it at a better rate my sins stare me in the face my conscience tells me I am not ready for such a Trial I have lived a stranger to such thoughts as now I cannot refuse and which should have been admitted sooner But if to such a state any hope of mercy may be granted tho it be unspeakably little yet I cannot promise my self any such warning by sickness The sleeping virgins were called at Midnight and so may I. where can I pitch my Tents on Earth to be secure against a sudden remove Lord make thes thoughts effectual to prevent my loss of precious Time which at such a season will be esteemed precious tho now it be not O how swift how short my Time of Trial in order to Eternity how difficult how important a work is it to prepare for an Everlasting state what is all this world how little how meer a nothing to a departing soul and shall I after such reflexions continue to pursue shadows and pleas my self with empty dreams when being so near my final Judgment the common wisdom of a man requires me to mind it in good earnest and be more sollicitous about it then for any Thing Temporal O in what manner will Death open mine eyes by shutting the windows of sens how shall I then see the nothingness of what is but Temporal and the reality of what is Eternal We sometimes laugh to see the vanity of little Children who are greatly pleased with painted toys and busily imployed about trifles It extorts a smile to see them eager and industrious and mightily concerned in their childish sports to see them fight or weep for little things which we despise to observe with what sollicitude and care they l raise a little fabrick which three moments after they themselvs pull down or would otherwise tumble of its own accord We laugh at thes but should weep over our selvs as the greater and Elder Fools who are every whit as Silly yea infinitely more so that considering we know the frailty of our present Life and can look beyond the Grave to another world should yet mispend our precious Time on things which cannot profit and pleas our selvs with what is so unsuitable to our Age and State and suffer our passions to work with violence for a thing of nought and our greatest diligence care and zeal to be exercized on things impertinent and vaine that are perishing in in themselvs and can contribute nothing to our Eternal wellfare And is it not thus with reference to all that men toyl and labor for with the neglect of an immortal State The voluptuous Sadducee will not refuse the present gratification of his sensual appetite because he is uncertaine of another day Let us eat and drink for to morrow we dye Should not the same motive quicken my diligence in a better work and because my Lord may come suddenly as a thief in the night immediately prepare to meet him Let me now therefore o my soul look forward to the end of Life and Time and so let me esteem and seek and choos and do every thing in the first place which then I shall wish I had Let me do nothing now which I verily believe I shall then be ashamed or sorry to reflect on that by thinking what a condition I shall then wish to have my soul in I may now provide my self much better then I have done thitherto That while I am in the greatest probability of living I may suppose my change to be near and so not dare do any thing but what I would or might do if I were in the present expectation of Death To this end let me goe down to the Potters house descend to the consideration of my mortality and dwell among the Tombs remembring the Aegyptians built themselvs better Tombes then Houses because they were to dwell longer in them Let every nights repose serve me as a memorial of my last sleep and let my Bed stand for the model of my Coffin This is the only way to be dead to this world to be able to judge of things now as we shall do after death according to immutable Eternal Truth X. The Brevity of Life considered as the fruit of sin There are but three ways of leaving this world as Abel Adam or Enoch A diligent improvement of Time farther prest and the neglect of it bewailed THe shorting of our Days is the fruit of sin We dye because we have sinned and yet we should not sin as now if this were not forgot that we must dye From the First Transgression of Adam we derive our death and therefore some of his Posterity lived longer then he Which proves that the lengthning of our Days is the peculiar Gift of God and yet 't is such a Gift as was more desired formerly then since the apearance of Christ for we read of none in the New Testament since Life and Immortality is brought to Light by the Gospel who desired a long continuance here on earth Were we delivered from sin the sting of Death by having made our peace with God in the Bloud of Jesus Death would not be frightfull or put on such a ghastly vizor as to most it doth But we are uncertaine of our Justification we waver between hopes and Fears as to our Final Sentence and are conscious to our selvs that we are not ready for our great Acount This makes Death â—o terrible Considering with all that it is inevitable the way of all the Living For tho the curs be removed and the sting be taken out by our H. Saviour so that the Souls of Believers are safe and shall not be toucht by the second Death yet God hath not taken away the stroke of it from the Body tho a Christian is assured of deliverance from Hell he is not exempted from the Grave as his passage to Heaven Prepare me Lord by the free Remission of all my sins and make me meet for the Blessed Inheritance by sanctifying grace and then thy Time is best Thy Holy will be done No matter then wither my Death be violent or what we call Naturall It will be one of the two for I can't expect to be Translated by a miraculous change as Holy Enoch was and as they shall be who shall be found alive at the world when our Glorious Judge shall come againe There are but those three ways of leaving Earth and the Three First Men of whose departure we read in Scripture are Instances of all Three Abel of a violent Death Adam of a natural one and Enoc of a Translation The variety and order of their Departure as one observes is very admirable and deserves to be considered For all mankind must follow one or other of those three Examples Every man or woman that is born into the world must leave it by one of those three ways Either be cut off by a violent Death as Abel the first man who dyed or dye a Natural Death
in a world of sin and suffering absent from the Lord Shall I not thereby escape a multitude of Temptations sins and sorrows which others by living longer are exposed to If my Peace be made with God what should make me willing to live at this distance from him what shoul render this world so desireable where God is so dishonored where I am so often tempted to displeas him and so often yeild to such Temptations and may I not fear least I should fall into such scandalous and greivous sins that may bring a publick reproach on the Gospell of Christ and sadden the Hearts of all my Aquaintance who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity And tho I should maintaine my Integrity yet in this world my highest love and obedience to God and my sweetest communion with him is but imperfect How many Impediments and Diversions do I dayly meet with that deaden my Heart to Heavenly contemplations and affections what disapointments and sorrow full disasters to convince me this is not the place of Rest and Happiness what smart Afflictions may some of my Relations prove what dangerous snares may attend me in the remaining Portion of my Time what opposition and hatred from men may the stedfast professing of the Truth and fidelity to God expose me to what publick national calamities may I have my share in c. But if I consider old Age it self which we doe desire to reach what and how many are the Infirmities and Griefs and troublesome Circumstances which attend that state which dying young will prevent are not most men who reach a very great old Age helpless objects of Pitty a Burden to themselvs and to all about them And which commonly happens may I not then be as unwilling to dye as at present as loath then to leave the world as now tho in a manner it will have left me for how many old men past the relish of sensual Pleasures are yet inordinately fond of a longer Life Have I not been told by Heathens as well as Christians that 't is not the length of Time but its improvement that doth really make a Long Life If I have anfwered the ends for which I were born 't is not too soon to dye No man ever miscarried as to his Everlasting Intrest because his Life was short but Evill He that is prepared for Death hath lived long enough and should thank God for a speedy call to the possession of that Felicity which the Holiest Saints on Earth desire and breath after Gideon lost nothing by returning from victory while the Sun was yet high If I have wrought but a few hours in the vineyard and done but a little service for my Lord and Master and yet am dismist and rewarded before the Rest of my Fellow Laborers shall I repine and think my Lord doth not be friend me If he hath any farther Service for me he will prolong my days and make me diligent I hope and contended Otherwise I pray he would make me ready to dye and make me willing and desirous to depart this Life For to be only content to dye that I may be perfectly Holy and fully Blessed is me thinks too low for a Christian who acts like himself believing the Certainty of his anowed Principles and Hopes and knowing that while we are present in the Body we are absent from the Lord. XVI The contemplation of our approaching change may assist us to mortifie the Lusts of the Flesh the Lust of the Eyes and the Pride of Life to cure Ambition and promote Contentment AL that is in the World saith the Apostle is the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eyes and the Pride of Life The dust and ashes of our own mortality duely considered and applied will help to dead and extinguish each of thes By Pride of Life we lift up our selvs against Heaven and despise our Maker by the lust of the Flesh we overlove and indulge the body and study to gratifie the sensual Appetite by the lust of the Eyes our Desires are immoderate after Temporal and External Goods The thought of our approaching End hath a tendency to oppose and mortifie these Lusts to humble us before God to take us off from the inordinate love of the Body and to moderate our passions to Earthly Things It may help us against Pride by showing us the infinite distance between the Eternal self-sufficient God and such poor Dust as we who are but of yesterday and if he uphold us not and maintaine our souls in life shall be laid in the dust to morrow It will mind us of his Justice against Sin the Parent of Death and of all the miseries of our mortal state and convince us of our weakness to resist his will or avoid his wrath As to our fond affection to the Body it may instruct us that it deserves not to be so much accounted of it will open our eyes to discern the preference of our Immortall souls and what concerns them to the interest of a perishing Body It may convince us that we are cruel and unkind to our very bodies by overloving them because we thereby contribute to their Eternal sufferings and so teach us to love and use our bodies as Servants to our Souls in this world and as expecting to share in Glory with them after the Resurrection It may also help to moderate our desires after Earthly Good and so cure the Lust of the Eyes by letting us see the vanity uncertainty and short duration of these things and their insufficiency to make us Happy and give us true Content The Thoughts of an approaching change may if any thing will do it damp the mirth of the Luxurious Epicure and strike him into a fit of trembling as did Belshazzar's handwriting on the wall It may discover the distraction of living in pleasure and of care to please the senses and the fleshly appetite when the End is so near If may likewise check the folly of Ambitious Designs that men should make so much a doe to get into slippery places from whence they may so easily fall Where being puft up with vaine applause they forget themselvs and their latter end till their Life and Glory expire together Where are now the Great and Mighty and Honorable who have made such a noise in the world what is now the difference between the dust of an Alexander or Caesar and that of their meanest slaves or Captives Could their dignities and earthly Glory preserve any of them from the stroke of Death or the Judgment of God or without Repentance from his condemning Sentence Think o my Soul how little it will shortly signifie wither I have been known and honoured among men or no any farther then God may be glorified by it How should it suppress vaine Glory to think of being one day esteemed and worshipt reverenced and applauded by dying men and laid in the Grave the next Let me rather seek that Glory and Honour
violation of his law and can it be inconsistent with them to inflict his threatned wrath Shall we suppose God to uphold his dominion and government by a Falshood to keep the world in awe by the menaces of such Punishments as shall no where never be executed Is it unlikely that God should exercise so much severity and is it not as improbable that his repeated word Oath should prove fals Is it not a righteous thing with God as the Governor of the World thus to punish the obstinate Despisers of his Grace who slighted his Authority disobeyed his Law affronted his Soveraignty derided his Power denied his Truth contradicted his Holiness and joyn'd issue with the Devill to pull him from his throne who abused his Patience and Long suffering and scorned all his threatnings who thrust away their own Happiness and would not take warning who burst all his bands a sunder and broke thro all obstructions and would not be stopt in their course of vanity and folly or so much as consider their danger who rejected his calls to Repentance and refused his mercy when it was offered and prefer'd a Lust before his favor and the pleasures and profits of this world before the Heavenly Glory and notwithstanding all the methods of his Grace and the checks of his Providence and of their own Conscience they would goe on they would Dye Let me o my soul adore the Soveraign Justice of God in all his Judgments and tremble at the threatnings of that Eternal Wrath which so few consider or believe till 't is too late Let the foresight and the fear of such an intolerable endless Punishment be a means to save me from it let me herein read the Evill of sin and learn to abhorr and avoid it Let me pitty and warn and counsel and pray for those of my Relations and Acquaintance who live in sin and run the hazard of this Eternal Ruine Let me not envy the foolish Mirth and momentany Prosperity of the wicked whose present Joy must ere long expire and an Everlasting Destruction succeed in its room Job 20. c. 4.5 How short is the Joy of the Hypocrite and the Triumph of the wicked is but for a moment Let me fear and dread every thing that leads to this dismal issue and improve every thing that may help me to escape it And by consequence let me less value all the Good and Evill of this present Life judge of all things by this light be patient under Temporal Calamities and thank God that it is not Hell and thank him more that present sufferings do help to save me from Eternal ones Did I believingly consider an Everlasting Hell Qut non expergiscitur ad hac Tonitrua jam non dormit sed mortuus est S. Augustin I should not think much of any thing that is required to prevent it the severest exercises of Religion the strictest Temperance the nicâ—st Chastity the largest Charity the greatest selfdenial all the Hardships of Repentance and mortification and continuance therein to the death tho for many years more then I am like to live would be reckon'd Easy as well as Just if set in the balance against the Eternal Mischiefs of the Damned What will not men do suffer to prevent a Temporal Death They will endure a painfull course of Physick tear out their very bowells by purges and vomits and are content to be cut and scarified and to suffer any thing almost to save their lives but how little will they do to be saved from the wrath to come One would think they should have no Rest or Peace or be able to live a quiet hour till they had made some Provision against the hazard of this Eternal Destruction and look upon all men as their Friends or Enemies according to the help or hindrance they received from them in reference to it But the direct Contrary is every where apparent Men are careless and secure jovial and merry in the way that leads to Hell and esteem and love and choose that Company that will help to bring them to this place of torment Yea such is their stupidity and strange Perversness that they will not suffer to be told of their danger If you tell them that by such a course or such an Action they will lose so much money or their lives will be in in danger they reckon it an obligation will take it kindly and return you thanks But when they are told by such Courses and Actions they will lose their souls the favor of God the hopes of Heaven and must perish for ever this they will not receive they despise the message and scorn and hate the Messenger are displeased and angry at such Faithfulness O Bless the Lord o my Soul for any good hope thro Grace of escaping this Intolerable and Endless Misery And let all that is within me bless his holy Name And let me heartily compassionate the delusion of those multitudes of deceived perishing Souls whose Eyes are blinded by the God of this world who will not believe it till they are convinc't by the Light of that Fire which shall never be extinguisht Yea when I read or hear of ten or twenty thousand men slaine in a War whither of Infidels or Christians let me think of it with other apprehensions then formerly I was wont to doe Considering that many it may be the most of these shall never have any Comfort or Mercy more fearing least the same sword or Bullet that gave them their mortal wound hath fixt them under God's Everlasting Wrath and that by dying they are undone for ever In very many other cases the Faith of this Article would rectifie my opinions and direct my Actions if seriously considered and improved This would make me think of Death under another Notion then 't is commonly considered For without the consideration of Hell annexed to it it is not so very formidable but that Heathen have been able to despise it The most contrary Sects among them on different grounds have been able to do it but consider Death as a passage to Eternal misery as the Gate of Hell as the End of all Comfort to a wicked Man and the Beginning of an Endless Calamity and nothing can be imagined more dreadfull to a Guilty unholy Soul. Some of my Acquaintance it may be who dyed this last year are now among those Hopeless Despairing Wretches who expect the final Judgment of God to consummate their insupportable Misery If they were permitted to come and tell us what they suffer and what they know what a terrible consuming Fire God is what Vanity Lust and Folly brought them to this place of Torment what diligence they would advise us to while in a state of Hope to prevent the like if we have any love and kindness for our selves any bowells of Compassion to our own Souls what a change do we think it would work upon us But if we will not hear Moses
as Adam did who was the second or be translated as Enoc who was the Third we read of But tho I know that within a few years at farthest I must leave this world by one or other of these ways tho I have been dying ever since I began to live am Dead to the last year and to all the preceding Portions of my Time and know withall that what remains will quickly passe and be gone after the same manner yet how have I overloved this Body as if I should never live out of it and set my Heart and affections on this world as if I should never remove to another and trifled away my precious Time and Life as if a change would never come That few do seriously admit such thoughts is too evident by the general cours and practise of their Lives For to what hazards do men expose themselves what pains will they take what Inconveniencies will they bear with what unwearied Industry will they toyl and labour to get a little money or honour in this world to they know not but they may be called out of it before the end of this year And yet the same persons are remisse and slothfull about a future Life negligent and unconcerned about an Eternal state careless and indifferent yea sottishly stupid about the wellfare of their Immortal Souls Henceforward o my Soul what ever others do let me resolue to live in the expectation of a change which I know is certaine and may be very near XI Of the Expectation of Another Life The vanity and misery of man in his Best Estate if there be none The satisfactory removal of that supposition by the thoughts of God and of Eternal Felicity in his Blessed Presence LEt me retire a little o my Soul and bethink my self what a world this is what men design and seek and do and suffer with what false and feigned Joys they are pleased being only happy by comparison and with what real sorrows then are afflicted what innumerable disapointments sicknesses and as troublesome remedies dangers labors pains and calamities of all sorts multitudes groan under and lodely complaine of and what little unworthy ends are pursued by all that do not seriously seek Eternal Rest and how often frustrated and withal consider the cares that disquiet us the errors that deceive us the many Temptations that assault and overcome us how busie we are about vanities how often dejected and melancholy for the breaking of a bubble how eager and industrious to pursue a shadow active and in earnest to destroy our selvs and one another and then reflect on the malice and cruelty the filthiness and impiety and great corruption which abounds every where whereby God is dishonored and provok't to anger After this what a Theater of Tragedies must this world appear what an Hospital of sick and diseased or rather distracted Persons How should I be tempted to say Lord why hast thou made all men in vaine If I could not look from this sea of troubles to the Haven of Rest from this dark Prison to the Region of Light from this deceitfull troublesome and defiling Earth to a Blessed Everlasting Heaven For verily if there be no world but this every Man in his Best estate in this world is altogether vanity Selah 39. Ps 5. 'T is a certaine undoubted Truth the prefixed verily tells us so and that it deserves to be well considered we learn from the concluding Selah Every man is vanity Not the Inferior parts of the Creation only But man the Lord of all and Every man every Adam from himself to the last man that shall by ordinary generation descend from him Not the Ignorant poor or wicked only but all the Individuals of this Species Young or old strong or weak beautifull or deformed rich or poor high or low good or bad in respect of the Body and this present Life every one is vanity and this is true suppose him in his Best Estate not only in helpless Infancy and childhood or in decrepit old age not only in paine and poverty and disgrace but in his most setled most flourishing most envied and admired condition upon Earth in the midst of strength and wit and honour when at best as to body and mind and outward Circumstances when he looks fairest when he shines brightest in the height of all his glory with the greatest likelyhood of a Continuance yet then he is but vanity In his frame in his temper constitution inclinations actions and imployment he is a meer shadow an empty mutable inconsiderable thing and not to be acounted of His Heart his head his imaginations reasonings desires purposes projects hopes and fears are all vanity and altogether vanity in all the parts and kinds and particulars of it He not only may be but he is so in his best estate if this world be his Best If this be our all and nothing more to be expected after death And how should such a Reflexion strike me to the Heart to suppose that after a few years are ended I must return to my first nothing and my very being be swallowed up of Eternal Death Vâ—d Mr. Howe 's vanity of Man as Mortal what satisfaction can I then take in any present Injoyments if an eternal annihilation be at hand when I must bid adieu for ever to all that I now possess What delight can I have in the ordinary comforts of Life with this belief that within a year or two it may be to morrow I shall sink into dust and exist no more What pleasure in any thing with this dismal expectation The more flourishing my condition in this world the more should I dread to lose it if nothing better nothing at all can be injoyed after Death Some Philosophes have ignorantly urged such a consideration as an Antidote against the fear of Death but the admission of it may rather deprive a man of all the Comfort of Life What then is the advantage of a wise man above a Fool the exercize and improvement of our noblest Faculties would render us more miserable then others if nothing be expected and certaine when this Life is over Not only sensual but Intellectual Pleasures would be disturbed and destroied by such Thoughts that very shortly the next Year or Day I must disappear and all my Injoyments and Hopes be utterly and for everlost with my very Being Were the case thus which such Consequences evince it is not it were better for most men they had never been born wither their condition here be Prosperous or Afflicted For what Comfort or quiet can any man have in Plenty and Prosperity when this frightfull apprehension of an approaching end is ever present and what consolation can it yeild a man who is afflicted and Calamitous and yet loves his Life above all things to think that he shall not ceas to be miserable but by ceasing to be And what is become of all Religion if such a thought be entertained all