and put him on walk in him and serve him in Holiness Col. 2. 6. Luke 1. 75. and Righteousness all the days of your Life If he has delivered you from Death live to him who died for 2 Cor. 5. 15. you and by death delivered you from Death Thus by living up to your priviledges or doing the Duty of them you will at last receive the benefit of them It is sad to want priviledges but far worse to abuse or not improve them Make it your great business to secure the salvation of your Soul In order unto it 1. Believe you have a Soul 2. Believe it is precious 3. Live to it as so believing 1. Believe you have a Soul Every one has a soul but the Lives of most shew that they do not believe it Some live as if their Bodies were immortal and worthy of all their care and some as if they had no Souls or as if they were Mortal and when once dead should never be alive again The Soul of such Men is of little more use than as Tully says of the Soul of a Swine to keep the Body from stinking But be you establish'd in the belief of this truth that you have a Soul and that it is Immortal A truth that has been own'd by Heathens and is previous to Religion for all Religion is grounded upon it They did usually say That to live was to dye and to dye was to live again Potest obumbrari quia non est Deus extingui non potest quia à Deo Druydes made the Gauls Valiant by telling them that their Souls were Immortal Caesar put Gold into his Souldiers Pockets that the fear of losing it might make them so and the belief of this Treasure within you inclos'd in an Earthen Vessel as Manna in an Earthen pot and the fear of Exod. 16. 33. losing it should provoke you to a diligent care about it that you may not A Sadducee in Opinion will soon Acts 23. 8. be an Epicure in Life 2. Believe that your Soul is precious The same Offering was for the Soul of the Poor that was for Exod. 30. 15. the Soul of the Rich half a Shekel was the Soul-money for both and the Soul of both viz. of a Slave and an Emperour are alike precious and next to that which is infinite and excellent most excellent as will appear 1. By the Titles given to it 2. By the care taken of it 1. By the Titles given to it viz. The breath of Life Life is a desirable good and the Soul a Gen. 2. 7. Job 2. 4. 27. 3. Optimus modus cutis most precious Being as it is the breath of Life Gods Spirit God is a Spirit and so is the Soul too not onely in respect of its immediate procedure from him but in respect of its resemblance to him a remote Image of God or an Prov. 2◠27. Image of the Trinity in a Faculty the Candle of the Lord the Sun in the little World as the Sun is the Soul of the great one the hidden man the whole man or the Man of Man as Athens Animùs cujusque est quisque 1 Pet. 3. 4. 2 Cor. 4. 16. Pars optima nostri Job 30. 15. Prov. 4. 7 Psal 22. 20. was the Greece of Greece Mans principal one Wisdom is the principal thing and the Soul the seat of Wisdom Mans principal one Mans Darling Christ is Gods Darling Man is Christs and the Soul is Mans Mans Honour and Excellency Glory is the manifestation of Excelcellency and therefore that which Nihil magnum in terrâ nisi homo nec in homine nisi anima Gen. 49. 6. Job 4. 21. is his Glory must needs excell Man was the perfection of the Creation the Master-piece and chiefest part of it and the Soul the choicest part of Man as appears by these Titles given to it by God who rates every thing according to its kind and worth and therefore set the Crown and Diadem by him put upon it the Letters Testimonial sent from Heaven to commend it make you highly to value and esteem of it 2. By the care taken of it By God and Man to save it and by the Devil to destroy it By God viz. Father Son and Holy Ghost By the Father who in his infinite Wisdom contriv'd Redemption for it instituted Sacraments and Ordinances to feed it in this World provided Heaven a place of Eternal Rest for it in the World to come and Angels to guard Heb. 1. ult and conduct it safe to it By the Son who in his unspeakable Love laid down his Life as a Psal 49. 7 8. 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. Ex pretio pretium 1 Thes 5. 23. Ransom for it and parted with his most precious Blood as a price to Redeem it By the Holy Ghosts powerful Operation in Sanctifying of it whereby it becomes as Mount Zion the Temple of the most High the Throne of the great King of Heaven his Mansion Eph. 3. 17. Isa 57. 15. Dwelling-place and second Heaven 2. By Men viz. both good and bad By good Men while living and by bad Men when dying 1 King 21. 20. who though while living they sold themselves to work Iniquity and as by Will bequeath'd their Souls to the Devil when dying make void that Will out of a desire for their Souls sake to die well though they would not live so That which is every ones Money or bears a price every where and is by all sooner or later highly esteem'd and to all alike precious has worth and excellency in it 3. By the care taken by the Devil to destroy it There are two Lions contend for the Soul Leo propter fortitudinem advincendum Leo propter fertitatem adnocendum 1 Pet. 5. 8. Christ the Lion of the Tribe of Judah who seeks to save it and the Devil the roaring Lion who seeks to destroy it He is active and diligent for he goes about seeking bloody and cruel for he seeks to devour Other Lions prey on dead Bodies but this on living Souls He desired Job's Body for his Souls sake If you do not prize your Soul the Devil does 3. Live to your Soul as believing it is Precious God might and that without any Injustice have placed you in the lowest predicament of the vilest Creatures but since he has stampt his own Image upon you and given you a Soul with which you may converse not onely with Men and Angels but with himself bless him for your Soul with Psal 103. 1. Anim◠debere is the highest Engagement Gen. 49. 3 4. your Soul and live to it as a Being most excellent and precious It is your Excellency and Honour let it not then consult its own shame nor with Reuben lose its Excellency by sin but be Honourably employ'd serve the living God with this breath of Life Life must be served with Life worship God who is a Spirit John 4.
World or as the three stretches of the Prophet Elijah or 1 King 17. 21 22. the Widow of Zarephaths dear Son a means to put Life into them who by Nature are as truly dead Spiritually as that Child was Naturally 1. Knowledge of Misery Sense of sin and Misery by i◠alone will do no good nor any thing without it for the foundation of Happiness is laid in it◠The knowledge of a Disease make◠way to a Cure and sense of Misery is the first step to Mercy we usually say it is most miserable to have been happy but in this it is the happiness of sinners to know their misery and their greatest misery if they do not 2. Knowledge of the way or means of recovery out of Misery None but Sinners need Mercy and none but sensible sinners will seek for it but yet they cannot seek it aright unless they know the way to it no more than they can find it unless they seek it the Diseased Woman in the Gospel Mat. 9. 20 21 22. was sensible of her Bloody Issue before she came to Christ and came to him before she was healed by him it was not barely the apprehension of her Disease but the apprehension of her Disease and of Christ her Physician that cured her None so fit to seek for Mercy as humbled sinners and none but such will but yet unless they do they cannot have it 3. Knowledge of Duty when redeemed from Misery Conversion is a change from one contrary to another not from one sin to another that is Hypocrisie but from 〈…〉 contrary one to another from the privation to the habit from Darkness to Light and from Death to Life this new state calls for a new life and all that are brought into such a state must live sutably to it they must not be always 1 Thes 2. 12. Eph. 5. 8. 1. Pet. 2. 9. sinners because they were sometimes so for once is above any Indulgence granted 1. Knowledge of Misery Sense of Misery is necessary not to merit Mercy but to qualifie for it not to fit the God of Mercy to give it but the necessitous sinner to receive it Now the misery of all by Nature is best known as one contrary compar'd with another by considering the happiness of Man in his state of Innocency When God had made the World and richly furnish'd it with all things for Necessity and Delight he then made Man not in the Image of any inferior Creature Gen. 1. 26. but in his own which Image was both outward and inward consisting partly in his Body and partly in his Soul Partly in his Body As it was So admirable a Structure that Galen a Heathen made a Hymn of Praise to God that made it an Instrument of Righteousness and a frame of admirable composure containing so many Miracles as Members so many perfections as parts and in some degree resembling the Majesty of God Partly and chiefly in his Soul by an inward resemblance of it to God not onely in the Spiritual Nature of the Soul but in the Natural Faculties Properties and Endowments of it viz. Knowledge Righteousness and True Holiness 1. Knowledge in his Understanding Of all that was needful for his state of Perfection and Happiness viz. A knowledge of God and his Excellencies of himself as to the Nature of every Faculty of his Soul and both the temper and use of every Member of his Body and of all other Creatures both as to Nature and Kind and how to carry himself uprightly to God and them 2. Righteousness in his Will A Natural Inclination with a power perfectly dispos'd to the whole will of God and to every thing that was just right and good without any reluctancy and of himself to will nothing that was not so 3. Holiness in his Affections Being free from all Disorder Sin and Impurity rejoycing in the love and bounty of God loving him as the chiefest good in himself and as the Author of all his As soon as Adam was made God planted a Garden in Eden in Gen 2. 7. 8. 15 16 17. which was every Tree pleasant to the sight and good for Food the Tree of Life also in the midst of the Garden and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and put him into it to dress and keep it and entred into a Covenant of Life with him called a Covenant of Works upon condition Gal. 3. 12. of perfect Obedience forbidding him to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil upon pain of Death God might have dealt with him in a way of absolute Soveraignty and required Obedience from him without any promise of Reward but he did not for he entred into a Covenant with him containing a Precept Threatning and Promise A Precept requiring perfect and perpetual Obedience A Threatning denouncing death if he did not obey it A Promise assuring Life if he did and though the promise is not so clearly expressed as the threatning yet as strongly and truly imply'd for if Adam must die if he disobeyed he should certainly live if he did not The Death threatned was Temporal Spiritual and Eternal the first in the separation of the Soul Gen. 2. 17. 3. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In dying thou shalt dye and all kinds of Death were threatned from the Body the second in the separation of the Soul from God the third in the separation of the Soul and Body from God for ever one from the presence of his Grace here the other from that of his Glory hereafter The Life promised imply'd a continuance of his present Life and the assurance of one to come a confirmation of his present happiness and a translation at last to a greater and better The present Life enjoy'd was two-fold one as a Man and a Creature the other as a perfect and upright Man The first consisting in the Union of Soul and Body the second in a Union betwixt God and the Soul The Life to come was a perfect immutable and eternal happiness both of Soul and Body with God through a perfect likeness to him and an immediate vision and fruition of him in Heaven to all Eternity Adam being a glorious and excellent Creature by Creation and endow'd with a power and will to obey stood bound to obey both by the Law of Nature and the Rom. 2. 14 15. positive Law and Command from God which obliged him to it But being made with a freedom of will viz. a liberty of its own accord to choose or refuse to do or not to do to stand or fall at his own choice without constraint or force from any and being mutably good his will though naturally dispos'd to good only yet being mutable and changeable it might be altered and become evil as it did for through the Temptation of the Eccles 7. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Devil the perswasion of Eve and Pride a desire to be as
not be perswaded nor gathered to him but reject and contemn him and take Counsel against him They bid him stand off and depart they deâ—ire Job 21. 14. not the knowledge of his ways abuse his Ambassadors Acts 26. 18. 2 Tim. 2. 26. Psal 139. 21. Job 8. 44. that are sent to treat of Peace and List themselves under the Command of Gods utter Enemy the Devil and rise up in Arms â—nd open Rebellion against him When God is for Peace they â—re for War 2. On Gods part Who as he is a just Enemy so â—ver an Enemy to all impenitent â—inners He is strange to them â—eeps at a distance and withâ—raws from them knows them afar off and is Angry Isa 57. 17. Ps 138. 6. Psal 7. 11. Ps 18. 26. Isa 1. 11. 59. 2. Psal 5. 5. 11. 5. Psal 146. 9. Psal 1. ult 2 Cor. 5. 19. Prov. 15. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with them Curses their Blessings rejects their Services and counts them an Abomination hates them and walks contrary to them has a Controversie with them Proclaims his Hos 5. 6. Jer. 25. 31. 1 Pet. 5. 5. Displeasure against them and reâ—sts them in open Battel array turns their way upside-down and causes it to perish They are Outlaw'd Enemies God had no Friends among Men untill he made Friends out of Enemies He was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself 3. Darkness Adam at first was made a Son of Light the Candle of the Prov. 20. 27. Monstrum ingens cui lumen ademptum Eph. 4. 18. Lord was put into him but affecting the Tree of Knowledge above that of Life he brought Darkness upon himself and all his Posterity All that are brought out of this state are Light in the Lord they Eph. 5. 8. were blind but now they see John 9. 25. but they that are not are Darkness Rev. 16. 10. in the Devil the Prince of Darkness whose Kingdom is full of Darkness they are not onely dim of sight but stark blind Children of Darkness doing the works of Darkness which lead to Eternal Darkness 4. Poverty Adam at first was the Rich Heir Rev. 3. 17. of the World and Lord possessor of all but by sin he became a Bankrupt and then Justice seized on him as the Creditor on his Debtor and turn'd him the unjust Minimè natus at maximè dilectus Possessor out of all he was not the first-born yet had a double Portion but by losing all at one cast he fell into decay and became the first-born of the Poor Isa 14. 30. He was undone and all his Posterity had been ruin'd with him had not Christ the Jewel of the Imperial Crown been parted with to discharge the Debt All that are brought out of this Rev. 3. 18. state are Rich and have all things but they that are not are indigent Beggars without substance Isa 40. 20. or true Riches having no Oblation to offer unto God nor any thing of their own to satisfie that double Debt which they owe viz. of Obedience as Creatures and of Satisfaction as Sinners 5. Nakedness Adam at first was arrayed with Ezek. 16. 7. Rev. 3. 17. the resplendent Robe of Righteousness he wanted neither external nor internal Ornaments but sin the Mother of shame defiled them both and the Devil as a Conquerour with his Captive in War stript him of all those Ornaments and left him naked All that are brought out of this state are clothed with the Robes of Christs Righteousness Solomon in all his Glory was not arrayed Mat. 6. 29. like one of these but they that are not are in the Raggs of Nature filthy Raggs which as filthy defile and as Raggs cannot hide nor cover the shame of Rev. 3. 18. their Nakedness Sin left us and Christ found us as the Man in the Gospel Naked and out of our Wits 6. Bondage Adam at first had perfect freedom Acts 8. 23. and was in bondage to none but Sin brought him and all his Gal. 4. 4. Posterity into it a Yoak that neither he their Father was nor they his Children are able to bear All that are brought out of this state are made Free by Christ John 12. 31. the Devil is cast out and Rules not as a King though sometimes he may as a Tyrant but they that are not are Slaves not onely near to Slavery but actually in it they may say with the Jews that they were never in Bondage to any but they are and that in Soul and Body too The Moralist says if the great ones of the World were divested of their Robes it would plainly appear what Slaves they were but all both great and small high and low with all their outward Ornaments are Slaves they were so before they came out of the Prison of the Womb and greater when out of it than when there to Sin and the Devil 1. To Sin Not onely Pride but every sin else as a Chain compasses them Psal 73. 6. about for they are in the Bond of Iniquity sold under it and Bond-servants to it So many Lusts so many Masters and every one give contrary Commands 2. To the Devil John 14. 30. Acts 26. 18. Eph. 2. 2. 2 Cor. 4. 4. 2 Tim 2. ult He is the strong Man and Prince of this World that has Snares by which he takes them Captive and a Power by which he Rules over them as a Tyrant over his Vassals from whom he exacts Tribute as a Master over his Servants who are under his Command as a Conquerour over his Captives who are led by him at his will and as a Father over his Children from whom he expects Obedience they are not onely Children of the Devil but 1 John 3. 10. Slaves to him They are his by possession though Gods by right 7. Death Adam at first was alive but when the Devil the first-born of Death as Prince of Death and first Condemn'd to it devour'd Job 18. 13. 38. 17. his strength the Gates of Death viz. present and certain Death Temporal on his Body and Spiritual on his Soul were opened to him and but a step there was Rom. 5. 12. betwixt him and Eternal Death All that are brought out of this Gal. 2. 20. Eph. 2. 1. Rom. 6. 11. Ma. 8. 22. Rom. 7. 9. Rev. 3. 1. state are alive in Christ alive by him and alive to him but they that are not are dead not onely sick weak or diseased but dead They may be indeed alive as to their own Opinion so Paul for a time was and in the Opinion of others so the Church of Sardis was and may be alive as to sinful works living in them and to them but this their Life is their Death for it is not a Physical Death which is a loss of the Faculties but a Moral one which is a loss of the goodness of them Sin cast Adam and
24. Numb 16. 22. and the God of the Spirits of all flesh with this his Spirit in you Do not lose your Soul in looking after its Servant the Body as Shimei lost his Life in looking after 1 Kings 2. 36 37. 38 39. 40 41. 46. his but do your principal work for this principal one All that a man has will he give for his life but life and all must be Job 2. 4. given and laid out for the good of the Soul And there is good reason for it if you consider 1. That your Soul was given to you that you should take care of it and every thing else for the good of your Soul Every one has not a Child nor an Estate to look after but every one has a Soul the poorest Widow has these two Mites a Soul and a Body and the most indigent Beggar this Treasure Since then it is every ones yours as well as their possession it should be yours and every ones Redde animae quae sua sunt care to secure the happiness of it and therefore give to the soul the things that are the souls 2. Christ likes them best that are most careful of their souls Christ when on Earth lov'd them most who lov'd their souls more than his body Maries Breakfast was better to him than Martha's Dinner and much more then will he love them that love their souls more than their own bodies He that would not have you Murder your Body would much less have you Murder your Soul 3. According to the care for your Soul here so it is like to fare with your Soul and Body hereafter You are daily Travelling to the Land of Souls viz. the world of Spirits both of the just and unjust every day you take a step to it and within a little while you will be all Soul and as you live to it here so it will be with that and your Body for ever hereafter the welfar of your Body depends upon the welfare of your Soul and the eternal welfare of that upon your care in time about it and therefore as by a care for your Soul you may do two works at once viz. secure the happiness of Soul and Body so by a neglect of it will undo both for ever at the first death your Rev. 20. 14. 21. 8. Soul shall go to Hell and your Body at the second 4. The loss of the Soul is the greatest loss Christ who best knows the worth of a Soul by the price he paid for it says that the gain of a whole World if Mat. 16. 26. it could be obtain'd with the loss of a Soul would be a gain without profit a loss rather than a gain and that not the least but greatest as an irreparable and irrecoverable loss a loss that could neither be made up nor recovered All other losses even of Life it self may be made up either in kind or vertue but nothing can Habet anima mortem suam cum vitâ beatâ caret quae vera animae vita dicenda est repair or make up the loss of the Soul for in this God is lost a lost Groat may be found lost Time may be redeem'd and a lost Estate recovered by diligence but a Soul when gone into Eternity and lost will be for ever so Heaven it self salvâ justitiâ cannot redeem a Soul fròm Hell when once there Your Soul is Gods as well as 1 Cor. 6. 20. your Body that he has bought and therefore Glorifie him with it and commit the keeping of it to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator of Souls as well as of Bodies that at last it may 1 Pet. 4. 19. Heb. 12. 22 23. be taken up to the innumerable Company of Spirits viz. of Angels created perfect and of just Men made so Begin the work of Religion early Make it the great business of your Life Be hearty and sincere in it Be true and faithful to it to the end of your Life 1. Begin the work early 1. God commands and expects it 2. It is the best time for it 1. God commands and expects it Cain brought Fruit to God an Gen. 4. 3. 4. Offering of the Fruit of the Ground Abel brought first fruits the firstlings of his Flock and God had respect to Abel and his Offering but not to Cains and this before the special Law of Exod. 13. 2. 22. 29. 34. 26. first-fruits and first-born which were Gods in all was made to shew as is usually observ'd that it was not Ceremonial but Moral and perpetual God or the Devil will have the use and service of your Life but God has the greatest Right to it and his will is not onely for work but for Day and Time and the first of that viz. your Eccles 12. 1. Youth he calls for which shews kindness on his part in taking any into his Service before they can well work for him and should promote Obedience on yours God is the fashioner and former Psal 139. 13 14 15 16. Deut. 32. 18. Psal 71. 17. Jer. 3. 4. the teacher and preserver the guide and strength of your Youth all the parts Beauty Strength and all the other Excellencies of it come from him and ought to be employ'd for him and therefore do not give the Devil your Youth and God your Old Age him your Spring and God your Winter him your Vintage and God your Gleanings him your Flower and God your Bran him the best and God the worst but the best for he is best and deserves the best Not an old or rotten Sacrifice Mal. 1. 8 14. but the fattest and fairest must be laid upon Gods Altar 2. It is the best time for it Eccles 12. 1. The time of your Choices Primum in unoquoque generè est perfect issimum As to Ease Honour Service Comforts and Safety 1. As to Ease Old Age is the best for Advice and Counsel but Youth the best for Action both as to the Natural and Moral frame of the Body and Mind viz. the parts of one and the endowments of the other Old Age is called the Sickness of Nature but Youth is the Health and Strength of it that is called Eccles 12. 1. the evil day not onely in respect of the evil then suffered but of the indisposition from that evil to any thing that is good but this a good day as most fit and proper for work the Body being most active and vigorous the Fancy and Invention most quick the Memory most strong the Affections most smart and lively the Conscience most pure the Will most pliable and the Heart as not hardened by Custom in sin most soft and so most fit to receive the impressions of Virtue Trees are transplanted Horses broken and Cattel accustomed to the Yoke with ease when young and Youth more fit for Instruction than Old Age even then when it is scarce fit for any thing else
God unprofitable to the World scandalous to them that are good and burdensome to your self be wise therefore as the Wise men in Esther knowing your time and get understanding Esther 1. 13. 1 Chron. 12. 32. The heads of them were two hundred but there are few or none of that â—ribe in this sense left Rev. 10. 6. with the Children of Issachar to know what you ought to do and do it be ever doing something for your own good or the good of others that you may with comfort look over into Eternity and not fear when the Angel shall stand on the Earth and lift up his Hand and swear by him that lives for ever and ever that time shall be no more God has his Book of Remembrance and whatever you do in time is there Registred for Eternity Rev. 20. 12. 2. As to Death and Judgment How much it concerns you to be in a daily expectation of and preparation for them will appear if you consider 1. As to Death 1. That Death is certain All are included in the Statute of Death made in primo Adami Gen. 2. 17. no Priviledge can be obtain'd against it nor is there any way to avoid the Sentence of Heaven given for it It is a decree not to be revers'd Heb. 9. 27. A Statute not to be repeal'd 2. That Death may come sooner than you are aware of You stand upon dying ground and know not how soon Death's sithe may cut you down you are near it in health as well as in sickness and in a moment Death may lay his cold hands on your mouth and stop your Breath Since then Death may come in Job 21. 13 a moment live as expecting it's coming every moment 3. That Death when it comes will not stay for your Repentance Venientem nemo bil aris mortem recipit nisi quise ad illam diu composueris Seneca and if it stay never so long before it comes it will come too soon if you have not repented Dye when you live and you shall live when you dye 2. As to Judgment viz. 1. That it will be certain There will be a general and a particular Judgment the general to compleat and perfect the particular and to manifest and declare the Justice of it that will be at the end of the World this at the end of Life that at Dooms-day this immediately after the day of Death It may be a long while before that come and very likely will if the Destruction of Antichrist the Conversion of the Jews a universal Promulgation of the Gospel a Quan quam in fine muâ—di dominus semel veniet omnibus tamen singulo cuique venit cum adest mortis tempus in dei decretis nulla litura Catholick Unity and Charity among Christians and the calling in of the Elect must precede it but this may come before you think of it or expect it it is as sure as Death and as uncertain uncertain as to the time to any and yet most certain sooner or later to all for it is treasur'd up in God's decrees and cannot be recall'd He that says he comes quickly Act. 17. 31 Rev. 16. 15 3. 11 may come sooner than you think of viz. in his appointed though not in your exed time 2. That it will be impartial Here some are too great to 1 Cor. 4. 5. Rom. 2. 6 16. Mat. 12. 36. 1 Pet. 1. 17. 2 Cor. 5. 10. Rev. 20. 12. give an account of their Actions to any but there both great and small must give an account of their Thoughts Words and Actions to God whether they will or no here some judge and others are judged but there all shall be judg'd for The Sentence of Death being past upon all Judgment the consequent of Death will pass upon them too 3. That it will when once past be irrevocable That state you are found in at Death will be your everlasting state for Judgment Death's Second stands at Death's back and as that leaves you so Judgment will find you and as it finds you so it will leave you for ever for then your everlasting state and condition will be actually determined and finally setled so as never to be alter'd Judgment is the critical time for Damnation and Salvation The particular Time when Matt. 24. 36. 44. Death and Judgment will come is concealed that none might presume but that it will be is certainly foretold that none may be surprized and that you may Latet ultimus dies ut observentu omnes not 1. Keep a Register of your Sins keep your Book and God will cross his Often reckoning makes friends 2. Renew Repentance daily If you would have that day to Acts 3. 19. Mat. 25. 21 Rev. 7. 17. be a time of refreshing to you from the presence of the Lord you must be in sorrow for your Sins in your day if then you would enter into Joy Sorrow must here enter into you and if then you would have Tears wiped away from your Eyes they must now be found there for None but Mourners shall be Mat. 5. 4. comforted 3. Make the Judge your friend Christ has redeem'd you from slavery that you might be free for his Service and therefore 1 Cor. 6. 20. give him that which he has so dearly bought and paid for It will avail you nothing to Matth. 7. 22. 23. Luke 19. 27. call him Lord then unless you make him your Lord now for if here you are not ruled you shall then be destroyed by him 4. Judge your self If you judge others you shall Mat. 7. 1. 2 1 Cor. 11. 31. be brought to divine Judgment but by judging your self you will prevent it for Judgment shall not pass in both Courts what you condemn Christ will acquit so that if yours be a Court of Judgment his shall be a Court 2 Pet. 3. 10 11. of Mercy Holiness will give comfort in that day and a serious meditating on it may be a means to promote Holiness live therefore well in your day or blot out the belief of this If you live to have Children be careful to bring them up in the Eph. 6. 4. Nurture and Admonition of the Lord. Some are so far from blessing God for their Children that they are ready to say as Daniel to Belshazzar his Gifts be to himself Dan. 5. 16. 17. and his Rewards to another Some count them no Blessings or but beggarly ones and some there are that make them none for through their neglect they prove Curses instead of Blessings They are anxiously solicitous to get great Estates for their Children but not at all concern'd what they are or should be to whom they leave those Estates they are daily contriving for them how they may live while here but take no care how they shall live nor where when they shall die and live here no more they can tell you when dying what they