lost man Blessed be the hour in which thou wert born and the hour in which thou didst die Blessed and for ever hallowed be thy most comfortable and glorious name the name JESUS CHRIST at which every knee shall bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth for thy name is above every name and there is no other name by which we can be saved O most holy most humble and harmlesse Lamb how didst thou make thy self of no reputation and becamest obedient to the death of the Crosse for my sake And when thou wert to drink the cup of thy Fathers anger due to my sins didst instead of it ordain and bequeath to me the cup of life and everlasting salvation O Lord give me a heart to understand and eyes to see what thou hast done for me O never suffer me to crucifie thee again by returning to my former iniquities and pollutions but write thy sufferings and the price of my redemption in the tables of my heart set them for a signet upon mine hand and for a bracelet upon mine arme that by a continual and careful remembrance of them I may in the strength of this bread received to day at thy table travel to thy holy mountain and that this drink which I drank out of the spiritual rock may become a Well of living waters springing up in me to eternal life Grant this G God for thy glories sake and for that love and mercies sake which brought thee hither out of thy Fathers bosome to suffer so many things for his Elects sake Amen! Worthy is the Lamb that was slaine to receive power and riches and wisdome and strength and honour and glory and blessing for he hath redeemed us to God by his blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation and hath made us unto our God Kings and Priests and we shall reigne on the earth Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead my Lord Iesus that great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting Covenant Make me perfect in every good work to do his will working in me that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Iesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen! A Prayer in time of persecution and Heresie MOst glorious and Immortall God the Prince of peace unity and order which makest men to be of one mind in a house heale I beseech thee these present sad breaches and distractions Consider O Lord the teares of thy Spouse which are daily upon her cheeks whose adversaries are grown mighty and her enemies prosper The wayes of Zion do mourne our beautiful gates are shut up and the Comforter that should relieve our souls is gone far from us Thy Service and thy Sabbaths thy own sacred Institutions and the pledges of thy love are denied unto us Thy Ministers are trodden down and the basest of the people are set up in thy holy place O Lord holy and just behold and consider and have mercy upon us for thy own names sake for thy promise sake suffer not the gates of hell to prevaile against us but return and restore us that joy and gladnesse may be heard in our dwellings and the voyce of the Turtle in all our land Arise O God and let thine enemies be scattered and let those that hate thee flee before thee Behold the robbers are come into thy Sanctuary and the persecuters are within thy walls We drink our own waters for money and our wood is sold unto us Our necks are under persecution we labour and have no rest Yea thine own Inheritance is given to strangers and thine own portion unto aliens Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever and forsake us for so long a time Turne thou us unto thee O Lord and we shall be turned renew our dayes as of old O Lord hear and have mercy and be jealous for the beloved of thine own bosome for thy truth and for the words of thine own mouth Help us O God of our salvation and for thine own honours sake deal Comfortably with us Amen Amen A Prayer in adversity and troubles occasioned by our Enemies O Holy and almighty God full of goodness and compassion look I beseech thee with thine Eye of mercy upon my present sad sufferings and most bitter afflctions Behold O God I put my mouth in the dust and confess I have deserv'd them I despise not thy Chastenings but begge grace of thee that I may not faint and that they may yeild the fruits of righteousnesse unto me who am now exercised by them Thou seest O God how furious and Implacable mine Enemies are they have not only rob'd me of that portion and provision which thou hadst graciously given me but they have also washed their hands in the blood of my friends my dearest and nearest relatives I know O my God and I am daily taught by that disciple whom thou did'st love that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him Keep me therefore O my God from the guilt of blood and suffer me not to stain my soul with the thoughts of recompense and vengeance which is a branch of thy great prerogative and belongs wholly unto thee Though they persecute me unto death and pant after the very dust upon the heads of thy poore though they have taken the bread out of the childrens mouth and have made me a desolation yet Lord give me thy grace and such a measure of charity as may fully forgive them Suffer me not to open my mouth in Curses but give me the spirit of my Saviour who reviled not again but was dumb like a Lamb before his shearers O Lord sanctifie all these afflictions unto thy servant and let no man take away my crown Remember those that are in troubles for thy truth and put their tears into thy bottle Grant this O merciful Father for my dear Saviours sake and bring me quickly into thy Kingdom where I shall have all these tears wiped away from mine eyes Amen Amen! MAN IN Darkness OR A DISCOURSE OF DEATH Eccles. 11.7 8 9 10. TRuly the light is sweet and a pleasant thing it is to behold the Sun But if a man live many dayes and rejoyce in them all yet let him remember the dayes of darknesse for they are many Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heart cheere thee in the dayes of thy youth and walk in the wayes of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgement Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart and put away evil from thy flesh for childhood and youth are vanity Draw neer fond man and dresse thee by this glasse Mark how thy bravery and big looks must passe Into corruption rottennesse and dust The fraile Supporters which betray'd thy trust O weigh in time thy last and loathsome state To purchase heav'n for tears is no hard
Prayers and Meditations before receiving the Lords Supper p. 36 A Prayer for the Grace of Repentance with a Confession of sins p. 47 A particular Meditation before receiving the holy Communion p. 51 A Prayer when thou art upon going to the Lords Table p. 59 An Ejaculation immediately before the receiving p. 60 Admonitions after receiving the holy Communion p. 61 A Prayer after you have received p. 63 In time of Persecution and Heresie p. 66 In Troubles occasioned by our Enemies p. 68 MAN in DARKNESSE or a Discourse of Death p. 71 A Prayer in time of sicknesse p. 127 A Prayer in the hour of Death p. 130 MAN in GLORY or a Discourse of the blessed estate of the Saints in Heaven p. 133 FINIS ADMONITIONS FOR Morning-Prayer THe night saith Chrysostome was not therefore made that either we should sleep it out or passe it away idly and Chiefly because we see many worldly persons to watch out whole nights for the Commodities of this life In the Primitive Church also the Saints of God used to rise at midnight to praise the Rock of their salvation with Hymns and Spiritual Songs In the same manner shouldst thou do now and Contemplate the Order of the Stars and how they all in their several stations praise their Creator When all the world is asleep thou shouldst watch weep and pray and propose unto thy self that Practise of the Psalmist I am weary of my groaning every night wash I my bed and water my Couch with my tears for as the Dew which falls by night is most fructifying and tempers the heat of the Sun so the tears we shed in the night make the soul fruitful quench all Concupiscence and supple the hardnesse we got in the day Christ himself in the day-time taught and preach'd but continued all night in prayer sometimes in a Mountain apart sometimes amongst the wild beasts and sometimes in solitary places They whose Age or Infirmity will not give them way to do thus should use all Convenient means to be up before the Sun-rising for we must prevent the Sunne to give God thanks and at the day-spring pray unto him Wisd. 16. It was in the morning that the Children of Israel gathered the Manna and of the Just man it is said That He will give his heart to resort early to the Lord that made him and will pray before the most high Eccl. 39. So soon therefore as thou dost awake shut thy door against all prophane and worldly thoughts and before all things let thy God be first admitted offer unto him thy first fruits for that day and commune with him after this manner When thou dost awake O God the Father who saidst in the beginning Let there be light and it was so Inlighten my Eyes that I never sleepe in death lest at any time my Enemy should say I have prevailed against him O God the Sonne light of light the most true and perfect light from whom this light of the Sun and the day had their beginning thou that art the light shining in darknesse Inlightning every one that cometh into this world expell from me all Clouds of Ignorance and give me true understanding that in thee and by thee I may know the Father whom to know is to live and to serve is to reigne O God the Holy Ghost the fire that inlightens and warms our hearts shed into me thy most sacred light that I may know the true Joyes of Heaven and see to escape the illusions of this world Ray thy selfe into my soul that I may see what an Exceeding weight of glory my Enemy would bereave me of for the meer shadowes and painting of this world Grant that I may know those things which belong unto thee and nothing else Inflame me with thy divine love that with a true Christian Contempt I may tread upon all transitory Pleasures and seek only those things which are eternal Most blessed Trinity and one eternal God! as thou hast this day awaked me from this bodily sleep so awake my soule from the sleep of sin and as thou hast given me strength after sleep now again to watch so after death give me life for what is death to me is but sleep with thee to whom be ascribed all glory wisdome majesty dominion and praise now and for Ever Amen When thou dost arise ARise O my soul that sleepest arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Arise O daughter of Sion O my soul redeemed with the blood of Christ sit no more in the dust of thy sins but arise and rest in that peace which is purchas'd by thy Saviours merits Christ Iesus my most merciful and dear Redeemer as it is thy meer goodness that lifts up this mortal and burthensome body so let thy grace lift up my soul to the true knowledge and love of thee grant also that my body may this day be a helper and servant to my soul in all good works that both body and soul may be partakers of those Endlesse Joyes where thou livest and reignest with the Faher and the Holy Ghost one true God world without End Amen As soone as thou art drest before thou comest forth from thy Chamber kneel down in some convenient place and in this or the like Prayer commend thy self for that day unto thy Creator's Protection ALmighty eternal God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ I blesse and praise thy holy name and with my whole heart give thee all possible thanks that out of thine infinite goodness thou wert pleased to watch over me this night to resist my adversary and to keep me from all perils of body and soul O thou that never slumbrest nor sleepest how careful hast thou been of me how hast thou protected me and with thy holy angels thy ministring spirits sent forth to minister for the heirs of salvation incompast me about yea with what unmeasurable love hast thou restored unto me the light of the day and rais'd me from sleep and the shadow of death to look up to thy holy hill Justly mighst thou O God have shut the gates of death upon me and laid me for ever under the barres of the Earth but thou hast redeemed me from Corruption and with thy Everlasting armes enlarged my time of Repentance And now O Father of mercies and God of all Consolation hear the voyce of thy Supplicant and let my cry be heard in thy highest heavens As I do sincerely love thee and beg for thy Protection so receive thou me under the shadow of thy wings watch over me with the Eyes of thy mercy direct me in the wayes of thy Law and enrich me with the gifts of thy Spirit that I may passe through this day to the glory of thy great name the good of others and the comfort of my own soul. Keep me O my God from the great offence quench in me all vain Imaginations and sensual desires sanctifie and supple my heart with the dew of thy
the Swallow a nest for her selfe where she may lay her young even thine Altars O Lord of Hosts my God and my King Blessed are they that dwell in thy house they will be still praising thee For one day in thy Courts is better than a thousand I had rather be a doore-keeper in the House of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickednesse Let it be thy Care then when thou art there present to carry thy self like a true worshipper Give none offence neither outwardly to thy Brethren nor the Angels 1 Cor. 11.10 Nor inwardly to thy God whose Eyes shine within thee and discern thy reins and thy heart Look seriously about thee and Consider with thy self how many beauteous wittie and hopeful personages in their time lie now under thy feet thou canst not tell but thy turn may be next Humble thy self in this dust and all vain Imaginations will flie from thee Consider that thou art now in the Cave of Macpelah in a sacred Repositorie where the Bodies of Saints are asleep expecting that hour when those that are in the grave shall hear his voyce Do not then stop thy eares against the Charmer but give diligent attention and hear him while it is yet to day that in the day of thy death thou mayst rest there in the same hope When thy vessel is fill'd with this Manna and thy soul satisfied go not off without Thanksgiving Be not like those nine Leapers who never returned to give glory to God but come back with the thankfull Samaritane and receive another blessing Go in peace Saint Luke in the Acts of the Apostles making mention of the Ethiopian Eunuch who came up to Ierusalem for to worship tells us that in his returne he was reading in Isaiah the Prophet This blessed Convert I would have thee to imitate When thou hast fill'd thy Hin with this living water leave it not behinde thee at the Fountain spill not thy Milk and thy Wine because thou hast it without money and without price but carry it home and use it Thou mayest have need of it in six dayes and perhaps shalt not come to draw again untill thou drinkest it anew with thy Saviour in his Fathers Kingdom A Prayer before thou goest to Church LOrd Iesus Christ who out of thy Fathers bosome wert sent into this world to reveal his will unto sinners and to instruct them in the way of salvation behold I am now going to hear thy blessed word and these many yeers have so done expecting still thy good pleasure and the Consummation of thy sacred will in me I have come unto the bread of life and yet am hungry into the light and yet am blind unto the great Physician and yet my Issue runs The former and the later rain of thy heavenly Doctrine falls still without intermission upon my heart but this bad ground yeelds nothing but Thornes and Briers Many dayes many moneths and many yeers hast thou expected fruit and found nothing but leaves It is thy Infinite mercy O Lord that thou hast left unto us the seed of thy word and sendest into thy harvest such upright and faithful labourers but in vain O Lord shall they cry in our Ears unlesse thou openest and renewest our hearts Open then I beseech thee O blessed Jesu the eares of my heart that not onely the outward hearing but the inward also may be stirr'd up in me and what I hear with the eare I may understand with the spirit O thou most mild and merciful Lamb of God! the onely and the Almighty sower grant I beseech thee that the seed which falls this day upon my heart may never be choak'd with the Cares of this world nor be devoured by the fowles of the aire nor wither away in these times of persecution and triall but so Cherish it with the Dew of thy divine spirit that as in a good and faithful ground it may bring forth fruit unto eternal life to the glory of thy great name and the Comfort of my poor soul which thou hast bought with thy most precious and saving blood Amen Another when thou art come home or in the way if thou beest alone LOrd Iesus Christ my ever mercifull and most loving Redeemer I give unto thee most hearty thanks for this thy heavenly spiritual provision wherewith thou hast fed and refreshed my soul. Grant I beseech thee that this Celestial seed may take root in me and be effectual to my salvation Watch over my heart O Lord and hedge it in with thy grace that the fowles which descend in the shadows of the Evening may not pick it out But so prepare and fit me for thy love that I may never forget thy gracious words thy blessed and saving advice but may know in this my day what belongs unto my peace It is thy promise by thy holy Prophet That as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven and returneth not thither but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater So thy word that goeth forth out of thy mouth shall not return unto thee void but shall accomplish that which thou pleasest and prosper in the thing whereto thou sendest it Isai. 55. 10 11. Even so Lord Iesus let it be as thou hast promised Let the words I have heard this day out of the mouth of thy servant the Dispenser and Steward of thy Mysteries prosper in me and make my life answerable to his Doctrine that I may not onely know what thy blessed will is but performe also and fulfill it so that at last by thy mediation and mercies I may attain to thy eternal and most glorious Kingdom Amen Admonitions for Evening-Prayer REmember that in the Levitical Law there is a frequent Commemoration and Charge given of the two daily Sacrifices the one to be offer'd up in the morning and the other in the Evening Exod. 30.7 8. These offerings by Incense our holie harmlesse and undefiled High-Priest hath taken away and instead of them every devout Christian is at the appointed times to offer up a Spiritual Sacrifice namely that of Prayer for God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth John 4.24 At these prescribed times if thou wilt have thy Prayers to ascend up before God thou must with-draw from all outward occupations to prepare for the inward and divine To which end thou hast here this following Meditation that thou maiest therewith season and invite thy soul from thy worldlie imployments to her proper vocation and so come not altogether undrest into the presence of the King of glory A Meditation at the setting of the Sun or the Souls Elevation to the true light THe path of the Just O my God is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto a perfect day of eternity Prov. 4. But the wicked neither know nor understand they walk in darknesse
and from the inward darknesse of their minds passe at last into the outward eternal darknesse O most miserable and undone soul to whom thy Sunne is set that everlasting glorious Sun which in thy holy Elects never setteth but is alwaies at the height full of brightnesse and Consolation A heavie night sits in the noone-day upon those souls that have forsaken thee They look for light and behold darknesse for brightnesse and they walk in obscurity They grope for the wall like the blind as if they had no Eyes They stumble at noone-day as in the night they are in desolate places as dead men But on those that walk with thee an everlasting day shines This Sun of the firmament hath his Course it riseth setteth comes up again and again goes down But thou Lord knowest no vicissitudes thou art the Ancient of dayes thou art the Rock of ages from Everlasting to Everlasting O thou the same to day and yesterday and for evermore Thou bright and morning Starre springing from on high illuminate me who am now sitting in darknesse and in the shadow of death O light of light the brightnesse of thy Fathers glory inlighten all inward obscurities in me that after this life I may never be cast into the outward darknesse O most blessed most merciful and Almighty Iesu abide I beseech thee with me for it is towards Evening and the day is far spent Luke 24. As long as thou art present with me I am in the light but when thou art gone I am in the shadows of death and amongst the stones of emptinesse When thou art present all is brightnesse all is sweetnesse I am in my Gods bosome I discourse with him watch with him walk with him live with him and lie down with him All these most dear and unmeasurable blessings I have with thee and want them without thee Abide then with me O thou whom my soul loveth Thou Sun of righteousnesse with healing under thy wings arise in my heart refine quicken and cherish it make thy light there to shine in darknesse and a perfect day in the dead of night A Prayer for the Evening MOst gracious Almighty God! full of loving kindnesse and long-suffering whose mercy is above all thy works and thy glory above the heavens whose truth reacheth unto the Clouds and whose words shall never passe away forgive me I beseech thee my transgressions this day my vain thoughts idle words and loose conversation my exceeding neglect and forgetfulnesse of thee my headlong inclinations and lusting after the world preferring this land of Cabul before the snow of Lebanon and a broken Cistern before the Well of life Justly O Lord might'st thou have shewed me thy back this day and cut me off from amongst thy people Ier. 18.17 but thou hast had mercy and not sacrifice thou hast shed upon me the light of thy Countenance and removed my sins farre out of thy sight I know O my God it is not in man to establish his own ways it is thy Almighty arme must do it It is thou alone that hast led me through this day and kept me both from doing and from suffering evill And now O thou preserver of men What shall I do unto thee What shall I render unto my Lord for all the mercies and loving kindnesses shewed unto thy servant this day and all the dayes of my life hitherto I will offer unto thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon the name of the Lord. I will ever love thee fear thee praise thee and trust in thee My song shall be of thee in the night season and in the day time I will be speaking of thy wondrous works thy most merciful and liberal arme I will make thee my Delight in the house of my pilgrimâ—ge and I shall alwayes with all my strength with all my heart and with all my soul ascribe unto thee all glory wisdome majesty dominion and honour this day and for evermore Amen A Prayer when thou art going into bed MOst glorious and onely wise God! to whom the light and the darknes are the same whose dwellings are eternal and in whose Kingdome there is no need of Candles nor of the light of the Sunne look I beseech thee upon thy servant who tarries in this place all night Gen. 28.11 And forasmuch as thou out of thy tender love and Compassion on thy Creatures hast ordained this time for their repose and refreshing that having past through the Cares and dangers of the day they might under the shadow of thy wings finde rest and security keep me I most humbly beseech thee from the hours and the powers of darknesse watch over me this night in thy Almighty providence and scatter all the rebellions and devices of my Adversaries Inlighten my soul sanctifie my body govern my affections and guide my thoughts that in the fastest closures of my eye-lids my spirit may see thee and in the depth of sleep be Conversant with thee Suffer me not O my God to forget thee in the dark or to say The Lord seeth me not The Lord hath forsaken the earth Ezek. 8.12 but so keep me in thy fear and sanctifie me with thy grace that all the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart may be alwayes of thee Make my soul to thirst for thee and my flesh also to long after thee And at what time soever thou shalt awake me from this bodily sleep awake also my soul in me make thy morning-star to arise in my heart and let thy spirit blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out Quicken me O Lord according to thy wonted kindnesse so shall I seek thee early and make my prayer unto thee with joyful lips And now O my most loving and faithful Creatour take me I beseech thee into thy Almighty protection stretch over me the Arme of thy mercy let thine Eye be towards the work of thine own hands and the purchased possession of thy onely begotten and my most merciful Redeemer Iesus Christ Amen ¶ As often as thou dost awake in the night be sure to lift up thy heart unto God in this or the like short Ejaculation Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabbath heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory By resorting thus unto God thou shalt finde a great furtherance and cheerfulnesse in thy spiritual exercises and besides it will keep always about thee the savour of life And because thou shalt not be unfurnished upon any incident occasions I have strowed here this handful of savoury herbs which thou mayest take up as thou findest them in thy way EIACULATIONS When the Clock strikes BLessed be the houre in which my Lord Iesus was borne and the houre in which he died O Lord Remember me in the houre of death When thou intendest any businesse or Journey O do well unto thy servant that I may live and keep thy Word When thou art persecuted Haste thee O God to deliver me
heaven and to Iesus the Mediatour of the new Covenant and to â—he blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things then that of Abel See then that thou refuse not to come to this great marriage of the Kings Son with thy soul and see withall that thou comest not without a wedding garment that is to say unprepared For whosoever shall eate this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthâ—ly shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord But let a man examine himselfe and so let him eate of that bâ—ead and drink of that cup of the Lord for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himselfe not discerning the Lords body 1 Cor 11.27 28 29. These are the words of a faithful witnesse and thou maiest beleeve them When therefore thou doest intend to be a partaker of this merciful and mysterious Sacrament be sure for three daies at least not to intermeddle with any worldly businesse but all that time redeeme those many daies which were vainly spent by thee enter into thine owne bosome examine what thou hast there and if thou findest any sons of darknesse lurking under those fig-leaves conceal them not but turne them out of doors and wash their Couch with thy teares have a care that in the Bridegroomes bed instead of myrrhe and flowers thou strowest not thornes and thistles The Evening before thou art to communicate feed but moderately and after supper use no corrupt communication but converse inwardly with thine own heart and meditate what an Almighty guest thou art to entertaine there next day Consider seriously thine own unworthinesse and desire of him that he would sanctifie and furnish the roome where he is to eate the Passeover with thee Intreat him to defend thee that night from all sinful Illusions and temptations and to keep the house cleane and garnished for himself When thou hast thus commended thy self into his hands let thy sleep that night be shorter then usual be up with the day or rather with thy Saviour who rose up early while it was yet dark Meditate with thy self what miracles of mercy he hath done for thee Consider how he left his Fathers bosome to be lodged in a manger and laid by his robes of glory to take upon him the seed of Abraham that he might cloath thee with Immortality Call to minde his wearisome journeys continual afflictions the malice and scorne he underwent the persecutions and reproaches laid upon him his strong cries and teares in the days of his flesh his spiritual agony and sweating of blood with the Implacable fury of his Enemies and his own unspeakable humility humbling himself to the death of the Crosse a death accursed by Gods own mouth Consider againe if thou canst of what unmeasurable love was he possessed who having designed and spent his time of life here for thy salvation did not onely leave thee those divine Oracles and Instructions to be guided by but to seale up the summe and make heaven sure unto thee did by his last Testament give himself with all the merits of his life and death to be wholly thine and instead of them took upon him all thy transgressions bore all thine iniquities and to appease the anger and satisfie the Justice of his Father became the holy harmlesse and undefiled sacrifice and perfect satisfaction for the sins of the world reconciling all things unto his Father whether they be things in earth or things in heaven When thou hast thus considered him in his acts of love and humility consider him again in his glory take thine Eyes off from Bethlehem and Golgotha and look up to the mount of Olives yea to heaven where he sits now upon the right hand of his Father Angels principalities and powers being made subject unto him Call to minde his Joyful resurrection his most accomplished conquest and triumph over the world death and hell his most gracious and familiar conversation with his Apostles before his Ascension with his most loving and comfortable carriage towards them at his departure leading them out as farre as Bethanie and lifting up his hands and blessing them Lastly close up these thoughts with a serious and awful meditation of that great and joyful though dreadful day of his second coming to judgâ—ment promised by himself and affirmed at the time of his Ascension by the two men in white apparel Yemen of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into heaven this same Iesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven Behold he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall waile because of him Amen! even so come quickly Lord Iesus ¶ These are the duties reqâ—ired of thee and which thou must faithfully and punctually performe if thou wouldst be a worthy Communicant and receive those sacred and mystical Elements to that blessed end for which they were ordained But when I speak of three dayes preparation I do not impose that proportion of time nor conclude it sufficient as if it were enough for thee to recede from thy corrupt inclinations and the myre of thy sins for such a terme with an intention to returne and wallow in it again when that holy season is over for our whole life had we the purity of Angels and the innocence of infants bears no proportion at all nor can it without an immediate sanctification from God himself any way qualifie or make us fit for the reception of this unmeasurable mercy But when I spoke of such a proportion of time I did onely propose it to my Readers for the performing of those holy and necessary duties which have particular relation to this solemne Feast and which indeed are required then from every Christian. And as for a regular sober and holy life we should in all places and at all times labour for it for without holinesse no man shall see the face of God much lesse be partaker of his merits and by this spiritual eating and drinking become a member of that body whose life and head he is A Prayer for the grace of repentance together with a Confession of sins O Holy blessed and glorious Trinity three persons and one eternal God have mercy upon me a miserable sinner O who will give mine head waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I may weep night and day for my infinite transgressions ingratitude and rebellion against my most milde and merciful Creatour O God my God be not farre from me hide not thy face from the work of thine hands reject not my sighing and mournful spirit nor the earnest endeavours and desires of mine undone and miserable soul O thou that breakest not the bruised Reede nor quenchest the smoking Flax quench not in me these weak sparks this dawne and beginnings of the promised earnest Take away O my God! this heart of stone and give
shall I attempt thy passion thy bloody sweat thy deep and bitter agony thy lingring peece-mealed death with all the lively anguishments and afflictions of thy martyr'd Spirit O my most loving and merciful Saviour It is onely thy own Spirit that can fully character thy own sufferings These miracles of love and most comfortable circumstances encourage me O my God to draw neer unto thee for it is not probable that thou wouldst have subjected thy self to such bitter reproaches blasphemies and torments had not thy love to man for whose redemption thou didst suffer them been as infinite as thy self And greater love then this hath no man that a man lay down his life for his friends And lay it down thou didst for no man could take it from thee Thou couldst have commanded twelve legions of Angels from thy Father and when thou wentest forth to meet thy murtherers they went backwards and fell to the ground and without thy permission in whose hand their breath was they could have done nothing These merciful passages together with thy own voice and frequent invitation much encourage me to draw neer unto thee Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Matth. 11.28 If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink John 7.37 These with many more are thy loving Invitations This is the voyce of the great Shepherd and thy sheep hear thy voyce Thus thou didst cry and these were the words thou didst speak while thou wert here upon earth and shall I then turn away from thee that speakest now from heaven Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech and thy preaching and Intercession shall last untill the heavens be no more and woe unto them that refuse to hear thee Wherefore most holy Iesus seeing thou dost invite sinners to thee and didst die to redeem them and art able to save them to the uttermost that come to God by thee and dost live for ever to make intercession for them Heb. 7.25 26. I the most wretched and the worst of sinners in full assurance of thy mercies and that thou art touched with the feeling of mine infirmities Heb. 4.15 and wilt have compassion upon my penitent soul draw neer to thy throne of grace that I may obtaine mercy and finde grace to help in time of need O Lord be merciful unto me forgive all my sins and heal all mine infirmities Cleanse my heart sanctifie my affections renew my spirit and strengthen my faith that I may at this great Feast discerne thy blessed body and eate and drink salvation to my self to the glory of thy great name and the comfort of my poor and sorrowful soul Amen Now unto him that hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen A Prayer when thou art upon going to the Lords Table IN the name of the Father and of the Son and the holy Ghost Amen! Iesus Christ the Lamb the Branch the bright and morning-Starre the bread of life that came down from heaven have mercy upon me It is thy promise that whosoever eateth thy flesh and drinketh thy blood he shall have eternal life in him and thou wilt raise him up at the last day Behold O God I am now coming to thee O thou fountain of purgation thou Well of living waters wash me cleane be unto me the bread of life to strengthen me in my pilgrimage towards heaven grant that I may suck salvation from thy heart that spring of the blood of God which flowes into all believers Thy flesh is meat indeed and thy blood is drink Indeed O give me grace to receive both worthily that I may never incurre thy anger and eternal condemnation Lord Iesus Christ I beleeve all that thou hast said and all that thou hast promised helpe thou mine unbelief thou art the Author be thou the finisher of my faith And for thy glories sake for thine own names sake leade me in the right way to this great mercy and mystery Amen! Immediately before the receiving say O Lord I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant all my life long unto this very day much lesse am I worthy thou shouldst come now under my roof but seeing it is thy institution and free mercy that will have it so be jealous O God of the place of thine honour cause me to remember whose Temple I am and suffer not my last state to be worse then the first Even so Lord Iesus come quickly Amen! ¶ Admonitions after receiving the holy Communion WHen you have received the Sacred Elements you should not presently after spit nor eate and drink but refraine untill they are perfectly digested and resolved You must lay aside all worldly communication and humane discourses though never so serious for judge of your self what an uncivil part it will be in you when you have received so great a guest as Iesus Christ with all his merits to turne your back upon him presently and neither to meditate of him nor to discourse with him and keep him company Wherefore you should all that day be instant in prayer meditations thanksgiving and good works you should consider and think upon the love of God who so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son to redeeme it You should meditate upon his birth life doctrine and passion his death and buriall resurrection and ascension and his second coming to judgement You should pray that you may be found blamelesse and without spot of him and so much the more because you see the day approaching Tread not under foot the Son of God and his precious blood wherewith you are sanctified and saved by returning again to your former sins like the dog to his vomit but be sure that you walk warily and fall not willfully into the myre Be not regular and holy for a day or two but all the dayes of thy life and number thy dayes that thou mayst apply thy heart unto wisdome Cast thy bread upon the waters be merciful to the poor and remember thy Creator for the dayes of darknesse are many but the outward darknesse is eternal and from it there is no redemption Instead of printed Meditations which are usually prescribed after communicating I would advise the pious receiver to read over all these following parcels of Scripture Iohn 6.22 to the end Iohn 17. Rom. 8.2 Cor. 5. Ephes. 1. 4. Heb. 10.1 Pet. 1. Rev. 5. A Prayer after you have received LOrd Jesus Christ very God and very man made in all things like unto us sin onely excepted I blesse and praise thy holy name and with all my heart with all my strength and with all my soul give thee all possible thanks for thy infinite love and pity towards
rate Our glory greatnesse wisdome all we have If misimploy'd but adde hell to the grave Onely a faire redemption of evill Times Finds life in death and buryes all our Crimes IT is an observation of some spirits that the night is the mother of thoughts And I shall adde that those thoughts are Stars the Scintillations and lightnings of the soul strugling with darknesse This Antipathy in her is radical for being descended from the house of light she hates a contrary principle and being at that time a prisoner in some measure to an enemy she becomes pensive and full of thoughts Two great extremes there are which she equally abhors Darkness and Death And 't is observable that in the second death when she shall be wholly mancipated to her enemies those two are united For those furious and unquenchable burnings of hell which the Scripture calls the lake of fire c. though they be of such an insuperable intense heat as to work upon spirits and the most subtile Essences yet do they give no light at all but burn blacker then pitch Cremationem habet lumen verò non habet Greg. Mor. c. 46. The Contemplatiō of death is an obscure melancholy walk an Expatiation in shadows solitude but it leads unto life he that sets forth at midnight will sooner meet the Sunne then he that sleeps it out betwixt his curtains Truly when I consider how I came first into this world and in what condition I must once again go out of it and compare my appointed time here with the portion preceding it and the eternity to follow I can conclude my present being or state in respect of the time to be nothing else but an apparition The first man that appeared thus came from the East and the breath of life was received there Though then we travel Westward though we embrace thornes and swet for thistles yet the businesse of a Pilgrim is to seek his Countrey But the land of darknesse lies in our way and how few are they that study this region that like holy Macarius walk into the wildernesse and discourse with the skull of a dead man We run all after the present world and the Primitive Angelical life is quite lost It is a sad perversnesse of man to preferre warre to peace cares to rest grief to joy and the vanities of this narrow Stage to the true and solid comforts in heaven The friends of this world saith a holy father are so fearful to be separated from it that nothing can be so grievous to them as to think of death They put farre away the evill day and cause the seate of violence to come neer They lie upon beds of Ivory and stretch themselves upon their Couches they eat the lambs out of the flock and the calves out of the midst of the stall They chant to the sound of the viol they drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the chief ointments they account the life of the righteous to be madnesse and his end to be without honour Amos 6. In this desperate and senselesse state they cast away their precious souls and make their brightest dayes but dayes of darknesse and gloominesse dayes of clouds and of thick mists They consider not the day that shall burne like an Oven when the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the Elements shall melt with a fervent heat when the wicked shall be stubble and all the workers of iniquity shall be burnt up Miserable men that knowing their masters pleasure will not do it that refuse Oyle and balsame to make way for poyson and corrasives And why will they call him Master Master whose precepts they trample on and whose members they crucifie It is a sad observation for true Christians to see these men who would seem to be Pillars to prove but reeds and specious dissemblers For what manner of livers should such professors be seeing they expect and beleeve the dissolution of all things With what constant holinesse humility and devotion should they watch for it How should they passe the time of their sojourning here in fear and be diligent that they may be found of him in peace without spot and blamelesse What preparation should they make against the evill day What comforts and treasures should they lay up for that long voyage For what a day of terrors and indignation is the day of death to the unprepared How will they lie on their last beds like wilde Buls in a net full of the fury of the Lord When their desolation shall come like a flood and their destruction like a whirle-wind How will they say in the morning would God it were Even and at night would God it were Morning for the fear of their heart wherwith they shal fear and for the sight of their Eyes wherewith they shall see This is a truth they will not believe untill death tells it them and then it will be too late It is therefore much to be wished that they would yet while it is life-time with them remember their last ends and seriously question with themselves what is there under the Sun that can so justly challenge their thoughts as the contemplation of their own mortality We could not have lived in an age of more instruction had we been left to our own choice We have seen such vicissitudes and examples of humane frailty as the former world had they happened in those ages would have judged prodigies We have seen Princes brought to their graves by a new way and the highest order of humane honours trampled upon by the lowest We have seene Judgement beginning at Gods Church and what hath beene never heard of since it was redeem'd and established by his blessed Son we have seen his Ministers cast out of the Sanctuary barbarous persons without light or perfection usurping holy offices A day an hour a minute saith Causabone is sufficient to over-turn and extirpate the most settled Governments which seemed to have been founded and rooted in Adamant Suddenly do the high things of this world come to an end and their delectable things passe away for when they seem to be in their flowers and full strength they perish to astonishment And sure the ruine of the most goodly peeces seems to tell that the dissolution of the whole is not far off It is the observation of a known Statesman Sir Water Rawleigh That to all dominions God hath set their periods who though he hath given to man the knowlededge of those wayes by which Kingdoms rise and fall yet he hath left him subject unto the affections which draw on these fatal mutations in their appointed time Vain therefore and deceitful is all the pomp of this world which though it flatters us with a seeming permanency will be sure to leave us even then when we are most in chase of it And what comfort then or what security can poor man promise to himself whose breath
is in the hand of another and whose few dayes are most commonly out-lived by every creature and sometimes by a flower of his own setting Or what benefit can these humane delights though blest with successe and a large time of fruition afford him at his death for satisfaction in this point let us but have recourse to the ages that are past let us aske the Fathers they will tell us If we insist upon eminent persons the rulers of this world the Counsellors of the earth who built sumptuous Pallaces for themselvs and filled their houses with silver we shall have no better account from them then if we enquired of the prisoners the oppressed They are gone all the same way their pomp the noise of their viols is brought down to the grave the worms cover them and the worms are spread under them Riches and power travel not beyond this life they are like Iobs friends deceitful as a brook and as the stream of brooks they passe away which vanish when it is hot and are consumed out of their place Hast thou found riches saith one then thou hast lost thy rest Distractions cares come along with them and they are seldome gotten without the worme of conscience It was an act of Anacreon becoming the royalty of a Poets spirit Policrates rewards him with five talents but he after he had been troubled with the keeping of them for two nights carries them back to the owner telling him that if he had been accustomed to such companions he had never made any verses Certainly there is so much of Mammon and darknesse in them as sufficeth to shew their parentage is low and not very far from hell Some such thing we may gather from that exclamation of S. Iames against the rich men Your gold and your silver is canker'd and the rust of them shall be a witnesse against you and shall eate your flesh as it were fire you have heaped treasure together for the last dayes But to return thither from whence we are digrest What is become now of these great Merchants of the earth and where is the fruit of all their labours under the Sun Why truly they are taken out of the way as all others and they are cut off as the tops of the eares of corn Their dwelling is in the dust and as for their place here it lies wast is not known Nettles and Brambles come up in it and the Owle and the Raven dwell in it But if you will visit them at their long homes and knock at those desolate doors you shall find some remains of them a heap of loathsomness and corruption O miserable and sad mutations Petrarch de otio Rel. Where is now their pompous shining train Where are their triumphs fire-works and feasts with all the ridiculous tumults of a popular predigious pride Where is their purple and fine linen their chains of massie gold and sparkling ornaments of pearls Where are their Cooks and Carvers their fowlers and fishers Where are their curious Vtensils their Cups of Agate Chrystal and China-earth Where are their sumptuous Chambers where they inclosed themselvs in Cedar Ivory and Ebeny Where is their Musick their soft and delicate dressings pleasing motions and excellency of looks Where are their rich perfumes costly Conserves with their precious and various store of forreign and domestick wines Where are their sons and their daughters fair as the flowers strait as the Palm-trees and polish'd as the corners of the Temple O pittiful and astonishing transformations all is gone all is dust deformity and desolation Their bones are scatter'd in the pit and instead of well-set hair there is baldnesse and loathsomnesse instead of beauty This is the state of their of their bodies and O blessed Iesus who knowes the state of their souls To have a sad guesse at this it will not be much out of our way if we step and visit a Roman Emperour upon his death-bed If you desire his name it is Hadrianus the most ingenious and learned that ever sate upon the throne of Caesar. You may beleeve he was royally accommodated and wanted nothing which this world could afford but how farre he was from receiving any comfort in his death from that pompous and fruitlesse abundance you shall learn from his own mouth consider I pray what he speaks for they are the words of a dying man and spoken by him to his departing soul Animula vagula blandula Hospes comésque corporis Quae nunc abibis in loca Pallidula querula nudula Nec ut soles dabis jocos My soul my pleasant soul and witty The guest and consort of my body Into what place now all alone Naked and sad wilt thou be gone No mirth no wit as heretofore Nor Iests wilt thou afford me more Certainly this is the saddest poetrie that ever I met with and what he thought of his soul in that last agonie when the pangs of death came thick upon him is enough to draw tears and commiseration from a heart of flint O happy then yea Infinitly happy is that religious liver who is ever meditating upon the houre of death before it comes that when it is come he may passe through it with joy and speak to his soul in the language of old Hilarion Go forth O my soul go forth what is it that thou art afraid of Seventy yeers almost hast thou serv'd Christ and art thou now afraid of death Alas what is life if truly and throughly considered that we should trust to it and promise to our selves a multitude of years as if we held time by the wings and had the spirit of life in our own hands Our present life saith Chrystostome is a meere apparition and differs but very little from a dreame therefore that minde which is proud of a shadow and relies upon a dreame is very idle and childish Natural histories tell us of a bird called Hemerovios by the river Hypanis which rceives his life in the morning sings at noon and dyes at night This bird may very well signifie our life and by the river we may understand time upon whose brink we are always pearching Time runs faster then any streame and our life is swifter than any bird and oft-times all the pomp of it comes to an end in one day yea sometimes in an houre There is no object we can look upon but will do us the kindnesse to put us in minde of our mortality if we would be so wise as to make use of it The day dyes into night the spring into winter flowers have their rootes ever in their graves leaves loose their greenenesse and drop under our feete where they flye about and whisper unto us The beasts run the Common lott with us and when they dye by our hands to give us nourishment they are so kinde as to give us Instruction also And if from these frailer objects we turne our Eyes to things
I sent the hornet before you which drove them out from before you even the two kings of the Amorites but not with thy sword nor with thy bowe And Isaiah Chap. 6 ver 18 19. And it shall come to passe in that day that the Lord shall hisse for the flye that is in the uttermost parts of the river of Egypt and for the Bee that is in the land of Assyria And they shall come and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys and in the holes of the rocks and upon all thornes and upon all bushes I say then do not we see that these birds and inferiour creatures which in the spring and summer continue here very merry and musical do on a sudden leave us and all winter-long suffer a kind of death and with the Suns warmth in the youth of the year awake again and refresh the world with their reviv'd notes For the singing of birds is naturalis musica mundi to which all arted strains are but discord and hardnesse How much more then shall Iesus Christ the Sun of righteousnesse rising with healing under his wings awake those that sleep in him and bring them again with a joyful resurrection Having then these prolusions and strong proofs of our restoration laid out in nature besides the promise of the God of nature who cannot faile let us so dispose of this short time of our sojourning here that we may with joy and sure comforts expect that day of refreshing Let us number our dayes and apply our hearts unto wisdome What ever happens here under our feet let it not draw down our eyes from the hill whence cometh our help Let not these sudden and prodigious mutations like violent earth-quakes shake our foundation let us hold fast the faith and presse towards the mark that whether absent or present we may be accepted of him for many are already gone astray and have slipt into the same damnable estate with those wretches whom a very Heathen could reprove Sunt qui in fortunae jam casibus omnia ponunt Et nullo credunt mundum rectore moveri Naturâ volvente vices lucis anni There are that do believe all things succeed By chance or fortune that nought's decreed By a divine wise will but blindly call Old time and nature rulers over all Let us consider him that is invisible and those that are righteous let them be righteous still let them have respect unto the recompence of the reward for he comes quickly and his reward is with him Let us endure unto ehe end and overcome that we may have right unto the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the City for Ex hoc momento pendet aeternitas Upon our little inch of time in this life depends the length and breadth the height and depth of Immortality in the world to come even two eternities the one infinitely accursed the other infinitely blessâ—d I remember saith a reverend Author that I have read and not without admiration of some Primitive Christian that considered with himself the eternity of the torments to be endured in hell after this manner What man living said he that were in his right minde and reason if he were offered the most spacious and flourishing Kingdoms of France Spain and Polonia onely for lying continually upon any one part of his body in a bed of roses for the space of forty yeers would accept of them upon that condition And though perhaps such a mad man could be found as would accept of the offer yet it is a thing most certain that before three peâ—rs would come about he would get him up and beg to have the conditions cancell'd And what madnesse then is it for the enjoying of one minutes pleasure for the satisfaction of our sensual corrupt appetite to lie for ever in a bed of burning brasse in the lake of eternal and unquenchable fire Suppose saith the same Writer that this whole Globe of earth were nothing else but a huge masse or mountain of sand and that a little Wren came but once in every thousand yeers to fetch away but one grain of that huge heap what an innumerable number of yeers would be spent before that world of sand could be so fetcht away And yet alas when the damned have laine in that siery lake so many yeers as all those would amount to they are no nearer coming out then the first houre they entered in To the same purpose is this Hymne of the Ancients Ex quo poli sunt perfecti Audet numero complecti Stellas coeli still as roris Vndas aquei fluoris Guttas imbris pluvialis Floccos vellerisni valis Quot sunt vere novo flores Quot odores quot colores Quot vinacios Autumnus Poma legit vertumnus Quot jam grana iulit aestas Frondes hyemis tempestas Tâ—tus orbis animantes Aër atomos volantes Pilos ferae pecus villos Vertex hominum capillos Adde littoris arenas Adde graminis verbenas Tot myriades Annorum Quot momenta saeculorum Heus adhuc aeternitatis Portus fugit à damnatis AEternum aeternum quanta haec duratio quanta Quà m speranda bonis quámque tremenda malis From the first hour the heavn's were made Unto the last when all shall fade Count if thou canst the drops of dew The stars of heav'n and streams that flow The falling snow the dropping showres And in the moneth of May the flowres Their sents and colours and what store Of grapes and apples Autumne bore How many grains the Summer beares What leaves the wind in Winter tears Count all the creatures in the world The motes which in the air are hurl'd The haires of beasts and mankind and The shores innumerable sand The blades of grasse and to these last Adde all the yeers which now are past With those whose course is yet to come And all their minutes in one summe When all is done the damneds state Out-runs them still and knows no date O Eternity eternity saith a holy Father whose strength is able to bear out thy torments And the smoke of their torments asceÌ„deth up for ever ever they have no rest day nor night O what is this same for ever and ever Gladly would I speak something of it but I know not what to speak All that I know is this That it is that which onely the infinitenesse of the Almighty God doth compasse about and comprehend Seeing then it is so that eternal pleasures or eternal pains do inavoidably and immediately overtake us after our dissolution with what unwearied care and watchfulnesse should we continue in well-doing and work out our salvation with fear and trembling How should we as strangers and pilgrims abstain from flâ—shly lusts which warre against the soul What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godlinesse With what Christian thrift and diligence should we dispose of every minute of our time that we
nothing can bring us sooner to it then the serious consideration of our own frailty This is the Catharma that turns away the plague and as Physicians say of fasting that it cures almost all bodily diseases So may I say of this that it prevents if timely applyed all the depravations and diseases of the mind It will bring down every high thought set us upon even ground where we shall be in no danger of soul or body Our Saviour was buried in a Rock and he that builds upon his grave he that mortifies his affections and hides his life in him needs feare no stormes What beauty is there in a deaths-head crownd with roses If we carry the one about us we shall be safe enough from the temptations of the other Let sensual natures judge as they please but for my part I shall hold it no Paradoxe to affirme there are no pleasures in this world Some coloured griefes and blushing woes there are which look so clear as if they were true complexions but it is a very sad and a tryed truth that they are but painted To draw then to an end let us looke alwayes upon this Day-Lilie of life as if the Sun were already set Though we blossome and open many mornings we shall not do so always Soles occidere redire possunt but man cannot He hath his time appointed him upon earth which he shall not passe and his days are like the days of an hireling Let us then so husband our time that when the flower falls the seed may be preserved We have had many blessed Patterns of a holy life in the Brittish Church though now trodden under foot and branded with the title of Antichristian I shall propose but one to you the most obedient Son that ever his Mother had and yet a most glorious true Saint and a Seer Heark how like a busie Bee he hymns it to the flowers while in a handful of blossomes gather'd by himself he foresees his own dissolution I made a Posie while the day ran by Here will I smell my remnant out and tye My life within this band But time did becken to the flowers and they By noon most cunningly did steal away And wither'd in my hand My hand was next to them and then my heart I took without more thinking in good part Times gentle admonition Who did so sweetly death 's sad taste convey Making my mind to smell my fatal day Yet sugring the suspition Farewel dear flowers sweetly your time ye spent Fit while ye liv'd for smell or ornament And after death for cures I follow strait without complaint or grief Since if my sent be good I care not if It be as short as yours As often therefore as thou seest the full and ripe corne to succeed the tender and flowery Spring the Autumne again to succeed the Summer and the cold and snowie Winter to succeed the Autumne say with thy self These seasons passe away but will returne againe but when I go I shall returne no more When thou seest the Sun to set and the melancholy shadowes to prevaile and increase meditate with thy selfe Thus when my life is done will the shadowes of death be stretched over me And yet this Sun which now leaves me will be here againe to morrow but when the Sun of my life sets it shall not returne to me until the heavens be no more When the night is drawn over thee and the whole world lies slumbring under it do not thou sleep it out for as it is a portion of time much abused by wicked livers so is it of all others the most powerful to excite thee to devotion be stirring therefore and make special use of that deepest and smoothest current of time like that vigilunt Pilot who alwayes mistrusted the greatest calms Sydera cuncta notat tacito labentia coelo When thou also seest those various numberles and beautiful luminaries of the night to move on in their watches and some of them to vanish and set while all the rest do follow after consider that thou art carried on with them in the same motion and that there is no hope of subsisting for thee but in him who never moves and never sets Consider thy own posterity if thou hast any or those that are younger then thy self and say These are travelling up the hill of life but I am going head-long down Consider thy own habitation how many have been there before thy time whom that place must never know again and that there is no help but thou must follow Consider the works of thine own hands the flowers trees and arbours of thine own planting for all those must survive thee Nay who knows but thou mayst be gone before thou canst enjoy those pleasures thou dost expect from them for the Poet in that point proves oftentimes a Prophet The trees we set grow slowly and their shade Stays for our sons while we the Planters fade Virg. Georg. Tarda venit sorisque futura nepotibus umbra To be short acquit thee wisely and innocently in all thy Actions live a Christian and die a Saint Let not the plurality of dayes with the numerous distinctions and mincings of thy time into moneths weeks houres and minutes deceive thee nor be a means to make thee misspend the smallest portion of it let not the empty honours and pompous nothing of this world keep thee back from the grapes of the brook of Eshcol Remember that we must account for every idle word much more for our actions If thou hast lost any dear friends have them alwayes before thine eyes visit their graves often and be not unkind to a Ionathan though in the dust Give eare to heaven and forget not what is spoken to thee from thence Behold I come as a thief blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame The time of life is short and God when he comes to see us comes without a bell Let us therefore gird up the loynes of our minds and be sober and hope to the end Let us keep our selves in the love of God as obedient children not grieving his holy Spirit by which we are sealed unto the day of redemption And let us not give place to the devil nor be weary of well-doing but let us be renewed daily in the spirit of our mind that when he comes who will not tarry we may be found faithful and about our masters businesse Let us feare God and forgive men blesse those that persecute us and lay up treasure for our selves in heaven that where our treasures is there our hearts may be also and this if God permits will we do and then We can go die as sleep and trust Half that we have Vnto an honest faithful grave Making our pillows either down or dust Now unto him who shall change our vile bodies that they may be fashioned like