Mortification for times of Sickness and old Age when 't will be easie to leave their Pleasures because their Pleasures will leave them yet in the Judgment of God the Son the Word and Wisdom of the Father 'T is the part of a Block-head and a Fool to make Account of more years than he is sure of days or hours XI He is a Sot as well as a Sinner who does adjourn and shift off the Amendment of his Life perhaps till twenty or thirty or forty years after his Death 'T is true indeed that Hezekiah whilst he was yet in the Confines and Skirts of Death had a Lease of Life granted no less than fifteen years long but he deferr'd not his Repentance one day the longer 2 Kings 20.6 XII And shall we adventure to live an hour in an impenitent Estate who have not a Lease of Life promised no not so much as an hour shall we dare enter into our Beds and sleep securely any one Night not thinking how we may awake whether in Heaven or in Hell we know 't is timely Repentance which must secure us of the one and 't is final impenitence which gives us assurance of the other XIII What the Apostle of the Gentiles hath said of wrath may be as usefully spoken of every other provoking Sin Ephes 4.6 Let not the Sun go down upon it Let us not live in any Sin until the Sun is gone down because we are far from being sure we shall live till Sun-rising XIV How many Professors go to sleep when the Sun is gone down and the Curtains of the Night are drawn about them in a State of Drunkenness or Adultery in a State of Avarice or Malice in a State of Sacriledge or Rebellion in a State of Deceitfulness and Hypocrisie without the least Consideration how short a time they have to live and how very much shorter than they imagine XV. Yet unless they believe the y can Dream devoutly and truly repent when they are sleeping they cannot but know they are damn'd for ever if the Day of the Lord shall come upon them as a Thief in the Night and catch them napping in their impieties 1 Thes 5.2.4 2 Pet. 3.10 XVI Consider this all ye that forget God lest he pluck you away and there be none to deliver you Psal 50.22 Consider it all ye that forget your selves that forget how few your days are and how full of Misery Consider your Bodies from whence they came and consider your Souls whither they are going Consider your Life is in your Breath and your Breath is in your Nostrils and that in the management of a moment for the better or for the worse there dependeth either a joyful or a sad Eternity XVII If our time indeed were certain as well as short or rather if we were certain how short it is there might be some Colour or Pretence for the putting off of our Reformation But since we know not at what hour our Lord will come Matth. 24.42 43 44. this should mightily engage us to be hourly standing upon our watch Hab. 2.1 XVIII Next let us consider that if our days which are few are as full of trouble it should serve to make us less fond of Living and less devoted to Self-preservation and less afraid of the Cross of Christ when our Faith shall be called to the severest Tryals XIX O Death saith the Son of Sirach Eccles 41.2 acceptable is thy Sentence to the Needy and to him that is vexed with all things The troubles incident to Life have made the bitter in Soul to long for Death and to rejoyce exceedingly when they have found the Grave Job 3.20 21 22. XX. If the Empress Barbara had been Orthodox in believing Mens Souls to be just as mortal as their Bodies Death at least would be capable of this Applause and Commendation that it puts a Conclusion to all our Troubles XXI If we did not fear him Who can cast both Body and Soul into Hell Matth. 10.27 28. We should not need to fear them Who can destroy the Body only because there is no Inquisition in the Grave Eccles 41.4 There the wicked cease from troubling And there the weary are at rest There the Prisoners lye down with Kings and Councellors of the Earth The Servant there is free from his Master There is sleep and still silence nor can they hear the voice of the Oppressour Job 3.14 17 18 19. The Prayer O Lord God of my Salvation thou hast delivered me from the Captivity and Bondage of Sin and Misery fill my Heart with holy Sorrow and Compunction whenever I trespass against thee and teach me so to deny my self to mortifie my Affections to crucifie my Lusts and all the Temptations of the Flesh that I going on my way Mourning and Weeping despising the Pleasures of this Life may when thy great Harvest shall come and thy Reapers the Angels shall separate the Wheat from the Tares come before thee with Joy and escape everlasting Burnings through the Mercies of Jesus Christ Amen Meditation XXXI The Sick Man's last Will and Testament IN the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost I a poor Sinner of sound and perfect Memory being daily read in the Lecture of Man's Mortality how all Flesh is Grass and the Beauty thereof as the Flower of the Field which this day flourisheth to morrow withereth and that it is every Chriftian's Duty to Prepare himself before Death come lest it find him unprovided at such time as it shall approach II. Moved I say with these Considerations I have here made this my last Will and Testament as followeth First I bequeath my Soul into the hands of my gracious Redeemer by whose most precious Blood I was Ransomed and by whose Merits and Mercies I hope to be Glorified III. And forasmuch as there was no safety out of the Ark nor no Salvation now without the pale of the Church figured by the Ark and that the Tares from the Wheat must be severed And the Sheep and the Goats must not into one Fold be gathered IV. Here in the Presence of God and his Holy Angels for the discharge of my own Conscience and the Satisfaction of others who perchance have in their Opinions been divided doubting much how I in Points of Religion stood affected do I make a free and publick Confession of my Faith Being that Cement by which we are knit unto her and made Members of her V. I believe the Holy Catholick Church to be the Communion of the Faithful whereof I desire to live and die a Member to suffer for which I should account it an Honour holding this ever for a Principle that none can have God for his Father that will not take this Holy Spouse the Church for his Mother VI. There is no Article in the Apostles Creed which I do not believe for Catholick and Orthodoxal with the Exposition thereof and every Clause or Particle thereof in such manner as it hath been universally
that he lives at rest in his Possessions and become his great Cross that he hath Prosperity in all things Not only the Sting and the Stroak but the very remembrance of Death will be bitter to him So saith Jesus the Son of Sirach Wisd 4.1 Verse 1. The Prayer ANd yet how hardly can we endure even the smallest trouble for thy sake O Lord So insensible are we of thy Goodness so forgetful of thy Power that we do not only in our wants condemn and accuse thy Providence but are ready even to turn Infidels in our misfortunes II. Make us therefore O Lord to see the Vanity both of the World and our own Hearts the Pleasures of it may neither drown nor the Crosses of it deject our Hope or discourage our obedience Let that Glory which thou hast promised to those that conquer the World for thy sake be ever in our Eye that so in what Condition soever we are in we may still be found Crown'd and Triumphing in Faith above all the Troubles and Vexations of this World Meditation XXVIII That many have desired Death rather than Life MAn that is born of a Woman is so full of trouble to the Brim that many times it overflows him On one side or other we all are troubled but some are troubled on every side 2 Cor. 4.8 insomuch that they themselves are the greatest trouble unto themselves and 't is a kind of Death to them they cannot die II. We find King David so Sick of Life as to fall into a wishing for the Wings of a Dove that so his Soul might fly away from the great impediments of his Body He Confessed that his days were at the longest but a Span Psal 39.5 and yet complained they were no shorter III. It seems that Span was as the Span of a withered hand which the farther he stretched out the more it grieved him He was weary of his groaning Psal 6.6 his Soul did pant after Heaven Psal 42.1 and even thirsted after God Verse 2. and he might once more have cryed tho' in another Sense Wo is me that I am constrain'd to dwell with Mesech and to have my Habitation among the Tents of Kedar IV. I Remember that Charedemus compar'd Man's Life to a Feast or Banquet And I the rather took notice of it because the Prophet Elijah did seem in some Sense to have made it good Who after a first or second Course as I may say of living as if he had surfeited of Life Cryed out in haste it is enough and with the very same breath desired God to take away for so saith the Scripture 1 King 19.14 V. He went into the Wilderness a solitary place and there he sate under a Juniper Tree in a Melancholly posture and requested of God that he might die in a very disconsolate and doleful manner even pouring forth his Soul in these melting Accents It is enough now O Lord take away my Life for I am no better than my Fathers VI. And if Elijah's days were full of Trouble how were Job's overwhelm'd and running over with his Calamities when the Terrours of God did set themselves in array against him Job 6.4 how did he long for Destruction Verse 8 9. O saith he that I might have my request that God would grant me the thing that I long for Even that it would please him to destroy me that he would let loose his hand and cut me off VII How did he Curse the day the day of his Birth and the Night wherein he was Conceiv'd Job 3.1 3 4 5. c. Let that Day be darkness let the shadow of Death stain it let a Cloud dwell upon it let Blackness terrifie it And for the Night let it not be joyned to the days of the year Let the Stars of the Twilight thereof be darkned neither let it see the dawning of the Day VIII And what was his reason for this unkindness to that particular Day and Night save that they brought upon him the Trouble of being a Man born of a Woman For we find him complaining a little after Why died I not from the Womb why did I not give up the Ghost when I came out of the Belly Job 3.11 12. IX And then for the Life of our Blessed Saviour who is called by way of Eminence the Son of Man and as his Life was short so it was full of Trouble He was called vir Dolorum a Man of Sorrows and was acquainted with grief Isa 53.3 for the whole Tenour of his Life was a Continuation of his Calamities The Prayer O Lord though perhaps I am not so bad as some yet I am so bad in my self that the Leper in the Gospel is a Beauty to my Soul Lazarus's Corps a Comeliness to my Sores yet were I more impotent than the Cripple of Bethesda more Leprous than the nine whose Ingratitude was more loathsome than their Disease were those Legions ejected by thy word received in me were I as bad as Satan could wish to make me yet I know thy Goodness and I do not doubt thy Power but thou canst cleanse me and ease me of all my Troubles Vexations and Infirmities and bring me at last to thy Heavenly Kingdom Amen Meditation XXIX Of improving our Time IF Man's time be but short it concerns us to take up the Prayer of David Psal 39.4 that God would Teach us to know our End and the number of our days that we like Hezekiah 2 Kings 20.6 may be fully certified how short our time is It concerns us to take up the Resolution of Job 14.2 all the days of our appointed time incessantly to wait till our Change cometh II. It concerns us not to say with the rich Man in the Parable Luke 12.18 We will pull down our Barns and build greater and there we will bestow all our Fruits and our Goods Much less may we say with that other Worlding Verse 19. Souls take your ease eat drink and be merry for ye have much Goods laid up for many years For alas how can we know silly Creatures as we are but that this very Night yea this very minute either they may be taken from us or we from them there is such a Fadingness on their Parts and such a Fickleness on ours III. But rather it concerns us to say with Job Chap. 1.21 Naked came we into the World and naked shall we go out of it Or rather yet it concerns us to say with David Psal 39.12 That we are Strangers upon Earth and but so many Sojourners as all our Fathers were for whilst we consider we are but Strangers we shall as Strangers and Pilgrims abstain from fleshly Lusts which war against the Soul 1 Pet. 2.12 Heb. 11.13 IV. And so long as we remember we are but Sojourners upon Earth we shall pass the time of our Sojourning here in fear And behaving our selves among the Gentiles as a chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood an Holy Nation a peculiar People we shall
I Sâ—…tse A FUNERAL GIFT Iob 34 15 All flesh shall perish together man shall turn again unto dust A Funeral Gift OR A PREPARATION FOR DEATH WITH Comforts against the Fears of approaching Death And Consolations against immoderate Grief for the loss of Friends By the Author of the Devout Companion All the Days of my appointed time will I wait till my Change come Job 14.14 LONDON Printed for Henry Rhodes next Bride Lane in Fleet-street 1690. Price bound One Shilling TO THE TRULY HONOURED The LADY J. C. Madam YOur vertuous Requests to which your Merits gave the force of a Commandment oblig'd me to send my Devout Companion into the World and Madam since it hath met with so Candid a reception by your Ladyship whose early Piety proves so exemplary a Second Obligation presents it self wherein I esteem it a kind of Sacriledge to defraud you of being a Patroness to that which you may so justly challenge Prayer and Meditation are the Golden Rules towards a good Life and we can never miscarry in this dark World if we walk by the Light of a sincere Conscience For with these Holy Guides we implore the Almighty to cleanse our Hearts from all vain and unlawful Thoughts our Mouth from all foolish and idle Words and our whole Lives from all wicked and unprofitable Deeds That which I offer now Madam to your Divine Consideration is Mortality a Theme which some never care to hear of others are negligent in preparing for it and many use their utmost endeavours to put it as an Evil day far from them but all their Strategems are in vain for Death is so potent and bears such sway that none can resist his invincible Power none is exempted from the silent Grave nor none knows how soon they may be called Well-complexion'd Nature indeed may struggle here for a time but at last must yield it self to that pale Messenger Our chief Business here is to trim our Lamps and be vigilant to sow the immortal Seed of Hope and expect hereafter to reap the increase To deprecate the Almighty not to cut us off in the midst of our Folly nor suffer us to expire with our Sins unpardoned But to make us first ready for that Celestial Kingdom and then to receive us into eternal Glory This Madam is the only intent of this ensuing Treatise and may these short but plain Directions have that influence on those Persons which stand in need of these Divine Truths is the hearty and earnest Prayer of Madam Your humble and Faithful Servant in Christ Jesus E. S. A FUNERAL GIFT OR A PREPARATION FOR DEATH Meditation I. Vpon remembring our Creator in the Days of our Youth TO remember thy Creator was one of the choicest Expressions in the Royal Preacher's Sermon For who is he that is Young knows whether he shall live to be Old and yet that voice which sounds those words so loud to the whole Universe is scarce audible in the Ears of many II. This is one of the Divine Chanter's most harmonious Lessons and yet the sordid World is not pleas'd with the Tune 'T is a wonder that the best of School-Masters should have so few Disciples being his Rhetorick is so Divine and Excellent and yet it is a Text which though they will neither hear nor read they cannot chuse but see for the whole World upon it is a Commentary every Creature we behold Preaches this Doctrine which we supinely sleep out with our Eyes open III. Nature wears this Memento in her Forehead the very brute Beasts in this can reason with us and Man could not so soon forget his Maker did he but remember himself But alas Youth loves not to be put in mind of a Heavenly Being 't would clog his Memory and make him think of his Prayers too often IV. Piety will but cool his Blood Religion makes him look Old the thoughts of Heaven and the other World will create in him a greater Gravity than becomes his years his Sanguine Complexion informs him he is not in a fit Temper to study Divine things he may serve God time enough when he is at leisure V. Thus these temporal Objects of Pleasure drive away our thoughts from Celestial Dignities and those purer Joys which attend it We can spend the Beauty of our years in Vice and think to please God well enough with the Deformities of old Age We can revel away our Piety and Time in vain Delights and Pleasures and think our selves strong enough to force Heaven and become Religious when we are withered with infirmities and have nothing left us but Repentance and a Tomb. VI. We are so well satisfied with the sweetness of Sense that we are careless of any other Felicity and so much delighted with the Happiness of Sinning freely that we could willingly be of that Religion where Vice is most tolerated VII We place our Devotion with the Epicure in Natures riots Sportful meetings are our Religious Exercises and a Sermon is as tiresome to us as a Funeral to hear of our end in the midst of our Jollity sounds like the Lecture of Death and the unwelcome Echo of the Grave Let the Preacher exhort us never so well to remember our Maker we had rather follow Satan's Doctrine to enjoy the World as long as we can and think of Heaven when we have nothing else to do The Prayer O Lord shall the Lusts of the World be greater in my Soul than the love of thee Shall the temporary Delights of Sin drown the memory of thy Glory my Life is but a Span and yet I beseech thee shorten that rather than it should be spent in a neglect of thee better this earthly Tabernacle should be dissolved than become a Theatre for Sin to revel in II. Let me pay Nature her due Debt sooner than perhaps she would call for it rather than run in Score with thy Justice 'T is better I should die and be lost in the Memory of the World than ever forget thee thou formedst me from nothing not to sin but to serve thee and hast imprinted in me a Ray of thy self that I might not seek my own but thy Will nor pursue the World but Heaven III. Make me therefore to see the solid and ravishing Consolation that is in serving thee and that joy which accompanies thy Grace that so I may no longer follow my Sense but my Saviour it is none of the least Sins of our Youth that we are careless and forgetful of thee our Creator and no wonder we are so insensible of the joys to come that live in such a constant and continued neglect of Heaven IV. Make me therefore O my God to Consider that had I the Fruition of all that I can wish or long for here I should not only be satisfied but in the end find how miserable he is that setteth his Heart on any thing but thy self teach me therefore so to enjoy the World that I lose not thee nor the
we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5.10 V. Immortal but afflicted Soul canst thou hear all this and not dissolve thy self into Tears When not only in thy Bed of Sickness by a secret Divine Power all those Works which thou hast done be they Good or Evil shall be presented and appear before thee but in that great and fearful day of Account when all Flesh shall come to Judgment All these in Capitals shall appear written before thee VI. Not one Bosome Sin were it never so closely committed subtilly covered or cunningly carried but must be there discovered Adam shall be brought from his Bushes and Sarah from behind the Tent-Door and miserable perplexed Man shall say to his Conscience as Ahab said to Elias Hast thou found me O mine Enemy What innumerable Bills of Inditements then will there be preferred against thee To all which thou must hang down thy Head and plead Guilty VII O how art thou fallen into the Gall of Bitterness and Misery what can the Thoughts and the Imaginations of thine Heart say for themselves but that they have been evil continually What can the words of thy Mouth speak for themselves but that they have been full of all filthiness and obscenity Lastly what can the works of thine hands plead for themselves but that they have been loaden with Transgressions and Iniquities VIII But perhaps thou hast some fond hopes of a Pardon and so like some deluded Offenders by flattering thy self with a vain hope of Life alienatest thy thoughts from thinking of a better Life But do not so deceive thy self for if it be not by saithful Repentance sought for here there is no hope for any Pardon there to be procured nor for any Appeal to be there admitted not one minutes reprieve granted nor one moment of Adjournment of Death's heavy Sentence That severe Sentence of eternal Death Depart from me shall be the Sentence to lose whose Countenance and depart from his Presence is to bring thy Soul into endless Torments The Prayer O My God thou who hast appointed a time for every Man to die and after that to come to Judgment make me to remember my End that fitting my self for it I may cheerfully encounter it and so prepare my self for that Judgment which shall come after it II. O make me walk in thy light now while I have light to walk in and to work out my Salvation now while I have time to work in For time will come unless we walk here as Children of light when we shall have neither light to walk in nor time to work in O inflame my Heart with thy Love and teach me thy Judgments and my Soul shall live Meditation XIV Upon Hell HArk how the Damned cry out that while they were here on Earth they lived better than thou and yet they undergo the Sentence of Damnation thus they tax God's Mercy and indulgence towards thee of Injustice and Partiality Such is those Damned Souls Charity mean time thou livest securely feedest deliciously and puttest the thought of the evil day from thee by walking foolishly in the ways of Vanity II. Little desire then mayst thou have sinful Man to see Death having so little hope of Life after it Had some of those damned Objects who are now lost for ever received those many sweet Visits Motions and free Offers of his Grace those opportunities of doing good and many means of eschewing evil no question but they would have been as ready to entertain them as thou hast been to reject them III. Think with thy self how happy had that Rich Glutton been if he had rewarded poor Lazarus with some few Crumbs from his Table Had it not been far better for him to have given to the Poor all that ever he had To have disrobed himself and exchang'd his purpled Garments for Rags of Poverty than to dwell in everlasting Burnings IV. How happy had that rich Man in the Gospel been if instead of encreasing his Barns he had inlarged his Bowels to the Poor little dreamt he how soon his Soul should be taken from him when he addressed his Care for so needless a Provision His thoughts were so taken up with Building his Barns wider that he never considered How Tophet was ordained of old how it was made deep and large the Pile thereof Fire and much Wood and how the Breath of the Lord like a stream of Brimstone doth kindle it Esay 30.33 V. Turn unto thy self O my Soul and see whom thou canst find in more Danger of falling into that place of Horror than thy self How hast thou bestowed thy time how hast thou employed thy Talent hast thou not laid it up in a Napkin or hast not thou worse improved it by employing it to some ignoble Ends have not many been damned for less than thou hast committed and did it grieve thee to repent of what thou hadst done that thou might'st escape that Condemnation VI. Many a wretched Soul lies there tormented for less Offences than ever thou transacted and hast thou yet turned to the Lord that thou mayst be pardoned It is written in what hour soever the Righteous committeth iniquity his Righteousness shall not be had in Remembrance Ezck. 18.24 Now if the Righteousness of him shall be forgotten by committing iniquity who leaveth what he once loved relinquisheth what he once professed what can we think of the Repentance of that Sinner who returns again to his Sins like the Dog to the Vomit or like the Sow to her wadowing in the Mire VII How many have ascended even up to Heaven and amongst the Stars have built their Nests and yet have suddenly faln from that Glory by glorying in their own Strength and so drench'd themselves into endless Misery And this was the Reason of their lost Estate because they aspired unto that Mountain to which the first Angel ascended and as a Devil descended VIII And canst thou excuse thy self of being one of that number Hast thou not sometimes made a fair shew to the World of plausible Arguments of Piety hast thou not been sometimes like the King's Daughter all glorious without but how soon didst thou lose this Glory and fall from that seeming Sanctity or Holy Hypocrisie into open Prophaneness and Impiety IX And now what will become of me in this extremity the Wages of sin I know is Death a Death that never dieth but liveth eternally where nothing shall be heard but weeping and wailing groaning and howling sorrowing and gnashing of Teeth How grievous then shall be my Anguish how endless my Sorrow and Sadness when I shall be set apart from the Society of the Just deprived of the sight of God deliver'd up unto the Power of the Devils and forced along with them into unquenchable Fire there to remain to all Eternity X. With what dejected Eyes and a
trembling Heart shall I poor Sinner stand expecting the supream Judge when I shall be banished from that blessed Countrey of Paradise to be devoured in the gaping bottomless Pit where I must never have the Prospect of a Glimpse of light nor feel the least drop of Refreshment but be tormented for Millions of years and so tormented as never to be from thence deliver'd where neither the Tormentors become wearied nor they die who are tormented The Prayer O My dear Lord look upon the price of thine own Blood Thou hast bought me with a great Price O deliver thy Darling from the Power of the Dogs remember me in Mercy whom thou hast bought O let me not go down into the Pit neither let the Deep swallow me up II. For who shall Praise thy Name in the Deep or declare thy Power in the Grave of Silence O thou who art a God of infinite Majesty though the Terrors of Death and Torments of Hell encompass me yet art thou my Saviour my Succour and wilt deliver me and my Soul shall live to Praise thee evermore Meditation XV. Upon Heaven O How should I look up to thee that have so provok'd thee O thou Mansion of the Saints thou Portion of the Just thou City of the great King thou Heavenly and most happy Kingdom where thy blessed Inhabitants are ever living and never dying where thy glorious State is ever flourishing and never declining II. I must Confess to my great Grief and Shame that I have no Interest in thee I have unhappily lost thee in losing my Soul by selling it to Vanity I sometimes resolv'd to Play the part of a wise Merchant and to sell all I had for the purchace of one Pearl But I held the Purchace at too dear a Rate and therefore I have deservingly lost the Jewel III. Foolish Sinner couldst thou find any thing of greater weight to entertain thy best thoughts or bestow thy Care than the Salvation of thy Soul Didst thou think it so easie a Task to get Heaven by an earthly Purchace yet hadst thou but taken half so much Pains to deserve Heaven as thou hast done to win Hell Thou mightest have challenged more Interest to Heaven than now thou canst IV. Many Summer Days and long Winter Nights have thy Follies taken thee up And these seem'd short unto thee because thou tookest delight in those short Pleasures of Vanity but to bestow one short hour upon Devotion how many Distractions did that meet withal and how long and tedious seem'd that hour because the Task was wearisome and thy wandring mind was not inclin'd to so serious a work V. And canst thou now think that so Rich a Kingdom would reserve it self for thee when thou wouldst neither knock to be admitted entrance nor seek after so great a Happiness Health thou art well inform'd comes not from the Clouds without seeking nor Wealth from the Ground without digging and yet Heaven thou thinkest is got by sloth but great Prizes are not so purchased VI. For as the Gate of the Blessed is strait and few there be that enter so are our Tribulations many that we may be of that few which may gain Admittance But I hear thee now cry out as one that had some Sense of his Misery and of the loss he has incurred by Sins committed Thou dost now bewail thy past Follies and correct thy self for so great a neglect thou knowest not how to allay thy Passion till Reason inclines thee to this Meditation VII Miserable Sinner I cannot behold this Earth I tread on without blushing nor can I think upon Death without sorrowing the Day of Judgment without trembling Hell without shaking nor of the Joys of Heaven without Astonishment For Earth I loved it so well as the remembrance of Death became sorrowful For by it I understood I was to be brought to Judgment and from thence having no defensive Answer to be hurried down to the place of torment and consequently to forfeit all my Title and interest in Heaven VIII These Meditations ought to make a deep impression upon our Minds for to acknowledge our Infirmities may make us the speedier look for a Remedy and by degrees find a happy Recovery joyn then all thy Faculties and offer up thy Prayer to the Throne of Grace that God in his Mercy would look upon thee The Prayer GRacious God though I am altogether unworthy to lift up my Eyes unto Heaven or to offer up my Prayers unto thee much less to be heard by thee yet for his Merits and Mercies sake who sitteth at thy right hand and maketh intercession for me reserve a place in thy Heavenly Kingdom for me II. Dear Lord in thy House are many Mansions O bring me thither that I may joyn my voice with those voices of the Angels and sing Praises to thy Holy Name who sittest in the highest Heavens for ever World without end Amen Meditation XVI The remembrance of the four last things reduced to Practice I Find my Soul like a dry ground where no water is and wheresoever I turn my self I find Affliction and Misery on all sides surrounding me What shall I do or where shall I fly When I repose my self from the World in some with-drawing Room intending to forget this lower Orb and prepare my self for the Joys of a better Life while I begin to commune with my own thoughts in the secret Chamber of my Heart I become so affrighted with the Representment of those four last Remembrances as I wholly forget what I intended to speak II. My Tongue begins to cleave to the Roof of my Mouth my Moisture is dryed within me those Active Faculties of my Soul leave me And my understanding departs from me O Death how bitter is the Remembrance of thee with Terror thou summonest me and like a surly Guest thou rushest upon me and resolvest to lodge with me then immediately I feel my self wounded and so mortally as not to be cured III. O how my Divine Eye-sight grows dim my panting Breast beats my hoarse Throat ratleth my Teeth grow black and rusty my Countenance grows pale all my Members stiff every Sense and Faculty fails and my wasted Body threatens a speedy Dissolution yet desires my poor Soul to be a Guest though there is cold Comfort to be found in such a forlorn Inn. IV. But what are all these Terrors of Death to the dreadful Day of Judgment when at the voice of the Arch-Angel and sound of the Trumpet all the little heaps of Dust shall rise where none shall be exempted but all judged How terrible in Majesty will that great Judge appear to such as in this Life would neither be allured by his Promises nor awakened by his Judgments V. How doleful will that Echoing voice sound in their Ear Depart from me I know you not And how ready will that officious Jaylor be upon the delivery of this heavy Sentence to cast them into utter darkness a place of endless Torments where
my Sin III. O Lord be merciful unto me heal my Soul for I have sinned against thee Call to remembrance O Lord thy tender mercy and thy loving kindness which hath been ever of Old O remember not the Sins of my Youth nor the Offences of riper years but according to thy mercy think thou upon me IV. Cast me not away in the time of Age forsake me not now that my strength faileth me Go not far from me O God my God haste thee to help me Thou O God hast taught me from my youth up until now Forsake me not therefore in my old Age when I am Gray-headed V. The days of our Age are Threescore years and ten and though some be so strong that they come to Fourscore which is a mercy wherewith thou hast Crowned me thy unworthy Servant yet is their strength then but Labour and Sorrow so soon passeth it away and we are gone But Lord suffer me not to go hence in thy Displeasure O suffer not my Sun to go down in thy wrath nor my days to be shut up in the darkness of thine Anger VI. But as thou art pleased to bring me to my Grave in a full Age like as a shock of Corn cometh in his Season so let me be gathered at last like Wheat into thy Heavenly Granary And let mine Age be renewed as the Eagles in thy Kingdom of Glory Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be World without end Amen VII Thou in whose hands are the Keys of the Grave and the issues of Life and Death Thou in whose Power alone it is to kill and to make alive and to bring down to the Grave and to raise up again Thou who hadst Compassion upon Peter's Wives Mother by recovering her out of a Fever Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me whole VIII Thou who didst shew thy mercy to those Daughters of Abraham the Woman that for twelve years together was diseased with an Issue of Blood and another who by the space of eighteen years was so bowed together that she could in no wise lift up her self thou didst loose both these and many more from their long infirmities Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me whole IX Thou who didst restore to Life the young Maiden that was dead Lord if thou wilt thou canst restore me to my Health who am an aged Sinner and a sick feeble Creature Thou canst mitigate my Pains and renew my Strength and lengthen my days For thou makest our Beds in our Sickness and art the Lord of Life and Health and Strength even thou art the Almighty God and the Horn of my Salvation O thou ancient of days X. But Lord as for these outward Blessings I wholly submit my self and them unto thy good Pleasure If it be thy Blessed Will to have the days of my Pilgrimage prolonged upon Earth make me to live always to thy Glory and to my own Souls Comfort as thou dost add days to my years so do thou likewise add Repentance to my days XI But if thou thinkest it more expedient for me that I should die than live then welcome my Death and Dissolution without which there is no entring into Life eternal nor hopes of being with Christ Welcome Jesus who by thy Death hast taken away the Sting of Death Welcome that Cup whereof thou my dear Saviour hast drank before me and which even to the very Dregs thou hast drank off for me XII And therefore I will readily take this Cup of Death which thou hast begun unto me and Praise the Name of the Lord. I will Praise thy Name O sweet Saviour who givest me this Cup of Death the Cup of Salvation I will Praise thy Name who hast born all our Sicknesses for us and all our infirmities XIII I will Praise thy Name who art the Physician of Souls and callest all such unto thee as are weary and heavy Laden that thou mayst refresh them Amongst which great number behold me O Lord thy poor and aged thy weak and sick Servant weary in my Bones and laden with my Sins But Lord I come unto thee in obedience to thy Call and of those that come near unto thee thou castest none out Lord I come unto thee for ease and refreshment XIV O my beloved Saviour Jesus in the midst of the weariness of my Body in the midst of the load and burthen of my Sins in the midst of the Sorrows which are in my Heart O let thy Comforts and Consolations refresh my Soul XV. And when the snares of Death compass me round about let not the Pains of Hell take hold upon me But by all the Merits of thy Nativity Death Resurrection and Ascension I beseech thee to seal unto me in thine own precious Blood and by thy most Holy Spirit the full-Pardon of all my Sins and to admit me who am thy own Purchace to a Participation of thy Glory A Prayer for a Happy End in time of Sickness O Most glorious Jesus Lamb of God Fountain of eternal mercy Life of the Soul and Conqueror over Sin and Death I humbly beseech thee of thy Goodness and Compassion to give me Grace so to employ this transitory Life in vertuous and pious Exercises that when the Day of my Death shall come in the midst of all my Pains of Body I may feel the sweet refreshings of thy Holy Spirit Comforting my Soul and relieving all my spiritual necessities II. Lay no more upon me than thou shalt enable me to bear and let thy gentle Correction in this Life prevent the insupportable Stripes in the World to come give me Patience and Humility and the Grace of Repentance and an absolute renouncing of my self and a Resignation to thy Pleasure and Providence with a Power to perform thy Will in all things and then do what thou pleasest to me only in Health or Sickness in Life or Death let me feel thy Comforts refreshing my Soul and let thy Grace pardon all my Sins Amen Meditation XXIII Thanksgiving for Ease in Sickness or Recovery out of it BLessed by thy Name O Lord for blessing the means which are applyed unto me It is thy hand and the help of thy mercy that thou hast relieved me The Waters of affliction had long since drowned me and the Stream of Death had gone over my Soul if the Spirit of the Lord had not moved upon these Waters and led me forth besides the waters of Comfort II. O spread most gracious God according to thy mercy thy hand upon me for a Covering and also enlarge my Heart with Thanksgivings and fill my Mouth with thy Praise Praise the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me Praise his Holy Name who hath saved thy Life from Destruction and Crowned thee with mercy and loving kindness III. Grant Lord that what thou hast sown in Mercy may spring up in Duty Let my Duty and
Returns to thee be so great as my necessities of thy Mercies are O Let thy Grace so strengthen my purposes of amendment that I may sin no more lest thy threatning return upon me in Anger and thy sore Displeasure break me in pieces IV. What am I O Lord what is the Life and what are the Capacities of thy Servant that thou shouldst do thus unto me Praised be the Lord daily even the Lord that helpeth us and poureth his Benefits upon us He is our God even the God from whom cometh Salvation God is the Lord by whom we escape Death V. In the midst of the Sorrows which were in my Heart thy Comforts O Lord have refreshed my Soul It is thou O Lord who hast made my Flesh and my Bones to rejoyce Behold happy is the Man whom God Correcteth therefore despise not the chastising of the Almighty VI. For he maketh sore and bindeth up he woundeth and his hands make whole In the midst of Judgment he remembreth Mercy Lord thou hast lifted up the light of thy Countenance upon me Yea Lord thou hast put gladness into my Heart O be thou pleased graciously to add Thankfulness to it VII I will lay me down in Peace and take my Rest for it is thou Lord only which makest me dwell in safety O Lord I give thee humble and hearty thanks for thy great and almost miraculous bringing me back from the bottom of my Grave what thou hast further for me to do or suffer thou alone knowest VIII Lord give me Patience and Courage and all Christian resolution to do thee Service replenish me evermore with thy Grace to submit to thy Holy Will and let me not live longer than to Honour thee through Jesus Christ Lord I have been sick and feeble and thou hast recovered my strength I am very aged and greatly stricken in years yet thou art still pleased to add unto my days sanctifie therefore good Lord the remainder of my Life and sweeten unto me the approaches of my Death A Prayer of Thanksgiving MOst Gracious God whose mercy is as high as the Heavens and whose truth reaches unto the Clouds thy Mercies are as great and many as the moments of Eternity thou hast opened wide thy hand of Providence to fill me with Blessings and the sweet Effects of thy loving kindness fill my Soul with great apprehensions and impresses of thy unspeakable Mercies that my Thankfulness may be as great as my necessity of Mercies are II. O Lord thou hast heard my Prayers and hast broken in sunder the Bonds of Sickness and hast delivered my Soul from trouble and heaviness thou hast snatched me from the snares of Death and saved me from the Pains of Hell O let my Soul rest in thee and be satisfied in the Pleasures of thy mercy that when thou shalt call all the whole Universe to judgment from the rising of the Sun to the going down thereof I may in thy Heavenly Kingdom sing Praises to thee for evermore Amen Meditation XXIV Comfortable refreshments at the hour of Death to be used by those who are present GOd so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life John 3.16 If any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the Propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but for the Sins of the whole World 1 John 2.1 2. II. Verily verily I say unto you he that heareth my Word and believeth in him that sent me hath everlasting Life and shall not come into Condemnation but is passed from Death unto Life John 5.24 All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out John 6.37 III. Why art thou so full of heaviness O my Soul and why art thou so disquieted within me put thy trust in God for I will yet give him thanks for the help of his Countenance Psal 42.6 In my Fathers House are many Mansions John 14.2 What things were Gain to me those I counted loss for Christ Phil. 3.7 IV. For our Conversation is in Heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ Who shall Change our vile Body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious Body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself Phil. 3.20 21. I press towards the Mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Phil. 3.14 V. Set your Affections on things above not on things of the Earth For ye are dead and your Life is hid with Christ When Christ who is our Life shall appear then shall ye also appear with him in Glory Colos 3.2.3 In whom we have Redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of our Sins Col. 1.14 VI. If in this Life only we have hope in Christ we are of all Men most miserable 1 Cor. 15.19 For we know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our House which is from Heaven 2 Cor. 5.1 2. For our light Affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding eternal weight of Glory The things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal 1 Cor. 4.17 18. VII I am in a great Strait betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better For to me to live is Christ and to die is Gain Phil. 1.21 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus Phil. 2.5 None of us liveth to himself and no Man dieth to himself For whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we die we die unto the Lord Whether we live therefore or die we are the Lord's Rom. 14.7 8. VIII I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me write from henceforth Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord even so saith the Spirit for they rest from their Labours Rev. 14.13 I am the Resurrection and the Life saith the Lord He that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die John 11. I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth And though after my Skin worms destroy this Body yet in my Flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and my Eyes shall behold and not another Job 19.25 26 27. IX We brought nothing into this World and it is certain we can carry nothing out The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away Blessed be the Name of the Lord 1 Tim. 6.7 Job 1.21 O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory The Sting of Death is Sin
shew forth his Praise who hath called us out of Darkness into his marvellous light 1 Pet. 2.9.12 V. Next let us consider that since our Life is uncertain as well as short it concerns us immediately to Labour hard in the improvement of this our Span into Eternity to employ our very short and uncertain time in making a seasonable Provision against them both I mean its shortness and its uncertainty VI. For shall we be lavish even of that which is so easily Lost and of which we have so very little and every minute of which little does carry such a weight with it as will be either a kind of Pulley to help to raise us up to Heaven or else a Clogg to pull us down to the lowest Hell of whatsoever we may be wasteful we ought to be Chary of our time which doth incontinently perish and will eternally be reckoned on our Account VII Now the way to provide against the shortness of our Life is so to live as to die to the greatest advantage to be imagin'd so to die as to live for ever What Tobit said to Tobias Tob. 4.21 in respect of wealth Fear not my Son that we are made poor for thou hast much wealth if thou fear God and depart from all sin and do that which is pleasing in his sight He might have said as well in respect of Wisdom and by Consequence as well in respect of long Life For as the Fear of the Lord is solid Wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding Job 28.28 So honourable Age is not that which standeth in the length nor that is measured by number of years but Wisdom is the Gray-hair unto Men and an unspotted Life is old Age Wisd 4.8 9. VIII To be devoted like Anna to the House of God so as to serve him Night and Day with Fasting and Prayer Luke 2.37 and not to Content our selves with that which is meerly lawful or barely enough to serve turn but to study the things that are more excellent to strain hard towards Perfection to forget those things that are behind and to reach forth unto those things that are before pressing on towards the Mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Phil. 3.13 14. IX This is to amplifie our lives and to frustrate the Malice of our Mortality and as the want of Stature many times is supply'd in thickness so this is to live a great deal in the little time of our Duration The Prayer STrengthen us therefore O Lord against the Vanities of the World and raise up our Thoughts to the Contemplation of thy Glory level in us every proud Thought that dares exalt it self against the Power and Purity of thy Law and sanctifie us for thy self and thy Service more that the Practice of a Holy Life may be as it ought our chiefest Employment that so when we depart hence we may be received to thee and being seen no more here we may behold thee in thy Heavenly Kingdom Amen Meditation XXX Motives not to defer our Repentance to a future time TO provide against the uncertainty of our time the way to do that is to distrust the future and to lay hold upon the present so to live every hour as if we were not to live the next Having a short time to live our time to repent cannot be long And not assured of the morrow 't is madness not to repent to day when we see many Persons of the most promising Countenances and the most prosperous Constitutions not only snatched away by an early but sudden Death Why should we not seriously consider that we may be of their number having no Promise to the contrary either within or without us II. What happens to any Man may happen to every Man every Man being surrounded with the same measures of Montality 'T is true indeed that we may live till we are Old but 't is as true that we may die whilst we are Young and therefore the latter Possibility should as well prevail with us for a dispatch of our Repentance as the former too too often prevails upon us for a delay III. Nay if we procrastinate our Repentance in hope of living till we are Old How much rather should we precipitate it for fear of dying whilst we are Young if yet it were possible to precipitate so good and necessary a work as a solid impartial sincere Repentance IV. For as to repent whilst we are Young can never do us the least prejudice so it may probably do us the greatest harm to post it off till we are Old Nay it may cost us the loss of Heaven and a sad Eternity in Hell if we defer our Repentance I do not say till we are Old but if we defer it being Young till one day older than now we are V. And shall we defer it beyond to day because we may do it as well to morrow This is madness unexpressible For as 't is true that we may so 't is as true that we may not Our knowledge of the one is just as little as of the other Or rather our ignorance is just as much and shall we dare to tempt God by presuming upon that which we do not know VI. Are Heaven and Hell such trivial things as to be put to a bare adventure Shall we play for Salvation as 't were by fillipping Cross or Pile implicitly saying within our selves If we live till the morrow we will repent and be saved but if we die before Night we will die in our Sins and be damn'd for ever VII Shall we reason within our selves that though we know our own Death may be as sudden as other Mens yet we will put it to the venture and make no doubt but to fare as well as hitherto we have done What is this but to dally with the Day of Judgment or to bewray our dis-belief that there is any such thing its true we may live until the morrow and so on the morrow we may repent VIII But what is this to the purpose that 't is certain enough we may whilst it is as doubtful whether we shall is it not good to make sure of Happiness by repenting seriously at present rather than let it lye doubtful by not repenting until anon Methinks we should easily be perswaded to espouse that Course which we are throughly convinc'd does tend the most to our advantage IX When the rich Worldling in the Parable Luke 12.22 was speaking Placentia to his Soul Soul take thine ease alledging no other Reason than his having much Goods for many years nothing is fitter to be observ'd than our Saviour's words upon that occasion Stulte thou Fool this Night shall thy Soul be required of thee then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided X. However the Men of this World have quite another measure of Wit and do esteem it the greatest prudence to take their Pleasure whilst they are Young reserving the work of
hold it yet our Tongues are too stammering to express and utter it Or if we were able to do that yet our Lives are too short to Communicate and reveal it to other Creatures In a word it is such as not only Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard but it never hath entred into the Heart of Man to conceive Incomprehensible as it is 't is such as God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 IV. If we compare this Life with that of Job's which is full of Trouble it will several ways be useful to us for it will moderate our Joys whilst we possess our dear Friends and it will mitigate our Sorrows when we have lost them for it will mind us that they are freed from a Life of Misery and that they are happily translated to one of Bliss Nay if we are true Lovers indeed and look not only at our own Interest but at the Interest of the parties to whom we vow affection we even lose them to our advantage because to theirs V. Lastly it sweetens the solemn Farewel which our immortal Souls must take of our mortal Bodies we shall desire to be dissolved when we can groundedly hope we shall be with Christ we shall groan and groan earnestly to be uncloathed of our Bodies with which we are burden'd if we live by this Faith that we shall shortly be cloath'd upon with our House from Heaven 2 Cor. 5.7 23 24. We shall cheerfully lay down our Bodies in the Dust when 't is to rest in Peace who will certainly raise us by his Power that we may rest and Reign with him in Glory Amen The Prayer HOw hardly can we be perswaded O Lord to forsake the vanishing Pleasures of this Life for thy Glory and our own Happiness How unwillingly should we lay down our Lives for thy sake or the Gospels that can so hardly part with one Sin in obedience to thy Law II. Thy Yoke is easie and thy Service a perfect Freedom and yet we count thy Sanctuary a Prison thy Law a trouble and can scarce Sacrifice so much time to our Devotions as to pay unto thee the Honour due unto thy Name III. Pardon and Pity this Corruption of our Frames and teach us whether we live or die to delight in that for which thou madest us even to glorifie thee That so whensoever this earthly Tabernacle shall be dissolved we may receive our Change with Joy and be carried by Angels to an everlasting Inheritance there to remain to all Eternity Amen Meditation XXXIII COMFORTS against the Fears of DEATH and Consolations against immoderate Grief for the loss of Friends IF it be a Blessing of the vertuous to Mourn the reward which attends it is to be Comforted and he that pronounc'd the one promis'd the other I doubt not but that Spirit whose Nature is Love and whose Name Comforter as he knows the occasion of our Grief so hath he salved and season'd it with supplies of Grace pouring into our Wounds no less Oyl of mercy than wine of Justice II. Yet since affection oweth Compassion as a Duty to the afflicted and Nature hath ingrafted a desire to find it that which dieth to our Love is always alive to our Sorrow and we might have been kind to a less loving Friend but finding in him so many worths to be loved our Love wrought more earnestly upon so sweet a Subject which now being deprived of our Grief to our Love is not inferiour the one being ever the Balance of the other III. The Scripture moveth us to shed Tears for the dead a thing not offending Grace and a right to reason For to be without remorse at the Death of Friends is neither incident nor convenient to the Nature of Man having too much Affinity to a savage Temper and overthrowing the ground of all Piety which is mutual Sympathy in each others Miseries But as not to feel Sorrow in sorrowful Chances is to want Sense so not to bear it with Moderation is to want understanding The one brutish the other effeminate and he hath cast his Account best that hath brought his Sum to a proper Medium IV. It is no less Criminal to exceed in Sorrow than to pass the limits of Competent Mirth for excess in either is a disorder in Passion though that sorrow of Friendship be less blamed of Men because if it be a Crime it is also a Punishment at once causing and creating Torments It is no good Sign in the Sick to be Senseless in his Pains and as bad it is to be unusually sensitive being both either Harbingers or Attendants of Death V. Let our condoling since it is due to the Dead testifie a feelingof Pity not any pang of Passion and bewray rather a tender than a dejected mind Mourn so as your Friends may find you a living Example all Men a discreet Mourner making Sorrow a Signal not a Superior to Reason VI. Some are so obstinate in their own Will that even time the natural Remedy of the most violent Agonies cannot by any delays asswage their Grief they entertain their Sorrow with solitary Muses and feed their Sighs and Tears with doleful Accents they Pine their Bodies and draw all pensive Consideration to their minds nursing their Heaviness with a Melancholy humour as though they had dedicated themselves to sadness unwilling it should end till it had ended them wherein their Folly sometimes findeth a ready effect that being true which Solomon observed that as a Moth the Garment and a Worm the Wood so doth sadness perswade the Heart VII But this impotent softness fitteth not sober minds we must not make a Lives profession of a seven Nights Duty nor under Colour of kindness to others be unnatural to our selves if some in their Passions drive their Thoughts into such Labyrinths that neither Wit knoweth nor Will careth how long or how far they wander in them it discovereth their weakness but deserveth our Meditation VIII The Scripture warneth us not to give our Hearts up to heaviness yea rather to reject it as a thing not beneficial to the Dead but prejudicial to our selves Eccles 38. alloweth but seven days of Mourning judging Moderation in Grief to be a sufficient Testimony in Good-will and a necessary rule of Wisdom IX Much lamenting for the Dead is either the Child of Self-love or of rash Judgment if we should shed our Tears for the Death of others as a Mediocrity to our Contentment we expose but our own Wound even perfect Lovers of our selves If we lament their decease as their hard Determination we Tax them of ill deserving with too peremptory a Censure as though their Life had been an arise and their Death a leap into final Perdition for otherwise a good departure craveth small condoling being but a Harbour from Storms an entrance unto Felicity X. Our Life is a due Debt to a more certain Owner than our selves and therefore so long as we have it we receive a
benefit when we are deprived of it we have no wrong We are Tenants at Will of this Clay-farm not for term of years when we are warned out we must be ready to remove having no other Title but the owners Pleasure it is but an Inn not an Home we came to bait not to dwell and the Condition of our entrance was in short to depart If this Departure be grievous it is also common this to day to me to morrow to thee and the Case equally afflicting all leaves none any cause to complain of injurious usage XI Natures Debt is sooner exacted of some than of others yet there is no fault in the Creditor who exacteth but his own but in the Greediness of our eager hopes either repining that their Wishes fail or willingly forgetting their Mortality whom they are unwilling by experience to see Mortal yet the general Tide wafteth all Passengers to the same Shore some sooner some later but all at the last and we must fix our minds upon our time when it is come never fearing a thing so necessary yet ever expecting a thing so uncertain XII God hath conceal'd from us the time of our Death leaving us resolv'd between fear and hope of longer continuance He cuts off unripe Cares lest with the notice and Pensiveness of our Divorce from the World we should lose the Comforts of necessary Contentments and before our dying day languish away with expectation of Death XIII Some are taken in their first step into this Life receiving at once their Welcome and Farewel as though they had been born only to be buried and to take their Pasport in this hourly middle of their Course the good to prevent Change the bad to shorten their impiety XIV Who is there that hath any Vertue eternized or deserts commended to Posterity that hath not mourned in Life and been bewailed after Death no assurance of joy being sealed without some Tears Even the Blessed Virgin the Mother of God was thrown down as deep in temporal Miseries as she was advanc'd high in spiritual Honours none amongst all mortal Creatures finding in Life more Proof than she of her Mortality XV. For having the noblest Son that ever Woman was Mother of not only above the Condition of Men but above the Glory of Angels being her Son only without temporal Father and thereby the Love of both Parents doubled in her Breast being her only Son without other issue and so her Love of all Children expired in him as he was God and she the nearest Creature to God's perfections yet no Prerogative exempted her from Mourning or him from dying and though they surmounted the highest Angels in all other Preheminences yet were they equal with the meanest Men in the Sentence of Death XVI And however the Blessed Virgin being the Pattern of Christian Mourners so tempered her anguish that there was neither any thing undone that might be exacted of a Mother nor any thing done that might be mis-liked in so perfect a Matron yet by this we may guess with what kindnesses Death is like to befriend us that durst cause so Bloody Funerals in so Heavenly a Progeny not exempting him from the Laws of dying that was the Author of Life and soon after to honour his Triumphs with a glorious Resurrection XVII Seeing therefore that Death spareth none let us spare our Tears for better uses being but an Idol-Sacrifice to this deaf and implacable Executioner And for this not long to be continued where they can never profit Nature did promise us a weeping Life exacting Tears for Custom at our first entrance and to furnish our whole Course in this doleful beginning therefore they must be used with Discretion that must be used so often and where so many Debts lie yet unpaid which must be satisfied by Tears of Repentance XVIII Since we cannot put a Period to our Tears let us at least reserve them If Sorrow cannot be shun'd let it be taken in time of need since otherwise being both troublesome and fruitless it is a double Misery or an open Folly We moisten not the ground with precious Waters they were distill'd to nobler ends either by their Vertues to delight our Senses or by their Operations to preserve our Healths XIX Our Tears are water of too high a Price to be prodigally poured in the Dust of any Graves If they be Tears of Love they perfume our Prayers making them Odour of sweetness fit to be offered on the Altar of the Throne of God if Tears of Contrition they are water of Life to the dying Souls they may purchase Favour and repeal the Sentence till it be executed as the Example of Ezechias doth testifie but when the Punishment is past and Verdict perform'd in effect their pleading is in vain as David taught us when his Child was dead 2 Kings 11. saying that he was likelier to go to it than it by his weeping to return to him XX. Learn therefore to give Sorrow no long Dominion over you wherefore the Wise should rather mark than expect an end meet it not when it cometh do not invite it when 't is absent When you feel it do not force it for the brute Creatures have but a short though vehement Sense of their Losses You should bury the sharpness of your Grief in the Grave and rest contented with a kind yet mild Compassion neither less decent for you nor more than agreeable to your Nature and Judgment XXI Your much Heaviness would renew a multitude of Griefs and your Eyes would be Springs to many Streams adding to the Memory of the dead a new occasion of Complaint to your own discomfort the Motion of your Heart measureth the beating of many Pulses which in any Distemper of your quiet with the like stroke will soon bewray themselves sick of your Disease XXII The terms of our Life are like the Seasons of the year some for Sowing some for Growing some for Reaping in this only different that as the Heavens keep their prescribed Periods so the Succession of time have their appointed Changes But in the Seasons of our Life which are not the Law of necessary Causes some are reaped in the Seed some in the Blade some in the unripe Ears all in the end this Harvest depending upon the Reapers Will. XXIII Death is too ordinary a thing to seem any Novelty being a familiar Guest in every House and since his coming is expected and his Errand known neither his Presence should be feared nor his Effects lamented what wonder is it to see fuel burned Spice bruised or Snow melted and as little fearful it is to see those dead that were born upon Condition once to die XXIV Night and Sleep are perpetual Mirrours figuring in their darkness silence shutting up of Senses the final end of our mortal Bodies and for this some have entitled Sleep the eldest Brother of Death but with no less Convenience it might be called one of Death's Tenants near unto him in Affinity
of Condition yet far inferiour in right being but Tenant for a time of that Death which is the Inheritance for by Vertue of the Conveyance made to him in Paradise that Dust we were and to Dust we must return he hath hitherto shewed his Seigniority over all exacting of us not only the yearly but hourly Revenue of time which ever by minutes we defray unto him XXV So that our very Life is not only a Memory but a part of our Death and the longer we have lived the less time we have to come what is the daily lessening of our Life but a continual dying and therefore none is more grieved with the running out of the last Sand in an Hour-Glass than with all the rest so should not the end of the last hour trouble us any more than of so many that went before since that did but finish the Course that all the rest were still ending not the quantity but the quality commendeth our Life the ordinary Gain of long Livers being only a great burthen of Sin XXVI Let your mind therefore Consent to that which your Tongue daily craveth that God's will may be done as well here upon Earth as it is done in Heaven since his Will is the best measure of all Events there is in this World continual enterchange of pleasing and greeting Accidents still keeping their Succession of times and overtaking each other in their several Courses XXVII No Picture can be all drawn of the brightest Colours nor an Harmony consorted only of Trebles shadows are useful in expressing of Proportions and the base is a principal part in perfect Musick the Condition of our Exile here alloweth no unmingled Joy our whole Life is temperate between sweet and sowre and we must all look for a mixture of both XXVIII The Wise so wish Better that they still think of worse accepting the one if it come with liking and bearing the other without impatience being so much Masters of each others Fortunes that neither shall work them to excess the Dwarf groweth not up to the highest Hill nor the Tallest loseth not his height in the lowest Valley and as a base sordid mind though most at ease will be dejected so a resolute Vertue in the deepest distress is most impregnable XXIX They evermore most perfectly enjoy their Comforts that least fear their afflictions for a desire to enjoy carrieth with it a fear to lose and both Desire and Fear are Enemies to quiet Possession making Men rather Owners of God's Benefits than Tenants at his Will The cause of our Troubles are that our misfortunes happen either to unwitting or unwilling minds foresight preventeth the one necessity the other and he taketh away the smart of present Evils that attendeth their coming and is not frighted at any Cross but is armed against all XXX Where necessity worketh without our Consent the Effects should never greatly afflict us Grief being insignificant where it cannot help needless where there was no fault committed if Men should lay all their Evils together to be afterwards by equal Portions divided among them most Men would rather take that they brought than stand to the Division XXXI Yet such is the partial Judgment of Self-love that every Man judgeth his own Misery too great fearing if he can find some Circumstances to increase it and making it tolerable by thought to induce it when Moses threw his Rod from him it became a Serpent ready to sting him and affrighted him insomuch as it made him fly but being quietly taken up it was a Rod again serviceable for his use and no way hurtful XXXII The Cross of Christ and Rod of every Tribulation seeming to threaten Stinging and Terrour to those that shun it but they that mildly take it up and embrace it with Patience may say with David thy Rod and thy Staff have been my Comfort Affliction much resembleth the Crocodile fly it pursueth and frighteth followed it flyeth and feareth a shame to the Constant and a Tyrant to the Timorous XXXIII Soft minds that think only upon Delights admit no other Consideration but in flattering Objects become so effeminate as that they are apt to bleed with every sharp impression but he that useth his Thoughts with Expectation of Troubles making their Travel through all hazards and opposing his Resolution against the sharpest Encounters findeth in the Product facility of Patience and easeth the Load of most heavy Troubles XXXIV We must have temporal things in use but eternal in Wish that in the one neither Delight exceed in that we have no Desire in that we want and in the other our most delight is here in desire and our whole Desire is hereafter to enjoy they straiten too much their Joys that draw them into the reach and compass of their Senses as if it were no Facility where no Sense is Witness whereas if we exclude our passed and future Contentments Pleasures have so fickle an assurance that either as forestalled before their Arrival or interrupted before their end or ended before they are well begun XXXV The Repetition of former Comforts and the Expectation of after Hopes is ever a relief unto a vertuous mind whereas others not suffering their Lives to continue in the Conveniences of that which was and shall be divided this day from yesterday and to morrow and by forgetting all and forecasting nothing abridge their whole Life into the moment of present Eternity XXXVI How ought we then to submit our selves to God's Will let him strip you to the Skin nay to the Soul so he stay with you himself let his Reproach be your Honour his Poverty your Riches and he in lieu of all other Friends think him enough for this World that must be all your Possession for a whole Eternity and in all your Crosses and Afflictions in this Life humbly say with Holy Job The Lord gave and the Lord taketh away blessed be the Name of the Lord. Te Deum Laudamus FINIS THE CONTENTS Meditation I. UPon remembring our Creatour in the days of our Youth Pag. 1 The Prayer p. 4. Meditation II. The remembrance of Death a powerful Remedy against Sin p. 6. Prayers against sudden Death p. 9. Meditation III. What Life is p. 11. The Prayer p. 13. Meditation IV. That we ought continually to watch and pray p. 14. The Prayer p. 17. Meditation V. Death often to be thought of p. 18. The Prayer p. 21. Meditation VI. Of the shortness of humane Life p. 22. The Prayer p. 24. Meditation VII That we ought early to seek after God p. 26. The Prayer p. 28. Meditation VIII That Affliction is necessary to all Persons p. 29. The Prayer p. 31. Meditation IX That Affliction is a Mark of God's Favour p. 33. The Prayer p. 34. Meditation X. Of Man's Original being born to die p. 35. The Prayer p. 39. Meditation XI Memorials hourly necessary upon the four last things Death Judgment Hell and Heaven p. 40. The Prayer p. 42. Meditation XII On Death p. 43. The Prayer p. 47. Meditation XIII Upon Judgment p. 47. The Prayer p. 51. Meditation XIV Upon Hell p. 52. The Prayer p. 56. Meditation XV. Upon Heaven p. 57. The Prayer p. 60. Meditation XVI The remembrance of the four last things reduced to Practice p. 61. The Prayer p. 65. Meditation XVII With Comfort Faith applies her self to the sick Man's Conscience p. 66. The Prayer p. 70. Meditation XVIII Hopes Address to the sick Penitent Ibid. The Prayer p. 73. Meditation XIX The Exercise of Charity p. 75. The Prayer p. 79. Meditation XX. The Souls flight to Heaven p. 80. The Prayer p. 83. Meditation XXI Upon the Misery of humane Life and the Blessedness of eternal Life p. 84. The Prayer p. 90. Meditation XXII In time of Sickness p. 91. A Prayer for a happy end in time of Sickness p. 97. Meditation XXIII Of Thanksgiving for Ease in Sickness or Recovery out of it p. 98. A Prayer of Thanksgiving p. 102. Meditation XXIV Comfortable Refreshments at the hour of Death to be used by those who are present p. 103. A Prayer for a sick Person when there appear small hopes of Recovery p. 107. A Commendatory Prayer for a sick Person at the Point of Departure p. 108. Meditation XXV Of the uncertainty of our Lives p. 110. The Prayer p. 113. Meditation XXVI On the Frailty of our Lives p. 114. The Prayer p. 118. Meditation XXVII That Death frees us from the Vexations Troubles and Cares of this mortal Life p. 119. The Prayer p. 121. Meditation XXVIII That many have desired Death rather than Life p. 122. The Prayer p. 125. Meditation XXIX Of improving our time p. 126. The Prayer p. 130. Meditation XXX Motives not to defer our Repentance to a future Time p. 131. The Prayer p. 139. Meditation XXXI The sick Man's last Will and Testament 139. The Prayer p. 145. A Prayer when we hear a Bell ring for a Person at the Point of Death p. 146. Meditation XXXII Of this Life compar'd with Eternity p. 147. The Prayer p. 150. Meditation XXXIII Comforts against the Fears of Death and Consolations against immoderate Grief for the Loss of Friends p. 151. The End of the Contents
this a desperate Patient The Prayer DO thou therefore O Lord elevate our Souls and withdraw them from these beggerly Elements to purer and more Celestial Addresses Let thy Kingdom be not our refuge only but our Choice and the perfect Resolution of our Souls to despise the Flatteries of the World for that Glory which nothing but our Sins can deprive us of II. And as thou hast made us for thy self O Lord enable us so to continue that as we have received all that we have from thy Bounty we may sacrifice all our Desires to thy Glory knowing that as nothing in this Life can make us Happy without thee so nothing can make him miserable that hath thy Kingdom for his Inheritance Meditation X. Of Man's Original being born to die IT is demonstrably prov'd we must one day die because we did one day begin to live All that is Born of a Woman is both mixt and compounded after the Image of the Woman of whom it is born not only mixt of the four Elements but also compounded of Matter and Form and all things compounded must be dissolved into the very same Principles of which at first they were compos'd II. Hence are those pangs and yerning of the Flesh and the Spirit of the Appetite and the Will of the Law in the Members and the Law in the Mind the one inclining towards Earth from whence 't was taken and the other towards Heaven from whence 't was sent III. The truth of this had been apparent if it had been only taken out of Aristotle's School but we have it confirmed out of Solomon's Porch too for in the day when Man goeth to his Long Home when the Grinders cease and the Windows be darkned and all the Daughters of Musick are brought low when the Silver Cord is once loosed and the Golden Bowl broken so as the Mourners are going about the Streets then the Dust shall return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return to God that gave it Eccles 12.3 4 5 6 7. IV. When God himself was pleased to be born of a Woman he submitted to the Conditions of Mortality and had but a short time to live for he expired by Crucifixion before he was full thirty four years of Age. V. Man hath a short time indeed as he is born of a Woman for he cometh forth as a Flower and as a Flower he is cut down He flyeth also as a shadow and continueth not And therefore Epictetus did fitly argue the very great fickleness and frailty of Worldly things First because they were made and therefore had their beginning next because they are made ours and therefore must have a speedy end VI. For if we will be but so just and so impartial to our selves as to Arraign our Bodies at the Tribunal of our Reason they will be found by Composition no more than well complexion'd Dust Dust thou art said God to Adam Gen. 3.19 Dust and Ashes I am said Abraham to God Gen. 18.27 He knoweth saith the Psalmist Whereof we are made he remembreth we are but Dust Psal 103.14 VII Were it not that the Spirit of Man goeth upward whilst the Spirit of a Beast goeth downward to the Earth there would be no Preheminence of the one over the other for all go unto one place as to the Centre of the Body All are of the Dust and all turn to Dust again Eccles 3.19 20. VIII Which shews the Vanity and Sickness of those Mens Souls who erect such strong and stately Sepulchres for their Bodies for fear the poor Mans Dust should fully their's as if they did not remember that Man is born of a Woman and that his very Foundation is in the Dust Job 4.19 he may have the more Vanity but not the more Understanding for being in Honour and may the sooner be compar'd to the Beasts that perish Psal 49.12 IX The Protoplast was formed of the Dust of the ground Gen. 2.27 and however his Posterity hath been distinguish'd by issuing out from that Fountain through several Chanels yet their Original Extraction must needs be vile if any thing can be vile which is of God's own making for all Men descended out of the very same Eve and so by Her out of the very same Adam and so by Him out of the very same Earth The Prayer WE know O Lord that thou created'st us after thine own Image and designed'st us for to die as soon as we were born but thou hast sweetned the Bitterness of it to us by first tasting of it thy self and hast taken away the Sting of it that when ever it comes it will prove to us an advantage II. Dust we are O Lord and to Dust we must return High and Low Rich and Poor from the Swayer of the Sceptre to the Drawer of Water must one day appear before thee O then in thy tender Mercy and Compassion have Pity upon poor Dust and Ashes Let not those many failings we are guilty of in this World any ways hinder thy Mercy in sealing our Pardon but receive us graciously III. Bring down and subdue in us every vain Thought and every proud Look that exalts its self against thee mortifie in us all sensual Lusts and vile Affections and bring our Souls and Bodies under the Discipline of true Obedience to thee and thy Holy Will that having learned to deny all ungodliness and worldly Lusts we may live Soberly Godly and Righteously in this present evil World and at last arrive to thine Heavenly Kingdom to live for evermore Amen Meditation XI Memorials hourly necessary upon the four last things Death Judgment Hell and Heaven MOst freely went that Blessed Father St. Augustine to work when he expressed himself in this manner I inherit sin from my Father an excuse from my Mother Lying from the Devil Folly from the World and Self-conceit from the Pride and arrogant Opinion of my self Deceitful have been the Imaginations of thy Heart Crooked have been thy ways Malicious thy works And yet hast thou taken the Judgments of God in thy mouth desiring nothing more than to blind the Eye of the World with a counterfeit Zeal II. But all such Hypocrites God will judge and will not be mocked For as the Devil has his Sieve with which the good escape and the bad remain So God hath his Fan which scatters the wicked but retains the Godly And when he shall separate the Goats from the Sheep the Wheat from the Tares when the Just and the Wicked shall appear before him and every Man shall be put in the Ballance I fear O my Soul thou wilt then be found many Grains too light III. Thy only Remedy then is this proper Medicine to prepare thy self against that great and terrible Day and to furnish thee with those Directions that may make thee a true Convert of an impenitent Sinner Recal to mind those four last Remembrances Memorials hourly to be thought and so necessary to be retained in thy
Memory as the Christian use of them may prepare thee before Death summon thee and in this vale of Misery fit thee for thy Heavenly Voyage to Eternity IV. And yet whilst I entertain thee with these Precepts I find thy Condition to be dangerous For if thou seriously ponder them in thy mind and lay them home to thy Heart the very thoughts of them cannot chuse but startle thee and if thou neglect them which are so useful for thy Salvation thou wilt stand amazed when they encounter thee The Prayer O Lord remember me in thy Mercy and so prepare my Memory that these four necessary Remembrances may never depart from me Let me be prepar'd for Death before it come that it may never surprize me unprovided whensoever it shall come Let me think of that dreadful day of Judgment and judge my self before I am judged that I may not when I am weighed in the Ballance be found wanting II. Let not me forget there is a Hell for the damned and consider that it is better by timely fearing to avoid it than by never dreaming of it to fall headlong into it Lastly let me think of Heaven that it is the Habitation of the Blessed and that none but those that are of a clean Heart shall dwell in it O cleanse thou my Heart that I may be prepared for it and with piritual Joy be received into it Meditation XII On Death IT is strange that Death should be such a Stranger to thee when he so daily visits thy Neighbours Thou hast been familiarly acquainted with many whose Habitations are not now to be found which have enjoyed the Pleasures of Sin freely others who have inlarged their Barns and Store-houses carefully others who have in a splendid manner arrived to Honours highest Pinacle and could deliver their Commands with Grandeur and Magnificence And now behold All these have endured Death's Arrest and were forced to obey his grim Command II. And now consider having made their Beds in the dark They have left their Houses unto others they are gone unto their Graves and must not return again their Substance they have left unto others and Strangers are become their Heirs They are rooted out from the Face of the Earth and now they consider the Vanity of their Desires How they who laid Land to Land while they were here are now content with a small scantling in their return to their last home III. Poor Shell of Corruption what dost thou think of these things I am certain that great Revenues swelling Honours smiling Pleasures are dangerous and pernicious Eye-sores to a dying Man He looks back upon his Honours and enquires of them if they can relieve him but like false hearted retainers they fly from him and present their Service to another so quickly have they forgot their dying Master IV. He looks back then upon his Revenues those Goods of Fortune his inchested Treasures and asks of them if they cannot Ransome him But alas they have no such Commission they reserve themselves for his Prodigal Successor or succeeding Rioter for they were so poorly used and employed by him that they have quickly forgot their dying Master At last he looks back upon his unhappy Pleasures which now torment him more than ever they did delight him and he would be inform'd of them if they can allay or any ways mitigate his Pain But alas they soon leave him for they find nothing near him that can give them Entertainment V. An easie farewel then have these taken of their dying Master But thou poor Sinner hast no Honours to transport thee no Fortunes to detain thee no Pleasures to ensnare thee For the first the Countenance of Greatness never shone upon thee for the second Worldly Wealth could never yet so burden thee And for the last though thy Youth might affect them the infirmities of Age have now estranged them from thee VI. And yet the voice of Death is more terrible to thee than the loud Report of a roaring Cannon No Note more doleful or Summons more fearful in this thou art in some measure excusable because Death is fearful to all Flesh Plant not thy hopes so upon Earth as if thou intendedst never to go from Earth or to return to it from whence thou wast taken If thou canst find nothing on Earth worthy to entertain thee thou art in the unhappiest Condition that may befall thee VII O think then of that time even now while thou hast time when thy poor languishing Soul finding thy Eyes shut thy Mouth closed and all those Senses of thy Body perished by which she used to pass forth and be delighted in these outward things wherewith she was affected shall return unto her self and seeing her self all alone and naked as one afflicted and affrighted with exceeding Horror shall through Despair fail and fall under her self O whither wilt thou fly in hope of Succour to comfort thy poor Soul in such a time of Danger The Prayer EVen to thee will I fly O God of my Salvation for thou wilt not suffer my Soul to descend to Corruption such is thy loving kindness as thou hast promised to make all my Bed in my Sickness And because nothing is more certain than Death nothing more uncertain than the hour and that the pale Messenger may appear less fearful unto me send thy Holy Spirit to Comfort me that being inwardly armed by thee against the Assaults of Death and fury of my Ghostly Enemy I may fight a good Fight and with Fortitude cry out O Death where is thy Sting O Hell where is thy Victory Meditation XIII Upon Judgment I Tremble to think of that dreadful day and yet know not how to avoid it Judged I must be and who will answer for me An infallible Witness I have within to accuse me Sins of Omission and of Commission to impeach me Sins of Ignorance Knowledge and of Malice to convict me though any one of these were sufficient to condemn me II. But perhaps thou wilt be upon the Enquiry to know for what thou art to be brought to Account for And the occasion of thy appearing before the great Tribunal Seat of Judgment Solomon will furnish thee with a ready Answer and informs thee it is even for all thy Thoughts Words and Works For God will bring every Work into Judgment with every secret thing whether it be Good or whether it be Evil Eccles 12.12 III. And that it may appear that thou shalt be accountable for all these First touching thy Thoughts of these thou shalt be judged For froward Thoughts separate from God Wisd 1. and He shall judge the secrets of Men. Their Conscience also bearing Witness and their Thoughts the mean while accusing or excusing one another Rom. 2.15 IV. Next thou shalt give an Account of all thy Words Of every idle Word that Men shall speak they shall give Account in the Day of Judgment Mat. 12.36 Thirdly thou shalt be accountable for all thy Works For