yeild our selvs an easy prey to his Temptations till our latter end be worse then our Beginning Oh what a change doth one year let us see in Persons as well as things in our selvs as well as other Men And as it is with Man himself so with every thing that he values himself upon or for which he is esteemed by others and even this esteem and Reputation is also changeable and uncertaine Not to Instance in Riches but in what is nobler Learning and the Improvements of the mind by study how soon may the violence of a Diseas disturb or stupifie the Braine to that degree as shall reduce the greatest scholar to the Pittied condition of a Fool or Bedlam and where is his Reputation and Renown in such a case But much less then that will blast the fairest Reputation with the far greatest part of the world it may be lost by unwary mistakes by falss reports by envy and malice by the subtle hatred of Enemies or by the weakness and credulity of Friends who will listen to every Backbiters story or by one or two indiscretions of the man himself and no man can be certaine to secure his Reputation while he lives much less after he is dead People will talk of us as they please and their opinions very often change from one extreme to the other But he who hath the loudest Fame shall only be talkt of a little longer then his Neighbors and that by a few dying Men that must themselvs be ere long forgotten And how small a part of the Inhabited world is acquainted so much as with the name of the greatest men in Europe and how different and Contrary are mens Opinions and Discourses of them where they are known and talkt of And how many holy excellent persons are buried in oblivion or mis-represented as unworthy to live on earth whose names will be found in the book of Life Our Life is yet as mutable and uncertaine as any of thes Our Breath is in our nostrils and tho there be room enough for it to goe out we have no assurance that we shall have power to draw it in againe III. Of the uncertainty of Living to the Period of another Year The vanity of this Life the swiftness of Time and how to be improved I Now begin another year but what Assurance have I to out live it I cannot say how soon my Soveraign Judge may call me hence and summon me to appear before his Righteous Bar. Oh let me not defer my necessary preparations for Death which may be nearer then I imagine let me mind the Great things first which are of absolute necessity to be done sometime or other before I dye This perishing Body which I have pamperd and indulged at the expence of so much cost and Time may be putrifying in a silent Grave before half this year be past Lord bless this thought to awaken my diligent endeavours to secure the Blessedness of Eternity to mortifie the desire of Great things for my self in future years by the considered possibility of dying before the end of this For no glass is more brittle no Bubble more vanishing no Ice more dissolving no Flower more sading no shadow less substantial no sleep or dream more deceiving no sound more Transient nothing more vaine and more uncertaine then Life on which all other things in this world depend We sleep every night in the outer chambers of Death and in some diseases sleeps which is the image and picture of death is taken away to give place to the Original and make way for death And every year every week every day are hastening to our final change which may overtake us ere we are aware Every word we speak is formed of that Breath whereby we live and we may not live to pronounce another sentence but the lamp of life be extinguisht and blown out by a sudden blast Every thing we do carries away some sands of our little Glass of Time and how little may remaine Or how soon may the Glass be broke our souls are in our bodies as a little air inclosed in a thin bubble how easily is that broken and where are we How many who are now a live in health and vigor who deliberate on their meat and drink and are curious of air and exercize to maintaine themselvs in health and pleas themselvs with the dream of years to come shall never see another New-years day it may be not another moneth or week or morrow When I lye down to sleep I hope to rise stronger and fresher and fitter for work but I know with all I may rise no more And may not my name be on the Roll of those who shall next be called at least some time this year Let me not then neglect or foolishly delay my Principal Business to provide against a change which is inevitable but the time of it altogether doubtfull Ought not my first and chiefest care be imployed to make my Peace with God. He alone can be my Happiness to his final Judgment I am hastening His Favor alone can give me support and Joy in a dying hour To his mercy I must trust when I leave this world and can have no advantage more by any thing in it that he may mercifully receive my soul at Death and be my everlasting Portion Do I know my Life is thus vaine and transient and shall I not seriously improve it to such a Purpose Shall thes thoughts leave no Impression upon me Do I breath continually in this Element of vanity and yet forget where I am and remaine insensible of so near a change Shall thes thoughts pass away as a vanishing Cloud and distill no softening drops on my soul Shall the Image of Death which meets me every where be only like an appearing Ghost or Phantasm that startles and scares a little but is presently gone and no more considered Oh! let me now remember to make God my friend and secure an intrest in his Eternal mercy while the Day lasts yea while my Reason and understanding are free and not disturbed and clouded by Fear and paine and the disorders of the Body as commonly they are in sickness if God should vouchsafe me that warning which yet I may not promise my self to have for I may be cut off by a sudden stroke before the end of this year I now begin IV. Of the seeming Difference between so many Years Past and the same number of Years to come WHen I look back on the preceding years of my Life how easily can I grasp them all at once they are even as Yesterday when 't is past But so many years to come hath something great and vast which fils my thoughts and affects my mind after another manner Such is the difference between past Injoyments and the Expectation of future Let me suppose the same term and duration of Years and yet how different are my Apprehensions of what is past and of what is
DEVOUT REFLECTIONS On TIME And ETERNITY With various Considerations and Counsells to assist our Victory over this Present World and help us to prepare for an Everlasting State. An Introduction is prefixt concerning the First Day of the Year how it was observ'd by the Jews and in what manner a Serious Christian may employ it to the best Advantage Most of the following Meditations are suited to that Purpose AMSTERDAM Printed for Jacob vande Velde Bookseller In the Year 1687. TO THE READER THe visible Decay of Piety and Evangelical Holiness is a common subject of Complaint and hardly ever was it more justly so then now with respect to the Generality of Churches and parâ—â—cular Christians All serious â—â—d considering Persons must needs reckon themselves obliged on that account both to Mourn and Fear The causes 〈◊〉 serious Mourning are too many and too notorious to be unobserved by Those who have any Knowledg of the preâ—â—â—t State of the Christian Religâ—â—n in Europe even among the most Reformed The general unacquaintedness with the Mysteries of the Gospell the Reproach of the solemn Assemblies by the Corruption of its Doctrines and Worship and the dishonour cast upon its most sacred institutions the late terrible Desolations of the Temple and Sanctuary and grievous sufferings of our Brethren in several parts of the World the shamefull Apostacy of so many Thousands from the doctrine and worship of the Gospel to Popish Idololatry and other considerations of this kind which might be nam'd do carry with them a loud Call to Humiliation and mourning But the Practical Degeneracy of Professing Christians unto Worldliness Profaness and Sensuality doth not only afford matter of Lamentation for the present but too much ground to Fear that the bitterness of Death is not past God's Anger is not turned away or his Controversie ended with the Protestant Churches And after we have known so many Thousands to renounce and abjure their Religion in an Hour of Temptation and see so many more yea the far greatest part in a preparedness to Revolt on the like or lesser Trials by reason of their vicious Lives and estrangedness from the Power of Religion because they receive not the Truth in the Love of it what can we reasonably expect but farther Tokens of Divine Displeasure And how little of any encouraging prospect is there by the serious Reformation of Persons Families and Churches to turn away his wrath where are there any Symptoms of the Recovery of the Power of Godliness from whence in our Age there is so undeniable a Declension and acknowledg'd by all Parties that there is so How little is to be seen of any such thing among those who are most forward and zealous in espousing the Reformed interest ev'n such as would be thought of all Others to be most concern'd for its Preservation and have suffer'd not a little for it The distressed case of our Brethren especially in France cannot but move our Bowells of Compassion when we read or hear from time to time the Relation of the barbarous proceedings of their Persecutors But the sensual wicked Lives of professedly Reformed Christians is certainly a more dreadfull object to be considered and ought so to be regarded by us as the consequences of it are much more to be feared then of the feircest Persecution by open and avowed Enimies For the Curch of Christ never lost either Truth or Holiness that way it hath rather been a considerable outward Means for the preservation and encrease of Both. Tho this cannot be said but the direct Contrary concerning Protestants persecuting one another for lesser differences And what ever Expectations we may and ought to have from the unfulfill'd Prophecies of God's rebuilding Sion in the latter days destroying her Enimies wich we have no reason to question but he will most gloriously effect and ought dayly to pray that he would hasten it for his Names sake yet can we never hope to see any thing considerable of that kind in our Time without a great Repentance and Reformation and the more Plentifull Pouring out of the H. Spirit for the healing os the Nations I therefore wish that the confident Expectations of a speedy deliverance of the Church may not divert us from the present Duty we are call'd to as the proper appointed Means to which God hath directed us for that end And are there any hopefull Beginnings of such a Thing within view is there any thing on foot to be observ'd like such a Retrieving of Gospel Holiness in the Hearts and Lives of men Doth not the Name and Thing grow more and more into Contempt every day and who can tell how far it may proceed to procure Judgment upon any particular Place or Country that is guilty of so general and provoking a Defection It concerns us therefore every one to look to himself to Repent and do our first Works and make our Peace with God that we may be found within the smal number of those who shall be thought worthy to escape the allmost Epidemical infection and to stand before the Son of Man. On which Account any thing that is likely to awaken Men to the Consideration of the great acknowledg'd Principles of Religion cannot be unseasonable Yea in such a case the meanest and weakest Endeavors may be of some use The subjects of the following Reflexions are most of them of that kind necessary to be attended to by all sorts of Persons and so cannot be too often prest tho in different Manners The usefullness of the subject Matter and the smallness of the Bulk are two things which are wont to recommend a Book to most Readers For which reason I may Hope this will be read by several who suffer much better because bigger books to ly by them neglected Some may possibly give it the reading as a New-years Gift And who even shall be so far persuaded by it as to set a part some Time in the beginning of the Year for Self-examination Confession of Sin Repentance Thanksgiving and solemn renewall of his Covenant with God which several of these Reflexions may not only excite to but are intended to direct and assist him in I am persuaded he will thank me for putting him in mind at least of so seasonable an Exercise The greatest part of these Meditations were begun on a New-years Day tho some others are thought fit to be inserted as tendign to promote the same design But knowing how much easier it is to stirr up other mens Devotion then to command and keep alive my own 't is desir'd that some of the most devout Thoughts contained in these papers may be lookt upon as what the Author aims at and would persuade to rather then what he hath allready attain'd as what he knows he ought to be and do and doth seriously endeavor rather then what he is and hath been heartily lamenting wherin he hath been faulty or defective in such Duties as these and the like Reflexions
day of the new year God enters into Judgment for the sins of the year and Life past That every ones Faults are weighed against his good works He that is found Rightous is sealed unto Life and he that is found wicked is sealed unto Death And 't is a general custom that hath obtained among the Jews for the ten first days of the new-year to rise out of their Beds in the night and to continue in their Synagogues praying and worshipping untill break of day The superstitious and ridiculous Ceremonies of the * Vid. Ceremonies Cout parmi les Inifs d'aujourdhuy part 3. c. 5. modern Jews on this Day I shall not repeat However vaine and groundless superstitious and absurd many of their Customs and Practises are on this day yet this blind Devotion of the Iews may justly shame and condemn the Christians of our Age who commonly spend the Beginnings of every year worse then any other parts of them and instead of any solemn Retirements for Prayer and Meditation which might assist them to number their Days and prepare for Eternity instead I say of such seasonable Exercizes how do vaine and hurtfull Sports and Pastimes or trifling and unedifying mirth and fruitless conversations consume the greatest part of the Days and nights too of the Beginning of the year And thus when the first fruits of the year are offered up to sin and vanity 't is no wonder if the following parts of it are imployed to no better purpose without any due concern for the Soul and an Everlasting State. To Endeavor some Remedy to those disorders and give some assistance to them who desire seriously to make Religion their Principal Business is the end of publishing thes Reflexions I most heartily beseech the God of a-Grace to influence by his H. Spil rit the Conscience of every Reader that some such effect may be attained Haveing found the Practise recommended to be of use to my self and my own Heart warmed in composing the substance of thes Papers tho without any Intention at that Time of exposing them to the world 't is not unreasonable to hope that what hath been beneficial to one may be helpfull to another It cannot certainly be unadvisable or improper to Begin the year with God with whom we should begin every Day 'T is decorous and becoming to Dedicate our selves to Him in a more solemn manner then ordinary at such a Time Thankfully to acknowledg the Favors and Blessings we have particularly received the Year Past and to recollect the Sins we have been guilty of to aggravate them with Humility Contrition and deep Remorse to renew our Covenant with God to repeat and fortifie our Resolutions of living better imploring his Grace to assist us in it to reflect seriously on the mutability frailty brevity of our present Life to consider the swiftness uncertainty irrecoverableness and consequent value of our Time to look forward to a Blessed or miserable Eternity one of which we must share in and to confirm our Faith in the Certainty therof and consider our near aproach to such an unchangeable State to think what improvement we should make of the Death of others especially of Relations and Friends who have lately been called home To make the Supposition in good earnest that we may follow them this year and dye before another new years day to imprint such a Thought on our Hearts and the inferences that may naturally be deduced from it to beg of God to inable us to Redeem our Time and discharge the Duty of our particular places and prepare us for all the Events of the following year and so effectually Teach us to number our days that we may apply our Hearts unto true Wisdom least we be surprized by an unexpected Death before the period of another year And lastly to pray for our Relations and Friends Families and Neighbors and our Enemies too and plead with God on the behalf of Sion and the afflicted State of the Reformed Churches To some of thes and the like Purposes I hope what is here offered may be subservient if considered with seriousness and application after humble Invocation of the Blessing of God and the aids of his Spirit composeing our minds and thoughts as in his most awefull and holy Presence I have only this farther to request that if any one soul shall find any real Benefit in this kind he would so far requite my charitable assistance of him that when his heart is most serious his Spirit most composed and devout and his affections most vigorous and lively he would not forget to put up one Prayer to Heaven for me for Greater Holiness and Abilities to Honour God and persevering Faithfullness to his Truth and Interest what ever Temptations to desert it may be imploied by the World the Flesh and the Devil the three Great Enimies of thine and my Salvation DEVOUT REFLEXIONS On TIME And ETERNITY This World and the Next I. Of the changeable State and short Duration of Earthly Things especially of Man how little it is considered and believed how necessary it should be so WHen I consider that yesterday was the Conclusion of the last year and that I now am entred on another 't is seasonable to reflect on the mutable condition and short Duration of all Things in this world which are measured by Time. That as they have their Beginning so they have their End and that the distance or space of Time between the one the other is very little Let me not then o my soul Rejoyce please my self to much in New Injoyments remembring a Change may be at hand the End is certaine Many who were Rich and Flourishing the last year may be reduc'd to Poverty and deep distress before the end of this who are now in a capacity to relieve others within a few moneths or a shorter space may be objects of other mens Charity The thing which hath been is that which may be and that which hath been seen in one year may happen in another so easily so quickly may a Change be made Riches may unexpectedly change their Owners and borrow wings of a thousand Accidents wher with to flye to Heaven for a new Disposal 1 Cor. 7. v. 29. They therefore who possess should be as if they possessed not for the Fashion of this world passeth away Innumerable casualties may effect that change which no humane Art or skill can possibly foresee or hinder afflictive unexpected Evills attend us every where we cannot promise our selves Tranquillity for a Day much less an Year to come they lay in wait for us on every side enter at every crevice and commonly overtake us when we are least apprehensive of their approach Job 9.25 Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of Trouble He cometh up as a flower and is cut down fleeth as a shadow and continueth not What then are Riches Beauty Strengh and Honor the accidents
to which Immortality is annext and labor to be accepted with God at whose Bar I must be judged endeavoring to keep the testimony of a good conscience and then it is not much wither I pass thro good Report or Evill Report no contempt or frowns or threatnings of men need then discourage me Tho I should be trampled on by the foot of Pride while others are happy in a dream for a little while and it may be have a prossperous passage to damnation I 'le rather thank God for delivering me from their Temptations and giving me the opportunity and call to hasten my Preparations for a Better World. Let God dispose of my Condition here and Reputation too as best shall please his Sovereign will only be pleased to keep me upright and to preserve me from Everlasting shame and confusion of Face after the general Resurrection and final Judgment vouchsafe me a portion now in thine approving love and own me for Thine at last in the Great and Terrible Day of Reckoning that then I may hear the Blessed Euge and enter into my Lords Joy XVII The same Argument considered farther as dissuasive from Worldliness and Earthly mindedness and as proper to confute the vanity of long Projects and great Designs for this World. ARe the years of my Life but few and they hastening to a Period and may this be my last Let me not then greedily covet riches and abundance and wast my little time to scrape together large Provisions for many years to come when I have no assurance to see the end of this Is it becoming such a belief to toyl from day to day that I may lay up that which I must so soon leave as if I were to spend and Eternity here on earth and in the mean while neglect the one thing Necessary Am I not upon the shore of Eternity may not the next tide carry me off and shall I spend my whole Life in Diversions from the maine Busines of it have I nothing els to doe but to gather shells if they were Pearls the absurdity were still the same and pile them upon heaps till I am snatcht away past all Recovery Shall I be regardless of an Eternal State and run the hazard of being undone for ever by sollicitous care about pretended Necessaries for a long abode on Earth Much less for superfluities when I am not certaine of the possession this one year Shall I magnifie and admire what is so soon to be parted with value my self upon thes things so as to despise those that have less and envy such as have more and suffer my mind to be distempered and my passions immoderate on every change of these things Tho I know besides my own mortality that to inforce the argument there is a principle of Corruption in all these things that our very Manna here in a little while will stink and Bread which is the staff of Life moulder our richest garments wax old and rot silver and gold rust and the greatest Beauty wither and every thing that is Earthly decay and perish And shall not this teach me to sit loose from all such Things Can I imagine that in my last hour it will be easier to part with much then little or better in the day of Judgment to have a great Estate to answer for then a lesser one We read concerning the Patriarch Abraham who rightly understood the transitory nature of riches and his own mutable Condition that the only purchase he made with his riches was a Grave choosing to take possession of the land promised him rather by a mark of his parting with it then of his Possessing it Did I think oftner and more seriously o my Soul of tarrying here but a littte while I should more easily be persuaded that a little of this world were sufficient to carry me thro it I should consider more that my Heavenborn soul is made and designed for another an endless World and therefore should not so far forget his own People and Fathers house as eagerly to pursue and seek what is suited only to the Body for a little while and whereof a little with Contentment will be sufficient The same Reflexion may be usefull to contract our Thoughts to present duty that we may not perplex our minds with long designs and projects which if we dye this year will come to nothing Our great Business in this world is adapted to the little portion of Time which is allowed us Not that good Designs for the publick Benefit may not be begun by one and finisht by others or that we are not obliged prudently to provide for those who shall come after us by attempting many Things of probable Advantage to Posterity But considering the shortness and uncertainty of Life not only should the most necessary Things be first minded and not put off by prosecuting such designs as may signifie some what to others when we are dead but we should not now omit that which we may hope to compass ourselvs to begin such things whose accomplishment must depend on the Pleasure of our successors Consideration and faithfull Counsell would in this case have prevented the fruitless expence of many mens Time and Money which if otherwise imployed might have turned to good account to themselves and others And this heightens our folly that while we pursue great projects in reference to this world and dye without effecting them our preparations for Eternity are neglected and so we are suddenly cut off in the midst of our Folly and all our Thoughts perish how easily how soon may they do so the difference and distance between Death and Life being no more then that of a Candle lighted from its being blown out and if it is exposed to all winds how quickly may that Happen XVIII The consideration of the certaine near Approach of an Everlasting State amplifi'd and prest to in force an Holy Life IN this world we begin a Year and quickly come to the end of it and ere long the little number of our years and days will be expired But when death conveys us into the World of Spirits the day of Eternity shall never be closed with an Evening Of how fearfull consequence is that Death by which an Eternity must be decided What attention what seriousness what diligence what care doth the decision of so important a matter call for ETERNAL what will be the next word o my soul how much am I concerned to know it will it be Blessedness or Misery will it be Life or Death This one word is the Joy of Angels and the Horror of Devils the unspeakable Delight of blessed Saints and the confusion and Despair of condemned Sinners At the Creation of the World Time got the start of us and was five days elder then we but our Immortal Souls shall indure beyond the utmost limits of Time and last as long as the Everlasting Father of Spirits of whose duration there is no end Shall I then