spend my whole Life in Diversions from the main business of it Have I nothing else to do 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 certain of the Possession this one Year Shall I magnifie and admire what is so soon to be parted with Value my self upon these 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 than little or better in the day of Judgment to have a great Estate to answer for than 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 chusing to take Possession of the Land promised him rather by a mark of his parting with it than of his possessing it Did I think oftner and more seriously O my Soul of tarrying here but a little while I should more easily be perswaded that a little of this World were sufficient to carry me through it I should consider more that my Heaven-born 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 Reflection may be useful to contract our Thoughts to present Duty that we may not perplex our Minds with long designs and Projects which if we dye this 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 somewhat to others when we are Dead But we should not now omit that which we may hope to compass our selves to begin such things whose accomplishment must depend on the Pleasure of our Successors Consideration and faithful Counsel 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 than 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 certain near Approach of an Everlasting State amplified and prest to inforce 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 fearful consequence is that Death by which an Eternity must be decided What attention what seriousness what diligence what care doth the dicision 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 endure 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 exist and live though my Body perish and see corruption Shall my Soul my Self exist beyond the Grave in Felicity or Misery and that for ever and according to my present Actions What am I then most concerned to mind What am I to chuse What am I most to fear to wish to do What is a shadow of Honour and Reputation among dying Men What are a few drops of fleshly Pleasure for a Moment to eternal Rivers of Pleasure at God's right hand What are the sufferings of an hour or two to the pains and anguish of Eternity What can the World Flesh or Devil give me comparable to eternal Life What can I suffer in the way of Holiness that may be set in the Balance against an Everlasting Hell And yet how often O my Soul how boldly how unconcernedly how foolishly do I hazard the one and forfeit the other for the Sins and Vanities of this World Whereas one prospect of Eternity should make every thing that is Temporal appear little in my Eyes the highest elevation of earthly Greatness abundance of Riches the great Affairs Business and Imployments of the World Pomp and Splendor and Reputation and all that now flatters the Senses and the vanity of Mankind Oh that I could but live as believing and expecting an Eternal State as having it in my Eye managing all my affairs with a visible reference to it discovering to all the World by my Behaviour and Deportment that I do in earnest believe it certain for be it never so Certain if I do not apprehend and consider it as such it will no more affect me than a Fable Neither is it enough to consider it as certain but as near for the most weighty the most terrible things apprehended as at a great distance will little move Thinking of the long Interval between the advantage of being exempted from such Evils for so long a time will please me
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 lest we be surprized by an Vnexpected Death before the period of another Year And lastly to pray for our Relations and Friends Families and Neighbours and our Enemies too and plead with God on the behalf of Sion and the afflicted and deformed state of the Protestant Churches To some of these 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 composing our Minds and Thoughts as in his most awful and holy Presence I have only this to request That if any 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 Faithfulness to his Truth and Interest what ever Temptations to desert it may be imployed by the World the Flesh and the Devil the three Great Enemies of thine and my Salvation DEVOUT REFLECTIONS 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 is is considered and believed how necessary it should be 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 Thing 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 and the other is very little Let me not then O my Soul Rejoyce and please my self too much in New Injoyments remembring a Change may be at hand and the End is certain Many who were Rich and Flourishing the last year may be reduced to Poverty and deep distress before the end of this who are now in a capacity to relieve others within a few months 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 wherewith to fly to Heaven for a new Disposal (a) 1 Cor. 7.29 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 human Art or Skill can possibly foresee or hinder Afflictive unexpected evils attend us every where we cannot promise our selves Tranquility for a Day much less one 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 Strength and Honor the accidents of this Substance which is it self but a Shadow How false is the Hope of Man and how frail is all his glory One day can make an end of all his Riches and Honours And yet what solicitude care and labour to get what we desire of these things though often we do not need 'em and then to keep what we have gotten and then to encrease it and then to defend it and at last to enjoy it and in a moment it is snatcht from us or we from it His Life is but a vapour on which they all depend then how much less are they To how speedy an alteration are they subject What numberless Instances of this doth one years experience furnish What sadning Disappointments and unexpected Calamities have befallen many since this Day Twelve-month and multitudes who are now at ease and think their mountains too strong to be removed shall meet with sharper Tryals before the end of this year Alas how few consider or believe it till they find it so All men should count upon trouble and disappointment suffering and sorrow in this world and he that hath the least share is reckoned the most prosperous man and yet he knows not how soon his Portion may be doubled We reckon our Joys by the absence of some degrees of Sorrow and Calamity that others meet with and before the end of this year our condition may be as disconsolate as theirs O my Soul though I know this to be true though I cannot I dare not deny it yet how difficult is it to conquer the Love of this World and of this Body to that degree I ought to undervalue the interest of a short a mutable uncertain and troublesom Life in comparison of the permanent possession of an everlasting Good Though I know that what is earthly and temporal must needs be thus changeable and fading and that it is as true of Man himself as of any thing under the Sun yet how do I forget what Man is not only mutable in his State his Body and his Life but in his Mind too so as to love and hate to chuse and neglect to delight in and abhor such things at one time as he did not before He doth not pass the same Judgment nor retain the same Affections at one time as at another How do I live as if all this were as certainly false as it is unquestionably true admire love fear trust in Man as if he were the direct Contrary to what he is and seek for Immortality upon Earth and act as if I were assured of it and were not lyable to any Change though I acknowledge and know the contrary Though the last years Experience and the observation of every day doth convince me of it though all History and all the Records of the Grave attest it though all Mankind in every Age have found it so though it be a manifest notorious Truth legible in the various changes and calamities but especially in the dust and ashes of all who have lived before us our Graves being often made of our Predecessors Dust and the Earth we bury in having once been living yet how little is it believed how seldom considered The Confirmation of it which one year gives us hath little influence on our hearts or lives with respect to the next We ought therefore to accustom our selves to these thoughts before such changes happen to which our Final change shall e'er long succeed They will be less efficacious if never admitted till our minds
it and the Damned have no advantage by it And no Endeavours can be certain of Success For People will talk of us as they please and their Opinions very often change from one Extream to the other But he who hath the loudest Fame shall only be talkt of a little longer than his Neighbors and that by a few dying Men that must themselves 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 uncertain as any of theirs The Time is hastning when we shall be too old to Live but at any time we are old enough to Die. Our Breath is in our Nostrils and though there be room enough for it to go out we have no assurance that we shall have power to draw it in again 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 Sovereign Judge may call me hence and summon me to appear before his Righteous Bar. O let me not defer my necessary Preparation for Death which may be nearer than I imagine Let me mind the Great things first which are of absolute necessity to be done some time or other before I dye This perishing Body which I have pampered 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 Let me look into the Graves of others and consider that this may quickly happen to me and must ere long be my own case Let me think what this Body will shortly be when it hath been six or eight days separated from my Soul how vile how loathsome that I may despise the Beauty and be dead to the Pleasures of the Body which so easily so suddenly so strangely may be changed For no Glass is more brittle no Bubble more vanishing no Ice more dissolving no Flower more fading no Shadow less substantial no Sleep or Dream more deceiving no Sound more transient nothing more vain and more uncertain than Life on which all other things in this World depend My days are as nothing saith Job though they lasted above two Ages There is hardly any thing very Frail and Fading Mutable and Uncertain but the Spirit of God in Scripture sets forth the Vanity of Life by as if he would teach us by it from the Light of every perishing Object which our Eyes behold to reflect on our own Mortality We sleep every Night in the outer Chambers of Death And in some Diseases Sleep 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 day we lose some part of our Lives in our very growth from Infancy to Manhood our Life decreases and grows less Every Pulse and Breath doth tell us we are hastening to the End of Time and calls upon us to dispatch our Work. 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 may 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 remain 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 alive in health and vigour who deliberate on their Meat and Drink and are curious of Air and Exercise to maintain themselves in Health and please themselves with the Dream of Years to come shall never see another New-years-day It may be not another month or week or morrow Many have promised themselves great things on the morrow but dyed before Night Let me not say I shall not dye this Day when I may this Hour and 't is but once for all there is no amending an ill Death by another Tryal When I lye down to sleep I hope to rise stronger and fresher and fitter for work but I know withal 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 doubtful 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 Favour 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 vain and transient and shall I not seriously improve it to such a Purpose Shall these Thoughts leave no Impression upon me Do I breath continually in this Element of Vanity and yet forget where I am and remain insensible of so near a Change Shall these Thoughts pass away as a vanishing Cloud and distil 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 O! let me now remember to make God my Friend and secure an interest in his Eternal Mercy while the Day lasts yea while my Reason and Understanding are free and not disturbed and clouded by Fear and Pain 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 And how great and necessary a Work have I to do in so short and so uncertain a Portion of Time endless joy or Misery will be the consequence of spending this present Time. My ignorant Soul must be instructed my carnal Heart renewed many false Opinions must be unlearnt and sinful Customes changed and powerful Lusts mortified and strong