sinners I had perished through thy iust iudgement long agone euen in my youth for as soone as I was able to speake though vnderstanding little I indeuoured to excuse my childly errors with vntruths falshood lying growing to mans estate and to the abilitie to act greater sinnes I omitted no one forbidden vanitie offered to any of my sences but greedily imbraced it and as I increased in yeeres and in strength to sinne so did I increase in cōmitting wickednesse neither reuerencing thee nor seeking to know thee or to obey thee according to my dutie but rebelled against thee and thy Lawes as if thy threats against sinne and sinners had been only to terrifie and not to punish them And thy promises of spirituall comforts and future happines had been only to withdraw mee from my carnall delights wherein I reposed all my felicitie perswading my selfe there was no danger in sin nor reward for well-doing Thus foolish was I and ignorant by nature shewing that I had no originall goodnesse in mee but corrupt in my conception sinfull in my birth and wicked in my life and consequently the childe of wrath This masse of miserie befell me by the fall of the first man ADAM in whom I was first good and pure and righteous and holy like vnto thee O God of heauen And had not Adam defaced that Image of sanctitie in himselfe I should haue remained holy as thou art holy for euer But by his disobedience I lost in him all obedience towards thee and became a Rebell like vnto him euen in his loynes for in him I was conceiued in sinne and through the corruption of that my conception I only bring forth iniquitie Beeing thus miserably cast downe from glorie to shame from light to darknesse from sanctitie to sin from Heauen to Hell to whom shall I appeale for reliefe whose aide shall I craue for the obtayning of thy fauour loue againe for being depriued of thee I am dead being aliue if I die without thee I die eternally But Lord now I know thee and whom thou hast sent IESVS CHRIST and I know that in thy seuere iustice through him thou remembrest mercie and in thy fierce wrath thou shewest compassion which in nothing appeareth so much as in the performance of thy promise in sending thy Sonne the Seede of the Woman who according to thy Couenant hath conquered Satan and trodden downe the Serpent by whome our first Parents were inuenomed and stung vnto death and I in them But now in and by that sacred Seede Iesus Christ that poysonous sting is remoued and all beleeuers restored to life Therefore Lord Iesu thou Lambe of God that takest away the sinnes of the world haue mercie vpon me take away my sins wash me and make mee cleane through thy bloud from all my filthinesse giue me a liuely faith to take hold of thy merits and to depend vpon thy promises of saluation And that I may apply thy salutarie death vnto my sicke and diseased soule wounded by the dart of sinne and guilt of disobedience set thy righteousnesse against my sins and thine obedience to my disobedience couer me with the Robe of thine owne Innocencie that the foulenesse of my deseruings may be hidden from mine highly-offended God who by promise will impute thy most absolute integritie to be mine as he imputed and laid all the sinnes of Adams posterity vpon thee as thine Lord now at the last lighten mine vnderstanding purifie my heart sanctifie my will order all mine affections and actions and rectifie so my conuersation as I may walke as thy truly adopted sonne in holinesse and true righteousnesse and be kept euer blamelesse vntill the glorious appearing of Christ my Sauiour in whose name I now come vnto thee most louing and mercifull Father beseeching thee for his sake that I feeling and confessing the hainousnesse of my sinnes past and groning vnder the burden of them may feele the release and ease of them in that I through thy holy Spirit am assured and stedfastly doe beleeue that CHRIST my most louing Redeemer hath borne the burden of them euen for me Grant deare Father that I being assured hereof in my conscience may be renewed in the inner man through thy grace that I may hate detest and abhor sinne and indeuour to liue according to thy will all the dayes of my life And for as much gracious Lord God as I must here continue during thine appointed time in this dangerous wildernesse of many vanities subiect to many troubles tryed with many temptations and compassed with many and infinite miseries and dangers hauing of my selfe no succour no defence no safetie but in thine alone fauour power and prouidence I humbly pray and beseech thee O mercifull Lord God to looke downe from heauen vpon me in mercy and louing kindnesse Shew mee thy wayes teach mee thy pathes leade mee euer in thy Truth and instruct me in the things that I ought to learne and learne mee how to practise to leade my life according vnto the same lest I follow vanities and delight in sinne lest I fall into troubles and there bee none to deliuer mee lest Sathan preuaile against me and I fall from thee and lest I fall into dangers and perish in my miseries Turne thy face towards me O Lord and cheere me with the brightnesse of thine amiable countenance for when thou turnest thy face from me I faint and when thou hidest thy countenance I fall fearefully As long as thou art with me I am safe when thou leauest mee then troubles afflict me enemies insult me and triumph ouer me I am then subiect to all miseries Satan with his temptations preuaileth my corrupt affections misleade me the world with vanities distract me and I am not able to looke vp my heart is cast downe my mind is estranged from all goodnesse and my will is carried into all forbidden things So that I am as a dead man or rather no man but the meere image of a man in whom dwelleth neither right reason nor humane vnderstāding a beast in thy sight Hide not therefore thy face from me O Lord nor cast thy seruant away in displeasure Thou hast been euer and in all things my succour leaue me not now O Lord nor forsake me O God of my saluation But continue thy loue and fauour towards mee that I may againe recouer my spirituall strength and be enabled to serue thee with a faithfull constant and obedient heart vnto the end In my necessitie furnish me O Lord with all competent meanes for the maintenāce of my present life and estate here in plen tie make me truly thankefull in want patient in sicknesse be thou my Physician and heale me and preuent Satan that he in the time of my finall visitation ouer charge me not laying before the eyes of my weake conscience my sins past but arme me with the assurance of thy mercies and with a liuely hope of future glorie with thee in the heauens
his Grace I could not but fall backe and runne the way wherein I walked before I was called and to that end Satan ceaseth not to apply all his malice and meanes to allure mee to doe those things I should not doe taking aduantage of my corrupt inclination and to hinder me from doing those things I should doe besetting mee with many feares as first of Death that is euery houre ready to seise vpon me Secondly by laying my sins before the eyes of my giltie conscience and lastly the darke and ougly graue that gapes to swallow vp my fleshly part But what of these should I be afraid of them no Satan himselfe I know is chained and the execution of his malice limited and beyond the compasse and extent of diuine permission hee can not doe And hee that keepeth the house of my soule is that absolute strong man that hath already conquered him in me and for mee and hath redeemed mee out of his power my ransome is paid and I am become a freeman in Christ who although he leaue me for a time here in a warfare against many enemies and many kinds of aduersaries of whom I may receiue some stripes sometimes wounds and many foyles yet shall I neuer be ouercome nor fall finally for he that fighteth for me hath chosen mee whose election is sure for whom he once receiueth hee loueth to the end And therefore I know that vnder his power and protection I shall maintaine that good fight of faith vntill I haue subiected all mine enemies and at length be renewed and enioy his full presence by whome I haue gotten the victorie Then who shall lay any thing to my charge Or who shall condemne me It is Christ which is dead yea rather which is risen againe who is also at the right hand of God and maketh request euen for me And where the iudge of Iudges iustifies no inferiour iudgement may condemne But I am so farre both from cause or conceit to iustifie my selfe as I acknowledge my sins so great and my wel-doing so weake as I vtterly condemne my self worthy not onely of infinite stripes but of eternall death yet I haue hope for hee that is Truth it selfe hath promised mercie to penitent sinners among whom I acknowledge my selfe the greatest Yet I know his mercie goodnesse to be greater whose manifold mercies shewed vnto others confirmeth my assurance that my sinnes great as they are are not onely pardonable but already pardoned in Christ his beloued my soules best beloued On him I fixe the eie of my soule in faith from his vertue I receiue the most salutarie oyle of grace whereby I am cured of all my death bringing diseases And from whom and by whom I haue tasted such an heauenly antidote that hereafter none of Satans poysonous confections shall re-inuenime my spirituall part Hee may take and tread on my heele But I shall trample on his head through the power of that great conqueror And therefore though his principall and chiefe Champion Death take me and bind me hand and foote I shall breake his cords as easily as Samson did his If he cast me bound into the graue couer me with dust and fill my mouth with clay shut mine eyes bereaue me of my sences and send mee into vtter obliuion out of the sight of all my naturall friends I shall rise come forth againe I shall see againe euen with these eyes and in despite of all his despite receiue a farre greater strength thē death can bereaue mee of here am assured that neither death nor the graue shall retaine me vnder their power for euer But as there is a sowing time of bodies in the earth so shall there come a reaping of them when they shall be carried into the Garner of euerlasting glorie Therefore I doe not only not feare this death this bodies dissolution but desire it rather when it shall please him that gaue mee my life to take it againe For I am not ignorant that it was but lent me at the first as a pledge of a better life after this death And therefore shall I most willingly restore it when it shall bee required Christ my Sauiour was once among the dead But his death is my life as to all also that beleeue By his death hee conquered death And by his rising againe made way for mee and them also to ascend where hee is ascended namely into the highest heauens into the bosome of his Father and my Father and their Father and there remaineth in our flesh glorified holding the possession of that heauenly Kingdome in the name of and for all his members Should I then or neede I to be afraid to lay downe this my mortall body also among the dead for a time My Sauior lay three dayes in the Graue and rose the third If I lie three thousand yeers it is but as three dayes for with him a thousand yeeres are but as one day And therefore as sure as hee rose in three dayes So in time though it bee according to the Suns reuolutiō after many yeeres yet I shall find no tedious tarying for the accomplishment of his promise touching my resurrection for the vttermost of this temporall death is but the separation of the soule from the body which lasteth but for a season finite and after they shall meete againe for a time infinite and without time And what is the Graue but a bed to rest me in A place of protection as it were to free my mortall body from danger from sicknesse from labour and carke and care and feare and griefe and enuies and crosses and sinne Blessed are they that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours and all inconueniences It is not so with all such as die not so with them that die but not in Christ whose labours doe then but beginne What then is death but a sleepe out of which I know I shall awake againe in the most glorious morning of the most ioyfull appearing of my Redeemer in the clouds This death then carryes a name farre more fearfull and more terrible then indeede it is rather to bee desired and willingly to be imbraced then to bee feared or fled from especially of them that truely vnderstand the benefit it bringeth and the discommodities that accompanie men in this life especially liuing after the flesh and not after the Spirit As there is a naturall and a Spirituall death so is there a Spirituall life and a carnall life and that in this Pilgrimage or Passage frō birth to buryall the first cannot bee properly called a naturall but a spirituall life though it partake of both The Bond-woman and her seed must awhile remayne with the Free-woman and her sonne the earthly body and the corruption thereof with the heauenly soule Though the fleshly part bee here maintayned by naturall
may behold thy glorie and bee changed into the same Image by thy Spirit It is thou only that giuest wisedome and out of thy mouth proceeds knowledge and vnderstanding therefore Make me more and more to abound in knowledge and all iudgement that I may discerne betweene good and euill and bée kept pure with-out offence vntill the finall dissolution of this my mortall body filled with the fruits of Righteousnes which are by Jesus Christ vnto the praise and glorie of God Let mée not good Father be giuen ouer to the lust of my Aduersarie nor to mine owne corrupt hearts desire that iniquitie should haue dominion ouer mé◠but make mee perfect to euery good worke who workest in thy Children both the wil and the deede O Lord teach me to do thy will for thou art my God make my heart constant and euer kéep it vnblameable before thée in holinesse that I may serue thée in al holy duties with a good conscience and may walk before thée in truth and with a perfect heart doing that which is good in thy sight Let thy peace which passeth all vnderstanding preserue my heart mind in Iesus Christ euen to the end and in the end yea euen when the Messengers and pangs of death shal take hold on me euen then support me that Satan with his malicious suggestions and infernall temptations preuaile not against mée in laying before the eyes of my guiltie conscience the vglinesse of my sinnes past or by drawing my minde into any forbidden thought or desire Draw me out of the net that hee priuily layeth to catch my soule in breake it for mee for thou art my strength make haste to deliuer me and saue me for My soule is filled with euils and my life draweth neere vnto the graue And what man liueth and shall not see death Séeing then deare Father I am appointed to die and that death cānot bée comfortable vnto mée when it commeth vnlesse a godly life goe before prepare my hart O Lord prepare it to a holy conuersation and a ioyfull and gladsome resolution that I may lay down this mortall body of miue in the dust whence it was taken and made and to surrender my soule with all heauenly alacritie into thine hands that gauest it And when the snares of death the terrors of the graue take hold of mee then Lord let me find fauour with thée in Christ my Redéemer in whom I beséech thée to deliuer my soule Amen Lord euer increase and confirme my faith MEDITAT II. NOw then I hauing by the grace of God in some measure learned to liue and to know I shall dye what remayneth but that I looke for the day and attend the houre not knowing when it will come And therefore to bee alwayes ready hauing also through Christ receiued the spirit of boldnesse to remooue out of this bodie to bee with the Lord. This boldnesse I confesse I haue not of my selfe it is the gift of God who in the beginning made mee to his Image without spot but spotted before I was borne by him that was once without spot whose fault is now by imputation nay by action mine whereby I bringing sinne and corruption into the World with me haue deeply defiled my selfe by like actuall disobedience and therefore may iustly feare the face of that seuere and iust Iudge especially hauing so many and so strong Aduersaries Satan with his principalities and powers and spirituall wickednesse a million of sinnes and a guiltie conscience besides the horrours of Death and the Graue enough to cast my sinfull soule into vtter destruction were there not a power aboue his power and principalities to subdue his I thanke God in Christ I haue beene taught and I know that the seed of the woman hath subdued Satan led him all his powers principalities and spirituall wickednesse captiue triumphing ouer him and them vpon the Crosse making a shew of them openly And this I am not only taught to know but I beleeue the same stedfastly Lord strengthen my beliefe As for my siunes past I feare them not for Christ suffered for them once the iust for the vniust to bring me to God As touching death I knew that my Redeemer liueth and he hath taken away the sting therof and made a way for mee through the graue to come vnto glorie through the valley of death to passe vntill I come to the Lord my God in Sion I cannot yet but confesse that notwithstanding my boldnesse I feele many wauerings I am not at all times alike bold but often tremble at the consideration of death because I haue had no experience of the terrour thereof and therefore though the Spirit be willing my flesh is weake But I am so much the more strengthened by how much I doe consider that euen the dearest of Gods Children haue sometimes staggered at the consideration of death Saint Paul himselfe confesseth that he had fightings without and terrours within Peter for feare of death denyed his Master And our Sauiour Christ being lest vnto his manhood wished though contrarily resolued that the Cup of the Crosse might passe and that hee might not drinke of it Death comes with an vgly and fearefull countenance to all but especially to them that haue their consolation here Death nay the remembrance of death as the Wiseman affirmeth is better to him that hath the wealth the pleasures and happinesse of this life And vnlesse the Lord by his grace support and sustaine the best man he will feare and faint at the approching of death Therefore will I make my prayer vnto God in Christ to giue me strength and an holy resolution to imbrace death when it shall come A Prayer against the feare of death fit to be said at all times especially in sicknesse The Prayer O Lord my God and gracious Father in Iesus Christ who hast formed mee of the dust of the Earth and by thy Spirit made me a liuing soule in a mortall bodie Giue mée grace continually to remember my mortality how I am borne to dye and that after death I shall come to Judgement yet hast thou hidden the time when the place where and the maner how I shall dye from mee all knowne to thée Teach mee therefore Gracious Father teach mée so to number my daies as to consider that the more they increase in number so much the neerer I draw to the time of my dissolution therefore giue mee wisedome and a heart whereby I may apply me thereunto that I may be at all times and in all places watchfull and readie to imbrace the comming of that which I cannot auoyde Let mée not rest secure in health nor be dismayde in sicknesse but let my heart bee euer set on the things that are where I desire and hope to come and not on the things which I sée and partake herein this life Teach mee thy wayes instruct me in thy Lawes giue me a repēting
Paul that his grace is sufficient for mee yet doth it much behooue me to take continuall heede vnto my waies yea to the very motions of my corrupt heart for mine inward desires are not long hid from him who will neuer let slip the least shew of whatsoeuer euill and prophane inclination But as the fire is a little inkindled in and by mine owne nature So is he readie with a thousand ministers and impious meanes to blow it and to bring it to an vnquenchable flame of sinfull actions Therefore my heartie desire is for the withstanding of his temptations to practise whatsoeuer things are true whatsoeuer things are honest whatsoeuer things are iust whatsoeuer things are pure whatsoeuer things are worthy loue whatsoeuer things are of good report the practice of which things is true watchfulnes most irksome and most offensiue to al mine enemies Things true Satan the father of lyes hates deadly things honest are contrarie to mine owne naturall and carnall inclination which of it selfe delighteth in pleasure in vanities and all kinde of prophanenesse Things of good report the World indureth not but rather backe-biting and slandering This capitall Aduersarie the Deuill doth not assaile me singly nor alone but commonly combines together with the World and my corrupt nature then as so many Captains each of them with a band of infernall Souldiers the Deuill with his angels powers and principalities the Flesh with a thousand contagious cogitations vngodly affections and forbidden vanities and the World with a million of vexations set vpon me A man hauing but one mortal enemie wil watchfully beware of him either to flie him or be prepared with weapons sufficient to incounter him though hee seeke but to depriue the life of the bodie How much more then behooueth it mee to bee watchful hauing so many and so mightie so mortall Aduersaries that seeke not only my bodily death but the confusion also of my soule and if I be not armed with grace the least of these will easily preuaile against me There is nothing more aduātagious to these mine enemies then mine owne corrupt inclination the fruits whereof are as meat and drinke vnto mine Aduersaries which are the works of darknesse therefore will I striue with an holy endeuour to abandon and cast off the works of darknesse deare vnto mine enemies and to put on the armour of light which is vnto them as death I wil set mine affections on things that are aboue and not on things that are on the earth I will auoid euill and cleau◠vnto that which is good Many venimous and viperous Serpents lurke in the way of this life to escape their poyson in practice I looke not but to resist their power I doubt not for the Lord is my strength to whom I will flie for succour A Prayer against Satan and his ministers the World and mine owne corruption The Prayer MOst gracious Lord God and most mercifull in Jesus Christ who art most pitifull in beholding the daily strong tentations where with I am tryed by the policies of Satan looke vpon me for he taketh as it were vnto himselfe in aide the vanities of the world laying them before the eyes of my corrupt minde to seduce me from the sweete consolation that I haue in the contemplation of heauenly things vnto the delights and pleasures of earthly deceits And further thou knowest O Lord how subtilly hee windeth himselfe as it were into the secret inclinations of my heart by obseruing the least shew of my outward actions maliciously watching to trap me and by his baits painted out as it were with the glittering shew of ease of pleasure of profit such like deceiuing succeeding contentments indeuoureth to traine mée into his snares What am I good Father that I should vndergoe and beare the burden of so many subtill wiles secret snares and strong temptations as this most mortal aduersary of mine frameth against mée how can I escape so vigilant and so powerfull an enemie that can command principalities powers and all spirituall wickednesse to attend his most deadly designes vnlesse thou by thy grace preuent him I disclaime any power in my selfe to resist his deuices and doe rather acknowledge that in steade of resisting I doe assist him against my self by the vanities of mine own corrupt nature and therefore doe wholly and altogether relie vpon thy méere merciè wherein thou hast compassion on thy weake children thus beset with such and so many deadly Aduersaries and compassed about with so great a trsupe of wickednesse Make mee therefore strong good Father in the power of thine owne strength Put vpon mée thy defensiue armour that I may yet manfully in the Spirit of truth encounter all my spirituall and secret enemies Gird me with the girdle of Truth put on mee the brest-plate of Righteousnesse and the inuincible and impenetrable shield of Faith so shall I be able to quench the sterie darts of the Deuill and with the sword of the Spirit wound the strongest of them that rise vp against me for thou with thy Helmet of saluation shalt kéepe me euer safe so as neither Satan Death nor Hell shall bée able to preuaile against me O Lord my God work I beséech thée in mée that which is pleassng in thy sight and grant according to the riches of thy grace that I may bee strengthened by thy Spirit in the inward man that Christ may dwell in my heart by Faith and so my whole spirit soule and body may be kept frée from the power of sin Satan blamelesse to the comming of the Lord Jesus to whom bee glorie and praise for euer O Lord increase my faith MEDIT. V. The second cause of watchfulnesse the vncertaintie of the time of death THe second cause of watchfulnesse is the vncertayne comming of death To the end therefore that I may prouide for his comming and not bee afraid as no doubt by nature flesh and bloud cannot but bee at the consideration of the supposed horror it bringeth with it I must entertayne a godly care to liue well and that in the continuall expectation of the time when it will come for a godly sincere and a religious life can neuer be too suddenly surprised by death come it where when and how it will so shall I be sure to die in the Lord. Though I should lose my head with Iohn Baptist bee stoned with Stephen though I should be burned with fire slaine by the sword with Iames or by whatsoeuer other ignominious cruell or tormenting death yet I am the Lords and with him I shall liue for euer Yet am I not secure as if I needed not to feare for I cannot but confesse that howsoeuer I indeuor to leade a godly life I find in my selfe many and sundrie relapses and desertions though not finall yet fearefull through the manifold temptations of Satā working by through mine owne corruptions therefore I finde it
fit to stand alwayes vpon my Watch-towre in continuall Prayer that I bee not vnder the least power of any of mine enemies when my separation shall come I will indeuour to make vse of the Parable of Christ my Sauiour who by way of premonition saith Vnderstand this as being a matter of chiefe consequence for my safetie If the good man of the house which is the soule of euery man dwelling in the bodie knew at what houre the Thiefe namely Death would come hee would be readie to entertaine it And would not suffer his house his bodie to be digged thorow namely by violence to be surprized and to be desperatly spoyled of his goods his soule to be tormented perplexed by a guilty conscience and an vnrepentant heart for sinne committed against God but would bee still watching to preuent euery euill motion to sinne and wait for that Thiefe Death willingly to lay downe his bodie for a time in the graue and to yeeld vp his soule to God that gaue it in Christ who redeemed it As touching this watchfulnesse it is comprehended in a godly life and in a continuall serious obedience to God eschewing euill and doing good in seeking peace and following it This is true watchfulnesse and blessed is the man whom the Lord when hee commeth shall find thus waking For he that slumbreth in security carelesse of future dangers leding an vngodly life not remembring his end and what accoūt he is to make when Death comes vpon this man he shal be suddēly carryed to the place of ex treme and perpetuall torment neuer to bee relea sed I will therefore pray that I may retayne a continuall watchful heart and striue to liue soberly because I know not the time A Prayer that I may be alwayes readily prepared for Death The Prayer O Lord my God who hast created mee of nothing here to liue and breathe in the Earth for some few dayes few were the many thousand yéeres in comparison of thine Eternitie and yet the end of these my dayes altogether vnknowne vnto mee Therefore thou commandest me to watch and to awake to siue righteously and not to sinne and yet by nature I sléepe in carnall securitie Thou willest me not to sleepe as doe other but to watch and bee sober but alas I slumber in mine owne vanities the deceits of sinne True Wisedome willeth mée to watch because the time of my dissolution is at hand when I shall bee no more breathe no more but bee taken from all the pleasures and delights of this life Frame in me therefore I beséech thée good Father a watchfull heart Banish from me the darknesse of ignorance and all wicked affections by the knowledge of thy truth Giue mee grace to order my life according to that certaine and sure rule of all righteousnesse and sinceritie by the vertue of the Spirit of Iesus Christ. The darknesse of the night is past and I haue the light of thy Word giue me therefore the will and ablenesse to cast off the workes of darknesse and to put on the armour of light That I may henceforth walke honestly as in the day not in gluttonie and drunkennes nor in chambering and wantonnesse nor in strife and enuying but by putting on the Lord Iesus Christ and not to take thought for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof I am subiect O Lord to many temptations giue me therefore the Spirit of Wisedome and strength to resist and ouercome them And that I may kéep cōtinuall watch ouer all my thoughts words and wayes that I bée at no time idle in wel-doing that Death which standeth at my doore finde me not without the Lamp of Loue faith and Obedience burning in my heart Make mee holy and constant in all good and godly duties that with a pure and sanctified con science I may at all times and in all places serue thee walking before thee in truth and that with a perfit heart that I fall not into the power and lust of mine Aduersaries nor be ouer-swayed with the destres of my corrupt heart but bee found perfect to euery good worke for thou art my God Uigilant and watchful is Death still attending to seize vpon mée yet cannot before thine appointed time for my time is in thine hand Giue me therfore a watchful heart that I may liue to thée and die in thée that whensoeuer it shall come to passe that I must yéeld my body to the dust I may be sound waking my heart settled vpon Heauen and heauenly things So shall not this death be terrible but most acceptable vnto me being the way by which I shall enter into that holy place new and spirituall Ierusalem where the filthy garments of sinne shame and confusion shall bee taken from mee and the most glorious Robes of Righteousnesse in the merits of thy glorified Soune bée put vpon me neuer to war old which grant most louing father for his sake So be it O Lord increase my faith and giue mee euer a watchfull heart pure and holy MEDIT. VI. The third cause of watchfulnesse the vncertaine Comming of Christ to Iudgement THe third cause of watchfulnesse I find to be lest my finall iudgement come vpon me suddenly as by vnprouided Death and I be found not only idle in wel-doing but in doing that which is euill And if I should not though much vnlikely lay downe this mine earthly Tabernacle before that generall dissolution of all things being doubtlesse not farre off the sudden comming of that Day will not excuse me for as I shall bee then found I shall be iudged I shall receiue the sentence due vnto me either in mercie or seueritie at the instant of Christes appearing and yet shall not preuent them that haue slept euer since the death of innocent Abel So that whether I goe before or stay till hee come I shall finde no difference for in the graue there is no remembrance of good or euill no feare of future danger or hope of Happinesse to come and therefore the time of my bodies sleep in the Earth bee it long or short is not conceiued or felt Only my soule that shall goe before cannot but apprehend it selfe not fully perfect vntill that generall Day when my body shall bee raysed againe out of the dust and partake together with my soule the vnspeakeable glorie of Christ my Sauiour not that I haue deserued it but the prayse I yeeld vnto him that hath merited the same for mee euen by his death It much behoueth mee therefore to watch and to make mine account ready for I find that the generall Audit is at hand where I shall be strictly examined how I haue bestowed the talents which I haue receiued of my Lord. At which generall Audit all must appeare Emperours Kings Potentates Bishops yea from the greatest to the least all shall bee summoned with the fearfull sound of a terrible Trumpet sounding far lowder then the most
true peace with or in the World and happie is hee that hath warres with it and peace with God But here is the miserie of miseries hence is griefe hence often vpbraydings especially domesticke the want of daintie fare gay and fashionable garments and the want of meanes to preferre and aduance Posterities is the Houshold Breake-peace and to auoid this miserie some runne into a mischiefe vsing sinister and vnlawful means to satisfie the World and worldly mindes displeasing God to please vaine fantasies yet for a time it is sweet and pleasant yeelding a kind of content and carnall comfort such as CHRIST fore-told that Worldlings should haue in this life as the Rich man in the Gospell had but GODS owne Children should haue contrarie enentertainmēt in the world they should want weepe and lament as Lazarus did and as their estates of wealth and want pleasure and paine faith and infidelitie doe differ so do their ends for fulnes and want mirth and mourning ioy and sorrow idlenesse and labour stand not together in this life neither yeeld they like comfort or calamitie after death There are but two extremes in riches and pouertie but their degrees are infinite so are there of pleasure and paine after this life The true vse of riches and the patient acceptance of a meane estate are equall and receiue eequall proportion of reward So the abuse of riches and the impatient vndergoing of a poore estate shall be equally punished whether therefore I bee poore or rich I am in neither happie but so farre as I walke in either of them in the feare and loue of God that giues both for the good of the good and to the reproofe of them that abuse either O happie is that heart that harbours the hope of heauenly things it is contentedly satisfied with the smallest portion the world doth yeeld and yet resteth not idle in well-doing but carefully indeuoreth so to liue as willingly not to be chargeabe to any desiring rather to bee able to helpe the needie and to owe nothing but good will to any Naked came I into the World poore and in a meane estate I liue and naked I must goe hence as touching my spirituall part I shall be clothed with the Robe of my Redeemers merits in the Heauens vntill my bodie shall be raysed againe and then reunited vnto my soule and both become one bodie clothed with eternall glorie And therefore Come Lord Iesus come quickly and finish these dayes of sinne that I may partake of thy glorie THE HVSBANDS Christian counsell to his Wife and Children left poore after his death PART 1. Death certaine his comming vncertaine BY the former Discourse ye may perceiue that Death will certainly come vpon mee and you as vpon all men but when where or how no man knowes and that after death all shall come to Iudgement and yeeld account for whatsoeuer they haue done in this life and therefore wee all should prepare vs against the time by continuall watchsulnesse in well-doing You may also conceiue and I know you haue too well experimented my poore estate to bee such as I cannot leaue behinde me such testimonies of my worldly happinesse as many other men doe to them they leaue behinde them that may challenge some remembrance by their worldly substance And therefore in stead of such commemorations I desire before I goe hence and bee no more seene to leaue such token of my loue towards you as I can that you may likewise remember mee in Christian imitation after my death wishing you to take that in good part at my hands that I shall giue you in counsell though words I know make none wealthy In stead therefore of Possessions and Pecuniary Portions I wish you euer to esteeme the fauor loue and prouidence of God your chiefest riches who as he hath been euer mine so will hee bee assuredly yours if in faith yee serue him and seeke him Bee yee therefore patient in that which in this life necessitie inforceth to be vndergone howsoeuer hard and vnsauourie it bee to flesh and bloud and make of that necessitie a vertue which if bee taken with grudging turnes into sinne The time will not bee long which will giue end to the greatest miseries then what difference can there bee obserued betweene them that haue abundance and them that haue least they shall carrie equall portions to their graues only nakednesse which both the rich and poore the glorious and the base brought into the World with them yet their future portions may differ as did the Rich mans and Lazarus Let vs therefore as long as we liue together couple and comfort our hearts together in the Lord whose pleasure it is and that in loue to keepe vs low in this World to the end wee should not be transported from the loue of heauenly to earthly things the best whereof is our bodie which yet is compared to a Flowre that fades and comes to nothing If therefore pouertie and afflictions continually possesse vs and presse vs downe euen vnto our liues ends Let vs rest euer faithfull cleauing constantly vnto God for hee careth for vs so shall wee bee the lesse carefull for worldly things Care not for your liues saith Christ namely what yee shall eate or what yee shall drinke nor for your bodies what yee shall put on for the bodie is more worth then meate and of more value then rayment bee it neuer so precious yet shall it naturally rot as the Garment doth but so much the more precious is the bodie though it perish by how much it shall bee futurely glorified But the bodies of the disobedient and wicked are so much the more base and vile then is a garment by how much it shall not so totally perish as the garment doth but bee reserued and raysed to endlesse torments The fowles of the ayre are brought in by Christ to teach man to cast his care vpon God Who careth for the verie fowles though they sow not nor reape nor carrie into barnes yet they are fedde and nourished by God but they are not idle for as God hath ordained food for them so are they to flye to and fro to seeke it teaching as not to rest careles of lawfull labours though Christ say Care not for to morrow but rather that we should bee so much the more industrious euery where by all meanes at all times in our lawfull callings omitting no opportunitie lawfully to encrease our store Christ likewise by way of comparison brings in the Lillyes of the field setting their glorie to the glorie of our corrupt bodies shewing that although wee labour and toyle and carke and care and busie our bodies and braynes about superfluous and vanishing things wee can neuer bee comparable to the glory of the Lilly other glorious beautifull flowers no not Salomon in his most glorious robes yet as glorious as these
sense of future good or euill auoid it left death steale vpon you and finde you so doing depend on Gods prouision blessing of your owne lawfull and laudable industries He is your heauenly Father and knoweth whereof ye haue neede seeke him hee will be found he will supply all your occasions if yee bee faithfull though yee were neuer so poore DAVID depending on God found by experiēce that the righteous were neuer left destitute nor their faithfull children to begge Cast then your care vpon God for hee careth for you And let not the care of the things of this life preuent your carefull preparation to a better life which you cannot attayne vnto but by death and therefore indeuour so to liue as God may bee glorified in your death not giuing your members as weapons of vnrighteousnesse vnto sinne here but giue your selues vnto God as they that are aliue from the dead and giue your members as weapons of righteousnesse vnto GOD. Striue against your owne corruption and let not sinne raigne in your mortall bodies that yee should obey it in the lusts thereof for When lust hath conceiued it bringeth forth sinne and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death not the death of the body only which is but a dissolution of the soule from it for a season but the death both of soule and body which is eternall Walke therefore in the Spirit saith Saint Paul and yee shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh Ye haue the light walke not in darknes for he that walketh in darknesse walkes hee knowes not whither while yee haue the light therefore walke in it So walke as your hearts may mooue from euill to good from sinne to sanctitie cease to do euil learne to doe good and practise it Learne of Dauid to run the way of the Lords Cōmandements Walke not in the counsell of the wicked stand not in the way of sinners nor sit in the seate of the scornefull but delight your selues in the Law of the Lord and thereupon meditate day and night so shall yee bee blessed in life and death Yet thinke not to bee free from troubles enemies and crosses how sincerely soeuer yee liue nay the more carefull yee shall be to lead a holy and a godly life so much the more will Satan seeke to peruert you bee not dismaid cease not to walke honestly as in the open light that men may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heauen PART II. Gods prouidence towards his IF pouertie want oppresse you Let your Petitions bee vnto God who as he giueth seede vnto the Sower so shall he administer vnto you meat drinke and all things necessarie Remember the rich mercies of God which he hath euer shewed to his faithfull distressed children He sent his Prophet Abacuck to Daniel when hee was not only a prisoner and out of the reach of all his friends to releeue him but had for his companions the fearfull deuouring Lyons whose mouthes that most mightie God who will bee yours closed vp they could not hurt his seruant God might haue sustayned him with-out foode as he did Moses and Eliah but to shewe his secret mercies by visible meanes Remember also the miserable estate of that poore distressed woman Hagar ' who was so farre from any hope of worldly helpe in the barren wildernesse hauing a most heauie heart for her poore infant that with the mother was like to perish for want of a cup of cold water despairing as it were in her selfe laid away the childe from her forsooke it as loth to see the sorrowfull spectacle of its death and looked vp vnto GOD that saw her whose mercy and compassion was such towards her as hee opened a Well of water opened her eyes to see it whereby shee refreshed her selfe and relieued her child shewing thereby how carefull the Lord is of the distressed estates euen of such as are out of the couenant of grace how much more of such as take hold of him by faith in Christ namely of them that truly feare him faithfully beleeue in him and vnfainedly serue him When Samson had wearied himselfe combating with the Philistims became so weake and faint as hee was readie to perish for want of water to refresh him did not the same God yea our God the God of the faithfull giue him drinke out of the drie iaw-bone of an Asse Could he bring water sufficient to quench his great thirst out of so small and so drie a vessell yes for as long as hee desired to drinke so long it yeelded water like as did the oyle which by the power of the same God Eliah infused into the emptie vessels of the widdow of Sarepthah it ranne so long as shee had vessells to contayne it When Christ turned water into wine it ceased not till all the vessells were filled vp to the brim So doth the same God euen to this day deale with his children whom he neuer ceaseth to fill and feede as long as they haue faith to receiue his blessings and necessitie to haue them Hee fed foure thousand with seuen loaues and a few fishes and fiue thousand with fiue loaues and two fishes besides women and children hee could with the same meanes haue fed a more infinite number his power is so absolute what hee will hee works and what hee commands is done The hard Rocke must yeeld Riuers of water shewing that he can mollifie the heart of the most cruell Tyrant and in stead of afflicting to comfort his children The deuouring Rauen when God will vse him contrary to his nature shall carry foode to his distressed Eliah so doth hee at this day doubtlesse worke the hearts of most obdurate men to doe good as it were contrary to their condition to them that feare him and faithfully call vpon him in their distresses The examples of Gods presence with his loue vnto his and his power and prouidence ouer his faithfull children are in the Scriptures numberlesse The like are of his iudgements towards the wicked not only particular enemies of his as was Pharaoh Nebuchadnezzar Scnacherib Herod and others but against whole Kingdomes Cities Multitudes the Kingdomes of Israel and Iudah where are they Is not the Scepter departed from them for the wickednesse of the people that dwelt in them Sodom Gomorrah Zeboim Admah and Zegor where are they Came not fire brimstone from heauen vpon them How did the same God cōfound Ierusalem the slaughter-house as it were not only of his Prophets but of his owne innocent Sonne and doe wee not see daily GODS iust iudgements vpon diuers Countries People by fire inundations of water by pestilence warres and famine And is not the sudden hand of God vpon such as at this day blaspheme his Name Needes there examples of such as haue beene striken some
that God vnderstands it and there is no man but vpon true serious examination of his owne peraduenture slumbering conscience but shall finde matter enough to prouoke God to anger wherein hee may though in loue stir vp some Shemei a Iudas a Cain to raile on you to betray you to robbe or to wound you to death all to rowse you out of your securitie wherein the best man sometimes slumbers as Dauid did cannot be awaked vnlesse GOD send some seuere messenger to tell you that thou art the man Seeing therefore yee shal be subiect and that of necessitie to so many dangerous enemies it behoues you euer to looke about you and to haue an eye euen to heauen while ye liue in the earth remember how watchfully ye ought to liue ouer your owne wayes and what manner people yee are to shew your selues in holy and heauenly conuersation preparing your selues before-hand for any of these things that when they come yee knowing wherefore and by whom they are sent may make true vse of them and in the meane time to walke so much the more warily watchfully and soberly An vnwise man knoweth not this and a foole vnderstands it not but if yee haue learned or will learne and practise it aright ye shall be happy in the worlds vnhappinesse If yee bee ignorant looke into and search the Word of God heare it reade it lay it vp in your hearts make true vse of it leaue off to sinne and liue righteously if ye haue sinned sinne no more The Lord is full of compassion slow to anger and of great kindnes and truth Hee will forgiue all your sinnes and heale you of all your infirmities It is hee that hath redeemed you by the precious bloud of his owne only Sonne And if you beleeue in him and obey him he will finally crowne you with mercie and louing kindnesse and shall from time to time fill you full of euery good thing feare him and loue him and then bee afraid of no mortall creature for if God be on your side who can be against you If yee continue vnto the end ye shall assuredly bee saued Therefore I say grudge not though ye bee left behind me poore and much destitute of the superfluous things of this world God is your portion in whom yee haue a farre greater treasure then the world can yeeld you If I could haue left you riches in aboundance yee had beene indeede neuer truely the better but in coÌ„mon reputation which is as variable as are vncertaine riches being left poore yee are neuer the worse but in opinion which many times allowes of the worst condemnes the better it is the vertue of your minde that shines within that is allowed of God and giues light vnto men without PART X. Ignorance a shame for men or women of yeeres TO teach you now the Principles of true Religion in this Exhortation were to argue your ignorance and your ignorance your shame and mine yee are not Infants who are to bee otherwise taught then I hope you haue need yee haue Moses and the Prophets ye haue Christ and his Gospell yee haue the comfort of the Apostles yee liue in a time wherein God haue the prayse yee may freely reade ye may freely heare as freely practise what yee learne they teach you spirituall knowledge and the way of saluation Endeuour to learne pray for the Spirit in the Spirit without the Spirit yee cannot pray and that Spirit is the gift of God which prayeth in you and hee that giues you the Spirit to pray will also giue you knowledge for what to pray and how to liue he will fill you with Diuine vnderstanding and will make you wise in all heauenly knowledge and shew you the same through good workes in a godly conuersation before men in faith glorifying God So in what manner soeuer ye passe your dayes whether in prosperitie or aduersitie ye shall be blessed for it is not the outward appearance that approoueth or disprooueth man as glorie or basenesse but a holy or prophane life Christs owne Apostles suffered hunger cold nakednesse wants and persecutions Lazarus sores and extreme pouertie Iob deepest afflictions Ioseph slander and wrongfull imprisonmeÌ„t Were they the worse no but so much the more approoued the children of the most highest and farre the more noble And these Examples doth the Spirit of Truth recommend vnto you for your imitation that yee should follow them in their Vertues Faith Patience and Integritie If therefore it fall out that yee lose that little yee haue say with Iob Naked I came into the World and naked must I returne blessed be the Name of the Lord. If yee bee slandered remember the wordes of our Sauiour Cursed are they of whom all men speake well therefore Reioyce and bee glad when men speake euill of you for wel-doing If it come to passe that ye be banished froÌ„ your owne natiue countrie and friends for the Truths sake and to trauaile from place to place for succour remember that yee haue heere no continuing Citie but ye seeke one to come If ye haue neither house nor home remember that Christ our Sauiour had no house to put his head in If yee fall into sicknesse or any infirmitie of body limbes or senses remember that though your outward man perish your inner man shall bee renewed daily for God is your Father and the rocke of your saluation he will increase his Graces towardes you euen towardes you and your children PART XI A guiltie Conscience for a most grieuous affliction and the remedie TO come now to the most grieuous things that can befall you in this life namely the committing of such sinnes as doe oppresse your consciences and which doe cast downe your soules as it were into despaire thinke with your selues and beleeue that your Father whom ye haue offended is mercifull and that ye haue a most louing and most preuailing Mediator with him euen Iesus Christ the righteous who is a propitiation for your sinnes in and through whom although God be angrie with Sinners hee becomes a most louing and kinde Father to them that are truely sorrie for their sinnes and intend to lead a new life Hee is the Father of Mercies and God of all Consolation long suffering and patient great in Mercie and Goodnesse He forgiâ—eth the iniquitie of his people and couereth all their sinnes He withdraweth all his anger and turneth from the fiercenesse of his wrath and his Saluation is neere to them that feare him Forsake and bewaile your sinnes and cleaue againe vnto Righteousnes turne vnto him in Faith then shall hee clense your hearts and the bloud of Iesus Christ shall wash you from all your sinnes hee shall deliuer your soules from death your eyes from teares and your feet from falling He hath promised to be your Father whom although of weaknes not of presumption yee
If enemies rise vp against me to take away my life my goods or good name preuc̄t them of their purposes and make their counsels and practices like Achitophels If I bee persecuted for the testimonie of thy Truth giue mee perfect knowledge cōstancie courage and boldnesse through a liuely faith to suffer what it shall please thee shall be laid vpon mee In captiuitie banishment and whatsoeuer other tryalls be thou euer neere vnto me and ease me relieue me and comfort me and neuer lay more vpon mee then I shal be able to beare and in my troubles neuer leaue me nor for sake me and let all things worke for my comfort in thee Blesse and prosper vnto me my vocation giue mee wisedome and strength to execute the same and that sincerely without corruption let thine holy Angels goe with me take charge of me and defend and prosper me in all my iourneys trauailes labours enterprises and endeuours And let my conuersation be such so vpright vnblameable that the wicked haue no iust cause to carpe at the course of my life So will I giue thāks vnto thee thy praise shall be in my mouth continually The godly shall see it and reioyce and I will publish thy goodnesse towards me before the sons of men and will tell how readie thou art to help them that call vpon thee as for mee I will confesse that before I sought thee thou offeredst thy selfe to be found of me when I prayed vnto thee thou heardest mee when I came vnto thee thou reiectedst me not but pardonedst my sinnes and deliueredst mee out of all my feare Glorie bee to thy Holy Name O gracious Lord God in Iesus Christ and thy Name bee euer glorified my heart in thee comforted my sinnes by thee couered my necessities by thee truly relieued a competent estate vnto mee by thee euer preserued my hope in thee euer confirmed and all mine vndeserued enemies conuerted or confounded Make me wise O Lord to vnderstand and consider my latter end let my whole life be a preparation to death and the meditation of death the rule of my life let mee studie to bring forth good fruits in mine age and let my latter dayes bee the dayes of my chiefe spirituall comfort and mine obedience vnto thee more at the last then at the first enable me so to walke in mine old age as I may increase from strength to strength that at the length I may appear with the rest of thy Saints in that Kingdom of glorie which thou hast prepared for all them that loue the appearing of thy Sonne our Lord Iesus Christ whose comming grant to be quickly to finish these dayes of sinne AMEN Lord euermore increase my faith and multiply thy blessings vpon mee vnto the end An eye to Heauen in Earth A necessarie Watch for the time of death MEDITATION I. A Meditation concerning Death IT is a thing not seldom cōming into my mind that I must die that I haue but a short time to liue and that the Time when the Place where and the Manner how I shall dye is vtterly vnknown vnto me And that I shall come vnto Iudgement for all that I haue done or shall doe in the flesh These things I know yet haue I not learned what it is to die To die all men know is the separation of the soule from the bodie but what the soule and the bodie feele at the instant of separation may be coniectured but neuer vttered or conceiued I see men of all ages die and that by sundrie kindes of death and no doubt there is great difference of paines to the bodie for euery death is not alike tolerable nor euery humane creature of like resolution and patience which may somthing extenuate or aggrauate the paine And no doubt there is likewise great difference of the ioy or griefe of soules departing for according to the life and death of the partie so is the soule in hope or horror at the instant of separation for the Angels of God or Satan doe attend the instant of time to receiue it and to transport it to it place of diuine appointment and therefore is it sensible of present succeeding ioy or paine but in what degree of either either hath neuer any dying by whatsoeuer death returned to declare it As touching the future ioy and paine the rich man and Lazarus doe in part shew both in the extreme degree and so vnspeakeable as they cānot be truly conceiued nor expressed And whether the soule be sensible of any earthly or materiall thing in it passage from the bodie to it place as some without warrant haue dreamed is needlesse to dispute yet thus farre I am bold to affirme That the spirituall apprehension of the place whither it passeth swalloweth vp all sense affection and desire of visible creatures I leaue therefore to inquire and search into that which is no further reueiled then I haue warrant to beleeue and doe only desire to be prepared and to be readie when the time of my separation shall come A conflict no doubt I shal feele in the approching of death betweene my bodie which is earthly and my soule which is spirituall howsoeuer notwithstanding they differ in cōdition yet they are louingly linckt together and therefore vndoubtedly vnwilling to be sundred How and whatsoeuer I feele it shall bee vnto mee as is death it selfe aduantage It cannot bee auoided but a diuorce must be as testifieth the holy Ghost It is appointed that all men shall die once There is the separation and that but once It is not with the Soule and the Bodie as it is betweene Man and Wife who may admit a diuorce and yet bee conioyned againe So cannot the soule once seuered from the bodie vnlesse by speciall miracle as was that that Christ wrought vpon dead Lazarus who though he had beene so long dead as he stunke in the graue yet Christ by vertue of his Word which was God raised him soule and bodie so that he may be said to die twice which was an extraordinarie miracle to shew the glorie of God as was also that of the Rulers daughter whom Christ made to liue being dead This was by the power of the great Prophet And both Eliah and Elisha did the same thing by the power of the same GOD. The first in giuing life to the dead sonne of the Widdow of Sarepthah the other to the sonne of the Shunamite Woman these may bee also said to die twice But hath any man learned by their relations what it is to die Or may a man by their examples presume that though hee die hee may yet reuiue againe as did the Souldier cast into Elishaes graue And so by often dying learne to die better No it is neither permitted nor necessarie to fore-know the moment of our naturall death for the houre wherin are many minutes and the minute wherin are many moments as touching naturall
death are equally as vncertayne to man as is the Houre the Day the Weeke the Moneth the Yeere of Christs comming to Iudgement which that he will come is as certaine as death but as touching the time of the cōsummation of al things Christ as hee was man confessed he knew not the time yet was no earthly thing hid from him no not the thoughts of men But that Day is concealed in the generall as the houre of mans death in particular only to make vs and to keepe vs in such a continuall obedience as if death should suddenly steale vpon vs we may be readie to imbrace him in what manner soeuer hee should execute his seuerity vpon vs. Whereby I learne that as I tender mine own safetie So I should prepare me for that and to that which come it sooner or later cannot be auoyded It is then the principall point of diuine Wisdome to learne and to practize to liue well for without a godly life I cannot willingly and comfortably imbrace death which can neuer bee euill if a good life haue gone before As I shall dye so shall I rise If I dye iustified I shall rise to be glorified To liue well as some account it wealthily is not well And to dye rich is not to dye righteous for so should the rich Glutton haue beene carryed into Abrahams bosome with or before poore Lazarus The cōdition of worldlings no doubt is glorious were it good pleasant were it truly profitable It is high in conceit but not as it is taken true happinesse It is no higher then the Eye can see It consisteth but of the Earth and earthly things The Swine thinkes his condition happie yet only noozels in the Earth for Apples and Acornes neuer looking to the Tree from whence they fall So doe Worldlings wallow in all carnall care how to become great and glorious in this life seldome or neuer looking vp with the Eye of Faith to him from whom and from none else commeth the riches that maketh a man blessedly happie Contrarie is the condition of the Childe of God who loues God in feare and feares him in loue accepting euery smal gift as a great measure of his bountie resting content with whatsoeuer God will vouchsafe to bestow on him liuing in the world but dead to the World following with diligence and truth his Vocation be it neuer so base and contemptible receiuing with thankefulnesse to GOD whatsoeuer he enioyeth in this life not setting his affection vpon that which the World loueth but affecteth whatsoeuer hee hath for his sake that giues it hauing the Eye of his sanctified Soule alwayes and in all things in prosperity in aduersity in health in sicknesse in peace and persecution in fulnesse and in want and is alwayes conuersant as it were in Heauen desiring to bee dissolued to bee with Christ. These are the pleasures of that life that precedes a happie death My desire therefore and continuall indeuour shall be to learne and my care to practize the life and conuersation of a liuely Christian in continuall filiall obedience not after the flesh in shew only but after the Spirit in Truth not for the bodie only as doth the beast that perisheth but for the Soule which being safe the bodie cannot finally perish and safe I cannot bee in soule or bodie vnlesse I liue in Christ and Christ in me for I now find that as long as I liued without Christ I did but liue in shew as the Angell of Sardis who had the name to liue but yet was dead so I though I liued and breathed and had a naturall being yet was I dead spiritually without him as the wanton Widdow that was dead while she liued But by the Spirit of Christ I am now againe made aliue desiring to liue in him hee is life in deed to walke in him hee is the true way indeed and to beleeue in him he is truth in deed My former learning to liue was in carnall libertie which I now finde to bee but foolishnesse falshood and deceit I now seeke to learne to liue according vnto Christ though late though it bee the very euening of my day being called vnto and if I doe perseuere in my labour according vnto my dutie I doubt not but to receiue my penny as well as if I had carryed the burden of the whole day of my life for he that calleth me into his Vineyard is truly bountifull and respecteth not the quantitie but the qualitie of my worke not how much I doe but how well and willingly I doe it for he rewards none for merit but in mercie And now finding my selfe to be not only in the way but neere vnto the end of my day I desire so to finish it as I may liue in him vnto the end that is life eternall that as he is eternall I beginning here to liue in him I may liue eternally with him in Heauen after this death And therefore I doe heartily abhorre the life that I haue led with-out him desiring now a right preparation so to lay downe this mortall bodie as it may bee taken vp and raysed by the vertue of Christs Resurrection at the comming of him in the Cloudes and in the meane season I desire so to walke in my spirituall part as in his time also hee may againe receiue it that gaue it for I know that if my earthly house be destroyed I haue a building of God an house not made with hands but eternall in the Heauens And through the mercy of God in Christ I shall then remayne for euer in Abrahams bosome the Paradise of God a new and spirituall Ierusalem I confesse I ground not mine assurance of my future blessednesse vpon any worthinesse or merite of mine owne whose merits I acknowledge Gods mercies Therefore being dissolued I beleeue not that the Prayers of friends or mediation of Saints or Angels or any Missall Sacrifice after my soule hath left my bodie can auayle me any thing But doe contrarily beleeue Post-Prayers to bee meerely fruitlesse if not sinfull the intercessions of Saints or Angels to be needlesse if not fabulous I only relye vpon the Al-sufficient Sacrifice of the bloud of Iesus Christ shed vpon the Crosse for me and his merit and mediation to bee mine onely atonement with God for my sinnes being liuing and through his power my soule to bee transported to glorie my bodie being dead from whence neither sinne nor Satan principalities nor powers shall be able to remoue mee nor to take mee out of my Redeemers hands Glory therefore bee vnto God in Iesus Christ who hath deliuered mee from the power of Satan Death and Hell This mine assurance giueth mee peace in Christ yet doe I withall feele another law within mee stirring mee vp or rather casting mee downe into sundry corrupt motions tending to sinne and did not God assist me with
the patient man which on their parts that rayle on him is euill spoken of but on his part is glorified The Lord is a God of iudgement and they are blessed that waite on him with patience Attendance another branch of Watchfulnesse may bee said an expectation with patience for a thing feared or desired how feare and desire may bee of one and the same thing in one and the same subiect being of contrarie effects may bee thus answered Feare in this place is not seruile but filiall and therefore may well stand with the desire A sonne hauing a charge imposed by his louing father though hee indeuour to performe the thing coÌ„manded neuer so carefully feareth yet that hee may come short of some part of his dutie and therefore feareth how his father wil accept of what hee hath done and yet being perswaded through a cleane and cleare conscience that hee hath done his best endeuour hopeth his father will take it well and therefore desireth that his father would returne to obserue the performance of that he had in charge Although hee cannot make his account with such absolute perfection as hee should yet no doubt his father caÌ„not but hold him excusable in shewing his good will to doe it well so stands his feare with desire So I hauing charge of mine heauenly Father to doe his Commandements I confesse I cannot performe them as I ought though I haue a desire and a feare lest when I haue done all what I can I may yet bee found vnprofitable not withstanding my greatest care and most diligent attendance of the outward part to which attendance is required Attention namely the minde and will which I conceiue to be two-fold The first is to the Will and Word of God to practise it The second to mine owne imperfections to reforme them and to keepe mine affections in due coÌ„formitie with the CoÌ„mandements of God Attention to the Will and Word of God is that whereby I am directed to performe that which is honest iust and right and that in faith wayting with patience the reward set before me not as a reward for my worke done but as a free gift of God in Christ in whom and by whom my worke is accepted as perfect though imperfect Attention to mine owne imperfections is also double of the soule and of the bodie As touching the first it is to hearken vnto as it were and obserue the motions of my corrupt heart not to yeeld vnto and to fulfill them but to suppresse and preueÌ„t the fruits that grow from them euen in the buds though they seeme and shew themselues neuer so pleasant sweet and delectable for they breed Securitie a carelesse life insensible of true patience and so become subiect to a sudden surprize And the rather for want of the second attention namely to the vncertayne estare of my feeble bodie which is subiect besides infinite casualties being in health to a thousand infirmities and mortal diseases which may suddenly dissolue this mortall life though they bee not at the instant feared nor felt This Attendance Attention are the fruits and effects of Watchfulnesse through Patience for without patience who can waite for any future benefite The Husband-man is brought in by the Holy Ghost an example of wayting with patience for he committeth and commendeth the seed to the earth with great diligence hee waites for the crop with patience and attends the former and latter raine and by due attention hearkens how the course of things goe that he may make the best of his commodities Doth nature afford men this care patience attendance and attention in vvorldly and perishing things And shall I come short of these in spirituall and heauenly things and not rather in watchfulnes patience and godly obedience looke for the end of this mortalitie in hope to reape and receiue celestiall and eternall glorie God forbid But I acknowledge that all my whatsoeuer watchfulnesse in patience or suffering deserues not the least graine of glorie for I am often not only beset with temptations to sinne but also pressed with the continuall cares and troubles of this life and I through weaknesse doe yeeld vnto the one and faint vnder the burden of the other and in stead of true watchfulnesse with patience I fall either into the slumber of Socuratia oâ—â—nto a kind of seruile feare or despaire and most seldome watch I with the open eyes of true attention and patience A kinde of patience I seeme to haue but mixed often-times with a kinde of grudging discontent at my corporall and domesticke crosses and worldly troubles where with I often finde my selfe much oppressed which yet God I know for no other cause layeth vpon mee but to make me sensible of mine owne imperfections and to correct mee for and to reforme sinne in â—e while I liue in thè world that I bâ— not condemned with the world though it bee vnto me for the time very vnpleasant vntill I enter into consideration that through many tribulations I must enter into the Kingdom of heauen and that the man is blessed whome God correcteth and God giueth that blessed man patience to bear his corrections with-out grudging and giueth alwayes a comfortable issue to euery temptation There is a kinde of patience wherein a man indureth that which hee would and cannot auoid this hath the name but not the nature of that true patience which I wish to haue The patience which I indeuour to attaine vnto is a constant bearing of my crosses and a settled expectation through faith for the end of that which cannot bee auoyded nor better obtayned but by death Therefore casting aside all hope of temporall freedom the feare of death I only relie vpon and wait the performance of his promise who hath reserued all true freedome of those that are his of his owne free mercy in the heauens onely as from hunger thirst nakednesse enemies labours sicknes sinnes and all other miseries whatsoeuer which in this life short and euill I am inforced yet with patience to endure This freedome I know I cannot attayne vnto but by changing this life by death and therefore with patience I daily expect it reuerencing the intire loue of mine heauenly Father in chastising me here and doe acknowledge the riches of his bountifulnesse patience and long suffering that he hath spared mee so long to liue where hee might iustly haue coÌ„founded me long agone for my sinnes but contrarily hath fauourably kept me vnder his Fatherly discipline thereby to leade me in the way I ought to walke in as in watchfulnesse patience attendance and attention according to godlinesse through IESVS CHRIST in whose name I will addresse my prayers vnto my heauenly Father for the Spirit of patience to wait for a better life by death A Prayer for patient wayting for a future better life by death fit to be said
in sicknesse The Prayer O Lord my God I waite on thée My soule keepeth silence vnto thee for of thee commeth my saluation therefore do I submit my self vnto thy will giuing thée thankes for thy patience towards me in Jesus Christ nor thou hast shewed thy selfe towardes mee slowe to wrath and full of goodnesse and mercy Increase euer more and more thy graces towards mee that in this my Pilgrimage towardes my graue I may possesse my soule in patience waiting thy good time for my deliuerie for here where I now dwel I neither hear nor sée taste nor touch any truly comfortable thing only thy Word is my spirituall consolation and the hope of future glorie my ioy And were I not fed with the hope of a better life by death I were of all men most miserable for nature could not with patience beare the burden of this miserable life being so ful of all infirmities both of body and mind so fraught with sins of all sorts and accompanied with so many and sundry crosses and finally subiect to thy seuere Judgement But thy fauour and thy loue and thy patience towards me worheth in me patience knowing that the time is comming and at hand wherein I shal be fréed from this mortal and miserable to enioy a life immortall and glorious O confirme therefore increase the patience attendance and attention which thou hast begun in me that after I haue here done thy will I may receiue the promise wherein thou hast assured me that the patient abiding of the righteous shall be gladnesse Thou art a God of mercy and blessed are they that waite for thee Grant therefore Lord that I may be found blamelesse in the day of my distation and that I may here walke worthy of thee through Christ beeing strengthned with al might thrugh thy glorious power to all patience and long suffering with ioyfulnes Amen Lord increase my faith MEDIT. VIII Of Repentance and Merit NO man be he neuer so holy is free froÌ„ sinne and therefore neuer free from occâ—sions to mooue him to Repentance And I acknowledge that Repentance Patience Watchfulnesse Attendance and Attention are of no force vnlesse Faith be the ground of euery of them For it sufficeth mee not to bee sorrie for my sins as it séemeth Iudas and Kain were vn lesse by Faith I can feele assure my selfe that my sinnes are also pardoned as neither of them did for it is the free gift of God which God vouchsafed not to them Neither is it sufficient for mee to watch with Patience or to attend the bringing forth of outward oftentiue and vaine-glorious works but I must feele in my selfe the infallible tokens of mine effectuall calling and ingrafting into Christ through Faith before I can bring forth workes worthy amendment of life which is true Repentance Some tokens of mine effectuall calling I feâ—le in my selfe for I desire to do good yet euen then is euill present with me I delight in the Law of God as conceruing the inner man Namely as I am regenerate But I see another Law in my members rebelling against the Law of my minde and lending me captiue vnto the Law of sinne which is in my members So that I cannot doe the good I would doe but the euill which I would not do that I doe Should I then thinke that because I feele not the signes of my calling in perfection and because I am not free from all touch of infirmities and sinnes in thought word and deed that therefore I haue no Repentance God forbid for to perswade my selfe that I haue no sinne were to deifie my selfe and to make mee equall with Christ as doe those that are faithed from yet by their workes of Merit and of Supererogation presume to affirme that they can bring not only them-selues but others to saluation whose arrogate Merit stinkes before God making the death of Christ of none effect the highest Blasphemie that mortall man can spew out against the Trinitie for hereby is the most vnsearchable loue of God the Father in sending his Sonne made vain and fruitlesse the obedience of Christ to his Fathers will made needlesse and his death causlesse and the worke of the Holy Ghost who giueth Faith in the hearts of them that shall bee saued excluded and the corrupt heart of miserable man wherein by nature is nothing but sinne the dregges whereof will remaine euen in the regenerate man during this mortall life exalted aboue the merits of Christ. Which Blasphemy be farre from me Hee that can merit his owne Saluation needs no Repentance which I disclay me and cleaue only and alone to the merits of Christ my Sauiour in whom my Repentance imperfect is reputed true Repentance howsoeuer the â—ing of sinne remaines in me yet without mortall venome only to keepe me euer in minde of mine imperfections for when sinfull motions arise in mee I cannot but acknowledge in my selfe corruption which cannot but humble mee before God and occasion me to pray for the Spirit of Repentance and that God will deliuer mee from this bodie of sinne A Prayer for true Repentance and a reformed life The Prayer O Lord my God I come here into thy presence fearefull to looke vp to Heauen where thou sittest from whence thou beholdest all my wayes and obseruest all mine actions in earth cursed and euill and wherein I haue too too long wallowed my selfe and as it were bathed my selfe in the bloud of mine owne soule which I haue diuersly wounded through my sinnes seldome or neuer calling my selfe to an account what I haue done but resting secure haue followed vanitie vpon vanity heaping â—â—â—ne vpon sin as if there were neither pleasure nor profit but in a carnall course of life O touch my heart with a true sorrow for euery idle thought of my heart for euery vaine word of my mouth and for euery act that I haue commited against thy sacred Maiestie giue mee grace to call to minde my sinnes of all sorts of all seasons and of all places howsoeuer or wheresoeuer I haue done and committed them that they appearing vnto mee in their vgly likenesse I may truely lothe them hate and abhorre them and vnfainedly repent them while Ihane time and while thy Mercies may be found for in death there is no remeÌ„brance of thee and in the graue who shall prayse thee Returne O Lord deliuer my soule saue mee for thy mercies sake withdraw not thy tender mercie from mee O Lord let thy Merrie and thy Truth alwayes preserue me Open Lord my dimme eyes the â—ies of my heart that I may hence-forth sée and walke in thy wayes Soften and molliste my hard and stonie heart that with Peter I may go out of my sinnes and bitterly bewaile them Send thy light and thy truth let them lead mee let them bring me vnto thine holy Mountaine and to thy Tabernacles Giue me a truly repenting heart through a liuely Faith in the Merits
whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne And therefore the opinion of meritorious works and works of supererogation I beleeue cannot be grounded on a true sauing faith for to assume selfe-power to doe good and there-by to merit saluation is meerely against Christ and his merits as is also the pretēded propitiatorie sacrifice of the Masse and the reall being of Christs flesh in the Eucharist not onely not necessary to enter into my beliefe but rather that I beleeue that the death of Christ once for all apprehended by a liuely faith and his merits applyed for the pardon of my sinnes to my vnderstanding 〈◊〉 is a 〈◊〉 sufficient for the washing away of the sins of as many as doe truely beleeue and earnestly repent and doe receiue in that faith the sacramentall signes of the breaking of his body and sheading of his bloud vpon the crosse namely bread and wine faithfully I beleeue that Christ cōtinues really in heauen sitting at the right hand of God a continuall and alone Mediator euen for me and that the heauens shall so contayne him vntill his second comming vntill which time the Sacrament is left vnto all beleeuers to be a remembrance vnto them of his death which is a sufficient propitiation for the sinnes of all beleeuers I doe therefore beleeue that the holy Ghost possessing my heart at my participation of that holy Sacrament worketh faith in me which faith looketh backe vnto the death of Christ vpon the crosse beholding as it were by the eye of the same faith the breaking of his bodie and the powring out of his bloud euen then sacramētally represented vnto mee by the bread broken signifying his bodie and by the wine powred out signifying his bloud which I corporally eating and drinking I doe as verily taste of the vertue of Christs death in my heart by faith as I do taste in my mouth the bread wine And this I beleeue to be the true vse of this holie mystery whereof all faithfull receiuers do no otherwise partake of Christs bodie now crucifyed then the faithfull Iewes did partake of him in eating the Paschall Lambe prefiguring the death of Christ to come as now we solemnize the commemoration of his death past but that they had it vnder a more darke vayle which now being taken away appeareth to vs most perspicuously and cleerly MEDIT. X. Christ elected none for foreseene workes I Doe not beleeue that GOD elected me for the foreseen good works that I would doe for I disclayme all inherent goodnesse by nature and doe belieue that God giues me both will and the power to doe good and all the good that I doe I acknowledge to be of God and the euill that I doe to bee of my selfe therefore the good that I doe I doe not beleeue to be the cause but the effect of mine election I confesse that God did foreknow I would doe good not but that hee likewise forepurposed to indue me with his owne Spirit whereby I should doe it therefore is not the worke mine but the Spirits that God hath giuen me for if I should beleeue that God foresaw the good that I setting the Spirit of God aside should doe and therefore did elect mee were it not to beleeue that mine own workes were the cause of mine election and so assume vnto my selfe power to worke mine owne saluation which God forbid God giues the wil and the power to worke and rewards the worke not as a debt hee owes mee for my worke but as he first gaue me the will and the power freely so hee rewards not my work but manifesteth his mercie wherein hee likewise as hee freely elected mee so hee freely bestowes vpon me his saluation through his owne meanes and therefore I rather vtterly condemne my best works then to expect any meritorious reward for them I feele the force of mine owne corruption daily and that appeares in the whole course of my life by the fruits which of them-selues are euer euill which I cannot suppresse but by the grace of GOD in Christ. If I knewe nothing by my selfe to yeeld me cause of doubt yet were not I thereby iustified But I know no good in my selfe what shall I say then am I condemned God forbid for as God did freely elect mee so hee freely iustifies mee not for mine owne good workes the best of which are imperfect but of his owne free mercie by imputing Christs righteousnesse and merits vnto me in whom and with whom a Crowne of glorie is laid vp in heauen euen for mee from whose fulnesse I receiue euen here grace for grace whereby and not by any meanes of mine owne I doe grow and increase and the elder I waxe in Christ the more I fasten my roote and the more I flourish in the Spirit for They that are planted in the Courts of the Lord shall flourish in their age and bring forth fruit and happy are they that are in Christ Iesus whom neither life nor death nor things present nor things to come shall separate from the loue of God Shall not Death then separate me from Christ no it shall not only not separate me but it shall bring me into his Real and Royall presence into his Kingdome of glorie new Ierusalem where I shall see his Maiestie as farre to exceed the glorie of Salomon in the day of his magnificent Coronation as the Sunne exceedes in brightnesse the darkest and blackest cloud Is this then the hurt that Death can doe vnto mee and shall I feare it will a wise man refuse a rich possession for not passing to it by an ordinarie bridge by which hee hath seene millions goe before him And shall I desire to dwell in this base and beggerly cottage this ruined and rotten house of clay in labour trauaile care feare trouble enuie griefe and a thousand miseries rather then passing by the ordinaire way of death to inherit a glorious Kingdom God forbid I desire farre rather to be with CHRIST in glorie which glorie I beleeue farre surpasseth both what is or can be spoken or conceiued of it The very Angels that presently partake of it cannot expresse it nay the holy Ghost though hee doe assure vs that it is prepared for all Gods elect yet the very fulnesse of it is not reueiled words cannot so sufficiently declare it as that the most illuminate man can expresse it not Paul himselfe though hee were taken vp into the third Heauen where hee heard and no doubt sawe wonderfull things yet could hee not discouer them to the full apprehension of any mortall But by the glorie that God hath reueiled in his works by the Firmament the Sunne the Moone the Stars the Seas the Earth the order and course of all his creatures visible may leade vs to iudge by way of comparison That if the things for the vse of mortall men here bee so wonderfull and glorious what are they
beautifull flowers are they quickly fade and fall away Whereby we are taught that how gawdily or gloriously soeuer we couet to beautifie our bodies wee make them neuer the more permanent but as these flowers wither and fall leafe after leafe through the defect of the sap that first caused them to flourish so man liue he neuer so long and neuer so full of glorie when the sap of nature begins to wax drie in him his most glorious leaues begin to fade and faile one after another the strong men his legs begin to weaken and falter the grinders his teeth fall out of the head the lookers the eyes wax dim one part after another decayes till the bodie totally comes to dust in the graue This is the glorie of the most glorious hee buds blossoms ripes rots as doth the flower in the garden the grasse of the field and as a shaddow a dreame and as a fancie flyes to his end and liue he neuer so long his life is but as a tale that is told Doe wee not daily see the youngest strongest among humane creatures liuely full of agilitie and corporall actiuitie in the morning who yet before night are eyther naturally or accidētally oftentimes cut downe and in their graues Why therefore should I or you that shall perchance suruiue me be so sollicitous and ouercarefull of worldly things especially seeintg he longest liuer cannot enioy what he desireth with any true contentment aboue fortie or fiftie yeeres for till he bee twentie hee is vnder gouernment not at his owne will after that he is wearied with labours and cares of the world when he comes to sixtie or seuentie yeeres hee be comes decrepit vnapt vnable to follow his owne occasions To bee in league with death as hoping he will forbeare the execution of his warrant vpon vs or by arte to indeuour to put off old age though many desire it none can doe it the richest by his gifts the strongest by his valour the wisest by his policie nor the most cunning by any artificiall deuice or stratagem he can contriue Who can free himselfe of a feuer who can rid himselfe of the gout of the stone or of any other inherent infirmitie of the bodie Surely none but death death is the Phisician that cures all the diseases present in the bodie yet we like not his phisick wee are contented to vse art money we willingly giue to auoyd it and yet it is commonly seene that hee that seekes and desires most to prolong his life is most suddenly taken by death and he that seekes most to flie from it him it followes euen at the heeles and hee that couets most to saue his life soonest loseth it I thinke it therefore greatest wisdome so farre to couet long life as it may stand a blessing of God during which life we are to meditate necessarily two especial points namely how to leade our liues how to entertaine death when it comes As touching the first we are inioyned therefore bound to liue godly which comprehendeth all the dueties of a Christian life which duties although they be many are all performed by holy obedience to God which consisteth in a perfect obseruing of his diuine Precepts namely in doing that which is good and auoyding that which is euill The good commanded cannot be done by nature which is corrupt but by grace freely giuen the euill which is forbidden comes and is done by nature The effects of good and ill affections consist in action by seuerall operations the good which we doe God worketh both in vs and by vs the euill which wee doe is of by our selues The like in suffering the good suffer euill with patience not the euill of doing but the bearing of euils and wrongs offerd without grudging The wicked suffer euen goodnesse as it were against their wils and commit euils against the good wittingly and with their wils The good endeuour to leade their liues vnspotted in the world not as did many Heathen Philosophers who had both the actiue and passiue parts of doing good and suffering euill that in great measure of patience wanting only diuine knowledge consequently faith which are no more ours by nature then they were theirs Therefore if I or you should onely indeuour a kinde of Philosophical outward and morall goodnes without the internal working of grace through faith wee should by our such doing and suffering gaine but that which they gayned a bare name of holinesse although wee as some of them did would voluntarily giue our bodies to death wee should thereby gain but the more future miseries In all our doings and sufferings wee must set GOD alwayes before the eye of our mindes taking hold of Christ by faith by whome hee hath reueiled himselfe vnto vs to be our louing Father not vnto them without Christ wee are euen as the former Gentiles were vnder the curse but by and through him made heires of the Kingdome of glorie whereof although these Philosophers were endued with humane wisedome farre aboue vs they had yet no vnderstāding of nor were partakers of that true glorie which is by Christ. Therefore must we that liue in the light of Truth striue to bee partakers of better things then they that liued in the darknesse of ignorance for vs to come short of their care of doing the good they suppos'd good in doing that wee know to bee good were most palpable idlenesse and seuerely punishable We must therefore while it is to day studie and practise to be holy in deede not in shew like the Pharises whose seeming sanctitic was all external and internally were prophane hypocrites As touching the second point of Meditatiō namely of the vncertayne comming and to be prepared for death cast your eye vpon the fore-part of the former treatie where you may peraduenture finde matter of Meditation touching this point In briefe Remember your ends namely death and if you haue any grace it will preuent sinne in you so walke in health as if you should presently die ye shall find it a remedy against the vanities of this life Who can thinke of present death and yet delight himselfe in the vncertayne things of this world Hee that is still dying begins his eternall life here and remembers that hee hath here no continuing Citie and therefore thinks of seekes that which is to come not liuing as the secure conetous man in the Gospell flattering his soule to remaine many yeeres in his bodie not hauing one night to liue Yee are poore I confesse I cannot enrich you and therefore to disswade you from couetousnesse may seeme superfluous yet I thinke not but a begger may be as couetous and as greedy to get hoord vp as the richest man flie it therefore in your smallest meanes it is the roote of all other sinnes it depriues men of the
prosperitie Teach mee good Father how to kéepe a diligent account of all the benefits and blessings I here receiue of thée and what vse I from time to time make of them knowing that there will come a day when I shall bee called to answere the same Grant therefore that I may so gourrne my selfe that I may bee able with boldnesse and truth to giue account of my time spent and my talents how I haue disposed them that I may bee found faithfull in my little and be made partaker of the greatnesse of thy Glorie in the Heauens Though I be a Stranger a Soiourner here in Earth yet grant Lord that I may haue my conuersation in Heauen Giue me Wisedome that I may finish this my Pilgrimage in thy fauour and for that I cannot so number my dayes that I can know how long I haue to liue let the residue of my life be a preparation to Death and the meditation of Death cause in mee continuall watchfulnesse for the comming of thy Sonne O God forsake mée not vnto the end so shall I neuer fall from or forsake thee Enable mee heere so to walke as becommeth thy sonne though in great weaknesse I haue finished my course to this day Grant Lord that I may bring forth better fruites from this day to the end of my dayes through thy Grace and in the end bée receiued to eternall Glorie through the merits of my alone Sauiour and Redéemer Jesus Christ to whom with thée O God the Father and the Holy Ghost be euermore ascribed all Power and Glorie Amen O Lord euermore increase my faith FINIS LONDON Printed by W. Stansby for Richard Meighen and are to be sold at his Shops at Saint Clements Church ouer against Essex house and at Westminster Hall 1619. Death certaine the time vncertaine Luk. 16. 22. Future ioy and paine in the extreme degree Body and Soule louingly linâ—kt Heb. 9. 27. Iob. 11. Io. 1. 1. Matt. 9. 25. 1. King 17. 22. 2. Kin. 4. 35 Dying twice 2. King 13. 21. Not necessarie to know the houre of death Time of the last Iudgment vnknown Mar. 13. 32 A good life must precede a happie death Luk. 16. 22. 23. Difference betweene Gods children and worldlings Phil. 1. A Christian resolution Gal. 2. 20. Reue. 3. 1. 1. Tim. 〈◊〉 Iohn 14. 6. What it is to liue carnally Matt. 20. 9. God is bountifull without our merit 2. Cor. 5. 1 2 Luke 16. 23 Our merit Gods mercies 1. Tim. 2. 5. Reue. 3. 11. Col. 2. 15. Satans policies No neede to feare Satan Iob. 26. Matt. 12. 29 Iob. 7. 1. Rom. 8. 33. 34. 1. Iob. 2. 10. Iob. 10. 28. Rom. 8. 34. The Christians hum blenesse Psal. 145. 9 Gods mer cies greater then our sinnes The assurance of a good Christian. Iudg. 15. 14 Iob. 19. 27. There is a sowing time and reaping time of bodies Life but lent vs. Christs death a Christians life 2. Pet. 3. 8. The bodie findes no tedious tarrying in the graue The graue a bed of rest Reue. 14. 13 Death a sleepe Mar. 9. 44. Death in shew more fearefull then in deede Rom. 2. 5. A spiritual and carnal life here Gal. 5. 19 20 21. Gal. 5. 19 20. Fruits of the flesh Fruits of the Spirit Counterfeit imitation of good men Hypocrisy most to be condemned Rom. 7. 16. How Will is free and not free 1. Cor. 2. 10. Mat. 7. 7 8 Prayer Psal. 25. 1 2 86. 4. Iam. 1. 6 7. Psal. 89. 48 Luke 12. 39 Iam. 4. 13. 2. Cor. 5. 6. Col. 2. 10. Col. 2. 15. The benefit of Christs death The best men often stagger at the consideration of death Ioh. 18. 17. Mat. 26. 39 Ecclus. 41. 1 Body and soule shal be glorified Death will come not looked for Gen. 5. 25. verse 4. Gen. 9. 29. Decrease of mens ages Deut. 34. 7. Not to depend on long life Time past short in expectation long Sudden death in others a fearefull spectacle Feare Mat. 14. 26 1. Pet. 2. 17. 1. Ioh. 4. 18. Col. 3. 22. Psal. 33. 18 DiffereÌ„ce of feare The want of wisedome the want of feare Hos. 14. 9. Psal. 128. 1. God must blesse vs before we can feare him Rom. 7. 18. Phil. 2. 13. Feare the gift of God Psa. 111. 10 Psal. Iob 1. 1. Reu. 14. 13. Psal. Rom. 12. 9. 1. Thes. 3. 15 1. Pet. 5. 8. 1. 2. Rom. 14. 12. 3. Eccles. 12. 14. We must giue account after death The heart the fountaine of al euill Iere. 17. 9. Gen. 6. 5. Satan watchfull ouer our inclinations aswell as actions Satan in his temptations steales vpon vs. The watch of a Christian Phil. 4. 8. Satan encounters vs not alone Our corrupt inclinations aduantage to Satan Eph. 5. 11. Tit. 2. 12. Rom. 13. 12 Rom. 12. 9. Though wee bee tempted we shall not fall Matt. 14. Act. 7. 59. Act. 12. 2. Mar. 13. 33 Mat. 24. 42. The Parable of the Thiefe Luk. 12. 39. 2. Cor. 6. 6. 1. Pet. 3. 10 11. Ecclus. 4. 20 The generall Audit is at hand therefore to prepare our account Mat. 18. 24 2. Pet. 3. 10 Mal. 4. 1. Zeph. 1. 14. 15 16. 2 Pet. 3. 10. Christs second comming fearfull None shal be able to answere the seuere Iudge 1. Cor. 1. 7. Phil. 3. 2. Tim. 4. 8. Luk. 21. 36. Ps. 50. 3 10. Ver. 11. Psal. 42. 5. Psal. 37. 34. Patience Matt. 6. 25. 1. Pet. 5. 7. Psal. 55. 22. 2. Cor. 11. 28 Heb. 13. 7. Matt. 6. 33 Pro. 10. 28. 1. Pet. 3. 9. 1. Pet. 4. 14. Esa. 30. 18. Attendance How feare and desire stand together Example The most diligent may bee found vnprofitable Attention two-fold 1. 2. Attention to selfe imperfections The Husband mans atteÌ„dance and attention Watchfulnesse in patience merits nothing because it is all vnperfect Correction necessarie Counterfeit patience True patience The place of freedome is heauen Gods forbearance to punish Rom. 7. 21 22 23. Verse 19. The opinion of Merit and Workes of Supererogation blasphemie They that can merit need no Repentance Psal. 43. 3. Heb. 11. 6. Iam. 2. 20. Rom. 11. Rom. 8. 24. The Fathers before Christ saw Christ to come Mat. 3. 17. Mat. 17. 5. 2. â—et 1. 17. Heb 9. 24. Patience in the husbandman Gal. 6. 8. Men most miserable but for the hope of another life Iude 20. 21. Vaine and carnall obiections against Faith and Beliefe Ro. 10. 9 10 Ia. 2. 18 19. Iam. 2. 21. Gen. 22. Iam. 2. 23. Faith the gift of God yet ours by imputation Iam. 2. 20. Rom. 14. 23 Heb. 11. 6. Sacrifice of the Masse Act. 7. 49. Heb. 4. 14. 1. Tim. 2. 5. The true vse of the SacrameÌ„t of the Lords Supper Rom. 7. 18 19. and 2. 13. Eph. 2. 8 9. Gal. 5. 4. We cannot suppresse sin but by grace Iob. 1. 16. The benefit of death The glory to come farre exceedes mans vnderstanding Wordes cannot expresse the glorie to come If worldly things be glorious how