of these as 1. on Death because it will be a notable means 1. to make us apply our hearts unto Spiritual Wisdom Psal 90.12 2. To restrain us from sin lest Death should find us in it or presently after it As a Copy of Writing is safest from blotting when dust is cast on it so we are safest from sinning when we remember that we are but Dust Callamy 3. A notable means to quicken us to repentance an instance you have in Waldus A rich Merchant of Lyons in France who seeing one drop down dead in the streets went home repented and changed his life studied the Scriptures became a Teacher and Father of those Christians called the Waldenses or the poor Men of Lyons Therefore 2. To meditate on the great and terrible day of Judgment because it will be as a curb to restrain from sinning so a spur to quicken to duty 2 Cor. 15.9.10 11. 3. Therefore to meditate on Hell because it will be a notable means to keep us out of Hell whence one adviseth thus Descendamus viventes ut non descendamus morientes Bernard Let us often look down into it that we may never fall into it 4. Therefore to meditate on Heaven because it will make us more willing to leave Earth to go to Heaven whensoever God calls for us the reason why so few go to Heaven when they die is because they never thought of Heaven until they came to die Calamy First On DEATH In it to meditate on those things that may fit you for Death and those things that may make you willing to die First On those things that may fit you for Death as 1. that it is one of the chiefest parts of Wisdom that which God you saw wisheth to Man in a most pathettical manner Deut. 22.29 Oh that men were wise c. 2. The original procreant cause of it viz. Sin Rom. 6. last The wages of sin is death therefore as often as you are tempted to sin by the present credit profit and pleasure of it to think on the fruit of it Rom. 6.21 What fruit had you in those things whereof ye are now ashamed 3. On the certainty of it In the day that thou eatest of it in dying thou shalt die that is thou shalt most certainly die Gen. 2. Heb. 9.27 It 's appointed for all to die 4. The uncertainty of it as nothing more certain so nothing more uncertain Ut morior scio sed nescio ubi quomodo quando That I shall die I know but where how and when I know not It 's a Proverb When Health is highest Death is many times nighest 1 Thess 5.3 When men cry peace then comes sudden destruction To day the Sermon-Bell tolls to call you to Church to morrow it may be the Passing-Bell to summon you to the Grave and therfore to wait for it at all times and in all places in all manner of wayes because all things come alike to all Eccles 9.1 5. To consider to die is but once to be done and that which is but once to be done had need to be well done or we are for ever undone if this work be not done or but half done at the time of dying there 's no doing or finishing it afterwards Eccles 9.10 As the Tree falleth so it lyeth as Death leaves men so Judgment finds them Heb. 9.27 6. To meditate on the terribleness of Death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the King of Terrors Job 18.14 and needs must seeing it separates those two friends Soul and Body delivers up the Soul immediately to stand forth before the Tribunal of Christ to receive his peculiar Sentence of Damnation before the Judgment Day comes and after the Sentence to be carried by the Devils into Hell and throwes the body of the wicked into the Grave where Death gnaws upon it as upon Carrion in a Ditch puts an end to all his temporal felicity and begins his eternal misery strips him of all the comforts of this life and brings him to eternal torments 5. To meditate on the means you are to use to use to fit you for Death and they are amongst others these 1. To acquaint your selves with God and make your peace with him by Jesus Christ as Eliphas counsels Job Job 21.22 2. To get and clear up your interest in Jesus Christ who hath destroyed Death and him that had the power of Death Heb. 2.14 3. To pull out the sting of Death by Faith in the Blood of Christ and repentance for every known sin 1 John 1.7 Acts 3.19 to see that Sin die ere you die for it 's one of the terriblest threatnings in the Book of God John 8.21 If you believe not that I am He you shall die in your sins and Luke 13. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish And therefore Antequam moriaris moriantur in te vitia before thou dyest be careful to see that sin die 4. Labour to die daily as unto sin so unto the World 1 Cor. 7.29 The time is but short and the fashion of this World passeth away it 's the worst husbandry in the World to have Grace to seek when men should make use of it and the sick Bed is the worst time of all others to seek it in being then scarce able to think on any thing but Pain and Death and Hell 5. To get and clear up a Work of Grace that may entitle you to Glory or there will be nothing else able to stand by you and comfort you all things in the World without a Work of Grace will like Job's Friends prove miserable Comforters 3 John 3. Except a man be born again c. Flesh and Blood shall never inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 15. 6. Not only look to this that you have Grace but that you keep it in exercise not only that you have Lamps and Oyl in them but that you trim them against your Lord's coming Mat. 25. that is that you act and exercise your Graces especially these your Faith and Patience Heb. 6.12 your heavenly-mindedness and contempt of the World Phil. 3.20 7. That you get and keep good Consciences this will be light in darkness and life in death Prov. 14.32 The Righteous hath hope in his death 2 Cor. 1.12 This is our rejoycing in the testimony of our Consciences c. Isa 38.2 Remember how I have walkt before thee in Truth c. Lastly It was Moses's Prayer and let it be yours daily Teach us Lord so to number our dayes as we may apply our hearts unto Wisdom Psal 90. In a word Let the ends of all your thoughts be the thought of your latter end that so when you come to die you may have nothing else left to do but to die and whensoever Death comes you may bid it wellcome in the Name of Christ and when you are to die to die in charity with all in obedience to God's Call and in Faith to go to and be for ever with the
all pains and miseries and calamities and all sin which is the cause of them as sin brought Death into our bodies so Death carries sin out of the body and however these vile bodies be dissolved into dust yet they shall be raised up again at the last day and be made like unto Christ's Glorious Body Phil. 3. last 2. For the Soul It shall be no loser but a great gainer by Death and that three wayes 1. In the place it goes unto viz. from Earth unto Heaven 2. In the excellent qualities it shall be endowed withall viz. perfection in all the faculties of it as it goes to the spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12. 3. In the excellent company it goes to enjoy leaving the company of sinners here and going to enjoy the company of Saints and Angels and the ever blessed Unity in Trinity 2dly In that it cannot hurt us appears in that it can never dissolve the Union between Christ and a believing Soul but brings it to a nearer sweeter and fuller Union of a Gracious makes it a Glorious Union however it separates Soul and Body one from the other yet it cannot separate either from Jesus Christ the Soul upon Death goes immediately unto Christ in Paradise and Christ goes down with the Body into the Grave where it sweetly rests as in its Bed in the Arms of Jesus Christ until the morning of the Resurrection of the Just Isa 57.2 1. It can never break the Covenant of Grace between God and the Soul for it 's an everlasting Covenant Gen. 17. And he hath not only promised to be their God unto Death but after Death and to all eternity 2. It can never untie the Marriage-Knot between Christ and his Spouse for he hath betrothed her unto himself for ever Hos 2. And whom he loves he loves to the end John 13.1 even with an everlasting love Jeremiah 31.3 3. It can never reverse those grants of Grace that God hath vouchsafed his as the grants of Reconciliation Justification Adoption Sanctification Salvation for the Gifts and Callings of God are without repentance Rev. 11.29 3dly As it is no way able to hurt you so it will every way do you good Though it be the last enemy that shall be destroyed yet of an enemy it shall be made a friend and the best friend that ever you had How so Why because Jesus Christ by undergoing Death and lying in the Grave he hath altered the nature both of Death and the Grave Death of a King of Terrors it made a Prince of Peace of a passage to eternal Death made a passage to eternal Life unto all that do believe the Grave that is a loathsome Dungeon to the wicked is made a sweet resting-place to the Saints That you may the more clearly and fully see the good will come to you by Death and so be made the more willing to it and chearfully resign your Spirit into the hands of God when he calls for it take serious notice of these ten following Particulars 1. Death is no Death to a true Believer It 's not his last day but the beginning of an everlasting day 2. Your dying day will not be your worst day but your best day better is the day of a mans Death then the day of his Birth saith Solomon Eccles 7.1 it being the egress of all misery and the ingress of eternal felicity 3. A Christians dying day it will be his enlarging day when he shall be set at liberty out of the Prison of the Body and brought home to his Fathers House 2 Cor. 5.8 It is but as Christ stiles it His departing and going to the Father John 13.1 4. A Christians dying day will be his resting day wherein he shall rest from all sinning sorrowing suffering from all temptations corruptions vexations Job 3.17 And who desires not rest 5. His dying day will be his reaping day having sown here in Tears he shall reap in Joy reap the fruit of all the Sermons they have heard all the Prayers they have made all the Tears they have shed all the Sighs and Groans they have uttered all the good Thoughts they have had all the good Words they have spoken all the good Works they have done all the Evils they have suffered and all they have forgotten to do and suffer Mat. 25.34 When saw we thee an hungry and fed thee not c. Then Christ will remember them and say In that you did it unto them ye did it unto me Yea there is not the least good work that any have done for any of his but it shall be remembred and rewarded even to a cup of cold Water Mat. 10. last 6. A Christians dying day will be his conquering and tryumphing day over all his Enemies Sin Satan and the World Death and Hell here we are in a continual warfare there 's not a day hour or moment wherein we can rest either from corruption within or temptation without but then there shall be an end of all then we shall tryumph over all in the words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.55 Oh Death where 's now thy sting c. 7. A Christians dying day will be his transplanting day from Earth to Heaven from Misery to Glory from a Valley of Tears to a Valley of blessed Visions from a howling Wilderness to a heavenly Paradise It is no other then a straight Gate to a Pallace of Glory a dark Entry to the Inheritance of the Saints in Light And oh Who would not be willing to exchange a Sodom for Sion an Egypt for Canaan Misery for Glory 8. A Christians dying day it 's his uncloathing day of a body of Sin and Death and the cloathing him with his House from Heaven his putting off his old Rags of Sin and Corruption and his putting on of the White Robe of Christ's Righteousness and with it the Robe of Glory 9. A Christians dying day it 's his marriage day with the Lamb the King of Saints and if the day of a Believers espousals be so sweet how sweet will the marriage day be Rev. 19.7 10. A Christians dying day will be his corronation day wherein Christ will crown all those that love his appearance with the Crown of Righteousness 2 Tim. 4.8 where they shall be still following the Lamb with Crowns on their Heads and Palms in their Hands and tryumphant Songs in their Mouths Rev. 5.11 12 13. Mix these Meditations with Faith and Prayer and you will find them mighty through God not only to make you willing but even long with the Apostle to be dissolv'd and be with Christ which is best of all Phil. 1.23 Amen and Amen Secondly That which follows DEATH is JUDGMENT Sect. 6. In and about the Judgment Day to take notice of and meditate seriously on these things 1. The Certainty 2. The Uncertainty 3. The near approach of it 4. The great solemnity of it 5. The universality of the Persons to be judged 6. The impartiality of it
over the Creatures he that was Superiour to all was made inferiour to all Psal 49.20 Isai 1.3 Jer. 8.7 The Prophet puts them to School to all to learn of the Creatures 4. As Man lost his preheminence so his authority over all he that was Lord over all became a Slave to all who instead of serving Man rebels against Man labours to pick out his Eys Pro. 30.17 to eat his Flesh and lap up his Blood 2 King 9.36 Sixthly Man lost his liberty by Creation he was a free Denizen and Citizen of the World all at his command but presently after the Fall became a Slave and was in Bondage to all the Devil the World and the Flesh 1. To the Devil taken and carried Captive by him to do his pleasure 2 Tim. 2 last Eph. 2.2 2. To the World so as to be drawn aside from that which is good and drawn into evil by the baits and allurements of it on the one hand and the menaces and persecutions of it on the other 1 Epist Joh. 4.5 whence that of James 4.4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses c. and 1 John 2.15 3. To the Flesh to do whatsoever it shall suggest for the gaining and retaining of honour and profit and pleasure Rom. 6.16 John 8.34 2 Pet. 2.19 and in this slavery and bondage all Men and Women are by nature and that not unwillingly and grudgingly but readily and cheerfully and with the greatest delight so far from being desirous to be brought out of it as they account those their greatest Enemies that would endeavour to bring them out of it Jer. 18. There is no hope but we will walk every â—ne after the imagination of our own hearts Jer. 43.1 2 3. Jer. 44.16 17. Thus you see the greatness of the punishment of loss Et heu quantum mutatus ab illo How much is Man alter'd from his first estate Tristis Lacrymosa commutatio a most sad and lamentable change you see from favour to wrath from fellowship to banishment instead of the Image of God the image of sin and Satan for glory misery for dignity infamy for dominion subjection for liberty slavery Secondly For the Positive part of punishment or the punishment of Sense that followed the fall upon every Son and Daughter of Adam and that was the curse of God Gal. 3.10 and what is this curse but the infinite and unsupportable wrath of God and all manner of Plagues Judgments and Miseries in Life at Death and after Death 1. In this life in Soul and Body in Name and Estate 1. In Soul blindness of mind hardness of heart Isai 6.9 a reprobate sense Rom. 1.23.26 strong delusions 2 Thes 2.11 horrors of conscience Isai 65.13 seconded with Hellish despair and blasphemy as in Cain Saul Judas 2. In Body all manner of aches sicknesses diseases Deut. 28.21 to the end 3. In name infamy shame reproach Deut. 28. â—â— 37. 4. In Estate losses crosses curses in getting cares in keeping fears in losing sorrows and that many times unto death Deut 28.16 Jer. 12.13 Mal. 2.2 I will curse your blessings yea I have curst them already Secondly In the end of this life death the King of terrors Rom. 5.12 Rom. 6. last Job 18.14 Thirdly After this life if men die in their sins impenitentâ—â— 1. As soon as the Soul is separated from the Body it is immediately carried by the Devil into Hell Luke 12.20 and there kept in Prison till the Day of Judgment 1 Pet. 3.19 the Body thrown into the Grave where Death gnaws upon it as upon Carrion in a ditch with the mouth full of Earth and the Belly full of Worms and the Carkass full of stinch 2. At the Day of Judgment by the Almighty Power of the Lord Jesus Christ the Supream Judg of Heaven and Earth the Soul is brought out of Hell and the Body out of the Grave out of which as soon as it begins to peep it shall behold the whole World on Fire about its Ears Christ on his Throne of Glory the Saints whom they derided and persecuted taken up into the Clouds to be assessors with Christ in Judgment upon the wicked World whil'st they with the Devils are left below to stand forth before the Tribunal of Christ and hear that dreadful Sentence Depart ye cursed into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels wherein every word is a Hell before they come to Hell 3. After the Sentence is past all wicked Reprobates shall be thrust away from the Judgment Seat of Christ and thrown into Hell with the Devils there to lie and fry and cry under easless endless and remediless torments And thus much of the cursed state of man by transgression and the things to be meditated on in it That your meditation on them may be the more effectual to cause you speedily to hye out of it 1. Beg the Spirit of God to convince you thorowly of the truth of it it being no other than what God hath spoken in his Word and we find by bitter experience 2. Labour to be truly sensible of and deeply humbled under the fight and sense of it so as to give no rest to your selves until that you are brought out of it for the promises of mercy run only unto such Mat. 9.13 Luke 19.10 Mat. 11.29 And that you may be truly sensible of and effectually humbled under it beg the Spirit of God to prick your hearts with the consideration of it as he did those Converts Acts 2.37 and tremble to stay a moment in your unregenerate estate as the Jaylor Acts 16. when Paul had preacht unto him 4. Be willing to receive Jesus Christ on his own terms not only as your Jesus but your Lord and Christ John 1.12 Rom. 13. end Lastly Hearken to that Counsel of your Lord and Saviour Mark 1.15 Repent and believe the Gospel and then his promise is to receive all and cast away no one Soul that comes to him and rests upon him for Conversion and Salvation Joh 6 37. Amen Sect. 3. The third state of Man is his gracious state by Regeneration and here to take notice of and meditate on these things First The free and unsearchable love of God to us in it 2. The nature of it what it is and wherein it consists 3. The differences of true grace from false grace from restraining grace 4. Degrees of true sanctifying grace 5. The signs of it 6. The priviledges of such as have it 7. The motives to it 8. The means for the maintaining encreasing and persevering in it First For the free unsearchable love and grace of God to his in not leaving his Elect in their fallen cursed condition but in his appointed time effectually calling all such as belong unto his Election of grace out of a state of nature into a state of grace God might have for ever passed by fallen Man-kind as well as he did the fallen Angels though he lookt in mercy upon some he might have passed
Lord. Secondly To meditate on such things as may not only fit and prepare you for death but meditate on such things as may make you willing to die and help you to die comfortably What are they Mind here well for they are of special use to you As first 1. The certainty of another and a better life after this nothing so sure as that by what you have seen already by the testimony of Scripture and many weighty grounds of it in your meditations on the Life of Glory 2. Meditate on the evidences you have of an interest in that better Life of Glory as your interest in God in Christ in the Spirit and in the Graces of the Spirit as your effectual Vocation Justification Adoption Sanctification and those Graces unto which 't is promised as Saving Sanctifying Knowledge Faith Repentance Obedience love to the Saints the Truth sincerity and uprightness of your heart in all to which you may see it frequently promised Psal 84. to the end Psal 37. v. 37. Isa 57.2 Thirdly To meditate on the many and weighty grounds God hath given to encourage your Faith and strengthen your Patience and cause both to have their perfect work 1. To encourage your Faith as 1. his immutable decree 2 Tim. 2.19 2. His unchangeable Love Jer. 31.3 3. His everlasting Covenant Jer. 32.39 4. His continual Intercession Heb. 7.25 5. His almighty Power to keep them through Faith unto Salvation 2 Pet. 1.4 however we should let go our Faith yet he will hold it fast by his Spirit 2. The grounds to strengthen our Patience 1. It 's a Lord whose Will cannot be resisted a Father who ought readily to be obeyed a wise Father who knows what is better for his Children then they do for themselves a pittiful tender-hearted Father that is afflicted in all the afflictions of his that will not afflict his too much because he knows whereof they are made that they are but Dust nor too long lest the Spirit faint and the Soul which he hath made a Father from whom they have received all the good they have had and therefore to be contented to receive a little evil and the rather because it is in order to their spiritual and eternal good Rom. 8.2 Ah! but the pains of my Body are great and the pangs of Death are bitter but to quiet your spirits under these Consider 1. That the pangs of Death are sometimes less then the pains they feel before as to Mr. Bolton who said to his Friend that askt him How it was with him when the pangs of death were upon him He said to him Your cold hand is the greatest pain I feel in his Epistle to the Four last Things 2. You are content to undergoe a great deal of pain here for a little gain how much more should you for an eternal gain These pains are but like the throwes in Travail to bring forth eternal Life 3. Whatsoever your pains and sufferings are they are little or nothing to those your sins made Christ to suffer and that many of his dear and precious Saints have and do suffer and to those eternal sufferings Christ hath redeemed you from and that exceeding excessive and eternal weight of glory that will follow your sufferings 2 Cor. 4.17 Fourthly To meditate on the many and great evils that Death will free you from as 1. from a body of Sin and Death that is still inclining you to evil and indisposing you to good still dulling deading and distracting you in all the services you do 2. From a wicked World wherein continually we see and hear what doth and should more vex our souls 2 Pet. 2. 3. From the dissention of Brethren who are continually undermining the credit and comfort one of another which made Melancton so willing to die when a Friend of his askt him how it was with him and whether he were willing to die He answered Oh yes Not only that he might be freed from a body of Sin and Death and a wicked World but from the dissention of Brethren and go there where all shall be perfected in love 4. From a malicious Devil that is still tempting us to evil and discouraging us from all that is good walking up and down like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5. In a word from all Labours Pains Fears Doubts Sorrows Sufferings Rev. 14.13 Rev. 21.4 Death will perfectly cure you of all Diseases Corporeal and Spiritual at once both an aking Head and an unbelieving Heart a sickly Body and a distemper'd Spirit the best Physitian that ever you met with Fifthly To meditate on the many and great benefits Death will help you to as that glorious Place Company Imployment Priviledges you saw before in the Life of Glory the continual Presence of God the blessed Vision of God the immediate perfect and everlasting communion with God perfection of Holiness fulness of Joy and an everlasting Sabbath Sixthly To consider the evil of being unwilling to die By this Christians manifest too much ignorance unbelief hypocrisie love to the World senslesness of the body of Sin and Death that World of wickedness they live in and hereby procure more disquiet to their Spirits and hasten Death the sooner upon them besides the great unreasonableness of it that when God should be so willing of their company they should be so unwilling of his and when Christ should be content to leave Heaven and to come to Earth for them they should be unwilling to leave Earth to go to Heaven that they might enjoy him and know and profess it to be best of all to be with Jesus Christ Seventhly To meditate on the good of being willing to die Hereby you will make a vertue of necessity seeing you cannot put it off therefore you will voluntarily yeeld to it hereby you will manifest your hatred of sin contempt of the World Faith in God's Promises Love to God desire of immediate Communion with him honour your Christian Profession and make Death the less terrible to you Eighthly and Lastly Consider what the Apostle sayes 1 Cor. 13. to the end Death is yours Yours no way to hurt you but every way to do you good 1. No way to hurt you because however it be a Serpent yet 't is a Serpent without a sting by stinging of Jesus Christ to death it lost its sting so that though it may hiss yet it cannot hurt however the Devil brought Jesus Christ unto the Cross unto Death unto the Grave yet therein Jesus Christ out-shot the Devil in his own Bow spoiled Principalities and Powers and made a shew of it openly tryumphing over them on the Cross Col. 2.15 And that it can no way hurt you appears further by these Particulars 1. In that it is not the destruction or annihilation either of Soul or Body but onely the alteration and change of their condition for the better As for instance 1. In the Body The Body by Death is freed from
I am Jehovah that made all things and Rom. 11. last Of him and through him and for him are all things and Acts 17.28 3. That it is he also that doth and will give a beeing to all his words Exod. 3.15 This is his memorial to all Ages i. e. of his truth and faithfulness in all Ages Exod. 6 3. Where he saith to Moses that he appeared to Abraham Isaac and Jacob by the Name of All-mighty but by the Name of Jehovah I was not known to them i. e. in making good his promise of delivering them out of Aegypt and bringing them into Canaan Now that which you are here seriously to meditate on is this the wonderful and condescending grace of God to us his poor worthless Creatures he being Jehovah having his beeing in and of and from himself might for ever have delighted himself in himself but being goodness it self would communicate it in giving a beeing to thiâ— glorious Fabrick of Heaven and Earth and all that have any beeing in it the serious meditation of this must needs affect our hearts with love to him and delight in him that he who had no need of us should give a beeing to us that he who is so high and holy above us should humble himself to have respect unto us and have such precious thoughts and purposes concerning our temporal and Eternal well-being this should make us break out in admiration and say with Job and David Oh Lord what is man that thou shouldst take notice of him make such account of him set thy heart upon him and so magnifie him as not only to make a World for him but have such precious thoughts of love to him respecting both his temporal and Eternal welfare to take him into communion with thy self here in grace and promise him immediate communion with thy self in glory Sect 2. On the Attributes of God and here take notice of these things 1. What they are 2. The kinds of them 3. The benefit of a serious meditation on them 4. The Reasons why we should have such a serious meditation on them 5. The evidences of our interest in them 1. What the Attributes of God are sc Certain Essential properties of God whereby he is pleased to make himself known unto us who otherwise cannot come to know him Exod. 3. ult otherwise called back-parts not that God hath any back-part or fore-part but because we can only have an imperfect knowledge of him as we have of a man when we see him only by his Back we may guess at him that it is such an One but we cannot say expresly it is He unless we saw his Face 2. For the Kinds of Attributes they are either Incommunicable or Communicable 1. Incommunicable are such as are proper to himself and not to be found in the Creature as these 1 His Eternity Psal 90.2 2 His Omnipresence Jer. 23.33 3 His Omnisciency 2 King 8.39 4 His Omnipotency Gen. 17.1 5 His Immutability James 1.17 2. His Communicable Attributes are such as are found in the Creature as 1. His wisdom 1 Tim. 1.17 2 His holiness Isa 6.3 3 His faithfulness Psal 91.1 4 His loving kindness Psal 26.7 5 His goodness Psal 31.19 6 His Justice Zeph. 3.5 7 His Mercy Exod. 34.6 Q. Are these in Men as they are in God Ans No there is a double difference 1. In men they are only qualities in God they are his very Essence It 's an Axiom in Divinity Quicquid est in Deo est Deus Whatsoever is in God is God In the Creature they are only in the Concrete but in God in the Abstract God is not only loving but God is love 1 Epist. John 4.16 2 In the Creature they are imperfect but in some degrees but in God they are perfect in their full degrees He is so just and so merciful as he cannot be more 3. Take notice of the great Benefit that will come by a serious Meditation on those Attributes To help you in it 1. A serious Meditation on God's Eternity will be effectual to keep us from minding affecting and pursuing too much these terrestrial things which perish in the using and quicken us to get an interest in an Eternal God that will abide with us for ever who is able to make us Eternally miserable or Eternally happy to reward us with Eternal Life or to punish uâ— with Eternal Death Math. 25. last 2. The serious meditation of God's Omnipresence will be effectual to keep us from sinning because of secresie remembring though there be none else present God is present though there be no eye or ear of the Creatures yet there is the All-seeing Eye and the All-hearing Ear of God This influence you may finde it had upon Joseph Gen. 39.9 and Job 31.1 4. and David Psal 139.1 and will upon us if there be any fear of God before our eyes The Eye and Ear of a Magistrate and Minister and a Holy-man hath usually authority upon the worst of men to restrain from sining how much more should the all-discerning Presencâ— of God 3. The serious meditation of God's Omnisciency or knowledge of all things even thâ— most secret thoughts and ends and aims of meâ— in all they think and speak and do will be an effectual means to keep men from playing the Hypocrites with God and Men being he is Omniscient and knoweth the most secret intentions 〈◊〉 Men searcheth the Heart and trieth the Reinâ— to render to every one according to their Workâ— Jer. 17.9 So that however we may deceive meâ— and our own Souls yet we cannot God as Gal. 6. â— Which made the Church to take heed of it Psal 44.19 and Peter to approve his heart to Châ—â—â—â— in the profession he made of love to him Job 21.17 4. A serious meditation on his Omnipotency will be an effectual means to keep us from immoderate fearing and doubting fainting and sinking in times of straights and distresses seeing it is all one to him to help and relieve in the absence as well as the presence of means by weak as well as strong means yea without means and contrary unto means and will do it whil'st he hath any work for us to do This was it that supported and comforted David 1 Sam. 30.6 and Jehoshaphat 2 Chron. 20.12 and the three Children Dan. 3.16 And so will it us if we will act saith in it remembring there is help with God when vain is the help of the Creature Nothing impossible to God Luke 1. 5. A serious meditation on God's Immutability that will be an effectual means to keep us from despondency and questioning of his love when he seems to hide his Face considering that he is Jehovah that changeth not Mal. 3.6 The same yesterday to day and for ever Heb. 13.8 unchangeable in his love and grace and mercy to his And therefore though we are to be humbled under every sin even the least yet not to question God's love because of any even the greatest