and him that serveth him not Mal. 3.17 18. I confesse the wicked are sometimes punished in this world to assure us there is a God yet it is but sometimes to assure us there is a day of judgment Verily there is a reward for the righteous verily there is a God that judgeth the earth Psal 58.11 CAP. II. An Objection answered IT is certain that the soul so soon as it is separated from the body is presented to God and receives an irrevocable doome either of woe or weal. The rich man died and presently was in hell in torments the begger died and was immediately carried by Angels into Abrahams bosome Luke 16.22 23. So that it may be demanded What need is there of a general day of judgment seeing every man is judged at the day of his death Answ 1. Every man consists of a Soul and a Body The Soul is judged at the day of death the Body also at the day of judgment For as these two doe either sin together or serve God together so they shall either burn together or reign together Every man must receive the things done in his Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5.10 Yet because the Soul may and often doth sin or serve God without the Body it may in the state of separation be either punished or rewarded though the Body rest in the grave Answ 2. There must be a general Judgment for the manifestation of Gods Justice God disposes of every man at the day of his death that according to the rule of Justice yet that which he did in secret he will doe in the view of the whole world that so the generall Assembly of men and Angels may give this testimony and applause of his just proceedings Righteous art thou O Lord and righteous are thy judgments Psal 119.137 Answ 3. There must be a judgment besides that at the day of death because men after they be dead may be Instruments and occasions either of vice or vertue of sin or the service of God The Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs and Fathers of the Church are dead and gone yet still they doe good in the Church of God by their godly examples and holy writings Jeroboam Machiavel Marcion all Heriticks and prophane persons die yet they poison the air with ill example wicked books divelish principles and after their death infect posterity for many generations Their word eats as doth a canker or gangrene 2 Tim. 2.17 Hence it is that as there is a particular Judgment to reward the good or punish the evil they have done themselves in their life time so there shall be a generall Judgment to reward or punish them for that which after their death they have occasioned to be done by others V.S. Basil in l. de vera virginit CAP. III. The Names given to this Day THis day is called in the Scripture The day of the Lord. Alas for the day for the day of the Lord is at hand Joel 1.15 Your selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night 1 Thes 5.2 Looking for and hastning unto the coming of the day of GOD 2 Pet. 3.12 This life is called Our Day O Jerusalem if thou hadst known at least in this Thy day the things that belong to thy peace Luke 19.42 For we think our own thoughts speak our own words and doe our own pleasure But that shall be the Lords day for the lofty looks of man shall be humbled the haughtiness of men shal be bowed down and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day Isa 2.11 Secondly it is called a Day of Revelation or Opening Rom. 2.5 Never was there such an opening as will be at that day The heavens shall be opened and those everlasting doors shall be lift up that the King of glory may go forth with his Angels to judge the world and return back again with his Saints when he hath judged it The Earth shall be opened for the stone shall be rolled from the mouth of every Sepulchre and the graves shall give up their dead The Books shall be opened I saw the dead small and great stand before the Lord and the books were opened and another book was opened which was the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works Rev. 20.12 The secrets of all hearts shall be opened There is nothing hid that shall not be manifested neither any thing kept secret that shall not come abroad Mar. 4.22 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my Gospell Rom. 2.16 Hell shall be opened to receive those wretches to whom it shall be said Goe ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the divel and his angels Thirdly it is called a Day of refreshing Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord Acts 3.19 What a refreshing wil it be when our rotten and worm-eaten carkasses shall rise up in honor and in incorruption as flowers after a long winter What a refreshing wil it be when these two ancient friends the soul and the body after so long a separation shall imbrace and kisse each other What a refreshing will it be to see the Divel our worst enemy and Death our last enemy cast into the lake of fire What a refreshing wil it be to see Jesus Christ the Savior of the world and the head of his Church come in his glory attended with an innumerable company of Angels What a refreshing wil it be to hear those sweet sentences of absolution Well done good and faithfull servant enter thou into thy Masters joy Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome prepared for you Fourthly in respect of the wicked it is called a day of wrath After thy hardnesse and impenitent heart thou treasurest up for thy self wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2.5 As also a day of darknesse and gloominesse a day of clouds and of thick darknesse Joel 2.2 The Sun is pleasing to a good eye but offensive to an eye that is ill affected The day of judgment is a bath of refreshing to the godly but a burning Oven to the wicked Behold the day cometh that shall burn as an Oven and all the proud yea and all that doe wickedly shall be stubble Mal. 4.1 Fiftly it is called a great day The Angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation he hath reserved in everlasting chains of darknesse unto the judgment of the Great day Jude 6. The Sun shall be turned into darknesse and the Moon into blood before that great and notable day of the Lord come Acts 2.20 It is a great day indeed sith so many great and notable things shall be done in it For the Lord himself shall descend
bring forth Prov. 27.1 If not an end of thy sins it may be an end of thy life If it bring not forth conversion it may bring forth confusion Go to now ye that say To day or to morrow we will do thus or thus whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow for what is your life It is even a vapour which appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away I am 4.13 14 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with all thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdome in the grave whither thou goest Eccles 9.10 We are but tenants at will and we know not how soon our great Land-lord may discharge us Doe therefore as the wise Steward before thou beest turned out of this house make sure of another Luke 16.4 CAP. III. The place uncertain DEath surprized Abel when he was walking in the field Gen. 4.8 Eli when he was sitting at his doore 1 Sam. 4.18 Jobs children at a feast Job 1.19 Eglon in his summer parlour Judg. 3.20 Zacharias betwixt the Temple and the Altar Mat. 23.35 Senacherib in the house of Nisroch his god Isa 37.38 Ishbosheth whilest hee slept in his bedchamber 2 Sam. 4.7 The Philistims whilest they were sporting in the Theatre Judg. 16.30 Herod whilest he fate upon his throne Act. 12.23 Expect that therefore in every place which in every place expects thee And let not the place of thy death trouble thee for the earth is the Lords and the fulnesse thereof CAP. IV. The manner uncertain THere is a naturall death when a man dies as a lamp goes out because there is no more oile to feed it And there is a violent death when the soul is thrust out of doors and the lamp of life not burnt but blown out There is a timely death when a man comes to his grave in his full age as a shock of corn cometh in in his season Job 5.26 And there is an untimely death when a man is cropt as an ear of corn before it be white unto the harvest There is a lingring death when the soule is besieged with sicknesse and as it were starved and tired out of her habitation And there is a sudden death which strikes without giving warning There is a quiet death a departing in peace when the soul doth as it were steal out of the body unperceived And there is a death accompanied with raving madnesse and distemperature Now who knows which of these deaths are appointed for him Josiah dies by the hurt of an arrow 2 Chr. 35.23 A Prophet of God by the teeth of a Lion 1 Kings 13.24 Abimelech by the fall of a stone Judges 9.53 Jezabel is eaten up of dogs 2 Kings 9.36 Two Captains with their fifties are consumed by fire from Heaven 2 Kings 1.14 There are ten thousand diseases in the world and no man in his health knows which shall make an end of him For unto God the Lord belong the issues of death Psal 68.20 SECTION III. NOW because Death is the King of terrors and of all terrible things the most terrible so that the very thought and remembrance of it is as bitter to flesh and bloud as the waters of Marah I thought good to cast in these Meditations to sweeten it CAP. I. Death is a sleep SLeep is nothing else but a short death and death what is it but a long sleep Hence antiquity made these two brethen Lazarus our friend sleepeth John 11.11 And when Stephen had said thus he fell asleep Acts 7.60 Brethren I would not have you ignorant concerning them that are asleep 1 Thes 4.13 The places appointed for buriall were called Coemeteries that is sleeping places Now the sleep of a labouring man is sweet Eccles 5.12 Lord if he sleep he shall do wel Joh. 11.12 Hence also is it that our graves are called onr beds They shall rest in their beds every one walking in his uprightnesse Isa 57.2 Jobs bed was full of tossings to and fro Job 7.4 Davids bed was watered with tears Ps 6.6 Nebuchadnezzars bed affrighted him with troublesome thoughts fearfull dreames and strange visions Dan. 4.5 But this bed in the Hebrew tongue is called Dumah because it is a place of rest and silence I will lay me down in peace and take my rest Psal 4.8 In vita vigilant justi ideo in morte dicuntur dormire Aug. CAP. II. Death hath no sting DOgges that have no teeth may bark at us but they cannot bite us Serpents that have no stings may hisse at us but cannot hurt us Bees they say when they have lost their stings become droans ever after Death lost her sting in the side of our Saviour and though it still leap upon us we may shake it off as Paul did the viper without hurt Behold I give you power to tread on Serpents and Scorpions over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you Luke 10.19 Death is swallowed up in victory O death where is thy sting Thanks be unto God who hath given us victory through Jesus Christ our Lord 1 Cor. 15.55 56. CAP. III. Death is good for us WEE may say of death as David did of Ahimaaz He is a good man and bringeth good tidings 2 Sam. 18.27 First the death of the body frees us from the body of death the Law of the members the prick in the flesh the relicks of corruption The good which I would do I cannot do and the evill which I would not doe that doe I Rom. 7.19 I see a law in my members warring against the law in my minde Rom. 7.23 This makes every child of God cry out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me Why Death doth it for he that is dead is freed from sin Rom. 6.7 Secondly it frees us from the miseries and incumbrances of this life So many are the miseries and calamities of this life that were it not for the hope of heaven it would not be much better then hell Crosses come as thick upon us as Jobs messengers The life of man is a winters day very short and very cloudy Few and evill have the days of my life been Gen. 47.9 Man that is born of a woman is of few days full of trouble few are our days but many our troubles Job 14.1 The day of death is the year of Jubilee and frees us of all these evils There the wicked cease from troubling there the weary be at rest There the Prisoners rest together and heare not the voice of the oppressour The small and great are there and the servant is free from his master Job 3.17 18 19. Hence the Heathen said it was the best thing not to be born at all and the next to that was to die quickly It was the custome of many nations to weep at the birth of their friends and to rejoyce at their burials and not unwisely says Ambros in orat de fide resurr
Lastly death like the Angell plucks us out of Sodom and conducts us to Zoar a city of refuge and safety It translates us out of a prison to a Palace from a vale of misery to a kingdome of glory from Leeks and Onions to Rivers of Milk and Honey From the Tents of Kedar and Tabernacles of the wicked to mount Sion the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable company of Angels to the generall Assembly and Church of the first born which are inrolled in heaven to God the Judge of all to the spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Testament Heb. 12.22 23. Death is like the common gate of a city thorow which the Malefactor passes to execution but the honest Citizen to his recreation We know that if the earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternall in the heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 Where God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes and there shall be no more death nor sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain Rev. 21.4 These things considered we may with Solomon praise the dead that are already dead more then the living that are yet alive Eccles 4.2 And say with S. Paul To me to live is Christ and to die is gain Phil. 1.21 CAP. IV. There shall bee a Resurrection IT troubles us not to see the Sun set because we know it will rise again the next morning God restored to Iob every thing double but his children they were not amissi but praemissi not lost but laid up and then shall be a day of restitution Though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reins be consumed in me Job 19.26 27. Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise awake and sing yee that dwell in the dust for thy dew is as the dew of herbs and the Earth shall cast out her dead Isa 26.19 So then death is but a Parenthesis and the soul and body though disjoyned by it will meet again together Nay the body shall not onely arise but it fares with the body as with old houses which being pull'd down new ones are erected in their rooms better and more stately then the former It is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption It is sown in dishonor it is raised in glory It is sown in weakness it is raised in power It is sown a naturall body it is raised a spirituall body 1 Cor. 15.42 43. Thus death like a rare Alchy mist dissolves the base metal of our bodies and converts it to a purer substance The body when it rots in the grave is as linnen worn to rags and cast upon the dunghill but at the resurrection it is like those Rags gathered up and made into paper which many times becomes gilt and capable of noble and divine impressions The fire burnt the bands of the three children but sindged not so much as a haire of their heads Dan. 3.27 Death looses us from the bands of our sins but shall not cozen us of a nail of the hand or an hair of the head for all our hairs are numbred CAP. V. The goodness of God SAint Ambrose being asked by his friends whether he was not afraid to die answered he was not because he had a good Lord. What time I am affraid I will trust in thee Psal 56.3 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evill for thou art with me Psal 23.4 Into thy hands I commit my spirit for thou hast redeemed it ô Lord God of truth Psal 31.5 He that hath created our souls after his own Image and redeemed them with his owne bloud will not refuse them when they are commended and given up unto him When Stephen was giving up the ghost he saw the heavens opened and the Sonne of man standing at the right hand of God Acts 7.56 Christ who sits at the right hand of God was then said to stand to shew how ready he is to receive the souls of his servants These considerations being applyed and wrought well upon our hearts will make us cry out with David Oh when shall I come and appear before him Psal 42.2 O that I had wings like a dove that I might flie hence and be at rest Psal 55.6 Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the Tents of Kedar Psal 120.5 With old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word Lu. 2.29 With Paul I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 With Saint Iohn Come Lord Jesus come quickly Rev. 22.20 SECTION IV. EVery man desires with Balaam that he may dye the death of the righteous and that his last end may be like his and I cannot blame them For to die well is a point of the greatest consequence in the world because eternity depends upon it And as the tree fals so it must ly whether it be to the North of Gods judgment or to the South of his mercy Eccles 11.3 Now this work of dying well cannot be done extempore I have therefore in the last place contracted the art of dying well into a few precepts CAP. I. Live well TO live well is to fear God and to keep his Commandements Eccles 12.13 To love God and our neighbour Mat. 22.37 To deny all ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously godly in this present world Tit. 2.12 To doe justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God Micah 6.8 To repent of our sins to beleeve in Christ to keep his Commandments Who so doth these things shall never fall Psal 15.5 A fair day may have a foul evening but a good life cannot have a bad death Such as the premisses are such will be the conclusion It is said of Moses that he died according to the word of the Lord or at the mouth of the Lord for the Hebrew will bear this reading and the Chaldee paraphrases it He died at a kisse of the Lords mouth God kisses the righteous in their deaths and as it were sucks in those souls which he breathed into them Deut. 34.5 Old Hilarion when he lay a dying bespake his soul in this manner Get thee out of me O my soul get thee out of me why fearest thou that hast served God almost this seventy years Jerom in vita Hilarionis Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace Psal 37.37 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints Ps 116.15 Blessed are they that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their works follow them Rev. 14.13 CAP. II. Particular directions IN the time of thy sickness with
religious education the Seaman with a prosperous voiage the Husbandman with a plentifull harvest the captive with patience and deliverance and all prisoners with repentance and amendment I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to instruct the ignorant to convert the obstinate to confirm the righteous to comfort the distressed to binde up the broken-hearted to rectifie those that erre and to reduce them that wander into the right way I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to remember thine ancient people the Jewes to open their eyes that they may see him whom they have pierced and beleeve in him I beseech thee to hear me good Lord. That it may please thee in thy good time to bring in the fulnesse of the Gentiles and to reveal the glorious light of thy Gospel to such as yet sit in darkness and in the shadow of death I beseech thee to hear me good Lord. That it may please thee to forgive those that persecute and speak evil of me those that injure and molest me those that slander and traduce me and to soften the hearts of all those that are mine enemies I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. O Lord hear my praiers for my self O Lord hear my prayers for others O Lord hear the prayers of thy Son Jesus Christ for us all who sits at thy right hand making intercession for us and hath taught me to come to thee in this most perfect and absolute form of prayer OUR Father which art in heaven c. Morning Prayer O Lord our heavenly Father almighty everlasting God which hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day defend us in the same with thy mighty power grant that this day we fall into no sin neither run into any kind of danger but that all our doings may be ordered by thy governance to doe alwayes that is righteous in thy sight through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Evening Prayer LIghten our darkness we beseech thee O Lord and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night for the love of thy only Son our Saviour Jesus Christ Amen THE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the fellowship of the holy Ghost be with us all evermore Amen A peculiar Letany to be used by or for sick persons Collected out of severall places and passages of holy Scripture IN those dayes was Hezekiah sick unto death Then turned he his face unto the wall and prayed unto the Lord. And Hezekiah wept sore And the Lord said Behold I will adde unto thy dayes fifteen years Isaiah 38.1 2 3. THE LETANY O God the Father of heaven whose property it is to kill and to make alive to wound and to heal to bring down to the grave and to raise up again Have mercy upon me Thou who didst heal Naaman of his leprosie David of his noisome disease Job of his ulcers Hezekiah of his desperate sicknesse Have mercy upon me O Christ the Son of God who madest the blinde to see the dumb to speak the deaf to hear and the lame to walk Have mercy upon me Thou who didst cure Peters wives mother of her fever the Centurions servant of his palsie the ten Lepers of their leprosie and didst help such as were possessed with Divels Have mercy upon me Thou who didst cure her that was diseased with an issue of bloud twelve years her that was bowed together eighteen years and him at the pool of Bethesda that had an infirmity thirty and eight years Have mercy upon me Thou who didst restore to life the daughter of Jairus the widows son and raised up Lazarus out of his grave Have mercy upon me Thou who didst bear our sicknesses and sorrows thou who hast styled thy self the Physician of the sick thou who hast called all such as are weary and heavy laden to come unto thee promising them ease and refreshment Have mercy upon me By thy fasting and watching by thine hunger thirst by thy grief and sadness by thy agony and bloudy sweat by thy cries and tears by thy Crosse and Passion Have mercy upon me That it may please thee who diddest cure many diseases by Peters shadow many sicknesses by Pauls handkerchief the eyes of the blind with clay spittle the leprosie of Naaman with the water of Jordan and raisedst up the dead by the bones of thy Prophet to blesse all those means that are or shall be used for my recovery I beseech thee to hear me good Lord. That it may please thee to give me grace to submit my self wholly to thy will to take thy visitation with patience thankfulness to drink of this bitter cup without murmuring or repining I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to streng then me against all the temptations of the divel to succour me in all the agonies conflicts of mine own conscience and to lay no more upon me then thou shalt inable me to bear I beseech thee to hear me good Lord. That it may please thee to continue unto me my memory and understanding my speech and senses the comforts and graces of thy holy Spirit that I fall not away from thee I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee if it be thy will to give me a longer time of repentance to rescue me from the gates of the grave to spare me a little before I go hence and be no more seen that I may still praise thee in the land of the living I beseech the to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee if thou hast appointed me for death to fit and prepare me for it to strengthen my faith to pardon and forgive me all my sins and to assure me of my salvation that I may render up my soul with comfort and chearfulness I beseech thee to hear me good Lord. Finally that it may please thee when I have rendred it up to receive it into thy hands to deliver me from the pangs of everlasting death and to set open unto me the gates of everlasting life I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. Psal 6.2 4 5. Have mercy upon me O Lord for I am weak O Lord heal me for my bones are vexed Return O Lord deliver my soul O save me for thy mercies sake For in death there is no remembrance of thee and who shall give thee thanks in the pit Psal 38. Thine arrows stick fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore ver 2. There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin ver 3. For mine iniquities are gone over my head as an heavy burded they are too heavy for me ver 4. My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness ver 5. I am troubled I am bowed down greatly I go mourning all the day
salvation and we must take the cup of thanksgiving The Disciples when they had received it sang an Hymne And an Hymne is a song of praise and blessing Mat. 29.30 Express thy thankfulnesse in Psalmes and Hymnes and spirituall songs publickly in the congregation privately in thine own family Psalmes fit for this are Psal 8. Psal 23. Psal 66. Psal 103. c. Secondly as there must be thanksgiving to God so there must be almsgiving to the poor It was a custome in the Primitive Church and is still continued in many places to have gatherings and collections for the poor at the administration of this Sacrament Davids servants told Nabal that they came to him in a good day for it was a day of feasting 1 Sam. 25.8 This is a day of feasting to thee Let it not be a day of fasting to thy poor brethren God hath fed thee with the bread of life canst thou deny the crums of bread that fall from thy table He hath refreshed thee with the bloud of his Son with the wine of his sanctuary canst thou deny the drink of thy buttery or a cup of cold water Give chearfully God loves a chearfull giver 2 Cor. 9.6 Give liberally Consider how great a gift God hath this day bestowed upon thee His Son His begotten Son His only begotten Son His beloved Son His dear Son Col. 1.13 Thirdly take heed thou relapse not into thy old sins I have washed my feet how shall I defile them Cant. 5.3 If after we have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of our Lord Saviour Jesus Christ we be again intangled therein and overcome If with the Dog we return to our own vomit again or with the Sow that was washed to our wallowing in the mire The latter end will be worse with us then the beginning 2 Pet. 2.20 22 Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath troden under foot the Sonne of God and hath counted the bloud of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace Heb. 10.29 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man he saith I will return into my house frō whence I came out and when he is come he findeth it empty swept garnished Then goeth he and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked then himself and they enter in and dwell there And the last estate of that man is worse then the first Mat. 12.43 44 45. He that washeth himself after the touching of a dead body if he touch it again what availeth his washing Ecclus 34.25 A short prayer after the receiving of this Sacrament O Most gracious God from whose bounty every good and perfect gift is derived I and all that is within me praise and magnifie thy holy name for all the mercies and favours which from time to time thou hast bestowed upon me Especially I thank thee for thy Son Jesus Christ the fountain and foundation of all blessings that thou hast sent him into the world to take our nature upon him and to die for us and that thou hast fed me who am unworthy of the least of thy favours with the precious merits of his death and passion Blessed Lord God thou hast been pleased this day to set thy seal to the pardon and forgivenesse of all my sins oh let me not tear it off again by unthankfulnesse or relapsing into my old sinnes from which thou hast purged me lest my last end be worse then my beginning But when hereafter I shall be tempted by the divel allured by the world or provoked by mine own flesh lay before mine eyes by thy remembring Spirit how deare the expiation of my sins cost my Lord Saviour Christ Jesus even the effusion of his most precious and sacred bloud that in the contemplation of his death and application of his most bitter passion I may die daily unto sin and so shew the Lords death till he come That when he shall come and bring his reward with him I may receive that crown of righteousnesse which he hath purchased prepared for all those that love and expect the day of his appearing with the precious price of his incorruptible blood And whereas I have this day renewed my covenant with thee my God in vows and purposes of better obedience assist me by thy grace and strengthen me by thy power that I may pay the vows which I have made unto thee that by virtue of thy heavenly nourishment I may grow up in grace godliness till at last I come to be a perfect man in Christ Jesus in whose most blessed name and words I conclude these my imperfect prayers saying as he himself hath taught me O our Father c. EVERY DAYES Considerations Consider 1. What good thou hast done 2. What good thou daily doest 3. What thou shalt do hereafter Consider these in The Morning when thou risest The Day when thou walkest The Night when thou wakest These Considerations wel meditated on will the better prepare thee for these ensuing meditations of Death SECTION I. Meditations of Death THE life of a Christian is or should be a continuall meditation of death The flight of a Bird is directed by her train the course of a ship is steered by the helm so is the life of a man ordered by the serious apprehension of his last end The first man was called Adam which signifies a piece of red earth He was cloathed in the skins of dead beasts He was adjudged to the earth to dig and delve in it God would have his name his garments his imploiment continuall remembrancers of his grave and monitors of his mortality It is reported by the Ancient Fathers that the people of God used the 90. Psalm in form of a daily prayer In which Psalm there is a long acknowledgment of the shortnesse of our lives and this petition to God So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdome ver 12. Oh that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their later end Deut. 32.29 Whatsoever thou takest in hand remember the end thou shalt never do amisse Eccles 7.36 CAP. I. That the meditation of death is profitable against pride NEbuchadnezzars Image had a head of gold brest and arms of silver belly thighes of brasse but feet of clay Whatsoever thy wealth wisdome birth beauty state or strength be thy foundation is in the dust Job 4.19 There is a great difference betwixt a Cedar and a shrub a Vine and a bramble so long as both grow but cut them down and burn them there will be no difference in their ashes Chess-men are distinguished upon the boord whilest the game is playing but being done they are tumbled into a bag without order In this life some are set upon the throne others are grinding at the mill Some are cloathed in
purple and fare deliciously every day others lie at the gates and have not so much as the crums of their Tables But in the grave rich and poor meet together and the ulcers of Lazarus will make as good dust as the paint of Jezabel Saul being anointed King over Israel was appointed to go to Rachels sepulchre that the sight of a Sepulchre might allay the haughtinesse of his new honour 1 Sam. 10.2 Kings must pile up gaeir Crownes at the thtes of the grave and lay down their Scepters at the feet of death The daughters of Jerusalem which are haughty walking with stretched forth necks and wanton eys mincing as they goe and making a tinkling with their feet must drop into the grave where in stead of sweet smels there shal be stink and in stead of well set hair baldness Isa 3.16 24. They that glory in their Ancestours in the nobleness of their birth and bloud must make their bed in the dark and acknowledge corruption for their father and the Worm for their mother and sister Job 17.14 I have said Ye are gods and all of you are children of the most high but ye shall die like men Psal 82.6 7. Why then art thou proud O Dust and Ashes Nulla discretio inter cadavera mortuorum nisi quod gravius foetent divitum corpora distenta luxuriâ Amb. Hexam l. 6. c. 8. CAP. II. It is profitable against covetousness THe rich man in the Gospel when he had built his barns and inned his harvest was called away and carries nothing with him of all the store he had provided Luke 12. The Spider spins out her own bowels to make a Cobweb and presently a maid comes with a broome and sweeps it down Horses at night are unladen of their burthens and turned into a dirty Stable with a galled back So are rich men into the grave and for the most part with a galled conscience A Mill wears it selfe with grinding though it turn about continually yet it removes not out of its place It is but in vain for men to rise up early and to sit up late and to eat the bread of carefulness For naked came I out of my mothers womb and naked shall I return thither Job 1.21 I hated all the labour which I had taken under the Sun because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me And who knoweth whether hee shall be a wise man or a fool Yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured and wherein I have shewed my self wise under the Sun This is also vanity Ec. 2.18 19 Surely every man walketh in a vain shew surely they are disquieted in vain he heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather thē Ps 39.6 We brought nothing with us into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out of it 1 Tim. 6.7 Why then art thou coveteous O Dust and Ashes Facile contemnit omnia qui se semper cogitat moriturum Jeron in Ep. ad Paulin. CAP. III. It is profitable against Lust THe Prodigall seeing many spectacles of mortality by reason of the great famine leaves his concubines and riotous living and returns again to his Father Luke 15. One going to the stews meets by the way a dead corps carried to the grave the sight whereof made such an impression in him that he goes back again and ever after lived chast and continent Let not sinne raign in your mortall bodies that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof Rom. 6.12 I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which warre against the soul 1 Pet. 2.11 The argument used by these Apostles to beat down in us the lust of sin and the sin of lust is the mortality of our bodies Why then art thou lustfull ô Dust and Ashes Thus we see that the meditation of death is a soverein antidote against all the evill that is in the world For all that is in the world is either the lust of the flesh or the lust of the eyes or the pride of life 1 Joh. 2.19 Nil sic revocat à peccato quam frequens morti's meditatio Aug. SECTION II. THere is nothing more certain then death yet nothing more uncertain in the circumstances of it Certain it is we must all die but where when or how we shall die of all things is most uncertain CAP. I. Death is certain ABraham the Father of the faithfull and the friend of God died Iacob wrestled with an Angel and prevailed yet death was too hard for him David was a man after Gods own heart one that triumphed over ten thousand Philistims yet death triumphed over him Solomon knew the vertues of all plants from the Cedar in Libanus to the hyssope upon the wall yet no plant had this vertue to make him immortall The fathers have eaten Manna and are dead There is but one way into the world but there are a thousand out of it Man when he comes into the world is like an hour-glasse new turned up which never ceases running till it be all out Like Peter and Iohn we run who shall first come at the Sepulchre John 20.4 And they that are there already rot and crumble away to make roome for us that must come after them Dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return Gen. 3.19 What man is he that liveth and shall not see death Psal 89.48 The dust shall return to the earth as it was the spirit shall return unto God that gave it Eccles 12.7 It is appointed for all men once to die Heb. 9.27 We must needs die and are as water spilt upon the ground which cannot be gathered up again 2 Sam. 14.14 CAP. II. The time uncertain AN infant in the wombe knows not the time when hee shall come into the world and being come knows not the time when hee shall go out of it The rich man promised himself many years but fool that he was that night his soul was fetcht from him Lu. 12. Behold now I am old and know not the day of my death Gen. 27.2 One dieth in his full strength when his brests are full of milk and his bones are moistned with marrow another dieth in the bitternesse of his soul Job 21.23 24. Man also knoweth not his time as the fishes that are taken in an evill 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 Eccles 9.12 God would have us ignorant of the last day that we might be ready every day Take yee heed watch and pray for ye know notwhen the time is Mark 13.33 To deferre repentance then till to morrow is very dangerous God hath promised thee pardon if thou dost repent to day but if thou dost not repent he hath not promised that thou shalt live till to morrow Boast not thy selfe of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day may
is slow to anger Psal 103.8 A God that delighteth not in the death of a sinner His own nature inclines him to save us our sins urge and provoke him to damne us Therefore if he must punish he comes as it were unwillingly to it and reserves it for the last place CAP. III. The sentence of condemnation THe sentence of Condemnation shal be denounced in these words Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Divel his angels Mat. 25.41 Not a word in this sentence but is a wound not a syllable but is a sword piercing the heart not a letter but is as loud and terrible as a clap of thunder How shall the loyns of the wicked tremble and their joynts be loosed their knees knock together to hear Christ pronounce them cursed Cursed because of the punishment of losse Depart ye There is their banishment exclusion from him who is the fountain of life the light of glory and in whose presence there is fulnesse of joy Cursed because of the punishment of Sense Depart ye into fire there is the extremity Into fire everlasting there is the eternity Prepared for the Divel and his Angels there is their Company Immediately after these sentences are pronounced shall follow execution The wicked shall goe away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternall Mat. 25.46 SECTION V. IT remains now in the last place to view the use and influence which the consideratiō of this great day of the Lord ought to have upon our affections It is matter of terrour to some of comfort to others but of instruction to all CAP. I. Terrour to the wicked AS Paul reasoned of righteousnesse temperance and judgment to come Felix trembled Acts 24.25 The Jews fell backward when they came to apprehend Christ in the days of his humility how then shal they stand before him when he shal come in glory and majesty How terrible must this day needs be when The mountaines shall quake at him and the hills melt and the earth bee burnt up at his presence yea the world and all that dwell therein Who can stand before his indignation and who can abide the fiercenesse of his anger his fury is poured out like fire and the rocks are throwne down by him Nah. 1.5 6. What a hard distresse shall the wicked be in when they shall have On one side their sins accusing On the other the justice of God terrifying The gulf of hell gaping under them An angry Judge frowning over them Within them a conscience stinging Without them the world burning Anselme Surely the Kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief Captains and the mighty men and every bondman and every free man shall hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and shall say to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand Rev. 6.15 16 17. Rejoyce ô young man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thine own heart in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee to judgment Eccles 11.9 O consider this you that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you Psal 50.22 Knowing the terrors of the Lord we perswade men 2 Cor. 5.11 CAP. II. Comfort to the godly THen shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory And when these things begin to come to passe then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh Luke 21.27 28. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangell and with the trump of God c. Wherfore comfort ye one another with these words 1 Thes 4.16 17. When Christ ascended the Angels comforted the Disciples in this manner This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven Acts 1.11 Hence it is that the righteous are said to love the day of his appearing for then they shall receive a crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4.8 The Lord is good a strong hold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him Nahum 1.7 But of this we have heard before where this day in respect of the godly is called a day of refreshing redemption CAP. III. Instruction to all IF it be thus what manner of men ought we to be in all holy conversation on and godliness 2 Pet. 3.11 That which raised up the soul of S. Jerome to such a pitch of devotion was the continuall meditation of this day Whether I eat or drink or whatsoever I do me thinks I hear the last trump sounding in my ears Arise ye dead and come to judgment We must give an account not only for our presumptuous sins but for our smallest sins I say unto you That of every idle word that men shal speak they shall give account thereof at the day of judgment Mat. 12.36 We shall reckon not only for our own sins but for the sins of others which we have occasioned by our command company counsell or ill example We shall reckon for the talents of grace and nature and for the precious time afforded to us Hear the end of all fear God and keep his Commandments for God will bring every work into Judgment Eccles 12.13 14. Abound in the works of mercy and charity for according to them wee shall be judged Mat. 25. Judge your selves here you shall not be judged hereafter 1 Cor. 11.31 As for the time when or the place where the Judgment seat of Christ shall be erected O my soul enter not into these secrets Such knowledg is too wonderfull for thee Secret things belong to the Lord our God and revealed things to us and our children A short Prayer for the day of Judgment O Most blessed Lord Jesus who now sittest at the right hand of God the Father and from thence shalt come to judg both the quick and the dead in power and great glory I confess and acknowledge that such is the hainousnesse of my sins the guiltinesse of my Conscience and the dreadfulness of that day that my very flesh trembleth and my heart melteth within me when I consider that I must appear before the tribunall of thy just Judgment to give an account of whatsoever I have done in the flesh whether good or evil I know ô Lord that if thou shalt enter into Judgment with me I cannot be justified in thy sight and if thou shalt be extreme to mark what amisse hath passed from me I shall not be able to answer thee one for a thousand I appeal
of torment prepared for the Divell and his Angels But thou hast revealed thy self unto the sons of men to be the Lord the Lord merciful and gracious long suffering and of great goodnesse one that pardons sin passes by the transgressions of thy people this is thy name for ever and thy memoriall throughout all generations We appeal therefore from thee unto thee frō the barof thy Justice to the bowels of thy mercy beseeching thee even for Jesus Christ his sake to be merciful unto us in the free pardon and forgivenesse of all the sins that ever we have committed against thee Accept of his obedience for our disobedience of his righteousness for our unrighteousness of his sufferings for all our sins wash them away in his blood nail them to his Crosse hide them in his wounds and bury them in his grave that they may never rise up for our confusion here or condemnation hereafter And as we desire thee to be unto as a father of mercy so be unto us a GOD of consolation speak peace unto our souls consciences and say unto us that thou art the God of our salvation And for the time to come give us grace to die daily unto sin by virtue of thy Sons death to rise up to newness of life by the power of his resurrection wean our hearts take off our affections from the things of this world which endure but for a season and raise them up unto those things which are at thy right hand for evermore Inlighten the darkness of our understandings subdue the stubborness of our wils rectifie the disorder of our affections and bring into obedience whatsoever exalteth it self against thy will that at last we may come to be such as thou wouldest have us Deliver us ô God from the temptations of the divel frō the allurements of the world from the lusts of the flesh from the evil example of this crooked and perverse generation wherein we live that we may run the race of thy commandements without turning to the right hand or to the left And forasmuch as the days of our pilgrimage are but few and evil and these earthly tabernacles of our bodies must be dissolved give us grace to passe the time of our dwelling in thy fear that we may depart hence in thy favour whensoever wheresoever or howsoever it shall please thee to call for us And we entreat thee yet further to continue and inlarge thy blessings upon the Church Land wherein we live upon the person government of our King upon the deliberations of his Councel upon the patience long suffering of all those who are afflicted with any cross or calamity because they are unworthy to receive new blessings that are not thankfull for those they have already received wee blesse and praise thee for all the mercies favours which thou hast afforded us for our souls or bodies for this life or a better We thank thee for our election creation vocation justification sanctification in some measure assured hope of glorification with thee in thy Kingdome We thank thee for the peace of our Church for the health of our bodies for the plenty of our estates and for the prosperity of our families And now holy Father seeing the night is upon us we are ready to take our rest into thy hands we commit our souls bodies and all that we have beseeching thee which art the Keeper of Israel that neither sleepeth nor slumbreth to take care for us for if thou protect us not Satan wil devour us yea we shall sleep a perpetuall sleep never rise up to praise thee We pray thee therefore be good to us this night defend us frō danger refresh us with comfortable rest raise us up to glorifie thee in the duties of the day following that thou maist still be our God and we thy people Hear us and graciously answer us in these our requests and what else thou knowest needfull and expedient for us and that for Jesus Christ his sake in whose most blessed name and words we conclude these our imperfect prayers saying as he himself hath taught us Our Father c. When thou art in bed cōmend thy self to God in the words of David I will lay me down in peace and take my rest for thou only O Lord makest me to dwell in safety Psal 4.8 Consider and heare me O Lord my God lighten mine eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death Psal 13.3 So when thou liest down thou shalt not be afraid yea thou shalt lie down and thy sleep shall be sweet Prov. 3.24 Grace before meat GOod Lord pardon forgive us all our sins which make us unworthy of all thy mercies bless these thy creatures to the use of our bodies bless our bodies to the use of our souls and blesse both our bodies and souls to thy service for Christ his sake Amen Grace after meat THou O God which hast created us by thy power preserved us by thy providence redeemed us by thy blood and at this time fed us by thy good creatures be blessed and praised now and evermore Amen THE END London printed by Tho. Maxey for George Badger and are to be sold at his Shop in S. Dunstans Church-yard in Fleetstreet
Ezekiah call thy self to an account for all thy sins mourn for them in the bitternesse of thy soul confesse them to God and ask forgivenesse 2. Send for thy Minister To whom if need be make a speciall confession and take along with thee the benefit of his absolution Whos 's soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained John 20.23 If I forgave any thing to whom I forgave it I forgave it in the person of Christ 2 Cor. 2.10 Secondly let thy Minister pray over thee Is any sick among you let him call for the Elders of the Church and let them pray over him If he hath commited sins they shall be forgiven him Jam. 5.14 15. Thirdly let him give thee the Sacrament of the Lords Supper This is the best viaticum and provision for so long a journey I may say to thee as the Angel to Eliah Arise and eat for the journey is too great for thee And if with Eliah thou dost eat and drink thou maist travell in the strength of this meat to Horeb the mount of God 1 Kings 19.7 8. This is the bread that came down from Heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die Who so eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath eternall life and I will raise him up at the last day Joh. 6.51 54. V. Euseb hist l. 5. c. 45.3 Set thine house in order 2 Kings 20.1 This will not make thee die more quickly but more quietly 4. Remember the poor When we have beene kindly entertained at a friends house it is good manners to give the servants something when we goe away Blessed is he that considereth the poore the Lord will deliver him in the time of trouble The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing and will make all his bed in his sicknesse Psal 41.1 3. 5. If thou beest a father or mother of children call them before thee and blesse them So did Jacob when he departed Gen. 49.1 6. Make restitution if thou beest able to such as thou hast wronged and defrauded Without restitution there is no remission Enquire with Samuel whose oxe thou hast taken or whose asse thou hast taken whom thou hast defrauded whom thou hast oppressed or of whose hand thou hast received a bribe and restore it Send for them who have offended thee and forgive them and for those whom thou hast offended and ask forgivenesse Lastly resign and give over thy self to God Behold here I am let the Lord do to me as seemeth good to him 1 Sam. 15.26 Not my wil but thine be done And if thus thou beest prepared at the day of death oh well is thee and happy shalt thou be Psal 128.2 Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall finde thus doing thus dying Mat. 24.46 A short prayer for a happy departure O Most glorious Lord the GOD of the spirits of all flesh in whose hands are the times of all men and the keys of the Grave I most meekly beseech thee of thy goodnesse to pardon and forgive me all my sins and to make me ever mindfull of my mortality Lay often before mine eyes by thy remembring spirit that the days of my pilgrimage are but few and evil that I have here no abiding and continuing City that all flesh and the goodlinesse thereof is but a flower that fadeth a shadow that vanisheth away that so numbring my days I may apply my heart to wisedome and with the wise Virgins provide Oil in my Lamp and make my calling and election sure before I go hence be no more seen And when it shall please thee to cast me upon the bed of sickness and to compasse me about with the sorrows of the grave I beseech thee for thy names sake for thy mercies sake for thy Son Jesus Christ his sake not to be far from me in that needfull time of trouble when I shall finde heavinesse in my flesh and there be none to deliver me But draw near unto my soul and be about my bed to pardon my sins to pacifie my conscience to strengthen my faith to mitigate my pains to receive my soul when it shall be commended unto thee Receive it O God the Father for thou hast created it Receive it O God the Son for thou hast redeemed it Receive it O God the Holy Ghost for thou hast sanctified it Receive it ô holy blessed and glorious Trinity that being translated out of this vale of misery it may raign with thee one everliving and immortall God in the Kingdome of Glory world without end Amen SECTION I. Of the day of Judgement CHristian Reader let my Meditations now passe as thou thy self must from the day of death to the day of Judgment For it is appointed for all men once to die and after that to come to judgment Heb. 9.27 CAP. I. There shall bee a day of Judgment IT is an Article of our faith that CHRIST who nâ—w sits at the right hand of his Father shall come from thence to judg the quick and the dead Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied of it saying Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints To execute Judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against hâ—m Iude 14 15. God shall bring every work into judgement with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evill Eccles 12.14 I saw the dead small and great stand before God The Sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to his works Rev. 20.13 It is very observable that all other Articles of the Creed have been opposed by Heretiques either in whole or in part but no Heretique denied a day of judgment Vide Danaeum in his Cat. of heresies against the Creed In this world Solomon says no man can know love or hatred by all that is before them For all things come alike to all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the good and to the clean and to the unclean to him that sacrificeth to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath Eccles 9.1 2. Now shall not the Judge of all the world do right Gen. 18.25 There must be a day wherein the wicked shall be punished and the vertuous rewarded A day wherein God will put a difference betwixt an Israelite and an Aegyptian betwixt a Sheep and a Goat betwixt wheat and tares There shall be a day when I will make up my Jewels and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God