Degrees let no Wind of false Doctrine blast those fragrant Flowers in their blooms nor any Composers of Leviathans or other Impostors beguile them of Eternal Life and Happiness Let them remember their Creator in the Days of their Youth before the Evil Days come and the Years when they shall say We have no pleasure in them Ere ever the silver Chord be loosed or the golden Bowl be broken make them truly sensible that there is a Maker of all things and Judge of all Men at the Bar of whose Tribunal all Men must one Day appear that there is verily a Reward for the Righteous of Eternal Joys and as verily a Punishment for Reprobates of endless Miseries That the Sentence being once past be it for Good or Evil must stand for ever fixt and be irrevocable That all the Riches and Honours which this World affords can never counterballance the least or meanest of Rational Souls that ten Thousand times ten Thousand Years either in Happiness or Misery neither make nor measure the least imaginable part of Eternity That no Person of any Sex or Age in the ordinary way of Providence has any Assurance of Life for so much as one Hour or Minutes space That whoever harbours in his or her bosom any one known or habitual Sin is for every Moment of that time liable to Eternal Damnation That to trust either to a Death-bed Repentance or to be encouraged by the Example of the Thief upon the Cross is very unsafe and dangerous The first of which may be obstructed by Lethargies Megrims Bodily-pains and anguish and many other Accidents and the last can afford no hopes forasmuch as before Christ's Passion it never was and afterwards it neither could nor ever can be any other Man's case And lastly That as the Tree falls so it lies and after Death Judgment follows and there can be no place for Repentance or Believing in the Grave whither sooner or later some are hastening and all the rest are going Be pleased therefore Gracious Father to guard and protect them from all the malicious practises of that invisible Enemy of Souls and to plant thy true Fear in their hearts now in their youthful Days and tender Years that so they may hereafter become burning and shining Lights in their Generations And having finished their Course and run their Race and been faithful to Death they may wear the Crown of Life and their Souls be safely conveyed by their Tutelar and Guardian Angels to the place of everlasting Rest and Happiness And all for the sake of thy dearly beloved Son and our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ THE Fourth Question Q. Whither art thou going Answer To the Land of Darkness and the Shadow of Death The Truth is this is a Question in one sense very easy to be answered by a Man who is already past the Seventieth Year of his Age since the Age of a Man in the ordinary Course of Nature is but Threescore Years and Ten and though there should be Ten or Ten times Ten more added to it yet would his Life be but Labour and Sorrow so soon passeth it away and he is gone to his long home Che noi siamo cenere e polve Che breve è questa vita Ch'al girer di poc hore il Ci'el risolve la vanita Alas Man that is born of a Woman has but a short time to live he is but of very few days and those full of Disquiet and Troubles He cometh forth like a Flower and is cut down he fleeth also like a Shadow and continueth not his Days are but a Span long and swifter than a Weaver's Shuttle or a Post that hasteth by and at his best Estate is altogether Vanity Who is he that can deliver himself from the hand of the Grave One dieth in his full strength being wholly at ease and quiet his Breasts are full of Milk and his Bones are moistned with marrow And another dieth in the bitterness of his Soul and never eateth with pleasure This made the Son of Sirach Oratorically reflect O Death How bitter is the Remembrance of Thee to a Man that liveth at rest in his Possessions unto the Man that hath nothing to vex him and that bath prosperity in all things yea unto him that is able yet to receive Meat And again O Death how acceptable is thy Sentence unto the Needy and unto him whose strength faileth that is now in the last Age and is vexed with all things 41 Ecclesiasticus 1 2. This made eloquent Job cry out in the height of his Affliction Let the Day perish wherein I was born let Darkness and the shadow of Death stain it and a Cloud dwell upon it Let also that Night be solitary wherein I was conceived and no joyful Voice come therein Let the Stars of the Twilight thereof be darkned let it look for Light but have none neither let it see the Dawning of the Day because it shut not up the door of my Mother's Womb nor hid Sorrow from mine eyes Wherefore is Light given to him that is in Misery and Life unto the bitter in Soul Who long for Death but it cometh not and dig for it more than for hidden Treasures Who rejoice exceedingly when they can find the Grave 3 Job 3. 5. c. O that I might have my Request and that God would grant me the thing that I long for even that it would please God to destroy me that He would let loose his hand and cut me off 6 Job 8 9. Thus is Death to some the King of Terrors and to others a kind Friend and a welcome Guest However be it Welcome or not welcome it is the Sentence of God upon all Living For all Flesh is as Grass and all the Goodliness thereof as the Flower of the field Dust we are and to Dust we must return Reflection How weak are then the Projects and how vain the Imaginations of poor Mortal Wights To day there 's nothing but Feasting Musick and Dancing in their stately Halls and Banqueting-Rooms To morrow they are languishing upon their sick Beds given over by their Physicians the Curtains drawn upon them by their Friends and Acquaintance and in their last Agonies To day they purchase Lands of Inheritance and call their Mansion-Houses by their own Names To morrow all that parcel of Ground or Earth of which they can be truly called Masters does not exceed four Cubick yards To day they are sitting at their Toilets consulting with their Glasses and admiring their own Shapes and Features and cannot with any patience endure the least speck or spot upon their shining and costly Garments To morrow they are drest from Head to Foot in grave Cloaths and their loathsom Carkasses are given for food to the nauseous and greedy Worms To day they are Lords of Mannors and by their Deputies and Stewards appoint their respective Courts To morrow they themselves are no more than meer stewards and must in the
the Night shineth as the Day The Darkness and the Night are both alike to Thee And forasmuch as the closing of our Eyes to Rest so nearly resembles Death and our Beds are but models of our Graves out of which we must one Day be called by the sound of the last Trump to Arise and come to Judgment Let this and every Evening and every Morning of our Lives put us in mind of our dying Hours And let no worldly Affairs hinder us from being always in a readiness for our last and final Conflict with the Prince and Powers of Darkness who knowing their time is but short will be sure to make their fiercest Assaults upon Departing-Souls when they find them struggling with Bodily pains and sharp Diseases and drawing nigh to their last Agonies And sometimes to terrify them with frightful Dreams and Visions to make them if possible utterly to despair of God's Mercies and to let go their hold and quit their Hopes of Eternal Life and Happiness Make us therefore sensible how highly it concerns us while we have Health of Body and soundness of Mind to arm our selves like good Souldiers with Christian Courage and Resolution for those Death-bed Combats and critical Hours Minutes and Moments of our Lives And because we are to wrestle with invisible Enemies of mighty Power and wonderful Knowledge great Subtilty and long Experience who know too well our Tempers Inclinations and Infirmities and where and how to set upon us with the greatest Advantage Be pleased to send thy blessed Angels and Ministring-Spirits to comfort and assist us in all those siery Tryals and Temptations That so Death which is to so many others the King of Terrors may be to us a kind Friend and a welcome Guest and we may with all cheerfulness quit these Houses of Clay and fleshy Tabernacles and exchange the Troubles and Sorrows of a painful Pilgrimage in a Valley of Tears for the Joys of Heaven and Everlasting Happiness with blessed Saints and Angels in the highest Heavens All which with whatever else Thou knowest to be needful either for us or for any of ours or for any of Thine we humbly beg in the Name and for the sake of the blessed Jesus who in compassion to our Infirmities has taught us thus to pray Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy NAME thy Kingdom come thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven Give us this Day our daily Bread and forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that Trespass against us and lead us not into Temptation but deliver us from Evil for thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen A MORNING-PRAYER FOR Sundays Fasts and Festivals LET us now fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker Most Holy Blessed Glorious and incomprehensible Triniry Father Son and Holy Ghost Three Persons and One God Almighty Maker of all Things and Judge of all Men Have mercy upon us miserable Sinners who are by Nature Children of Disobedience and by our actual Sins every Day and Hour of our Lives liable to Divine Wrath and Vengeance Remember not O Lord the many Follies and Vanities of our Child-hood and Youth nor the innumerable Transgressions of our riper Years and how we have always erred and strayed from the Ways of Truth and Righteousness and trod in forbidden Paths through the several Stages of our Lives leaving undone those things which thou hast absolutely commanded and doing those things which thou hast exprelly forbidden and many times drawing upon our selves the guilt of other Men's Sins by our Encouragement Connivance or ill Examples breaking the solemn Vows and Promises either made for us by others in Baptism or by our selves in Times of Danger or Sickness unthankful for Mercies and incorrigible under Judgments rejecting the Motiors of thy blessed Spirit and following the Devices Desires and vain Imaginations of our own Hearts and so running the hazard of losing our precious and immortal Souls for the enjoyment of a few sinful and short-liv'd Pleasures Blessed LORD we cannot but confess and acknowledge with shame and confusion of face that it is a wonder of thy patience and forbearance that we are yet alive and that thou hast not cut us of in the midst of our Sins and Doom'd us to dwell with everlasting Burnings among damned Souls and Spirits But this is our hope and humble confidence that we have to do with the God and Father of Mercies who takes no delight in the death of Sinners but is slow to Anger and ready to forgive all those who sincerely repent and truely believe in our blessed Lord and Saviour CHRIST JESUS for whose coming into the world to save lost Sinners and to open the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers with Angels and Arch-Angels and all the Company of Heaven we laud and magnify thy great and holy NAME as we likewise do for thy other Mercies and Favours daily and hourly bestowed upon us We bless and praise Thee for giving us a Being in the World for that admirable Frame and Structure of our Bodies while we lay inclosed in our Mother's Wombs for breathing into us the Breath of Life and enduing us with reasonable Souls after thine own Image and Likeness for being Born where the Gospel of thy SON is openly preached and professed and not among Heathens Turks or Infidels For the unparallel'd Pattern of all Goodness in the Life of the holy JESUS and for the pious Examples of the blessed Patriarchs Prophets Apostâ—â—s and Martyrs who are gone before us and with their own Blood have traced out for us the true Way to Life and Happiness beseeching thee that we following their good Examples may with them be made partakers of Everlasting Life in the World to come We thank Thee LORD of Heaven and Earth for the wonderful Works of the Creation of which we all enjoy our shares and proportions for the Sun that shines by Day and for the Moon and Stars That rule by Night and by their regular Motions and sweet Influences serve for Signs and Seasons Days and Years for the Clouds that give Rain and drop Fatness upon our Fields and Pastures and for the Springs that go up by the Mountains and run down among the Vallies for reserving to us the appointed Times of Harvest and giving us the kindly Fruits of the Earth in their due and proper Seasons for our Food and Raiment and all the good things of this Life and our manifold preservations from sundry Dâ—â—â—â— and Dangers ever since we hung upon our Mother's Breasts for protecting us this last Night from many calamitous Accidents which in a Night might have befallen us and bringing us safely to the light of another Day and so giving us a longer time and space for Repentance and Amendment of our Lives most humbly beseeching Thee to continue these thy Mercies and Favours to us and to keep us the remainder of this Day and of our Lives from
Repentance with a stedfast and firm Resolution to reform and amend our Lives Bless us in our going out and our coming in when we are upon the Way when we lay us down and when we rise up When we are in our private Closets lend an Ear to our Prayers and answer the Desires of our Souls When we are employed about our Lawful Callings give success to our honest Labours and Endeavours When we are conversing with others let us behave our selves with all humility and meekness in all our Words and Actions esteeming others better than our selves and doing to others what we would be willing they should do unto us Being patient gentle and easy to be entreated slow to wrath and ready to forgive all those who have trespassed against us until seventy seven times Loving our Enemies doing good and shewing kindness as we have opportunities to those who hate persecute and despitefully use us Living in humble Obedience to and heartily praying for Him who hath the supreme Power over us together with all those who are related to Him or who are in Authority under Him Being no Busy-bodies in other Men's Matters no Whisperers Tale-bearers Slanderers or Back-biters No Deceivers or Covenant-breakers but sincere and upright in all our Dealings and Transactions No lovers of Earthly Treasure no Worshippers of Gold or Silver or greedy of filthy Lucre. With all chearfulness and alacrity dealing our Bread to the Hungry giving Drink to the Thirsty Clothing the Naked visiting the Sick relieving Prisoners redeeming Captives helping the Fatherless and Widows comforting and assisting the Desolate and Oppressed and never shutting up the Bowels of our Compassion from any who want our Help or Assistance And forasmuch as we are here but Strangers and Pilgrims let thy good Spirit guide and conduct us in our Way to our long Homes through the vast and wide Wilderness of this sinful World where there are so many Turnings and Windings Cross-ways and By-paths Thorns and Briars Pits and Precipices Traps and Snares laid for us by the Devil and his Emissaries to entice us to Sin and Wickedness and then to plunge us into endless Woe and Miseries Where there is no true content or Satisfaction to be found and where the most refined of Human Pleasures and Delights are allayed with the mixture of Cares and Troubles Fears and Jealousies Sicknesses and Diseases Crosses and Disappointments where Love and Kindness is often repaid with Hatred and Malice and the most bountiful Actions with ungrateful Returns Where the Poor are oppressed by Men of Power and innocent Lambs made a prey to ravenous Wolves where our Eyes are too often entertained with doleful Spectacles and our Ears filled with Sighs and Groans and bitter Lamentations And therefore Gracious FATHER be thou pleased to give us such a measure of Faith Hope and Patience as may bear us up in all the Changes and Chances of this Mortal Life and enable us in whatever State or Condition we are therewith to be content as well to be abased as to be exalted to want as to abound to have nothing as to possess all things And though the Fig-tree should be withered and no Fruit be found on the Vine the labour of the Olive fail and the Field yield no increase though there should be no Sheep in the Fold or Herd in the Stall no Cattel in the pasture or Stores in the Garner no Water in the Bottle or Oil in the Cruce yet still to trust in that GOD who feeds the Ravens and the young Lions when they call upon him who can make Rivers to flow out of hard Rocks and furnish a Table in the Wilderness With whom the very Hairs of our heads are all numbred and in whom none ever trusted and were confounded That so having finished our Course and run our Race and lived the Life of the Righteous our last END may be like unto his And whenever these Houses of Clay shall be dissolved our Souls may be safely conveyed by some blessed Guardian Angels to the place appointed for the Spirits of GOD's Elect there to wait with patience for a joyful Re-union with their respective Bodies at the Resurrection and second coming of CHRIST in Glory with all his holy Angels in whose Name and Words we farther desire to call upon Thee Saying Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy NAME thy Kingdom come thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven Give us this Day our daily Bread and forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that Trespass against us and lead us not into Temptation but deliver us from Evil for thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen AN EVENING-PRAYER FOR Every Day in the Week MOST Glorious LORD GOD and merciful Father in Christ Jesus who inhabitest the highest Heavens and yet art pleased to dwell in the lowest Hearts and hast graciously promised That where-ever Two or Three are gathered together in thy Name and Fear Thou wilt be there in the midst of them Look down in mercy upon us who are now before Thee and dare not give sleep to our Eyes or slumber to our Eye-lids till we have renewed our Covenant with the GOD and FATHER of Mercies and have humbly offered unto Him our Selves our Souls and Bodies as a reasonable service Be therefore pleased O Lord to forgive all the Sins of our past Lives particularly the Omissions and Commissions of this Day for which alone shouldst Thou enter into Judgment with us Thou mightst justly condemn us to the lowest Hell and give ns our portion with Hypocrites in utter Darkness Blessed LORD we desire from the bottom of our Hearts to be sensible of our manifold Frailties and Infirmities and of that Law in our Members that is always Warring against the Law of our Minds so that whenever we would do Good Evil is present with us and intermingles with our very Prayers and disturbs our most religious Duties and Performances And therefore it is that utterly renouncing our own Righteousness as Dung â—nd Dross we fly to Him who is our Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous to wash away our Sins with his own precious Blood and to present us unto Thee our GOD pure and spotless And for his sake we humbly beseech Thee O LORD to lighten our Darkness and by thy great mercy to defend us from all perils and dangers this Night giving us a moderate and refreshing Rest free from frightful Dreams and sinful Imaginations which are the evil Effects of our corrupt Natures When we awake let our Souls be filled with heavenly Thoughts and pious Meditations always remembring That we are in the presence of a God who knows our down-sitting and our up-rising who understands our Thoughts a farr off and is acquainted with all our ways If we should be so vain and foolish to believe that the Darkness would cover us the Night shall be light about us the Darkness hideth not from Thee but