the End of all things with us did it Determine and Annihilate our Beings it would be so far from becoming affrightful to the Wicked and Impenitent that they would rather gladly Welcome it as the Rescuer of them from what they most seared a Penal Retribution for all their heinous Provocations in this Life but the Consideration that the first Death is only an Inlet unto a Beginning of the Second which is never to have an End Oh how must this prove doubly affrighting to the Person unprepared for the Temporal and therefore obnoxious to the Eternal Death both reluctant Nature and Guilt causing him to Dread it The acute Dolours of an expiring Sinner's Body make him Wish to Dye but then the more torturing Terrors of his awaken'd Conscience urge him to retract those Wishes and to fear nothing more than a Dissolution which will bring him to Judgment and Eternal Condemnation and thus the Dyeing Impenitent is rackt and tortured between contrary Desires and Choices the Guilty Agonies of his Mind pain him more than all the Convulsive Severities of his Disease so that they Anticipate his Hell on Earth and give him to feel some of its Torments before he goes hence to Experience them in in the Gross But with the Righteous Godly Person it is not so Death indeed to him may look at first somewhat affrightful it being an abhorrence to Nature a forcible Separation of Soul and Body those Dear Companions but then being prepared for Death he living in a continual pious Expectation of it Faith Animating and Confirming Faith strips in his sight that King of Terrors of all his Dâ—smaying Gastliness shews him with his Sting the Guilt of Sin totally pull'd out by the satisfactory Sufferings of our Saviour bids the Good Man walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death and fear no Evil Gives him a Delightsome Prospect beyond the Grave Admonishes him to look forward to that Immortal Life and Joy and Glory set before him and in fine Represents to him a blessed Reunion of Soul and Body at the General Resurrection never to part never to be separated again Death to such a one is as a Welcome Night of Repose after the hard Labour and Toil of the Day They Rest from their Labours says the Scripture 'T is as the Enjoyment of the Promised Land after a forty Years wearysome Wandring in the Wilderness nay 't is infinitely more 't is the Introduction into an Heavenly Canaan and Oh how Transporting must it be to have Shot the periâ—lous Gulph of Death and to be safely Landed on the Eternal Shoar To look back with Pleasure on the Wrecks and Dangers we have happily escaped and to find our selves all on a suddain surrounded with New unexperienc'd unheard of and before unconceivable Enravishments Oh who would not Gladly Dye to become Possessor of such an Inheritance who would not gladly Live in perpetual Mortification here to be made Partaker of such Infinite Delights in a Future State Oh Our Life which we falsly so call deserves not so Good a Name Our Life on Earth is but a Death compared with the Eternal Life and Blessedness Above They only Live who being freed from the Fetters of the Body from the corruptible Principles of Mortality are out of a Capacity of Dying any more and enjoy the utmost Delights with a full Assurance of ever enjoying them But here in the midst of Life we are in Death not only â—â—â—ble thereunto but in an Actual Tendency towards it We draw in Vital Aire only to breath it out again and sleep the liveliest Image of Death is the best Repairer of our Life by reason of which frequent Repairs our Life seems no other than a successive Living and Dying Nay our very Health the height thereof what is it but the next step to a Declination into Sickness many times an immediate Cause and Occasion thereof for when the Blood runs highest thence often proceeds a Feavour and too Great a Quantity of Spirits may prove fatal as well as the want of them Just as an House may fall opprest with too much bulk and weight as well as through Weakness and Slightness of Building Ah then that Men who live in continual Hazard of Dying should yet demean themselves with such careless Security as if they were ever to Live Ah that upon this moment for ought we know may Depend our happy Eternity and yet we squander away whole Days and Years in Vanity O when shall we become wise and consider profitably our Latter End When shall we so number our perishing days as to apply our hearts unto Godly Wisdom Time passes on though we mind it not improve not its passing Time passes on and brings us every instant the nearer to Eternity O how ought we to take care that it bring us to an Eternity of Blessedness That the end of our Days prove to us the end of our Hopes even the Salvation of our Souls Alass what Vanity of Vanities what meer Nothings at the hour of Death will all things here below appear unto us which Now look so charming and take off our minds and endeavours from providing for our happy Departures How then will all our pursuits all our possessions of Honour of Riches and Pleasure appear as a Dream as a vanishing Shadow so that we shall at that time account the wisdom of this world folly and madness shall wish wish Earnestly that with all our other Gettings we had Gotten more Religious Understanding had layd up larger Comfortable Treasures of a good Conscience had been as industrious for the Concerns of another Immortal Life as for those of this vain Transitory one Let us therefore take Advice of Death in time of health Death is a faithful Counsellor and will not Deceive will not flatter us and seeing 't is necessary for us to Dye one time or other and as necessary unto Dying well that we often meditate upon Death let us make it the frequent Subject of our thoughts and in such manner view things Now as they will certainly appear to us at our near approach towards Death O may we not live in such a state wherein we would be unwilling to be Surpriz'd by Death unwilling to be call'd to Dye before we have lived to any good purpose but may we through the Spirit mortifie the Deeds of the Body that we may be made Alive unto God What we would wish were done when Dying let us do that Good and vertuous work at present and what wish were undone then let us shun that wicked performance now or if performed undoe it by Repentance before our latter End overtakes us So shall we be Ready for Dying so shall the Day of our Deaths appear better to us than the day of our births we coming into the world crying as born to Labour and Sorrow but going out of it Rejoycing as assured to find Rest and Ease and Enravishment of Soul Amen blessed Saviour Thou Resurrection and the
be over-purchased we cannot do too much for such a far more exceeding and endless weight of Glory and the more we do in Holy Services the Greater in all Likelihood will be our future Recompence of Reward By instantly beginning to live well we shall render the work the easier shall be better disposed to it our selves and shall have less to Repent of and Reform but the longer we delay Redeeming our time the Greater and more Difficult undertaking shall we find it when we set about it Every man has his Religious Task appointed him at his coming into this World to discharge before his Going out of it and each day has its peculiar Godly work and business assign'd it wherefore if we imprudently omit the proper employment of this day we shall have so much the more to do to morrow both this days Religious work and to morrow 's also Since then sufficient unto its own day is the vertuous Task thereof let us not through our present Omissions double and multiply our future pious Pains and Labours encrease by delays of Redeeming Time our work of Salvation and diminish at the same instant our strength and ability to perform it with So much Time as we have lost in the neglect of Piety and Vertue so much have we lost of our increase of future Happiness and of our weight of Eternal Glory and can we be content to loose yet more of it Can we be content through our mispence of Time to hazard the whole of Everlasting Blessedness Time present is our only state of Trial and Probation the After-Life determines our Condition to either Everlasting Happiness or Misery and therefore we ought to improve to the utmost instant Opportunities and to work out our Salvation to Day while 't is call'd to Day For our Religious Work is large and difficult the putting off a whole Body of Sin the putting on the whole Armour of Righteousness the subduing old evil habits a contracting by the Grace of God in Conjunction with our Endeavours new Vertuous habits the improving them into a Second Nature into a participation of the Divine Nature and Likeness All this we have to do in the short space of our Mortality in a Life but a Span long and therefore ought to supply our Poverty of Time by its frugal Well-management and by the Intenseness of our Affections and Services God-ward Making up in Industry and Zeal what we want in Time and obeying God universally chearfully fervently and constantly unto the End But oh the quite contrary Practice of the Generality of the World who are forward to improve every thing but Time which most of all requires improvement who pursue eagerly every Advantage but the Highest one their Eternal Salvation Ah doubtless he is unworthy of Eternal Life who seeks it not diligently as for hid Treasure who lives not to God and his own Soul Certainly he is unworthy to win the Prize of Heavenly Glory who runs so carelesly as if he matter'd not whether he obtain'd it or no! All that Time is but wasted whereof no part is spent in the Concerns of Religion The Prayer O Eternal God who wast before all Time and shalt continue to be when Time shall have an End in whose hands are the Issues and Disposal thereof seeing time past cannot be Recall'd by us cannot be lived over again Grant that we may Redeem it by a double diligence and improvement of the Remaining Season We improve O Lord every thing else O give us Grace to husband well our Time also we put out our Moneys to Interest we Till and Manure our Grounds we watch and make our best of every opportunity of growing Rich O cause us likewise to put out the precious Talent of Time to Interest cause us to Till and Cultivate our Souls that they may fructifie with saving Graces make us to be intent upon and manage to the best opportunities of growing wise unto salvation of becoming Rich in Faith and Good Works Convince us that unless we Redeem Time the Redemption purchased by our Saviour will nothing avail us Convince us that Time is the only season wherein to make provision for a blessed Eternity O may the dying man's wish the dying man's Good Resolution more Time better improvement of it might it be afforded him be the study of us Living men be our most constant care and exercise Give us to consider holy Father what one of the damned would give but for one more of those Probationary days which we squander away without any due regard or vertuous improvement Give us to consider that the abuse or neglect of Time will occasion us if persisted in a sad and mournful Eternity full of bitter Regrets and stinging Self-condemnations Ah gracious God do we live upon Moments Is each minute's Preservation a kind of Creation and yet do we make light of and trifle them away Ah wretched Triflers with our own safety and Everlasting Salvation Convince us convince us good Lord that the Day-time of our Lives is far spent that the short Remainder is hazardous and uncertain that the Night of Death may be nigh at hand and let these convictions cause us to walk as Children of the Day not in the evil works of Darkness but in employing well our Time and other Talents that we may not fall into the condemnation of the slothful and wicked Servant O suffer us not to fold our hands to sleep in the midst of so many and great spiritual Dangers wherewith we are encompass'd but make us to be intent on all Religious opportunities Since our days O Lord are but few upon Earth cause us by walking circumspectly to Redeem the time that they may not be Evil likewise or unprofitable Are holy Jesu Death and the Grave Judgment and Eternity not far from us and yet are we far from being ready prepared for them Live we as if we were to live always As if this was the only life and no future one to be expected O cause us to shake off this our careless security cause us to give all diligence to make our Calling and Election sure May the time past of our lives suffice ah far too much was it to have been mis-spent in sin and vanity wherefore for the time to come make us industrious and always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as we know that our Labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. O Grant that every moment of time present may be precious unto us because the Interests of our precious immortal Souls depend upon it make us so well to improve Time as that it may be the securing unto us of an happy Eternity Amen Amen Meditation III. On the Folly and Danger of deferring Repentance TO delay present Repentance in hopes of future Conversion is alike imprudent as for a sick Man to neglect the present use of Medicines in hopes of future Health and Recovery whenas by his neglect of Remedies he in
Life Amen Amen The Prayer O Holy Jesu thou Lord of Life and Glory who by thy Death hast overcome Death and open'd unto us the Gate of Everlasting Life at the hour of Death and in the Day of Judgment Good Lord Deliver us Grant that the End of our life on Earth may be the Beginning to us of a blessed Eternity in Heaven that the Second Death the never-ceasing one may have no Dominion over us but that when we discontinue Living with men we may dwell with thee our God and Converse with all the blessed Society Above Grant Heavenly Father that when we come to lye on a Death-bed we may be able to look backward with Comfort and Consolation on a well spent Life and forward with a bright prospect of Glory and Immortality beyond the Grave that when we are nigh unto Death and our bodyly strength Languishing our faith and hope may Revive and become vigorous and we may then feel the joyous Approaches of that Salvation which we before had wrought out with fear and trembling We know O Lord that 't is appointed for all men once to Dye and that no one can rescue his life from the pit of Destruction and yet do we live as if we had made an Agreement with Hell and had an unforfeitable Lease of our lives O give us to Dye unto sin Now that we may sleep in Christ at our Departure and be Awaken'd be Rais'd to life again in the Restitution of all things Afford us some Refreshing beams of the Light of thy Reconciled Countenance when passing through the dark valley of the Shadow of Death grant that we may then fear no evil but may have the Testimony of a Good Conscience which may be a supporting Cordial to our weak and fainting Spirits Grant that we may not live in such an unprepar'd state of Soul as that we should be afraid to Dye and Appear before thy Judgment seat but cause us so to Demean our selves as that the Sting and Terrour of Death Sin may be taken away before Death it self lays hold on us that when it comes we may welcome it with Smiles and Gladness may lift up our heads with Joy at our hastening Dissolution as knowing that then the time of our Redemption draweth near Be Thou present with us at the hour of Death O blessed Jesu who sufferedst Death for us upon the Cross by the vertue of that thy precious Death Sweeten we beseech thee the bitterness of ours When our Eyes shall be Darkned in the Agonies of Death kindle in our hearts the Light of saving Faith when our Speech shall fail and leave us O do thou speak Inwardly unto us by the Comforts of thy Spirit and grant that we may speak mentaily unto Thee by Devoul Sighs and Groans which cannot be utter'd when we are nigh unto the End of our Days may we be nigh the end of our Hopes even the Salvation of out Souls O give us in our last Exiremities Joy in believing Hope in our Latter End humble Resignation of our Spirits into thy hands an holy Contempt of this Earth an Enflamed Love of Heaven Longing desires to be with Thee with our Saviour christ with Angels and Glorified Saints which is much better than being here Amen Amen for thy Mercies sake Meditation XVII On the Last Judgment MEthinks I view the Judge of the whole Earth Terrible and yet Gracious coming in the Clouds of Heaven with all his Glorious Retinue of holy Angels methinks I hear the Arowzing Call of the last Trumpet see the innumerable Dead take the Alarm Awake Move and Rise at its all-powerful Summons I behold methinks the Righteous Rising first with Smiles and Exultation in their Faces as knowing that their Redemption that the Reward of all their Pious Labours draweth near I behold also the ungodly Rising Last and yet even then most unwillingly shaking and trembling for fear of their approaching Tryal and Condemnation Heaven above Threatning them Hell beneath Gaping wide for their Reception I bâ—hold too the Court-Book of an Universal Registry open'd each Mans Indictment and Accusation publickly Read his own Conscience the while bearing Witness and either Accusing or Excusing him in that fearful Judgment I hear methinks the Decisive Sentence 〈◊〉 ronourced of either Eternal Happyness or Misery of either come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepar'd for you before the foundations of the World or else of Depart from me ye Accursed into Everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Oh the different Effects these different Sentences have on the Persons they are directed unto The Righteous receive their Sentence with Joy and Acclamations with transporting Thanks and Hallelujahs with an humble Admiration that the Recompence of their finite Defective Services should be a far more Exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory The ungodly Reprobates entertain their Doom with hideous Howlings and Lamentations with heart-piorcing Sorrows and Affrightments with fruitless desires to return again into their Graves or to be perfectly destroyed and Annihilated Come ye blessed O Delightsome sound O wellcome hearing wellcome especially from the moâ—â—â— of our Judge Come There is no need sure of a pressing Invitation to accept of so much Bliss and Happyness behold they Run they draw near upon the first Intimation of it they fly with haste into the possession of their Eternal Inheritance They now please themselves in the Remembrance of their former Godly Sorrows Mortifications and Self-denyals which through the Mercy 's of God and Merits of their Saviour have procured them such an exceeding Great Rejoycing All their former Tears dry up at the sight of their Glorious Redemption and they would not for a World but they had Denyed themselves in the Life past that now in the Resurrection of the Just they may be own'd and Approved of by their Advocate and Acquitter Depart ye Cursed blessed Lord whither should they depart Can they Goe any where where thou art not present who sillest all things tho' they descend into the Deep and remain in the uttermost parts of the Sea yet Thou art there though they make the Darkness of Hell their hiding-place yet thou art there also thine Omniscient Eye shall even there find them out and thine Almighty Arm shall punish them Depart from Me A Dâ—parture from thy Beatifick presence O God must needs render the Departed Accursed for Thou art all that 's Good the Loss therefore of Thee is an Universal Loss Thou art the Center and Rest of the Soul and therefore to be separated from Thee must be the most unquiet and miserable Condition imaginable A Departure from the Joyous Light of thy Countenance O blessed Jesu who only hast the words of Eternal Life can certainly be no other than Eternal Death One would have thought indeed that to be Deprived of Thy Sight might have been punishment enough without the Damneds Entrance in Hell-flames and tortures but that besides the mental Anguish for their
thy allowance of Grace and the opportunity of making use of it may be over with thee Which God grant that it may not be Amen Amen The Prayer MOST Merciful Father Patitient and Long-suffering who waitest to be Gracious and yet whose Spirit will not always strive with obstinate impenitent sinners dost Thou O Lord call unto us Behold Now is the Accepted Time behold Now is the Day of Salvation and do we cry to morrow is soon enough some Days or Years hence will be as Acceptable a time as this present one Ah Mad-men that we are Ah foolish Self-deceiving Creatures who should know best the Day of our Salvation Thou our God the Author of it or We Who should know best how Long thy Spirit will strive with us How Long Thou wilt wait to be Gracious O cause us to Day while 't is call'd to Day to hear thy voice and not harden our hearts against thy Invitations to Repentance Convince us blessed Lord in order to a present amendment that 't is some degree of hardening our hearts not to hearken to thy Voice this Day That every continuance in sin is one Advance more towards final Impenitence a rendering our future Conversion the more Grievous and Difficult and our Confirmation in wickedness the Greater and nearer to irretrievable And in a sense of all this make us we beseech thee to Retire out of the ways of Iniquity immediately For would we be willing to be surprized by Death Judgment and Eternal Torments in an Impenitent State Would we be willing to be summon'd before thy Judgment-seat to give an Account of our Stewardship before our Accompts are duely Stated and made up If we would not O cause us then to give all Diligence at present to make our Calling and Election Sure to work the Religious work for which we were sent into this World while 't is Day before the Night of Death cometh wherein 't is impossible to work out our Salvation Is there Lord any one of us but would willingly Repent and turn unto Thee sometime before he Dyes because otherwise he knows he cannot be saved but who of us can be sure he shall Repent before Death that delays the work till to morrow For who can tell what a Day may bring forth Cause us therefore Gracious God to live every day as if it were to be our last for that we know not but it may be such Cause us to live so at present as we shall wish we had done when we come to Dye O grant we may not Dye with any Guilt upon our Consciences or any known sin unrepented of Grant that we may not put far from us the Evil Day and thereby flatter our selves into a state of impenitence and endless Destruction but give us Grace to use well the means of Grace and improve the opportunities of Salvation while they are mercifully afforded us lest we provoke thee our God to swear in thy wrath that such obstinate sinners shall never enter into thy Rest Let holy Father the uncertainty of the time of our Saviour's coming to Judgment either to the universal one or that of each particular person soon after his Death make every one of us live in a continual Readiness and Preparation for it that we may not have our Oyl of Grace to seek our Lamp of an holy Conversation to Trim and Replenish when we should enter in with the Bridegroom of our Souls Christ Jesus into his Marriage-Feast But grant that at what Season soever our Lord comes to call us to an Account of the Talents committed to our trust he may behold all our Debts to his Divine Justice ready Cancell'd by our Repentance through the Merits of his Blood and finding us perseveringly employ'd in Good Works he may say unto us Well done Good and Faithful Servants Enter ye into your Master's Joy Amen blessed Jesu Amen Meditation IV. On the Malignity and Evil Nature of Sin O Sin how common art thou and yet how little understood How Common and therefore how little Dreaded and Abhorr'd Did men consider and understand thee more they would sure Love and Practice thee Less Alass they consider not thy direct opposition to God's Soveraign Authority Rectitude of Will and purity of Divine Essence thy contrariety to the Laws of Nature of Reason and of Grace How thou art a Violation of God's Revealed Will and Pleasure in the Sacred Scriptures Writings which contain nothing but precepts Holy Just and Good and which consequently 't is our greatest Interest and Advantage as well as Bounden-Duty to observe and our greatest Disadvantage as well as Disobedience to break and violate They consider not Sin how opposite thou art to their own Personal Welfare and Happiness Temporal Spiritual and Eternal how Degrading and Defiling to their Souls and Consciences what an Ignominy and Reproach to our Understandings what a Violence and Affront to our Reasons what a perversion and wrong-byass of our Wills and Affections what a cause of Regret and Disquietude of Mind to those who voluntarily Commit thee how offensive to God how injurious to Man how prejudicial to the Common Order Peace and Prosperity of the Universe What an ungrateful Return thou art to the Divine Goodness Patience and Forbearance how thou art an offering despite to the Spirit of Holiness a Grieving a Quenching a total Driving it away from us a Crucifying afresh the blessed Son of God a Treading him under foot and accounting the Blood of the New-Covenant an unholy thing a Rejection of all the Merciful Terms and offers of Gospel-Reconciliation a rendering the means and instruments of begetting Grace in us ineffectual a choosing Death Eternal Death rather than Life Eternal Life a wilful Treasuring up of Wrath against the day of Wrath and Revelation of the Righteous Judgment of a provok'd offended Deity All this and much more the Commission of known voluntary Sin implies and can we be so irrational so Vile and Dis-ingenuous so even like Beasts before God as to continue practicing vicious Impurity with Greediness after having thus weigh'd and consider'd how Evil how bitter and Lothsom a thing it is Oh is there no knowledge no understanding in the Workers of Impiety is there no Shame no Fear no Regard in them to their Everlasting Salvation that they drink down Iniquity like Water and Rush into the occasions of their own Ruin into the performance of all Wickedness as the War-Horse rusheth into the Battle fearlessly and inconsiderately Ah Vice how stupifying a thing art thou What a polluter first of our Souls and Consciences and after long Custom of sinning what a layer of them Asleep what an hardener of our hearts through thy continued and dayly advancing deceitfulness Thou Wickedness art pleasurable indeed in the Act but alass how transient the Act how vain and inconsiderable the pleasure whereas the after-Memory of thee is tormenting and much more exquisite much more Durable a Pain than thy vicious Enjoyment was a Delight