment are § 4. What generally makes Men afraid unwilling and unfit to die § 5. Such Practices as will answer the three Intentions proposed will be all the preparation necessary for persons within this Period § 6. The first Duty to be practised giving the mind to Religion in good earnest § 7. This much wanting in the generality § 8. What is the meaning of giving a Man's mind to Religion § 9. Vsing ones self to think a proper means to make the mind serious in Religion § 10. A particular Train of Thoughts to this purpose § 11. The whole Evidence summed up and this Head concluded Matter and a Method for Devotion suitable to the Second Chapter CHAP. III. The second Duty advised to making our Peace with God § 1. SEriousness in Religion puts a Man immediately upon making his Peace with God § 2. Peace or Reconciliation with God in what sence soever taken effected by Repentance and Faith § 3. The proper notions of Repentance and Faith both in Common Language and Scripture § 4. In Scripture they are often put so as to comprize one another § 5. Yet is the joint practice of both of them absolutely necessary to make our Peace with God § 6. Four steps to a penitent State § 7. The first of them a sight and sense of our own guilt called by some conviction of Sin § 8. The Second Contrition the way to work it § 9. The third Confession to God What it is § 10. Confession to Man When necessary § 11. The fourth forsaking Sin Two Branches thereof § 12. The necessity of both § 13. The
thou hast And so God prosper thy Work and my Work to us both CHAP. II. The First Duty Advised to Religion in good earnest § 1. The first Rank of People to be prepared for Death and Judgment such who are perfectly to begin § 2. Provision for removing the Scruples of some § 3. What Death and Judgment are § 4. What generally makes Men afraid unwilling and unfit to die § 5. Such Practices as will answer the three Intentions proposed will be all the Preparation necessary for Persons within this Period § 6. The first Duty to be practised Giving the mind to Religion in good earnest § 7. This much wanting in the Generality § 8. What is the meaning of giving a Man's Mind to Religion § 9. Vsing ones self to think a proper Means to make the Mind serious in Religion § 10. A particular Train of Thoughts to this purpose § 11. The whole Evidence summed up and this Head concluded § 1. TO enter then upon our first Stage namely An Account of such Particulars in order to being prepared for Death which concern those who are quite to begin this Work Of these we may reckon two sorts First Licentious loose ungodly People be they young or old who if they have thought at any time of Death Judgment or another World it has been in a sort against their wills at least they have generally thrust such thoughts out of their Minds and put far from them the evil day so that Repentance Turning to God and all good Conscience are strangers to them These People sometimes Judgment overtakes in this Life and they are likely to be carried off by Accidents by violent means or perhaps by the Hand of Justice and then in a great deal of confusion of Mind they think of preparing for Death A second sort there are more orderly persons who live at the common rate of People amongst us professing their Country Religion but in good earnest minding little of any Religion to the purpose They perhaps sometimes at Sermons or by hearing or reading Holy Scriptures or good Books have been prick'd in Conscience and thought of repenting and in such moods have prayed to God to forgive their Sins and resolved to lead new Lives but presently the Cares of this world and the Deceitfulness of Riches and the Lusts of other things Mark 4. 19. entring and seizing their hearts have dash'd those beginnings and blasted any farther success of Grace and although there may be some knowledge and sense of Duty remaining in them to work upon yet they are persectly to begin all through Repentance and so all Preparation for Death Now even these as well as the former though haply they may not as the others come under the Lash of the Law to die by publick Justice yet are with them and all men obnoxious to Epidemical or Acute Diseases Plague Fevers Fluxes c. to VVars and such overflowing Scourges which sometimes sweep away the greatest part of a Nation to private Accidents such as Falls Bruises breaking of Bones Wounds loss of Blood and a hundred like Occurrences by which they may suddenly be brought to the Gates or into the Chambers of Death and in these and like Cases it will be necessary for them to begin and make up what present preparation they can for Death and that as speedily as may be If they survive their danger they may mend or ripen their Preparations if they do not the Question is What can be done on a sudden or in a sew Months or Weeks to put such People in a likelihood of Salvation that is in a state any ways tolerably prepared sor Death and Judgment I said in a few Months or VVeeks for as to a preparation to be made in a few Days God knows some poor People think of a few Hours I do not pretend to any Methods or Directions touching such a Preparation the thing is if not impossible yet not ordinarily to be effected Now these Persons perhaps many of them according to course of Nature may be at a long distance from the Grave yet sith they know not how soon they may drop or be hurried thither it is the Interest and Duty of them and of all to make up the best preparation for Death they can even for the present lest they should be surprized and taken totally unprepared Nor will this part be only usefull to such for though all may not be perfectly to begin yet the Counsels to be given to Beginners may supply some Defects in riper years of common Rank The certainty of Death once and the uncertainty of the time when how soon or by what means makes as instant sudden and perfect preparation for Death as may be necessary even to all whatsoever Never will any wise man think he can begin his Preparations too soon and make them too perfect nor is there any thing more common than mens bitter lamenting and alas finding themselves to have all cause to lament that they begun too late or have been too slighty and superficial in them But when did we ever see or hear any repent or who can be presumed ever to have had cause to repent that they were too early or too mature and careful herein Now that our way may be clear I think fit to remove one stumbling Block § 2. It is not impossible but that to some Beginners who may be grave Persons exercised in Science and Business more considerative thoughtful and of more comprehensive heads and so seeing further than others it is not impossible I say but to such this work at first may seem so long and to consist of so great variety of Parts so many things necessary to being duly prepared sor Death and the Tribunal of an all-seeing God as that they may think none can be certain he knows or any that he teaches all points necessary in this case Especially it having been above confessed that the Prescriptions or Directions proper hereto are no where in Scripture put all together but are diversly scattered almost through the Holy Canon This Suspicion I have found in some Now for delivering our selves from under this Scruple and for satisfying our Minds touching the sufficiency of the Advices which shall hereafter be given let us in the beginning enquire what Death is and what Judgment And then what should make us any more unwilling or loath to die than we are at night when weary after the Business of the day to go to rest or than a Day-Labourer would be in the Evening to receive his Wages and be dismiss'd Which things when we have seen we shall soon discern what we have to deliver our selves from and what to provide and consequently all that can be necessary or profitable for us according to our condition to do in order to an happy end § 3. First then let us endeavour as intimately as we can to see what Death is and at a distance narrowly look this Gorgon or to use a
seen even these Men's Sun set and their last day come It is true then that as those mistaken fond self-flatterers have died so must I most certainly most unavoidably die 2. And I find Secondly by Observation of Multitudes whom I have seen or heard of dying that it is also a great Truth which I have been told that Men's Thoughts when dying touching things of Life namely touching Wealth Pleasures Mirth c. nay generally touching all the Actions and States of Men prove much different from what they are in the gaiety and jollity of their days Therein indeed they laugh at and reproach sober devout and mortified Men but upon their Death-beds they wish themselves in their Condition Perhaps while in the way of Gain and Business Men admire the splendor and value of Gold and think a Bag of it one of the most Sovereign Goods in the World They would venture Credit and Conscience and even Life to come by it But give Gold to any of those when dying and he 'll cry out Why do you torment me Alas that has been my Ruine Oh! that I could have but some ease of Conscience Oh! that I had but reason to hope God would have mercy upon me Oh! that I had minded Godliness as much as I have done Gain my Condition now had been otherwise Thus have we known it with people far in humane Esteem from being irreligious Yea take the lewdest and most debauch'd persons whom in their health nothing but Revelling and Lust and Hectoring and Profaneness would down with who would curse you for the least good Advice you gave them or even for beseeching God to have Mercy upon them Come to these Men when by God and a Disease or by the Magistrate and Proceedings at Law under the Sentence of Death and have they the same sense of their Bottles and Frolicks and Minions and mad Company Will they brave it as formerly Ask them which of the two you shall call to them a pack of merry Boys and Hectors or a Minister and which will they chuse Will Oaths and Damme's and Confound me Body and Soul or even their lewd Songs or but merry Stories be Musick now in their ears Far enough from it Now nothing but the Prayers of all good people is called for but too late for the most part God knows Thus much generally all Men are able to observe And it is a certain Truth if Men have their Senses and are of sound memory and reason Conscience is more awake and speaks louder and more impartially when they are in sight of death than ever They that choak'd and oppress'd it before hear and feel it then whether they will or no. And this I cannot but acknowledge to be a constant at least a general Truth 3. Nay further Thirdly Even at present do I not find within my own Breast and in my calm hours and true sense of things a great difference as well between good and evil Actions as the Effects and Products thereof Is Money unjustly gotten by Cozenage or Lying or Dissembling not to say worse so comfortably laid up as that which is the reward of my honest Pains and Industry Or would I be as content to leave my Son an Estate which I forced as out of the Fire by Oppression grinding the face of the Poor Falseness Subornations c. as one which my Ancestors fairly lest me or my own Frugality and honest Diligence acquired And so in a thousand other Cases Is not the like difference apparent Is Riot and Roaring and beastly prostituting my own and others Honour so amiable and yielding as much ease to the mind as Sobriety Gravity and Purity Nay even in others Is it as comfortable to me to hear Men lie and then swear to prove their Lies to hear them curse and damn or perhaps but even rail and rant at one another as to be entertained with grave or wise Discourse or over-hear devout people assembled at their Prayers in the Fear of God and with a decent Concord Further besides the inward Advantage of being vertuous and religious do I not see daily that Men by Vertue and Religion preserve themselves from a thousand Inconveniencies which others run into They keep and encrease perhaps their Estates their Credit their Ease their Quiet their Health the Love of their Neighbours and a good Interest in their Countrey with many more Felicities whereas others by contrary practices forfeit all So that a Man cannot but be sensible supposing him thus to go on thinking and considering with himself that Vertue and Religion give Men great advantage of others not only when going out of the World but even in the strength and vigor of their age and that as well in regard of inward Peace liking and approving or being at ease with themselves as in many worldly respects 4. Now will an outward Demureness and Hypocrisie a pretending that Religion or Vertue which Men have not do all this And truly Professors of Religion who are not religious in good Earnest are no better than demure Hypocrites Will I say deceiving the World and perhaps themselves too with a pretence to that Integrity that they have not administer Comfort to Men when dying or Content and Peace while in Life at a distance from Death Let me seriously consider of this and there will nothing appear more plain to me nor shall I be more sensible of any thing in the World than that such Temper as described would be a dying Torment to me a Hell before-hand and that it is really a reproach to me in my own sense of things at present if I am such I say if I be guilty of it my heart even now reproaches me for it 5. And after all these Thoughts thus in a train and dependance upon one another run through after such a thread of Reason spun by my Soul can I believe this Soul of mine is equal to that whereby Beasts live Is it no nobler of no longer duration than the Spirit of a Dog or of a Swine or of such vile Creatures Am I able to conceive think and put together all these things to no purpose And have I the sense and prospect of a Life to come an earnest desire too of Immortality and all this in vain Let me see Is it so as to my other Faculties Has God given me Eyes to see and yet is there neither Light nor Colours Has he given me Ears to hear and are there no sounds Has he given me a Mouth and Palate and provided a Stomach for reception of Meat and put an Appetite into it and parts and powers for digesting my Meat yet are there no kinds of Food Nothing fit to be tasted eaten digested Has he given me a Tongue to speak and an Understanding to frame Thoughts and direct that Tongue to utter them and are there no people in the World for me to converse with It is plain to me that none of my other Faculties are in
vain Therefore Neither was I endued with the Apprehension Sense and Appetite after another Life in vain but another Life after this there is My Conceptions and Desires of Immortality were no more put into me in vain than my Senses or natural Appetites That is there is an Immortal State that is my Soul is Immortal or capable of Immortality We see now whither we are come meerly by a little thinking § II. Let us then put all this together and see what will be the Result Whether it be tolerable or no to be as vain and formal and as meer Actors in Religion as the World of Professors of it are Or whether we are not most highly concerned to be herein more than in any other practices in the World or in any other part of Life most sincere serious and in good Earnest The Summ is I must die Though I choak and oppress Conscience and put tricks upon my self to gloss over foul Actions at present I shall not be able to do so long at least not at Death Nay even now at present I have much ado to make many things palatable which yet in practice I swallow so that I must account that at my Death if I am then in my Senses they 'll sting me with a witness and in all probability not only in my departing but eternally in that Immortal State For I cannot persuade my self but there is a Life after this I have so many Evidences of it within my self And it is not an outside Demureness or shadow of Religion which will bear me out or stand me in stead at Death and Judgment Then the Vizor will fall off Therefore it is my Concernment above all things to be early serious in Religion For I am sensible none die comfortably but vertuous Men None else when dying have either ease as to what is past or a comfortable prospect of what is to come So that the Conclusion of all is If I will follow what in my own sense of things and herein all good and wise Men all that are not beside themselves mad or vicious agree with me I must set my self to be serious in and most intent upon Religion And this is the first step of Preparation for Death and Judgment in our Stage The Second will be That we immediately go upon the reconciling our selves to God and endeavour to make our Peace with him of which in the next Chapter Matter and a Method for Devotions suitable to the Second Chapter BEing retired seriously First Examine Conscience How thou hast stood affected and concerned hitherto in Matter of Religion 1. Hast thou concerned thy self any more in it or about it than in other Customs and Vsages of thy Countrey 2. In case thou hast with more outward Concernment than the generality of people espoused the Profession of Religion yet as to the Vertue it self Religion in the Soul 1. Is thy heart furnished with sound Knowledge Hast thou reasonable Conceptions of the Doctrine and Precepts of Christianity And 2. Art thou seriously in thy heart persuaded that Christian Religion is true and the alone sure way to Happiness Or else on the contrary Art thou a meer formal external Professor pretending to be zealous in this or that way but designing by such pretence only other ends than those of thy Soul in an unseen World Consider the Matter seriously For a multitude of meer worldly Bigots of zealous outward Professors are there in our World who both with themselves and others pass for religious Men. Or 3. Though thou hast been through the Grace of God enlightened and art in some measure knowing and perswaded in thy Conscience of the Truth of Religion yet is it not thy Case as it is many other religious people's that thou art as to Religion really lukewarm in love with the World and things that are seen So that thou hast been very negligent in an holy heavenly conscientious Practice and by reason of this Indifferency can'st scarce say thou hast been yet religious in good earnest Deal honestly with thy self in sifting out the Truth as near as able It will be thine own another day Secondly After this Search if thou findest thy Condition to be any of these three pause a while and consider particularly the guilt and sinfulness of it whichsoever of the three it prove As to the First supposing that to be thy Case Thou hast taken up thy Religion just as thou hast done thy cloths All civilized people wear some Cloths English people this particular Fashion and so thou wearest Cloths of this Fashion rather than of that of the Turks and Persians c. because thou art amongst the English and an English Man In like sort all Nations have some Religion Thy Countrey or thy Friends this and therefore thou art of it Thou hast been bred to it as they say Good God! what a monstrous profane thing is this That one who has the use of Reason should make no more matter of Religion than of the fashion of a Suit of Cloths And perhaps not so much as some vain wretches do who are more concerned about their garb than the state of their Souls O dreadful As to the Second To pretend Zeal for God and Heaven meerly for the driving on a poor worldly or carnal Interest when really I neither believe God or Heaven or care for either what abominable Hypocrisie is this What incarnate Devils white Devils as the people speak are such Men As to the Third To be persuaded that there is no true Happiness but in God that this World is but a Dream in comparison of that to come at the utmost that this Life is a state of Trial according to my behaviour wherein I am to be everlastingly happy or miserable and yet to be indifferent and cool in my Affections and pursuit of heavenly Goods to be intent on and ever busied about the things that are seen all which perhaps I may part with tomorrow and to be negligent of my Life and Actions according to which I shall one day be justified or condemned Matth. 12. 37. and so eternally happy or miserable What an inconsistent and an unreasonable thing is it Am I not while thus guilty condemn'd and unexcuseable even in the sense of my own mind Thirdly According to thy Condition now betake thy self to God by Prayer 1. Lifting up thine heart to him and conceiving of him as a God that searcheth and knows thee that possesseth thy Reins and discerneth the thoughts and intents of the heart who therefore most intimately sees whether thou dissemblest or no That will be sanctified of all who draw near unto him and has accursed all Hypocrites and double-hearted Men who therefore will be content with nothing less than all thy heart and mind and soul In the beginning of thy Prayers set God before thee as such 2. Confessing to him according as thou hast found the Summ of thy Guilt Either Thy regardlessness of him and of thy Soul
up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life Now though it may seem at first that in this kind of good works namely those usually called works of Charity only rich people are capable of laying up Treasure in Heaven or providing themselves hereafter any measure of happiness yet if we consider there are many good Offices or kind services that even the meanest sort sometimes may perform to their Superiors and that such services are of real value we may and must account that poor people endeavouring to do all the good they can to the Bodies Souls Estates or good names of others are as really charitable and if diligent to do such good as abundant in the work of Charity in their way as the most magnificent publick Benefactors in theirs and consequently will be as surely and gloriously rewarded He that receiveth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophets reward and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward Mat. 10. 41 42. In which surprising promise and as it were excess of Divine grace and goodness poor people ought for their comfort to take notice of three things 1 How small matters from them to whom little is given God esteems as Alms Even a Cup of cold water given to a fellow Christian as such or haply a little room or harbour in a corner of the poor Cottage to a weary or wet Passenger 2 How largely God will reward it with a righteous man's or a Prophet's reward according to the nature of the person we designed to do good to 3 The sureness of the reward Verily I say unto you he shall not lose his reward that is by an ordinary Figure he shall most certainly receive it Let no one then think he cannot be Charitable or bountiful because he is not rich but let him not fail to do all the good Luk. 12. 33. to others that lies in his way Hereby he provides himself Bags which wax not old a treasure in heaven that faileth not That is he makes a happy preparation for another world § 9. But there is one sort of good works or of Charity to others which transcends far all other Bounty and that is Charity to the souls of Men labour in instructing those who are ignorant of God and of their Duty in retrieving and delivering men from a leud course of life to being serious and strict in Religion in bringing them home to Christ and his Church This is a Charity as far surpassing that which is meerly extended to Mens bodies as the soul in excellence surpasseth the body He that can help a soul to Heaven before him hath certainly sent an unvaluable treasure thither For if any man err from the truth and one convert him let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins James the last 19 20. Wherefore to conclude this Head touching good works Let us be stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as we know that our labour is not in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15. ult And thus as to the third Duty in our first Period of providing for our selves a Happiness in another world against we leave this Matter and a Method suitable for Devotion to the Fourth Chapter FIrst Examine Whether ever hitherto thou hast thought in good earnest of laying up treasure or securing thy self a Happiness in Heaven Shouldest thou die this moment what reasonable hopes hast thou that thou shouldest be blessed in that other world or after death rest from thy Labours Particularly 1. Hast thou any sound clear or even tolerable conceptions and rational sense of the life or happiness of a soul abstract or separate from the body Or art thou not as it were drown'd in brutish Apprehensions understanding none but a sensual life And are not Spiritual and Heavenly things in a manner Dreams Fables and Romances to thee 2. Hast thou lookt upon it as thy Duty and Concernment above all things to secure to thy self a happiness to come 3. Didst thou ever seriously set thy self by Resolution and Prayer to chose the Everlasting God for thy happiness Does thy soul in any such measure cleave to him at present as that thou canst with any probable hope claim him for thy Portion 4. Hast thou pursued this choice by an honest endeavour of holy life and abounding in good works according to thy quality and power Or hast thou not been idle a Loiterer and secure flatterer of thy self never really active herein Or what is worse yet very frequent dost thou not meerly profess to know God but in works deniest him being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work reprobate Tit. 1. vers ult Secondly Having thus strictly examined thy Conscience in the fear of God by Serious Prayer set thy self First to Confess thy particular guilt in this case according to the true answer of thy Conscience In which behalf if thou hast practised the Devotional parts annext to the foregoing Chapters and especially the Directions of the last thou canst not be at any loss Accuse thy self sincerely and unbosom thy heart before God by going over again the Particulars Remember the Holy God loveth truth in the inward parts and will be readier both to become thine and make thee his if he see thee to be cordial in the endeavour of making him thy choice Further proceeding in Prayer 2dly Look upon Acknowledge and adore God as the only true Happiness of Man's Soul as the Father of Spirits who made thy Soul for himself and put into it this property that it can be satisfied with nothing below himself And if thou findest an inward sense hereof in thy heart immediately as another act of Prayer 3dly Bless God for this Token of good for such certainly it is to thee a sign that notwithstanding all thy neglects of God notwithstanding all thy pursuits and wandrings after Airy bubbles of happiness in this World he has not yet totally cast thee off and left thee to thy own vain heart Wherefore now 4ly By way of Petition beg of him that he will graciously through Christ Jesus vouchsafe to become thy Treasure and portion As in the foregoing Chapter directed offer him up thy heart and beseech him to accept it and both to make and keep it his Lament thy wandrings and thy long alienation from thy alone true good Acknowledge thy Disappointments of Happiness and perpetual missing of satisfaction in the World and beseech of God again and again that he will enable thee with purpose of heart to cleave unto
I were now dying and breathing out my last with that last breath would I give thee this counsel make this request impose upon thee this command or otherwise c. Take it therefore now lest thou and I should not have then opportunity for it and remember it as the Counsel Admonition or Command c. of thy dying Father Friend c. Then give thy Counsel signifie thy desire c. Counsel thus once given and as occasion may offer thus at convenient times ingeminated or repeated may have the same weight make the same impression and will every whit as much serve to the discharging of our Conscience and so for the composing our minds for death as if it were given upon the Death-bed The same may I say as to any secrets which we have to impart and which it is expedient our Friends or Relations should know convenient time in state of health and leisure may be taken and needful Prefaces used so as to impart them even at a distance from our death Or if the secrets be of such nature as it is not expedient our Friends should know them when we are in health or till we are going or gone out of the world a Letter may be writ and put up sealed with our Will to such person to whom the secret does belong Or in case we are not able to write some faithful friend with whom we can or do intrust the secrets of our Estate may be intrusted herewith to impart it to our Friends at or after our death By these or like means which common discretion will suggest may a man before hand discharge his Conscience to his Friends so as to have his mind even in reference to them composed and easie and himself at a distance as ready for death as if it were at hand § 10. Lastly whether of the main or subordinate Directions it matters not having done thy best as has been before prescribed with good Conscience to settle thy affairs and thy mind though thou presumest thy self never at so great a distance from death yet as fully and intirely as if thou wert now to die and together comfortably and quietly resign up thy self and all thine to God Let him now from henceforth work his will and dispose of thee and thine as he pleases Do thou quietly await his good pleasure Thine own person soul and body and the persons of all thy dear Relations or Friends by Faith and Prayer commit to him as into the hands of a faithful Creator and do this daily as long as thou livest Thy Estate and Goods give up according to his good pleasure he being the most wise Disposer as well as the alone true Proprietor and Lord of all Thou hast as his Instrument endeavoured to dispose of all as wisely and conscionably as thou canst but when thou art gone which way in a short time all will go whether to thine or to strangers whether to a wise man or to a fool thou Eccles 2. 19. neither canst nor shalt know nor does it truly concern thee to presage or forebode Much less shouldest thou disturb thy quiet about it thy duty 's done Thy children may Job 14. 21. come to Honour and thou know it not and they may be brought low but thou perceive it not of them Trouble not therefore thy self now as to what comes after thee If thou considerately survivest these Preparations thou maist alter things as in Christian prudence thou at leisure shalt see occasion If not thy Province is discharged God is at peace with thee thou hast a happiness Him for thy happiness to go to Happy man set thy heart at rest abandon Sollicitude address to what comes with a Christian temper and make the most Heavenly and Spiritual use thou canst of all that comes bidding still all welcome as from God § 11. This is plainly a most easeful and blessed temper able in a great measure to felicitate any person Whosoever has thus practised and continues in this state and practice is plainly prepared for death For the three aforementioned intentions beyond which in this period we could see nothing necessary are attained He has a Happiness to go to the infinite God is his Portion He has provided against all he can fear sin and the wrath due to it Sin he has forsaken and endeavoured to extirpate and the guilt of it that is obligation to the wrath due is done away for he has made his peace with God in Christ and he has disintangled himself from the world He may therefore take up good old Simeon's Hymn Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace And add thereto St. John's Response to the Churches Invitatory Come Lord Jesus come quickly Only if his Lord delayeth his coming it will concern him to watch To have his light burning and to keep oyl in his vessel with his lamp that is to maintain this blessed temper and to strengthen those things which are weak to fill up what is defective to take care his heart and his works be perfect before God that is sincere to hold fast and be faithful to the end that no man take his Crown Of which Duties we are next to consider In the mean time Blessed is that servant whom his Lord at his coming shall find so doing Matter and a Method for Devotions suitable to Chapter the Fifth IN point of Examination or Inquiry into our condition here will be Matter of a new nature and different from what as yet came before us For hitherto in our Devotional engagements the enquiries we have still made were touching disorders of heart or our particular guilt Sins Habitual or Actual But now being engaged as well to settle our worldly affairs as to purge our Souls and quiet our minds and the purging disentangling and quieting our selves depending so much on our outward circumstances After such endeavours of a serious thoughtful temper and short Prayer as usual at our entring into our privacy we must look without and set our selves to consider in plain terms What estate or worldly substance we have and how it lyes What Relations also and Dependants Or what Dependencies we our selves have upon others What Dealings and Contracts we are engaged in What our Debts and Credits These questions we must seriously put to our selves and endeavour true answers and accompts in the fear of God as really making matter of Conscience of such Inquest For without this kind of practice a person that has had any thing to do in the world or has lived any considerable time therein cannot be just to the world when he goes out of it And for directing to such work as this in quality of a matter of Conscience and a work of secret or Closet-Devotion I have great reason in as much as good conscience and our peace both with God and our selves is so intimately concerned in it For 't is most certain a man cannot die a good Christian or with just hopes