Time and so let me esteem and seek and choose 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 than I have done hitherto That while I am in the greatest probability of living I may suppose my change to be near and so not dare to do any thing but what I would or might do if I were in the present expectation of death To this end let me go down to the Potters house descend to the consideration of my Mortality and dwell among the Tombs remembring the Aegytians built themselves better Tombs than 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 shortning of our Days is the fruit of Sin. All the Funerals that have ever been in the World have been caused by 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 than 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 than since the appearance 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 Blood of Jesus Death would not be frightful or put on such a ghastly Vizor as to most it doth But we are uncertain of our Justification we waver between hopes and fears as to our final Sentence and are conscious to our selves that we are not ready for our great Account This makes Death so terrible Considering with all that it is inevitable the way of all the Living For tho' the curse be removed and the sting be taken out by our B. 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 whether my Death be violent or what we call Natural 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 in the World when our Glorious Judge shall come again 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 Enoch 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 as Adam did who was the second or be translated as Enoch who was the Third we read of But tho' I know that within a few years at farthest I must leave this World by one or other of these ways tho' I have been dying ever since I began to live am Dead to the last year and to all the preceding Portions of my Time and know withal that what remains will quickly pass and be gone after the same manner yet how have I overloved this Body as if I should never live out of it and set my Heart and Affections on this World as if I should never remove to another and trifled away my precious Time and Life as if a change would never come That few do seriously admit such thoughts is too evident by the general course and practice of their Lives For to what hazards do Men expose themselves what pains will they take what Inconveniences will they bear with what unwearied Industry will they toyl and labour to get a little Money or Honour in this World tho' they know not but they may be called out of it before the end of this Year And yet the same Persons are remiss and slothful about a future Life negligent and unconcerned about an Eternal state careless and indifferent yea sottishly stupid about the welfare of their Immortal Souls Henceforward O my Soul whatever other others do let me resolve to live in the expectation of a Change which I know is certain and may be very near XI Of the Expectation of Another Life The Vanity and Misery of Man in his Best Estate if there be none The satisfactory removal of that supposition by the Thoughts of God and of Eternal Felicity in his Blessed Presence LET me retire a little O my Soul and bethink my self what a World this is what Men design and seek and do and suffer with what false and feigned Joys they are pleased being only happy by comparison and with what real Sorrows they are afflicted what innumerable disappointments sicknesses and as troublesome remedies dangers labors pains and calamities of all sorts Multitudes groan under and loudly complain of and what little unworthy ends are pursued by all that do not seriously seek Eternal Rest and how often frustrated And withal consider the Cares that disquiet us the errors that deceive us the many Temptations that assault and overcome us how busie we are about Vanities how often dejected and melancholy for the breaking of a Bubble how eager and industrious to pursue a Shadow active and in earnest to destroy our selves and one another and then reflect on the Malice and cruelty the Filthiness and Impiety and great Corruption which abounds every where whereby God is dishonoured and provokt to Anger After this what a Theater of Tragedies must this World appear what an Hospital of sick and diseased or rather distracted Persons How should I be tempted to say Lord why hast thou made all Men in
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 answered the ends for which I were born 't is not too soon to dye No Man ever miscarried as to his Everlasting Interest because his Life was short but Evil. He that is prepared for Death he that dies in the Lord 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 He hath fought long enough who hath gained the Victory If I have wrought but a few hours in a Vineyard and done but a little Service for my Lord and Master and yet am dismist and rewarded before the rest of my Fellow Labourers shall I repine and think my Lord doth not befriend me If he hath any farther Service for me he will prolong my days and make me diligent I hope and contented 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 methinks too low for a Christian who acts like himself believing the Certainty of his avowed 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 ALL 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 duly considered and applied will help to deaden and extinguish each of these By Pride of Life we lift up our selves 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 shewing 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 maintain 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 immortal 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 It may likewise check the folly of Ambitious Designs that Men should make so much ado to get into slippery places from whence they may so easily fall Where being puft up with vain applause they forget themselves and their latter end till their Life and Glory expire together Where are now the Great and Mighty and Honourable 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 whether I have been known and honoured among Men or no any farther than God may be glorified by it How should it suppress vain 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 to which Immortality is annext and labour to be accepted with God at whose Bar I most be judged endeavouring to keep the testimony of a good Conscience and then it is not much whether I pass through good Report or evil Report no contempt or frowns or threatnings of Men need then discourage me Tho' I should be trampled on by the foot of Pride while others are happy in a dream for a little while and it may be have a prosperous passage to damnation I 'le rather thank God for delivering me from their Temptations and giving me the opportunity and call to hasten my Preparations for a better World. Let God dispose of my Condition here and Reputation too as best shall please his Sovereign Will only be pleased to keep me upright and to preserve me from everlasting Shame and Confusion of Face after the general Resurrection and final Judgment Vouchsafe me a Portion now in thine approving Love and own me for Thine at last in the Great and terrible Day of Reckoning that then I may hear the Blessed Euge and enter into my Lord's Joy XVII The same Argument considered farther as dissuasive from Worldliness and Earthly mindedness and as proper to confute the vanity of long Projects and great Designs for this World. ARE the Years of my Life but few and they hastening to a Period and may this be my last Let me not then greedily covet Riches and abundance and waste my little time to scrape together large Provisions for many years to come when I have no assurance to see the end of this Is it becoming such a belief to toyl from day to day that I may lay up that which I must so soon leave as if I were to spend an Eternity here on Earth and in the mean while neglect the one thing necessary Am I not upon the shore of Eternity May not the next Tide carry me off And shall I
vain If I could not look from this Sea of troubles to the Haven of Rest from this dark Prison to the Region of Light from this deceitful troublesome and defiling Earth to a Blessed Everlasting Heaven For verily if there be no World but this every Man in his best Estate in this World is altogether Vanity Selah Psal 39.5 'T is a certain undoubted Truth the prefixed verily tells us so and that it deserves to be well considered we learn from the concluding Selah Every Man is Vanity Not the Inferior parts of the Creation only But Man the Lord of all And Every Man every Adam from himself to the last Man that shall by ordinary Generation descend from him Not the Ignorant Poor or Wicked only but all the Individuals of this Species Young or Old strong or weak beautiful or deformed rich or poor high or low good or bad in respect of the Body and this present Life every one is vanity and this is true suppose him in his Best Estate not only in helpless Infancy and Childhood or in decrepit old Age not only in pain and poverty and disgrace but in his most setled most flourishing most envied and admired condition upon Earth in the midst of strength and wit and honour when at best as to body and mind and outward Circumstances when he looks fairest when he shines brightest in the height of all his Glory with the greatest likelihood of a Continuance yet then he is but vanity In his frame in his temper constitution inclinations actions and imployment he is a meer Shadow an empty mutable inconsiderable thing and not to be accounted of His Heart his head his imaginations reasonings desires purposes projects hopes and fears are all Vanity and altogether Vanity in all the parts and kinds and particulars of it He not only may be but he is so in his best Estate if this World be his Best if this be our All and nothing more to be expected after death And how should such a Reflection strike me to the Heart to suppose that after a few years are ended I must return to my first Nothing and my very being be (f) Vid. Mr. How 's vanity of Man as mortal swallowed up of Eternal Death what satisfaction can I then take in any present Enjoyments if an Eternal Annihilation be at hand when I must bid adieu for ever to all that I now possess What delight can I have in the ordinary comforts of Life with this Belief that within a year or two it may be to Morrow I shall sink into the dust and exist no more What Pleasure in any thing with this dismal Expectation The more flourishing my condition is in this World the more should I dread to lose it if nothing better nothing at all can be injoyed after Death Some Philosophers have ignorantly urged such a consideration as an Antidote against the fear of death but the admission of it may rather deprive a Man of all the comfort of Life What then is the advantage of a Wise Man above a Fool the exercise and improvement of our noblest Faculties would render us more miserable than others if nothing be expected and certain when this Life is over Not only sensual but intellectual Pleasures would be disturbed and destroyed by such Thoughts that very shortly the next Year or Day I must disappear and all my Injoyments and Hopes be utterly and for ever lost with my very Being Were the case thus which such Consequences evince it is not it were better for most Men they had never been Born whether their condition here be Prosperous or Afflicted For what Comfort or quiet can any Man have in Plenty and Prosperity when this frightful apprehension of an approaching end is ever present and what consolation can it yield a Man who is afflicted and Calamitous and yet loves his Life above all things to think that he shall not cease to be miserable but by ceasing to be And what is become of all Religion if such a thought be entertained All devotion to God is thereby extinguisht all the restraints of vice removed the Flood-gates of Impiety opened the encouragements of Vertue the rewards of Holiness the Foundation of 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 Sadducism 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 betrer no other Let them who doubt or disbelieve the promised rewards of Eternity take up with what they must shortly leave and labour for the Bread that perisheth But since I profess to believe and seek the Life Everlasting let me daily entertain my self with the hopes of it and let all the flattering dreams of what is desirable 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 endeavour nothing more than a meetness to partake 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 However Evil this World is made by Sin yet thou art the infinite and supream Good. How mutable how uncertain how perishing soever are all sublunary things yet thou art the rock of Ages the fountain of everlasting Life and hast appointed another World and another Life when this is ended wherein thou wilt be better known and loved and served and honoured and communicate thy self more abundantly than 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 else 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 Carkass 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 Months since I knew in vigorous health wiser stronger more likely to live and to answer the ends of Life than me some of them my near Relations and useful Friends in whose converse I took delight and promised my self advantage by their Company and Examples 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
but by dying and my Saviour hath dyed for me and he that believes in him shall never see death He lives who was once dead yea he lives for evermore 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 the sting 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 go to better Company above and if they are the Friends of Christ we shall shortly meet again and love one another in a better manner than now and never more be parted I may dye this Year my Friends and Enemies may dye too Let me enjoy the one as mortal dying Persons that must e're 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 Pain and that my Body is 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 sometime 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 than 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 daily 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 shall 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 encrease 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 I am accused for doing well or innocent of the Evil 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 and renowned Innumerable Christians have dyed by the Sentence of a Judge with more Chearfullness and Joy than others or it may be than they themselves would have done by the sentence of the Physician The Torture of many Diseases is unspeakably more formidable as to the meer Pain and for all else the Righteous Lord who loveth Righteousness will clear my Integrity if it may best subserve his own Great and Holy ends at least he will stand by and help me when all forsake me and if he speak Peace and give inward Consolation who can speak Trouble and his final Judgment which is near at hand will distribute rewards and Punishments to all according to their works Suppose farther that I should want a Sepulcher after Death There is nothing I could better be without If God receive my Soul and will raise my Body at the last day whether it putrifie and consume under ground or above it is no great matter They who are alive will be more concerned in that than I shall be Graves are for the sake of the Living rather than the Dead The Sun the Rain the Air Birds Beasts Worms will all contribute to give me Burial if Men deny it The only difference is that it will be a little longer ere I am buried If my Soul rest in the Bosom of my Saviour and by persevering in the love and practice of the Truth I have secured my Reputation with wise and good Men I need not be sollicitous what become of my Body My Almighty Judge will raise me a glorious Body like his own and reunite it to my Soul As easily as certainly as for any of those whose Bodies were preserved in Caves and Vaults in proud Sepulchers and under stately Monuments I may dye this Year and shall not then have the satisfaction to see my Children or nearest Kindred educated and provided for setled and disposed of But is not the Everliving God the same cannot he as well take care of them when I am gone as now answer all my Prayers after my decease and exercise that Fatherly Care Wisdom and Love which shall dispose of their conditions save them from Temptations and supply all their wants and exceed all my desires in reference to them and fulfill his Covenant promise from Generation to Generation to the Childrens Children of them that fear him O how weak is my Faith that cannot trust God in so common and plain a case Lastly I may dye this Year and not live to see the ruin of the Antichristian Kingdom and Interest and the accomplishment of many Excellent Promises which concern the Rest and Peace and Purity and Glory of the Churches of Christ on earth in the latter days But have I not deserved by my provoking Unbelief Ingratitude and Disobedience to dye in the Wilderness and not behold behold the promised Land or see the Peace of Jerusalem and will not the struglings of Satan to support Babylon infer a dismal night of darkness and distress before the expected Morning of Deliverance so that it may now if ever be truly said Henceforth Blessed are the Dead who dye in the Lord. And if God will take me to himself in the other World I cannot possibly be a loser tho' I should not see the Beginnings of a
than Ignorant Heathens who never heard of Christ never saw his Miracles or were inform'd of his Doctrine How shall we escape For he will come again as a Conqueror and a Judge and not as a sufferer and a surety as he came at first and tho he was numbred with Transgressors and made his Grave with the Wicked at his first Appearance he shall hereafter be attended with the shouts of Angels who excel in strength and the joyful Acclamations of his Saints glittering as the Light and paying Homage to him as the Judge of Quick and Dead He whom we have despised shall then be encompast with a dazling Glory that will confound us He whom we have affronted will be clothed with a Majesty that shall astonish us He whom we have offended shall be armed with Power and with Wrath to punish us and all that continue to lift up the Heel against him shall then be made his Footstool all that refuse to kiss the Scepter of his Grace shall be broken in pieces by his Iron Rod. The holy Scripture doth frequently and expresly assure us that he will thus come again 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 contain him till the restitution of all things By his Providence and by the Holy Spirit he now carries on the designs of his Death and when these are accomplish'd he will appear to the Joy of Believers and the Confusion of the Wicked He is entred as our * Heb. 6 c. 19 20. 10 c. 10. Forerunner within the Veil to prepare Mansions and to take possession for us and will not always 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 again How comfortable is the News of it how joyful will be the Meeting to such as expect and prepare to see him when the Sea and the Graves shall yield up their Dead and all the Prisoners of Hope lift up their heads arise go 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 die 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 before 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 Judah to devour and destroy the Enemies of his Cross 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 Gospel will then be a more killing Letter than 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 whether they will or no yea the Blood of his Cross will upbraid accuse and plead against them And whatever 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. He then 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 works The Mighty shall not be spared for his Greatness nor the mean man for his Poverty O Fool O Wretch that I am shall many then say who now brave it out in Pride and Vanity unconcern'd about a future Judgment not to be persuaded by the terrors of the Lord which I was so often warn'd and foretold of What Refuge of Hope can I now flie to What can I say for my self What can I do to escape to die to exist no longer I would have no compassion on my own Soul I would not so much as consider its danger I shall now find none from Christ I can expect none His Mercy is gone and gone for ever I am lost undone tormented and must eternally be so O the Amazement Horror and Despair of self-condemned Sinners in that day of Vengeance O my Soul what is there of greater consequence or of greater certainty from the Word of God than that I must appear to Judgment when Christ shall come again Lord teach me to believe it firmly to consider it often to lay it seriously to heart to act under the Influence and Power of it as long as I live that at the Great Resurrection from the Dead I may lift up my head with a joyful Hope and find the Judge to be my Friend my Advocate my Jesus and not my Enemy and Destroyer XXIII Meditations of the Glory of Christ in his Glorified Saints and of the thankful Admiration of Believers when He shall come again from Heaven which shall be continued to all Eternity THE terror of our Lord's Appearance to Judgment cannot be greater to the Wicked than the Comfort and Joy of it will be to the Saints When they shall see Him whom their Souls love ascend with him to Heaven and be welcom'd according to his promise with those endearing words * Matt. 25. Come ye blessed Children of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of the World. 'T was for your sakes I assumed Flesh lived on Earth and died on the Cross to purchase this Glorious Kingdom for you which I now come to give you the Possession of 'T was for this I praied and suffered on Earth for this I interceded ever since in Heaven I was heard in that Prayer accepted in those Sufferings and my Intercession granted that where I am you may be also to behold my Glory Come therefore good and faithful Servants enter into your Lord's joy O what ravishing words will these be What an Extasie of Love and Kindness is
Persevering Obedience how full and extensive it ought to be and yet humble by what means we may be assisted to perform that which we resolve p. 208 XXVIII The Import and Obligation of our Baptismal Covenant The renewal of it by a solemn Dedication of our selves to God the Father Son and Holy Spirit exemplifyed and recommended p. 217 XXIX Practical and consolatory Reflections on the preceeding Self-dedication or Covenant with God. p. 224 XXX Thanksgiving to God for his Innumerable Benefits and Mercies particularly in the Year Past with some Direction and Advice concerning it p. 234 THE Introduction From what Time the Jews reckoned the Beginning of their Year of the difference between their Sacred and Civil Account The Feast of Trumpets on the first day of the Year ' its Institution Nature and Design the Traditions and Customs of the Jews respecting that Day UPon the deliverance of the Jews out of Aegypt the first month which began with the new Moon next to the vernal Equinox was to be accounted (a) Exod. 12.1 the beginning of Months it answers to the latter end of our March and the Beginning of April and is sometimes called Nisan and sometimes Abib It was ordinarily after that Deliverance reckon'd the First month of the year in their Sacred or Ecclesiastical Account Therefore the Passover kept in this month is said to be observed in the first month and the Feast of Purim which was kept in our February is said to be in the last month that is of the Sacred year A Period so remarkable and extraordinary as that was to the Jews deserved very well to be particularly remembred and taken notice of and might justly be accounted the First or chiefest of their months 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 month and 't is computed that about the same time of the year Isaac was born and the Tabernacle afterwards erected in the wilderness As the Redemption of Israel from their Bondage in Aegypt was but a Type of a more glorious one be the Messiah he was pleased to suffer Death in this (b) John. 18.28 Month. According to this Computation the Month Tisri which began with the first new Moon next to the Autumnal Equinox is often called the Seventh Month but was not so accounted before the Deliverance of Israel out of Aegypt As to Civil and Political Affairs it was for the most part reckoned the First Month of the year on this Account this Month (c) Heidegeri Hist Patriarch Tom. 1 diss 12 §. 22. de Anno Patriarcharum tisri which answers to part of our September and part of October on the Fifteenth day of the Month was the Feast of Tabernacles when the (d) Exod. 23.15 16. See Ger. I. Vossii Isag Ckronol dissert 23 caliger de Emend Temp. Lydiat de variis Annorum formis Selden de Anno Cirili vet Jud. Joel 2.23 1 Kings 8 2 Lightfoot Horae in Math. Cap. 2. v. 1. Fruits of the Earth were gather'd in and is said to be in the End of the year Much hath been said by many Learned Men for the date of the Worlds Creation and the Begining of the year from the Vernal Equinox or the Spring and the Aegyptians are alledged as keeping the great Festival of Aries or of the New Year when the Sun enters into Aries But however uncertain that be and how difficult to determine it yet in Autum is Computed by the Jews the Creation of the World the Birth of the first Patriarchs the Reparation of the Tables of the Law the Dedication of the Temple the Three Great Solemn Feasts of the Beginning of the Year and other Remarkable Passages As many Religious assemblies and Solemn Feasts were appointed to the Jews in this Month Tisri as in all the year besides That the Birth and Baptism of our Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ should be at this time of the Feast of Tabernacles is as Considerable as that his Passion should be about the time of the Jewish Passover He was Sacrificed for us at that time when by God's appointment the Pascal Lamb was to be offer'd as his Type And at the Feast of Tabernacles he came to pitch his Tent in our nature to (e) John. 1.14 tabernacle in our Flesh and dwell among us The Scepter was so far gone from Judah that the Jews were compell'd by a foreign Power instead of observing the feast of the Tabernacles at Jerusalem every one to repair to his own City to be taxed as the Emperour Augustus had commanded and 't is not very likely he would appoint that in the depth of Winter the time of our Christmas and now was the Season for Shilo to appear The Eighty first Psalm composed by Asaph for the first day of this Month or the feast of (f) Dr. Hammond in loc Godeau univer Hist de l Eglise Tom. 4. c. 1. §. 6. Hospinian de Fest Judaic Trumpets is supposed to have been in Remembrance of that Deliverance out of Aegypt 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 Account is thus 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 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 which were then sounded viz. such as were made of sheeps or rams horns Others think it to have been Appointed as a grateful remembrance of former victories which God had afforded them Particularly that at Jerico where was the first opposition they met with in their passage to Canaan and the walls of the City fell down at the Sound of such Horn-Trumpets Josh 6.13 20. But the most likely account 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 and to excite their thankfulness for the Fruits and Blessings and Benefits of the year preceeding The extraordinary Blowing of Trumpets by the Priests at this time in all their Cities as well as at Jerusalem where two Silver * Lightfoot's Temple Service chap. 16 §. 5. Trumpets were also used at the Temple as well as these of Horn and the Levites sung the 81 Psalm might serve both to stir up the People to bless God for the Favours of the Year past acknowledging his
more than such distant Calamities will affright Let me therefore endeavour to impress the consideration of Eternity as at hand more deeply on my Heart that I may walk and live discourse and pray and demean my self in every thing as near an unchangeable State. Am I not convinced that this is certain from the nature and operations of my Soul from the reflections of Conscience from the Righteousness of God in his Government of the World from the present unequal distributions of Good and Evil by his Providence and from the plain 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 needful 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 holy 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 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 for ever banished from it And whoever thou art that readest this apply it seriously to thy self 't is thine own case Yea I tell thee 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 punished 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 pierce and enter into my very Soul to cool the heats of Lust to quench sensual and earthly desires and to mortifie all inordinate 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 daily dictates of my own Reason and Conscience which all Christians and almost all Men in their Wits except in an hour of great Temptation confess and own or whether they will or no are forced to expect and fear if they are not in a condition to consider them with a joyful 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'd 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 already come and there were no intermediate Time to pass between this and that O Eternity Eternity the more I consider it the more unfathomable still I find it Vnchangeable Blessedness or remediless endless Torments An Eternal blissful 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 comparison 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 certain 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 and entire 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 powerful and prevailing above all others that I may Judge of every thing by its relation to it by its influence upon it Chuse now my Soul whether Everlasting Joys or Miseries shall be thy 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 humble preparation for it with the greatest strictness and severity of Life during all that Time it were infinitely less than to spend an hour or two in preparing for the greatest Dignity and Imploy on Earth which can be enjoyed but for a few years at longest For to these an hour hath some proportion but an hundred or thousand years have none with an Everlasting Duration Therefore to consider how many years of toyl and pains and diligence many bestow on the probable prospect of some Temporal Good should reprove and shame my negligence and remisness in providing for Eternity XIX The Punishments of the Damned considered as Intolerable and Everlasting and as unquestionably Certain What the Reflection upon Hell-Torments may and ought to teach us THE Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom the entrance into the way of Life as it is ordinarily one of the first means to awaken the Soul to a serious concern for Eternity Let me therefore first consider the Endless Punishment of the wicked in the other World before I enter upon the ravishing Prospect of the Blessedness of Heaven promised to the Righteous And with what serious trembling should I think of the Terrors of an Everlasting Destruction which our Lord shall be revealed from Heaven to render to All who know not God and obey not the Gospel When the wicked shall go away into Everlasting Punishment as the Righteous into Life Eternal The dreadfulness of that Punishment the endless Duration of it joyned to the consideration of its unquestionable Certainty deserves the most attentive Thoughts of every Man who loves his Soul and would manifest he doth so by securing his greatest Interest The description of that Misery under insupportable and Eternal Torments demands more than a transient view because no words can sufficiently express the Horror of that State. What is it O my Soul to be banished from the Blessed Sight and presence
Lust before his favour 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 will go on they will 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 intollerable endless Punishment be a means to save me from it Let me herein read the evil of Sin and learn to abhor and avoid it Let me pity and warn and counsel and pray for those of my Relations and Acquaintance who live in Sin and run the hazard of this Eternal Ruin. 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 (k) Joh. 20. ch 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 Evil 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 Whatever I can suffer in this World let my condition be never so dark and sad and afflicted it is not it cannot be such but that every one of the Damned would think it an infinite Happiness to exchange with me and be as I am Let me think of those exquisite and eternal Flames to cure my Impatience under the sharpest Trials and Afflictions I may now suffer Did I believingly consider an Everlasting Hell * Qui non expergiscitur ad haec 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 nicest Chastity the largest Charity the greatest Self-denial all the hardships of Repentance and Mortification and continuance therein to the Death tho for many years more than I am like to live would be reckon'd easie as well as just if set in the ballance against the Eternal Mischiefs of the Damned What will not men do and suffer to prevent a Temporal Death They will endure a painful course of Physick tear out their very bowels by Purges and Vomits and are content to be cut and scarrified 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 chuse that Company that will help to bring them to this place of torment Yea such is their stupidity and strange perverseness 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 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 and the Favour of God and 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 through Grace of escaping this Intolerable and Endless Misery And let all that is within me bless his holy Name I have deserved the same endless and unsupportable wrath which Thousands are now under and shall be under to all Eternity but he did not suffer me to fall into it To be delivered out of those Torments after many years misery would be thought an admirable unspeakable kindness And is it not a greater favour never to be thrown into Hell which I have so often deserved How grateful would a damned person be to be freed from those Flames and plac'd in the same condition I now am in What a Life of serious self-denying obedience would he lead And hath not God done more for me Am I not more indebted to his Goodness He hath kept me out of Hell and offers me the Heavenly Glory upon reasonable honourable and easie Terms Blessed be God I may yet escape the wrath to come 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'd by the light of that Fire which shall never be extinguisht Yea when I read or hear of Ten or Twenty thousand men slain in a War whteher of Infidels or Christians let me think of it with other apprehensions than formerly I was wont to do Considering that many it may be the most of these shall never have any Comfort or Mercy more fearing lest 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 rectify my Opinion and direct my Actions if seriously considered and improved This would make me think of Death under another Notion than 't is commonly considered For without the consideration of Hell annexed to it it is not so very formidable but that Heathens 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 dreadful to a Guilty unholy Soul. Some of my Acquaintance it may be who died 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 and kindness for our selves any Bowels of Compassion to our own Souls what
implied in them What matter of rejoycing may it now give me to admit the Hope that my Blessed Saviour will say such words as these to me and bid me stand upon his Right-hand among his Sheep O what an exulting frame of Soul will such Expressions raise How shall all my Doubts and Fears and Sorrows be scatter'd in a moment and cease for ever O Glorious Day when my blessed Lord shall thus publickly acknowledge me for his own and plead my Cause against all the Accusations of Satan and the malicious Calumnies of all his Instruments when I shall be able to say of all my Sins and Sufferings as my Lord upon the Cross It is finished it is finished My warfare being accomplish'd being more than Conquerour over all through him who loved me and died for me and now is come to wipe away all tears from mine eyes as it were with the Napkin that was bound about his Head when laid in the Grave all being the fruit of his meritorious Death Then shall I have nothing more to fear or wish or beg I shall offend provoke and dishonour him no more or by my folly and scandal discredit his holy Name and Gospel but by consummate Holiness be fitted to rejoyce in his Presence and Love and celebrate his Praise for ever I shall never more lament his Absence or complain of his Anger never see a cloud on his Face or a Frown in his Look any more Now I must wait and pray struggle and strive labour and suffer desire and expect believe and hope c. but then perfect Rest and Holiness Love and Joy Vision and Fruition Bliss and Glory unutterable and everlasting shall take place All the Attributes of God all the wonderful Perfections of Christ will then be glorified in Believers and admired by them His invariable Truth will then be honoured which they trusted to and waited for for now they shall know and find they did not wait in vain They hop'd in his Word and ventur'd their Salvation upon it and now they shall receive the end of their Faith and Hope infinitely beyond what they ever expected or believed The Glory of Divine Wisdom will then appear when the Constitution Administration and Design of the Mediator's Kingdom shall be fully known in the admirable Order and Beauty of every part of it with the exact tendency of all the particulars to one Glorious End and the whole Undertaking crown'd with so blessed an Issue What is now a Mystery even to Believers themselves and hath a Veil upon it shall then no longer be so all the Riddles of God's Grace and Providence shall be plainly understood O how transporting a View must it needs be when the Glory of all the Divine Attributes which God intended to accomplish in and by Christ shall be manifest to his Redeemed Saints The whole method of our Salvation will then appear to be the fruit of unsearchable Wisdom when we shall all see the Reality and Substance and entire Scheme of all that God designed in and by him all that was typified of him and foretold concerning him in the Old Testament How will it all appear to be the manifold Wisdom of God! Ephes 3. c. 10. As in uniting Heaven and Earth together in the Person of our Mediator fulfilling the Truth of a terrible threatning in his Death and by the same way accomplishing * Vid. Mr. Charnock of the Divine Attribute Wisdom many gracious Promises satisfying Justice and at the same time shewing Mercy manifesting infinite Grace and Kindness by shedding of Blood conquering Death by dying and disarming the Law by Obedience to it c. afterwards subduing the world to the Faith of the Gospel by the foolishness of Preaching making men wise to Salvation by the knowledge of the Cross and spreading that Faith the more by all the opposition made against it c. How wonderfully will a clear View of these things discover and glorifie the Wisdom of God. But the Love and Grace of Christ the infinite Goodness and Compassion of God will then be magnified in an especial manner What but Soveraign Love in the whole Contrivance and Counsel of God about our Redemption What admirable Love and Grace in the whole management of that design What unparallel'd kindness in the accomplishment of it by the Sacrifice of the Son of God And how Glorious will this Love appear when he shall come again to give us the full Harvest of all his Purchase With what admiring Thankfulness shall Believers then contemplate the unsearchable 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 its Completion yea from before the Foundation of the World in the Covenant of Peace between the Father and the Son until his second Coming to Judge the World and deliver up the Kingdom to his Father How shall we then admire and adore his Powerful Grace which snatcht us as Firebrands 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 subtil Endeavours of the Devil to destroy it inabling us to indure Tribulation and persevere to the end giving us Victory over Death conducting us through the dark Valley raising our Bodies reviving and reuniting them to our Souls and rendring them glorious like his own Body and at length rewarding our imperfect Services with Eternal Life Yea tho our best Services were mixt with Sin our holiest 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 Redeemed 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 Blood bore the Wrath of his Father and submitted to an infamous and cursed Death for us He assumed our Nature that we might partake of his became the Son of Man that we might be made the Children of God for our sakes he became poor that we through his Poverty might become Rich He stoopt to bear the greatest Ignominy and Reproach to confer Honour on us He was for a time forsaken of his Father that we might not be so eternally He felt the stroke of his Anger against Sin that
learn'd in some measure what Sin is by the sorrows and anguish of an Hearty Repentance now I have discovered so much of the Snares and Devices of Satan whereby I have formerly been betraid now I am sensible of the dangerous and powerful influence and infection of bad Company the Treachery of fleshly Lusts the bewitching Temptations of the World and have tasted a little by my own Experience of the Pleasantness of Wisdom's Paths the Peace and Satisfaction of Devotedness to God by the present Rewards of a calm Conscience the communications of Divine Grace and the Encouragement of an Holy Hope c. and am persuaded 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 again Shall I ever cancel 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 do 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 appoint me my Duty direct my Station order my Condition Let me be Thine tho imployed in the meanest service and the most laborious self-denying 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 Rejoyce 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 Favour rather than Worldly Grandeur and Prosperity I have prized thy Love and endeavour'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 than 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 Cross of Christ my victorious Redeemer and carry me through 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 I gave up my self to Thee and do not Repent my Choice acknowledg me now for Thine and do not lose that which is thy own Lord Jesus Thou hast paid my Ransom to deliver me from Satan and from Eternal Wrath oh do not now reject me and cast me off Is it not thine Office and Covenant to save those that Trust in thee Oh remembr thy Word unto thy Servant wherein thou hast caused me to Hope when I ventur'd my Salvation on thy Promise and trusted to thy Gracious Word for Eternal Life Thy Love hath already overcome the greatest impediments of my Salvation 'T is as easie now to receive me as to Love me Thou hast prepared Glory for thy Redeemed ones and hast bid me believingly to follow thee and wait for thy Salvation Thou hast begotten me to a lively hope by the Incorruptible Seed of the Word Let me not now be depriv'd of the Inheritance Can that Love that pitied me in my Blood and fetcht me from the Gates of Hell now suffer me to fall into it Oh Crown thy Grace and perfect thy Preparatory Mercy with Everlasting Mercy 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 fulfil thy Word unto thy Servant wherein thou hast caused me to hope and mercifully receive my departing Soul that seeks Thee that loves Thee that breathes 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 always in thy Blessed Presence Thou hast called me out of the World plac'd thine Image upon me enabled me to make it my Business though with many Imperfections to serve and please and honour Thee Oh Receive me to the fulness of thy Love and Grace and present me faultless before the Presence of thy Glory with exceeding Joy. Amen Holy Father be it unto me according to thy Word through the Merits and Intercession of my Alsufficient Saviour Jesus Christ the Faithful 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 delightful are the Thoughts of thy Benefits O Lord how great is the sum of them Should I count them they are more in number than the Stars Shall I not observe and consider them maintain a grateful sense of them and publickly acknowledg them on all occasions that I may Bless the Lord at all Times and his Praise 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 thereby to make the outgoings of the Morning and the Evening to rejoice 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 Almost 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 though 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 Therefore I will praise the name
of God with a Song and will magnify him with Thanksgiving and never forget his benefits With which Sacrifice he is better pleased than with an Ox or Bullock that hath horns and hoofs He hath prolonged my Life this last Year when so many others of his more useful Psalm 69. v. 30. 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 enjoy'd To his Bounty I am indebted for all that I now have and must depend upon it for whatever I can hereafter expect Through Infancy and Childhood he was pleas'd to preserve me favouring me with many advantages in my Birth and Education providing for me a Competent Livelihood disposing the Circumstances of my Condition Relations Places of Abode c. more advantageously than he hath done for Thousands affording me many Helps for the Improvement 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 yield 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 through Ignorance or Inadvertency I did not apprehend or Fear When I knew not which way to turn he hath made my Path plain Under sinking Disappointments he hath commanded Succor and been a present Help in the time of Trouble In Great Perplexities his Eye hath been my Guide and his own Arm hath brought Salvation it may be by the Ministry of his Holy Angels obeying his order and giving unusual Intimations of very great and otherwise unsuspected Dangers or sending Relief and Deliverance by such small unlikely and unexpected Means as carried the name of God visibly ingraven on them Innumerable Calamities he saves me from which others groan under and as many Blessings am I favour'd with whereof they are destitute He Spreads my Table and fills my Cup and gives me All Things richly to enjoy when many Excellent Persons of whom the World is not worthy are fed with the Bread of Affliction and the Water of Affliction Others have only Necessaries or but few Conveniencies in Comparison with the Plentiful Provisions God hath made for my Chearful Obedience to Him. And shall I not Praise Him for (a) Deut. 33. v. 13 14. the precious Things of Heaven the blessings of the Earth the dew and the deep and more especially for the Good-will of Him who dwelt in the Bush to sanctify and sweeten all Whereby Common Mercies become the pledge and fore-runner of better Things as the fruit of his Special Kindness the witness of his Truth and the seed of Peace and Joy and Righteousness and Praise by reason of his Blessing on all that I possess which otherwise would prove a Snare and a Temptation and be intermixt with a Curse And besides the ordinary and Continued Bounty of every Day in the midst of how many Difficulties and Dangers have I felt the dear obligations of his Preserving Mercy abroad and at home in Foreign Countries as well as my own in the midst of Enemies and among Friends in all Places and at all Times He hath prolonged my Health or made my Bed in Sickness He hath often granted the Desires of my Heart when ever it was for his Glory and contradicted my Wishes and disappointed my Endeavours in other Instances when it was more to my Advantage From how many Mischiefs hath he sav'd me by such Things as I deprecated and would have hinder'd How many Evils hath he turn'd for Good He hath heard my Cry in the day of Adversity and set my feet in a large Place He hath Chasten'd me for my Profit His Rod and his Staff have comforted me He hath spoken comfortably to me in the Wilderness Affliction hath been useful and necessary Physick made an Instrument of Vertue and so a token of his Love. Therefore (a) Psalm 89. v. 1. I will sing of the Mercy of the Lord for ever and with the voice of Thanksgiving will I make known his Faithfulness He hath all along conducted me by his Wisdom guided me by his Providence and the Angel of his Presence hath directed my Path and ordered all my Goings He hath been a Cloud to me by Day and a Pillar of Fire by Night he hath helped me in my Straits and supply'd my Wants and comforted me in all my Sadnesses His powerful and gracious Presence hath been my constant Guard and his Soveraign never-failing Goodness hath compast me about with Mercy on every side For which O most Merciful Father my Soul and all that is within me desires to speak thy Praise The advantagious Circumstances of many divine Favors do raise their value and deserve to be particularly observ'd and acknowledged How suitably how seasonably how wisely hath he conferr'd his Benefits with what Tenderness and Kindness with what Freedom and Readiness Of his own bounty and good will without any Necessity or Obligation on his Part without any Desert and Sometimes without so much as a Prayer on mine And what is more notwithstanding my Ingratitude and Forgetfulness of Him and great Provocations heightned by the abuse of so much Mercy demanding nothing after all in requital of so much Kindness but my Acceptance of his Love and grateful sense of his Goodness and the sweetest and most reasonable Expressions of it by Thankful Obedience More especially would I bless the Lord for Inlightning my mind in the Great Mysteries of Religion disposing in wonderful Wisdom the several means and methods whereby he brought me to the Knowledg of the Truth by Parents Ministers Friends Acquaintance Books Afflictions c. Beginning with me in Childhood awakening and cultivating the inbred Notions of God and natural Religion of Good and Evil Rewards and Punishments by the careful Instructions of Parents or others concern'd in my Education giving me the advantage of Good Examples Counsels and Encouragements to know and do well with more assistance and less hindrances and diversions than to many Others Particularly for the Excellent Privilege and inestimable Blessing of his Holy Word and Sacraments the liberty of the Christian Religion in the Purity of it in most of those Places
New Heaven and a New Earth in this However I rejoyce in Hope and pray incessantly for the Resurrection of the Witnesses and the rebuilding of Sion and the more plentiful effusion of the H. Spirit the great comprehensive Promise of the later Times to effect a glorious Kingdom for Christ on Earth and my Faith assures me I shall hereafter see the Son of God revealed from Heaven cloathed with Majesty sitting on a Cloud leading the Heavenly Host raising the Dead by his powerful Voice summoning all the World to appear to Judgment gathering his Elect and finally destroying Death and him that had the Power of it the Devil condemning the wicked to Everlasting Destruction but acquitting honouring and rewarding his poor Members with infinite and Eternal Blessedness XV. Of Dying in a Foreign Country and of Dying Young. Considerations proper to Reconcile the Mind to both I May not live to the end of this Year God in his Providence having called me abroad I may never see my Native Country more Let me still remember O my Soul that wherever I am I am travelling towards the Grave and passing to another World that I may live in all Places as a Pilgrim and Stranger here on Earth with Affections suited to my condition becoming one who is travelling in a Strange Land. Let me bear the Inconveniences I may meet with in this World as Strangers in their Travels are wont to do Let me not repine at the ill accomodations of an Inn where I am to lodge but a night or two but encourage my self with the assurance of better Entertainment at home when my Pilgrimage is ended and my Journey over One of my dearest Holy Friends and Fellow Travellers whose memory will be ever precious (g) Mr. Thomas Bent who dyed at Geneva May 10. 1683. with those who knew him quickly arrived to his Journeys end and is entred into Rest betimes Which of his Companions shall next follow we know not or how soon Lord make me apprehend the nearness of my change in every place and if I am prepared for dying no matter where it be There is no one Country farther from the Presence of God than another The whole World may be considered as one Great House and the several Kingdoms and Countries of it but as different Apartments in the same House and they who tarry at home are no more exempt from Death than they who travel abroad The Earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof I can go no where to be out of his Territories I shall still tread upon my Fathers's Ground I had rather be an Israelite in a Wilderness with the Presence of God than a Courtier in Idolatrous Aegypt Abraham the Father of the Faithful and the friend of God was banished from his own Country and should I never set foot again on my native Soyl there is no reason of murmuring against my God who hath dealt thus with many of his Favourites And while I have been in a strange Land he hath not suffered me to feel the wants and necessities and heart of a Stranger Among a People of a strange Language he can and doth provide for me all things richly to enjoy I may set up my Ebenezer Hitherto hath God supplied all my wants The Presence of my Gracious Father is every where the same in some measure Blessed be my God I have hitherto found it so And may I not rejoice in God in a Desert though all the World should forsake me though all the World should be against me Should I have no other Friend or Helper is not God an infinite God Enough and without his Favour and Presence what can all this World do for me If I am sick and in danger of Death among my Relations and Friends if the comforts of the Almighty do not refresh and delight my Soul they cannot and if I want not these in my last Agonies no matter in what part or corner of the Earth I breath my last If the word and promise of God be my Foundation an holy Hope my Anchor Christ my Pilot and Heaven my Country I shall not fail of being landed there at last Suffer me not to forsake thee O Heavenly Father while I live and do not thou forsake me in my last Hour and let it come when and where thou wilt If my blessed Saviour will receive my departing Soul at Death I am not sollicitous in what Country or part of the Earth it be And that I may not be unwilling in the flower of my Age and Time in Youth and Strength to leave this World let me think often that no one age or part of Life is more priviledged against the stroke of Death than another If I have done my work betimes as my deceased Fellow Traveller had is it not better to receive the Blessed Recompence than to tarry longer 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 should render this World so desirable where God is so dishonoured where I am so often tempted to displease him and so often yield to such Temptations And may I not fear lest I should fall into such scandalous and grievous sins that may bring a publick reproach on the Gospel of Christ and sadden the Hearts of all my Acquaintance who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity By dying early I shall contract less guilt and commit less Sin and see and feel less Sorrow than others who live longer And tho' I should maintain 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 daily meet with that deaden my Heart to Heavenly Contemplations and Affections What disappointments and sorrowful disasters to convince me that 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 do 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 Pity A Burthen to themselves and to all about them And which commonly happens may I not then be as unwilling to dye as at present As loth 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