PRACTICAL MEDITATIONS UPON THE Four Last Things VIZ. I. Death II. Iudgment III. Hell IV. Heaven By R. SHERLOCK D. D. DEUT. XXXII 29. O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter End LONDON Printed by J.H. for L. Meredith at the Star in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1692. PRACTICAL MEDITATIONS UPON THE Four Last Things c. The First Meditation THE clean Beast which was only commanded to be offered in Sacrifice unto God under the Law was such as chewed the Cud Lev. 11.3 and divided the Hoof mystically representing the qualifications of the clean and pure Christian Rom. 12.1 1 Pet. 2.4 5. who is himself that spiritual Sacrifice God requireth under the Gospel By chewing the Cud holy and divine Meditation is intimated by dividing the Hoof may be mystically meant the last end of man which is a dividing asunder the Soul from the Body by Death and a separation of the holy from the wicked by Judgment which shall assign to either their everlasting habitations either in Heaven or in Hell Of these Four Last Things S. Bernard saith that First Death is of all things to flesh and bloud most formidable Secondly Judgment than the which there is nothing more terrible and dreadful Thirdly Hell the Torments whereof are insupportable Fourthly Heaven the Joys whereof are beyond Apprehension most Blissful and Ravishing And these Subjects of holy Meditation would prove the most prevalent to turn all persons professing Christianity from all the errors of their ways whether in Opinion or Conversation would they but seriously consider the shortness and uncertainty of this present life the strict account must be given of all our Thoughts Words and Actions even to every idle Word especially spoken to the detriment of any That in all these we shall have the Devil and his Angels vehemently to accuse us and our own Consciences to testifie against us A most severe Judge to pass sentence upon us from whose impartial doom the endless Torments of Hell shall receive the wilfully erroneous and impenitent sinner but eternal Joys and never fading Felicities shall crown the Orthodox and Holy Psal 6.17 The wicked shall be turned into Hell and all the people that forget God Wisd 3.5 But the Souls of the righteous are in the hand of God and there shall no torment touch them Ath. cr Mat. 25. ult They that have done good shall go into everlasting life and they that have done evil into everlasting fire Psal 4.4 This Faith is professed by many but by few believed with the heart for he that cordially believes these principles of his Religion will stand in awe and sin not he will not dare in defiance of this Faith knowingly and wittingly to transgress the Laws of the great Majesty of Heaven and 't is such a Faith attended by Fear and this Fear by Care and Caution that must preserve the Soul from the Torments and entitle her to the Joys of the other World Aristotle saith That he who believes not can neither Hope nor Fear and consequently he who doth truly believe these Essentials of his Religion cannot but both hope for the Happiness and fear the Misery of the World to come 'T is recorded of a Friar that he complained to his Abbot that he was weary of that idle lazy life and therefore he desired leave to depart to some other place To whom the Abbot returned answer Thy laziness is a manifest sign that thou didst never truly believe and seriously consider of the Pains of Hell and the Joys of Heaven for the deep sense of these would preserve thee from â—ll laziness in thy Cell Pra. Spir. cap. 142. O that they were wise Deut. 32.29 that they understood this that they would consider their latter End It is the greatest and most comprehensive of all the parts of true wisdom so to consider as rightly to prepare for our latter end for to end well is the summ of all our hopes and of all the happiness we can hope for It is a great vanity to desire a long life without the thought of leading a holy life 'T is a great vanity to be so wholly intent upon this present life as not to provide for the life to come 'T is a great vanity to be in love with what suddenly fadeth away and not to hasten in our desires and endeavours to that joy which shall never end T. K. l. 1. c. 1. Have mercy upon me Psal 9.13 O God and consider the trouble I suffer of them that hate me my Spirit is troubled for the daily incursions of my ghostly enemies Thou that liftest me up from the Gates of Death Such is this frail mortal life all the ways whereof are vanity and iniquity even Gates leading to Death eternal From the which I humbly beg to be raised up and exalted by thy right hand That I may shew all thy praises within the ports of the daughter of Sion glorifie thee with thy Church Triumphant in Heaven I will rejoyce in thy Salvation to be thus lifted up and sav'd is a joy unspeakable and glorious Remember me Psal 106.4 O Lord according to the favour thou bearest unto thy people and visit me with thy Salvation That I may see the felicity of thy chosen and rejoyce in the gladness of thy people and give thanks with thine inheritance MEDITAT II. Of the Shortness and Frailty of this present Life MAN that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble Job 14.1 He cometh forth like a Flower and is cut down he fleeth as a shadow and continueth not In the midst of life we be in death whilst every day we live is one day nearer to the end of life For what is your life Jam. 4.14 't is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away The time of my life past is already swallowed up by death which still dogs me at the heels to devour the short remainder of my flitting days Not to consider this shortness and frailty of humane life is to make my life yet more short and frail So Drex vita brevis omnibus Life is short unto all but shortest unto those who forget what is past are negligent in what is present and fear not what is to come Lord make me to know mine end and the number of my days that I may be certified how long I have to live that the length of my days is of the shortest measure for behold thou haste made my days as a span Verily every man living is altogether vanity The most high and mighty the most honourable and wealthy are not exempt from this character for Honours Riches Friends all the delights of the Sons of men with all the Pomp and Pleasure and power of the world depending upon the shortness and frailty of humane Life Nihil est magnum re quod parvum tempore nec longis
dilatatur gaudiis quicquid arcto fine concluditur Hucher Ep. Paran renders every man in all that he is in all that he has and in all that he hopes for in this world a vanity of vanities an universal vanity The divine à Kempis gives us both the reason and the use of this doctrine Quia per peccatum Since by Sin we have lost our innocence we ought with patience to expect the mercy of God until this iniquity do pass away and mortality be swallowed up of life T. K. l. 1. c. 22. S. Augustine 's Meditation on this Subject THE time of my Pilgrimage here upon earth is tedious wearisome for this is a miserable life a frail life an uncertain life a bitter life a laborious life a sinful life 't is the mistress of error and sinfulness and the hand-maid to death and hell This life is rather to be called death than life as being through the whole course thereof a passing from Life to Death for whilst we pass from Infancy to Childhood from thence to Manhood and so to Old-age every such change in Life is but a passage to death or rather so many stages of Death for each condition of life is the death of its foregoing state and condition There is no condition in this life certain and setled now we are glad and anon sad now we are well and anon sick now we are at ease and anon in pain now we laugh and anon weep now in hunger and thirst anon in fulness and excess in honour and dishonour in wealth and poverty in heats and colds in evil report and good report in fear and terror and much amazement and all this and much more than can be exprest is too often attended by a sudden unexpected death and which is yet more miserable though there be nothing more certain than death yet vain foolish man knoweth not considereth not his end Eccl. 9.12 So the Preacher For man also knoweth not his time as the fishes that are taken in an evil net and as the birds that are caught in the snare so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them Aristotle being ask'd what is man answered Imbecillitatis exemplum Temporis spolium fortunae lusus inconstantiae imago invidiae calamitatis trutina reliquum vero pituita bilis Quid homo inquit Gran. cujus conceptio culpa nasci poena vivere miseria mori tormentum Silenus being ask'd by Midas Quid homini optimum answer'd Primò non nasci sccundò quam ocyssime mori O senseless mortals especially being called Christians and yet to be of so little Faith as to doat upon a life so frail short and uncertain so changeable and calamitous in defiance of what we daily profess to believe Life Everlasting Blessed are they and they are but a few who in hopes and desires to enjoy the unchangeable blessings of the life to come do slight and despise the fallacious flattering injoyments of this world lest being deceived by the charms and fawnings thereof the Deceiver and the Deceived perish together 'T is a general complaint that the world is deceitful and unsatisfying in all her most alluring enjoyments and yet so mightily the flesh prevaileth against the spirit that most men love and I am a great fool among the rest yea doatingly love to be thus deceived too passionately desiring to injoy still this mortal life how frail soever and attended with a numerous train of miseries But forget not O remember and forget not that thou art immortal O my soul and that death is but the change of a troublesome for a quiet life of a frail for a fixed and permanent Being of an uncertain for a certain abode and of a temporary for life everlasting 'T is but the falling in pieces of an earthly Tabernacle and when it is dissolved 2 Cor. 5.1 thou hast a building of God a house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens 'T is a fam'd saying of Benedict Malus mortem bonus vitam formidat In the death of the righteous is his hopes of happiness but in the continuance of this life doth the wicked trust Thou wouldst not fear the end of this life didst thou rightly hope for the beginning of a better 'T is for want of treasures laid up in Heaven the fruits of true holiness that thou art afraid to die and 't will be too late to labour for them when death approacheth The Prayer O Almighty God who alone canst order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men grant unto thy people and to me with them to love the thing which thou commandest and desire that which thou dost promise that so among the sundry and manifold changes of the world our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found through Jesus Christ MEDITAT III. Of the frequent Remembrance of Death 1. THIS present Life is the School of Death wherein we are taught the several lessons of living to die well or so to die that we may live Eternally Climacus scal grad 6. records a story of a Brother who had lived negligently for many years and was at last surprized with such a desperate disease that he was for so long a time depriv'd of his Senses that he was supposed to be absolutely dead but recovering again he immediately secluded himself from all society and continued for Twelve years which was the remainder of his time in that solitary separate condition lamenting continually the negligences and sins of his by-past life and the sad condition of all such persons who die in their sins unrepented And when the time of his death indeed approached many of his fraternity flock'd to him desiring to hear some more than ordinary instructions and directions from him for the good of their Souls but all that he would say was this as the summ of Christian wisdom If you desire so to live that ye may die happily then meditate continually upon death for 't is scarce possible for that man to sin who with due regard remembers Death the wages of Sin 'T is said by the said Climacus That the meditation of death is as necessary to preserve the health of the Soul in the life of grace as is daily bread to preserve the body in the life of nature 2. The forgetfulness of Death is the seminary of all the Sins of the sons of men hence the neglect of all the duties we owe to God and Man hence the abuse of all the blessings of God whether relating to this or the other world hence all luxury and all the sinful pleasures of the flesh hence all covetousness and carnal cares for the things of this life hence all forgetfulness of the great account we must make of all the works done in the body together with the banishment from our minds of all fears of Hell and hopes of Heaven 'T is therefore good advice the wise Syracides gives us
Ecclus. 28.6 Remember thy end and let enmity cease Remember corruption and death and abide in the Commandments I should not surely dare to sin against my God would I but seriously consider in every act I do and in every moment I breath I am hastening to my last breath and that then I must give account as of every moment of my time so of every work both good and evil at what time soever performed And 't was surely thus S. Paul died daily 1 Cor. 15.31 3. To die the death of the righteous is the desire even of the wicked Numb 23.10 but his last end shall be very unlike the others Vt tibi mors foelix contingat vivere disce Vt foelix possis vivere disce mori The only way to die well is to live well and he that will live well must live by dying principles saying with holy David My Soul is continually in my hand Psal 119.109 and for ought I know it may expire at my next breathing since many thousands in this very moment do breath their last And 't is only this moment I can call mine for what time of my life is past cannot return again to be enjoyed and what 's to come is not in mine Psal 31.17 Acts 17.28 but in the Lord's power My time is in thy hand In him we live and move and have our being Quam foelix prudens He is both a wise and a happy man whose endeavours are so to be qualified in his life as he desires to be found in his death T.K. In order hereunto 't is the wholsome advice of a Father Cum mane fuerit when 't is morning think that perhaps thou mayst not see the evening and when evening comes remember that 't is uncertain whether thou shalt see morning Those Indian wisemen call'd Brachmans had their Sepulchres before their doors that both upon their going out and coming in they might remember their approaching death as a curb to restrain them from all extravagant lustings after the pleasures riches and honours of this mortal life 'T is recorded of John the famous Patriarch of Alexandria that whilst he was in perfect health he had his monument framed but not finished and that he gave order upon every Festival after the publick offices of the Church were ended one of the Priests should say unto him aloud Holy Father your Monument should be finished Mat. 24.43 because 't is not known at what hour the thief cometh I cannot better advise both my self and my Reader than that in every thing we go about we would every man of us ask himself this question Would I now do this if I were ready to die 'T is the Wiseman's advice whatsoever thou takest in hand Remember the end Eccl. 7. ult and thou shalt never do amiss When an Emperor of the East was newly proclaimed before he spake to any person in the stile of Majesty a Mason comes to him and shewing him several kinds of Marble demands of which of those kinds of stone he would have his Sepulchre made intimating unto him that although he was made an Emperor he was not to forget he was a mortal and therefore it concerned him with such justice and mercy to govern his Earthly Kingdom that he might not forfeit the loss of the Kingdom of Heaven From the forgetfulness of my death and the uncertainty of my life from every evil work whereunto such forgetfulness may betray me and from a sudden and an unprepared death good Lord deliver me 4. The Lord cloathed our first Parents with the skins of Beasts to put them in mind of that mortality and corruption of the flesh they had contracted by their disobedience to his commands the which as we their sinful off-spring do daily bear about us so ought we also to have the same in a continual remembrance for the keeping under the unruly lusts of the flesh that we finally pass not from a spiritual to death eternal And thus every truly pious man thus remembers daily the unavoidable death of his corruptible body so as to keep his Soul unspotted of the world and alive from the death of sin continually mortifying all his evil and corrupt affections and daily proceeding in all vertue and godliness of living And thus in the sence of the holy Apostle of our Lord To die daily is not only daily to remember death but daily to die unto sin and live unto righteousness unto the hopes of Eternal happiness slighting all the false and flattering felicities of this fawning world as being not only empty and unsatisfying but also mortal and dying A holy confidence to die well and in hopes to enjoy Life Eternal after Death is begotten in the heart saith the spiritual A Kempis A Kempis de Imit Christ l. 1. c. 23. 1. By a perpetual contempt of the world 2. By a thorough self-denial 3. By a fervent desire and endeavour for proficiency in Grace 4. By the love of discipline or strict corporeal Austerities 5. By the unwearied labour of true Repentance 6. By a willing and ready obedience to all God's commands 7. By suffering contentedly yea even joyfully all adversities for the love of Christ And thus prepare for thy change to come looking not as becomes an Immortal Soul at the things which are seen 2 Cor. 4.28 but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal The Prayer O God the protector of all that trust in thee without whom nothing is strong nothing is holy Increase and multiply upon us thy mercy that thou being our leader and guide we may so pass through things temporal that we finally lose not the things eternal Grant this O heavenly Father for thy Son Jesus Christ Amen MEDITAT IV. Of the Horror of Death 1. UNder the Law when a Fowl was to be offered for a burnt Sacrifice unto the Lord The head was to be wrung off Levit. 1.16 the crop with the feathers to be cast into the place of ashes Intimating mystically that the way to mortifie the swellings of pride and luxury and make all the feathers of secular pomp and vanity to flag is to turn our eyes unto the ashes of the dead and see the horrid state of such as lye in the Grave even of the most high powerful and pompous that ever liv'd upon earth S. Augustine being with his Mother Monica invited to Rome by Pontianus the Prefect to view the stately Edifices and ancient Monuments of that eminent City amongst other rareties he saw the great Caesar's Sepulchre and therein his carcass of a livid gastly colour his face faln away to such a meagre leanness as scarce of skin and bone consisting his Lips being rotted away his Teeth were seen black and corrupted his Nose so consumed that only the wide hollows of his Nostrils appeared his Belly burst and swarming with Worms and Serpents
his Eyes quite sunk into his head and in the two holes thereof two loathsome Toads were feeding Then turning towards his Mother he said What now dear Mother is become of the great Caesar whose pomp and power and policy whose riches honour and dignity whose many victories conquests and triumphs rendred him the most admired Heroe the world afforded Where now is all his glory Where the Conquering Armies he commanded The Cities Nations Countries he subdued The numerous train of Nobility Gentry Souldiery that attended him The vast riches and boundless authority he acquired Whereunto the pious Matron answered O my Son no sooner did his Spirit fail and his breath expire but all his splendid enjoyments all his flattering worldly felicities forsook him His riches his friends his attendants all his conquests and triumphs all the honour which he got through manifold travels pains and perils have all now left him alone in this gastly silent Sepulchre accompanied only with Worms Stench and Corruption Such is the end of all flesh All flesh is grass Isa 40.6 and all the goodliness thereof as a flower of the field The flower is more gay and gawdy than the grass for a little space but when the verdure of both decays they have the same withered complexion they rot and corrupt both alike and commonly the more gawdy flower is more ugly and stinking than the grass 'T is even so with the rich and the poor the honourable and the base in this world they differ only in their outward fashion and appearance but when death doth seize them they are equally obnoxious to the same solitude poverty and nakedness to the same stench corruption and rottenness 'T is as true of the greatest Prince as of the meanest Peasant When a man is dead Eccl. 10.11 he shall inherit creeping things Beasts and Worms All the difference in the Grave betwixt the rich and the poor is this That the dust of the rich through the luxury lasciviousness and intemperance of their life is more corrupt and loathsome after their death than is the dust of the poor whose food and nourishment was more course and sparing Why then my Immortal Soul art thou so fond of thy corruptible companion the Body Remember its beginning is uncleanness and its end rottenness 'T is thy servant for the present but if thou too much cocker and pamper it 't will rebel subdue and lead thee captive to a worse death than that whereunto it self is liable even the death of the nether Hell Mar. 9.44 Where the Worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched 2. Death is the wages of sin And I have sinned vile wretch that I am I have sinned and what shall I do or what shall I say unto thee O thou preserver of man All that I can say is the same still Psal 38.18 I have sinned and as long as I have a day to live I will say it I will confess my wickedness and be sorry for my sins Mercy good Lord mercy I humbly beg Job 7.20 21. O why dost thou not pardon my Transgression and take away mine iniquity Are not my days few cease then and let me alone that I may bewail my sins and take comfort a little in the hopes of the pardon of them through faith in the blood of my dear Redeemer Job 10.20 21. before I go to the place from whence I shall not return to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death 3. I know that to flesh and blood death is of all terribles the most terrible Job 18.14 but my blessed Redeemer hath pulled out the sting and quelled the terrors of death 1 Cor. 15.55 Heb. 2.14 56 57. He hath also destroyed him that had the power of death that is the Devil So that now when death approacheth through Faith and a good Conscience I shall have hope with all patience and contentment to drink off that Cup how bitter and painful soever saying with my blessed Lord and Master upon his approaching death Mat. 26.42 Father not my will but thine be done The Prayer ASsist me mercifully O Lord to subject my rebellious flesh to the guidance of the Spirit and my spirit to the Laws of my Redeemer that when my body shall be the inheritance of Worms and creeping things my Soul may possess an inheritance uncorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in the Heavens through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen MEDITAT V. Of Preparation unto Death I. AS there is nothing more certain than death Psal 89.47 For what man is there that liveth and shall not see death So there is nothing more uncertain than the time of death Mat. 24.36 for of that day and hour knoweth noman 'T is therefore unknown Luk. 12.40 that it might be alway suspected and awaited The Son of man cometh in an hour when you think not That his coming may be hourly thought upon Latet dies ultimus Aug. ut observentur omnes dies The day of our death is hidden from us that all our days should be no other but a preparation thereunto the certainty of the one engaging us unto sincerity in the other * Veri hominis Christiani vita nihil aliud quam continua ad mortem praeparatio esse debet Every danger foreseen is best prevented And thus death the greatest of dangers may be rendred the least dangerous by a prudent fear and careful provision for the same Qui pavet cavet qui negligit incidit Bern. Prov. 14.16 which may best be englished in the language of the Holy Ghost The wise man feareth and departeth from evil but the fool rageth and is confident †Timeat semper in vita mortem qui mortis metum evadere velit II. The great end of this mortal life is to prepare for death or rather for a safe passage through death to life Immortal For upon the well or ill spending of the few minutes of this present life depends either a blessed or a miserable Eternity It was the advice of a wise man to his friend to have engraven in capital Letters in some such place of his house as might be most frequent in his view to be often considered Momentum unde pendet Eternitas III. There is no consideration our blessed Lord hath so frequently inculcated by commands counsels exhortations admonitions parables similitudes arguments and reasons as this of the Christian watch i. e. to prepare to provide to be ready to wait for the coming of the Lord or for the approach of Death Luke 12.38 whether he shall come in the first or in the second or in the third watch whether in the time of youth or manhood or old age Mark 13.34 35 36 37. at all times and in all ages he commands all men to be upon their watch This watch implies many particulars which are so many preparatives unto death 1. To watch is to
have our eyes open or our minds enlightned by the holy true Christian Faith 2. That the affections of our hearts and the actions of our lives be framed according to what we rightly profess to believe 3 To have our eyes not only opened but uplifted towards Heaven above and not still poring upon the Earth below 4. In our watch we must carefully observe all the orders and commands given us by Christ the Captain of our Salvation 5. That we shake off all drowziness and sluggishness being active and vigorous in the execution of all such commands and in all the respective duties we owe to God and Man 6. That when the Lord cometh and knocketh at the door by the batteries of death we be both willing and ready to open unto him And in order hereunto 7. That our hearts be prepared to receive the Lord being so swept and cleansed that nothing be found in any corner thereof which may offend him who is the searcher of all hearts 8. We must stand upon our watch with our loins girded or all irrational lusts restrained that we may be expedite and ready to execute whatever our duty to God or Man requires Thus S. Jerome stood upon his watch professing that whether he did eat or drink rest or labour sleep or wake he always heard the voice of the last Trumpet sounding in his ears Awake and come to Judgment 9. Lastly In this watch we must persevere not to be taken off by any wiles of Satan concerns of the world or allurements of the flesh but to stand fix'd and immovable in our respective stations of Christian duty untill the great Captain and Lord of life and death shall remove us hence And may I thus blessed Lord continually wait for thy coming with my loins girt in the restriction of all the unruly lusts of my heart and of all the irrational imaginations of my head also and my Lamp of the holy Christian Faith burning continually being fed with the oil or unction of the holy Spirit of God and shining in and through all the whole course of my life by all such good works as may glorifie thee our Father which art in Heaven This is that sacred light even faith which worketh by love which will infallibly guide me through all the mazes of this mortal life and convey me safely through the gloomy shades of death into the Region of light and life everlasting Amen IV. In this life our condition is changeable from better to worse and from worse to better But in death all hopes of bettering our condition are buried with the liveless corps 2 Cor. 6.2 Now is the acceptable time now is the day of Salvation 'T is in the day of this life I am commanded to work out my Salvation with fear and trembling Phil 2.12 When the night of death cometh no man can then work Ecclus 9.10 There is neither work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave where thou goest And it is wisely therefore advised in the following words Whatever thy hand findeth to do do it with all thy might Be vigorous be active Col. 1.10 be zealous be fruitful in every good work The Soul that is laden with the fruits of well-doing shall chearfully in the approach of death commit her self unto God 1 Pet. 4. ult as to a faithful Creator Those good deeds which through the merits of Christ will render us secure in the hour of death are 1. Devout and humble frequent and fervent prayers unto God and praises of him wherein we do most immediately both commit and commend our Souls unto God and gain his grace and favour especially when accompanied with 2. Fastings often Luke 2.37 By these we offer our bodies in sacrifice unto God as by Prayer our Souls Rom. 12.1 3. Charitable Almsdeeds for with such sacrifices God is well pleased Heb. 13.15 16. Such preparation for death is advised by the wise Syracides Ecclus. 14.12 Remember that death will not be long in coming and that the covenant of the grave is not shewed unto thee Verse 13. Do good to thy friend before thou die put not off to thy last Will and Testament but according to thy ability stretch out thy hand and give unto the poor To make the poor our friends or rather our Acts of charity towards them against the day of death is commanded by our Lord Luke 16.9 Make your selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness in the pious and charitable distribution of your worldly goods that when you fail your bodies fail to be the habitation of your Souls they may receive you into everlasting habitations Which is yet more fully and plainly commanded by our Lord Luke 12.33 34 35 36. Thus the wise Virgins were provided for the coming of the Bridegroom with oil in their Lamps their light of Faith was kept flaming by charity and good works by which means they were admitted into the Bridal-chamber of Celestial Paradise from whence the foolish Virgins were excluded who had Lamps but no Oil Faith without Charity or else good works without sincere intentions and holy affections in the performance of them Mat. 25.3 4. 'T is not doubted but every act of Charity is transient and every good work of what nature soever takes end with the work done but the Charity the Piety the Wisdom the Righteousness of every religious work is not of a dying stamp For righteousness is Immortal Wisd 1.17 As therefore the good works of holy and good men pass away and vanish so the holiness and charity of their actions pass into Heaven and stand there upon record to plead through the merits of Christ for their admission into those Regions of bliss He hath dispersed abroad he hath given to the poor Psal 112.9 his righteousness remaineth for ever his horn shall be exalted with honour Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord they rest from their labours Rev. 14.13 and their works follow them Lord I pray thee that thy grace may alway prevent and follow me and make me continually to be given to all good works the never failing fruits of a true Christian Faith and by these inseparably conjoyn'd to make my calling and election sure scaled in the bloud of my dear Redeemer Amen V. 1. There are three general messengers of Death 1. Chance 2. Sickness 3. Old age Chance renders the life of man doubtful and uncertain Sickness makes it grievous and weariso me Old Age makes it tedious and Death inevitable Some persons are stifled in their Mothers womb and die before they see the light of this life Some die in their infancy some in their youth some in their man's estate and some there be but these are of all other the fewest in number who die in their Old age And yet the most of men do not only desire but fondly conceit they shall live to be old and yet never think themselves old enough to die which