Ecclus. 28.6 Remember thy end and let enmity cease Remember corruption and death and abide in the Commandments I should not surely dare to sin against my God would I but seriously consider in every act I do and in every moment I breath I am hastening to my last breath and that then I must give account as of every moment of my time so of every work both good and evil at what time soever performed And 't was surely thus S. Paul died daily 1 Cor. 15.31 3. To die the death of the righteous is the desire even of the wicked Numb 23.10 but his last end shall be very unlike the others Vt tibi mors foelix contingat vivere disce Vt foelix possis vivere disce mori The only way to die well is to live well and he that will live well must live by dying principles saying with holy David My Soul is continually in my hand Psal 119.109 and for ought I know it may expire at my next breathing since many thousands in this very moment do breath their last And 't is only this moment I can call mine for what time of my life is past cannot return again to be enjoyed and what 's to come is not in mine Psal 31.17 Acts 17.28 but in the Lord's power My time is in thy hand In him we live and move and have our being Quam foelix prudens He is both a wise and a happy man whose endeavours are so to be qualified in his life as he desires to be found in his death T.K. In order hereunto 't is the wholsome advice of a Father Cum mane fuerit when 't is morning think that perhaps thou mayst not see the evening and when evening comes remember that 't is uncertain whether thou shalt see morning Those Indian wisemen call'd Brachmans had their Sepulchres before their doors that both upon their going out and coming in they might remember their approaching death as a curb to restrain them from all extravagant lustings after the pleasures riches and honours of this mortal life 'T is recorded of John the famous Patriarch of Alexandria that whilst he was in perfect health he had his monument framed but not finished and that he gave order upon every Festival after the publick offices of the Church were ended one of the Priests should say unto him aloud Holy Father your Monument should be finished Mat. 24.43 because 't is not known at what hour the thief cometh I cannot better advise both my self and my Reader than that in every thing we go about we would every man of us ask himself this question Would I now do this if I were ready to die 'T is the Wiseman's advice whatsoever thou takest in hand Remember the end Eccl. 7. ult and thou shalt never do amiss When an Emperor of the East was newly proclaimed before he spake to any person in the stile of Majesty a Mason comes to him and shewing him several kinds of Marble demands of which of those kinds of stone he would have his Sepulchre made intimating unto him that although he was made an Emperor he was not to forget he was a mortal and therefore it concerned him with such justice and mercy to govern his Earthly Kingdom that he might not forfeit the loss of the Kingdom of Heaven From the forgetfulness of my death and the uncertainty of my life from every evil work whereunto such forgetfulness may betray me and from a sudden and an unprepared death good Lord deliver me 4. The Lord cloathed our first Parents with the skins of Beasts to put them in mind of that mortality and corruption of the flesh they had contracted by their disobedience to his commands the which as we their sinful off-spring do daily bear about us so ought we also to have the same in a continual remembrance for the keeping under the unruly lusts of the flesh that we finally pass not from a spiritual to death eternal And thus every truly pious man thus remembers daily the unavoidable death of his corruptible body so as to keep his Soul unspotted of the world and alive from the death of sin continually mortifying all his evil and corrupt affections and daily proceeding in all vertue and godliness of living And thus in the sence of the holy Apostle of our Lord To die daily is not only daily to remember death but daily to die unto sin and live unto righteousness unto the hopes of Eternal happiness slighting all the false and flattering felicities of this fawning world as being not only empty and unsatisfying but also mortal and dying A holy confidence to die well and in hopes to enjoy Life Eternal after Death is begotten in the heart saith the spiritual A Kempis A Kempis de Imit Christ l. 1. c. 23. 1. By a perpetual contempt of the world 2. By a thorough self-denial 3. By a fervent desire and endeavour for proficiency in Grace 4. By the love of discipline or strict corporeal Austerities 5. By the unwearied labour of true Repentance 6. By a willing and ready obedience to all God's commands 7. By suffering contentedly yea even joyfully all adversities for the love of Christ And thus prepare for thy change to come looking not as becomes an Immortal Soul at the things which are seen 2 Cor. 4.28 but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal The Prayer O God the protector of all that trust in thee without whom nothing is strong nothing is holy Increase and multiply upon us thy mercy that thou being our leader and guide we may so pass through things temporal that we finally lose not the things eternal Grant this O heavenly Father for thy Son Jesus Christ Amen MEDITAT IV. Of the Horror of Death 1. UNder the Law when a Fowl was to be offered for a burnt Sacrifice unto the Lord The head was to be wrung off Levit. 1.16 the crop with the feathers to be cast into the place of ashes Intimating mystically that the way to mortifie the swellings of pride and luxury and make all the feathers of secular pomp and vanity to flag is to turn our eyes unto the ashes of the dead and see the horrid state of such as lye in the Grave even of the most high powerful and pompous that ever liv'd upon earth S. Augustine being with his Mother Monica invited to Rome by Pontianus the Prefect to view the stately Edifices and ancient Monuments of that eminent City amongst other rareties he saw the great Caesar's Sepulchre and therein his carcass of a livid gastly colour his face faln away to such a meagre leanness as scarce of skin and bone consisting his Lips being rotted away his Teeth were seen black and corrupted his Nose so consumed that only the wide hollows of his Nostrils appeared his Belly burst and swarming with Worms and Serpents
makes so many millions of persons die unpreparedly And so pass from a temporal to death eternal For death is then most generally the nearest when 't is conceited to be furthest off Bern. Mors enim propior esse solet cum longius abesse putetur 2. 'T is the thought of a longer and still of a longer life that is the great impediment of Repentance and amendment of life whereby the Devil hurries men by throngs to be his woful companions in his Region of blackness of darkness for ever And the great Reason is because Repentance delayed till Sickness or Old Age come is not only uncertain and unsafe but very seldom or never truly and sincerely performed 'T is a dreadful saying of S. Hierome That scarce one of ten thousand who have continued in any sinful course of life without the conscientious practice of a true and timely Repentance do ever so perfectly repent as to obtain the remission of their sins in the hour of death For the prevention of so great and general a mischief and perdition of ungodly men the All-wise and good Providence of Heaven hath ordained that in all ages and conditions of men this life shall take end that so none how young and lusty soever with his bones full of marrow should yet dare to live unprepared for death presuming still upon further time for Repentance and Amendment of life Tu in senectutem sana defers consilia inde vitam vis inchoare quo pauci perduxerunt stultitia magna est tunc vivere incipere cum desinendum est Blessed Lord suffer me not thus to deceive my self through the sly insinuations of Satan and my own sensual inclinations and desires but make me so mindful of my end that I may pass the remainder of my days in the constant practice of Repentance and Godly fear that living in thy fear I may die in thy favour and in a well grounded hope to live with thee for ever Amen VI. 1. Every change in my frail constitution every little pain and ache in my corruptible flesh all distempers and diseases are as so many memorials of my mortality but the older I grow Heb. 8. ult the nearer still is the approach of my dissolution by the hand of death for that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away 2. Happy is the man who on his bed of death can say with the Apostle 2 Tim. 4.7 I have fought a good sight against all the assaults of the Devil the World and the Flesh which war against the Soul I have finished my course as the course of my life so the course of godliness in all its respective duties enjoyn'd me I have kept the Faith untainted by any Atheistical imaginations heretical opinions or sinful practices and I have been faithful in the discharge of those offices and relations wherein my great Lord and Master hath entrusted and enstated me If my heart condemn me not in any of these respects I may thence conclude with joy and exultation from henceforth there is laid up a Crown of righteousness which the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but to all them also that love his appearance The Prayer LOok graciously upon me O Lord I beseech thee in the time of my approaching dissolution and the more the outward man decayeth strengthen me so much the more continually by thy Grace and Holy Spirit in the inner man give me unfeigned repentance for all the errors of my life past and a stedfast Faith in thy Son Jesus that my sins may be done away by thy mercy and my pardon sealed in Heaven before I go hence and be no more seen II. IN the midst of life we be in death of whom may we seek for succour but of thee O Lord who for our sins art justly displeased Yet O Lord God most holy O Lord most mighty O holy and most merciful Saviour deliver us not into the bitter pains of eternal Death Thou knowest Lord the secrets of our hearts shut not up thy merciful ears to our Prayers but spare us O Lord most holy O God most mighty O holy and most merciful Saviour thou most worthy Judge eternal suffer us not at our last hour for any pains of Death to fall from thee III. IN my last hour O Lord I humbly beg thy protection from the busie suggestions and direful insultings of my grand enemies the Devil and his Angels Oh let not then my Faith fail or my Hope wither or my Charity wax cold with the waining flesh but when all my joynts shall tremble by the batteries of death mine eyes be darkned and my tongue falter then O then let my heart be enlarged towards my God waiting upon thee longing for thee and incessantly praying shew me thy mercy O Lord and grant me thy Salvation The XXXIX Psalm Verses 1. I Said I will take heed to my ways that I offend not in my tongue * The meditation of death makes every wise man careful of all his ways and more especially to avoid the offences of the tongue 2. I will keep my mouth as 't were with a bridle while the ungodly is in my sight * The tongue is an unruly evil and must be tam'd as a wild horse with a bridle especially when provok'd by captious contentious and quarrelsome persons 3. I held my tongue and spake nothing I kept silence yea even from good words but it was pain and grief unto me * Reproaches are for the most part best answered with a discreet silence so was our Lord as a Lamb dumb before the Shearers 4. My heart was hot within and while I was thus musing the fire kindled * To abstain from good words is sometimes necessary for the avoiding of an evil construction but such silence is grievous to the pious Soul which burns with the fire of divine love and zeal to God's glory The zeal of thine house hath even eaten me up and at the last I spake with my tongue ‖ Though it be often inconvenient to speak before wicked Men yet it is alway necessary to speak unto God by Prayer 5. Lord let me know mine end and the number of my days that I may be certified how long I have to live * 'T is a blessing we ought alway to pray for to be feelingly sensible of the shortness of our life 6. Behold thou hast made my days as 't were a span long and mine age is nothing in respect of thee and verily every man living is altogether vanity * The life of man if compar'd with God's everlasting Being is rather to be called a death than a life a vanity not a verity of being 7. For man walketh in a vain shadow he disquieteth himself in vain he heapeth up riches and cannot tell who shall gather them * The hearts of men are darkned with the shadows of happiness whilst they vainly care
the beginning c. The Prayer ALmighty God the Fountain of all Wisdom grant me so wisely to number and compare the short and sorrowful days of this mortal Life with that joyful and never ending day of a blessed eternity that despising the vanities of the one I may zealously aspire to the happiness of the other O satisfie the panting desires of my Soul with the sense of thy mercy in the pardon of my sins and let the glory of thy grace appear in prospering me to perform all those good works of Faith and Obedience which conduce to my eternal Salvation through Jesus Christ THE Second general Meditation UPON JUDGMENT And first the Particular Judgment IT is appointed unto man once to die Heb. 9.27 and after that the Judgment No sooner shall this house of flesh wherein the immortal Soul doth now inhabit be shattered in pieces by the hand of death but in the same moment the departing Soul shall be conveyed by the Angels of God before his Judgment-seat and this is call'd The particular Judgment that shall pass upon every person in particular immediately upon his death Eccl. 12.7 when the dust shall return to the earth as it was then shall the Spirit return unto God that gave it To give an account of the works done in the body whether they be good or whether they be evil That grand enemy of man the Devil awaits thy Soul's departure hence to dog thee to the great Tribunal of Heaven Ille enim tunc saeviens capit quos nunc blandiens decipit Greg. In this life he fawns to seduce but in the other he will roar to devour as a Lion over his prey to this end he will vehemently accuse thee aggravating all thy miscarriages through his suggestions committed and claiming thee as one of the subjects of his kingdom of darkness saying to the great Judge of all as several Fathers observe This person thou Judge of the world though he be thine by Creation Euseb Emiss Hom. Aug. orat cont Judaos Pag. yet he is mine by Depravation He is Thine by nature but mine by sin for he has obeyed my suggestions and disobeyed thy Laws and therefore though he belong to thee by right yet he is faln to me by default he is thine in respect of his workmanship but mine by the rebellion of his will and disorder of his affections having yielded himself to follow my temptations and to forsake the paths of thy Commandments But 't is not the Devil alone that shall thus accuse thee when arraigned at the Bar of divine Judgment but as S. Chrysostom saith the Heavens and the Earth and the Sea the Sun and the Moon and the Stars both Nights and Days and all the Creatures thou hast abused shall bear witness against thee but above all Thine own Conscience shall be as a thousand witnesses for being then freed from this clog and damp of the corruptible flesh all thy imaginations and desires all thy words and works spoken and done in the body shall appear to thy Conscience in their native genuine and proper colours without any ignorance or oblivion misperswasion or misprision which now blinds the minds of many thousands to their eternal ruine on that day O who shall then be able to answer thee one of a thousand thou most worthy Judge eternal if thou shouldst be extream to mark what is done amiss Job 9.2 Ps 130.3 and thy great mercy intervene not to mitigate the rigor of thy Justice But in thee have I put my trust Ps 38.15 Thou shalt answer for me O Lord my God I have no other Advocate to plead my cause but my righteous Judge himself from whom in my daily prayers I have required that they even mine enemies should not triumph over me when I stand to be judged before the Tribunal of Heaven Eccl. 23.2 3. Who will set scourges over my thoughts and the discipline of wisdom over my heart that they spare me not for mine ignorances and pass not by my sins Lest mine ignorances increase and my sins abound to my destruction And I fall before mine adversaries in the day of my trial and mine enemies the spirits and powers of darkness rejoyce over me whose hope is far from thy mercy Meditat. II. My flesh trembleth for fear of thee Psal 119.120 and I am afraid of thy Judgments when I consider the severity of many of thy temporal judgments which are now intended to drive sinners to Repentance that thou mightest spare them hereafter I cannot but foresee the unconceivable rigour of thy eternal judgments which intend punishment only without any thought of future mercy to spare and to forgive as in this life And I vile sinner have great cause to fear as a strict examination which all must undergo so severe a sentence to pass upon me having not so conscienciously as I ought obeyed the sacred dictates of the saving grace of God teaching us Tit. 2 11 12 13. that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world With what face then shall I look for the blessed hope or hope for blessedness upon the appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ I have a greater cause to fear than to hope to wave than to await his coming But how shall I avoid or whither shall I flee from the face of my Judge whither but from an offended God to a merciful Redeemer from the Throne of thy Justice to thy Mercy-seat To meet thee now with Repentance in my heart and the fruits thereof brought forth in the actions of my life and with such spiritual wings cemented with the bloud of my Redeemer I may hope to flee from the wrath to come O God who art justly displeased for our sins Mat. 3.7 8. and pacified by our true and sincere Repentance spare O spare all those who confess their sins unto thee that they whose consciences by sin are accused by thy merciful pardon may be absolved through Christ our Lord. Meditat. III. Before Judgment examine thy self Eccl. 18.20 and in the day of visitation thou shalt find mercy And I upon the examination of my self do find my heart foul and polluted and my life stain'd with manifold offences but that I may escape the judgment of God I judge my self to be a miserable sinner I judge my self to have incurr'd the Lord's just indignation to have deserved the dismal sentence of condemnation to pass upon me For I have sinned and I have done wickedly and I have committed iniquity and have rebelled against the Lord by departing from his most holy Laws and Judgments Many will be my accusers when I come to my great Trial upon life or death eternal and many and great accusations have they to lay against me the Devil and his Angels whose suggestions unto evil I have too often followed many men and many women too who have been conscious of my sins and
unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul being hereunto encouraged by thy grace and goodness For thou Lord art good even the inexhaustible Fountain of goodness and gracious propitiously inclined to hear the supplications of thy people and of great mercy against the greatness of iniquity unto all them that call upon thee even to all that call upon thee faithfully depending upon thee alone for help and safety Give ear to my prayer not slightly hearing the sound of my words but ponder the voice of my humble desires the intense desires of my humbled soul I humbly desire to be considered In the time of my trouble and that 's the whole time of my Pilgrimage here upon earth I will call upon thee for protection and deliverance whereof I will never despair for thou hearest me if my Prayer be pure and humble and therefore will I call upon thee as long as I live Among the Gods that be either falsly so called or be so called by participation of divine Power as the Angels in Heaven and Kings of the Earth there is none like unto thee O Lord either for Power or Wisdom there is none that can do as thou dost thy Works do far exceed the Power of any created Beings to do the like and therefore in fulness of time All nations whom thou hast made shall no longer make Gods unto themselves but shall come and worship thee O Lord the Maker of all Men and of all Things and being admitted Members of thy holy Catholick Church shall glorifie thy Name both with heart and voice and by the good Works of their Obedience to the Gospel of Christ For thou art great which all thy Works declare and dost wondrous things not to be apprehended but admired and 't is therefore in all the parts of the World confessed that thou art God alone all others being either falsly or feignedly called Gods And that I may accordingly worship thee aright Teach me thy way O Lord that I neither mistake the right way nor stumble and fall therein but stedfastly and constantly walk in thy truth and this Way and this Truth is my blessed Redeemer who by his Doctrine and Example Doings and Sufferings Life and Death is the way that leads to Life Eternal O knit my heart unto thee by the indissoluble bonds of a true Faith firm Hope fervent Charity that I may fear thy Name so as that I neither dare to sin against thee nor too much presume upon thy mercy I will thank thee O Lord my God as from whom both my whole Self and all the little good that is mine does proceed with all my heart as being hereunto excited by the fear and love of thy Name and I will praise thy Name for evermore And there is very great reason I should do so For great is thy mercy toward me not only manifested in all the good things I do enjoy but in my deliverance from manifold evils and especially from the greatest of evils for thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell in the broad way that leads thereunto I have a long time walked and 't is of thy great mercy that I have not long since been hurled headlong to that dismal place of Torments And still I have great cause to complain O God the proud are risen against me proud Lucifer and his infernal Fiends and the congregation of naughty men have sought after my soul the wicked of the world conspire with the Devil and his Angels by their sinful suggestions to subvert the innocence of my Soul to have her portion with them in the neithermost Hell But thou O Lord art full of compassion especially to all them who chuse rather to suffer than to do what is offensive to thy Majesty and mercy in pardoning the offences of the truly penitent long-suffering not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance plenteous in goodness abounding in thy blessings and truth both in performing thy promises of mercy to the penitent and in rendring to every man according to his works O turn thee then unto me who by my sins have justly provoked thee to turn away thy face from me and have mercy upon me a miserable sinner and that I may no more offend thee give thy strength unto thy servant even ghostly strength and fortitude manfully to resist the Devil and all his numerous troops of sensual and worldly lusts in all whose assaults vouchsafe to help the son of thine handmaid that I may overcome all their temptations unto evil and carefully keep my vow and promise made when I was first admitted to be a Son of thy handmaid the Church Shew some token upon me for good let some sign of thy favour towards me appear that they who hate me my ghostly enemies may see it and be ashamed when they shall behold all their conspiracies and assaults against my Soul defeated by the assistance of thy divine Grace because thou Lord hast holpen me and comforted me thy help to overcome when I am tempted unto sin is a great comfort to my Soul for I have hereupon a good ground of hope that thou wilt deliver my Soul from the nethermost Hell and that being raised up from the gates of Death I may shew all thy praises within the ports of the Daughter of Sion Saying Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. The LXXXVIII Psalm PARAPHRASED Verse 1. O Lord God of my salvation my Corporal and Spiritual Temporal and Eternal Salvation is from thee and therefore I have cryed day and night at all times and seasons and in all conditions prosperous and adverse before thee as unto whom alone the inmost intimate desires of my soul are naked and open O let my prayer enter into thy presence be received and accepted by thee incline thine ear unto my calling so graciously hear as to grant my humble requests My soul is full of trouble which being the consequent of Sin is the forerunner of Death and my life draweth nigh unto hell which openeth wide her mouth to swallow down such polluted Souls I am counted as one of them that go down to the Pit look'd upon as a dead man and a cast-away and I have been even as a man that hath no strength which is derived from the Lord of life to escape the snares and terrors of death Free among the dead not likely to be freed from my troubles but by death which puts an end to all the miseries of this sinful life like unto them that are wounded by the fiery darts of the Devil and lie in the grave of corrupt conversation which leads to the grave of death the wages of sin and whosoever thus lie there are out of remembrance both forgotten by the righteous and also are cut away from thy hand repuls'd from amongst those blessed Sheep which shall be rank'd on thy right hand in the day of Judgment Thou hast laid
dilatatur gaudiis quicquid arcto fine concluditur Hucher Ep. Paran renders every man in all that he is in all that he has and in all that he hopes for in this world a vanity of vanities an universal vanity The divine à Kempis gives us both the reason and the use of this doctrine Quia per peccatum Since by Sin we have lost our innocence we ought with patience to expect the mercy of God until this iniquity do pass away and mortality be swallowed up of life T. K. l. 1. c. 22. S. Augustine 's Meditation on this Subject THE time of my Pilgrimage here upon earth is tedious wearisome for this is a miserable life a frail life an uncertain life a bitter life a laborious life a sinful life 't is the mistress of error and sinfulness and the hand-maid to death and hell This life is rather to be called death than life as being through the whole course thereof a passing from Life to Death for whilst we pass from Infancy to Childhood from thence to Manhood and so to Old-age every such change in Life is but a passage to death or rather so many stages of Death for each condition of life is the death of its foregoing state and condition There is no condition in this life certain and setled now we are glad and anon sad now we are well and anon sick now we are at ease and anon in pain now we laugh and anon weep now in hunger and thirst anon in fulness and excess in honour and dishonour in wealth and poverty in heats and colds in evil report and good report in fear and terror and much amazement and all this and much more than can be exprest is too often attended by a sudden unexpected death and which is yet more miserable though there be nothing more certain than death yet vain foolish man knoweth not considereth not his end Eccl. 9.12 So the Preacher For man also knoweth not his time as the fishes that are taken in an evil net and as the birds that are caught in the snare so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them Aristotle being ask'd what is man answered Imbecillitatis exemplum Temporis spolium fortunae lusus inconstantiae imago invidiae calamitatis trutina reliquum vero pituita bilis Quid homo inquit Gran. cujus conceptio culpa nasci poena vivere miseria mori tormentum Silenus being ask'd by Midas Quid homini optimum answer'd Primò non nasci sccundò quam ocyssime mori O senseless mortals especially being called Christians and yet to be of so little Faith as to doat upon a life so frail short and uncertain so changeable and calamitous in defiance of what we daily profess to believe Life Everlasting Blessed are they and they are but a few who in hopes and desires to enjoy the unchangeable blessings of the life to come do slight and despise the fallacious flattering injoyments of this world lest being deceived by the charms and fawnings thereof the Deceiver and the Deceived perish together 'T is a general complaint that the world is deceitful and unsatisfying in all her most alluring enjoyments and yet so mightily the flesh prevaileth against the spirit that most men love and I am a great fool among the rest yea doatingly love to be thus deceived too passionately desiring to injoy still this mortal life how frail soever and attended with a numerous train of miseries But forget not O remember and forget not that thou art immortal O my soul and that death is but the change of a troublesome for a quiet life of a frail for a fixed and permanent Being of an uncertain for a certain abode and of a temporary for life everlasting 'T is but the falling in pieces of an earthly Tabernacle and when it is dissolved 2 Cor. 5.1 thou hast a building of God a house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens 'T is a fam'd saying of Benedict Malus mortem bonus vitam formidat In the death of the righteous is his hopes of happiness but in the continuance of this life doth the wicked trust Thou wouldst not fear the end of this life didst thou rightly hope for the beginning of a better 'T is for want of treasures laid up in Heaven the fruits of true holiness that thou art afraid to die and 't will be too late to labour for them when death approacheth The Prayer O Almighty God who alone canst order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men grant unto thy people and to me with them to love the thing which thou commandest and desire that which thou dost promise that so among the sundry and manifold changes of the world our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found through Jesus Christ MEDITAT III. Of the frequent Remembrance of Death 1. THIS present Life is the School of Death wherein we are taught the several lessons of living to die well or so to die that we may live Eternally Climacus scal grad 6. records a story of a Brother who had lived negligently for many years and was at last surprized with such a desperate disease that he was for so long a time depriv'd of his Senses that he was supposed to be absolutely dead but recovering again he immediately secluded himself from all society and continued for Twelve years which was the remainder of his time in that solitary separate condition lamenting continually the negligences and sins of his by-past life and the sad condition of all such persons who die in their sins unrepented And when the time of his death indeed approached many of his fraternity flock'd to him desiring to hear some more than ordinary instructions and directions from him for the good of their Souls but all that he would say was this as the summ of Christian wisdom If you desire so to live that ye may die happily then meditate continually upon death for 't is scarce possible for that man to sin who with due regard remembers Death the wages of Sin 'T is said by the said Climacus That the meditation of death is as necessary to preserve the health of the Soul in the life of grace as is daily bread to preserve the body in the life of nature 2. The forgetfulness of Death is the seminary of all the Sins of the sons of men hence the neglect of all the duties we owe to God and Man hence the abuse of all the blessings of God whether relating to this or the other world hence all luxury and all the sinful pleasures of the flesh hence all covetousness and carnal cares for the things of this life hence all forgetfulness of the great account we must make of all the works done in the body together with the banishment from our minds of all fears of Hell and hopes of Heaven 'T is therefore good advice the wise Syracides gives us
his Eyes quite sunk into his head and in the two holes thereof two loathsome Toads were feeding Then turning towards his Mother he said What now dear Mother is become of the great Caesar whose pomp and power and policy whose riches honour and dignity whose many victories conquests and triumphs rendred him the most admired Heroe the world afforded Where now is all his glory Where the Conquering Armies he commanded The Cities Nations Countries he subdued The numerous train of Nobility Gentry Souldiery that attended him The vast riches and boundless authority he acquired Whereunto the pious Matron answered O my Son no sooner did his Spirit fail and his breath expire but all his splendid enjoyments all his flattering worldly felicities forsook him His riches his friends his attendants all his conquests and triumphs all the honour which he got through manifold travels pains and perils have all now left him alone in this gastly silent Sepulchre accompanied only with Worms Stench and Corruption Such is the end of all flesh All flesh is grass Isa 40.6 and all the goodliness thereof as a flower of the field The flower is more gay and gawdy than the grass for a little space but when the verdure of both decays they have the same withered complexion they rot and corrupt both alike and commonly the more gawdy flower is more ugly and stinking than the grass 'T is even so with the rich and the poor the honourable and the base in this world they differ only in their outward fashion and appearance but when death doth seize them they are equally obnoxious to the same solitude poverty and nakedness to the same stench corruption and rottenness 'T is as true of the greatest Prince as of the meanest Peasant When a man is dead Eccl. 10.11 he shall inherit creeping things Beasts and Worms All the difference in the Grave betwixt the rich and the poor is this That the dust of the rich through the luxury lasciviousness and intemperance of their life is more corrupt and loathsome after their death than is the dust of the poor whose food and nourishment was more course and sparing Why then my Immortal Soul art thou so fond of thy corruptible companion the Body Remember its beginning is uncleanness and its end rottenness 'T is thy servant for the present but if thou too much cocker and pamper it 't will rebel subdue and lead thee captive to a worse death than that whereunto it self is liable even the death of the nether Hell Mar. 9.44 Where the Worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched 2. Death is the wages of sin And I have sinned vile wretch that I am I have sinned and what shall I do or what shall I say unto thee O thou preserver of man All that I can say is the same still Psal 38.18 I have sinned and as long as I have a day to live I will say it I will confess my wickedness and be sorry for my sins Mercy good Lord mercy I humbly beg Job 7.20 21. O why dost thou not pardon my Transgression and take away mine iniquity Are not my days few cease then and let me alone that I may bewail my sins and take comfort a little in the hopes of the pardon of them through faith in the blood of my dear Redeemer Job 10.20 21. before I go to the place from whence I shall not return to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death 3. I know that to flesh and blood death is of all terribles the most terrible Job 18.14 but my blessed Redeemer hath pulled out the sting and quelled the terrors of death 1 Cor. 15.55 Heb. 2.14 56 57. He hath also destroyed him that had the power of death that is the Devil So that now when death approacheth through Faith and a good Conscience I shall have hope with all patience and contentment to drink off that Cup how bitter and painful soever saying with my blessed Lord and Master upon his approaching death Mat. 26.42 Father not my will but thine be done The Prayer ASsist me mercifully O Lord to subject my rebellious flesh to the guidance of the Spirit and my spirit to the Laws of my Redeemer that when my body shall be the inheritance of Worms and creeping things my Soul may possess an inheritance uncorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in the Heavens through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen MEDITAT V. Of Preparation unto Death I. AS there is nothing more certain than death Psal 89.47 For what man is there that liveth and shall not see death So there is nothing more uncertain than the time of death Mat. 24.36 for of that day and hour knoweth noman 'T is therefore unknown Luk. 12.40 that it might be alway suspected and awaited The Son of man cometh in an hour when you think not That his coming may be hourly thought upon Latet dies ultimus Aug. ut observentur omnes dies The day of our death is hidden from us that all our days should be no other but a preparation thereunto the certainty of the one engaging us unto sincerity in the other * Veri hominis Christiani vita nihil aliud quam continua ad mortem praeparatio esse debet Every danger foreseen is best prevented And thus death the greatest of dangers may be rendred the least dangerous by a prudent fear and careful provision for the same Qui pavet cavet qui negligit incidit Bern. Prov. 14.16 which may best be englished in the language of the Holy Ghost The wise man feareth and departeth from evil but the fool rageth and is confident †Timeat semper in vita mortem qui mortis metum evadere velit II. The great end of this mortal life is to prepare for death or rather for a safe passage through death to life Immortal For upon the well or ill spending of the few minutes of this present life depends either a blessed or a miserable Eternity It was the advice of a wise man to his friend to have engraven in capital Letters in some such place of his house as might be most frequent in his view to be often considered Momentum unde pendet Eternitas III. There is no consideration our blessed Lord hath so frequently inculcated by commands counsels exhortations admonitions parables similitudes arguments and reasons as this of the Christian watch i. e. to prepare to provide to be ready to wait for the coming of the Lord or for the approach of Death Luke 12.38 whether he shall come in the first or in the second or in the third watch whether in the time of youth or manhood or old age Mark 13.34 35 36 37. at all times and in all ages he commands all men to be upon their watch This watch implies many particulars which are so many preparatives unto death 1. To watch is to
doomed to these flames are represented by our Lord unto those Tares that are bound in bundles to be burnt Matth. 13.30 denoting all kind of sinners to be punished with them that are of their own rank and quality e.g. The proud with the proud The drunkard with his good fellow The adulterer with the unclean and so in all others according to the enormities of their lives shall be their susterings after death And although in this life 't is some mitigation of sorrow to have companions therein of the same quality yet in Hell 't is far otherwise for there the more sinners with their sins the more fuel is added to that dismal fire So that when I consider all the sins that have been committed against the Majesty of Heaven since the beginning of the world to the end thereof are as so many faggots to feed the fire of Hell I cannot but tremble at the greatness of its force and fury and carefully avoid the society of sinners in this life that I suffer not with them to the encrease of our mutual torments in the other world 3. Our fire may be quenched Mat. 3.12 Isa 66. ult Isa 30. ult nay 't will quench it self when its fuel is wasted but the fire of Hell is unquenchable because First The breath of the everlasting God like a stream of Brimstone doth enkindle it Secondly The fuel that feeds this fire shall never be consumed viz. Immaterial Immortal Beings of whom being tormented in these flames 't is affirmed Rev. 9.6 that they shall seek death and shall not find it they shall desire to die but death shall fly from them Miserable wretches whilst they had time and leisure to seek life they neglected it nay it is too common Ut cujus vita mortua fuit in culpa illic mors vivat in poena Greg. that when life in Christ is offered unto many in the blessed food of their Souls they slight and contemn it and therefore 't is most just as the Father observes that they whose life in this world was no other than a death in sin their death hereafter should be a life in punishment for sin everlastingly But as to the unquenchable fire of Hell Remember O my Soul that there is now a fire within thee the which if it be not quencht in this life will bring thee to fire unquenchable in the other world and this is the rank and fulsom fire of Concupiscence Thy carnal lusts and thy worldly lusts being now followed and fulfilled are the fuel that feeds that dismal fire of the Infernal Lake and the worm also that never dieth is bred of the same corruption even in the dunghil lusts of the heart actuated by the hot suggestions of Satan And as the fire of Concupiscence doth now more or less rage in thy heart so as to follow the sway thereof so shall the fire of Hell be more or less raging hereafter if these lusts do not die within thee before the death of nature seize thee Take then the advice of the Wise Syracides Eccl. 7.17 Humble thy self greatly for the vengeance of the wicked is fire and worms And of S. Col. 3.5 Paul Mortifie therefore your members that are upon earth fornication uncleanness inordinate affection evil concupiscence and covetousness which is Idolatry For which things sake the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience Blessed Jesus by the merits and mysteries of thy Circumcision I humbly beg the true Circumcision of the Spirit and by the virtue of thy Crucifixion strengthen me to crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts lest any of those exorbitant fires being not opportunely quenched involve me in those flames of Hell which are unquenchable MEDITAT IV. Of the extent of Hell-Pains Greg. mor. WHen I consider righteous Job on the Dunghil the holy Baptist hungring in the Wilderness S. James beheaded S. Peter crucified the Torments and Deaths of innumerable Martyrs the manifold Afflictions of the holy and elect people of God I cannot but consider and know assuredly that very great and many shall be the Torments of the wicked in the world to come since God suffereth those whom he dearly loves to be so much afflicted in this life The Pains of Hell in the extent of them do herein differ from all present bodily pains that these are partial only in some particular parts joynts and members of the body whilst other parts are free from pain But in Hell the whole man in all the Senses internal and external in all the parts of his body and powers of his soul yea the most spiritual faculties shall be tormented with fire and brimstone rage and despite grief and anguish misery and malediction For the pains of Hell are a concourse of all kinds of pain of all at the same time and of all of them for ever The Taste shall be punished with bitterness the Appetite with hunger and the Tongue with thirst the Sight with horror the Hearing with astonishment the Smell with stench the Heart with anguish the Imagination with fear the Reason with madness the Judgment with confusion and in the very Bowels fire unquenchable And this is most just that as the wicked have employed all the powers and parts both of Soul and Body as weapons of unrighteousness unto sin so should their punishment be in all their Senses Members Faculties that as each hath transgrest by sinful Pleasure and inordinate Delight so each should have its peculiar afflicting Torment There is no sin unrepented in this life but shall have its proper peculiar torment in Hell There the proud shall be filled with confusion The slothful shall be pricked forward with burning goads The covetous shall be pinched with penury The glutton and the drunkard shall be pined with a perpetual hunger and thirst The envious shall howl like mad dogs for rage and grief The luxurious and lovers of Pleasures more than lovers of God shall wallow in burning pitch and stinking brimstone And in a word in whatsoever thing a man hath in this life offended in the same shall he be tormented if not by a true and timely Repentance prevented And this the miserable Dives felt when he wanted a drop of cold water to cool his Tongue in Hell who whilst upon earth had fared sumptuously every day 'T is undoubtedly true that all persons condemned to the flames of the nether Hell are not equally tormented therein for though the fire of Hell be one and the same yet it torments not all after the same manner nor in the same degree of torture but every man shall therein more or less feel the smart of its fury as by the nature quality and frequency of his sin he hath less or more deserved the same Gen. 18.25 for shall not the Judge of all the world do right The more high peremptory and presumptuous as also the less obstinate and impenient sinner shall both suffer under the torment of
me in the lowest Pit I confess I have so far incurr'd thy wrathful displeasure as to be laid in the nethermost Hell which is a place of darkness even blackness of darkness for ever and in the deep Abyss of inextricable Torments Thine indignation lieth hard upon me whereto I have provoked thee by manifold offences and thou hast vexed me with all thy storms those tempests of affliction and trouble which disturb my peace are sent from thee to scowre the rust of corruption off my Soul Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me and made me to be abhorred of them The invisible society of holy Angels with the prayers and good wishes of holy men I enjoyed whilst I was innocent and heavenly-minded but now being polluted they are estranged from me and abhor me in my sins I am so fast in prison that I cannot get forth I am so enfetter'd in the bonds and chains of my sins that without the help of a divine hand I cannot be loosed from them My sight faileth for very trouble the bright eye of my mind is dimm'd and darkned through the pressures of my spirit and in this sad condition Lord I have called upon thee as being my only refuge in danger support in trouble and succour in all distress I have stretched forth my hands unto thee by my practice according to my prayer Dost thou shew wonders among the dead or shall the dead declare thy works of wonder or shall the dead rise up and praise thee They must have part in the first Resurrection which is from the corruption of sin who worthily shew forth thy praise Shall thy loving kindness be shewed in the grave or thy faithfulness in destruction both in the state of the first and of the second Death there is a deep silence of thy Goodness and of thy Truth Shall thy wondrous works be known in the dark and thy righteousness in the land where all things are forgotten Thy righteous and admired deeds are not once mentioned either in the grave of Death or in the Pit of Hell in both estates there is an utter forgetfulness of all thy Goodness and Truth But that I may be delivered from such a sad condition Vnto thee have I cried O Lord and early shall my prayer come before thee Before I be surprised by Death let my prayer for thy prevented and assisting Grace be not rejected Lord why abhorrest thou my soul I am unclean I confess and 't is but just I should be abhorred and forsaken but being withal penitent and humbled why hidest thou thy face from me as being still displeased with me and deaf to my petitions I am in misery and like unto him that is at the point to die Death as the wages of sin dogs me at the heels even from my youth up thy terrors have I suffered with a troubled mind The terrors of my Conscience for sin have been alway accompanied with a troubled and contrite spirit which thou hast promised not to despise Thy wrathful displeasure goeth over me The apprehension of thy wrath and displeasure invades and overflows my soul and the fear of thee hath undone me the fear of thy wrath in the day of Judgment and of the never-dying Torments of Hell hath ruin'd all my worldly consolations They came round about me daily like water overflowing all the powers and passions of my Soul and compassed me together on every side leaving no visible means of evasion and peace My lovers and my friends who professed themselves to be such in my worldly prosperity and amidst my carnal delights hast thou put away from me they are alienated and estranged in time of my trouble and hid mine acquaintance out of my sight they will not now see me who formerly frequented my company And therefore being thus desolate and deeply endeangered unto thee as my only hope and refuge O Lord God of my Salvation I have cried day and night continually for Deliverance and Salvation that my soul may continually bless thee and say Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. THE Fourth general Meditation OF HEAVEN 1. THE Land of Canaan was promised to Abraham the Father of the Faithful in these words of command Gen. 13.14 Lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art Northward and Southward Eastward and Westward For all the Land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy seed for ever The Celestial Canaan is herein promised unto thee if a true Son of the Faithful Abraham Lift up then thine eyes O my Soul and Contemplate the ravishing Felicities of this Land of Promise This is thy Native Country where thou wast at first Framed by the hands of the Almighty after His own Image Why then dost thou not pant and breath and sigh and long to be at Home Why art thou so well pleased with a strange Land and delightest rather to be a Pilgrim in the Valley of Tears than a Free Denizon in the Land of Peace a Foreigner in the city of Babylon than a Citizen in the heavenly Jerusalem Away away from Lebanon O my Soul thy beloved calleth thee away from the Dens of Lions Can. 4.8 Psal 55.6 and the mountains of the Leopards O that I had wings like a Dove for then would I flee away and be at rest 3. We read that the Lord brought Moses to the top of mount Pisgah and shewed him the promised land where having the wilderness behind him and the happiest of all lands before him he represents the devout and heavenly minded Soul who considering the manifold troubles in the wilderness of this world and the joys and felicities of the world to come is highly ravished in the contemplation and desire of the one to the extream contempt of the other Did I but seriously consider the ways of my present peace and contentment I could not but observe that the Commandments of God have so much intrinsick sweetness and felicity in them as to excite the most simple and stubborn Soul to obey them and yet so excessive are the ardors of divine Goodness and Love as to engage our obedience by the promises of Celestial Joys Unto this immarcescible Crown of Glory we are Created by God the Father Redeemed by God the Son and Sanctified by God the Holy Ghost in the sacred Waters of Baptism wherein we are adopted not only sons but heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven What blindness then doth so much possess the minds of the greatest part of the sons of men that all their desires and endeavours should be so wholly taken up with the vain frail empty and dying things of the Earth to the slight and neglect of those never fading joys of Heaven The first and largest step we take towards Heaven is from the state of Sin into the state of Grace the other viz. from Grace to Glory is a more easie and ready passage there being nothing betwixt