multiplicity of Lusts and Sins insnared with passions amazed with fears divided between cares and impertinencies wearied with labours loaden with diseases afflicted with want evil spoken of with and without a cause I have had many disappointments and losses been unfortunate in my Friends and Relatives and which is worst of all I have been daily harrassed with many impetuous Lusts and Temptations My sins have prevailed against me I have displeased my God and wounded my own Conscience interrupted my hopes of Heaven and am continually tormented with evil and wicked inclinations I find still a Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind and bringing me into Captivity to the Lavv of Sin and Death Those things vvhich I vvould do I cannot do but those things that I would not do those I do O Wretched Man that I am Who shall deliver me from this Body of Sin and Death that I carry about me I am afraid lest my Faith should fail lest having received the Grace of God and tasted of the heavenly Powers I should again be entangled by the Snares of my old beloved Lusts and so forfeit all my right to Heaven lose the Reward of all my strict and circumspect Walking and not continue faithful unto Death But O my Soul there is something the remembrance of which alleviates my grief and sweetens this bitter Cup These my sorrows will not last long a few years are the most and they will suddenly come and then I shall go the way whence I shall not return I shall then cease to grieve any more cease to sorrow cease to fear and cease to sin any more for ever All tears shall then be wiped away from mine Eyes and there shall be no more Sickness nor Sorrow nor Death nor Crying nor Pain I shall then have perfect rest and joy peace and quietness without any interruption for in his presence is fulness of joy and at his right hand are pleasures for evermore Though the way be foul and troublesome yet the Journey is but short and the end will be pleasant and peaceable and this consideration shall make me go cheerfully away with my present burthen for when a few years are come then I shall go the way whence I shall not return Meditations before or at Dinner or Supper 1. VVHen you see the Table spread Meditate on Gods Fatherly goodness and providence towards all his Creatures what vast infinite numbers there are and yet he carefully as a loving Father for his Children provides for them all their Meat in due season 2. Meditate how much more gracicious God is to thee who hath richly furnished thy Table and prepared these his good Creatures for thee without any great care or trouble of thine whereas there are many thousands in the World far better than thy self who are sentenced to a necessitous Condition and are enforced daily to tug at the Oar to delve in the Dirt to wash their Faces and bathe their Bodies in their own Sweat and yet for all this must be content at last with course Fare and hungry Stomachs 3. Meditate that every Creature of God is good if it be received with Thanksgiving and that it is sanctified by the Word of God and by Prayer and therefore resolve always to implore his blessing on the same in the first place 4. Meditate that several of Gods Creatures lose their lives to preserve thine whose Nature have as great a repugnancy to Annihilation as thy own and as thou now feedest on them so the Worms shall shortly feed on thee and let this excite thee to be temperate in the use of them and so to eat and drink as may the better dispose thee for any service of God thy Neighbour or thy self Let not the daintiness of the Cheer tempt thee to Luxury remembring that it is the greater Vertue to abstain when there is the greater Temptation 5. Lastly Meditate that God who filleth things living with his goodness expects no other return but praise and thanksgiving therefore when thou hast eaten and art full have a care that thou forget not to pay him that so easie Tribute Occasional Meditations Vpon the sight of a Dying Friend IT was not many days since that we had sweet Commerce together and our Conversation was dear to each other we frollick'd it till the Night parted us and then our separation was as the shadow of Death We thought the Nights tedious and the Days long till we should be again happy in each others Embraces but â—o how soon the Scene is altered my Friend is arrested by a fatal Disease and is just expiring his last Breath I came to comfort him and to receive Comfort and Satisfaction from him but alass all that is left me to do now is to be only a witness of his dying groans to close his Eyes and to receive his departing Breath Those Arms that used to hug and imbrace me at our first Meetings are now become so weak and languid that he cannot shake hands at parting nor lift them up unto his Maker That Tongue that was formerly the Conduit of Eloquence and Charm'd all that heard him by its sweet and mellifluous Expressions into a sensible but silent admiration is now become mute and speechless that he cannot as much as take his Vltimum Vale or bid me farewell at parting Those Ears that were heretofore delighted with pleasant Discourse and melodious Sonnets are now become thick of hearing and cannot distinguish between the soft murmurs of some and the louder cries of other his mournful Friends nor can admit of the least comfortable Advice in this his greatest extremity His Eyes sometimes so sparkling and sprightly that they would not suffer the most minute Object to pass their Advertency are now become so dull and heavy that they can scarce peep out of their Casements to behold the most glorious Object nay not so much as to salute that Heaven which he is just going to be the possessor of That countenance which a few days since was so amiable and pleasant as to attract the Eyes as well as raise the Envy of all beholders is now so pallid and ghastly and his Cheeks so bedewed with Cold Sweats that his dearest Friends and Relations draw the Curtains about him that they may not contemplate his grim Visage In a word his brother Body the Receptacle of his Divine Soul and partner with her in all her Actions which till now kept an indissoluble Relation with it is turning into Dust and says to the Grave Thou art my Father and to the Worms my Mother and my Sister Job 17.13 Good God how great a change is this in so short a span of time This shall teach me to put a very slight estimate on all the imperfect Perfections of this World and to seek after those things which alone are truly valuable This shall teach me also to think often of my latter end and all the days of my appointed time to wait until
certainly if we are dutiful Children we shall not suffer the remembrance of them to be buried in ungrateful silence but as the Heart will be filled with the sense so will the mouth with the acknowledgment of his Mercies Who can express the noble Acts of the Lord or shew forth all his praise Psal 106.2 Oh how great is the Sum of them If we tell them they are more in number than the Sand Psal 139.17 18. Praise the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me praise his Holy Name Praise the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his benefits 3. And is God so merciful Then this O my Soul should teach thee humility and to have low thoughts of thy self If thou wert not miserable thou hadst no need of Mercy If thou wert righteous 't were but justice to receive good from the hands of God not mercy Every particular blessing I enjoy is the fruit and effect of the mercy of God and ought to each me a Lesson of Humility Many Stripes many Judgments indeed have I deserved but I must confess with holy Jacob That I am not worthy of the least of all his Mercies Gen. 32.10 4. Is God a God of such infinite Mercies This then should teach thee O my Soul in all thy difficulties and distresses in all thy wants and necessities to have recourse unto him to rest and depend upon him The Angel of the Lord saith holy David tarrieth round about them that fear him Psal 34.7 and delivereth them And Psal 34.22 The Lord delivereth the Souls of his Saints and all that put their trust in him shall not be destitute And as in temporal dangers so in temporal wants we must cast all our care upon him for he careth for us 1 Pet. 5.7 They that fear the Lordlack nothing Psal 34.9 and v. the 10. They that seek the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good God is a God all-sufficient and able to help me in my greatest necessities He is a God rich in Mercy and will not suffer me to want therefore I will cast my burden upon him I will put my trust in him 5. Is God so Merciful This should teach me to fear him This may perhaps seem strange What shall I fear him because of his Mercifulness I have great reason to trust him indeed and to love him but shall I fear him for it Yes certainly we ought to fear him even for his Mercy There is forgiveness with thee saith David therefore thou may'st be feared Psal 130.4 and 67. ult God shall bless us and all the ends of the Earth shall fear him Though he forgives though he blesses though he shews us mercy yet we must fear him Yea I must needs say that of all Gods Attributes Mercy is the dreadfullest for where-ever his Mercy lights and is neglected or returns empty without answering Gods Designs he will certainly recompense his abused Mercy with double Severity Laesa patientia furor fit 6. Is God thus Merciful This should teach us to imitate his Mercy by being merciful to our poor necessitous Brethren Let us imitate it in its universality it is over all his works Who is there under the Sun that hath not tasted of it in its reality He giveth liberally and upbraideth not It is far from God to do any thing seemingly 't is not enough to profess Compassion and to say as those in St. James ch 2.16 Depart in peace be ye warmed be ye filled and yet give nothing to cloath or to feed them But thou shall do according to the Precept in Deuteronomy ch 15.10 Thou shalt surely give him and thy heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him And to encourage thee take Gods own promise annex'd to it Because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy Works and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto Thus we must imitate God in being merciful unto all and in being really merciful All our acts of mercy to our poor Brethren Christ takes as done to him Matth. 25.40 In as much as ye have done it unto the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me The miseries of my Brethren are my own miseries and therfore your mercies to them are in a sense mercies to me Lastly Is God thus merciful This should teach thee O my Soul to be continually praising him for his Mercies Praise is a Duty incumbent on all the Sons of Men because that all have tasted of his goodness and his mercy Give the Lord saith David the honour due unto his Name Psal 29.2 Shewing that it is not an arbritrary or voluntary act but a just debt which we owe to God God not only supplieth but even daily loadeth us with his benefits as the Psalmist observes and as he expects no other so we can make no other retribution unto him but our Praises and Thanksgivings O let us never then defraud him of that so easie Tribute but let our Hearts be continually filled with the sense and our Mouths with the acknowledgment of his Mercies We confess O Lord that we are not worthy of the least of all thy Mercies and therefore the less we deserve them the more thou deservest our Praises O let us not by our ingratitude provoke thee to discontinue thy Mercies or to shut up thy tender Mercies in displeasure and so teach us to value them by making us feel the want of them Alelujah Of the certainty of Death and Judgment Hebrew 9.27 And as it it appointed unto Men once to die but after this the Judgment GOD at first Created Man in a state of Innocency and appointed him Laws to observe and gave him withal a power to keep them and to the keeping of which he annexed the continuation of a happy life and immunity from death and lest his credulous Nature might be too easily imposed upon to his own and his posterities ruin lest the ties of Love and promise of a Reward were not strong enough to bind him to his Duty and Allegiance God was pleased to hedg in his way with a denunciation of threatnings and judgments in case he should any way disobey those Laws set and tells him Gen. 2.17 In the day that thou eatest thereof transgressest my commands for I have told thee positively thou shalt not eat of it thou shalt surely die but Man degenerate Man soon cast off his primitive Innocence violates those Laws and thereby renders himself and all his posterity obnoxious to that Judgment of Death before threatned And now God ratifies his former denunciation establishes it by a perpetual Decree That unto dust he shall return Gen. 3.19 So that now we see whence Death had its first beginning Rom. 5.12 It is but the product and birth of Sin Sin having once conceived never prove abortive but brings forth Death James 1.15 It is now appointed unto Men once to die and as certain as the Decree of God is
Man shall seriously consider That though he now gives himself the full swing and liberty of his unlawful pleasures and desires and denies himself nothing that his depraved Appetite can crave or suggest unto him yet these are but fleeting and momentany That when a few years are come he shall be taken from them and go the way whence he shall not return this will certainly imbitter his false joys and lay some restraint upon him in the Career of all his Sensual Delights On the other side when a good and holy Man shall consider that although in the ways of Vertue and Holiness he meets with many straits and difficulties he hath many fears and troubles within many trials and temptations without yet these will not continue long when a few years are come he shall be free'd from them all he shall go the way whence he shall not return This certainly will encourage him to persevere and to continue faithful unto Death This was that which afforded holy Job so much comfort in the midst of all his Afflictions He was in a very miserable Condition under the power of Sathan's Malice full of noisome Boils and grievous Pains laughed at and mocked by his cruel Enemies nay reproached and contemned by his nearest Friends as you may see a Catalogue of his Sufferings from verse the ninth to the 17th yet he still maintains his Integrity with the considerations of the shortness of his life and consequently of the duration of his afflictions saying When a few years are come then I shall go the way whence I shall not return from the words we may collect 1. The certainty of Death When a few years are come then I shall go the way c. 2. The uncertainty of the time of it When a few years are come The Prophet leaves it in indefinite he doth not say Such a number of years or in such a year I shall die but when a few years are come c. 3. The brevity of Mans Life Thought he mentions years yet they are but few When a few years c. 1. The certainty of Death St. Paul tells us Heb. 9.27 That it is appointed unto Men once to die and this Royal Decree of Heaven is like that of the Medes and Persians irreversible had Man continued in his primitive Innocence he should not indeed have died but when once Man put off that white Robe he became immediately obnoxious unto Death and God tells him Gen. 3. Dust thou art and to Dust shalt thou return The wages of sin is Death As certainly as we live so certainly shall we die Neither the Majesty of the Prince nor the meanness of the Peasant the Wealth of the rich Man nor the Poverty of the Poor The strength of the Mighty nor the holiness of the Pious can exempt from Death so that I may take up that Interrogation of the Prophet What Man is he that liveth and shall not see Death 2. The uncertainty of the time of it Astrologers by Calculating Nativities have pretended to foretell the Deaths of others as well as themselves but have seldom ever hit right in either and have been miserably deceived Our times are in God's hand This is one of the Arcana Imperis those incommunicative prerogatives God keeps to himself and dare any Mortal be so bold as to pretend to it God hath said that he comes as a thief in the Night and hath bid us Watch That of the hour and the season knoweth no Man and yet shall we say that we have any certainty of his coming Do we not see how many are daily snatch'd away by a sudden and untimely Death And yet shall we boast our selves of too morrow Infancy Childhood Youth Manhood and Ripeness of years can no more plead Exemption from Death than old Age so that you see how uncertain the time of it is 3. The brevity of Mans Life David observed that the days of our Age are Threescore years and ten and at most but fourscore and if we wade through many thousand Accidents and at last arrive to that Age it is still but short with respect to Eternity and we spend our years as a Tale that is told scarcely remembring when or where we began But it is not one of many thousands whose Lamp burn thus long to its lowest Basis but either the Oyl is consumed or a puff of wind hath blown it out long before What is our life saith St. James It is even a vapour that continueth but a little while and then vanisheth away David compares it to sleep which lasteth but for a Night to Grass which in the Morning is green and groweth up but in the Evening is cut down dried up and withered Lucian calls it a Bubble which by the next breath of wind vanisheth into Air. Homer a Leaf which if it be not gathered by the hand or eaten by a Worm or forced by the wind will wither and fall of its own accord at Autumn Pindar the Dream of a shadow what more vain unconstant short liv'd things than these Yet such is the Life of Man Well then might Job say When a few years are come then I shall go the way whence I shall not return From the words we may gather these four Corollaries or Observations 1. From the Example of this holy Man I learn that we ought to think of Death before it comes When a few years are come then I shall go the way c. 2. That we ought not only to think of Death in general but of our own Death in particular I shall go the way whence I shall not return 3. That it is the highest piece of Prudence to prepare for it before it comes because that after Death we shall not be able to return to amend or rectifie the deficiency of our former preparations I shall go the way whence I shall not return 4ly and Lastly That to a pious and innocent Soul the consideration of Death and never returning again to a troublesome and sinful Life is matter of great joy and comfort When a few years are come then I shall go the way whence I shall not return 1. As to the first That we ought from the Example of holy Job to think of Death before it comes There is nothing so much discomposes a Man or unfits him for the due Exercise of his Reason and Prudence in the conduct of any weighty Affair as to be surprized suddenly and without his expectation Even a sudden and profuse joy as well as an immoderate and unlook'd for grief hath cut off the thred of the lives of many What disorder and discomposure then will a sudden Arrest from Death make in the heart of that Man that never as much as thought on or looked for it before hand How will it amaze or distract him And turn all his Senses into Confusion If a Man had only one thing of great moment to do in his whole Life upon the success of which depended
either his happiness or misery we should count him certainly the most stupid and careless Fool that should not as much as think and consider of it and contrive all ways possible before hand how he might succeed in it You have seen already that Death is certain and upon our dying depends our Eternal Salvation or Eternal Damnation how insensible must we then be if we are not often in the time of our life and health taken up with some serious thoughts and contemplations of it 2. That we ought not only to think of Death in general but of our own death in particular I shall go the way whence I shall not return Death is a general term and if it touch not us or our Family our Friends or Relations we are as unconcern'd as to hear of a Sickness or Mortality beyond the Seas in which we are like to be no fellow sufferers or sharers We can read every Week the Bills of Mortality and hear of this and the other great Person dead nay we can take many turns in the Church and Yard and walk over the Graves of our deceased Friends and yet be as unmoved and unsensible of our own change as the Stones we walk upon But Alass Do we think that our selves alone are Immortal That we only shall have an Exemption from Death Shall not the Passing Bell at length Toll for us and shall it not at length be said in the Streets That such a one is dead Yes certainly when a few years perhaps weeks or days are come then thou in particular shalt go the way whence thou shalt not return O then think of Death before it comes and of thy own death in particular say thus within thy self I am now in a state of health and strength I have now time and opportunity for Repentance my Lamp is yet burning I am invited to the Marriage of the Bride and the Door is yet open now my Tears will be accepted now my Prayers will be heard now is the acceptable tme now is the day of Salvation Now or never must I prepare for Eternity now or never must I make my peace with God What madness what folly will it be in me to hazzard my Eternal Salvation upon the hopes of a long life Or upon the possibility of having time to repent on my Death-bed Our time you see is uncertain and many there are who are taken away by a sudden death even in the midst of their sins Why may not I be one of those Many that thought as little of it as I do and had as good Resolutions as I have have yet perished to all Eternity Others there have been who though they have had timely Warnings of their Death by a lingring and tedious Disease yet either their pains and uneasiness have discomposed them for Repentance and fitting themselves for their change or else God hath then in Justice denied them the grace of Repentance who have been so long time neglective of it Repentance is the gift of God and he that hath promised pardon to the Penitent whensoever he repents hath not always promised to give the Sinner Repentance And if God should thus deal with me as he may justly do even then deny me Repentance without which I cannot be saved when I call upon him for it Qui promisit paenitenti veniam non promisitpeccanti paenitentiam because I refuse to do it now when he calls upon me how miserable and deplorable will my condition be Can I endure the Wrath of a Sin-revenging God Can I dwell with everlasting Burnings Can any thing screen me from those direful Torments prepared for the Devil and his Angels but now I to have my share in them O remember what God says Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out minn hand and no Man regarded but ye have set at nought my counsels and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear comâ—th 3. That it is the highest pice of Prudence to prepare for Death before it comes because that after Death we shall not be able to return to amend or rectifie the deficiency of our former preparations I shall go the way whence I shall not return Vestigia nulla retrorsum The grave receives all that come into it but will never suffer any to return thence before it hears the Voice of him that hath the Keys of it saying Arise ye dead and come to Judgment As the Tree falls so it lies there is no Repentance in the Grave whither we all go As Death leaves us so the Resurrection will find us If we died Sinners no Purgatory can make us to rise Saints He that was filthy at his Death will be found to be filthy still and he that was unjust then will be unjust still and he that was righteous will be righteous still and he that was holy will be holy still Rev. 22.11 O then let it be now thy care as it is thy prudence and interest so to prepare in life that thou may'st receive comfort in death that thy accounts may be fair no error or deficicncy in them and thou may'st be able to give them up with joy and not with grief and receive that blessed Character and Reward of Well done thou good and faithful Servant enter thou into thy Masters joy 4. That to a pious and innocent Soul the consideration of Death and never returning again to a troublesome and sinful life is matter of great joy and comfort VVhen a few years are come then I shall go the way whence I shall not return This life is a life of trouble we no sooner enter into it but we commence miserable the best part of it is Checkered with Sorrows and when we leave it it is not without pains and groans So that the whole Series of it from the Cradle to the Grave is nothing else but one Chain and Link of Misery This lot happens both to the good and to the bad to the just and to the unjust and the latter as well as the former might seem to solace himself with the consideration of the brevity of the duration but yet the righteous and holy Man as his troubles are far greater having the addition of grief for his own and others Sins the fears of Relapses into them the difficulty of conquering Temptations and being faithful unto death This enhanses his sorrow and multiplies his troubles and so consequently the consideration of his approaching Death and never returning more to so troublesome and sinful State of Life must needs revive his Spirits and magnifie his joy Methinks I hear him expostulating with himself in such language as this Ah Wretched Man that I am I came into the World with pains and tears my Infancy was spent in sleep and ignorance but yet not without its allay of sickness and inquietude My riper years have been wholly taken up with Folly and Vanity dishonoured with the