my Sin III. O Lord be merciful unto me heal my Soul for I have sinned against thee Call to remembrance O Lord thy tender mercy and thy loving kindness which hath been ever of Old O remember not the Sins of my Youth nor the Offences of riper years but according to thy mercy think thou upon me IV. Cast me not away in the time of Age forsake me not now that my strength faileth me Go not far from me O God my God haste thee to help me Thou O God hast taught me from my youth up until now Forsake me not therefore in my old Age when I am Gray-headed V. The days of our Age are Threescore years and ten and though some be so strong that they come to Fourscore which is a mercy wherewith thou hast Crowned me thy unworthy Servant yet is their strength then but Labour and Sorrow so soon passeth it away and we are gone But Lord suffer me not to go hence in thy Displeasure O suffer not my Sun to go down in thy wrath nor my days to be shut up in the darkness of thine Anger VI. But as thou art pleased to bring me to my Grave in a full Age like as a shock of Corn cometh in his Season so let me be gathered at last like Wheat into thy Heavenly Granary And let mine Age be renewed as the Eagles in thy Kingdom of Glory Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be World without end Amen VII Thou in whose hands are the Keys of the Grave and the issues of Life and Death Thou in whose Power alone it is to kill and to make alive and to bring down to the Grave and to raise up again Thou who hadst Compassion upon Peter's Wives Mother by recovering her out of a Fever Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me whole VIII Thou who didst shew thy mercy to those Daughters of Abraham the Woman that for twelve years together was diseased with an Issue of Blood and another who by the space of eighteen years was so bowed together that she could in no wise lift up her self thou didst loose both these and many more from their long infirmities Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me whole IX Thou who didst restore to Life the young Maiden that was dead Lord if thou wilt thou canst restore me to my Health who am an aged Sinner and a sick feeble Creature Thou canst mitigate my Pains and renew my Strength and lengthen my days For thou makest our Beds in our Sickness and art the Lord of Life and Health and Strength even thou art the Almighty God and the Horn of my Salvation O thou ancient of days X. But Lord as for these outward Blessings I wholly submit my self and them unto thy good Pleasure If it be thy Blessed Will to have the days of my Pilgrimage prolonged upon Earth make me to live always to thy Glory and to my own Souls Comfort as thou dost add days to my years so do thou likewise add Repentance to my days XI But if thou thinkest it more expedient for me that I should die than live then welcome my Death and Dissolution without which there is no entring into Life eternal nor hopes of being with Christ Welcome Jesus who by thy Death hast taken away the Sting of Death Welcome that Cup whereof thou my dear Saviour hast drank before me and which even to the very Dregs thou hast drank off for me XII And therefore I will readily take this Cup of Death which thou hast begun unto me and Praise the Name of the Lord. I will Praise thy Name O sweet Saviour who givest me this Cup of Death the Cup of Salvation I will Praise thy Name who hast born all our Sicknesses for us and all our infirmities XIII I will Praise thy Name who art the Physician of Souls and callest all such unto thee as are weary and heavy Laden that thou mayst refresh them Amongst which great number behold me O Lord thy poor and aged thy weak and sick Servant weary in my Bones and laden with my Sins But Lord I come unto thee in obedience to thy Call and of those that come near unto thee thou castest none out Lord I come unto thee for ease and refreshment XIV O my beloved Saviour Jesus in the midst of the weariness of my Body in the midst of the load and burthen of my Sins in the midst of the Sorrows which are in my Heart O let thy Comforts and Consolations refresh my Soul XV. And when the snares of Death compass me round about let not the Pains of Hell take hold upon me But by all the Merits of thy Nativity Death Resurrection and Ascension I beseech thee to seal unto me in thine own precious Blood and by thy most Holy Spirit the full-Pardon of all my Sins and to admit me who am thy own Purchace to a Participation of thy Glory A Prayer for a Happy End in time of Sickness O Most glorious Jesus Lamb of God Fountain of eternal mercy Life of the Soul and Conqueror over Sin and Death I humbly beseech thee of thy Goodness and Compassion to give me Grace so to employ this transitory Life in vertuous and pious Exercises that when the Day of my Death shall come in the midst of all my Pains of Body I may feel the sweet refreshings of thy Holy Spirit Comforting my Soul and relieving all my spiritual necessities II. Lay no more upon me than thou shalt enable me to bear and let thy gentle Correction in this Life prevent the insupportable Stripes in the World to come give me Patience and Humility and the Grace of Repentance and an absolute renouncing of my self and a Resignation to thy Pleasure and Providence with a Power to perform thy Will in all things and then do what thou pleasest to me only in Health or Sickness in Life or Death let me feel thy Comforts refreshing my Soul and let thy Grace pardon all my Sins Amen Meditation XXIII Thanksgiving for Ease in Sickness or Recovery out of it BLessed by thy Name O Lord for blessing the means which are applyed unto me It is thy hand and the help of thy mercy that thou hast relieved me The Waters of affliction had long since drowned me and the Stream of Death had gone over my Soul if the Spirit of the Lord had not moved upon these Waters and led me forth besides the waters of Comfort II. O spread most gracious God according to thy mercy thy hand upon me for a Covering and also enlarge my Heart with Thanksgivings and fill my Mouth with thy Praise Praise the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me Praise his Holy Name who hath saved thy Life from Destruction and Crowned thee with mercy and loving kindness III. Grant Lord that what thou hast sown in Mercy may spring up in Duty Let my Duty and
Memory of that blessed reward thou hast promised to them that honour and truly fear thee Amen Meditation II. The remembrance of Death a powerful Remedy against Sin THe serious remembrance of Death shakes off all Sense of Vanity and turns Honey into Wormwood and the Expectation of it saith Chrysostom permits us not to be sensible of those Delights and Pleasures which we daily enjoy and indeed what is it not able to perform When duly considered it not only takes Possession of some parts but on the whole Fabrick of Man's Body II. Death spares no Age nor Sex nor bears any respect to degrees of Dignity The Young die as soon as the Old and the Infant may end its few days in the Cradle some may expire their last Breath by Poyson or a Fall others by a slow Rheum or a quick descent of Humours some may lie oppressed with the Waves of Affliction and others may be Thunder-struck from Heaven III. Among so many dubious various and sudden Accidents what Security or what Appetite can we find to sin amidst so many incertainties Therefore since we die daily let us think upon Times Hour-Glass where the Sand empties the upper Glass and fills the lower and consider it is so with Life every moment something slides away the present Life empties and flows into another Nothing here is certain to us not the hour of the Day nor a moment of Time IV. Happy are they who wisely use every day and hour as their last and employ every moment of time towards the securing their Eternity They will with readiness abstain from their wickednesses who believe every hour and moment decreed to be their last Could we bestow on the improvement of our Souls the time we so vainly trifle away our day would be short enough not to seem tedious and long enough to finish our appointed Task V. O vain and fruitless Hope how many dost thou deceive and flatter with thy deluding Promises of old Age and yet cuttest them off in the midst of their years That may happen to one which happens to many How many has Death prevented in the midst of their Excess of wickedness and cut off half the Crime How many fall with a mind full of revenge though with an innocent hand How many have been snatch'd away in the Attempt and have received the due reward of their Impieties many in the very moment of a wicked Action begun have been forc'd to leave their evil Designs unfinish'd VI. Now shouldst thou be in the number of those what hour Nay what moment is more certain to thee than to another who can expect a Crime from such a thought when with that Crime he expects Death and with Death just Punishment No prudent Man will sport in the midst of a Storm or at the brink of a Precipice contrive mischief No man is facetious being unarmed in the midst of his armed Enemies Then how much more supine and careless is he who in the perpetual fear of Death when every hour is dubious every moment uncertain dares presume on those things which procure an unhappy Death to Eternity VII O foolish and unwise Whither do we run on in a full Career and hasten so much to be punish'd for ever Why do we not betimes follow that prudent Council of the Son of Syrach who like a wise School-Master delivers to us this Epithete In all thy works saith he remember thy latter end and thou shalt not sin Prayers against sudden Death ALmighty and everlasting God who at first breathest into Man the Breath of Life whereby he became a living Soul But when thou takest away that Breath he dies and is turn'd again to his Dust from whence he was taken Look upon me I beseech thee in Mercy through the Merits of thy alone Son in whom thou art well pleased and not on my Sins who have in a high manner provoked thy Justice By his agony and bloody Sweat by his bitter Death the Price of my Redemption deliver me from sudden and unprovided Death II. O Blessed Jesu by all thy Labours and Pains by thy precious Blood and sacred Wounds by thy last Exclamations and bitter Crys upon the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit Most earnestly I beseech thee not to hasten my Departure out of this World in thy heavy Displeasure but in thy tender Pity and Compassion remember that I am Dust and Ashes thou hast made me and formed me throughout O do not suddenly cast me Headlong from thee into the Lake that burns with Fire and Brimestone from whence there is no Redemption But Grant me I beseech thee a hearty and sincere Repentance a true sorrow for sin a broken and contrite Heart which thou O God wilt not despise That so living here in thy fear I may at the last die in thy Favour and Praise and Bless thee to all Eternity Meditation III. What Life is LIfe is as a Flower of the Field which in the Morning is green but in the Evening it is dryed up and withered it is as smoke which ascends up and vanisheth to nothing it is a bubble Dust Froth a drop of Dew it is Ice a Rain-bow a wasted Torch a Spring-day a most inconstant April a Spiders-web a slender Stalk a small Cloud a Bladder full of Wind. II. Life is like brittle Glass a tender Leaf a fine Silk Thread a Golden Apple fair to the Eyes but infirm within Many such things may the Life of Man be compared to whose Body is subject to many Diseases and Pains while it lives here and at last to Death it self and then it is so far from being prized and valued that it is not to be endured above Ground but laid to rot in the Earth and become a Feast for Worms III. Poor miserable Mortals what Riches do we seem to heap up what Honours do we invest our selves withal and what Pleasures do we pretend to enjoy Yet all these are but a Dream short and vain They have slept out their sleep and all the Men whose hands were mighty have found nothing says the Psalmist Psal 76.5 O Man thou dreamest thou wert Happy and Blessed But of all those things which you enjoy'd and hoped for what do you retain These were the Dreams of those that wak'd and the meer Toys of Dreamers IV. Life therefore what is it Seek but to know and you soon will find that the time of humane Life is a Point Nature Inconstancy Sense Obscurity And the whole Body a Composure easily corrupted The mind roving and unstable Honours Smoke Riches Thorns and Briars Pleasures Poison and all things appertaining to the Body are like a River which yields both Salt water and Fresh Every thing accommodating the mind is a Dream Life is indeed a Warfare as St. James tells us and the Habitation of a Stranger in a foreign Land The Store-house of innumerable Miseries and Fame after Death is buried
we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5.10 V. Immortal but afflicted Soul canst thou hear all this and not dissolve thy self into Tears When not only in thy Bed of Sickness by a secret Divine Power all those Works which thou hast done be they Good or Evil shall be presented and appear before thee but in that great and fearful day of Account when all Flesh shall come to Judgment All these in Capitals shall appear written before thee VI. Not one Bosome Sin were it never so closely committed subtilly covered or cunningly carried but must be there discovered Adam shall be brought from his Bushes and Sarah from behind the Tent-Door and miserable perplexed Man shall say to his Conscience as Ahab said to Elias Hast thou found me O mine Enemy What innumerable Bills of Inditements then will there be preferred against thee To all which thou must hang down thy Head and plead Guilty VII O how art thou fallen into the Gall of Bitterness and Misery what can the Thoughts and the Imaginations of thine Heart say for themselves but that they have been evil continually What can the words of thy Mouth speak for themselves but that they have been full of all filthiness and obscenity Lastly what can the works of thine hands plead for themselves but that they have been loaden with Transgressions and Iniquities VIII But perhaps thou hast some fond hopes of a Pardon and so like some deluded Offenders by flattering thy self with a vain hope of Life alienatest thy thoughts from thinking of a better Life But do not so deceive thy self for if it be not by saithful Repentance sought for here there is no hope for any Pardon there to be procured nor for any Appeal to be there admitted not one minutes reprieve granted nor one moment of Adjournment of Death's heavy Sentence That severe Sentence of eternal Death Depart from me shall be the Sentence to lose whose Countenance and depart from his Presence is to bring thy Soul into endless Torments The Prayer O My God thou who hast appointed a time for every Man to die and after that to come to Judgment make me to remember my End that fitting my self for it I may cheerfully encounter it and so prepare my self for that Judgment which shall come after it II. O make me walk in thy light now while I have light to walk in and to work out my Salvation now while I have time to work in For time will come unless we walk here as Children of light when we shall have neither light to walk in nor time to work in O inflame my Heart with thy Love and teach me thy Judgments and my Soul shall live Meditation XIV Upon Hell HArk how the Damned cry out that while they were here on Earth they lived better than thou and yet they undergo the Sentence of Damnation thus they tax God's Mercy and indulgence towards thee of Injustice and Partiality Such is those Damned Souls Charity mean time thou livest securely feedest deliciously and puttest the thought of the evil day from thee by walking foolishly in the ways of Vanity II. Little desire then mayst thou have sinful Man to see Death having so little hope of Life after it Had some of those damned Objects who are now lost for ever received those many sweet Visits Motions and free Offers of his Grace those opportunities of doing good and many means of eschewing evil no question but they would have been as ready to entertain them as thou hast been to reject them III. Think with thy self how happy had that Rich Glutton been if he had rewarded poor Lazarus with some few Crumbs from his Table Had it not been far better for him to have given to the Poor all that ever he had To have disrobed himself and exchang'd his purpled Garments for Rags of Poverty than to dwell in everlasting Burnings IV. How happy had that rich Man in the Gospel been if instead of encreasing his Barns he had inlarged his Bowels to the Poor little dreamt he how soon his Soul should be taken from him when he addressed his Care for so needless a Provision His thoughts were so taken up with Building his Barns wider that he never considered How Tophet was ordained of old how it was made deep and large the Pile thereof Fire and much Wood and how the Breath of the Lord like a stream of Brimstone doth kindle it Esay 30.33 V. Turn unto thy self O my Soul and see whom thou canst find in more Danger of falling into that place of Horror than thy self How hast thou bestowed thy time how hast thou employed thy Talent hast thou not laid it up in a Napkin or hast not thou worse improved it by employing it to some ignoble Ends have not many been damned for less than thou hast committed and did it grieve thee to repent of what thou hadst done that thou might'st escape that Condemnation VI. Many a wretched Soul lies there tormented for less Offences than ever thou transacted and hast thou yet turned to the Lord that thou mayst be pardoned It is written in what hour soever the Righteous committeth iniquity his Righteousness shall not be had in Remembrance Ezck. 18.24 Now if the Righteousness of him shall be forgotten by committing iniquity who leaveth what he once loved relinquisheth what he once professed what can we think of the Repentance of that Sinner who returns again to his Sins like the Dog to the Vomit or like the Sow to her wadowing in the Mire VII How many have ascended even up to Heaven and amongst the Stars have built their Nests and yet have suddenly faln from that Glory by glorying in their own Strength and so drench'd themselves into endless Misery And this was the Reason of their lost Estate because they aspired unto that Mountain to which the first Angel ascended and as a Devil descended VIII And canst thou excuse thy self of being one of that number Hast thou not sometimes made a fair shew to the World of plausible Arguments of Piety hast thou not been sometimes like the King's Daughter all glorious without but how soon didst thou lose this Glory and fall from that seeming Sanctity or Holy Hypocrisie into open Prophaneness and Impiety IX And now what will become of me in this extremity the Wages of sin I know is Death a Death that never dieth but liveth eternally where nothing shall be heard but weeping and wailing groaning and howling sorrowing and gnashing of Teeth How grievous then shall be my Anguish how endless my Sorrow and Sadness when I shall be set apart from the Society of the Just deprived of the sight of God deliver'd up unto the Power of the Devils and forced along with them into unquenchable Fire there to remain to all Eternity X. With what dejected Eyes and a
trembling Heart shall I poor Sinner stand expecting the supream Judge when I shall be banished from that blessed Countrey of Paradise to be devoured in the gaping bottomless Pit where I must never have the Prospect of a Glimpse of light nor feel the least drop of Refreshment but be tormented for Millions of years and so tormented as never to be from thence deliver'd where neither the Tormentors become wearied nor they die who are tormented The Prayer O My dear Lord look upon the price of thine own Blood Thou hast bought me with a great Price O deliver thy Darling from the Power of the Dogs remember me in Mercy whom thou hast bought O let me not go down into the Pit neither let the Deep swallow me up II. For who shall Praise thy Name in the Deep or declare thy Power in the Grave of Silence O thou who art a God of infinite Majesty though the Terrors of Death and Torments of Hell encompass me yet art thou my Saviour my Succour and wilt deliver me and my Soul shall live to Praise thee evermore Meditation XV. Upon Heaven O How should I look up to thee that have so provok'd thee O thou Mansion of the Saints thou Portion of the Just thou City of the great King thou Heavenly and most happy Kingdom where thy blessed Inhabitants are ever living and never dying where thy glorious State is ever flourishing and never declining II. I must Confess to my great Grief and Shame that I have no Interest in thee I have unhappily lost thee in losing my Soul by selling it to Vanity I sometimes resolv'd to Play the part of a wise Merchant and to sell all I had for the purchace of one Pearl But I held the Purchace at too dear a Rate and therefore I have deservingly lost the Jewel III. Foolish Sinner couldst thou find any thing of greater weight to entertain thy best thoughts or bestow thy Care than the Salvation of thy Soul Didst thou think it so easie a Task to get Heaven by an earthly Purchace yet hadst thou but taken half so much Pains to deserve Heaven as thou hast done to win Hell Thou mightest have challenged more Interest to Heaven than now thou canst IV. Many Summer Days and long Winter Nights have thy Follies taken thee up And these seem'd short unto thee because thou tookest delight in those short Pleasures of Vanity but to bestow one short hour upon Devotion how many Distractions did that meet withal and how long and tedious seem'd that hour because the Task was wearisome and thy wandring mind was not inclin'd to so serious a work V. And canst thou now think that so Rich a Kingdom would reserve it self for thee when thou wouldst neither knock to be admitted entrance nor seek after so great a Happiness Health thou art well inform'd comes not from the Clouds without seeking nor Wealth from the Ground without digging and yet Heaven thou thinkest is got by sloth but great Prizes are not so purchased VI. For as the Gate of the Blessed is strait and few there be that enter so are our Tribulations many that we may be of that few which may gain Admittance But I hear thee now cry out as one that had some Sense of his Misery and of the loss he has incurred by Sins committed Thou dost now bewail thy past Follies and correct thy self for so great a neglect thou knowest not how to allay thy Passion till Reason inclines thee to this Meditation VII Miserable Sinner I cannot behold this Earth I tread on without blushing nor can I think upon Death without sorrowing the Day of Judgment without trembling Hell without shaking nor of the Joys of Heaven without Astonishment For Earth I loved it so well as the remembrance of Death became sorrowful For by it I understood I was to be brought to Judgment and from thence having no defensive Answer to be hurried down to the place of torment and consequently to forfeit all my Title and interest in Heaven VIII These Meditations ought to make a deep impression upon our Minds for to acknowledge our Infirmities may make us the speedier look for a Remedy and by degrees find a happy Recovery joyn then all thy Faculties and offer up thy Prayer to the Throne of Grace that God in his Mercy would look upon thee The Prayer GRacious God though I am altogether unworthy to lift up my Eyes unto Heaven or to offer up my Prayers unto thee much less to be heard by thee yet for his Merits and Mercies sake who sitteth at thy right hand and maketh intercession for me reserve a place in thy Heavenly Kingdom for me II. Dear Lord in thy House are many Mansions O bring me thither that I may joyn my voice with those voices of the Angels and sing Praises to thy Holy Name who sittest in the highest Heavens for ever World without end Amen Meditation XVI The remembrance of the four last things reduced to Practice I Find my Soul like a dry ground where no water is and wheresoever I turn my self I find Affliction and Misery on all sides surrounding me What shall I do or where shall I fly When I repose my self from the World in some with-drawing Room intending to forget this lower Orb and prepare my self for the Joys of a better Life while I begin to commune with my own thoughts in the secret Chamber of my Heart I become so affrighted with the Representment of those four last Remembrances as I wholly forget what I intended to speak II. My Tongue begins to cleave to the Roof of my Mouth my Moisture is dryed within me those Active Faculties of my Soul leave me And my understanding departs from me O Death how bitter is the Remembrance of thee with Terror thou summonest me and like a surly Guest thou rushest upon me and resolvest to lodge with me then immediately I feel my self wounded and so mortally as not to be cured III. O how my Divine Eye-sight grows dim my panting Breast beats my hoarse Throat ratleth my Teeth grow black and rusty my Countenance grows pale all my Members stiff every Sense and Faculty fails and my wasted Body threatens a speedy Dissolution yet desires my poor Soul to be a Guest though there is cold Comfort to be found in such a forlorn Inn. IV. But what are all these Terrors of Death to the dreadful Day of Judgment when at the voice of the Arch-Angel and sound of the Trumpet all the little heaps of Dust shall rise where none shall be exempted but all judged How terrible in Majesty will that great Judge appear to such as in this Life would neither be allured by his Promises nor awakened by his Judgments V. How doleful will that Echoing voice sound in their Ear Depart from me I know you not And how ready will that officious Jaylor be upon the delivery of this heavy Sentence to cast them into utter darkness a place of endless Torments where
Life is nothing but Vanity and Vexation of Spirit IV. And what can my Thoughts raise from this Or where shall I be comforted it is thy Mercy O Lord is the only expedient that can relieve me thou O Blessed Jesus art unto me Life eternal and by thy Sufferings Death is to me an advantage while my Body sleeps it shall rest secure and that Rest shall be perfectly Blessed I shall rest from Labour Sorrow and Sin my sleep shall be safe and my beatifical Vision happy while my Body sleeps in the Dust my Soul shall awake to Righteousness when my Soul is dismantled of Flesh and Flesh of fading Beauty my Spirit shall be adorned with the Robes of thy Glory V. While my Dust is driven with the wind upon the Surface of the Earth my Spirit shall fly to the highest Heavens then shall my Eyes be opened to behold my Soul with Purity and Perfection no dark Veil of Nature shall obscure me defect of Senses hinder me or foggy Clouds of sin hover over me my Understanding shall be transparent my Affections pure and my Memory perfect I shall there be fully satisfied in beholding the Spirits of just Men made perfect ravished in enjoying the Presence of Angels and Blessed in retaining the Divine Goodness VI. There can be nothing wanting where there is such Perfection where humane Happiness is eternally united to the Blessed Trinity where I am Christ's and Christ is God's and the Holy Comforter abides with us for ever O most splendid Condition of my sinful Body and blessed Change of my immortal Soul the one is sown in Corruption that it may rise immortal the other layeth down Corruption to inherit Glory VII But wretched Sinner even in this Happiness I am still miserable I found out my quiet but neglect to enjoy it Death reaches to me a Crown but I refuse to accept it I am so prone to affect my own unhappiness to delight in Labour and complain of Rest why do I dwell among these Objects of Vanity the World loves me not nor I it and why do I thus doat upon my Enemy with its frowns it afflicts me with its Smiles it betrays me and there is nothing in it but Vanity and Misery VIII Go then out cheerfully O my Soul from this dark Prison of thy Body to that bright Celestial Palace there God is thy Father and Heaven thy Country thou art here Forlorn Poor Wretched and Naked dispossessed of Graces and robbed of Goodness thou hast there large Treasure and of great Price a Heavenly Mansion and a goodly Heritage Christ hath long ago purchased it and is now gone before to prepare it IX Here in this Life thou longest much to behold what thou never sawest but in the other are great and glorious things prepared for thee such as no mortal Eye hath seen Ear heard neither can it enter into the Heart of Man to conceive how earnestly then shouldst thou long to behold them and much more earnestly to enjoy them how willingly should this make thee say with Holy David My Soul is a thirst for God yea even for the living God when shall I come and appear before the Presence of God X. Alas Thou art here my Soul but groping in the dark daily committing Errours and Mistakes every minute stumbling and falling into Sin Shame and Sorrow in great Dangers of the Miseries of humane Life but in greater Danger of eternal Torments XI All that thou canst pretend to know here is to Confess thy self ignorant Thou only knowest things here by their Events but there thou shalt know them in their primitive Causes thou art here tired out in gaining this imperfect feeble and empty Knowledge there thou shalt be delighted in knowing all that is desirable by knowing him in whom are laid up all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge these transitory drops of Joys are full of Bitterness but those Rivers of eternal Pleasures flow from the Fountain of eternal Sweetness Thou hast here the Pomps and Vanities of the wicked World to delight thee but thou hast there a far greater and more exceeding weight of Glory to surround thee thou art here inclosed by the Misery of Life but thou art there enlarged by the Blessedness of Death XII Blessed Lord all this by Grace I know and stedfastly believe and yet carnally I am still blind and ignorant unable to discuss and unwilling to desire those things which belong unto my Peace but when thou with thy precious Eye-Salve shalt once anoint my Eyes and open them to behold the Beauty of thy Heavenly Temple I shall then ardently affect it and unfeignedly long for it I shall then most readily forsake these brittle Walls of frail Mortality to dwell with thee in perfect Holiness and endless Happiness that Frailty may be swallowed up by Immortality and Immortality rewarded by Eternity The Prayer ALmighty God which wert and art to come who hast sweetned and taken away the Sting of Death by thy perfect obedience and hast perfumed the Grave by the Fragrancy of thy blessed Sufferings suffer me not in my last hour for any Pains of Death or Terrours of Hell to fall from thee let me seriously consider that this Life is miserable and that a happy Death is truly Blessed acquaint me every day with the remembrance of it and bless me every hour with an earnest Desire to it that I may with willingness cast off all Sin and Misery and joyfully put on the Robe of Immortality II. Prepare me O Lord for that Blessed hour and in my greatest Agonies and Extremities when all the Comforts of this mortal Life shall fail then Lord Jesus forsake me not neither be thou far from me Moreover give me then that inward Joy and blessed Comfort of thy Holy Spirit that may uphold and comfort me in all the Terrours and Amazements of this dark and obscure Passage in all the dreadful Temptations of the Devil and my own accusing Conscience Let thy Spirit witness to my Soul that I am thy Chosen purifie me and take away my Dross powerfully Protect me by thy saving Grace so shall I assuredly be made a Partaker of thy Heavenly Kingdom Meditation XXII In time of Sickness HEar my Prayer O Lord which I make unto thee upon my Bed of Sickness incline thine Ears unto me in this time of my trouble O hear me and that right soon Behold thou hast made my days as it were a Span long and my Age though it be great in respect of others yet it is nothing in respect of thee for verily every Man living is altogether Vanity II. My days are consumed away like Smoke and my Bones are burnt up as it were a Fire-brand There is no Health in my Flesh because of thy displeasure neither is there any Rest in my Bones by reason of my Sin My wickednesses are gone over my Head and are a sore burden too heavy for me to bear But I will confess my wickedness and be sorry for
Mortification for times of Sickness and old Age when 't will be easie to leave their Pleasures because their Pleasures will leave them yet in the Judgment of God the Son the Word and Wisdom of the Father 'T is the part of a Block-head and a Fool to make Account of more years than he is sure of days or hours XI He is a Sot as well as a Sinner who does adjourn and shift off the Amendment of his Life perhaps till twenty or thirty or forty years after his Death 'T is true indeed that Hezekiah whilst he was yet in the Confines and Skirts of Death had a Lease of Life granted no less than fifteen years long but he deferr'd not his Repentance one day the longer 2 Kings 20.6 XII And shall we adventure to live an hour in an impenitent Estate who have not a Lease of Life promised no not so much as an hour shall we dare enter into our Beds and sleep securely any one Night not thinking how we may awake whether in Heaven or in Hell we know 't is timely Repentance which must secure us of the one and 't is final impenitence which gives us assurance of the other XIII What the Apostle of the Gentiles hath said of wrath may be as usefully spoken of every other provoking Sin Ephes 4.6 Let not the Sun go down upon it Let us not live in any Sin until the Sun is gone down because we are far from being sure we shall live till Sun-rising XIV How many Professors go to sleep when the Sun is gone down and the Curtains of the Night are drawn about them in a State of Drunkenness or Adultery in a State of Avarice or Malice in a State of Sacriledge or Rebellion in a State of Deceitfulness and Hypocrisie without the least Consideration how short a time they have to live and how very much shorter than they imagine XV. Yet unless they believe the y can Dream devoutly and truly repent when they are sleeping they cannot but know they are damn'd for ever if the Day of the Lord shall come upon them as a Thief in the Night and catch them napping in their impieties 1 Thes 5.2.4 2 Pet. 3.10 XVI Consider this all ye that forget God lest he pluck you away and there be none to deliver you Psal 50.22 Consider it all ye that forget your selves that forget how few your days are and how full of Misery Consider your Bodies from whence they came and consider your Souls whither they are going Consider your Life is in your Breath and your Breath is in your Nostrils and that in the management of a moment for the better or for the worse there dependeth either a joyful or a sad Eternity XVII If our time indeed were certain as well as short or rather if we were certain how short it is there might be some Colour or Pretence for the putting off of our Reformation But since we know not at what hour our Lord will come Matth. 24.42 43 44. this should mightily engage us to be hourly standing upon our watch Hab. 2.1 XVIII Next let us consider that if our days which are few are as full of trouble it should serve to make us less fond of Living and less devoted to Self-preservation and less afraid of the Cross of Christ when our Faith shall be called to the severest Tryals XIX O Death saith the Son of Sirach Eccles 41.2 acceptable is thy Sentence to the Needy and to him that is vexed with all things The troubles incident to Life have made the bitter in Soul to long for Death and to rejoyce exceedingly when they have found the Grave Job 3.20 21 22. XX. If the Empress Barbara had been Orthodox in believing Mens Souls to be just as mortal as their Bodies Death at least would be capable of this Applause and Commendation that it puts a Conclusion to all our Troubles XXI If we did not fear him Who can cast both Body and Soul into Hell Matth. 10.27 28. We should not need to fear them Who can destroy the Body only because there is no Inquisition in the Grave Eccles 41.4 There the wicked cease from troubling And there the weary are at rest There the Prisoners lye down with Kings and Councellors of the Earth The Servant there is free from his Master There is sleep and still silence nor can they hear the voice of the Oppressour Job 3.14 17 18 19. The Prayer O Lord God of my Salvation thou hast delivered me from the Captivity and Bondage of Sin and Misery fill my Heart with holy Sorrow and Compunction whenever I trespass against thee and teach me so to deny my self to mortifie my Affections to crucifie my Lusts and all the Temptations of the Flesh that I going on my way Mourning and Weeping despising the Pleasures of this Life may when thy great Harvest shall come and thy Reapers the Angels shall separate the Wheat from the Tares come before thee with Joy and escape everlasting Burnings through the Mercies of Jesus Christ Amen Meditation XXXI The Sick Man's last Will and Testament IN the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost I a poor Sinner of sound and perfect Memory being daily read in the Lecture of Man's Mortality how all Flesh is Grass and the Beauty thereof as the Flower of the Field which this day flourisheth to morrow withereth and that it is every Chriftian's Duty to Prepare himself before Death come lest it find him unprovided at such time as it shall approach II. Moved I say with these Considerations I have here made this my last Will and Testament as followeth First I bequeath my Soul into the hands of my gracious Redeemer by whose most precious Blood I was Ransomed and by whose Merits and Mercies I hope to be Glorified III. And forasmuch as there was no safety out of the Ark nor no Salvation now without the pale of the Church figured by the Ark and that the Tares from the Wheat must be severed And the Sheep and the Goats must not into one Fold be gathered IV. Here in the Presence of God and his Holy Angels for the discharge of my own Conscience and the Satisfaction of others who perchance have in their Opinions been divided doubting much how I in Points of Religion stood affected do I make a free and publick Confession of my Faith Being that Cement by which we are knit unto her and made Members of her V. I believe the Holy Catholick Church to be the Communion of the Faithful whereof I desire to live and die a Member to suffer for which I should account it an Honour holding this ever for a Principle that none can have God for his Father that will not take this Holy Spouse the Church for his Mother VI. There is no Article in the Apostles Creed which I do not believe for Catholick and Orthodoxal with the Exposition thereof and every Clause or Particle thereof in such manner as it hath been universally
benefit when we are deprived of it we have no wrong We are Tenants at Will of this Clay-farm not for term of years when we are warned out we must be ready to remove having no other Title but the owners Pleasure it is but an Inn not an Home we came to bait not to dwell and the Condition of our entrance was in short to depart If this Departure be grievous it is also common this to day to me to morrow to thee and the Case equally afflicting all leaves none any cause to complain of injurious usage XI Natures Debt is sooner exacted of some than of others yet there is no fault in the Creditor who exacteth but his own but in the Greediness of our eager hopes either repining that their Wishes fail or willingly forgetting their Mortality whom they are unwilling by experience to see Mortal yet the general Tide wafteth all Passengers to the same Shore some sooner some later but all at the last and we must fix our minds upon our time when it is come never fearing a thing so necessary yet ever expecting a thing so uncertain XII God hath conceal'd from us the time of our Death leaving us resolv'd between fear and hope of longer continuance He cuts off unripe Cares lest with the notice and Pensiveness of our Divorce from the World we should lose the Comforts of necessary Contentments and before our dying day languish away with expectation of Death XIII Some are taken in their first step into this Life receiving at once their Welcome and Farewel as though they had been born only to be buried and to take their Pasport in this hourly middle of their Course the good to prevent Change the bad to shorten their impiety XIV Who is there that hath any Vertue eternized or deserts commended to Posterity that hath not mourned in Life and been bewailed after Death no assurance of joy being sealed without some Tears Even the Blessed Virgin the Mother of God was thrown down as deep in temporal Miseries as she was advanc'd high in spiritual Honours none amongst all mortal Creatures finding in Life more Proof than she of her Mortality XV. For having the noblest Son that ever Woman was Mother of not only above the Condition of Men but above the Glory of Angels being her Son only without temporal Father and thereby the Love of both Parents doubled in her Breast being her only Son without other issue and so her Love of all Children expired in him as he was God and she the nearest Creature to God's perfections yet no Prerogative exempted her from Mourning or him from dying and though they surmounted the highest Angels in all other Preheminences yet were they equal with the meanest Men in the Sentence of Death XVI And however the Blessed Virgin being the Pattern of Christian Mourners so tempered her anguish that there was neither any thing undone that might be exacted of a Mother nor any thing done that might be mis-liked in so perfect a Matron yet by this we may guess with what kindnesses Death is like to befriend us that durst cause so Bloody Funerals in so Heavenly a Progeny not exempting him from the Laws of dying that was the Author of Life and soon after to honour his Triumphs with a glorious Resurrection XVII Seeing therefore that Death spareth none let us spare our Tears for better uses being but an Idol-Sacrifice to this deaf and implacable Executioner And for this not long to be continued where they can never profit Nature did promise us a weeping Life exacting Tears for Custom at our first entrance and to furnish our whole Course in this doleful beginning therefore they must be used with Discretion that must be used so often and where so many Debts lie yet unpaid which must be satisfied by Tears of Repentance XVIII Since we cannot put a Period to our Tears let us at least reserve them If Sorrow cannot be shun'd let it be taken in time of need since otherwise being both troublesome and fruitless it is a double Misery or an open Folly We moisten not the ground with precious Waters they were distill'd to nobler ends either by their Vertues to delight our Senses or by their Operations to preserve our Healths XIX Our Tears are water of too high a Price to be prodigally poured in the Dust of any Graves If they be Tears of Love they perfume our Prayers making them Odour of sweetness fit to be offered on the Altar of the Throne of God if Tears of Contrition they are water of Life to the dying Souls they may purchase Favour and repeal the Sentence till it be executed as the Example of Ezechias doth testifie but when the Punishment is past and Verdict perform'd in effect their pleading is in vain as David taught us when his Child was dead 2 Kings 11. saying that he was likelier to go to it than it by his weeping to return to him XX. Learn therefore to give Sorrow no long Dominion over you wherefore the Wise should rather mark than expect an end meet it not when it cometh do not invite it when 't is absent When you feel it do not force it for the brute Creatures have but a short though vehement Sense of their Losses You should bury the sharpness of your Grief in the Grave and rest contented with a kind yet mild Compassion neither less decent for you nor more than agreeable to your Nature and Judgment XXI Your much Heaviness would renew a multitude of Griefs and your Eyes would be Springs to many Streams adding to the Memory of the dead a new occasion of Complaint to your own discomfort the Motion of your Heart measureth the beating of many Pulses which in any Distemper of your quiet with the like stroke will soon bewray themselves sick of your Disease XXII The terms of our Life are like the Seasons of the year some for Sowing some for Growing some for Reaping in this only different that as the Heavens keep their prescribed Periods so the Succession of time have their appointed Changes But in the Seasons of our Life which are not the Law of necessary Causes some are reaped in the Seed some in the Blade some in the unripe Ears all in the end this Harvest depending upon the Reapers Will. XXIII Death is too ordinary a thing to seem any Novelty being a familiar Guest in every House and since his coming is expected and his Errand known neither his Presence should be feared nor his Effects lamented what wonder is it to see fuel burned Spice bruised or Snow melted and as little fearful it is to see those dead that were born upon Condition once to die XXIV Night and Sleep are perpetual Mirrours figuring in their darkness silence shutting up of Senses the final end of our mortal Bodies and for this some have entitled Sleep the eldest Brother of Death but with no less Convenience it might be called one of Death's Tenants near unto him in Affinity
Returns to thee be so great as my necessities of thy Mercies are O Let thy Grace so strengthen my purposes of amendment that I may sin no more lest thy threatning return upon me in Anger and thy sore Displeasure break me in pieces IV. What am I O Lord what is the Life and what are the Capacities of thy Servant that thou shouldst do thus unto me Praised be the Lord daily even the Lord that helpeth us and poureth his Benefits upon us He is our God even the God from whom cometh Salvation God is the Lord by whom we escape Death V. In the midst of the Sorrows which were in my Heart thy Comforts O Lord have refreshed my Soul It is thou O Lord who hast made my Flesh and my Bones to rejoyce Behold happy is the Man whom God Correcteth therefore despise not the chastising of the Almighty VI. For he maketh sore and bindeth up he woundeth and his hands make whole In the midst of Judgment he remembreth Mercy Lord thou hast lifted up the light of thy Countenance upon me Yea Lord thou hast put gladness into my Heart O be thou pleased graciously to add Thankfulness to it VII I will lay me down in Peace and take my Rest for it is thou Lord only which makest me dwell in safety O Lord I give thee humble and hearty thanks for thy great and almost miraculous bringing me back from the bottom of my Grave what thou hast further for me to do or suffer thou alone knowest VIII Lord give me Patience and Courage and all Christian resolution to do thee Service replenish me evermore with thy Grace to submit to thy Holy Will and let me not live longer than to Honour thee through Jesus Christ Lord I have been sick and feeble and thou hast recovered my strength I am very aged and greatly stricken in years yet thou art still pleased to add unto my days sanctifie therefore good Lord the remainder of my Life and sweeten unto me the approaches of my Death A Prayer of Thanksgiving MOst Gracious God whose mercy is as high as the Heavens and whose truth reaches unto the Clouds thy Mercies are as great and many as the moments of Eternity thou hast opened wide thy hand of Providence to fill me with Blessings and the sweet Effects of thy loving kindness fill my Soul with great apprehensions and impresses of thy unspeakable Mercies that my Thankfulness may be as great as my necessity of Mercies are II. O Lord thou hast heard my Prayers and hast broken in sunder the Bonds of Sickness and hast delivered my Soul from trouble and heaviness thou hast snatched me from the snares of Death and saved me from the Pains of Hell O let my Soul rest in thee and be satisfied in the Pleasures of thy mercy that when thou shalt call all the whole Universe to judgment from the rising of the Sun to the going down thereof I may in thy Heavenly Kingdom sing Praises to thee for evermore Amen Meditation XXIV Comfortable refreshments at the hour of Death to be used by those who are present GOd so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life John 3.16 If any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the Propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but for the Sins of the whole World 1 John 2.1 2. II. Verily verily I say unto you he that heareth my Word and believeth in him that sent me hath everlasting Life and shall not come into Condemnation but is passed from Death unto Life John 5.24 All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out John 6.37 III. Why art thou so full of heaviness O my Soul and why art thou so disquieted within me put thy trust in God for I will yet give him thanks for the help of his Countenance Psal 42.6 In my Fathers House are many Mansions John 14.2 What things were Gain to me those I counted loss for Christ Phil. 3.7 IV. For our Conversation is in Heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ Who shall Change our vile Body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious Body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself Phil. 3.20 21. I press towards the Mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Phil. 3.14 V. Set your Affections on things above not on things of the Earth For ye are dead and your Life is hid with Christ When Christ who is our Life shall appear then shall ye also appear with him in Glory Colos 3.2.3 In whom we have Redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of our Sins Col. 1.14 VI. If in this Life only we have hope in Christ we are of all Men most miserable 1 Cor. 15.19 For we know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our House which is from Heaven 2 Cor. 5.1 2. For our light Affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding eternal weight of Glory The things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal 1 Cor. 4.17 18. VII I am in a great Strait betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better For to me to live is Christ and to die is Gain Phil. 1.21 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus Phil. 2.5 None of us liveth to himself and no Man dieth to himself For whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we die we die unto the Lord Whether we live therefore or die we are the Lord's Rom. 14.7 8. VIII I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me write from henceforth Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord even so saith the Spirit for they rest from their Labours Rev. 14.13 I am the Resurrection and the Life saith the Lord He that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die John 11. I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth And though after my Skin worms destroy this Body yet in my Flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and my Eyes shall behold and not another Job 19.25 26 27. IX We brought nothing into this World and it is certain we can carry nothing out The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away Blessed be the Name of the Lord 1 Tim. 6.7 Job 1.21 O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory The Sting of Death is Sin
and the Strength of Sin is the Law But thanks be to God which giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 15.55 56 57. Lord now let thy Servant depart in Peace according to thy word and receive his Soul into thy Fatherly Protection Amen A Prayer for a sick Person when there appear small hopes of Recovery O Father of Mercies and God of all Comfort our only help in time of need we fly unto thee for Succour in behalf of this thy Servant here lying under thy hand in great weakness of Body Look graciously upon him O Lord and the more the outward Man decayeth strengthen him we beseech thee so much the more continually with thy Grace and Holy Spirit in the inner Man II. Give him unfeigned Repentance for all the Errours of his Life past and stedfast Faith in thy Son Jesus that his Sins may be done away by thy mercy and his Pardon sealed in Heaven before he go hence and be no more seen We know O Lord that there is no word impossible with thee and that if thou wilt thou canst even yet raise him up and grant him a longer continuance amongst us III. Yet forasmuch as in all appearance the time of his Dissolution draweth near so fit and prepare him we beseech thee against the hour of Death that after his Departure hence in Peace and in thy Favour his Soul may be received into thine everlasting Kingdom through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ thine only Son our Lord and Saviour Amen A Commendatery Prayer for a sick Person at the Point of Departure O Almighty God with whom do live the Spirits of just Men made perfect after they are delivered from their earthly Prisons we humbly commend the Soul of this thy Servant our dear Brother into thy hands as into the hands of a faithful Creator and most merciful Saviour most humbly beseeching thee that it may be precious in thy sight II. Wash it we pray thee in the Blood of that immaculate Lamb that was slain to take away the Sins of the World that whatsoever Defilements it may have contracted in the midst of this miserable and naughty World through the Lusts of the Flesh or the Wiles of Satan being purged and done away it may be presented pure and without spot before thee III. And teach us who survive in this and other like daily Spactacles of Mortality to see how frail and uncertain our own Condition is and so to number our days that we may seriously apply our Hearts to that Holy and Heavenly Wisdom whilst we live here which may in the end bring us to Life everlasting through the Merits of Jesus Christ thine only Son our Lord and Saviour Amen Meditation XXV Of the uncertainties of our Lives and that we ought always to be prepared for Death HOw many ways are there whereby to frustrate the intents and ends of Nature How many are there buried before their Birth how many Mens Cradles become their Graves how many rising Suns are set almost as soon as they are risen and overtaken in darkness in the very dawning of their days how many are there like good King Josias like righteous Abel and Enoch who are taken away speedily from amongst the wicked as it were in the Zenith or Vertical Point of their Strength and Lustre II. It is in every Man's Power to be Master of our Lives who is but able to despise his own nay 't is in every ones Power who can but wink to turn our Beauty into darkness and in times of Pestilence how many are there can look as dead by an Arrow shot out of the Eye into the Heart For one single way of coming into the World how many are there to go out of it before our time I mean before Nature is wasted within us Many are sent out of the World by the Difficulties and Hardships of coming in III. We are easily cut off by eating and drinking the very Instruments and Means of Life Not to speak of those greater Slaughters which are commonly committed by Sword and Famine which yet must both give place to surfeit Death may possibly fly to us as once to Aeschylus in an Eagles Wing or we may easily swallow Death as Anacreon did in a Grape IV. We may be murder'd like Homer with a fit of Grief or fall like Pindarus by our Repose we may become a Sacrifice as Philemon of old to a little Jest Or else as Sophecles to a witty Sentence We may be eaten up of Worms like mighty Herod or prove a Feast for the Rats like him of Mentz V. A Man may vomit out his Soul as Sulla did in a fit of Rage or else like Coma may force it backwards He may perish by his Strength as did Polydamas and Milo Or he may die like Thalna by the very excess of his Injoyment He may be Provender for his Horses like Diomedes or Provision for his Hounds like Actaeon and Lucian Or else like Tullus Hostillius he may be burnt up quick with a flash of Lightning VI. Or if there were nothing from without which could violently break off our thread of Life and which being a slender thread is very easily cut asunder we have a thousand intestine Enenemies to dispatch us speedily from within there is hardly any thing in the Body but furnisheth matter for a Disease VII There is not an Artery or Vein but is a Room in Natures Work-house wherein our Humours as so many Cyclops's are forging those Instruments of Mortality which every moment of our Lives are able to sweep us into our Graves an ordinary Apoplexie or a little Impostune in the Brain or a sudden Rising of the Lights is enough to make a Man Die in Health and may Lodge him in Heaven or Hell before he hath the Leisure to cry for Mercy The Prayer THou didst make us for thy self O Lord and when we by our Sins and Follies had for ever lost thee thou didst restore us to thy self again that we might not be eternally deprived of thee our only good O fill us with perpetual Meditations of thy Love Let those Joys which are so much above our thoughts be ever in them let our inability to comprehend the Happiness of thy Kingdom heighten the Piety of our Ambition after it more that we may walk in some measure worthy of so Divine a Purchace II. Prepare us with all those Heavenly Graces that may entitle us to it and with all those spiritual Desires that may make us breath and long after it that so our Hearts being there before we our selves may come after and being transported in our Desires may be also in our Persons to everlasting Enjoyments and as our Lives are uncertain in this World grant that we may be ready prepared that Death comes not upon us unawares Amen Meditation XXVI On the Frailties of our Lives OUr Houses of Clay as Eliphaz the Temanite fitly calls them Job 4.19 seem as false
and frail as the Apples of Sodom which being specious to the Eye did fall to Crumbles by every Touch. The Frame of our Building is not only so frail but as some have thought so ridiculous that if we Contemplate the Body of Man in his Condition of Mortality and by reflecting upon the Soul do thereby prove it to be Immortal we shall be tempted to stand amazed at the inequality of the Match but to wonder at our Frailty were but to wonder that we are Men. II. Yet sure if We that is our Souls for our Bodies are so far from being Us that we can hardly call them Ours are not capable of Corruption our Bodies were not intended for our Husbands but for our Houses whose Doors will either be open that we may go forth or whose building will be Ruinous that needs we must we cannot by any means possible make it the place for though our Bodies as saith our Saviour are not so Glorious as the Lilies yet saith Job they are as frail III. And by that time with David they wax old as doth a Garment how earnestly with St. Paul shall we groan to be cloathed upon 2 Cor. 5.2 to be cloath'd with New Apparel whilst the Old is as 't were turning For when Christ shall come in the Clouds with his Holy Angels at once to restore and reform our Nature He shall change our vile Bodies that they may be changed like unto his Glorious Body IV. But here I speak of what it is not what it shall be though it shall be Glorious yet now it is Vile though it shall be Immortal yet now 't is fading though it shall be a long Life 't is now a short one it is indeed so short and withal so uncertain that we bring our years to an end like a Tale that is told Psal 90.9 V. Death comes so hastily upon us that we never can see it till we are Blind We cannot but know that it is short for we fade away suddenly like the Grass and yet we know not how short it is for we pray that God will teach us to number our days Psal 90.12 VI. This we know without teaching that even then when we were born we began to draw towards our end Wis 5.13 whether sleeping or waking we are always flying upon the Wings of Time even this very moment doth set us well on towards our Journeys end whether we are Worldly and therefore study to keep Life or Male-contents and therefore weary of its Possession the King of Terrours will not fail either to meet or overtake us VII And whilst we are Travelling to the very same Countrey I mean the Land of Forgetfulness without considering it as an Anti-Chamber to Heaven or Hell although we walk thither in several Roads 't is plain that he who lives longest goes but the farthest way about and that he who dies soonest goes the nearest way home VIII I remember it was a Humour I know not whether of a Cruel or Capricious Emperour to put a Tax upon Child-births to make it a thing exciseable for a Man to be born of a Woman As if he had farm'd God's Custom-house he made every Man Fine for being a Man a great instance of his Cruelty and as good an Emblem of our Frailty our State of Pilgrimage upon Earth IX For we arrive at this World as at a Foreign and strange Countrey where I am sure it is Proper although not Just that we pay Toll for our very Landing and then being Landed we are such transitory Inhabitants that we do not so properly dwell here as sojourn X. All the Meat we take in is at God's Ordinary and even the Breath which we drink is not ours but his which when he taketh away we die and are turn'd again into our Dust insomuch that to expire is no more in Effect then to be honest to pay back a Life which we did but borrow The Prayer THou hast brought us from nothing O Lord that we might see thy Salvation that we who might have been for ever without thee might through the knowledge of thy self be made Partakers of thy Glory II. O enliven us that we may give up our selves wholly to thy Service and perpetually study to do something to the Honour of thy Name that we may not throw away those Souls on the Vanities of the World which thou hast given us for thy self and to be employed in thy Service But that sacrificing our Wills to thine and our Lives to a perfect Love of thee we may find that joy which accompanies thy Grace here and that Glory which knows no end or change hereafter in thy Presence for evermore Amen Meditation XXVII That Death frees us from the Vexations Troubles and Cares of this mortal Life A Short Life and a Merry is that which many Men applaud but as the Son of a Woman hath but a few days to live so even those few days are full of trouble And indeed so they are in whatsoever Condition a Man is plac'd for if he is Poor he hath the trouble of Pains to get the Goods of this World II. If he is Rich he hath the trouble of Care to keep his Riches the trouble of Avarice to encrease them the trouble of Fear to lose them the trouble of Sorrow when they are lost And so his Riches can only make him the more illustriously Happy III. If he lives as he ought he hath the trouble of Self-denials the trouble of mortifying the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts Col. 3.5 the trouble of being in Deaths often 2 Cor. 11.23 the trouble of Crucifying himself Rom. 6.6 and of dying daily 1 Cor. 15.31 IV. If to avoid those Troubles he lives in Pleasure as he ought not he hath the trouble of being told that he is Dead whilst he lives 1 Tim. 5.6 the trouble to think that he must die Eccles 41.1 the trouble to Fear whilst he is dying that he must Live when he is Dead that he may die eternally V. Not to speak of those Troubles which a Man suffers in his Non-age by being weaned from the Breast and by breeding Teeth in his Boy-age and Youth by the bearing the yoke of Subjection and the rigid Discipline of the Rod in his Manhood and riper years by making Provision for all his Family as Servant General to the whole VI. Not to speak of those Troubles which flow in upon him from every quarter whether by Losses or Affronts Contempts or Envying by the Anguish of some Maladies and by the Loathsomeness of others rather than want matter of trouble he will be most of all troubled that he hath nothing to vex him VII In his sober Intervals and Fits when he considers that he must die and begins to cast up the Account of his Sins it will be some trouble to him that he is without Chastisement whereby he knows he is a Bastard and not a Son Heb. 12.8 VIII It will disquiet him not a little
that he lives at rest in his Possessions and become his great Cross that he hath Prosperity in all things Not only the Sting and the Stroak but the very remembrance of Death will be bitter to him So saith Jesus the Son of Sirach Wisd 4.1 Verse 1. The Prayer ANd yet how hardly can we endure even the smallest trouble for thy sake O Lord So insensible are we of thy Goodness so forgetful of thy Power that we do not only in our wants condemn and accuse thy Providence but are ready even to turn Infidels in our misfortunes II. Make us therefore O Lord to see the Vanity both of the World and our own Hearts the Pleasures of it may neither drown nor the Crosses of it deject our Hope or discourage our obedience Let that Glory which thou hast promised to those that conquer the World for thy sake be ever in our Eye that so in what Condition soever we are in we may still be found Crown'd and Triumphing in Faith above all the Troubles and Vexations of this World Meditation XXVIII That many have desired Death rather than Life MAn that is born of a Woman is so full of trouble to the Brim that many times it overflows him On one side or other we all are troubled but some are troubled on every side 2 Cor. 4.8 insomuch that they themselves are the greatest trouble unto themselves and 't is a kind of Death to them they cannot die II. We find King David so Sick of Life as to fall into a wishing for the Wings of a Dove that so his Soul might fly away from the great impediments of his Body He Confessed that his days were at the longest but a Span Psal 39.5 and yet complained they were no shorter III. It seems that Span was as the Span of a withered hand which the farther he stretched out the more it grieved him He was weary of his groaning Psal 6.6 his Soul did pant after Heaven Psal 42.1 and even thirsted after God Verse 2. and he might once more have cryed tho' in another Sense Wo is me that I am constrain'd to dwell with Mesech and to have my Habitation among the Tents of Kedar IV. I Remember that Charedemus compar'd Man's Life to a Feast or Banquet And I the rather took notice of it because the Prophet Elijah did seem in some Sense to have made it good Who after a first or second Course as I may say of living as if he had surfeited of Life Cryed out in haste it is enough and with the very same breath desired God to take away for so saith the Scripture 1 King 19.14 V. He went into the Wilderness a solitary place and there he sate under a Juniper Tree in a Melancholly posture and requested of God that he might die in a very disconsolate and doleful manner even pouring forth his Soul in these melting Accents It is enough now O Lord take away my Life for I am no better than my Fathers VI. And if Elijah's days were full of Trouble how were Job's overwhelm'd and running over with his Calamities when the Terrours of God did set themselves in array against him Job 6.4 how did he long for Destruction Verse 8 9. O saith he that I might have my request that God would grant me the thing that I long for Even that it would please him to destroy me that he would let loose his hand and cut me off VII How did he Curse the day the day of his Birth and the Night wherein he was Conceiv'd Job 3.1 3 4 5. c. Let that Day be darkness let the shadow of Death stain it let a Cloud dwell upon it let Blackness terrifie it And for the Night let it not be joyned to the days of the year Let the Stars of the Twilight thereof be darkned neither let it see the dawning of the Day VIII And what was his reason for this unkindness to that particular Day and Night save that they brought upon him the Trouble of being a Man born of a Woman For we find him complaining a little after Why died I not from the Womb why did I not give up the Ghost when I came out of the Belly Job 3.11 12. IX And then for the Life of our Blessed Saviour who is called by way of Eminence the Son of Man and as his Life was short so it was full of Trouble He was called vir Dolorum a Man of Sorrows and was acquainted with grief Isa 53.3 for the whole Tenour of his Life was a Continuation of his Calamities The Prayer O Lord though perhaps I am not so bad as some yet I am so bad in my self that the Leper in the Gospel is a Beauty to my Soul Lazarus's Corps a Comeliness to my Sores yet were I more impotent than the Cripple of Bethesda more Leprous than the nine whose Ingratitude was more loathsome than their Disease were those Legions ejected by thy word received in me were I as bad as Satan could wish to make me yet I know thy Goodness and I do not doubt thy Power but thou canst cleanse me and ease me of all my Troubles Vexations and Infirmities and bring me at last to thy Heavenly Kingdom Amen Meditation XXIX Of improving our Time IF Man's time be but short it concerns us to take up the Prayer of David Psal 39.4 that God would Teach us to know our End and the number of our days that we like Hezekiah 2 Kings 20.6 may be fully certified how short our time is It concerns us to take up the Resolution of Job 14.2 all the days of our appointed time incessantly to wait till our Change cometh II. It concerns us not to say with the rich Man in the Parable Luke 12.18 We will pull down our Barns and build greater and there we will bestow all our Fruits and our Goods Much less may we say with that other Worlding Verse 19. Souls take your ease eat drink and be merry for ye have much Goods laid up for many years For alas how can we know silly Creatures as we are but that this very Night yea this very minute either they may be taken from us or we from them there is such a Fadingness on their Parts and such a Fickleness on ours III. But rather it concerns us to say with Job Chap. 1.21 Naked came we into the World and naked shall we go out of it Or rather yet it concerns us to say with David Psal 39.12 That we are Strangers upon Earth and but so many Sojourners as all our Fathers were for whilst we consider we are but Strangers we shall as Strangers and Pilgrims abstain from fleshly Lusts which war against the Soul 1 Pet. 2.12 Heb. 11.13 IV. And so long as we remember we are but Sojourners upon Earth we shall pass the time of our Sojourning here in fear And behaving our selves among the Gentiles as a chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood an Holy Nation a peculiar People we shall
hold it yet our Tongues are too stammering to express and utter it Or if we were able to do that yet our Lives are too short to Communicate and reveal it to other Creatures In a word it is such as not only Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard but it never hath entred into the Heart of Man to conceive Incomprehensible as it is 't is such as God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 IV. If we compare this Life with that of Job's which is full of Trouble it will several ways be useful to us for it will moderate our Joys whilst we possess our dear Friends and it will mitigate our Sorrows when we have lost them for it will mind us that they are freed from a Life of Misery and that they are happily translated to one of Bliss Nay if we are true Lovers indeed and look not only at our own Interest but at the Interest of the parties to whom we vow affection we even lose them to our advantage because to theirs V. Lastly it sweetens the solemn Farewel which our immortal Souls must take of our mortal Bodies we shall desire to be dissolved when we can groundedly hope we shall be with Christ we shall groan and groan earnestly to be uncloathed of our Bodies with which we are burden'd if we live by this Faith that we shall shortly be cloath'd upon with our House from Heaven 2 Cor. 5.7 23 24. We shall cheerfully lay down our Bodies in the Dust when 't is to rest in Peace who will certainly raise us by his Power that we may rest and Reign with him in Glory Amen The Prayer HOw hardly can we be perswaded O Lord to forsake the vanishing Pleasures of this Life for thy Glory and our own Happiness How unwillingly should we lay down our Lives for thy sake or the Gospels that can so hardly part with one Sin in obedience to thy Law II. Thy Yoke is easie and thy Service a perfect Freedom and yet we count thy Sanctuary a Prison thy Law a trouble and can scarce Sacrifice so much time to our Devotions as to pay unto thee the Honour due unto thy Name III. Pardon and Pity this Corruption of our Frames and teach us whether we live or die to delight in that for which thou madest us even to glorifie thee That so whensoever this earthly Tabernacle shall be dissolved we may receive our Change with Joy and be carried by Angels to an everlasting Inheritance there to remain to all Eternity Amen Meditation XXXIII COMFORTS against the Fears of DEATH and Consolations against immoderate Grief for the loss of Friends IF it be a Blessing of the vertuous to Mourn the reward which attends it is to be Comforted and he that pronounc'd the one promis'd the other I doubt not but that Spirit whose Nature is Love and whose Name Comforter as he knows the occasion of our Grief so hath he salved and season'd it with supplies of Grace pouring into our Wounds no less Oyl of mercy than wine of Justice II. Yet since affection oweth Compassion as a Duty to the afflicted and Nature hath ingrafted a desire to find it that which dieth to our Love is always alive to our Sorrow and we might have been kind to a less loving Friend but finding in him so many worths to be loved our Love wrought more earnestly upon so sweet a Subject which now being deprived of our Grief to our Love is not inferiour the one being ever the Balance of the other III. The Scripture moveth us to shed Tears for the dead a thing not offending Grace and a right to reason For to be without remorse at the Death of Friends is neither incident nor convenient to the Nature of Man having too much Affinity to a savage Temper and overthrowing the ground of all Piety which is mutual Sympathy in each others Miseries But as not to feel Sorrow in sorrowful Chances is to want Sense so not to bear it with Moderation is to want understanding The one brutish the other effeminate and he hath cast his Account best that hath brought his Sum to a proper Medium IV. It is no less Criminal to exceed in Sorrow than to pass the limits of Competent Mirth for excess in either is a disorder in Passion though that sorrow of Friendship be less blamed of Men because if it be a Crime it is also a Punishment at once causing and creating Torments It is no good Sign in the Sick to be Senseless in his Pains and as bad it is to be unusually sensitive being both either Harbingers or Attendants of Death V. Let our condoling since it is due to the Dead testifie a feelingof Pity not any pang of Passion and bewray rather a tender than a dejected mind Mourn so as your Friends may find you a living Example all Men a discreet Mourner making Sorrow a Signal not a Superior to Reason VI. Some are so obstinate in their own Will that even time the natural Remedy of the most violent Agonies cannot by any delays asswage their Grief they entertain their Sorrow with solitary Muses and feed their Sighs and Tears with doleful Accents they Pine their Bodies and draw all pensive Consideration to their minds nursing their Heaviness with a Melancholy humour as though they had dedicated themselves to sadness unwilling it should end till it had ended them wherein their Folly sometimes findeth a ready effect that being true which Solomon observed that as a Moth the Garment and a Worm the Wood so doth sadness perswade the Heart VII But this impotent softness fitteth not sober minds we must not make a Lives profession of a seven Nights Duty nor under Colour of kindness to others be unnatural to our selves if some in their Passions drive their Thoughts into such Labyrinths that neither Wit knoweth nor Will careth how long or how far they wander in them it discovereth their weakness but deserveth our Meditation VIII The Scripture warneth us not to give our Hearts up to heaviness yea rather to reject it as a thing not beneficial to the Dead but prejudicial to our selves Eccles 38. alloweth but seven days of Mourning judging Moderation in Grief to be a sufficient Testimony in Good-will and a necessary rule of Wisdom IX Much lamenting for the Dead is either the Child of Self-love or of rash Judgment if we should shed our Tears for the Death of others as a Mediocrity to our Contentment we expose but our own Wound even perfect Lovers of our selves If we lament their decease as their hard Determination we Tax them of ill deserving with too peremptory a Censure as though their Life had been an arise and their Death a leap into final Perdition for otherwise a good departure craveth small condoling being but a Harbour from Storms an entrance unto Felicity X. Our Life is a due Debt to a more certain Owner than our selves and therefore so long as we have it we receive a
of Condition yet far inferiour in right being but Tenant for a time of that Death which is the Inheritance for by Vertue of the Conveyance made to him in Paradise that Dust we were and to Dust we must return he hath hitherto shewed his Seigniority over all exacting of us not only the yearly but hourly Revenue of time which ever by minutes we defray unto him XXV So that our very Life is not only a Memory but a part of our Death and the longer we have lived the less time we have to come what is the daily lessening of our Life but a continual dying and therefore none is more grieved with the running out of the last Sand in an Hour-Glass than with all the rest so should not the end of the last hour trouble us any more than of so many that went before since that did but finish the Course that all the rest were still ending not the quantity but the quality commendeth our Life the ordinary Gain of long Livers being only a great burthen of Sin XXVI Let your mind therefore Consent to that which your Tongue daily craveth that God's will may be done as well here upon Earth as it is done in Heaven since his Will is the best measure of all Events there is in this World continual enterchange of pleasing and greeting Accidents still keeping their Succession of times and overtaking each other in their several Courses XXVII No Picture can be all drawn of the brightest Colours nor an Harmony consorted only of Trebles shadows are useful in expressing of Proportions and the base is a principal part in perfect Musick the Condition of our Exile here alloweth no unmingled Joy our whole Life is temperate between sweet and sowre and we must all look for a mixture of both XXVIII The Wise so wish Better that they still think of worse accepting the one if it come with liking and bearing the other without impatience being so much Masters of each others Fortunes that neither shall work them to excess the Dwarf groweth not up to the highest Hill nor the Tallest loseth not his height in the lowest Valley and as a base sordid mind though most at ease will be dejected so a resolute Vertue in the deepest distress is most impregnable XXIX They evermore most perfectly enjoy their Comforts that least fear their afflictions for a desire to enjoy carrieth with it a fear to lose and both Desire and Fear are Enemies to quiet Possession making Men rather Owners of God's Benefits than Tenants at his Will The cause of our Troubles are that our misfortunes happen either to unwitting or unwilling minds foresight preventeth the one necessity the other and he taketh away the smart of present Evils that attendeth their coming and is not frighted at any Cross but is armed against all XXX Where necessity worketh without our Consent the Effects should never greatly afflict us Grief being insignificant where it cannot help needless where there was no fault committed if Men should lay all their Evils together to be afterwards by equal Portions divided among them most Men would rather take that they brought than stand to the Division XXXI Yet such is the partial Judgment of Self-love that every Man judgeth his own Misery too great fearing if he can find some Circumstances to increase it and making it tolerable by thought to induce it when Moses threw his Rod from him it became a Serpent ready to sting him and affrighted him insomuch as it made him fly but being quietly taken up it was a Rod again serviceable for his use and no way hurtful XXXII The Cross of Christ and Rod of every Tribulation seeming to threaten Stinging and Terrour to those that shun it but they that mildly take it up and embrace it with Patience may say with David thy Rod and thy Staff have been my Comfort Affliction much resembleth the Crocodile fly it pursueth and frighteth followed it flyeth and feareth a shame to the Constant and a Tyrant to the Timorous XXXIII Soft minds that think only upon Delights admit no other Consideration but in flattering Objects become so effeminate as that they are apt to bleed with every sharp impression but he that useth his Thoughts with Expectation of Troubles making their Travel through all hazards and opposing his Resolution against the sharpest Encounters findeth in the Product facility of Patience and easeth the Load of most heavy Troubles XXXIV We must have temporal things in use but eternal in Wish that in the one neither Delight exceed in that we have no Desire in that we want and in the other our most delight is here in desire and our whole Desire is hereafter to enjoy they straiten too much their Joys that draw them into the reach and compass of their Senses as if it were no Facility where no Sense is Witness whereas if we exclude our passed and future Contentments Pleasures have so fickle an assurance that either as forestalled before their Arrival or interrupted before their end or ended before they are well begun XXXV The Repetition of former Comforts and the Expectation of after Hopes is ever a relief unto a vertuous mind whereas others not suffering their Lives to continue in the Conveniences of that which was and shall be divided this day from yesterday and to morrow and by forgetting all and forecasting nothing abridge their whole Life into the moment of present Eternity XXXVI How ought we then to submit our selves to God's Will let him strip you to the Skin nay to the Soul so he stay with you himself let his Reproach be your Honour his Poverty your Riches and he in lieu of all other Friends think him enough for this World that must be all your Possession for a whole Eternity and in all your Crosses and Afflictions in this Life humbly say with Holy Job The Lord gave and the Lord taketh away blessed be the Name of the Lord. Te Deum Laudamus FINIS THE CONTENTS Meditation I. UPon remembring our Creatour in the days of our Youth Pag. 1 The Prayer p. 4. Meditation II. The remembrance of Death a powerful Remedy against Sin p. 6. Prayers against sudden Death p. 9. Meditation III. What Life is p. 11. The Prayer p. 13. Meditation IV. That we ought continually to watch and pray p. 14. The Prayer p. 17. Meditation V. Death often to be thought of p. 18. The Prayer p. 21. Meditation VI. Of the shortness of humane Life p. 22. The Prayer p. 24. Meditation VII That we ought early to seek after God p. 26. The Prayer p. 28. Meditation VIII That Affliction is necessary to all Persons p. 29. The Prayer p. 31. Meditation IX That Affliction is a Mark of God's Favour p. 33. The Prayer p. 34. Meditation X. Of Man's Original being born to die p. 35. The Prayer p. 39. Meditation XI Memorials hourly necessary upon the four last things Death Judgment Hell and Heaven p. 40. The Prayer p. 42. Meditation XII On Death p. 43. The Prayer p. 47. Meditation XIII Upon Judgment p. 47. The Prayer p. 51. Meditation XIV Upon Hell p. 52. The Prayer p. 56. Meditation XV. Upon Heaven p. 57. The Prayer p. 60. Meditation XVI The remembrance of the four last things reduced to Practice p. 61. The Prayer p. 65. Meditation XVII With Comfort Faith applies her self to the sick Man's Conscience p. 66. The Prayer p. 70. Meditation XVIII Hopes Address to the sick Penitent Ibid. The Prayer p. 73. Meditation XIX The Exercise of Charity p. 75. The Prayer p. 79. Meditation XX. The Souls flight to Heaven p. 80. The Prayer p. 83. Meditation XXI Upon the Misery of humane Life and the Blessedness of eternal Life p. 84. The Prayer p. 90. Meditation XXII In time of Sickness p. 91. A Prayer for a happy end in time of Sickness p. 97. Meditation XXIII Of Thanksgiving for Ease in Sickness or Recovery out of it p. 98. A Prayer of Thanksgiving p. 102. Meditation XXIV Comfortable Refreshments at the hour of Death to be used by those who are present p. 103. A Prayer for a sick Person when there appear small hopes of Recovery p. 107. A Commendatory Prayer for a sick Person at the Point of Departure p. 108. Meditation XXV Of the uncertainty of our Lives p. 110. The Prayer p. 113. Meditation XXVI On the Frailty of our Lives p. 114. The Prayer p. 118. Meditation XXVII That Death frees us from the Vexations Troubles and Cares of this mortal Life p. 119. The Prayer p. 121. Meditation XXVIII That many have desired Death rather than Life p. 122. The Prayer p. 125. Meditation XXIX Of improving our time p. 126. The Prayer p. 130. Meditation XXX Motives not to defer our Repentance to a future Time p. 131. The Prayer p. 139. Meditation XXXI The sick Man's last Will and Testament 139. The Prayer p. 145. A Prayer when we hear a Bell ring for a Person at the Point of Death p. 146. Meditation XXXII Of this Life compar'd with Eternity p. 147. The Prayer p. 150. Meditation XXXIII Comforts against the Fears of Death and Consolations against immoderate Grief for the Loss of Friends p. 151. The End of the Contents
in Oblivion The Prayer O Lord what is our Life It is but a Vapour which is soon vanished and gone thou hast given us a short Portion of time on this side the Grave our Condition is vain unsatisfied and full of disquiet and we have no hope but in thee O Lord O teach us to number our days that we may apply our Hearts unto Wisdom to remember and to know our latter end that so we may never Sin against thee II. Grant that we may live as though we were always dying being of mortified Souls and Bodies of bridled Tongues and Affections and that instead of heaping up Riches we may strive for a Treasure of good Works laying up in Store for the time to come that having recovered our Strength lost by the Commission of our Sins when we go hence and are no more seen we may have a residence in those heavenly Mansions which are prepared by thee our Lord and Saviour Amen Meditation IV. That we ought continually to watch and pray WAtch said our Blessed Lord Because ye know not at what hour the Son of Man will come The Romans watch'd in their Arms yet sometimes without their Shield that they might have nothing to rest upon to attract them to sleep it is therefore thy Duty O drowzy Mortal to watch with vigour and well armed Ardent Prayers to the Almighty are the true Arms of Christians and the Shield which encourages sleep is the vain hope of a longer Life II. The frequent Cries of the Roman Soldiers were Wake Wake Thus they encouraged one another to Constancy in watching The Heavens themselves the seat of God's Glory waking and incessantly toyling admonish thee to watch If thou art not grown deaf like the Adder or fallen asleep in Carnal security hear the Voice of Christ Watch and Pray and St. Mark in his holy Gospel tells thee that Christ in the Conclusion of his Sermon thrice repeats these Words Mark 13. Take ye heed watch and pray for you know not when the time is Verse 33. Secondly Watch ye therefore for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh at Even or at Midnight or at the Cockcrowing or in the Morning lest Coming suddenly he find you sleeping Verse 35 36. Lastly And what I say unto you I say unto you all Watch Verse 37. III. And with the same Admonitions by the mouth of St. Matthew he crys to us Watch ye therefore for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come Matt. 24.42 and again Watch therefore for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh Matt. 25.13 the same he repeats upon the Mount of Olives Watch and pray that ye enter not into Temptation Matt. 26.41 IV. Upon the same Text he Preaches in St. Luke's Gospel Watch ye therefore and pray always Luke 21.36 the same watchfulness how often doth St. Paul reiterate these Claps of Thunder upon us to awaken us from sleep We are deaf yea dead indeed if these loud Exhortations will not rouse us Whoever thou art that sleepest in Viciousness awake Thou canst not plead ignorance in the Egyptians fate when the destroying Angel entred Egypt and made a vast Slaughter both upon Man and Beast so that Pharaoh's heart was hardened to his own Destruction V. Remember the Lot of the ten Virgins when there was at Midnight a great Cry made and they that were prepar'd were admitted to the Nuptials but the drowsie Sleepers were excluded Dost thou remember the Folly of the gluttonous Servant when his Lord came unlook'd for and at an hour when he least thought of him Or hast thou consider'd the vigilant Master of his Family who wakes at all hours that the Thief can have no opportunity to break the house open And Lastly dost thou remember thy Saviour was born at Midnight and peradventure he may come at that hour to judge the Universe Therefore watch as if every day were thy last The Prayer GRacious God let thy Grace reform our Lives and Manners that we may watch diligently and pray without Ceasing keep our mouth from slander guile and deceit let us never incline to Actions of injustice or uncleanness in partaking with Thieves or Adulterers either in their Sin or Punishment that when thou who art the righteous God of the World shalt appear in perfect Beauty with a consuming Fire before thee and a Tempest round about thee with Terrours and glorious Majesty calling the Heavens and the Earth together to judge thy People thou mayst gather us among thy Saints in Glory II. O let the day-spring of thy Favour visit us from on high that we may seek thee with an early Devotion pursue after thee with a Constant and Active Industry and at last possess thee with the firm Comprehensions of Love and Charity That in this World we looking for thee in Holiness of Living longing and thirsting after thee with fervent Desires may for ever hereafter behold thy Power and Glory Give us the Mercies and the Portion of thine inheritance that so we may Honour thee by an eternal Oblation of Praise and Thanksgiving in the highest Heavens Amen Meditation V. Death often to be thought of MAny in this World live as if they thought they should never die nor in the least consider their Latter end It was a Custome with some of old whensoever they intended a sumptuous Feast to put a Deaths-head into a Dish and serve it up unto the Table II. Which being meant for a significant though silent Orator to plead for Temperance and Sobriety by minding Men of their Mortality and that the end of their eating should be to live and that the end of their living should be to dye and the end of their dying to live for ever for even the Heathens who denied the Resurrection of the Body did yet believe the immortality of the Soul was look'd upon by all sober and considering Guests as the wholsomest part of their Entertainment III. And since 't is true what is said by Solomon that Sorrow is better than Laughter for by the sadness of the Countenance the Heart is made better Whereupon the Royal Preacher concludes it better of the two for a Man to go into the House of Mourning I cannot but reason within my self that when the Heart of Fools is in the House of Mirth there can be nothing more friendly or more agreeable to their wants than to invite such Men to the House of Mourning and there to treat them with a Character of the most troublesome Life of Man which being impartially provided will serve as well as a Death's-head during the time of their floating in this Valley of Tears IV. For this is useful to all by way of Instruction not to be amorous of a Life which is not only so short as that it cannot be kept long but withal so full of trouble as that 't is hardly worth keeping Nor by consequence to doat on a flattering World which is so little