of precious Time which at such a season will be esteemed precious tho' now it be not O how swift how short is 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 Reflections continue to pursue Shadows and please 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 solicitous about it than for any thing Temporal O in what manner will Death open my Eyes by shutting the Windows of Sense 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 employed about Trifles It extorts a Smile to see them eager and industrious and mightily concerned in their Childish Sports to see them sigh or weep for little things which we despise to observe with what Solicitude and Care they 'll raise a little Fabrick which three Moments after they themselves pull down or would otherwise tumble of its own Accord We laugh at these but should weep over our selves as the greater and elder Fools who are every whit as silly yea infinitely more that considering we know the fraily 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 please our selves 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 exercised on things impertinent and vain that are perishing in themselves and can contribute nothing to our Eternal Welfare And is it not thus with reference to all that Men toil and labour for with the Neglect of an immortal State The Voluptuous Sadducee will not refuse the present Gratification of his sensual Appetite because he is uncertain 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 at 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 choose 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 than I have done hitherto That while I am in the greatest probability of living I may suppose my change to be near and so not dare to do any thing but what I would or might do if I were in the present Expectation of Death To this end let me go down to the Potters-House descend to the Consideration of my Mortality and dwell among the Tombs remembring the Aegyptians built themselves better Tombs than 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 SECT 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 shortning of our Days is the fruit of Sin All the Funerals that have ever been in the World have been caused by 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 than 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 than since the Appearance 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 Blood of Jesus Death would not be frightful or put on such a Ghastly Vizor as to most it doth But we are uncertain of our Justification we waver between Hopes and Fears as to our final Sentence and are conscious to our selves that we are not ready for our great Account This makes Death so terrible Considering withal that it is inevitable The Way of all the Living For tho' the Curse be removed and the sting be taken out by our Blessed Saviour so that the Souls of Believers are safe and shall not be touch'd 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 whether my Death be violent or what we call Natural 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 in the World when our Glorious Judge shall come again 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 Enoch 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 as Adam did who was the second or be translated as Enoch who was the third we read of But though I know that within a few Years at farthest I must leave this World by one or other of these ways though I have been dying ever since I began to live am Dead to the last Year and to all the preceeding Portions of my Time and know withal that what remains will quickly pass and be gone after the same manner yet how have I overloved this Body as if I should
glorified in his Saints and admired in and by all them that believe * 2 Thess chap. 1. He was put to shame in the days of his Flesh made himself of no Reputation and accounted unworthy to live But when he comes again he will put on a Garment of Vengeance to repay Fury to the Enemies of his Cross and make his wicked Despisers rise again to shame and everlasting contempt They that once bowed the knee to him in mockery and shaked their heads at him in derision shall then see every knee how before him of things in Heaven things in Earth and under the Earth Angels Men and Devils in subjection to him as Lord and King Pilate who condem'd him as his Prisoner shall appear before him as his rightful Judge and know that he was another-guess King and Monarch than the Roman Emperor The false Witnesses who accused him of Blasphemy shall be impeach'd by one another and their own guilty Consciences before his Bar with the other Jews who once drag'd him before their Tribunal and be confounded to stand before his Judgment-Seat His Crucifiers shall behold him on a Throne of Glory whom they Nailed to an infamous Cross They shall be astonish'd to behold him sitting at the Right Hand of God whose Hands they bound whose Body they scourg'd whose Side they pierc'd They who Crown'd him with Thorns shall with all the World behold him with a Crown of Glory They that spit on him and smote him on the face with the fist of wickedness shall have their own faces covered with Confusion They that approved his Condemnation to Death as a Criminal shall be sentenced from His mouth as their Judge to Everlasting Destruction They that scourged him as a Malefactor shall be beaten with many stripes They that made him stagger under the weight of his Cross shall sink under the guilt and punishment of despising it They that Nailed him to the accursed Tree between Thieves and Robbers shall be sentenc'd to endless Punishment in much worse Company They who gave him Gall and Vinegar to drink shall not be able to get a drop of water to cool their own Tongues Where then shall the Wicked and Ungodly of the Christian World appear who Crucifie the Son of God afresh since he hath declared himself to be so by his Resurrection and the Mission of the Holy Ghost and fulfilling his threatned Vengeance on the Nation of the Jews c. If the Jews shall have a sorer Condemnation than ignorant Heathens who never heard of Christ never saw his Miracles or were inform'd of his Doctrine How shall we escape For he will come again as a Conqueror and Judge and not as a Sufferer and a Surety as he came at first and tho' he was numbred with Transgressors and made his Grave with the Wicked at his first Appearance he shall hereafter be attended with the shouts of Angels who excell in strength and the joyful Acclamations of his Saints glittering as the Light and paying Homage to Him as the Judge of Quick and Dead He whom we have despised shall then be encompass'd with a dezling Glory that will confound us He whom we have affronted will be cloathed with a Majesty that shall astonish us He whom we have offended shall be armed with Power and with Wrath to punish us and all that continue to lift up the Heel against him shall then be made his Footstool all that refuse to kiss the Sceptre of his Grace shall be broken in pieces by his Iron Rod. The Holy Scripture doth frequently and expresly assure us that he will thus come again and for these ends He is exalted and gone to Heaven as the Head of his Church and the King of Glory and when he foretold his Ascension he gave a promise of his Return The Heavens are to contain him till the Restitution of all things By his Providence and by his holy Spirit he now carries on the Designs of his Death and when these are accomplish'd he will appear to the Joy of Believers and the Confusion of the Wicked He is entred as our * Heb. c. 6.19 20. c. 10.20 Foerunner within the Veil to prepare Mansions and to take possession for us and will not always leave us in this dark and defiling World He knoweth our Sorrows and heareth our Prayers and bottles our Tears takes notice of our Groans and in all our Afflictions he is afflicted Being reconciled by his Death at his first coming we shall be saved by his Life since he lives to make good his word of coming again How comfortable is the News of it how joyful will be the Meeting to such as expect and prepare to see him when the Sea and the Graves shall yield up their Dead and all the Prisoners of Hope lift up their heads arise go up and meet the Lord in the Air and ascend with him to the Heavenly Glory But who can express how dismal a Sight this will be to the Secure and the Impenitent to all who die in their sins to behold their Judge who formerly offered to be their Saviour upon a glorious Throne and all the Children of Adam summon'd before his Tribunal to have nothing to answer against his Charge and no way to escape his condemning Sentence They despised him as a Lamb offer'd his Sacrifice to take away the Sins of the World but shall no longer do so when he comes as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah to devour and destroy the Enemies of his Cross Now they will not own him for their Lord but shall then find he is so by the Vengeance he will execute As a Jesus as a Saviour they rejected him making light of his Salvation despising his Mercy refusing his Grace but the neglected Gospel will then be a more killing Letter than the Law He who by his Embassadors doth now intreat Sinners to be reconciled will then be as deaf to their Intreaties as they have been to His. Because they would not turn at his Reproof hearken to the Call of his Word and obey its Voice they must hear the Sentence of Condemnation and feel the Execution of it whether they will or no yea the Blood of his Cross will upbraid accuse and plead against them And whatsoever foolish Evasions they now make to continue in security they shall then be Speechless and Self-condemned Nothing will be able to hide them from the amazing Presence of their Judge or from the Wrath of the Lamb. He then will inflict an intolerable and righteous Vengeance an Everlasting Destruction upon all the ignorant and ungodly World The Greatest the Stoutest the Boldest of them shall then be humbled and stand before Christ's Tribunal upon an equal Level with the Meanest seized with horror filled with guilt anguish and despair and find to their eternal Confusion that the Judge is no respecter of Persons but every man shall receive according to his works The Mighty shall not be spared for his Greatness
to Mercy His Spirit is yet striving with you if you are willing to Repent and return to God He sought you and call'd you to return when you were wandring as a lost sheep in the broad way And can you think he will not be found of you if you seek him with your whole Heart Therefore renew your Repentance and beg more earnestly a Spirit of Humility Holy Fear and Watchfulness And every Morning implore Divine succours against that Sin and all Temptations to it which as much as possible you must avoid Constant and fervent Prayer after Repentance must be your Refuge and your Remedy If you let fall your Hands this Amaleck will prevail again As soon and as far as you fail in the Constancy and Fervency of that Duty your Sin will get strength and successfully attempt you another time But by this Practice God may turn Evil to work for Good make you gain by your Loss stand the faster by your Falls and become stronger by the discovery of your Weakness and so be better establish'd for the future But take heed that you pervert not the Grace of God and encourage your self to sin again by the Supposition that if you should Fall 't is but to Repent and renew your Resolutions and all will be well This is a subtile Artifice of Satan but such methinks as should take with none who have ever known by Experience what it is to Repent Who have felt the burden of Sin to be heavier than a Milstone than the weight of a Mountain Who have tasted how evil and bitter a thing it is to depart from God Who have loathed and abhorr'd themselves with deep Remorse and Sorrow and Anguish of Spirit wishing with all their Hearts that they had not sinn'd and if it were in their power would give all the World to retrieve it and would rather die than commit that Folly Luk. 23.30 17.2 again they then repented of Let those who have not their own Experience to confirm this read over and consider the Case of David when he wrote the Penitential Psalms How many like him have roar'd and cry'd out under the sense of Sin of stings and furies in their Conscience of the poison'd Arrows in their Souls and his Terrors surrounding them where-ever they went from the sense of his Sins Malignity the apprehensions of God's Anger and the consequent Fears of his Wrath. Serious Repentance after great Transgressions is another Thing than most imagine it When their aggravated Sins shall beset them behind and before be placed in order before their eyes and set in array against them 'T is always a work of Difficulty as well as Importance to crucifie corrupt affections to tear a beloved Lust from the Heart with self-indignation to abhorr and cast away what before you lov'd and delighted in How did David's Sin stare him in the Face It is continually with me it is ever before me said He. It haunted him like a Spectre or like Belshazzar's Hand-writing on the Wall it still appear'd before him in some horrid shape However Sin may smile in its first address and bespeak us in flattering language and promise Pleasure and Profit and great Advantages and Satisfaction these are but fair Appearances This is but the outside of the Cup and the Colour of the Liquor It will prove Gail and Wormwood and a mixture of deadly Poison if ever God set it home upon the Conscience and awaken us to a true sense of it And the Continuance of daily Repentance for Sin which all Christians are called to is no such easie matter neither Constant Self-abasement and Humiliation before God from a sense of his Majesty and Holiness and of our many Sins and Pollution thereby The imperfection of our best Duties continually to be bewailed inordinate Affections to be still mortified always resisting and opposing Sin in its Root and Branches conflicting against the whole Interest of the Flesh the World and the Devil seeking after more Holiness to be deriv'd unto us by the Grace of Christ to be wrought in us by his Spirit and maintain'd by his Power and making daily Applications to the Fountain of all Grace for spiritual strength to continue our warfare against Sin in all Instances of outward Duty and inward Actings of Grace even as long as we live all this is included in it Due Apprehensions concerning Repentance as so comprehensive and difficult a Duty would teach us to beware of Sin XXVII The Necessity of Christian Resolution to Vpright Persevering Obedience how full and extensive it ought to be and yet humble by what means we may be assisted to perform that which we resolve HAving acknowledg'd my Transgressions unto God and begg'd Forgiveness and experimentally learn'd the Evil of Sin by the bitterness of Repentance I resolve for the future to watch against it more narrowly and against every thing that leads to it endeavouring to please and honour my God and Saviour by an upright obedient Heart and Life And for the Remission of my former contracted Guilt I trust to Jesus Christ according to the Revelation made in the Gospel of what he is hath done and suffer'd and continues to do in Heaven for the Salvation of Repenting Sinners who desire to come unto God by Him But how often O my Soul have I mock'd God and deceiv'd my self with formal and faint Purposes of Amendment My good Resolutions have been all of them as the morning Cloud and the early Dew which quickly passed away One fresh assault of Temptation hath swept away all my good Purposes as a Spider's Web. I have falsified so many and broke my word so often that I dare not trust to any thing I now resolve or rely on any Promise I should farther make Succour me therefore O Lord by thy powerful Grace that what was defective in my former fruitless Resolutions may be now rectified Let me be more humble in the sense of my Weakness more dependant on thy Grace and more heartily seek it from time to time Strengthen me with Strength in my Soul with Might and Power in my inward man that I may so resolve and purpose as to perform that I may not be one day hot and the next cold zealous in the Beginning but faint and lukewarm in the Brogress fervent and serious only in Resolving but weak and impotent in the Execution Having chang'd my Master my End and my Hopes by returning unto God from whom I had gone astray I firmly resolve through the assistance of his Grace to change my Course of Life that Old things being done away all things may become New that * Rom. 6.22 being made free from sin by pardoning Mercy and become the servant of Christ I may have my fruit unto Holiness that my End may be Eternal Life In the interim whether I live or die let it be unto the Lord resolving both in Life and Death to be absolutely his And to that purpose O my Soul Let
me seek for continual supplies of Grace from Christ my Head to enable me to yield ready Obedience in the most difficult hazardous painful and humbling Duties In vain do I resolve it without the assistance of his mighty Power to strengthen my Heart and Hands whenever I am called to such a trial of my Sincerity Without it I shall never recover my Liberty or break asunder those Bonds and Cords wherewith I have formerly been held Captive as the Servant of Sin and Satan Such is the Weakness and Treachery of my own Heart the influence of ill Examples and the subtlety and cunning of the Tempter that otherwise I shall quickly change my mind and return to Folly as the Dog to his Vomit The Spirit is so weak and the Flesh so frail the Snares of the World so many the Power of remaining Corruption so strong and of my self I am so unsetled and wavering sickle and unsteady and prone to back-sliding that all my strongest purposes will not be sufficient without daily strength from above My Senses are so deceitful my Passions so ungovernable the Rule and Law I am to walk by so strict and spiritual and extensive Criminal Omissions may be so frequent and so easily overlook'd so many several and difficult Duties are to be performed and by every change of my Condition or of God's Providence so many new Dangers and new Duties may arise that I fear the issue of my firmest Resolutions So strict a Watch must always be kept such Humility and Caution is every-where to be practis'd such speedy Repentance requir'd after every fall with thankfulness and contentment in every State under all Calamities be they never so many or never so pinching and perseverance herein absolutely necessary though never so many Stratagems be used to discourage me from proceeding or to entice me to go back or turn aside to some other Path insomuch that if God had not promised me his continued Presence and that his Grace shall be sufficient for me and that I shall not be tempted above what I am able to bear I should utterly despair of making good what I now resolve But besides these Promises to encourage my Resolved Obedience he hath left upon Record in his Word many glorious Examples of his assisting and rewarding the Courage and Resolution of his Servants to continue faithful as in the case of Joseph Daniel and his Three Friends c. If Christ stand by and strengthen me I know I shall be able to do all things I shall not then be flatter'd or frighted out of the way of my Duty no Wind that can blow shall then turn me to another Point nothing shall then be able to prevail for my consent to a wilful and deliberate forsaking of God no Argument no Temptation though Privacy Opportunity Impunity from Men with Rewards of Wordly Gain and Honour should all concur to enforce a Temptation But by that Heavenly Assistance I shall be preserv'd Humble Temperate Chast Patient Thankful Self-denying Crucified to the World and hold fast my Integrity till I die still perfecting Holiness in the fear of God growing in Grace and in the Knowledge of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ waxing stronger from day to day be seldomer surpriz'd offend less and repent more quickly and watch more narrowly afterwards till at last I receive the Crown Especially let me watch against my Constitution Sins such as I am most inclin'd to and where a Temptation doth most easily enter where the Devil can take the fastest hold and be least suspected where he hath formerly sprung a Mine and made a Breach I have known some humble watchful Christians after being recovered from their Back-slidings who abhorr'd every Temptation to that sin by which they had been defiled and wounded They can hardly put up a Prayer but they mention it hardly have their hearts affected in any Ordinance but they are inwardly asham'd of it hardly hear of any one guilty of the like but they are ready to burst out into Tears Fix therefore I beseech thee most Gracious God! My unfeigned Resolutions of cleaving to thee with full purpose of Heart And shew thy strength in my weakness by inabling me to do what I now resolve To that end teach me to watch over my Heart to keep it with all diligence to be more conversant with my own Thoughts examining the motions that arise in my Heart whence they come and whither they go and what they tend to that I may suppress the beginnings of Sin The unsearchable Deceitfulness of the Heart the rovings straglings and wandrings of the Thoughts the ungovernable motions and stirrings of the Passions and Affections with the corrupt Inclinations that are ready to comply with Temptation make such a constant Watchfulness necessary Let me live no longer as a stranger to my self but by Self-Reflection dwell more at home reckoning my principal Work to be within-doors to keep my own Vineyard Teach me to watch over my Senses to guard the door of my Lips to govern my Passions to be wary in the Choice of my Company and in the Right Vse of it to be Circumspect in every step of my daily walk to call my self frequently to a Reckoning to cast up my Accounts at the foot of every Page by every days review of my Actions to live always as in God's Presence and be awed every where by the thought of his Holy Eye to shun the occasions and appearances of Evil c. By the neglect of this Spiritual Distempers will insensibly creep upon us There is such a venom and malignity in Sin to wound and weaken the Soul to put us off the Hinges to disorder and unfit us for any Spiritual Service to make our Hearts vain and frothy lazy and listless that we shall easily let slip our Opportunities lose our Seasons and languish and pine away notwithstanding all the means of thriving and growth And hence it is that so many Professors mourn and complain lick the dust and lie among the Clods are dead under the most awakening Ministry and barren under the most fruitful means Hence it is they do little Good as well as taste little Comfort some Duties are neglected and others perform'd slightly and in none of them do they meet with that Sweetness and Satisfaction that Refreshment and Advantage Fruit and Benefit as formerly And all from the neglect of Watchfulness making bold with Temptation and not standing upon their Guard in the use of their Christian Armour And because no Place no Condition no Imployment is exempted from Temptatations let me fortify my self every morning against all Assaults for that day by Serious Prayer as Holy David was wont to do My voice saith he shalt thou hear in the morning O Lord in the morning will I direct my Prayer unto thee and will look up Psal 5. v. 3 4. Let the Law of God be my daily and delightful study that I may be able presently to bring my Words and