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
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
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
the beginning c. The Prayer ALmighty God the Fountain of all Wisdom grant me so wisely to number and compare the short and sorrowful days of this mortal Life with that joyful and never ending day of a blessed eternity that despising the vanities of the one I may zealously aspire to the happiness of the other O satisfie the panting desires of my Soul with the sense of thy mercy in the pardon of my sins and let the glory of thy grace appear in prospering me to perform all those good works of Faith and Obedience which conduce to my eternal Salvation through Jesus Christ THE Second general Meditation UPON JUDGMENT And first the Particular Judgment IT is appointed unto man once to die Heb. 9.27 and after that the Judgment No sooner shall this house of flesh wherein the immortal Soul doth now inhabit be shattered in pieces by the hand of death but in the same moment the departing Soul shall be conveyed by the Angels of God before his Judgment-seat and this is call'd The particular Judgment that shall pass upon every person in particular immediately upon his death Eccl. 12.7 when the dust shall return to the earth as it was then shall the Spirit return unto God that gave it To give an account of the works done in the body whether they be good or whether they be evil That grand enemy of man the Devil awaits thy Soul's departure hence to dog thee to the great Tribunal of Heaven Ille enim tunc saeviens capit quos nunc blandiens decipit Greg. In this life he fawns to seduce but in the other he will roar to devour as a Lion over his prey to this end he will vehemently accuse thee aggravating all thy miscarriages through his suggestions committed and claiming thee as one of the subjects of his kingdom of darkness saying to the great Judge of all as several Fathers observe This person thou Judge of the world though he be thine by Creation Euseb Emiss Hom. Aug. orat cont Judaos Pag. yet he is mine by Depravation He is Thine by nature but mine by sin for he has obeyed my suggestions and disobeyed thy Laws and therefore though he belong to thee by right yet he is faln to me by default he is thine in respect of his workmanship but mine by the rebellion of his will and disorder of his affections having yielded himself to follow my temptations and to forsake the paths of thy Commandments But 't is not the Devil alone that shall thus accuse thee when arraigned at the Bar of divine Judgment but as S. Chrysostom saith the Heavens and the Earth and the Sea the Sun and the Moon and the Stars both Nights and Days and all the Creatures thou hast abused shall bear witness against thee but above all Thine own Conscience shall be as a thousand witnesses for being then freed from this clog and damp of the corruptible flesh all thy imaginations and desires all thy words and works spoken and done in the body shall appear to thy Conscience in their native genuine and proper colours without any ignorance or oblivion misperswasion or misprision which now blinds the minds of many thousands to their eternal ruine on that day O who shall then be able to answer thee one of a thousand thou most worthy Judge eternal if thou shouldst be extream to mark what is done amiss Job 9.2 Ps 130.3 and thy great mercy intervene not to mitigate the rigor of thy Justice But in thee have I put my trust Ps 38.15 Thou shalt answer for me O Lord my God I have no other Advocate to plead my cause but my righteous Judge himself from whom in my daily prayers I have required that they even mine enemies should not triumph over me when I stand to be judged before the Tribunal of Heaven Eccl. 23.2 3. Who will set scourges over my thoughts and the discipline of wisdom over my heart that they spare me not for mine ignorances and pass not by my sins Lest mine ignorances increase and my sins abound to my destruction And I fall before mine adversaries in the day of my trial and mine enemies the spirits and powers of darkness rejoyce over me whose hope is far from thy mercy Meditat. II. My flesh trembleth for fear of thee Psal 119.120 and I am afraid of thy Judgments when I consider the severity of many of thy temporal judgments which are now intended to drive sinners to Repentance that thou mightest spare them hereafter I cannot but foresee the unconceivable rigour of thy eternal judgments which intend punishment only without any thought of future mercy to spare and to forgive as in this life And I vile sinner have great cause to fear as a strict examination which all must undergo so severe a sentence to pass upon me having not so conscienciously as I ought obeyed the sacred dictates of the saving grace of God teaching us Tit. 2 11 12 13. that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world With what face then shall I look for the blessed hope or hope for blessedness upon the appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ I have a greater cause to fear than to hope to wave than to await his coming But how shall I avoid or whither shall I flee from the face of my Judge whither but from an offended God to a merciful Redeemer from the Throne of thy Justice to thy Mercy-seat To meet thee now with Repentance in my heart and the fruits thereof brought forth in the actions of my life and with such spiritual wings cemented with the bloud of my Redeemer I may hope to flee from the wrath to come O God who art justly displeased for our sins Mat. 3.7 8. and pacified by our true and sincere Repentance spare O spare all those who confess their sins unto thee that they whose consciences by sin are accused by thy merciful pardon may be absolved through Christ our Lord. Meditat. III. Before Judgment examine thy self Eccl. 18.20 and in the day of visitation thou shalt find mercy And I upon the examination of my self do find my heart foul and polluted and my life stain'd with manifold offences but that I may escape the judgment of God I judge my self to be a miserable sinner I judge my self to have incurr'd the Lord's just indignation to have deserved the dismal sentence of condemnation to pass upon me For I have sinned and I have done wickedly and I have committed iniquity and have rebelled against the Lord by departing from his most holy Laws and Judgments Many will be my accusers when I come to my great Trial upon life or death eternal and many and great accusations have they to lay against me the Devil and his Angels whose suggestions unto evil I have too often followed many men and many women too who have been conscious
of my sins and of whose sins I have been many ways guilty All the good Creatures of God I have abused and his mercies in them all those evil deeds I have committed and the many good offices I have wittingly omitted all which stand upon record in the Lord 's black book of remembrance and mine own Conscience shall bear witness to all these undeniable Evidences These are the Books that shall be opened against me and I have not what to answer for my self Psal 26.1 But my trust is in the tender mercies of the Lord therefore I shall not fall and be cast in my trial Holy Jesus who wast condemned being innocent acquit me though greatly nocent through Faith in thy Bloud Judge me O Lord Ps 35.24 according to thy righteousness not after mine for 't is little and good for little but 't is thy righteousness Holy Jesus both active and passive I must plead for my acquittance when judged by thee then O then let not mine enemies triumph over me Let them not say in their hearts there there so would we have it neither let them say we have devoured him But in the hour of death and in the day of Judgment Good Lord deliver me MEDITATIONS UPON THE General Judgment WHen the Son of man shall come in his Glory Mat. 25.31 and all his holy Angels with him then shall he sit upon the Throne of his Glory And before him all nations shall be gathered This is called The day of the Lord 1 Thes 5.2 by way of Eminence as being of all days the greatest I. And that first in respect of the great appearance which shall be upon this day both of the Judge and the persons to be judged 1. Great and glorious terrible and amazing shall be the appearance of the Judge himself with all his numerous attendants His personal appearance shall be in Majesty and great glory not in respect of his Divine nature for that appears not to the eyes of flesh but in respect of his Humane nature assumed That nature which appear'd here upon earth poor mean contemptible wherein he was despised and scorned whipt and scourged beaten and buffetted bespattered with ignominious spittings and vile reproaches rack'd disjoynted distorted deformed nailed and pierced crucified and died shall upon this day appear cloathed with Majesty and crowned with glory Every eye shall see him even they also who pierced him and the marks in his nailed hands in his nailed feet and in his gored side shall appear as so many shining Stars for their glittering splendor 2. A great day in respect of the numerous attendants upon this great Judge of whom Dan. 7.9 when the ancient of days did sit thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him the judgment was set and the books were opened When this day of the Lord cometh the Sun shall be turned into darkness and the Moon into bloud and all the glittering Stars shall fall from their Orbs but then the Sun of righteousness shall shine attended by all the triumphing Saints and Angels of Heaven who shall appear as so many Stars in the Firmament above dazling the eyes and astonishing the hearts of all persons to be judged and this renders 3. This day a great day in respect of the appearance that shall then be even of all the Men that ever lived or shall live upon the face of the earth and of all the Angels also who are more numerous than men in the judgment of the Schoolman who saith T. Aq. p. 1. q. 50. Art 3. that there be as many if not more of spiritual than of corporal Beings 4. A great day in respect of the multitudinous Trials even of all the works that ever have been done from the Creation to the dissolution of all things under the Sun And not our works only but 5. Of all our words even of every idle word an account must be given By thy words thou shalt be justified Mat. 12.36 37. and by thy words thou shalt be condemned 6. Not our words and works only but even the inward thoughts intentions and desires of our hearts shall be expos'd to open view and censure the Lord will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of all hearts 1 Cor. 4.5 The most seared Conscience of the wicked and the most subtle secret Conscience of the Hypocrite shall by the all-piercing light of the divine Majesty be displayed and appear as manifest and open as if all the counsels thereof had been written with a beam of the Sun Ps 90.8 For thou O Lord hast set our misdeeds before thee and our secret sins in the light of thy countenance 'T is recorded of Agathon a person famous amongst the Aegyptian Fathers for strictness and holiness of life that he was notwithstanding exceedingly afraid upon his approaching death And being demanded the reason of his fear by such as knew the innocence of his life He answered That the judgments of God do vastly differ from the judgments of Men Every way of man is right in his own eyes but the Lord weigheth the spirits Prov. 16.2 Woe woe to the most holy and innocent life amongst Men if the mercy of God do not interpose in the day of Judgment For alas who is so holy who so pure and innocent as to stand with any confidence in that all-discerning light of the Sun of Righteousness Eccl. 23.19 Whose eyes are a thousand times brighter than the Sun beholding all the ways of men and considering their most secret parts I have been guilty most merciful Father I have been guilty of manifold miscarriages which I have now forgotten nor can I through the strictest examination of my self recal to my memory many of mine offences Job 14.16 17. But although I cannot yet thou numbrest my steps dost thou not watch over my sin my transgression is sealed up in a bag and thou sowest up mine iniquities So surely are all my transgressions kept in store against the day of my Trial whilst I sensual and secure think all is well enough with me and that my sins are forgotten Ps 19.12 O cleanse thou me from all my secret faults and as they are hid from my memory Ps 51.9 so hide thou thy face from them blot them out of thy Book of remembrance that they appear not to my confusion on that great and last day II. 1. The Lord hath made all things for himself yea even the wicked for the day of evil Prov. 16.4 The great day of Judgment is call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the day of evil As for which day the Lord hath reserved the full execution of his severe justice upon all the evils of the world In the Creation of all things the power of God was most especially manifested in the government of the world doth his wisdom most appear In the Redemption of mankind his
me in the lowest Pit I confess I have so far incurr'd thy wrathful displeasure as to be laid in the nethermost Hell which is a place of darkness even blackness of darkness for ever and in the deep Abyss of inextricable Torments Thine indignation lieth hard upon me whereto I have provoked thee by manifold offences and thou hast vexed me with all thy storms those tempests of affliction and trouble which disturb my peace are sent from thee to scowre the rust of corruption off my Soul Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me and made me to be abhorred of them The invisible society of holy Angels with the prayers and good wishes of holy men I enjoyed whilst I was innocent and heavenly-minded but now being polluted they are estranged from me and abhor me in my sins I am so fast in prison that I cannot get forth I am so enfetter'd in the bonds and chains of my sins that without the help of a divine hand I cannot be loosed from them My sight faileth for very trouble the bright eye of my mind is dimm'd and darkned through the pressures of my spirit and in this sad condition Lord I have called upon thee as being my only refuge in danger support in trouble and succour in all distress I have stretched forth my hands unto thee by my practice according to my prayer Dost thou shew wonders among the dead or shall the dead declare thy works of wonder or shall the dead rise up and praise thee They must have part in the first Resurrection which is from the corruption of sin who worthily shew forth thy praise Shall thy loving kindness be shewed in the grave or thy faithfulness in destruction both in the state of the first and of the second Death there is a deep silence of thy Goodness and of thy Truth Shall thy wondrous works be known in the dark and thy righteousness in the land where all things are forgotten Thy righteous and admired deeds are not once mentioned either in the grave of Death or in the Pit of Hell in both estates there is an utter forgetfulness of all thy Goodness and Truth But that I may be delivered from such a sad condition Vnto thee have I cried O Lord and early shall my prayer come before thee Before I be surprised by Death let my prayer for thy prevented and assisting Grace be not rejected Lord why abhorrest thou my soul I am unclean I confess and 't is but just I should be abhorred and forsaken but being withal penitent and humbled why hidest thou thy face from me as being still displeased with me and deaf to my petitions I am in misery and like unto him that is at the point to die Death as the wages of sin dogs me at the heels even from my youth up thy terrors have I suffered with a troubled mind The terrors of my Conscience for sin have been alway accompanied with a troubled and contrite spirit which thou hast promised not to despise Thy wrathful displeasure goeth over me The apprehension of thy wrath and displeasure invades and overflows my soul and the fear of thee hath undone me the fear of thy wrath in the day of Judgment and of the never-dying Torments of Hell hath ruin'd all my worldly consolations They came round about me daily like water overflowing all the powers and passions of my Soul and compassed me together on every side leaving no visible means of evasion and peace My lovers and my friends who professed themselves to be such in my worldly prosperity and amidst my carnal delights hast thou put away from me they are alienated and estranged in time of my trouble and hid mine acquaintance out of my sight they will not now see me who formerly frequented my company And therefore being thus desolate and deeply endeangered unto thee as my only hope and refuge O Lord God of my Salvation I have cried day and night continually for Deliverance and Salvation that my soul may continually bless thee and say Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. THE Fourth general Meditation OF HEAVEN 1. THE Land of Canaan was promised to Abraham the Father of the Faithful in these words of command Gen. 13.14 Lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art Northward and Southward Eastward and Westward For all the Land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy seed for ever The Celestial Canaan is herein promised unto thee if a true Son of the Faithful Abraham Lift up then thine eyes O my Soul and Contemplate the ravishing Felicities of this Land of Promise This is thy Native Country where thou wast at first Framed by the hands of the Almighty after His own Image Why then dost thou not pant and breath and sigh and long to be at Home Why art thou so well pleased with a strange Land and delightest rather to be a Pilgrim in the Valley of Tears than a Free Denizon in the Land of Peace a Foreigner in the city of Babylon than a Citizen in the heavenly Jerusalem Away away from Lebanon O my Soul thy beloved calleth thee away from the Dens of Lions Can. 4.8 Psal 55.6 and the mountains of the Leopards O that I had wings like a Dove for then would I flee away and be at rest 3. We read that the Lord brought Moses to the top of mount Pisgah and shewed him the promised land where having the wilderness behind him and the happiest of all lands before him he represents the devout and heavenly minded Soul who considering the manifold troubles in the wilderness of this world and the joys and felicities of the world to come is highly ravished in the contemplation and desire of the one to the extream contempt of the other Did I but seriously consider the ways of my present peace and contentment I could not but observe that the Commandments of God have so much intrinsick sweetness and felicity in them as to excite the most simple and stubborn Soul to obey them and yet so excessive are the ardors of divine Goodness and Love as to engage our obedience by the promises of Celestial Joys Unto this immarcescible Crown of Glory we are Created by God the Father Redeemed by God the Son and Sanctified by God the Holy Ghost in the sacred Waters of Baptism wherein we are adopted not only sons but heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven What blindness then doth so much possess the minds of the greatest part of the sons of men that all their desires and endeavours should be so wholly taken up with the vain frail empty and dying things of the Earth to the slight and neglect of those never fading joys of Heaven The first and largest step we take towards Heaven is from the state of Sin into the state of Grace the other viz. from Grace to Glory is a more easie and ready passage there being nothing betwixt
not hinder thy ascent into Heaven if thou tread them under thy feet For every sin and vanity trodden down subdued and mortified is one step Gen. 28.12 De vitiis nostris senlam facimus dum vitia calcamus Luk. 15.7 Heb. 12.1 2. one Scale or Round of that Celestial Ladder which being set upon the Earth reacheth up unto Heaven which the Angels of Heaven rejoyce to behold And may the right hand of God assist me to lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset me and to run with patience the race that is set before me Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our Faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross and despised the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God Blessed Lord who hast made me after thine own Image to attain the perfection and felicity of my Being in the beatifical vision and fruition of thy Majesty in Heaven vouchsafe here to guide me with thy Counsel and after that to receive me with glory through the Merits and Mediation of thy blessed Son and my dearest Saviour Jesus Christ Our Father which art in Heaven c. The XXIV Psalm PARAPHRASED Verse 1. THe Earth is the Lords and all that therein is the compass of the world and they that dwell therein The Heavens are the Lord 's chief Dwelling-place the Earth and all the Nations thereof he hath given to his Son Jesus as he is Redeemer of the World so Psal 2.8 Desire of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the utmost parts of the Earth for thy possession For he hath founded it upon the seas and prepared it upon the flouds As God hath so wisely ordered the Earth and the Water that the one may refresh not overflow the other so he hath founded his Church upon a Rock above the Flouds of secular Cares and Turmoils and all the rising waves of this World 's vast Sea which is signified by the Situation of his Temple on a Hill And Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord or who shall rise up or stand in his holy place Who is he that shall be qualified to appear and stand in the presence of God and to joyn with his people in that solemn worship which in his holy Temple is exhibited unto him Such a one is also qualified to ascend and raise up his Soul to those mountains of joy in the celestial Sion And such a one is He that hath clean hands The works of whose hands are clean from all injustice and impurity and washed with the tears of true penitence from the filth of all former pollutions And a pure heart to all outward an inward holiness is required which consists in the purity of the heart viz. to be pure from all sordid and vile affections to be sincere and without hypocrisie in all Religious performances that hath not lift up his mind to vanity who follows not those pomps and vanities of this wicked world which he once so solemnly renounced nor sworn to deceive his neighbour that will not say much less swear an untruth nor yet break his word especially when confirmed with an oath Such is the holiness and innocence that entitles a people to the presence of God in his Temple upon Earth and in his House in Heaven 1. the holiness of the heart 2. of the hands 3. of the tongue or Holiness in thought word and deed He shall receive the blessing from the Lord The blessings of the Lord shall descend upon him when he ascends into the hill of the Lord and righteousness or mercy in the pardon of his sins or the reward of righteousness i.e. Salvation not of or from himself or from any but from the God of his Salvation This is the generation of them that seek him these are those holy and happy people who so faithfully seek the Lord that they find him viz. in grace here in glory hereafter which is the double blessing of them that seek thy face O Jacob All that be true Israelites indeed thus make their holy and humble addresses to the God of Jacob for his grace and favour Lift up your heads O ye gates or lift up your gates O ye Heads or Princes of the Heavenly Hierusalem and be ye lift up ye overlasting doors which open the passages to life everlasting and the King of glory shall come in he who hath vanquished and gloriously triumphed over the gates of everlasting death over all the spirits and powers of darkness is ascended to open the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers Who is the King of glory in whose glorious conquests we may glory and in whose righteousness we may make our boast it is the Lord strong and mighty who although he submitted himself to be betray'd apprehended arraigned and condemned to death yet is he even the Lord mighty in battle who naked and unarmed hath vanquished by his sufferings and by his death overcome death and him who hath the power of death the Devil for which victory he rides in Triumph upon the clouds of Heaven and therefore Lift up your Heads O ye gates of the celestial Paradise which have been shut against the sons of Men from the fall of the first Adam and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors Raise up your selves ye immortal souls open and be enlarged in your desires and affections unto him who hath opened unto you the everlasting doors of glory and the King of glory shall come in He who is ascended will also descend into you if pure and Heavenly minded and thither enwrap and raise you whither himself is gone before if yet for your further satisfaction you desire to know Who is the King of glory by whose Triumphant ascent into Heaven we believe and hope thither to ascend also It is even the Lord of Hosts he who hath the command of all the powers of Heaven Earth and Hell who hath the command especially of all the powers and operations vertues and graces of the Holy Spirit of God and dispenseth them accordingly unto all that love and fear his name He is the King of glory he is glorious indeed above all and God over all blessed for ever and therefore to him as is most meet be all glory ascribed Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. The LXXXIV Psalm PARAPHRASED 1. O How amiable are thy dwellings especially in the high and holy place thou Lord of Hosts even of the numerous troops of Angels and Archangels and of all the powers of Heaven My soul hath a desire which is more than ordinary 't is a longing even to a separation from it self to enter into the Courts of the Lord to view those several Mansions of glory and the blissful condition wherein all the Courtiers of the King of Heaven do praise him for ever my heart and my flesh when subdued