it at a better rate my sins stare me in the face my conscience tells me I am not ready for such a Trial I have lived a stranger to such thoughts as now I cannot refuse and which should have been admitted sooner But if to such a state any hope of mercy may be granted tho it be unspeakably little yet I cannot promise my self any such warning by sickness The sleeping virgins were called at Midnight and so may I. where can I pitch my Tents on Earth to be secure against a sudden remove Lord make thes thoughts effectual to prevent my loss of precious Time which at such a season will be esteemed precious tho now it be not O how swift how short my Time of Trial in order to Eternity how difficult how important a work is it to prepare for an Everlasting state what is all this world how little how meer a nothing to a departing soul and shall I after such reflexions continue to pursue shadows and pleas my self with empty dreams when being so near my final Judgment the common wisdom of a man requires me to mind it in good earnest and be more sollicitous about it then for any Thing Temporal O in what manner will Death open mine eyes by shutting the windows of sens how shall I then see the nothingness of what is but Temporal and the reality of what is Eternal We sometimes laugh to see the vanity of little Children who are greatly pleased with painted toys and busily imployed about trifles It extorts a smile to see them eager and industrious and mightily concerned in their childish sports to see them fight or weep for little things which we despise to observe with what sollicitude and care they l raise a little fabrick which three moments after they themselvs pull down or would otherwise tumble of its own accord We laugh at thes but should weep over our selvs as the greater and Elder Fools who are every whit as Silly yea infinitely more so that considering we know the frailty of our present Life and can look beyond the Grave to another world should yet mispend our precious Time on things which cannot profit and pleas our selvs with what is so unsuitable to our Age and State and suffer our passions to work with violence for a thing of nought and our greatest diligence care and zeal to be exercized on things impertinent and vaine that are perishing in in themselvs and can contribute nothing to our Eternal wellfare And is it not thus with reference to all that men toyl and labor for with the neglect of an immortal State The voluptuous Sadducee will not refuse the present gratification of his sensual appetite because he is uncertaine of another day Let us eat and drink for to morrow we dye Should not the same motive quicken my diligence in a better work and because my Lord may come suddenly as a thief in the night immediately prepare to meet him Let me now therefore o my soul look forward to the end of Life and Time and so let me esteem and seek and choos and do every thing in the first place which then I shall wish I had Let me do nothing now which I verily believe I shall then be ashamed or sorry to reflect on that by thinking what a condition I shall then wish to have my soul in I may now provide my self much better then I have done thitherto That while I am in the greatest probability of living I may suppose my change to be near and so not dare do any thing but what I would or might do if I were in the present expectation of Death To this end let me goe down to the Potters house descend to the consideration of my mortality and dwell among the Tombs remembring the Aegyptians built themselvs better Tombes then Houses because they were to dwell longer in them Let every nights repose serve me as a memorial of my last sleep and let my Bed stand for the model of my Coffin This is the only way to be dead to this world to be able to judge of things now as we shall do after death according to immutable Eternal Truth X. The Brevity of Life considered as the fruit of sin There are but three ways of leaving this world as Abel Adam or Enoch A diligent improvement of Time farther prest and the neglect of it bewailed THe shorting of our Days is the fruit of sin We dye because we have sinned and yet we should not sin as now if this were not forgot that we must dye From the First Transgression of Adam we derive our death and therefore some of his Posterity lived longer then he Which proves that the lengthning of our Days is the peculiar Gift of God and yet 't is such a Gift as was more desired formerly then since the apearance of Christ for we read of none in the New Testament since Life and Immortality is brought to Light by the Gospel who desired a long continuance here on earth Were we delivered from sin the sting of Death by having made our peace with God in the Bloud of Jesus Death would not be frightfull or put on such a ghastly vizor as to most it doth But we are uncertaine of our Justification we waver between hopes and Fears as to our Final Sentence and are conscious to our selvs that we are not ready for our great Acount This makes Death â—o terrible Considering with all that it is inevitable the way of all the Living For tho the curs be removed and the sting be taken out by our H. Saviour so that the Souls of Believers are safe and shall not be toucht by the second Death yet God hath not taken away the stroke of it from the Body tho a Christian is assured of deliverance from Hell he is not exempted from the Grave as his passage to Heaven Prepare me Lord by the free Remission of all my sins and make me meet for the Blessed Inheritance by sanctifying grace and then thy Time is best Thy Holy will be done No matter then wither my Death be violent or what we call Naturall It will be one of the two for I can't expect to be Translated by a miraculous change as Holy Enoch was and as they shall be who shall be found alive at the world when our Glorious Judge shall come againe There are but those three ways of leaving Earth and the Three First Men of whose departure we read in Scripture are Instances of all Three Abel of a violent Death Adam of a natural one and Enoc of a Translation The variety and order of their Departure as one observes is very admirable and deserves to be considered For all mankind must follow one or other of those three Examples Every man or woman that is born into the world must leave it by one of those three ways Either be cut off by a violent Death as Abel the first man who dyed or dye a Natural Death
Falls and become stronger by the discovery of your weakness and better establisht for the future But take heed that you pervert not the Grace of God and encourage your self to sin againe by the supposition that if you should Fall 't is but to Repent and renew your Resolutions and all will be well This is a subtle Artifice of Satan but such methinks as should take with none who have ever known by Experience what it is to Repent Luke 23. c. 30 17. â—â— 2. Who have felt the burden of Sin to be heavier then a Millstone then the weight of a Mountaine Who have tasted how evill and bitter a thing it is to depart from God. Who have loathed and abhorr'd themselves with deep Remorse and sorrow and Anguish of Spirit wishing with all their Hearts that they had not sinn'd and if it were in their power would give all the world to retrieve it and would rather dye then commit that Folly again they then repented of Let those who have not their own Experience to confirm this read over and consider the case of David when he wrote the Penitential Psalms How many like him have roar'd and cryed out under the sence of sin of stings and furies in their Conscience of the poison'd Arrows surrounding them wherever they went from the weight of sins Malignity the apprehensions of God's Anger and the consequent Fears of his Wrath. Serious Repentance after great Transgressions is another Thing then most imagine it When their aggravated Sins shall besett them behind and before be placed in order before their eyes and set in array against them 'T is allways a work of Difficulty as well as Importance to crucifie corrupt affections to tear a beloved Lust from the Heart with self-indignation to abhorr and cast away what before you lou'd and delighted in How did David's sin stare him in the Face it is continually with me it is ever before me saith He. It haunted him like a Spectre or like Belshazar's handwriting on the wall it still appear'd before him in some horrid shape How ever Sin may smile in its first address and bespeak us in flattering language and promise Pleasure and Profit and great Advantages and Satisfaction These are but fair Appearances This is but the outside of the Cup and the colour of the Liquor it will prove Gall and Wormwood and a mixture of deadly Poison if ever God set it home upon the Conscience and awaken us to a true sence of it And the Continuance of dayly Repentance for Sin Which all Christians are called to is no such easy matter neither Constant self-abasement and Humiliation before God from a sence of his Majesty and Holiness and of our many Sins and pollution therby the imperfection of our best duties continually to be bewailed inordinate affections to be still mortified always resisting and opposing Sin in its Root and branches conflicting against the whole Intrest of the Flesh the world and the Devil seeking after more Holiness to be deriv'd unto us by the Grace of Christ to be wrought in us by his Spirit and maintain'd by his power and making dayly applications to the Fountaine of all Grace for spiritual strength to continue our warfare against Sin in all Instances of outward duty and inward Actings of Grace even as long as we live all this is included in it Due Apprehensions concerning Repentance would teach us to beware of Sin. XXVII The necessity of Christian Resolution to Vpright Persevering Obedience how Full and extensive it ought to be and yet Humble By what means we may be assisted to perform that which we Resolve HAving acknowledg'd my Transgressions unto God and beg'd forgiveness and experimentally learnt the Evil of Sin by the bitterness of Repentance I resolve for the future to watch against it more narowly and against every thing that leads to it endeavoring to please and honour my God and Saviour by an upright obedient Heart and Life And for the Remission of my former contracted Guilt I trust to J. Christ according to the Revelation made in the Gospell of what he is hath done and suffer'd and continues to do in Heaven for the salvation of Repenting Sinners who desire to come unto God by Him. But how often o my Soul have I mockt God and deceiv'd my self with formal and faint Purposes of amendment my good Resolutions have been all of them as the morning cloud and the Early dew which quickly passed away One fresh assault of Temptation hath swept away all my good Purposes as a spiders web I have falsified so many and broke my word so often that I dare not trust to any thing I now resolve or rely on any promise I should farther make Succor me therfore o Lord by thy Powerfull Grace that what was defective in my former fruitless Resolutions may be now rectified Let me be more Humble in the sense of my weakness more dependant on thy Grace and more heartily seek it from time to time Strengthen me with Strength in my Soul with might and power in my inward man that I may so resolve and purpose as to perform that I may not be one day hot and the next cold zealous in the Beginning but faint and lukewarm in the Progress fervent and serious only in Resolving but weak and impotent in the Execution Having chang ' my Master my End and my Hopes by returning unto God from whom I had gone astray I firmly resolve thro the assistance of his Grace to change my course of Life That old things being done away all things may become new that being made free from Sin by pardoning Mercy Rom. 6. c. 22. and become the servant of Christ I may have my fruit unto Holiness that my End may be Eternal Life In the interim wither I live or dye let it be unto the Lord resolving both in Life and Death to be absolutely His. And to that purpose O my Soul let me seek for continual supplies of Grace from Christ my Head to inable me to yeild ready obedience in the most difficult hazardous painfull and humbling duties In vaine do I resolue it without the assistance of his mighty Power to strengthen my Heart and hands when ever I am called to such a Trial of my sincerity Without it I shall never recover my Liberty or break a sunder those bonds and cords wherwith I have formerly been held Captive as the Servant of Sin and Satan such is the weakness and treachery of of my own Heart the influence of ill Examples and the subtlety and cunning of the Tempter that otherwise I shall quickly change my mind and return to Folly as the Dog to his vomit The Spirit is so weak and the Flesh so frail the snares of the World so many the power of remaining Corruption so strong and of my self I am so unsetled and wavering fickle and unsteady and prone to Backsliding that all my strongest Purposes will not be sufficient without dayly
do oblige to and enforce upon All who shall read them and therefore much more upon him self That they were penn'd at several times and in occasional retirements for Spiritual Exercises will with the difference of the subject be a sufficient excuse that some are larger and others shorter and that the stile is in some places more neglected then in others If I may hereby render any service to then Souls of men if any secure Sinner any self deceiving Hypocrite or backsliding Christian be hereby awaken'd or any serious Believer's Devotion be quicken'd and advanc'd I hope God will accept it To his Blessing I humbly recommend it for those Ends. THE CONTENTS THe Introduction From what Time the Jews reckon'd the Beginning of their Year The difference between their Sacred and Civil Account The feast of Trumpets on the first Day of the Year Its Institution nature and Design the Traditions and Customs of the Jews respecting that Day pag. 1 Section I. Of the Changeable State and Short Duration of Earthly Things especially of Man how little it is consider'd and believ'd how necessary it should be so p. 16 II. Of the Change in Mens Inclinations Opinions and Actions which one Year shows How observable it is in Others how much more discernable in our Selves Honour and Reputation c. how uncertainly preserv'd and how easily blasted p. 23 III. The Uncertainty of Living to the Period of Another Year The Vanity of this Life the Swiftness of Time and how it ought to be improv'd p. 30. IV. Of the seeming Difference between so many Years Past and the same number of Years consider'd as Future p. 36 V. The little Portion of our Time on Earth consider'd by a Computation of the Life of Man from the Number of Years and Hours p. 39 VI. Of the Redemption of Time how precious and valuable a Treasure it is and will be thought to be when 't is too-late p. 54 VII Of the Ordinances of Heaven Day and Night Winter and Summer Seed Time and Harvest their order and succession as establisht by God is the effect of Infinite Wisdom and Goodness What thy may teach us p. 48 VIII Of Evils to be Expected in this one Year the wisdom and Mercy of God in concealing from us the Knowledg of future Events p. 55 XI The Supposition of dying this Year should be improv'd the Consequence of Redeeming Time and providing for Eternity farther prest The Folly of Elder Persons is condemn'd and checkt from the Example of Children 'T is adviseable to familiarize the thoughts of Death and to imagine before hand what Apprehensions of Things we shall then have p. 60 X. The Brevity of Life considered as a Fruit of Sin. There are but three ways of leaving this World as Abel Adam or Enoch A diligent Improvement of Time farther prest and the neglect of it bewailed p. 68 XI Of the Expectation of Another Life The Vanity and Misery of Man in his Best Estate if there be none The Satisfactory removal of that Supposition by the thoughts of God and of Eternal Felicity in his Blessed Presence p. 73 XII The Consideration of the Death of Others especially of Relations Friends and Acquaintance how to be improv'd what Instructions we may learn by the sight of a Dead Corps or a Deaths-Head and the usual Motto on it and what by the Death of Holy Christians to quicken our Desires to be as They. p. 83 XIII What Influence the Consideration of ETERNITIE would have upon our Hearts and Lives if soundly believ'd Especially if the Supposition of DYing this Year be annexed to it p. 93 XIV How a Good Man may improve and encourage himself under the Supposition of Dying THIS YEAR even in the most uneasy and undesirable Circumstances p. 101 XV. Of Dying in a Forreign Country and of Dying Young Considerations proper to reconcile the mind to both p. 111 XVI The Contemplation of our Approaching Change may assist us to mortifie the Lusts of the Flesh the Lust of the Eyes and the Pride of Life to cure Ambition and promote Contentment p. 119 XVII The same Argument consider'd farther as a dissuasive from Worldliness and Earthly mindedness and as proper to confute the Vanity of Long Projects and great Designs for this World. p. 125 XVIII The Consideration of the Certaine and near Approach of an EVERLASTING State amplifi'd and prest to enforce an Holy Life p. 131. XIX The Punishments of the Damned considered as Intolerable and EVERLASTING and unquestionably Certaine what the Reflection upon HEL-Torments may and ought to teach us p. 142 XX. The Eternal Blessedness of HEAVEN considered as the Perfection of Holiness to quicken our Desires and Endeavors after greater Meetness to possess it p. 159 XXI A devout Meditation upon the Psalm 73. v. 25. Whom have I in Heaven but Thee And there is none upon Earth that I desire besides Thee p. 180 XXII The Glorious Appearance of J. Christ to Judgment considered as Certaine The Terror and Astonishment Confusion and Despair of the Wicked to behold the Judge and hear his condemning Sentence to EVERLASTING Destruction p. 194 XXIII Meditations of the Glory of Christ in his Glorified Saints and of the Thankfull Admiration of Believers when he shall come againe from Heaven which shall be continued to all ETERNITY p. 205 XXIV Concerning the Examination of a Mans Heart and Life the Reasonableness Advantages and Necessity of it Some Directions and advice concerning the Time and Manner That we may know in what Preparedness we are for ETERNITY p. 223. XXV How Christians ought to examine their Decays of Grace and Piety The greatness of their Sin and of their Losse under such a Declension God's displeasure and departure from them consider'd to awaken present Endeavors of a Recory In what manner the Faith of Adherence may be acted by one who hath no Assurance p. 242 XXVI Confession of Sin Humiliation and Repentance must follow upon self-Examination Advice concerning Repentance of some particular Backsliding The great Perplexity and distress of a Penitent Sinner represented as a Caution against returning to Folly. p. 261. XXVII The Necessity of Christian Resolution to upright persevering Obedience how full and extensive it ought to be and yet humble By what means we may be assisted to Perform that which we Resolve p. 279 XXVIII The Import and obligation of our Baptismal Covenant The Renewal of it by a solemn Dedication of our selves to God the Father Son and H. Spirit exemplifi'd and recommended p. 289 XXIX Practical and Consolatory Reflexions on the preceding self-dedication or Covenant with God. p. 301 XXX Thanksgiving to God for his Innumerable Benefits and Mercies particularly in the Year Past With some directions and advice concerning it p. 314 THE INTRODUCTION From what Time the Jews reckoned the Beginning of their Year of the difference between their sacred civil account The Feast of Trumpets on the first day of the year its Institution nature design the
yet to come Things past by a remembrance of some remarkable passages when they happened seem to be present with me but not knowing what may happen in the same number of years to come I have nothing wheron to fix my thoughts Or the reason of this difference may rather be that men in this degenerate and necessitous State with unsatisfied desires reaching after Happines and sensible nothing present can afford it and knowing by Experience that nothing past could have done it are eagerly desirous of Felicity and because we know not but what is to come may procure it we hope it will which makes the Time seem long by reason of our Expectation and desire of Good. Wheras the foresight of Evill and the Expectation of that some years hence makes the Time rather seem short and near at hand So many years to come in the Expectation and desire of Good are long and tedious such Hope deferred makes the Heart sick even tho 't is of that sort as must needs fail our Expectations Prepare me Lord for what thine unerring Counsell shall pleas to order as to the remainder of my time on earth and suffer me not to count upon a great number of Years to come since this for ought I know may be my last neither let me expect Rest and Happiness in this world which nothing Temporal can afford This is not the state or season wherein by any promise of God I am encouraged to hope it And if fifty or threescore years to come be thought so great a matter and really is so as to our stay on earth Oh what apprehensions ought I to admit concerning an endless Everlasting State especially being as certaine of the latter after death as I am uncertaine about the former wither so many years be yet to come before my death V. The little Portion of our Time on Earth considered by a Computation of the Life of man from the number of Years and Hours THink o my soul how short is that Life at longest made up of years and moneths and days such little parts and yet in number few Well therefore may it be exprest as I find in holy writt by years of number That is such as may soon be numbred 16. c. 22.12 Ezek. 16.10 Isai 19. When a few years are come saith Job or the years of number as in the original I shall go the way whence I shall not return By the years of on Hireling which were not above three 16. Is 14. We usually compute Threescore and ten years to the Life of man let me suppose four score The Bed with most imploys one half and hardly one in Thirty doth reach the Age of Seventy Years And they who live to such an Age Winter Evening Conference Conf. 1. do yet complaine how soon 't is done Ignorant child hood and Heedless Youth and Infirm old Age may be supposed to take up be a third part of that Time. In either of them very little of the great Ends of Life are answered We ordinarily begin to reckon our lives from our Birth wheras for a good while after we know not wither we are alive or no but are beholding to others to make the account for us When we first come to the steady use of Reason or what we call the years of Discretion how few are there but from the prejudices of Education from the corruption of Humane Nature from the want of Experience from the Infection of bad Company how few I say but spend their younger years in those things which afterwards they are ashamed of when Experience hath taught them the Wisdom of men How great a part of our remaining Time is taken up in the necessites of Nature about food and Rayment and in lawfull cares to support the Body and how much more then needs in pampering dressing and adorning it out of the smal remainder how much is imploied in the concerns of a Family and near Relations in particular Callings in necessary Civil Business and in getting keeping or improving an Estate Besides all the Time that is spent in Recreations visits unprofitable discours impertinent thoughts journeys sickness and innumerable other occasions some allowable and many needless After this how little Time remains wherein to Cultivate and improve our minds by Languages Arts and Sciences or the knowledg of a Trade c. How little then after all may we say is left for the the matters of Religion for Devotion to God and serious preparation for another world Alas how smal a number of years make up the Life of Man and how smal a Portion of that is imployed about the Principal Business for which we were born for which we live We divide Time into Past Present and Future but the Past is not now ours the Future is not yet and the Present now is past ere the sound be pronounced And yet this is all the Time alloted us wherein to secure the Blessedness of Eternity How many Hours more of our little Time might be improved then commonly are by the Best In every year there are eight thousand seven hundred seventy five Hours if we allow the greatest half for sleep and necessary attendance on the Body and take but four thousand Hours for our work and business of consequence how poor an acount can most men give of all thes four thousand Hours in every year not one hour in seven not one in ten is ordinarily devoted to God and the purposes of Religion Should it not affectus seriously to consider this especially if we remember at what an uncertainty we are how smal a number of Days and Hours do yet remaine This year this moneth this week this day or hour may be my last What an unsuspected accident or a sudden diseas may doe I know not but this I know that there is scarce any thing that hath not killed some Body an hair a feather a vapor a breath hath done it and when the Apostle James asks the question What is your Life he answers It is even a vapor that appeareth a little while and then vanisheth away VI. Of the Redemption of Time how precious and valuable a Treasure it is and will be thought to be when 't is too late IS the Life of men so short and fleeting our days on Earth so few and so uncertaine how careful should I be to manage every hour indevoring to match the swiftness of Time by my celerity and diligence to improve it As there is no Covenant to be made with Death so no Agreement for the arrest and stay of Time it keeps its pace wither I redeem and use it well or noe The greatest part of our life is designedly imploied to avoid death we eat and drink and sleep and labor and rest that we may not dye and yet even by thes we hasten to death Every Breath every puls every word leaus one less of the number which God hath apointed me and carries away some sands of
find every year that the Day dies into night the summer into winter and herbs and plants lose their beauty and verdure and shed their blossoms may I not hence learn to consider and prepare for my own approaching Change In prosperity health and ease and life to expect and make provision for trouble sickness paine and Death as every wise man in summer would do for winter and work with all my might while it is called to day while the Light continues because the night of darkness is at hand when none can work VIII Of Evills to be Expected in this Year the wisdom and mercy of God in concealing from us the knowledg of Future Events NOt only few and uncertaine but Evill likewise are the days of the years of my Life may every one say with the Patriarch Jacob. A sufficient portion of evil for every year may well be expected when our Lord tells us there is a certaine measure alloted for every day Sufficient to the day is the evil of it Not only is our Life short but troublesome full of vexatious mixtures We can not sing a Requiem to our souls when one Great Calamity is past for we know not in this Region of Changes but another a greater may be at hand one messenger of ill news may succeed and out doe another as it was with Job We come weeping into the world in a most helpless forloen state and if we escape the dangers of Infancy and the casualties of childhood and after that out live the snares follies of youth we are tost upon the Pikes of Time and Chance and sadden and disquiet our selvs with a thousand griefs and sorrows by inevitable and unexpected occasions tho we increas the number of needless Cares and Fears and discontents till at length a sudden stroke arrests us we fetch a groan and dye Who can give a Catalogue of the Afflictions and Calamities Perplexities and Disapointments incumbrances crosses and Evill accidents of Humane Life by means whereof millions are disconsolate and sad mourn and complaine weep and sigh and from day to day are fed with the Bread of Affliction and the water of Adversity Not to mention mens fluctuating restless thoughts of Heart importunate desires bafled projects defeated Purposes which suppose or bring vexation A good share of these is not to be auoided and yet very few can be particularly fore seen who could prognosticate a year agoe the Evills which have happened since publick and private personal and relative to the Countries Citties Families and persons we are concerned for and who can certainly foretell the Events of this insueing year God hath intermixt Good and Evill in the Life of Man he hath set Prosperity against Adversity saith Solomon to the end that man should find nothing after him 7. Eccles 14. that he may not know what shall come next wither a Prosperous or a Calamitous Event What a change may be made in a year by the meer Casualty of humane Events by the Treachery of friends or the malice of Enemies or the more immediate hand of God We know not what shall be on the morrow much less what a twelve moneth may produce Because what ever may be disposed to happen from natural causes or Civil counsels may be altered by a perticular decree of Providence Prepare me Lord and every of those in whose Felicity I more especially take part for all the Calamities and Sorrows thine Infinite Wisdom shall think fit to exercize us with this following year and by thy mercifull Providence and gracious Conduct cause them to work for Good Furnishing us with suitable strength and wisdom to acquiesce in thy good pleasure and obey they Will. I thank thee O Heavenly Father that thou hast reserved the knowledg of future Times and Seasons to thy self and hid Events from men Least by considering them certaine we should presume in case they are Good or should despairingly afflict our selves by foreseeing the Evill we know to be inevitable Did we certainly foreknow the Good that would befall us we should not Trust in thee to bring it to pass or heartily implore thy Care and conduct Did we forsee the Evills we shall suffer before they overtake us we should be overwhelmed with diffidence and Despair Many a Mother who rejoiceth at the Birth of a son would mourn to foresee what a man what a Son he will prove Such an increas of knowledg would increas our sorrow such a Prescience would transport and discompose us by unseasonable Joys and Sorrows born out of Time make us Remiss in our Duty to thee and weaken our Dependance on thine unerring Wisdom Truth and Power IX The Supposition of dying this Year should be improved the consequence of redeeming time and providing for Eternity farther prest The Folly of Elder persons is condemned and checkt from the Example of Children 'T is adviseable to familiarize the thoughts of Death and to imagine before hand what apprehensions of things we shall then have THe longest Life is but a day multiplied and who can certifie or assure me which will be my last He only who was God as well as man could say Mine Hour is not yet come Is all my Life given me to resolue this Question Whither I shall be in Heaven or Hell for ever And have I any time to lose and squander away as superfluous have I any more then needs 'T is no impossible or unreasonable supposition to make that I may dye this year Let me admit that thought and imagine my self on a bed of sickness wearied with paine and ready to leave this world the Physitians gone despairing of my recovery my friends about me weeping and all things in a doleful melancholy posture suited to such a state feeling within my self the presages of Death expecting the final stroke in an hour or two more What is then the value of sensual Pleasures can I then relish or savor them what then is Honour to me who shall never goe abroad more to receive it till carried to my grave will it then comfort me to have lived in Reputation and Applause if my Heart was not humble under it and the Honour of God promoted by it can Riches and a great estate support me when I am just packing up for a removal to the other world in that hour will it be any satisfaction to have made a stir and noise for a few years upon Earth to be talkt of for a while longer then other men are thes the things my dying thoughts will be most concerned to reflect on Thes dignities pleasures and possessions offerd to a dying man would rather opraid then tempt him they come too late as a Princes pardon to a man whose head is off Dye I must and appear before my Judge to answer for all that I have received and done in the body Fool that I was shall I then too justly say to my self not to have considered this much sooner not to have provided for
devotion to God is therby extinguisht all the restraints of vice removed the floud gates of Impiety opened the encouragements of vertue the rewards of Holiness the foundation of Patience in Tribulation and suffering for Righteousness sake all at once taken away Lord confirm my belief of the invisible future state of Rewards and Punishments and let not Sadduceism and Infidelity damp my zeal in thy service or rob me of the comforts of this Life which if I have any solid ones must suppose the hopes of a Better Let others therefore o my Soul who expect not an Everlasting Heaven beyond the Grave place their affections on Earthly things and mind this world as if there were no better no other Let them who doubt or disbelieve the promised rewards of Eternity take up with what they must shortly leave and labor for the Bread that perisheth But since I profess to believe and seek the Life Everlasting let me dayly intertaine my self with the hopes of it and let all the flattering dreams of what is desireable upon Earth give place to nobler and better Thoughts Let me derive my principal Joy from the promise and expectation of that future felicity and indeavor nothing more then a meetness to pertake of it O my God my God! thou art my Life and Joy and Portion in thee and in thy love all my desires and hopes are answered and all my wants supplied How ever Evill this world is made by sin yet thou art the infinite and supreme Good. How mutable how uncertaine how perishing soever are all sublunary things yet thou art the rock of Ages the fountaine of Everlasting Life and hast apointed another world and another Life when this is ended wherein thou wilt be better known and loved and served and honored and communicate thy self more abundantly then now to those the desire of whose souls is towards thee that believe and love thee that partake of thine image and are devoted to thy fear The assurance of this and nothing els will answer the objection of the present vanity and misery we are subject to XII The consideration of the Death of others especially of Relations Friends and Acquaintance how to be improved What instructions we may learn by the sight of a Dead Carcass or a Deaths-head and the usual Motto on it and what by the Death of Holy Persons to quicken our desires to be as they HAth divine Patience added one year more to the number of my Days when so many others were removed by Death the last year Others whom a few moneths since I knew in vigorous health wiser stronger more likely to live and to answer the ends of Life then me some of them my near Relations and usefull Friends in whose converse I took delight and promised my self advantage by their Company and Exemples But they are taken and I am left Thy Holy will o Lord is done and they who were prepared are infinite Gainers by this my loss Quicken my preparations by following their piety to meet them in thy Heavenly Kingdom Let thy long suffering lead me to Repentance and suffer me not to slight thy warning by the death of others to expect my own Lord cure my Earthly mindedness and practical unbelief and by all such admonitions of thy Providence teach me to possess and use this world as knowing I must shortly leave it and let not the thoughts of my mortality wear off assoon as the funeral of my Friends is over Every year some or other of our Acquaintance drop into the Grave we attend them thither and lament it may be for a few days their departure and removal but consider not that others will ere long do the same for us it may before this year is ended Oh how soon do we forget our deceased Friends and our selvs who are likewise dying and count upon a long life which we cannot reasonably expect and hug the injoyments of this transitory world as if our present state would last for ever Will nothing but our own dissolution effectually convince us of our mistake and folly in this perticular Tho the arrows of Death flye continually round about us sometimes over our heads when Superiors are taken away sometimes fall at our feet when Children and Servants and inferiors dye sometimes on our left hand when an Enemy is cut off and while I am pleased with that in that very hour it may be another arrow on our right hand strikes the Friend of our bosome and delight and can we see all this that great and smal high and low friends and foes are all vanity and drop down dead round about us and shall we not consider that we are as vaine as they and must shortly follow shall we not by a Christian Chymistry extract Spirits out of thes dead Bones and by thes Examples learn the End of all Men and lay it to heart When ever I see the funeral of another let me think thus with my self why might not I have been that man or woman that is now carried to the Grave If we had been compared a few days since 't is probable I should have been thought as likely to have been his monitor by dying first as he mine By such an improvement of thes warnings the request of Dives to Abraham were in great measure granted for 't is a call from the dead that speaks loudly to us to consider our selvs and prepare in time for so great a change and say as the Prophet to Hezekiah Set thine house in order for thou shalt dye Can we look upon a Deaths-head and not remember what we shall shortly be may not much be learnt from its common motto Sum quod Eris Fueramque quod Es. I am that which thou shalt shortly be and have been that which thou art now that is I have been as gay and jocund as brisk and merry as proud and vaine as rich and great as careless and secure as honourable and as much esteemed as beautifull and as well beloved as witty and as learned as thou art or canst be now I valued my self as much upon my estate and trade and health and beauty upon my education profession imployments parts friends family c. as thou hast ever done or canst doe I lived in ease and pleasure in mirth and jollity I minded the world as much and indulged my self as much in sensuality and was as carefull of my body and pampered and pleased my flesh as much as thou and thought as little of a sudden death and prepared as little for such a change as thou dost but now my dry Bones are lookt upon with contempt and scorn but thou shalt shortly return to dust and be as vile as I am It cannot but affect us did we consider it to see Divers snatcht away in their Youth and outward Prosperity and in the midst of their sin and folly without any visible signs of true Repentance or in terrible anguish and horror for their past crimes
cure the staggering trembling Thoughts of an unbelieving Heart by greater measures of a lively Faith. That my desires may be strong and urgent and my diligence and stedfastness in the way of Truth be some way correspondent to the important Article Let me live only for Eternity hope for nothing but Eternity design and intend nothing as my chief end but Eternity and seek and mind nothing in comparaison with Eternity Did we believe it how would every thing in this world be look't upon as eligible or fit to be refused as it is like to be an help or an hindrance with reference to Eternity we should then indeavor to do nothing unbecomming such an Expectation Considering this world as our passage and the invisible future world as our abiding Country where we are to dwell forever what ever we meet with here wither sweet or bitter easy or troublesome pleasing or ungratefull we should not much matter but as it relates to hereafter And were I certaine I should have no longer time of Trial in order to this Eternal State then this one year which is now begun if a Messenger from God should convincingly assure of it what would I not doe to prepare for Death and secure the Intrests of Eternity with what remorse and deep Repentance should I reflect on the Follies of my past Life with what importunate cries should I beg Forgiveness how patiently should I bear Calamity for so short a time how little should I value the favors or frowns of men how circumspect to improve every Season of doing and receiving good how carefull to avoid Temptation and how resolute in resisting it Did I verily believe I had no longer time to live on Earth then this one year at most how insipid would be the offer of carnall mirth vaine pastime sensual diversions idle company c. how should I value every hour every inch of my little Time under the apprehension that Eternity is at hand O my soul shall I make no provision against the possibility of such a case is not my change as certaine as if it were this year as if it were to morrow tho I am not certaine it is so near nor certaine but it may be Let me then seek first the Kingdom of God and his Rightcousness let me fix it well and make it clear that I have secured my great Concern and am ready for a sudden summons XIV How a Good man may improve and encourage himself under the supposition of dying this Year even in the most uneasy and undesireable circumstances I May dye this year then all my cares and fears if I am Rich all my sorrows and calamities as to this world if I am Poor will die too I may dye this year then I shall have no more Enemies no more sickness and which is infinitely better I shall sin no more I must shortly dye it may be this year but there is no other way to come to a Blessed Life but by dying and my Saviour hath dyed for me and he that believs in him shall never see death he lives who was once dead yea he lives for ever more and hath promised that I shall be with him to behold his Glory He hath the Keys of Death and Hell He is the Resurrection and the Life he hath removed thes thing of Death and I need not fear a conquered Enemy If I dye this year I must quit the company of all my dearest Friends on earth but I shall goe to better Company above and if they are the friends of Christ we shall shortly meet againe and love one another in a better manner then now and never more be parted I may dye this year my Friends and Enemies may dye to Let me injoy the one as mortal dying persons that must ere long leave me or I them and not fear the other who may so soon perish and quickly be uncapable of doing me or others mischief I may dye this year let me not then think much of Temporal sufferings of any Evils which may so soon be over Oh what would condemned sinners in the other world give to be able to believe and say so of their sufferings I may dye this year and can I wonder that I am sometimes Sick and in paine and my Body out of order Am I not mortal and dwell in an house of clay which must shortly moulder into dust and is it any thing strange that such a crasy Building doth sometimes shake and need repair and threaten a dissolution 'T is a greater wonder I am any time well That such a Body compounded of so many little parts and so easily disordered by innumerable accidents should be in health is hardly less to be admired then that an Instrument of a thousand strings should be kept in Tune I thank thee o Heavenly Father for the many advantages of sickness to weaken the power of sin to humble my Pride and cure my worldliness and sensuality to reduce me from wandering to empty me of self conceit to awaken the consideration of Death and Judgment to impress the Thoughts of the vanity of this world and the Eternity of the next to assist me to mortifie the flesh to rule my Passions to exercise Patience and quicken Prayer and try my faith and love and excite my diligence to redeem Time and convince me of the worth and uncertainty of it and thereby promote my preparations for my final change The Great Apostle by dying dayly had as many victories over this world as he lived Days Oh that I might so far walk by the same Rule as every day to think of providing for my last and in health to do that which in sickness I shal wish I had done I may dye this year it may be by some tedious painful Sickness some troublesome and loathsome Disease But God hath promised his Grace shall be sufficient he will make my bed in my sickness and put under his Everlasting arms for my support and not suffer me to be tempted above what I am able he will increas my Patience and carry me thro the pangs of Death and the dark valley and when Heart and flesh fail be the strength of my Heart and my Portion for Ever I may dye this year what if it should be by an hand of violence if for Righteousness sake in defence of the Truth for a good Cause and a good Conscience and my peace be made with God and am accused for doing well or innocent of the Evill which is laid to my charge there is ground enough for encouragement and support Thousands of my Betters have met with the like whose names are precious renowned Innumerable Christians have dyed by the sentence of a Judge with more chearfullness and Joy then others or it may be then they themselvs would have done by the sentence of the Phisitian The Torture of many diseases is unspeakably more formidable as to the meer paine and for all the Rest the Righteous Lord
in a world of sin and suffering absent from the Lord Shall I not thereby escape a multitude of Temptations sins and sorrows which others by living longer are exposed to If my Peace be made with God what should make me willing to live at this distance from him what shoul render this world so desireable where God is so dishonored where I am so often tempted to displeas him and so often yeild to such Temptations and may I not fear least I should fall into such scandalous and greivous sins that may bring a publick reproach on the Gospell of Christ and sadden the Hearts of all my Aquaintance who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity And tho I should maintaine my Integrity yet in this world my highest love and obedience to God and my sweetest communion with him is but imperfect How many Impediments and Diversions do I dayly meet with that deaden my Heart to Heavenly contemplations and affections what disapointments and sorrow full disasters to convince me this is not the place of Rest and Happiness what smart Afflictions may some of my Relations prove what dangerous snares may attend me in the remaining Portion of my Time what opposition and hatred from men may the stedfast professing of the Truth and fidelity to God expose me to what publick national calamities may I have my share in c. But if I consider old Age it self which we doe desire to reach what and how many are the Infirmities and Griefs and troublesome Circumstances which attend that state which dying young will prevent are not most men who reach a very great old Age helpless objects of Pitty a Burden to themselvs and to all about them And which commonly happens may I not then be as unwilling to dye as at present as loath then to leave the world as now tho in a manner it will have left me for how many old men past the relish of sensual Pleasures are yet inordinately fond of a longer Life Have I not been told by Heathens as well as Christians that 't is not the length of Time but its improvement that doth really make a Long Life If I have anfwered the ends for which I were born 't is not too soon to dye No man ever miscarried as to his Everlasting Intrest because his Life was short but Evill He that is prepared for Death hath lived long enough and should thank God for a speedy call to the possession of that Felicity which the Holiest Saints on Earth desire and breath after Gideon lost nothing by returning from victory while the Sun was yet high If I have wrought but a few hours in the vineyard and done but a little service for my Lord and Master and yet am dismist and rewarded before the Rest of my Fellow Laborers shall I repine and think my Lord doth not be friend me If he hath any farther Service for me he will prolong my days and make me diligent I hope and contended Otherwise I pray he would make me ready to dye and make me willing and desirous to depart this Life For to be only content to dye that I may be perfectly Holy and fully Blessed is me thinks too low for a Christian who acts like himself believing the Certainty of his anowed Principles and Hopes and knowing that while we are present in the Body we are absent from the Lord. XVI The contemplation of our approaching change may assist us to mortifie the Lusts of the Flesh the Lust of the Eyes and the Pride of Life to cure Ambition and promote Contentment AL that is in the World saith the Apostle is the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eyes and the Pride of Life The dust and ashes of our own mortality duely considered and applied will help to dead and extinguish each of thes By Pride of Life we lift up our selvs against Heaven and despise our Maker by the lust of the Flesh we overlove and indulge the body and study to gratifie the sensual Appetite by the lust of the Eyes our Desires are immoderate after Temporal and External Goods The thought of our approaching End hath a tendency to oppose and mortifie these Lusts to humble us before God to take us off from the inordinate love of the Body and to moderate our passions to Earthly Things It may help us against Pride by showing us the infinite distance between the Eternal self-sufficient God and such poor Dust as we who are but of yesterday and if he uphold us not and maintaine our souls in life shall be laid in the dust to morrow It will mind us of his Justice against Sin the Parent of Death and of all the miseries of our mortal state and convince us of our weakness to resist his will or avoid his wrath As to our fond affection to the Body it may instruct us that it deserves not to be so much accounted of it will open our eyes to discern the preference of our Immortall souls and what concerns them to the interest of a perishing Body It may convince us that we are cruel and unkind to our very bodies by overloving them because we thereby contribute to their Eternal sufferings and so teach us to love and use our bodies as Servants to our Souls in this world and as expecting to share in Glory with them after the Resurrection It may also help to moderate our desires after Earthly Good and so cure the Lust of the Eyes by letting us see the vanity uncertainty and short duration of these things and their insufficiency to make us Happy and give us true Content The Thoughts of an approaching change may if any thing will do it damp the mirth of the Luxurious Epicure and strike him into a fit of trembling as did Belshazzar's handwriting on the wall It may discover the distraction of living in pleasure and of care to please the senses and the fleshly appetite when the End is so near If may likewise check the folly of Ambitious Designs that men should make so much a doe to get into slippery places from whence they may so easily fall Where being puft up with vaine applause they forget themselvs and their latter end till their Life and Glory expire together Where are now the Great and Mighty and Honorable who have made such a noise in the world what is now the difference between the dust of an Alexander or Caesar and that of their meanest slaves or Captives Could their dignities and earthly Glory preserve any of them from the stroke of Death or the Judgment of God or without Repentance from his condemning Sentence Think o my Soul how little it will shortly signifie wither I have been known and honoured among men or no any farther then God may be glorified by it How should it suppress vaine Glory to think of being one day esteemed and worshipt reverenced and applauded by dying men and laid in the Grave the next Let me rather seek that Glory and Honour
to which Immortality is annext and labor to be accepted with God at whose Bar I must be judged endeavoring to keep the testimony of a good conscience and then it is not much wither I pass thro good Report or Evill Report no contempt or frowns or threatnings of men need then discourage me Tho I should be trampled on by the foot of Pride while others are happy in a dream for a little while and it may be have a prossperous passage to damnation I 'le rather thank God for delivering me from their Temptations and giving me the opportunity and call to hasten my Preparations for a Better World. Let God dispose of my Condition here and Reputation too as best shall please his Sovereign will only be pleased to keep me upright and to preserve me from Everlasting shame and confusion of Face after the general Resurrection and final Judgment vouchsafe me a portion now in thine approving love and own me for Thine at last in the Great and Terrible Day of Reckoning that then I may hear the Blessed Euge and enter into my Lords Joy XVII The same Argument considered farther as dissuasive from Worldliness and Earthly mindedness and as proper to confute the vanity of long Projects and great Designs for this World. ARe the years of my Life but few and they hastening to a Period and may this be my last Let me not then greedily covet riches and abundance and wast my little time to scrape together large Provisions for many years to come when I have no assurance to see the end of this Is it becoming such a belief to toyl from day to day that I may lay up that which I must so soon leave as if I were to spend and Eternity here on earth and in the mean while neglect the one thing Necessary Am I not upon the shore of Eternity may not the next tide carry me off and shall I spend my whole Life in Diversions from the maine Busines of it have I nothing els to doe but to gather shells if they were Pearls the absurdity were still the same and pile them upon heaps till I am snatcht away past all Recovery Shall I be regardless of an Eternal State and run the hazard of being undone for ever by sollicitous care about pretended Necessaries for a long abode on Earth Much less for superfluities when I am not certaine of the possession this one year Shall I magnifie and admire what is so soon to be parted with value my self upon thes things so as to despise those that have less and envy such as have more and suffer my mind to be distempered and my passions immoderate on every change of these things Tho I know besides my own mortality that to inforce the argument there is a principle of Corruption in all these things that our very Manna here in a little while will stink and Bread which is the staff of Life moulder our richest garments wax old and rot silver and gold rust and the greatest Beauty wither and every thing that is Earthly decay and perish And shall not this teach me to sit loose from all such Things Can I imagine that in my last hour it will be easier to part with much then little or better in the day of Judgment to have a great Estate to answer for then a lesser one We read concerning the Patriarch Abraham who rightly understood the transitory nature of riches and his own mutable Condition that the only purchase he made with his riches was a Grave choosing to take possession of the land promised him rather by a mark of his parting with it then of his Possessing it Did I think oftner and more seriously o my Soul of tarrying here but a littte while I should more easily be persuaded that a little of this world were sufficient to carry me thro it I should consider more that my Heavenborn soul is made and designed for another an endless World and therefore should not so far forget his own People and Fathers house as eagerly to pursue and seek what is suited only to the Body for a little while and whereof a little with Contentment will be sufficient The same Reflexion may be usefull to contract our Thoughts to present duty that we may not perplex our minds with long designs and projects which if we dye this year will come to nothing Our great Business in this world is adapted to the little portion of Time which is allowed us Not that good Designs for the publick Benefit may not be begun by one and finisht by others or that we are not obliged prudently to provide for those who shall come after us by attempting many Things of probable Advantage to Posterity But considering the shortness and uncertainty of Life not only should the most necessary Things be first minded and not put off by prosecuting such designs as may signifie some what to others when we are dead but we should not now omit that which we may hope to compass ourselvs to begin such things whose accomplishment must depend on the Pleasure of our successors Consideration and faithfull Counsell would in this case have prevented the fruitless expence of many mens Time and Money which if otherwise imployed might have turned to good account to themselves and others And this heightens our folly that while we pursue great projects in reference to this world and dye without effecting them our preparations for Eternity are neglected and so we are suddenly cut off in the midst of our Folly and all our Thoughts perish how easily how soon may they do so the difference and distance between Death and Life being no more then that of a Candle lighted from its being blown out and if it is exposed to all winds how quickly may that Happen XVIII The consideration of the certaine near Approach of an Everlasting State amplifi'd and prest to in force an Holy Life IN this world we begin a Year and quickly come to the end of it and ere long the little number of our years and days will be expired But when death conveys us into the World of Spirits the day of Eternity shall never be closed with an Evening Of how fearfull consequence is that Death by which an Eternity must be decided What attention what seriousness what diligence what care doth the decision of so important a matter call for ETERNAL what will be the next word o my soul how much am I concerned to know it will it be Blessedness or Misery will it be Life or Death This one word is the Joy of Angels and the Horror of Devils the unspeakable Delight of blessed Saints and the confusion and Despair of condemned Sinners At the Creation of the World Time got the start of us and was five days elder then we but our Immortal Souls shall indure beyond the utmost limits of Time and last as long as the Everlasting Father of Spirits of whose duration there is no end Shall I then
humble preparation for it with the greatest strictness and severity of Life during all that Time it were infinitely less then to spend an hour or two in preparing for the greatest Dignity and Imploy on Earth which can be injoyed but for a few years at longest For to these an hour hath some proportion but an hundred or thousand years have none with an Everlasting Duration Therefore to consider how many years of toyl and pains and diligence many bestow on the probable prospect of some Temporal Good should reprove and shame my negligence and remisness in providing for Eternity XIX The Punishments of the Damned considered as intolerable and Everlasting and as unquestionably certaine What the Reflexion upon Hell-Torments may and ought to teach us THe Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom the entrance into the way of Life as it is ordinarily one of the first means to awaken the soul to a serious concern for Eternity let me therefore first consider the Endless Punishment of the wicked in the other world before I enter upon the Ravishing Prospect of the Blessedness of Heaven promised to the Righteous And with what serious trembling dâ—â—â—ld I think of the Terrors of 〈◊〉 Everlasting Destruction which 〈◊〉 Lord shall be revealed from Heaven to render to All who know not God and obey not the Gospel When the wicked shall goe away into Everlasting Punishment as the righteous into Life Eternal The Dreadfulness of that Punnishment the endless Duration of it joyn'd to the consideration of its unquestionable Certainty deserves the most attenitve Thoughts of every man who loves his soul and would manifest he doth so by securing his greatest Interest The description of that misery under insupportable and Eternal Torments demands more then a transient view because no words can sufficiently express the Horror of that State. What is it o my soul to be banisht from the Blessed Sight and Presence of God for ever and all the Impressions of his holy Image and likeness and to know that this is the fruit of my own choice that I lost it by my own Fault and Folly that I deserved to lose it that the sentence is as Just as it is irrevocable Who can fully imagine the dismal Despair of a condemned Sinner under this anguish of a Guilty self-accusing Mind while under the stroke of God's Allmighty revenging Justice with a distincter view and knowledg then now of God and his Excellencies of himself and his own vileness and malignity which must greatly increas his rage and Torment add to this his being inraged by the accusations and cries of wicked Acquaintance and Relations and his being mockt and insulted over and tortured by malicious damned Spirits with a clear understanding of that glorious Felicity he despised refused and forfeited with a deep sense of his former Madness in preferring the sinfull Pleasures and Advantages of this world and this after so many warnings and invitations and calls from God to have prevented it never to be diverted one moment from the consideration sense and feeling of his misery and the duration of it to have all his Passions let loose with the greatest violence and nothing to satisfie them and continually to preserve an Hell of wickedness and Horror in him self and to indure the reproaches convictions regrets stinging Reflexions of Conscience the Gnawing worm which shall never dye who can conceive the unspeakable misery of such an accursed State So great Calamity yet Everlasting How long doth one Day or Night now seem to a man under some violent racking Paine in any one part of his body tho he be under the means for cure and have his friends about him to pitty comfort and assist him with the hopes of ease in a little while and the certaine knowledg that it cannot last long Vide Mr. Baxters Saints Rest part 2. chap. 4. Oh what then will be the dismal state of tormented sinners in Hell how infinitely must it exceed the most Terrible Idea we can now frame of it to languish out a long Eternity in that Gulph of Darkness and Despair under unpitied intolerable Torments without Intermission or hope of End Miseries without measure Judgment without Mercy Pains and sorrows intense and yet Endless without the least succour or relief relaxation or remedy diminution or change without a drop of Comfort without a moments Rest without the smallest beam of Light or the least glimmering of Hope Perpetually dying and never dead under unsufferable Wrath which yet will be for ever Wrath to come seeking Death and never able to find it but Eternally to indure all that Calamity which the Conjunction of Death and Life together can render dreadfull what Groans and Cries will these Thoughts and these sufferings wring from their Hearts But no Refuge will then be found no excuses admitted no prayers no intreaties will then prevail no Tears move pitty He that made them will show them no mercy and he that formed them will show them no favor When once delivered over to that prison of God's wrath they shall no longer be prisoners of Hope Judgment shall be brought forth unto final victory and the Redemption of the soul shall cease for ever Might we but suppose that one of those Miserable Souls in the place of Torment did let fall but one Tear in an hundred thousand years and if after he had by this means wept so much as that his Tears would equall the drops of water in the whole Sea his Misery should have an end this were Hope this were Comfort But alas after that period his Misery will be as far from an end as when he first began to feel it It will then be but the Beginning of sorrows which will never never never End. Think o my Soul that this is the Portion of the Sinners Cup this is the wages of Sin and the certaine doom of final Impenitence and unbelief 'T is no politick Cheat or melancholy dream but the express repeated word of God and Christ the holy Prophets and Apostles and the voice of Reason too supposing but the Immortality of the soul and the power of self-Reflexion the punishment of Sinners must needs be Everlasting as carrying continually an Hell within them unless God work a miracle to prevent it which there is no ground to imagine he will or shadow of reason why he should God hath pawn'd his Truth and his Eternity Deut. 32. c. 40 41. to execute this sentence of his threatned wrath He is a God of infinite mercy 't is true but he hath told us how far his Mercy shall extend He will not exercise one Attribute to the dishonor and the disparagement of the rest That obstinate and impenitent Sinners shall thus perish is not because the Goodness and mercy of God are not infinite but because his other Perfections are so viz. His Holiness Justice Truth Soveraignty and wisdom Was it wisdom and goodness to annex such a penalty to the
violation of his law and can it be inconsistent with them to inflict his threatned wrath Shall we suppose God to uphold his dominion and government by a Falshood to keep the world in awe by the menaces of such Punishments as shall no where never be executed Is it unlikely that God should exercise so much severity and is it not as improbable that his repeated word Oath should prove fals Is it not a righteous thing with God as the Governor of the World thus to punish the obstinate Despisers of his Grace who slighted his Authority disobeyed his Law affronted his Soveraignty derided his Power denied his Truth contradicted his Holiness and joyn'd issue with the Devill to pull him from his throne who abused his Patience and Long suffering and scorned all his threatnings who thrust away their own Happiness and would not take warning who burst all his bands a sunder and broke thro all obstructions and would not be stopt in their course of vanity and folly or so much as consider their danger who rejected his calls to Repentance and refused his mercy when it was offered and prefer'd a Lust before his favor and the pleasures and profits of this world before the Heavenly Glory and notwithstanding all the methods of his Grace and the checks of his Providence and of their own Conscience they would goe on they would Dye Let me o my soul adore the Soveraign Justice of God in all his Judgments and tremble at the threatnings of that Eternal Wrath which so few consider or believe till 't is too late Let the foresight and the fear of such an intolerable endless Punishment be a means to save me from it let me herein read the Evill of sin and learn to abhorr and avoid it Let me pitty and warn and counsel and pray for those of my Relations and Acquaintance who live in sin and run the hazard of this Eternal Ruine Let me not envy the foolish Mirth and momentany Prosperity of the wicked whose present Joy must ere long expire and an Everlasting Destruction succeed in its room Job 20. c. 4.5 How short is the Joy of the Hypocrite and the Triumph of the wicked is but for a moment Let me fear and dread every thing that leads to this dismal issue and improve every thing that may help me to escape it And by consequence let me less value all the Good and Evill of this present Life judge of all things by this light be patient under Temporal Calamities and thank God that it is not Hell and thank him more that present sufferings do help to save me from Eternal ones Did I believingly consider an Everlasting Hell Qut non expergiscitur ad hac Tonitrua jam non dormit sed mortuus est S. Augustin I should not think much of any thing that is required to prevent it the severest exercises of Religion the strictest Temperance the nicâ—st Chastity the largest Charity the greatest selfdenial all the Hardships of Repentance and mortification and continuance therein to the death tho for many years more then I am like to live would be reckon'd Easy as well as Just if set in the balance against the Eternal Mischiefs of the Damned What will not men do suffer to prevent a Temporal Death They will endure a painfull course of Physick tear out their very bowells by purges and vomits and are content to be cut and scarified and to suffer any thing almost to save their lives but how little will they do to be saved from the wrath to come One would think they should have no Rest or Peace or be able to live a quiet hour till they had made some Provision against the hazard of this Eternal Destruction and look upon all men as their Friends or Enemies according to the help or hindrance they received from them in reference to it But the direct Contrary is every where apparent Men are careless and secure jovial and merry in the way that leads to Hell and esteem and love and choose that Company that will help to bring them to this place of torment Yea such is their stupidity and strange Perversness that they will not suffer to be told of their danger If you tell them that by such a course or such an Action they will lose so much money or their lives will be in in danger they reckon it an obligation will take it kindly and return you thanks But when they are told by such Courses and Actions they will lose their souls the favor of God the hopes of Heaven and must perish for ever this they will not receive they despise the message and scorn and hate the Messenger are displeased and angry at such Faithfulness O Bless the Lord o my Soul for any good hope thro Grace of escaping this Intolerable and Endless Misery And let all that is within me bless his holy Name And let me heartily compassionate the delusion of those multitudes of deceived perishing Souls whose Eyes are blinded by the God of this world who will not believe it till they are convinc't by the Light of that Fire which shall never be extinguisht Yea when I read or hear of ten or twenty thousand men slaine in a War whither of Infidels or Christians let me think of it with other apprehensions then formerly I was wont to doe Considering that many it may be the most of these shall never have any Comfort or Mercy more fearing least the same sword or Bullet that gave them their mortal wound hath fixt them under God's Everlasting Wrath and that by dying they are undone for ever In very many other cases the Faith of this Article would rectifie my opinions and direct my Actions if seriously considered and improved This would make me think of Death under another Notion then 't is commonly considered For without the consideration of Hell annexed to it it is not so very formidable but that Heathen have been able to despise it The most contrary Sects among them on different grounds have been able to do it but consider Death as a passage to Eternal misery as the Gate of Hell as the End of all Comfort to a wicked Man and the Beginning of an Endless Calamity and nothing can be imagined more dreadfull to a Guilty unholy Soul. Some of my Acquaintance it may be who dyed this last year are now among those Hopeless Despairing Wretches who expect the final Judgment of God to consummate their insupportable Misery If they were permitted to come and tell us what they suffer and what they know what a terrible consuming Fire God is what Vanity Lust and Folly brought them to this place of Torment what diligence they would advise us to while in a state of Hope to prevent the like if we have any love and kindness for our selves any bowells of Compassion to our own Souls what a change do we think it would work upon us But if we will not hear Moses
spared for his Greatness nor the mean man for his Poverty O Fool o Wretch that I am shall many then say who now brave it out in Pride and vanity unconcern'd about a future Judgment not to be persuaded by the Terrors of the Lord which I was so often warn'd and foretold of what refuge of Hope can I now flye to what can I say for my self what can I doe to escape to dye to exist no longer I would have no compassion on my own Soul I would not so much as consider its Danger I shall now find none from Christ I can expect none his Mercy is gone and gone for ever I am lost undone tormented and must Eternally be so O the amazement Horror and Despair of self condemned Sinners in that day of Vengence O my Soul what is there of greater Consequence or of greater Certainty from the word of God then that I must appear to Judgment when Christ shall come againe Lord teach me to believe it firmly to consider it often to lay it seriously to Heart to act under the influence and power of it as long as I live that at the Great Resurrection from the Dead I may lift up my head with a joyfull Hope and find the Judge to be my Friend my Advocate my Jesus and not my Enemy and Destroyer XXIII Meditations of the Glory of Christ in his Glorifyed Saints and of the thankfull Admiration of Believers when He shall come againe from Heaven which shall be continued to all ETERNITY THe Terror of our Lords Appearance to Judgment cannot be greater to the wicked then the comfort and Joy it will be to the Saints When they shall see him whom their Souls love ascend with him to Heaven and be wellcom'd according to his promise with those indearing words Matt. 25. Come the Blessed Children of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of the world 'T was for your sakes I assumed flesh lived on Earth and dyed on the crosse to purchase this Glorious Kingdom for you which I now come to give you the Possession of 'T was for this I prayed and suffered on Earth for this I interceded ever since in Heaven I was heard in that prayer accepted in those sufferings and my Intercession granted that where I am you may be also to behold my Glory Come therefore Good and Faithfull Servants enter into your Lords Joy. O what Ravishing words will thees be what an Extasy of Love and kindness is implied in them What matter of Rejoycing may it now give me to admit the Hope that my Blessed Saviout will say such words as these to me and bid me stand upon his Right Hand among his sheep O what an exulting frame of soul will such Expressions raise how shall all my doubts and fears and sorrows be scatter'd in a moment and cease for ever O Glorious Day when my Blessed Lord shall thus publickly acknowledg me for his own and plead my cause against all the accusations of Satan and the malicious Calumnies of all his Instruments when I shall be able to say of all my Sins and sufferings as my Lord upon the crosse It is Finished It is Finished My warfare being accomplisht being more then Conqueror over all thro him who loved me and dyed for me and now is come to wipe away all Tears from mine Eyes as it were with the Napkin that was bound about his Head when laid in the Grave all being the fruit of his Meritorious Death Then shall I have nothing more to fear or wish or beg I shall offend provoke and dishonour him no more or by my folly and scandal discredit his holy name and Gospell But by consummate Holiness be fitted to Rejoyce in his Presence Love and celebrate his Praise for ever I shall never more lament his Absence or complaine of his Anger never see a cloud on his Face or a Frown in his look any more Now I must wait and pray struggle and strive labor and suffer desire and expect believe and hope c. but then perfect Rest and Holiness love and joy vision and fruition bliss and glory unutterable and everlasting shall take place All the Attributes of God all the wonderfull Perfections of Christ will then be glorifyed in Believers and admired by them His invariable Truth will then be honoured which they trusted to and waited for for now they shall know and find they did not wait in vaine they hoped in his word and ventured their Salvation upon it and now they shall receive the End of their Faith and Hope infinitely beyond what they ever expected or believed The Glory of Divine Wisdom will then appear when the Constitution Administration and design of the Mediators Kingdom shall be fully known in the admirable order and beauty of every part of it with the exact tendency of all the particulars to one Glorious end and the whole undertaking crownd with so blessed an issue What is now a mystery even to Believers themselvs and hath a vail upon it shall then no longer be so all the riddles of Gods Graee and Providence be plainly understood O how transporting a view must it needs be when the Glory of all the divine Attributes which God intended to accomplish in and by Christ shall be manifest to his Redemed Saints The whole method of our Salvation will then appear to be the fruit of unscearchable Wisdom when we shall all see the reality and substance and intire scheme of all that God designed in and by him all that was typified of him and foretold concerning him in the old Testament How will it all appear to be the Manifold Wisdom of God. Ephes 3. c. 10. As in uniting Heaven and Earth together in the Person of our Mediator fullfilling the Truth of a terrible Threatning in his death by the same way accomplishing many gracious Promises Vid. Mr. Charnock of the Div. Attrib Wisdom Satisfying Justice and at the same time showing Mercy manifesting infinite Grace and kindness by shedding of bloud conquering Death by dying and disarming the Law by obedience to it c. afterwards subduing the world to the Faith of the Gospel by the foolishness of preaching making men wise to Salvation by the knowledg of the Crosse and spreading that Faith the more by all the opposition made against it c. how wonderfully will a clear view of these things discover and glorifie the Wisdom of God. But the Love and Grace of Christ the infinite Goodness and Compassion of God will then be magnified in an especial manner What but Soveraine Love in the whole Contrivance and Counsell of God about our Redemption what admirable Love and Grace in the whole management of that design what unparrallel'd kindness in the accomplishment of it by the sacrifice of the son of God and how glorious will this Love appear when he shall come againe to give us the full Harvest of all his Purchase with what admiring
the Encouragement of an Holy Hope c. and am perfuaded of the Stability of his Word and the Certainty of Eternal Life to all who continue in well-doing shall I after all this ever break with God againe shall I ever cancell this Engagement violate this my Vow and falsifie so many repeated Promises and Resolutions Oh that his Power may rest upon me and his Grace work in me both to will and to Doe that this God may be my God for ever and my Guide unto Death Let me never reassume this Gift and Surrender of my self or defraud God of his Right and Propriety His I am and Him I will serve living wholly to Him using all I have for him being willing he should do what he list with his own and consequently dispose of me and of all that any way belongs to me as shall seem Good in his Eyes I am Thine O Lord save me Command me my work apoint me my Duty direct my Station order my Condition let me be Thine tho imploid in the meanest service and the most aborious selfdenying work Tho I should be but a Doorkeeper in thine House an Hewer of Wood or a Drawer of water Tho I must pinch the flesh and swim against the Tide and renounce what before I valued yet This God shall be my God for ever By this means when I come to Dye if God should add more years to the little number I have past besides this I have now begun I may be able to say with Upright Hezekiah Remember Lord how I have walked before Thee in mine Integrity That in the face of Death and the Grave in the view of another World and the near prospect of Eternity I may be able to Reioyce in Hope and Say Lord Jesus Receive my Spirit Thou art my Saviour and I have waited for thy Salvation I have sought Thee with my whole Heart I have chosen thy Favor rather then Worldly Grandeur and Prosperity I have prized thy Love and endeavor'd to obey Thee as the best Expression of my own tho with many Imperfections which I bewail I have delighted more in thy Service and Presence then in the Pleasures of Sin and vanity thy Testimonies have been the Joy of my Heart I took no delight in the Company of the ungodly after I was devoted to Thee O let me not have my Portion with them in the other World Fortifie me now against the King of Terrors strengthen me in this my last Conflict enable me to triumph over Death by the Crosse of Christ my victorious Redeemer and carry me thro the dark valley at the divorce of Soul and Body and grant me an abundant entrance into thine heavenly Kingdom Let me be numbred among thy Chosen and my Body wait in Hope 'till the general Resurrection that I may then see thy Glory and dwell with Thee for ever By voluntary consent and Choice thou art my God and thy Presence in Heaven my ultimate Felicity I have trusted to thy Gracious Promise to prepare me for it and bring me to it O fullfill thy Word unto thy Servant wherin thou hast caued me to hope and mercifully receive my departing Soul that seeks Thee that loves Thee that breaths after Thee and desires nothing but to know Thee better and love Thee more and be more entirely conform'd to thine Image and live allways in thy B. Presence Amen Holy Father be it unto me according to thy Word thro the Merits and Intercession of my Allsufficient Saviour J. Christ the Faithfull and True Witness in whom all thy Promises are Yea and Amen XXX Thanksgiving to God for his Innumerable Benefits and Mercies particularly in the Year Past with some Direction and Advice concerning it HOw precious and delightfull are the Thoughts of thy Benefits O Lord how great is the sum of them Should I count them they are more in number then the stars Shall I not observe anâ— consider them maintaine a grateful sense of 'em and publickly acknowledg them on all occasions that I may Bless the Lord at all Times and his Prayse be continually in my mouth More especially should I conclude and begin the Year with solemn Praises to my Great Benefactor and Preserver I ought to begin and close every Day with it therby to make the outgoings of the Morning and the Evening to rejoyce in God. Every year every Day every Hour every Moment offers me an occasion to praise Him because he is every minute gracious and hath been so ever since he gave me my Being Allmost one half of my Time hath been spent in Sleep when I remember not God nor my self yet doth He who never slumbers or sleeps remember me in Mercy and watch over me for Good. Yea tho in the other half by Day I have forgotten him in a worse sense by casting off his Fear and not remembring that his Holy Eye is upon me yet hath he not forgotten to be Gracious Therfore I will Praise the name of God with a song and will magnifie him with Thanksgiving and never forget his Benefits With which Sacrifice he is better pleased then with an Oxe or Bullock that hath horns and hoofs He hath prolonged my Life this last Year when so many others of his more usefull servants have been remov'd by Death and given me farther Time and Space to Repent when multitudes have been surpriz'd in their Impenitence Yea it was He who formed me in the womb and brought me safely into the world by whose Providence I have hitherto been supplied in Him I live and move and continually exist To his undeserved Goodness I am beholding for all the Good of any kind which I ever enjo'yd to his Bounty I am indebted for all that I now have and must depend upon it for what ever I can here after exspect Thro Infancy and Childhood he was pleas'd to preserve me Psalm 69. v. 30. favouring me with many advantages in my Birth and Education prividing for me a Competent Livelyhood disposing the Circumstances of my Condition Relations Places of Abode c. more advantagiously then he hath done for Thousands affording me many helps for the Improving of my mind and the increase of Knowledg and preventing my Necessities and even my Desires with numberless Blessings which I never so much as askt for He hath caused Several of my Relations to yeild me Comfort when they might have been sore Afflictions He hath raised up Strangers to befriend me and show me kindness How many favours have I receiv'd from God by the Instrumentality of other Men to whom God gave the Will and the Power the Opportunity and the Inclination How often hath he deliver'd my Soul from Death mine Eyes from Tears and my Feet from falling by seasonable Preservations so that I do yet walk before Him in the Land of the Living He hath rescu'd me from the brink of many a Precipice which thro Ignorance or Inadvertency did not apprehend or Fear When I knew not