it at a better rate my sins stare me in the face my conscience tells me I am not ready for such a Trial I have lived a stranger to such thoughts as now I cannot refuse and which should have been admitted sooner But if to such a state any hope of mercy may be granted tho it be unspeakably little yet I cannot promise my self any such warning by sickness The sleeping virgins were called at Midnight and so may I. where can I pitch my Tents on Earth to be secure against a sudden remove Lord make thes thoughts effectual to prevent my loss of precious Time which at such a season will be esteemed precious tho now it be not O how swift how short my Time of Trial in order to Eternity how difficult how important a work is it to prepare for an Everlasting state what is all this world how little how meer a nothing to a departing soul and shall I after such reflexions continue to pursue shadows and pleas my self with empty dreams when being so near my final Judgment the common wisdom of a man requires me to mind it in good earnest and be more sollicitous about it then for any Thing Temporal O in what manner will Death open mine eyes by shutting the windows of sens how shall I then see the nothingness of what is but Temporal and the reality of what is Eternal We sometimes laugh to see the vanity of little Children who are greatly pleased with painted toys and busily imployed about trifles It extorts a smile to see them eager and industrious and mightily concerned in their childish sports to see them fight or weep for little things which we despise to observe with what sollicitude and care they l raise a little fabrick which three moments after they themselvs pull down or would otherwise tumble of its own accord We laugh at thes but should weep over our selvs as the greater and Elder Fools who are every whit as Silly yea infinitely more so that considering we know the frailty of our present Life and can look beyond the Grave to another world should yet mispend our precious Time on things which cannot profit and pleas our selvs with what is so unsuitable to our Age and State and suffer our passions to work with violence for a thing of nought and our greatest diligence care and zeal to be exercized on things impertinent and vaine that are perishing in in themselvs and can contribute nothing to our Eternal wellfare And is it not thus with reference to all that men toyl and labor for with the neglect of an immortal State The voluptuous Sadducee will not refuse the present gratification of his sensual appetite because he is uncertaine of another day Let us eat and drink for to morrow we dye Should not the same motive quicken my diligence in a better work and because my Lord may come suddenly as a thief in the night immediately prepare to meet him Let me now therefore o my soul look forward to the end of Life and Time and so let me esteem and seek and choos and do every thing in the first place which then I shall wish I had Let me do nothing now which I verily believe I shall then be ashamed or sorry to reflect on that by thinking what a condition I shall then wish to have my soul in I may now provide my self much better then I have done thitherto That while I am in the greatest probability of living I may suppose my change to be near and so not dare do any thing but what I would or might do if I were in the present expectation of Death To this end let me goe down to the Potters house descend to the consideration of my mortality and dwell among the Tombs remembring the Aegyptians built themselvs better Tombes then Houses because they were to dwell longer in them Let every nights repose serve me as a memorial of my last sleep and let my Bed stand for the model of my Coffin This is the only way to be dead to this world to be able to judge of things now as we shall do after death according to immutable Eternal Truth X. The Brevity of Life considered as the fruit of sin There are but three ways of leaving this world as Abel Adam or Enoch A diligent improvement of Time farther prest and the neglect of it bewailed THe shorting of our Days is the fruit of sin We dye because we have sinned and yet we should not sin as now if this were not forgot that we must dye From the First Transgression of Adam we derive our death and therefore some of his Posterity lived longer then he Which proves that the lengthning of our Days is the peculiar Gift of God and yet 't is such a Gift as was more desired formerly then since the apearance of Christ for we read of none in the New Testament since Life and Immortality is brought to Light by the Gospel who desired a long continuance here on earth Were we delivered from sin the sting of Death by having made our peace with God in the Bloud of Jesus Death would not be frightfull or put on such a ghastly vizor as to most it doth But we are uncertaine of our Justification we waver between hopes and Fears as to our Final Sentence and are conscious to our selvs that we are not ready for our great Acount This makes Death â—o terrible Considering with all that it is inevitable the way of all the Living For tho the curs be removed and the sting be taken out by our H. Saviour so that the Souls of Believers are safe and shall not be toucht by the second Death yet God hath not taken away the stroke of it from the Body tho a Christian is assured of deliverance from Hell he is not exempted from the Grave as his passage to Heaven Prepare me Lord by the free Remission of all my sins and make me meet for the Blessed Inheritance by sanctifying grace and then thy Time is best Thy Holy will be done No matter then wither my Death be violent or what we call Naturall It will be one of the two for I can't expect to be Translated by a miraculous change as Holy Enoch was and as they shall be who shall be found alive at the world when our Glorious Judge shall come againe There are but those three ways of leaving Earth and the Three First Men of whose departure we read in Scripture are Instances of all Three Abel of a violent Death Adam of a natural one and Enoc of a Translation The variety and order of their Departure as one observes is very admirable and deserves to be considered For all mankind must follow one or other of those three Examples Every man or woman that is born into the world must leave it by one of those three ways Either be cut off by a violent Death as Abel the first man who dyed or dye a Natural Death
in a world of sin and suffering absent from the Lord Shall I not thereby escape a multitude of Temptations sins and sorrows which others by living longer are exposed to If my Peace be made with God what should make me willing to live at this distance from him what shoul render this world so desireable where God is so dishonored where I am so often tempted to displeas him and so often yeild to such Temptations and may I not fear least I should fall into such scandalous and greivous sins that may bring a publick reproach on the Gospell of Christ and sadden the Hearts of all my Aquaintance who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity And tho I should maintaine my Integrity yet in this world my highest love and obedience to God and my sweetest communion with him is but imperfect How many Impediments and Diversions do I dayly meet with that deaden my Heart to Heavenly contemplations and affections what disapointments and sorrow full disasters to convince me this is not the place of Rest and Happiness what smart Afflictions may some of my Relations prove what dangerous snares may attend me in the remaining Portion of my Time what opposition and hatred from men may the stedfast professing of the Truth and fidelity to God expose me to what publick national calamities may I have my share in c. But if I consider old Age it self which we doe desire to reach what and how many are the Infirmities and Griefs and troublesome Circumstances which attend that state which dying young will prevent are not most men who reach a very great old Age helpless objects of Pitty a Burden to themselvs and to all about them And which commonly happens may I not then be as unwilling to dye as at present as loath then to leave the world as now tho in a manner it will have left me for how many old men past the relish of sensual Pleasures are yet inordinately fond of a longer Life Have I not been told by Heathens as well as Christians that 't is not the length of Time but its improvement that doth really make a Long Life If I have anfwered the ends for which I were born 't is not too soon to dye No man ever miscarried as to his Everlasting Intrest because his Life was short but Evill He that is prepared for Death hath lived long enough and should thank God for a speedy call to the possession of that Felicity which the Holiest Saints on Earth desire and breath after Gideon lost nothing by returning from victory while the Sun was yet high If I have wrought but a few hours in the vineyard and done but a little service for my Lord and Master and yet am dismist and rewarded before the Rest of my Fellow Laborers shall I repine and think my Lord doth not be friend me If he hath any farther Service for me he will prolong my days and make me diligent I hope and contended Otherwise I pray he would make me ready to dye and make me willing and desirous to depart this Life For to be only content to dye that I may be perfectly Holy and fully Blessed is me thinks too low for a Christian who acts like himself believing the Certainty of his anowed Principles and Hopes and knowing that while we are present in the Body we are absent from the Lord. XVI The contemplation of our approaching change may assist us to mortifie the Lusts of the Flesh the Lust of the Eyes and the Pride of Life to cure Ambition and promote Contentment AL that is in the World saith the Apostle is the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eyes and the Pride of Life The dust and ashes of our own mortality duely considered and applied will help to dead and extinguish each of thes By Pride of Life we lift up our selvs against Heaven and despise our Maker by the lust of the Flesh we overlove and indulge the body and study to gratifie the sensual Appetite by the lust of the Eyes our Desires are immoderate after Temporal and External Goods The thought of our approaching End hath a tendency to oppose and mortifie these Lusts to humble us before God to take us off from the inordinate love of the Body and to moderate our passions to Earthly Things It may help us against Pride by showing us the infinite distance between the Eternal self-sufficient God and such poor Dust as we who are but of yesterday and if he uphold us not and maintaine our souls in life shall be laid in the dust to morrow It will mind us of his Justice against Sin the Parent of Death and of all the miseries of our mortal state and convince us of our weakness to resist his will or avoid his wrath As to our fond affection to the Body it may instruct us that it deserves not to be so much accounted of it will open our eyes to discern the preference of our Immortall souls and what concerns them to the interest of a perishing Body It may convince us that we are cruel and unkind to our very bodies by overloving them because we thereby contribute to their Eternal sufferings and so teach us to love and use our bodies as Servants to our Souls in this world and as expecting to share in Glory with them after the Resurrection It may also help to moderate our desires after Earthly Good and so cure the Lust of the Eyes by letting us see the vanity uncertainty and short duration of these things and their insufficiency to make us Happy and give us true Content The Thoughts of an approaching change may if any thing will do it damp the mirth of the Luxurious Epicure and strike him into a fit of trembling as did Belshazzar's handwriting on the wall It may discover the distraction of living in pleasure and of care to please the senses and the fleshly appetite when the End is so near If may likewise check the folly of Ambitious Designs that men should make so much a doe to get into slippery places from whence they may so easily fall Where being puft up with vaine applause they forget themselvs and their latter end till their Life and Glory expire together Where are now the Great and Mighty and Honorable who have made such a noise in the world what is now the difference between the dust of an Alexander or Caesar and that of their meanest slaves or Captives Could their dignities and earthly Glory preserve any of them from the stroke of Death or the Judgment of God or without Repentance from his condemning Sentence Think o my Soul how little it will shortly signifie wither I have been known and honoured among men or no any farther then God may be glorified by it How should it suppress vaine Glory to think of being one day esteemed and worshipt reverenced and applauded by dying men and laid in the Grave the next Let me rather seek that Glory and Honour
yeild our selvs an easy prey to his Temptations till our latter end be worse then our Beginning Oh what a change doth one year let us see in Persons as well as things in our selvs as well as other Men And as it is with Man himself so with every thing that he values himself upon or for which he is esteemed by others and even this esteem and Reputation is also changeable and uncertaine Not to Instance in Riches but in what is nobler Learning and the Improvements of the mind by study how soon may the violence of a Diseas disturb or stupifie the Braine to that degree as shall reduce the greatest scholar to the Pittied condition of a Fool or Bedlam and where is his Reputation and Renown in such a case But much less then that will blast the fairest Reputation with the far greatest part of the world it may be lost by unwary mistakes by falss reports by envy and malice by the subtle hatred of Enemies or by the weakness and credulity of Friends who will listen to every Backbiters story or by one or two indiscretions of the man himself and no man can be certaine to secure his Reputation while he lives much less after he is dead People will talk of us as they please and their opinions very often change from one extreme to the other But he who hath the loudest Fame shall only be talkt of a little longer then his Neighbors and that by a few dying Men that must themselvs be ere long forgotten And how small a part of the Inhabited world is acquainted so much as with the name of the greatest men in Europe and how different and Contrary are mens Opinions and Discourses of them where they are known and talkt of And how many holy excellent persons are buried in oblivion or mis-represented as unworthy to live on earth whose names will be found in the book of Life Our Life is yet as mutable and uncertaine as any of thes Our Breath is in our nostrils and tho there be room enough for it to goe out we have no assurance that we shall have power to draw it in againe III. Of the uncertainty of Living to the Period of another Year The vanity of this Life the swiftness of Time and how to be improved I Now begin another year but what Assurance have I to out live it I cannot say how soon my Soveraign Judge may call me hence and summon me to appear before his Righteous Bar. Oh let me not defer my necessary preparations for Death which may be nearer then I imagine let me mind the Great things first which are of absolute necessity to be done sometime or other before I dye This perishing Body which I have pamperd and indulged at the expence of so much cost and Time may be putrifying in a silent Grave before half this year be past Lord bless this thought to awaken my diligent endeavours to secure the Blessedness of Eternity to mortifie the desire of Great things for my self in future years by the considered possibility of dying before the end of this For no glass is more brittle no Bubble more vanishing no Ice more dissolving no Flower more sading no shadow less substantial no sleep or dream more deceiving no sound more Transient nothing more vaine and more uncertaine then Life on which all other things in this world depend We sleep every night in the outer chambers of Death and in some diseases sleeps which is the image and picture of death is taken away to give place to the Original and make way for death And every year every week every day are hastening to our final change which may overtake us ere we are aware Every word we speak is formed of that Breath whereby we live and we may not live to pronounce another sentence but the lamp of life be extinguisht and blown out by a sudden blast Every thing we do carries away some sands of our little Glass of Time and how little may remaine Or how soon may the Glass be broke our souls are in our bodies as a little air inclosed in a thin bubble how easily is that broken and where are we How many who are now a live in health and vigor who deliberate on their meat and drink and are curious of air and exercize to maintaine themselvs in health and pleas themselvs with the dream of years to come shall never see another New-years day it may be not another moneth or week or morrow When I lye down to sleep I hope to rise stronger and fresher and fitter for work but I know with all I may rise no more And may not my name be on the Roll of those who shall next be called at least some time this year Let me not then neglect or foolishly delay my Principal Business to provide against a change which is inevitable but the time of it altogether doubtfull Ought not my first and chiefest care be imployed to make my Peace with God. He alone can be my Happiness to his final Judgment I am hastening His Favor alone can give me support and Joy in a dying hour To his mercy I must trust when I leave this world and can have no advantage more by any thing in it that he may mercifully receive my soul at Death and be my everlasting Portion Do I know my Life is thus vaine and transient and shall I not seriously improve it to such a Purpose Shall thes thoughts leave no Impression upon me Do I breath continually in this Element of vanity and yet forget where I am and remaine insensible of so near a change Shall thes thoughts pass away as a vanishing Cloud and distill no softening drops on my soul Shall the Image of Death which meets me every where be only like an appearing Ghost or Phantasm that startles and scares a little but is presently gone and no more considered Oh! let me now remember to make God my friend and secure an intrest in his Eternal mercy while the Day lasts yea while my Reason and understanding are free and not disturbed and clouded by Fear and paine and the disorders of the Body as commonly they are in sickness if God should vouchsafe me that warning which yet I may not promise my self to have for I may be cut off by a sudden stroke before the end of this year I now begin IV. Of the seeming Difference between so many Years Past and the same number of Years to come WHen I look back on the preceding years of my Life how easily can I grasp them all at once they are even as Yesterday when 't is past But so many years to come hath something great and vast which fils my thoughts and affects my mind after another manner Such is the difference between past Injoyments and the Expectation of future Let me suppose the same term and duration of Years and yet how different are my Apprehensions of what is past and of what is
devotion to God is therby extinguisht all the restraints of vice removed the floud gates of Impiety opened the encouragements of vertue the rewards of Holiness the foundation of Patience in Tribulation and suffering for Righteousness sake all at once taken away Lord confirm my belief of the invisible future state of Rewards and Punishments and let not Sadduceism and Infidelity damp my zeal in thy service or rob me of the comforts of this Life which if I have any solid ones must suppose the hopes of a Better Let others therefore o my Soul who expect not an Everlasting Heaven beyond the Grave place their affections on Earthly things and mind this world as if there were no better no other Let them who doubt or disbelieve the promised rewards of Eternity take up with what they must shortly leave and labor for the Bread that perisheth But since I profess to believe and seek the Life Everlasting let me dayly intertaine my self with the hopes of it and let all the flattering dreams of what is desireable upon Earth give place to nobler and better Thoughts Let me derive my principal Joy from the promise and expectation of that future felicity and indeavor nothing more then a meetness to pertake of it O my God my God! thou art my Life and Joy and Portion in thee and in thy love all my desires and hopes are answered and all my wants supplied How ever Evill this world is made by sin yet thou art the infinite and supreme Good. How mutable how uncertaine how perishing soever are all sublunary things yet thou art the rock of Ages the fountaine of Everlasting Life and hast apointed another world and another Life when this is ended wherein thou wilt be better known and loved and served and honored and communicate thy self more abundantly then now to those the desire of whose souls is towards thee that believe and love thee that partake of thine image and are devoted to thy fear The assurance of this and nothing els will answer the objection of the present vanity and misery we are subject to XII The consideration of the Death of others especially of Relations Friends and Acquaintance how to be improved What instructions we may learn by the sight of a Dead Carcass or a Deaths-head and the usual Motto on it and what by the Death of Holy Persons to quicken our desires to be as they HAth divine Patience added one year more to the number of my Days when so many others were removed by Death the last year Others whom a few moneths since I knew in vigorous health wiser stronger more likely to live and to answer the ends of Life then me some of them my near Relations and usefull Friends in whose converse I took delight and promised my self advantage by their Company and Exemples But they are taken and I am left Thy Holy will o Lord is done and they who were prepared are infinite Gainers by this my loss Quicken my preparations by following their piety to meet them in thy Heavenly Kingdom Let thy long suffering lead me to Repentance and suffer me not to slight thy warning by the death of others to expect my own Lord cure my Earthly mindedness and practical unbelief and by all such admonitions of thy Providence teach me to possess and use this world as knowing I must shortly leave it and let not the thoughts of my mortality wear off assoon as the funeral of my Friends is over Every year some or other of our Acquaintance drop into the Grave we attend them thither and lament it may be for a few days their departure and removal but consider not that others will ere long do the same for us it may before this year is ended Oh how soon do we forget our deceased Friends and our selvs who are likewise dying and count upon a long life which we cannot reasonably expect and hug the injoyments of this transitory world as if our present state would last for ever Will nothing but our own dissolution effectually convince us of our mistake and folly in this perticular Tho the arrows of Death flye continually round about us sometimes over our heads when Superiors are taken away sometimes fall at our feet when Children and Servants and inferiors dye sometimes on our left hand when an Enemy is cut off and while I am pleased with that in that very hour it may be another arrow on our right hand strikes the Friend of our bosome and delight and can we see all this that great and smal high and low friends and foes are all vanity and drop down dead round about us and shall we not consider that we are as vaine as they and must shortly follow shall we not by a Christian Chymistry extract Spirits out of thes dead Bones and by thes Examples learn the End of all Men and lay it to heart When ever I see the funeral of another let me think thus with my self why might not I have been that man or woman that is now carried to the Grave If we had been compared a few days since 't is probable I should have been thought as likely to have been his monitor by dying first as he mine By such an improvement of thes warnings the request of Dives to Abraham were in great measure granted for 't is a call from the dead that speaks loudly to us to consider our selvs and prepare in time for so great a change and say as the Prophet to Hezekiah Set thine house in order for thou shalt dye Can we look upon a Deaths-head and not remember what we shall shortly be may not much be learnt from its common motto Sum quod Eris Fueramque quod Es. I am that which thou shalt shortly be and have been that which thou art now that is I have been as gay and jocund as brisk and merry as proud and vaine as rich and great as careless and secure as honourable and as much esteemed as beautifull and as well beloved as witty and as learned as thou art or canst be now I valued my self as much upon my estate and trade and health and beauty upon my education profession imployments parts friends family c. as thou hast ever done or canst doe I lived in ease and pleasure in mirth and jollity I minded the world as much and indulged my self as much in sensuality and was as carefull of my body and pampered and pleased my flesh as much as thou and thought as little of a sudden death and prepared as little for such a change as thou dost but now my dry Bones are lookt upon with contempt and scorn but thou shalt shortly return to dust and be as vile as I am It cannot but affect us did we consider it to see Divers snatcht away in their Youth and outward Prosperity and in the midst of their sin and folly without any visible signs of true Repentance or in terrible anguish and horror for their past crimes
cure the staggering trembling Thoughts of an unbelieving Heart by greater measures of a lively Faith. That my desires may be strong and urgent and my diligence and stedfastness in the way of Truth be some way correspondent to the important Article Let me live only for Eternity hope for nothing but Eternity design and intend nothing as my chief end but Eternity and seek and mind nothing in comparaison with Eternity Did we believe it how would every thing in this world be look't upon as eligible or fit to be refused as it is like to be an help or an hindrance with reference to Eternity we should then indeavor to do nothing unbecomming such an Expectation Considering this world as our passage and the invisible future world as our abiding Country where we are to dwell forever what ever we meet with here wither sweet or bitter easy or troublesome pleasing or ungratefull we should not much matter but as it relates to hereafter And were I certaine I should have no longer time of Trial in order to this Eternal State then this one year which is now begun if a Messenger from God should convincingly assure of it what would I not doe to prepare for Death and secure the Intrests of Eternity with what remorse and deep Repentance should I reflect on the Follies of my past Life with what importunate cries should I beg Forgiveness how patiently should I bear Calamity for so short a time how little should I value the favors or frowns of men how circumspect to improve every Season of doing and receiving good how carefull to avoid Temptation and how resolute in resisting it Did I verily believe I had no longer time to live on Earth then this one year at most how insipid would be the offer of carnall mirth vaine pastime sensual diversions idle company c. how should I value every hour every inch of my little Time under the apprehension that Eternity is at hand O my soul shall I make no provision against the possibility of such a case is not my change as certaine as if it were this year as if it were to morrow tho I am not certaine it is so near nor certaine but it may be Let me then seek first the Kingdom of God and his Rightcousness let me fix it well and make it clear that I have secured my great Concern and am ready for a sudden summons XIV How a Good man may improve and encourage himself under the supposition of dying this Year even in the most uneasy and undesireable circumstances I May dye this year then all my cares and fears if I am Rich all my sorrows and calamities as to this world if I am Poor will die too I may dye this year then I shall have no more Enemies no more sickness and which is infinitely better I shall sin no more I must shortly dye it may be this year but there is no other way to come to a Blessed Life but by dying and my Saviour hath dyed for me and he that believs in him shall never see death he lives who was once dead yea he lives for ever more and hath promised that I shall be with him to behold his Glory He hath the Keys of Death and Hell He is the Resurrection and the Life he hath removed thes thing of Death and I need not fear a conquered Enemy If I dye this year I must quit the company of all my dearest Friends on earth but I shall goe to better Company above and if they are the friends of Christ we shall shortly meet againe and love one another in a better manner then now and never more be parted I may dye this year my Friends and Enemies may dye to Let me injoy the one as mortal dying persons that must ere long leave me or I them and not fear the other who may so soon perish and quickly be uncapable of doing me or others mischief I may dye this year let me not then think much of Temporal sufferings of any Evils which may so soon be over Oh what would condemned sinners in the other world give to be able to believe and say so of their sufferings I may dye this year and can I wonder that I am sometimes Sick and in paine and my Body out of order Am I not mortal and dwell in an house of clay which must shortly moulder into dust and is it any thing strange that such a crasy Building doth sometimes shake and need repair and threaten a dissolution 'T is a greater wonder I am any time well That such a Body compounded of so many little parts and so easily disordered by innumerable accidents should be in health is hardly less to be admired then that an Instrument of a thousand strings should be kept in Tune I thank thee o Heavenly Father for the many advantages of sickness to weaken the power of sin to humble my Pride and cure my worldliness and sensuality to reduce me from wandering to empty me of self conceit to awaken the consideration of Death and Judgment to impress the Thoughts of the vanity of this world and the Eternity of the next to assist me to mortifie the flesh to rule my Passions to exercise Patience and quicken Prayer and try my faith and love and excite my diligence to redeem Time and convince me of the worth and uncertainty of it and thereby promote my preparations for my final change The Great Apostle by dying dayly had as many victories over this world as he lived Days Oh that I might so far walk by the same Rule as every day to think of providing for my last and in health to do that which in sickness I shal wish I had done I may dye this year it may be by some tedious painful Sickness some troublesome and loathsome Disease But God hath promised his Grace shall be sufficient he will make my bed in my sickness and put under his Everlasting arms for my support and not suffer me to be tempted above what I am able he will increas my Patience and carry me thro the pangs of Death and the dark valley and when Heart and flesh fail be the strength of my Heart and my Portion for Ever I may dye this year what if it should be by an hand of violence if for Righteousness sake in defence of the Truth for a good Cause and a good Conscience and my peace be made with God and am accused for doing well or innocent of the Evill which is laid to my charge there is ground enough for encouragement and support Thousands of my Betters have met with the like whose names are precious renowned Innumerable Christians have dyed by the sentence of a Judge with more chearfullness and Joy then others or it may be then they themselvs would have done by the sentence of the Phisitian The Torture of many diseases is unspeakably more formidable as to the meer paine and for all the Rest the Righteous Lord
by the glory of his Father be meant that of the Divinity as the Original and Author of all things in nature as Creator of the World and by the Glory of his holy Angels be understood that of the Legal administration the Law being given by the disposition of Angels and by his own Glory that of the Gospel as he is the Messiah that in the Glory of all these he shall come to Judgment we have a summary account of the three different Revelations which God hath made of himself to mankind by the Light of Nature that of the Law and the more manifest one of the Gospel According to which every man is to be judged at the last day Tho we cannot distinctly tell what or how great our Lord's Glory will then be we may be certaine it will be suitable to the dignity of his Royal person suitable to the grandeur of his Fathers Majesty with the splendor of a Triumphant Prince who is Heir of all Things and hath all power in Heaven and in Earth committed to him the Great Lord of both Worlds Head of Angels an men and suitable to his glorious office as Mediator and the apointed Judge of Quick and Dead If at his Transfiguration his Face shone and his Rayment was white and glittering how much more splendid will his last Appearance be When the Bodies of his Saints shall be seven times brighter then the lustre of the Sun and if his Members shall then be so glorious how transcendently more so will their Head their Lord appear If the delivery and promulgation of the Law on Mount Sinai was accompanied with such circumstances of terrible Majesty how much more may we suppose the Great Assize will be attended with When he comes to judge for the violation of the Law and the contempt of the Gospel And if even Moses did then exceedingly quake and fear what will be the consternation and trembling of the wicked World at the Coming of Christ When he shall be revealed from Heaven in flaming Fire with a glorious retinue of his mighty Angels as so many bright Stars about the more glorious Sun of Rightousness The lights of Heaven shall be Ecclipst the visible Sun shall vail its blushing head as infinitely out shone the present glory of the Creation be all benighted by reason of his transcendent Brightness Yea the Heavens shall be wrapt up as a scrol the Elements melt away with a mighty noise the Earth and all its works be burnt up and the whole universe as one great Bonefire to adorn the Triumph of our Lords Appearance And this ushered in by the voice of an Archangel proclaiming his approach and the voice of God supplying the use of a Trumpet to raise the Dead and possess mankind with an awefull Reverence of their Judge Thus in triumph as a Conqueror and a Judge shall he come againe who once appear'd in the form of a Servant to be judged and condemn'd by Man. Then he was called King in scorn now he will appear as much above all Earthly and Humane Greatness as once he stoopt for our sakes beneath it Then the Contempt of Nations and no way esteem'd Desireable when he came from the womb of his Virgin-Mother now the Terror of the World when he comes againe from the right hand of his Father No more to be subject to a state of Meaness but to render vengeance to all 2 Thess 1. chap. who know not God and obey not the Gospell and to be glorified in his Saints and admired in and by all them that believe The Holy Scripture doth frequently and expressly assure us that he will thus come againe and for these ends He is exalted and gone to Heaven as the Head of his Church and the King of Glory and when he foretold his Ascension he gave a promise of his Return The Heavens are to containe him till the Restitution of all things By his Providence and by the H. Spirit he now carries on the designs of his Death and when these are accomplisht he will appear to the Joy of Believers and the confusion of the Wicked He is entred as our Forerunner Heb. 19 â—â— 10. c within the vail to prepare Mansions and to take possession for us and will not allways leave us in this dark and defiling World. He knoweth our sorrows and heareth our prayers and bottles our Tears takes notice of our groans and in all our Afflictions he is afflicted Being reconciled by his Death at his first Coming we shall be saved by his Life since he lives to make good his word of coming againe How confortable is the news of it how joyfull will be the meeting to such as expect and prepare to see him When the Sea and the Graves shall yeild up their Dead and all the Prisoners of Hope lift up their heads arise goe up and meet the Lord in the Air and ascend with him to the Heavenly Glory But who can express how dismal a Sight this will be to the secure and the Impenitent to all who dye in their Sins to behold their Judge who formerly offered to be their Saviour upon a glorious Throne and all the Children of Adam summon'd to his Tribunal to have nothing to answer against his charge and no way to escape his condemning sentence they despised him as a Lamb offer'd in Sacrifice to take away the sins of the World but shall no longer do so when he comes as the Lion of the tribe of Juda to devour and destroy the Enemies of his Crosse Now they will not own him for their Lord but shall then find he is so by the vengeance he will execute As a Jesus as a Saviour they rejected him making light of his Salvation despising his Mercy refusing his Grace but the neglected Gospell will then be a more killing Letter then the Law. He who by his Ambassadors doth now intreat Sinners to be reconciled will then be as deaf to their Intreaties as they have been to his Because they would not turn at his Reproof hearken to the call of his word and obey its voice they must hear the sentence of Condemnation and feel the Execution of it wither they will or no. Yea the bloud of his Crosse will upbraid accuse and plead against them And what ever foolish Evasions they now make to continue in security they shall then be speechless and self-condemned Nothing will be able to hide them from the amazing Presence of their Judge or from the Wrath of the Lamb. Who will inflict an intolerable and righteous vengeance an Everlasting Destruction upon all the Ignorant and ungodly World. The Greatest the Stoutest the boldest of them shall then be humbled and stand before Christ's Tribunal upon an equal Level with the meanest seized with horror filled with Guilt Anguish and Despair and find to their Eternal Confusion that the Judge is no respecter of Persons but every man shall receive according to his wâ—rks The Mighty shall not be
Traditions Customs of the Jews respecting that Day UPon the deliverance of the Jews out of Aegypt the first moneth which began with the new Moon next to the vernal Equinox was to be acounted the Beginning of Moneths Exod. 12 2. it answers to the latter end of our March the Beginning of April is sometimes called Nisan sometimes Abib It was ever after that Deliverance reckond the First moneth of the year in their Sacred or Ecclesiastical Acount Therefore the Passover kept in this moneth is said to be observed in the first moneth the Feast of Purim which was kept in our February is said to be in the last moneth that is of the Sacred year A Period so remarkable extraordinary as that was to the Jews deserved very well to be particularly remembred taken notice of might justly be acounted the First or chiefest of their moneths And by comparing Exod. 12.41 with Gal. 3.17 it may be concluded that Abraham received the Promise on the fifteenth day of this moneth 't is computed that about the same time of the year Isaac was born the Tabernacle afterward erected in the wilderness As that Redemption of Israel from their Bondage in Aegypt was but a type of a more glorious one by the Messiah which all the World are concerned in as well the Jews he was pleased to suffer Death in this moneth 18. John. 28. According to this computation the moneth Tisri which began with the first new moon next to the Autumnal Equinox is in several places of H. Scripture called the Seventh moneth Tho as to Civil Political Affaires this was the First moneth of the year so accounted both before after their coming out of Aegypt For this reason the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Harvests on the 15. day of this moneth when the Fruits of the Earth were gathered in is said to be in the end of the year Exod. 23.16 This moneth Tisri answers to part of our September part of October About this Time of the year is most commonly reckon'd the Creation of the world the Birth Baptism of J. Christ the Head of the second Creation the consecration of Solomon's Temple other remarkable Events from hence they computed their years of Jubilee the seventh year for their Land to rest c. There were as many Feasts religious Solemnities Apointed to the Jews in this moneth as in all the year besides The Eighty first Psalm composed by Asaph for the first day of this moneth or the Feast of Trumpets is supposed to have been in remembrance of that Deliverance of Israel out of AEgipt Hammond in loc the sounding of Trumpets being a token of liberty This Feast of Trumpets on the first day of the new-year according to their Civil Acount is thùs commanded Levit. 23.24 Numb 29.1 10. cap. 10. that it should be a Sabbath and a Memorial of blowing of Trumpets an holy Convocation c. Some think it is called a Memorial of Trumpets to preserve the memory of Isaac's Deliverance Godâ—an univer Hist de l'Eglise Tom. 1. c. 1. §. 6. by the substitution of a Ram to be sacrificed in his stead to this purpose it may be alledged that it is sometimes called by the Jews the Binding of Isaac which they suppose to have been in the same day of the year By others termed Festum Cornu the Feast of the Horn. But it is more probable that this name was not given with any respect to Isaac but on the account of that kind of Trumpets Hospinian de Fest Judaic which where then sounded viz such as were made of sheeps or rams horns Others think it to have been Apointed as a gratefull remembrance of former victories which God had afforded them But the most likely acount of it is this that it was intended to solemnize the Beginning of the new-year to mind them of the Beginning of the World to excite their thankfulness for the fruits blessings Benefits of the year preceding The extraordinary Blowing of Trumpets by the Priests at this time in all their Cities as well as at Jerusalem where two silver Trumpets were also used at the Temple Lightfoot Temple Service chap. 16. as well as these of Horn the Levites sung the 81. Ps might serve both to stirr up the People to bless God for the favors of the year past acknowledging his Goodness in preserving them to the beginning of another withal excite them to pray for his Protection Blessing for the new year on which they now entred Maimonides the famous Jewish Rabbin thinks the sounding of Trumpets at this time was designed to signifie some such Exhortation as this Arise O ye sleepers Canones de Poeuitent cap. 3. can 6. out of your sleep and you that slumber awake out of your slumbering Search your works and turn by Repentance Remember your Creator you that have forgotten the Truth and have exchanged it for the vanities of the world and have all your lives wandred after vanity which will not profit or deliver you Consider your souls consider your ways and works and let every one of you forsake his evil way and his thoughts that are not good Some have imagined a typical Representation of the two Covenants in this Feast The old Covenant figured by the year passed and the Covenant of Grace or the Gospell state by the new year then began and that by the sound of Trumpets was prefigured the future preaching of the Gospel according to that of the Apostle Their sound went forth unto all the Earth and their words unto the end of the world and so the Feast of Trumpets is abrogated by the preaching of the Gospel if that were typically signified by it Without supposing any Type here in a strict and proper sens we may ye farther consider the Parallel and observe how the Joy and Gratitude that thes Trumpets did excite is exceeded by that greater rejoycing promised and foretold by the Prophets when the Glad tidings of the Gospel of Salvation by the Messiah should be publisht to the world 54 Is 1. 2 Luk. 11. 4 Gal. 27. which hath been in part accomplisht and will be more compleat in that Kingdom of Peace and Purity which Christ will establish upon earth towards the end of the World and shall be finally perfected at the end of Time when Days and Years and Time thus measured shall be no more But the Messiâh our B. Saviour having finisht his mediatory undertaking as to what concerns Earth shall come againe from Heaven with the Trump of God to raise the Dead and summon all the world to their final Judgement Then shall he deliver up the Kingdom to his Father and the Faithfull enter into the Joy of their Lord and be for ever with him There is a Tradition among the Jews mentioned by Maimonides Canones Poenit. cap 3. can 5. that on the first
exist and live tho my Body perish and see corruption Shall my soul my self exist beyond the Grave in Felicity or Misery and that for ever and according to my present Actions what am I then most concerned to mind what am I to choose What am I most to fear to wish to do What is a shadow of honor and reputation among dying men What are a few drops of fleshly Pleasure for a moment to eternal Rivers of Pleasure at God's right hand What are the sufferings of an hour or two to the pains and anguish of Eternity What can the World Flesh or Devil give me comparable to Eternal Life What can I suffer in the way of Holiness that may be set in the balance against an Everlasting Hell And yet how often o my soul how boldly how unconcernedly how foolishly do I hazard the one and forfeit the other for the sins and vanities of this world Whereas one prospect of Eternity should make every thing that is Temporal appear little in my eyes the highest elevation of earthly Greatness abundance of Riches the great Affaires Business and Imployments of the World Pomp and Splendor and Reputation and all that now flatters the senses and the vanity of Mankind Oh that I could but live as believing and expecting an Eternal State as having it in my Eye managing all my affaires with a visible reference to it discovering to all the world by my Behaviour and Deportment that I doe in earnest believe it certaine for be it never so Certaine if I do not apprehend and consider it as such it will no more affect me then a Fable Neither is it enough to consider it as certaine but as Near for the most weighty the most terrible things apprehended as at a great distance will little move Thinking of the long Interval between the advantage of being exempted from such evills for so long a time will please me more then such distant Calamities will affright Let me therefore indeavor to impress the consideration of Eternity at hand more deeply on my heart that I may walk and live discours and pray and demean my self in every thing as near an unchangeable State. Am I not convinc't that this is Certaine from the nature and operations of my soul from the reflexions of Conscience from the Righteousness of God in his Government of the world from the present unequal Distributions of Good and Evill by his Providence and from the plaine and frequent assertions of his Revealed Will I have nothing to object nothing to reply but I find a necessity of inculcating and urging the consideration of it in order to its influence I find it needfull to reflect often how near I am to such an Endless State that in one Instant by Death I enter upon it and that this instant may be as near me as my next Thought That the H. Scripture describes the two contrary Conditions after death and every man and woman in the world shall share in one of them as both Everlasting the one by Eternal Life Eternal Glory an incorruptible Crown that fadeth not away an incorruptible Inheritance an House Eternal in the Heavens c. the other by unquenchable Fire a Prison whence no escape Eternal Damnation Everlasting Burning everlasting Punishment everlasting Destruction a worm that never dies wrath that is ever to come blackness of darkness for ever c. Think o my Soul that in one of these two contrary States I must abide for ever In endless Joy or sorrow Blessed in the presence of God or forever banisht from it And who ever thou art that readest this apply it seriously to thy self 't is thine own case Yea I tell the from God that Holiness of Heart and Life is absolutely necessary to the former and that without it thou shalt never see his face but be punisht with Everlasting Destruction from the presence of his Glory Is this an unquestionable Truth O let me consider it till I feel the power and efficacy of so important a Principle let the impression be deep and lasting let it peirce and enter into my very soul to cool the heats of lust to quench sensual and earthly desires and to mortifie all in ordinate affections to this world and fix my resolutions to mind and seek Eternal Life with all my Heart These are not difficult and perplexed Niceties which wise and holy men differ and disagree about They are not metaphisical Subtleties which few can understand but the express word of God and the dayly dictates of my own Reason and Conscience which all Christians and all most all men in their wits except in an hour of great Temptation confess and own or whither they will or no are forc't to expect and Fear if they are not in a condition to consider them with a joyfull Hope Lord cure the unbelieving doubts concerning these Great things which notwithstanding the plainest Evidence the Devil may at any time suggest let a confirmed Faith be the Reality of what is thus future that my soul may be influenc't by them as it is wont to be by things present Let it be the Substance of things hoped for and the Evidence of things unseen and as yet at a distance as if the Day of Judgment were allready come and there were no intermediate Time to passe between this and that O Eternity Eternity the more I consider it the more unfathomable still I find it Unchangeable Blessedness or remediless Endless Torments An Eternall blissfull Day or Everlasting Horror Darkness and Despair Life or Death Glory or Destruction to last as long as the Immutable Living God! None of the Patriarchs who lived longest arrived to the period of a Thousand years which in comparaison of God's Everlastingness is set forth but as one day But strictly considered millions of years and ages have no proportion with it because no multiplication of them will amount to Eternity Whereas one hour hath some proportion to an hundred thousand years because a certaine number of hours will amount to so many years But no number of years or Ages never so often multiplied will make up Eternity as no substraction of Millions of years will lessen it an in tire Eternity will be still to come and will ever be to come When innumerable myriads of years are past Eternity shall then seem but to begin because when as many more are over it shall be as far from an end Oh that the Thoughts of Eternity may be powerfull and prevailing above all others that I may Judge of every thing by its relation to it by its influence upon it Chuse now o my soul whither Everlasting Joys or Miseries shall be my Portion but consider well that thine Eternity is concerned in thy present choice and that this choice must be pursued with stedfastness and Constancy as long as I live and what are a few years to prepare for an Eternal State were we obliged to spend several hundred years in serious
violation of his law and can it be inconsistent with them to inflict his threatned wrath Shall we suppose God to uphold his dominion and government by a Falshood to keep the world in awe by the menaces of such Punishments as shall no where never be executed Is it unlikely that God should exercise so much severity and is it not as improbable that his repeated word Oath should prove fals Is it not a righteous thing with God as the Governor of the World thus to punish the obstinate Despisers of his Grace who slighted his Authority disobeyed his Law affronted his Soveraignty derided his Power denied his Truth contradicted his Holiness and joyn'd issue with the Devill to pull him from his throne who abused his Patience and Long suffering and scorned all his threatnings who thrust away their own Happiness and would not take warning who burst all his bands a sunder and broke thro all obstructions and would not be stopt in their course of vanity and folly or so much as consider their danger who rejected his calls to Repentance and refused his mercy when it was offered and prefer'd a Lust before his favor and the pleasures and profits of this world before the Heavenly Glory and notwithstanding all the methods of his Grace and the checks of his Providence and of their own Conscience they would goe on they would Dye Let me o my soul adore the Soveraign Justice of God in all his Judgments and tremble at the threatnings of that Eternal Wrath which so few consider or believe till 't is too late Let the foresight and the fear of such an intolerable endless Punishment be a means to save me from it let me herein read the Evill of sin and learn to abhorr and avoid it Let me pitty and warn and counsel and pray for those of my Relations and Acquaintance who live in sin and run the hazard of this Eternal Ruine Let me not envy the foolish Mirth and momentany Prosperity of the wicked whose present Joy must ere long expire and an Everlasting Destruction succeed in its room Job 20. c. 4.5 How short is the Joy of the Hypocrite and the Triumph of the wicked is but for a moment Let me fear and dread every thing that leads to this dismal issue and improve every thing that may help me to escape it And by consequence let me less value all the Good and Evill of this present Life judge of all things by this light be patient under Temporal Calamities and thank God that it is not Hell and thank him more that present sufferings do help to save me from Eternal ones Did I believingly consider an Everlasting Hell Qut non expergiscitur ad hac Tonitrua jam non dormit sed mortuus est S. Augustin I should not think much of any thing that is required to prevent it the severest exercises of Religion the strictest Temperance the nicâ—st Chastity the largest Charity the greatest selfdenial all the Hardships of Repentance and mortification and continuance therein to the death tho for many years more then I am like to live would be reckon'd Easy as well as Just if set in the balance against the Eternal Mischiefs of the Damned What will not men do suffer to prevent a Temporal Death They will endure a painfull course of Physick tear out their very bowells by purges and vomits and are content to be cut and scarified and to suffer any thing almost to save their lives but how little will they do to be saved from the wrath to come One would think they should have no Rest or Peace or be able to live a quiet hour till they had made some Provision against the hazard of this Eternal Destruction and look upon all men as their Friends or Enemies according to the help or hindrance they received from them in reference to it But the direct Contrary is every where apparent Men are careless and secure jovial and merry in the way that leads to Hell and esteem and love and choose that Company that will help to bring them to this place of torment Yea such is their stupidity and strange Perversness that they will not suffer to be told of their danger If you tell them that by such a course or such an Action they will lose so much money or their lives will be in in danger they reckon it an obligation will take it kindly and return you thanks But when they are told by such Courses and Actions they will lose their souls the favor of God the hopes of Heaven and must perish for ever this they will not receive they despise the message and scorn and hate the Messenger are displeased and angry at such Faithfulness O Bless the Lord o my Soul for any good hope thro Grace of escaping this Intolerable and Endless Misery And let all that is within me bless his holy Name And let me heartily compassionate the delusion of those multitudes of deceived perishing Souls whose Eyes are blinded by the God of this world who will not believe it till they are convinc't by the Light of that Fire which shall never be extinguisht Yea when I read or hear of ten or twenty thousand men slaine in a War whither of Infidels or Christians let me think of it with other apprehensions then formerly I was wont to doe Considering that many it may be the most of these shall never have any Comfort or Mercy more fearing least the same sword or Bullet that gave them their mortal wound hath fixt them under God's Everlasting Wrath and that by dying they are undone for ever In very many other cases the Faith of this Article would rectifie my opinions and direct my Actions if seriously considered and improved This would make me think of Death under another Notion then 't is commonly considered For without the consideration of Hell annexed to it it is not so very formidable but that Heathen have been able to despise it The most contrary Sects among them on different grounds have been able to do it but consider Death as a passage to Eternal misery as the Gate of Hell as the End of all Comfort to a wicked Man and the Beginning of an Endless Calamity and nothing can be imagined more dreadfull to a Guilty unholy Soul. Some of my Acquaintance it may be who dyed this last year are now among those Hopeless Despairing Wretches who expect the final Judgment of God to consummate their insupportable Misery If they were permitted to come and tell us what they suffer and what they know what a terrible consuming Fire God is what Vanity Lust and Folly brought them to this place of Torment what diligence they would advise us to while in a state of Hope to prevent the like if we have any love and kindness for our selves any bowells of Compassion to our own Souls what a change do we think it would work upon us But if we will not hear Moses
Thank fullness shall Believers then contemplate the unskearchable Riches of his Grace in all the parts and instances of his Humiliation from his conception to his Crucifixion and Burial in all the Evidences and discoveries made of it from the first Promise to it's completion yea from before the foundation of the World in the Covenant of Peace between the Father and the son untill his second Coming to Judge the World and deliver up the Kingdom to his Father How shall we then admire and adore his Powerfull Grace which snatcht us as fire brands out of Everlasting Burnings that effectually shin'd into our minds by Heavenly Light conquer'd the opposition of our Stubborn Wills Sanctified our Carnal Hearts rescued us from the tyranny of Satan and the dominion of lust giving cherishing and preserving the holy Seed of Grace and making it Spring up to Eternal Life defeating the malicious and subtle endeavors of the Devil to destroy it inabling us to indure Tribulation and persevere to the End giving us victory over Death conducting us thro the dark valley raiising our Bodies reviving and reuniting them to our Souls and rendring them glorious like his own Body and at length raising our imperfect Services with Eternal Life yea tho our best services were mixt with sin our holyest duties spotted our most couragious sufferings mixt with unbelief yet rewarded with a Blessedness that hath no alloy of Evil but all the ingredients of a perfect Felicity and nothing to lessen and interrupt it How shall we then admire the Bounty of our Gracious Lord the freeness tenderness riches and the exceeding Greatness and Glory of his Infinite Goodness and Grace to poor Believers With what extasies of Joy and Gratitude may we imagine that our Lord will be then admired by all his Redecmed ones Saying This is He who made our peace with God and reverst the Sentence of Damnation which we were under who bought us with the price of his most precious Bloud bore the Wrath of his Father and submitted to an infamous and cursed Death for us he assumed our nature that we might pertake of his became the Son of Men that we might be made the Children of God for our sakes he became poor that we thro his Poverty might beeome Rieh stoopt to bear the greatest Ignominy and reproach to conferr honour on us was for a time forsaken of his Father that we might not be so Eternally felt the stroke of his Anger against sin that we might not perish under it Was a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs that we might rejoyce his agonies and bloudy sweat were for our Refreshment and by his stripes we are healed he bowed his head on the Crosse that we might lift up ours in Triumph and because we had eaten of the forbidden fruit he hung on the accursed Tree 'T was for us that he suffered the frowns of Heaven the enmity of Hell the rage of Devils the hatred and persecution of the world He was judged that we might not come into Condemnation he was crucifyed that we might be glorified and he is now Come againe finally and fully to effect it O the height and depth and length and breath of the Love of Christ which passeth knowledg but calls for admiration and Everlasting Gratitude This is the Blessed Day we long'd and waited and prayed for This is our Gracious our Glorious Lord whose love melted our Hearts whose Promise was our Support whose Word was our Rule whose Spirit was our Comforter whose Crosse was our Crown and the hope of his Appearance our chief Consolation Lord what am I what was I that the ever Blessed Son of God should do and suffer and purchase all this for me I can remember when I was ignorant of God a Stranger to him at Enmity with him under the power of Darkness and the Devil serving divers lusts and Pleasures hastening to Hell and liable to his Wrath. But he chose me out of the world stampt his Image upon me pardoned my Sin and imbrac't me in the arms of his unchangeaâ—â—â— Love. O Happy Change aâ—â— yet how little did I prize his Grace admire his love and express my own or pomote his glory and honour him in the Eyes of others how did I dishonor my profession and holy Calling as his Disciple by agravated Apostacy but he recovered me by Repentance and healed my Backslidings and received me graciously because he loved me freely O admirable Grace to pardon and save and bring to Glory such an unthankfull Wretch as I have been to make such a difference between me and others whom I knew on earth that the same Power which makes them Miserable now makes me Blessed that when they are banisht from his Presence into Everlasting Destruction I am admitted to behold his Glory and shall dwell with him for ever O how much â—â—â—e do I now see and find then ever I believed of the Love of Christ and his promised Salvation how much more glorious is the Person of my Redeemer how much more Excellent is the Heavenly State then ever I thought or expected I could not have imagined the thousandth thousandth part of that which I now see and feel I cannot but admire and spend an Eternity in admiring and praising the Incomparable Grace and Glory of my Blessed Redeemer Such holy admiration will certainly produce the most thankfull Adorations of our Lord Jesus Saying one to another I Bless the Lord of Love and Glory who humbled himself so low as our Mediator and hath exalted us so high as the blessed fruit of it how can we ever enough adore and praise him who condescended so far and hath done and sufferd so much for us See how the Holy Angels worship this King of Glory and have not every one of us more reason to do so O let all the Quire of Heaven celebrate his glorious Love and let us his Redeemed his Glorified ones say continually Let the Lord be magnified who hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own Bloud and made us Kings and Priests unto God his Father and thro him ours O Mercifull Saviour O glorious Change O Happy Society with whom we shall Eternally adore our Common Lord. We can some of us remember when we lived together on Earth how we wept and praid and fasted and mourned together when we suffered and complain'd and sin'd together O the Marvellous change our Redeemer hath now wrought for us and in us These Bodies these Souls this Life this Place this Company these Injoyments are not like those in yonder World. But alas who can describe what Believers shall then think and say to extol their Saviour how smal a portion is it we understand of that World How little can I conceive and much less express Blessed be God we know so much as the matter of our joyfull Hopes and forever Blessed be God who hath promised and provided such a Glory for us as cannot now be fully known
the Encouragement of an Holy Hope c. and am perfuaded of the Stability of his Word and the Certainty of Eternal Life to all who continue in well-doing shall I after all this ever break with God againe shall I ever cancell this Engagement violate this my Vow and falsifie so many repeated Promises and Resolutions Oh that his Power may rest upon me and his Grace work in me both to will and to Doe that this God may be my God for ever and my Guide unto Death Let me never reassume this Gift and Surrender of my self or defraud God of his Right and Propriety His I am and Him I will serve living wholly to Him using all I have for him being willing he should do what he list with his own and consequently dispose of me and of all that any way belongs to me as shall seem Good in his Eyes I am Thine O Lord save me Command me my work apoint me my Duty direct my Station order my Condition let me be Thine tho imploid in the meanest service and the most aborious selfdenying work Tho I should be but a Doorkeeper in thine House an Hewer of Wood or a Drawer of water Tho I must pinch the flesh and swim against the Tide and renounce what before I valued yet This God shall be my God for ever By this means when I come to Dye if God should add more years to the little number I have past besides this I have now begun I may be able to say with Upright Hezekiah Remember Lord how I have walked before Thee in mine Integrity That in the face of Death and the Grave in the view of another World and the near prospect of Eternity I may be able to Reioyce in Hope and Say Lord Jesus Receive my Spirit Thou art my Saviour and I have waited for thy Salvation I have sought Thee with my whole Heart I have chosen thy Favor rather then Worldly Grandeur and Prosperity I have prized thy Love and endeavor'd to obey Thee as the best Expression of my own tho with many Imperfections which I bewail I have delighted more in thy Service and Presence then in the Pleasures of Sin and vanity thy Testimonies have been the Joy of my Heart I took no delight in the Company of the ungodly after I was devoted to Thee O let me not have my Portion with them in the other World Fortifie me now against the King of Terrors strengthen me in this my last Conflict enable me to triumph over Death by the Crosse of Christ my victorious Redeemer and carry me thro the dark valley at the divorce of Soul and Body and grant me an abundant entrance into thine heavenly Kingdom Let me be numbred among thy Chosen and my Body wait in Hope 'till the general Resurrection that I may then see thy Glory and dwell with Thee for ever By voluntary consent and Choice thou art my God and thy Presence in Heaven my ultimate Felicity I have trusted to thy Gracious Promise to prepare me for it and bring me to it O fullfill thy Word unto thy Servant wherin thou hast caued me to hope and mercifully receive my departing Soul that seeks Thee that loves Thee that breaths after Thee and desires nothing but to know Thee better and love Thee more and be more entirely conform'd to thine Image and live allways in thy B. Presence Amen Holy Father be it unto me according to thy Word thro the Merits and Intercession of my Allsufficient Saviour J. Christ the Faithfull and True Witness in whom all thy Promises are Yea and Amen XXX Thanksgiving to God for his Innumerable Benefits and Mercies particularly in the Year Past with some Direction and Advice concerning it HOw precious and delightfull are the Thoughts of thy Benefits O Lord how great is the sum of them Should I count them they are more in number then the stars Shall I not observe anâ— consider them maintaine a grateful sense of 'em and publickly acknowledg them on all occasions that I may Bless the Lord at all Times and his Prayse be continually in my mouth More especially should I conclude and begin the Year with solemn Praises to my Great Benefactor and Preserver I ought to begin and close every Day with it therby to make the outgoings of the Morning and the Evening to rejoyce in God. Every year every Day every Hour every Moment offers me an occasion to praise Him because he is every minute gracious and hath been so ever since he gave me my Being Allmost one half of my Time hath been spent in Sleep when I remember not God nor my self yet doth He who never slumbers or sleeps remember me in Mercy and watch over me for Good. Yea tho in the other half by Day I have forgotten him in a worse sense by casting off his Fear and not remembring that his Holy Eye is upon me yet hath he not forgotten to be Gracious Therfore I will Praise the name of God with a song and will magnifie him with Thanksgiving and never forget his Benefits With which Sacrifice he is better pleased then with an Oxe or Bullock that hath horns and hoofs He hath prolonged my Life this last Year when so many others of his more usefull servants have been remov'd by Death and given me farther Time and Space to Repent when multitudes have been surpriz'd in their Impenitence Yea it was He who formed me in the womb and brought me safely into the world by whose Providence I have hitherto been supplied in Him I live and move and continually exist To his undeserved Goodness I am beholding for all the Good of any kind which I ever enjo'yd to his Bounty I am indebted for all that I now have and must depend upon it for what ever I can here after exspect Thro Infancy and Childhood he was pleas'd to preserve me Psalm 69. v. 30. favouring me with many advantages in my Birth and Education prividing for me a Competent Livelyhood disposing the Circumstances of my Condition Relations Places of Abode c. more advantagiously then he hath done for Thousands affording me many helps for the Improving of my mind and the increase of Knowledg and preventing my Necessities and even my Desires with numberless Blessings which I never so much as askt for He hath caused Several of my Relations to yeild me Comfort when they might have been sore Afflictions He hath raised up Strangers to befriend me and show me kindness How many favours have I receiv'd from God by the Instrumentality of other Men to whom God gave the Will and the Power the Opportunity and the Inclination How often hath he deliver'd my Soul from Death mine Eyes from Tears and my Feet from falling by seasonable Preservations so that I do yet walk before Him in the Land of the Living He hath rescu'd me from the brink of many a Precipice which thro Ignorance or Inadvertency did not apprehend or Fear When I knew not