commission of their sin There are those of the Serpents brood that have been crushed in the egge and others that have stayed longer have been ripe for ruine before they had attained their full age Though the Creditour hath forborn thee five hundred talents yet he hath not forborn some others five hundred pence wrath hath sometimes followed sin so closeâ— that it hath lodged where sin supped Gehezis leprosie and lie were contemporary Absolons life and treason against his Father expired toâ—gether A sudden Thunder-bolt from Heaven hath struck some into Hell without any fore-runner to give warning of it yet thy God hath spared thee 2. He that forbore thee who hast so often offended him did not forbear Angels a moment after they had once offended Behold the severity and goodness of God! towards Angels the highest and noblest house of the creatures severity towards thee goodness He that stated those excellent natures in an irrecoverable condition of wo and misery upon their first fault hath born with and forborn thee after millions of affronts 3. He that spares thee did not spare his own Son The Son of God did no sooner stand in the place of sinners but it pleased the Lord to bruise him and to put him to grief and to make his soul an offering for sin Though he were free from sin he was a man of sorrows and thou who art little else then sin hast not so much as tasted what such sorrows are Thy God hath forborn thee a monster of rebellion and wickedness when he would not in the least forbear him who was a miracle of obedience and dutifulness Nay he did not spare him that he might spare thee and would not forbear him because he intended to forbear thee Wonder O my soul at this transcendent grace and goodness Is it possible for thee to consider how a sudden Arrow hath shot others dead on thy right and left hand how Angels themselves upon their first breach of the divine law were without any pity or forbearance reserved in chains of darkness to the judgement of the great day Nay how the Son of Gods boundless love who never offended him for becoming onely a surety for others sins was without the least forbâ—arance arrested and forced to pay the utmost farthing and that thou who art a lump of lust a sink of sin an old enemy and traytour against the crown and dignity of the King of Heaven after thousands and millions of provocations against Law and Gospel Light and Love Precepts and Promises art to this day spared Canst thou I say consider all this and not be transported into an high and holy passion of love and admiration at such unparalled patience Thou mayst well say with the holy Apostle In me Jesus Christ hath shewed forth all long-suffering and patience for an example to them that should hereafter believe on him unto life eternal O my soul what dost thou think of these things was ever patience represented in such lively lovely colours Thou mayst now fully satisfie thy self in the reason of thine abode so many years on this side the unquenchable lake Dost thou ask Why was I not cut off from the womb and hurried through the light of this world to blackness of darkness for ever I answer because thy God is patient Dost thou ask Though I was not as a poisonous viper crusht to death as soon as brought forth with the foot of divine wrath for the venome which was in me yet when I put it forth to the injury of others and did spit it in the face of God himself why was I spared I answer because God is patient Thou sinnest often every day every hour in every thought in every word in every deed and he spares as often because He is patient Thou readeâ—t of a season when the patience of the Saints doth especially triumph Here is the faith and patience of the Saints This world is the stage and this life is the time wherein the patience of thy God doth act its part to the amazement of all judicious spectatours Here is the faithfulness and patience of thy God O that I could affect and admire it embrace and entertain it according to its worth O that my heart were filled with its warmth my tongue with its praise and my life with its end O thou that art so much in favour with God and so great a friend to men that thou wert engraven upon the palms of my hands and thy walls were ever before me O that thy noble deeds and what wonders thou hast wrought for the children of men were written for the generations to come that the people yet unborn might praise the Lord When O when shall this patience of my God make a suitable impression upon my spirit I live upon it I live by it I had been a fire-brand of Hell at this moment had it not been for it yet how great a stranger am I to it It goeth with me when I walk abroad it abides with me when I stay at home it followeth me up and down day and night I am beholden to it for my life and all my mercies for my present enjoyments and future expectations yetâ— alas how little am I affected with it I wonder at the patience of some choice Christians that hold their tongues when others revile them and their hands when others assault them and do not wonder at the patience of my God when their injuries are nothing to his either for nature or number and their patience to his far less then the smallest Drop to the Ocean O my soul how wilt thou be able to answer for this sensless stupidity Must the Candles of creatures be gazed at with amazement and thy God alone be neglected Is a beam of the Sun worthy of such admiration and not its glorious body worthy of much more Wilt thou not value a pearl of such infinite price and disesteem all the meekness and forbearance of men in comparison of the patience of thy God O where is thy judgement that thou valâ—est so little such unsearchable riches that thou dost not cry out O the height and depth and length and bredth of the forbearance of God Where are thy affections that they do not cling about it cleave to it close with it delight in its presence and desire its continuance Where is thy heart that it doth not taste its sweetness smell its savour love its gracious Author and meditate on its precious nature and pleasant effects night and day Where are my spiritual senses that they are not conversant about so worthy an object I cannot open mine eyes but I may behold it in every thing that is visible The food and raiment and life and health and strength and liberty that I and others enjoy present the patience of God unto me Every friend I converse with every drunkard and unclean person and atheist yea every man I meet tells me God is patient The Oaths and Curses and
to his breast Hic sat lucis Hâ—re is abundance of light of joy He asked one of his Friends What news His Friend told him None Then saith he I will tell you some news I shall presently be with my Lord Christ. I shall give thee two or three quickening Motives and then direct thee about the workâ— of exercising thy self to Godliness on a Dying Bed and because its the last time of a Christians working for his God I shall in the third place annex some brief helps to this duty In reference to the Motives Consider First What a serious thing Death will be to every Man and Woman in the World It s ill and dangerous for any to cozen themselves and undertake to mock God in their health and life but it s worst of all and desperate for any to do this on a sick and dying Bed The Heathen hardened in sin and wholly under the power of Satan ignorant of the evil of their hearts and lives and of the sad consequence of a wicked end made light of death Flavius Vespasian none of the worst of the Roman Emperors died as Sir Thomas Moor with a jest in his mouth Vt puto Deus fio Methinks I am going and growing to be a God Augustus Caesar esteemed the best of them whose death the people so much lamented that they said Vtinam aut non nasceretur aut non moreretur Would he had never been born or never dyed went off the Stage of the World with a Complement Livia Nostri Conjugii memor Vive Vale Farewel and Live Wife mindful of our Marriage Galba dyed desperately crying out Feri si ex re sit Populi Romani Strike if it be for the common good Tiberius dyed dissemblingly of whose death Tacitus wittily Iam Tiberium vires corpus non dissimulatio deserebant Now strength and life hath lest Tiberius but not dissimulation But Christians who understand the holiness and justice of God the infinite demerit of sin the certainty of an unchangeable condition in the other World either in joy or torment know that death is no jesting matter that to dye is one of the most serious searching things that they can possibly do Two or three Particulars will shew what a serious thing death is 1â— Death will try men When the Bridegroom comes it will appear who have Oyl in their Vessels and who have noneâ— As soon as ever thou takest thy leave of temporal good things thy spiritual riches will be known A scorching Summer discovers what streams are fed with Ponds and what with Springs The Wind sheweth which Clouds have Rain in them and which have none Death will anatomize every soul and reveal all that is in it Conscience will then bring in a true Verdict in despight of all those bribes and frights which formerly kept the Bill in suspense or caused it to write on it an Ignoramus There are marks by which Saints and Sinners may be distinguished whilst they live as great mens servants are by the Liveries that they wear but these characters being most inward and known to none but themselves and the Lord they serve it is their dying onely that will reveal infallibly what they are and to whom they belong This World is as a common Inn wherein all are lodged and no difference is made between the good and bad onely that the worst men have the best usage but the very moment of mens dissolution makes a plain and vast distinction Death is the way of all the earth according to Ioshua's Periphrasis of it but this way hath two turnings one on the right hand to joy and bliss another on the left hand to misery and horror now as when the attendants of two Lords travail together on the road their servants cannot easily be distinguished especially if the Servants of the one counterfeit the livery of the other but when they come to the Bivium the parting way then it s clearly known who belong to the one and who to the other for each then followeth his own Master waits on him to his house stayeth and abideth there with him So though whilst men live all professing themselves Christians and most for a shew at least putting on the livery of Christ it is not known who belong to the Prince of Life and who to the Prince of the powers of the Air but death will discover it to themselves and the Elect Angels 2. It will appear that Death is a serious thing in that Eternityâ— When thou diest thy condition will be like the Law of the Medes and Persians such as cannot be altered At death thou goest the way that thou shalt never return David speaking of his dead Child saith I shall go to him but he shall not return to me And Iob by asking the question denyeth it If a man dye shall he live again God will never trust thee with a second life or give thee leave for second thoughts or better purposes or more serious and sober actions when thou art once landed in the other world He will not offer thee a Christ and Grace and Heaven when thou art gone from this earth Think of it seriously is not that work to be done well which can be done but once Shouldst thou not use thine utmost care and strength and diligence to dye well when thy everlasting making or marring dependeth on it Ah Friend If thou failest now thou failest for ever if thou dalliest now thou art undone eternally There is no wisdom nor knowledge in the Grave whither thou art going Eccles. 11. 7. 3. Death will appear to be a serious thing in that all the powers of Hell will then assault thee Thou mayst say of it in some respects as Christ did to wicked men and the Wicked one This is your hour and the power of darkness The Devil its observeable is most busie at the conclusion of a duty as of prayer that the Christian might be hindered and distracted when he closeth up all in the name of Christ and so all his desires be frustrated so he is most busie in the conclusion of our days adding fearful dreams to our slumbers strong distractions to our fancies increasing our pains with terrors driving the good if possible to despair and intoxicating the bad with presumptuous conceits and all because his time is little The Devil is come down having great rage knowing that his time is short Rev. 12. 12. At the approach of death through pain of body and perplexity of mind men are least able to resist and therefore this cowardly enemy will then be most ready and fierce to assault When the Christian is down then if possible he will â—rample upon him The last persecutions of the Church under Dioclesian and Maximinian were the soarest The last messenger the Devil sent to Iob concerning the sudden violent death of all his Children pierced his heart deepest The subtle serpent reserved that great Ordnance for the last hoping the former small
of Christ do all give thee daily occasion to mingle thy bread with ashes and thy drink with weeping What is this world that thou art so fond of it Thy God calls it a Sea of glass mingled with fire Rev. 15. 2. A Sea for its turbulency it s never at rest but ebbs and flows continually though sometimes more sometimes less Its work is to bubble up mire and dirt especially on them who are chosen out of the world A Sea of glass for its fragility All its pomp and pride on a sudden vanisheth Glass is both easily and irrecoverably broken in peices A Sea of glass mingled with fire for the fiery and dreadful miseries that befal men in it All its apparent comforts are mingled with real crosses In Heaven there is solace without the least grain of sorrow In Hell there is mourning without the smallest dram of mirth but on Earth there is no estate without mixture The Saints have joy in God but if need be they are in heaviness through manifold tribulations 1 Pet. 1. 6. The merry sinners in the midst of their pleasures have their hearts heavy Some of the wiser Heathen were so sensible of humane miseries that one of them when Ancient told his Scholar that if it were offered him to be young again he would not accept if Saints of all men must expect a large draught of sufferings The world is their enemy and raiseth all its forces against them If I be a Disciple I must look to follow my Master in bearing his Cross O my soul why shouldst thou hug that which hates thee and doat on this world which is neither a fit match for thee as being unsutable to thy nature nor if she were can be faithful to thee being made up of wavering and inconstancy Or secondly Is it the pain of death that thou art so frighted at Surely the fear of it is the greatest torment How many have felt greater pain in divers diseases as in the Stone or Strangury or Collick then in a dying hour Some of Gods Children have felt very little pain in the judgement of those that have seen them dying The waters of Jordan though rough to others have stood still when the Ark was to pass over But though I were sure my pain should be sharp yet I am as sure it shall be short In a moment in the twinckling of an eye I shall be transported over the gulp of misery into endless glory My pangs will be almost as soon gone as come Sorrow will endure but for a short night joy will come in the morning If I were assured of a great purchase made for me in Spain or Turky which upon my first comming over I should enjoy would I not adventure a passage through the boistrous Ocean to take possession My Saviour hath made a larger a better purchase for me in Heaven He is gone before to prepare a place for me My passage thither though it may be more painful is less perillous It s impossible for me to miscarry in it O why am I so slothful to go in and possess the good Land Surely the pleasures of the end may well sweeten the ways to it were they never so bitter With what chearfulness do some women undergo their sharp throws and hard labours supported with this cordial that a child shall thereby be born to them O how infinitely inferiour is the joy of a man child brought forth into this world to the joy of a sanctified soul brought out of this world into Heaven Again I have a tender Father who knoweth my frame and will lay no more upon me living or dying then he will enable me to bear He hath said it I will never leave thee nor forsake thee O my soul thou hast little reason to dread a contest with this enemy for this cause Thou mayst contentedly undergo a little pain to go to thy dearest Lord when many a sinner hath suffered greater to satisfie his hellish lust Thirdly Is it thy future condition that makes thee unwilling to dye Dost thou not know that death is thy portal through which thou shalt pass into the true Paradise It s the straight gate through which thou shalt enter into life Though its the wicked mans shipwrack which swalloweth him up in an Ocean of wrath and torment yet it s the Saints putting into harbour where he is received with the greatest acclamation and richest welcom imaginable Travellers who have met with many dangers and troubles in their journeys rejoyce when they come near their own Country I am a Pilgrim here and used or rather abused as a stranger shall I not be glad when I come near my blessed home my eternal happy habitation Children in some parts when they first behold the Stork the messenger of the Spring testifie their joy with pleasant and loud shoutings O why shouldst not thou lift up thy head with joy when sickness the fore-runner of death is come to bring thee tidings that the Winter of thy misery and cold and hardships is past and the Summer of thine eternal light and joy and pleasure is at hand Thy death may well be a Free-will-offering considering that though the ashes of the sacrifice thy body fall to the earth yet that divine flame thy immortal spirit shall ascend to Heaven In death nothing dyeth of thee but what thou mayst well spare thy sin and sorrows When the house is pulled to peices all those Ivy roots in the wall shall be destroyed The Egg-shell must be broken that the little chick may slip out Thy body must be dissolved that thy â—oul may be delivered Yet thy body doth not dye but sleep in the bed of the grave till the morning of the resurrection That outward apparel shall not be utterly consumed by the moth of time but lockt up safe as in a chest to be new trimmed and gloriously adorned above the Sun in his greatest lustre and put on again when thou shalt awake in the morning never never to put off more O that I could so live that I might not only be always ready but also when God calls me desirous to dye If I borrow any thing of my Neighbour I pay it back with thanks My life is Gods he lends it me for a time Why should I not when he calls for it restore it with thanks that he hath been pleased to lend it me so long Lord thy Children love thee dearly and believe that when they come home to thee thou wilt entertain them kindly yet their flesh like Lots Wife is still â—ankering after the Sodom of this World and loath they are to leave it though it be for their exceeding gain Give thy servant such true faith in thy Son that I may neither love life nor fear death immoderately but as the heart of Jacob revived when he saw the Wagons which Joseph sent to fetch him to Egypt so my heart may leap for joy to behold the heavenly Chariot which the Son of
God much more eligible then the pleasures of sin Symphorianus a Christian young man after he was almost scourged to death being draged to Execution at Augustodunum met his Mother not crying or tearing her hair but like an Holy Lady thus comforting him Son my Son I say Remember life eternal look up to Heaven Life is not taken from thee but exchanged for a better At which words of his Mother he went on willingly to the Block and exposed his Throat to the fatal Ax One of the Dutch Martyrs feeling the flame coming to him said O what a small pain is this to Heaven Our blessed Saviour had an eye to the joy set before him and thereby was encouraged to endure the Cross and despise the shame Indeed if Faith spring a leak then the waters break in and the Christian sinks apace as we see in Peters denial of his Master As Faith in the Promises so also Faith in the Threatnings makes the Christian a Conquerour over the worlds affrightments where the World threatens Bonds and Whips and Dungeoâ—s and Death if the Christian will not sin against God and begins to stagger the soul. Take heed what thou dost saith Faith for God threateneth Fire and Brimstone and Chains and Blackness of Darkness for ever as the wages of all sin Is the Wrath of an Infinite God not more to be feared then of weak dying Men Is the pains of a violent death which will quickly be over and the most the World can do against thee comparable to the pains of eternal death And thus Faith by the terror of this great Ordinance drowns the noise of those small peices that the soul is deaf to their report 2. Faith enableth the soul to overcome the allurements of the world If the world cannot terrifie the Saint with its fiery Furnace to disown and deny his Saviour it will seek to inchant him with its Musick and thereby to make him deaf to the Call and Commands of Christ. Thus it served Ioseph When it could not prevail on the left hand by selling him for a slave it tryeth him on the right hand by setting a Dalilah to tickle him with pleasure but by Faith he saw the Hook under the Bait and durst not nibble at it much less swallow it Though the world like Iezabel painteth her face and tireth her hair to render her amiable and lovely and as a Srumpet sheweth her naked Breasts of pleasure and profit to entice the beleiver to go a Whoring after her yet he vieweth by Faith the deformity of her person under all her dawbery and the dregginess and deceitfulness of her pleasures notwithstanding their shew of clearness and so rejects them with scorn and disdain Pliny saith of Cato that he took as much pleasure in the Honours he denied as in those that he enjoyed The beleiver can glory more in his refusal of glory for Christ then unbeleivers in all their preferments Indeed if the Christian did consult with sense or carnal reason he would take the worlds present money but the beleiver doth not consult with flesh and blood like wise Abigal knowing how much it will conduce to his advantage he can part with his estaâ—e for God and never make those Nabals privy to the design lest they should hinder it Besides Faith discovers pure Rivers of pleasures more noble and excellent delights to be the portion of those that refuse to grate their teeth with such kennel water As man is a rational creature he would sell his wares to them that will give most Now Faith sheweth how infinitely God out-bids the world Sense saith The world offereth fair it offereth comforts sutable to thy flesh such as they desire and it offereth ready money present possession But saith Faith God offereth thee better The comforts he offereth are more excellent being sutable not as the Worlds to a carnal brutish nature but to an heavenly divine soul and more durable being eternal when the pleasures of sin are but for a season He that hopes for no better market will take the present money offered him But he that is assured of greater gains will refuse the lesser An unbeleiver who expects no better bargain then what this life affords him may well take up with present pay what ever it be but the Beleiver who seeth the glory to be revealed and fulness of joy in Heaven and is assured that if he be faithful unto death he shall receive that eternal crown of life turns his eyes off the honours and comforts of this beggarly world Those stars of creature joys do all disappear in the presence of this Sun Gold bears little sway with the soul that knoweth his title to the new Ierusalem that is paved with Gold in which gold is trampled under foot Those birds that flie aloft in the Firmament are not so easily snared by the Fowlers Gins Though the things of this world were glorious in his eyes during his estate of unbeleif yet now he hath discerned a world beyond the Moon and sent Faith as a spie to search and coast that Country which hath brought word back that its a good land flowing with Milk and Honey and in it there is want of nothing they have no glory by reason of that glory that doth so infinitely exceed When a man is below things above seem small the great Stars that are bigger then the Earth seem not so big as a bushel and things below seem great but when a man is above as upon the top of a Steeple then things below seem little he beholdeth men like Grashoppers Were he conveyed to the highest hill in the World men would not be discerned great Kingdoms would be but small Cottages Unbeleif sets a man below here on earth and so the things of Heaven are little in his eye but Faith soars aloft it carrieth the Christian up to Heaven and then the whole earth is but a small spot in his eye Ioseph bids the Patriarchs Regard not your stuff for the good of all the Land of Egypt is yours So saith Faith to the Christian Regard not the lumber and rubbish of this world for all the great and good things of the other world are thine Faith gives the soul a taste the first fruits of Heaven And as no man having drunk old wine desireth new for he saith the old is better So no man having tasted the wine of Heavens pleasures desires carnal delights A Pilgrim travelling to Ierusalem saith one came to a City where he saw a goodly Training and Mustering there he had a mind to stay but that he remembred that was not Ierusalem He came to another City where he saw gallant sports and pastimes there he had some good will to abide but that he remembred it was not Ierusalem He came to a third where were goodly buildings Fair Ladies curious Musick c. where also he had some thoughts of setling but still he remembred it was not Ierusalem So the beleiver when the
all wicked men after death when they come into the other world will wish in earnest with all their hearts and souls that they had minded nothing but the service of God and exercising themselves unto godliness There there it is that the whole world that now lyeth in wickedness and will not believe the word and wisdom of their Maker will all set their hands and seals to the truth of that which I am now endeavouring to evince When God sends his Officer death to arrest sinners for the vaste summs which they owe to his justice for their breach of his laws and this Serjeant according to command from the King of Kings executes his writ and delivers his prisoner to the Divels Gods Iaylors and they seize as so many roaring Lions on the poor trembling prey and hale them to their own den hell that dungeon of eternal darkness where sinners see and are assured that all their meat must be flakes of fire and brimstone and all their drink a cup of pure wrath without mixture and all their Musick howling and weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth and all their rest torments day and night for ever and ever and all their Companions frightful Devils and a cursed crew of damned wretches and all this to come upon them for not making religion their business whilst they were on earth Then O then they will wish with all their souls and strengths again and again that they had minded the Christian mans calling and made religion their business whilst they were in this world though they had been slaves or beggars or vagabonds and had lived in poverty and disgrace and prisons and fetters during their whole pilgrimage Now Reader if the witness of one enemy be a double testimony what is the witness of all the enemies of God and Godliness on the behalf of the Lord and his ways against themselves Shall it not prevail with thee to set speedily and diligently about the work of Christianity Ah how dumb wilt thou be struck another day if thou wilt not believe either God or good men or thy conscience or thy companions or all the world 12. and Lastly Is not that worthy to be made thy business upon which thine eternal life or death salvation or damnation doth depend Consider it friend here is salvation and damnation before thee eternal salvation and eternal damnation and they depend upon thy making religion thy business or neglect of it O what weight is there in these few words Make religion thy business and thou art eternally blessed be formal and careless about it and thou art cursed for ever upon the one and the other turneth thine eternal estate The Almighty God hath under his own hand set down this making religion thy business to be the onely terms upon which heaven shall be had and it is impossible to alter or abate his price Ioh. 6. 27. Mat. 6. 33. Philp. 2. 12. Canst thou be so foolish as to think that Christ and happiness and eternal life can be obtained upon easier conditions whea he must make God a liar and the Gospel a lie which the Divel himself is not so wicked as to think possible who arriveth at the port of bliss without exercising himself to Godliness The promises ever since the world was had the same conditions and ever will whilst the world shall endure The Gospel is therefore called the everlasting Gospel because it will continue without the least change or alteration the same for ever Thou mayst be confident that God doth not as some indiscret Citizens ask much more for his eternal glory and life men then he intendeth to take I say again ponder it for this argument hath more in it then thine understanding can possibly conceive or imagine Is not that worthy to become thy business and main work in this world upon which thine everlasting weal or wo thine endless estate in the other world doth depend Reader if that doth not deserve all thy time and pains and soul and heart and infinitely more upon which unchangable joy or eternal torments hang then I am sure nothing doth Alas all the things of this world whether about food or raiment or houses or lands or wives or children nay and life it self are but toys and trifles and shadows and nothings to an everlasting condition in the other world O that thou wert but able to conceive what it is to be eternally in fullness of pleasure or eternally in extremity of pain to be frying in flames for ever or bathing in rivers of delight for ever To enjoy God in his ordinances though it be but imperfectly and in a low degree one hour one day how sweet is it His tabernacles are highly amiable upon that account One day in thy Courts is better then a thousand elswhere But to enjoy God fully immediately and for ever too O how superlatively how infinitely pleasant and delightful will it be To be in Gods lower house though but a little time under some pious powerful Minister how reviving and refreshing is it But to dwell in his upper house for ever O blessed are they that dwell in that house they always praise thee The eternal presence of God will cause an eternal absence of all evil and an eternal confluence of all good O Reader who will not work hard labour much exercise himself to Godliness night and day do any thing that God commandeth suffer any thing that God inflicteth forbear any thing that God forbiddeth to be saved eternally to be infinitely blessed in the fruition of God for ever Surely its worth the while to obey the counsel of God in order to eteâ—nal salvation On the other side eternal damnatian how dreadful is it if it be but the scratch of a pin for ever or a little ach of the head for ever it woâ—ld be very doleful but a violent head-ach or tooth-ach or fits of the collick or stone for ever oh how intolerable would they be But ah how terrible is the wrath of God for ever darkness of darkness for ever the fire of hell for ever to which all the wracks and torments in this life are next to nothing Ah who can dwell in everlasting burnings I suppose thou woulst avoid thy wicked companions and forbear thy sinful courses do any thing thou couldst rather then to boyl in a furnace of scalding water for a thousand years nay one year and wilt thou not make religion thy business when otherwise God himself hath told thee thou shalt boil in a furnace of scalding wrath infinitely worse then scalding lead for ever ever ever Consider what thou hast read and the Lord give thee understanding that thou mayst be wise to eternal salvation Reader these twelve Questions being proposed I desire thee to answer them to him before whom thou shalt answer ere long for all the motions of thy heart and passages of thy whole life and I shall not detain thee longer in the passage though it be much
which is so great a friend to me Can I be so unworthy as to cause others to trample this great favourite at heavens Court under their feet Hath not the polluting thy name been the argument which I have sometimes used for the perdition of thine enemies I have cried to thee Remember this that the enemy hath reproached O Lord and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name and shall I be guilty of that which I plead as a reason for others ruine Again My dayly prayer is Hallowed be thy name and shall my practices give my prayer the lye and prophane it Should I cheat and cozen as the men of the world my great profession would cause my sin like a Cart heavy laden to make deep furrows into which many might trip and fall How ordinary is it for Egyptians to follow the dark side of the Israelites Pillar to their perdition Foolish man that I am is not the burthen of my own sins already intolerable and shall I add to them by being partaker of other mens sins Is the River of wrath due to me so low so little that I must invite streams from every place to swell it into an Ocean O that for my own sake for the sake of other men and especially for thy sake I may order all my ways by thy word Lord preserve me by thy Spirit that I may never lay a stumbling block before the wicked nor as the unbeleiving spies by my distrust of thy providence and using indirect courses to releive my family bring an ill report upon the good Land Assist me that I may look not onely to the power of Religion but also the honour of Religion Let thy grace ever accompany me and enable me to keep a conscience void of guile before thee and a conversation so void of guilt before men that whereas they speak against me as an evil doer they may be ashamed at this day and may by my good works which they shall behold glorifie God in the day of visitation I Wish that I may look to the righteousness of my actions as well as to the righteousness of my person and never think that my house can be firm if it be built upon the rotten foundation of injustice My God hath said Wo be to him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness and his Chambers by wrong As high as my house is raised and as sure as it is seated the breath of this curse will blow it down Though my estate seem never so fair yet how easily and how speedily may this scorching curse cause it to fade and to wither in my hand as a flower Have not mine eyes beheld the ruines of some stately dwellings which have been built upon rapine Unrighteousness like Rabbits in some Countrys hath undermined the foundations and overturned the buildings and shall mine escape Whether I will believe it or no â— My God hath spoken that unjust gain will prove my own loss and he will see it accomplished Whatsoever fine terms I may call my cheating by as an Art in my Trade or the Mystery of my Calling yet my God counts it Theft and me for it but a Thief Though I may put a fair colour upon my false dealing yet he forbids it under the plain censure of stealing Thou shalt not steal And O how great a Theif am I if I be guilty of this in my ordinary dealings I wrong my Neighbours that trade with me and that most Hypocritically under the pretence of doing them right To kill a man in the field by force is wicked but to poison him at my Table by fraud is worse because in this latter I pretend friendship To rob on the High-way by open power is greivous but to rob in my Shop by this hellish policy is more odious for I wrong one that is my friend and in such a way that he hath no means to help himself The Righteous God saith My hands are full of blood not onely when I murther a mans person and take away his life but also when I injure a mans portion and take away his lively-hood Such unjust persons must expect sore punishments The Law of man punisheth Cheats in some measure but the Law of the jealous God is more severe to such Iuglers as endeavour to unglue the whole worlds frame knit together onely by commerce and contracts I rob my own family as well as my Neighbours He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house False dealing like Fire consumes what comes near it My Children were better be left beggars then heirs of those riches which I have got by robbery What is well gotten will faâ—e the worse for the Neighbourhood of my ill gotten wealth This as a rotten sheep will infect the sound flock Whilst I am digging deep to lay the foundation of my house sure I do but lay in barrels of powder to blow it up I rob my own soul most of all by my unrighteousness How ill is that gain which causeth the loss of my God! How cheap do I sell those wares with which I buy endless and intollerable wo How dear do I buy that silver for which I sell my inestimable soul and salvation Ah what an ill Market doth he make that puts off his soul at any price If it be unprofitable to gain the whole world and lose my own soul what a fool what a mad man am I to set my soul to sale for a very small part of the world Into what a miserable Dilemma doth my deceitful dealing bring me Either I must repent and vomit it up which will tear and wrack my very heart or else I must burn for ever in hell O that I might never â—e so bereaved of my wits as to touch or meddle with such distracting wealth Lord thou hast informed me that A little which the righteous man hath is better then the possessions of many wicked that better is a little with righteousness then great revenues without right I know that the comfort of my life doth not depend upon a confluence of outward good things but upon thy love and good-will towards me Let me rather choose the greatest want then riches from Satans hands and in Hells way Be thou pleased to sparkle my little with the precious diamond of thy love and then t will be better indeed then the riches of many wicked yea more worth then all the World I Wish that in my buying and selling I might ever have an eye to the ballance of the Sanctuary My person must be tried by Scripture at the last day for my everlasting life and death and shall not my actions be squared by it at this day How sad a bargain should I make if I should buy my own bane What a dreadful trade should I drive to sell like that Son of Perdition the incomparable Saviour for a little corruptible silver Is that wealth worth getting which will make way for eternal want Though my heapes
for the least of their offences how he hath manifested his justice in the deluge brought on the old world in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in his carriage towards Apostate Angels rebellious Israelites his own chosen people and the Medâ—atour his own Son when he took upon him mans sin in the instruments of eternal death which he hath prepared in Hell for sinners and the solemn triumph which justice shall have at the great day and to all eternity in the other world 5. His holiness how he loaths sin with the greatest abhorrency cannot behold the least iniquity shoots the arrows of his vengeance against its actours and authors will be sanctified in or upon all that approach him is terrible in his holy places forbiddeth the least complyance with sin though but in a sudden thought and makes it his end in his providences ordinances the gift of his Son his Spirit to make men holy I might shew how it exalteth him in all his properties but I pass on It glorifieth him in every part of it Its precepts and commands speak his purity and dominion its promises and covenant speak his boundless mercy and compassion its threatnings and comminations speak his justice and jealousie its prophesies and predictions speak his wisdom and omniscience The Scripture tendeth also to the eternal good of men It is helpful to beget a soul to Christ Of his own will begat he us again by the Word of truth The Word of grace is instrumental for the conveyance of grace Act. 2.37 Rom. 10. 14. It is helpful to build the soul up in Christ as new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby 1 Pet. 2. 2. Grace is increased by the same means by which it is generated as the same Sun that begets some living creatures is helpful for their growth The Word of God of stones raiseth up children to Abraham and of Children maketh Young men and Fathers It is so penned that all sorts of persons all ranks of Christians may be directed into the way of truth and guided by it in the way of life It is able to make us wise to salvation To shew the path of life 2 Tim. 3. 15. Psa. 16. 11. As Ioshua it leads the Israelites into Canaan All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable 1. For Doctrine Where Scripture hath not a tongue to speak I must not have an ear to hear Scriptura est regula fidei Scripture is the rule of faith Hence the Doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets is called a foundation Ephes. 2. 20. 2. For reproof It is the hammer of Heresies Ignorance of Scripture is one main cause of error Ye err not knowing the Scripture By this sword of the Spirit Christ vanquished Satan Mat. 4. 4. and the Jews Ioh. 5.45 and Sadduces Mat. 22.29 Lapidandi sunt haeretici sacrarum literarum argumentis Hereticks are to be stoned with Scripture arguments saith Athanasius The Word of God hiâ—s that unclean bird in the eye and wounds it mortally 3. For correction of manners The sword of the Word pierceth the sinners conscience like Christ to the woman of Samaria It tells him all that ever he did and makes him smite upon his thigh and say What have I done Scripture is a glass which sheweth him the spots that are in the face of his heart and life 4. For instruction in righteousness It is the way in which we should walk the rule of our spiritual race What is written on some Psalms may be written on every Psalm and Chapter in the whole Bible Maschil or Psalm for instruction Its precepts teach us what to follow its prohibitions tell us what to forsake Its promises are to allure us to sanctity its threatnings to affright us from sin the good example of the Saints speaketh as Christ to Peter Follow thou me the wicked actions and ends of sinners cry aloud as Abner to Ioab Knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the end 5. For comfort There is no such cordial for a fainting spirit as a promise in the Word The Gospel in the Greek is glad tidings and not without cause This is my comfort in my affliction for thy word hath quickned me When souls have been ready to despair under the sense of their wickedness and to sink in deep waters the Word of God hath held them up by the chin and preserved them from drowning Vnless thy law had been my delight I had perished in mine affliction 6. For salvation the Word is called the Kingdom of heaven partly because it revealeth Gods thoughts of such an inestimable happiness to the children of men The celestial Canaan was terra incognita till that discovered it He hath brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel partly because it prepares the soul for heaven the Word sanctifieth and so saveth precious souls By filling us with grace it fitteth us for glory Rom. 1.16 Ioh. 17.17 Partly because it is the seed of heaven As the Harvest is potentially in the seed and a tall Oke potentially in an acorn so heaven and eternal life is potentially in the Word of life It is called The grace of God that bringeth salvation It bringeth salvation to men and it bringeth men to salvation Secondly Consider it O my soul in its properties they will also speak its preciousness 1. It is pure and holy there are some dregs that will appear in the exactest writings of the best men when they have been shaken by a critical hand but none could ever justly fasten the least filth upon the holy Scriptures The Word of Christ is like the Spouse of Christ There is no spot in it The Alcoran of Mahomet alloweth Polygamy promiseth sensual pleasures as the reward of his servants but the Scripture winketh not at the least sin no not so much as in a motion of the heart or a glance of the eye and its promises are also pure and spiritual The Doctrine of the wisest Heathen and Philosophers were a mixture of good and bad Theft was no fault amongst Lycurgus Laws but if done slily commended highly Aristotle permitted revenge and obscene jesting which Scripture expresly forbids Thy word is very pure The words of the Lord are pure words as silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven times There is not the least dross of evil or error in it 1. It s principal Author is the original and exemplar of all holiness his nature is the pattern and his will the rule of purity Exod. 15. 4. Isa. 6. 3. 2. The Scribes of it were holy men moved and actuated by the Holy Ghost 3. It s effect is to sanctifie and make holy Ye are clean through the word that I have given you 4. The matter of it is holy Its commanding part is holy The Law is holy just and good Rom. 7. 12. It s assertory part is holy what it affirmes to be is what it denyeth to
him All men are naked and open to him He knoweth every thought word and action of every man as exactly as if he had none but him to mind His knowledge is infinite he knoweth all the sins of all men clearly they are as visible to his eye as if they were written with the brightest sun-beam on the clearest chrystal He knoweth all the sins of men distinctly not in a confused heap or lump but one by one knoweth all the sins of all men every moment All the sins that are that ever were or that ever shall be are continually in his eye and view 5. How he is able to revenge himself every moment David did bear with Joab because the sons of Zerviah were too hard for him He was a tender plant that was scarce rooted and feared to be overturned by their fury but God beareth with sinners though he be Almighty and can do all things He can as easily turn the sinner into hell as tell him of hell he can blow the sinner with his breath into the bottomless pit By the blast of God they perish by the breath of his nostrils they are consumed The most secret sin is within the sight of his countenance and the strongest sinner within the reach of his vengeance This is wonderful indeed he is infinite in patience who is infinite in power The Lord is slow to anger and great in power saith the Prophet Nahum 1. He that can in a moment speak the whole Creation into nothing beareth many years with his rebellious provoking Creatures The Lord looked upon the Egyptians and troubled them It s an easie matter to look especially for him that made the eye A glance of his eye will overthrow the proudest stoutest sinner Men are great in anger who are little in power their hearts are good I should say bad enough speedily to ruine such as offend them but their hands are weak and straitned that we may thank their want of power not their patience for our preservation But God who is all power is all patience he that can spurn the whole world into endless wo more easily then all the men of the world can spurn a foot-ball into the water forbeareth them year after year 6. He doth not onely forbear but also do men good His goodness towards them is positive as well as privative he upholds them in their beings protects them in their goings supports them by his power supplieth them by his providence as well as forbear them by his patience His enemies are hungry he feeds them they are thirsty he gives them drink He gives them that corn and wine and oyl which they bestow on Baal he bestows on them those mercies with which they fight against him he blesseth them with life health strength food raiment sleep reason friends peace liberty riches honours the Gospel Sermons Sabbaths offers of pardon and life whilst they persist in their provocations against him He is at infinite cost and charge night and day in sending provision into the camp of his enemies 7. He woeth us to be reconciled He doth not onely command and enjoyn rebellious man to throw down his weapons of unrighteousness but even prayeth and entreateth him with much importunity to accept of peace and pardon As though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God He is earnest and instant by his Ministers by the motions of his spirit by the calls and convictions of conscience that he might perswade miserable men to be happy 2 Cor. 5. 15 20. 2 Chron. 36. 15 Isaiah 65. 2. and 42. 14. I have stretched out my hand all the day long to a rebellious house that have walked in a way that is not good 8. He doth all this without any expectation of advantage to himself He gains not by our holiness neither is he a loser by our wickedness The arrows of sin are always too short to reach him and he is so high that he is far above our highest service our blessings and praises infinite perfection admits of no addition Can a man be profitable to God as he that is wise may be profitable to himself Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous or is it gain to him that thou makest thy ways perfect He begs as hard as if it were for his own life but it is wholly for ours He loseth not the least if we be lost he saves nothing by our salvation It s all one to the Sun whether men open their eyes and are refreshed with its light or shut their eyes and behold nothing of its glorious splendour 9. He forbeareth us who is infinitely our Superior It were much for a King to bear with a affronts from a vile Beggar but it s infinitely more for the King of Kings to bear with indignities and treasons and malice and hatred from his vile creatures O the patience of a God! man cannot suffer a disrespect from his fellow but God doth from them that are infinitely his inferiours The Apostles were good men yet upon a little disrespect from some of the same make and mold with themselves they presently call for fire from heaven what patience and goodness is then in God who beareth with such innumerable and notorious affronts from his Slaves and Vassals from them that in comparison of him are much lesse then nothing 10. He warneth before he striketh He threatens that he might not punish and thundereth with his voice that he might not overthrow us with his hand He shoots off his warning peices that he might spare his murthering peices Men that are set upon revenge are silent When Absolon resolved on the destruction of Ammon he spake not a word to him either good or bad but God tells men fully what is intended against them by his justice that it might be prevented by their fitness for mercy That bitterest cup of threatnings hath the sweet of love at the bottom 11. He punisheth temporally that he might spare eternally When he is forced to strike he â—seth the rod that he might not use the ax We are chastened of the Lord that we might not be condemned with the world He forceth tears in this world to prevent eternal weeping how many a mans way doth he hedge up with thorns that he might not find the path to eternal death 12. He is thus patient towards men who did not wait at all on Angels The Angels were more noble creatures and able to have done him more and better service then man yet when they sinned he did not wait a moment for their repentance but he stretcheth out his hand all the day long to man He that would not wait upon disloyal Courtiers waits upon rebellious Beggers Consider the causes of it The moving cause is his own gracious nature Men forbear punishing Malefectours sometimes because they are related to them sometimes from hope of advantage by them sometimes because they are afraid of them
and serving his God and his soul as well as his family and body in those interjections The wheel of a chariot though it be in motion all the day and turning about on the ground yet it s but a small part of it that toucheth the earth at one time the greatest part of it is always above it so the true Christian though he be all the day busie about earthly affairs yet it s but his body his lesser part that is employed about them his soul his affections which are his greatest part are always about them SECT I. I Shall first offer thee two quickening Motives and then acquaint thee wherein thy daily exercise to Godliness consisteth First Consider Any day may be thy last day and therefore every day should be an holy day with thee I mean not an holy day for play or recreatâ—on but for the work of Religion He that knoweth not how soon his Master will come and reckon with him had need to be always employed about his Masters business Because there is no time of life in which thou art secure from death therefore every day of thy life thou oughtest to be about thy duty Prov. 27.1 Boast not thy self of to morrow thou knowest not what a day may bring forth Every day is big-bellied and hath more in the womb of it then any man knoweth he that salutes the morning with a smiling aspect may bid the world good night for ever before the evening The candle of thy life may be blown out on a sudden before its half burnt out The Poets fable that Death and Cupid lodging together at an Inn exchanged arrows whereby it hath since come to pass that old men â—â—ote and young men die Death cometh up to the young and strong old and weak men go down to Death Thou mayst be called forth to that war in which there is no discharge and not have an hours warning to prepare thy self for a march Sturdy trees are overturned by an unexpected wind lusty men by violent feavers or outward accidents our enemies are strong our earthly houses weak the coming of our Landlord is unknown the lease of our lives is uncertain we are every moment liable to be ejected and shall we not be so employed that our Lord when he comes may find us well-doing I remember I have in some Author read that the invention of clocks was not primarily to mind us of the Suns posting in the heavens but of our Lives passing on earth It was Calvins reason for his unweariedness in his studies when his friends urged against it the injury it did his body Would ye have my Lord when he cometh find me idle It will be woful for that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find doing evil or doing nothing But and if that servant say in his heart My Lord delayeth his coming and shall begin to beat the men-servants and maidens and to eat and drink and be drunken The Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him and in an hour when he is not aware and will cut him asunder and will appoint him his portion with unbelievers Luk. 12. 45 46. In which words we may observe 1. The sin of the unfaithful servant 2. The severity of his Lord. In the sin we may take notice 1. Of the nature of He bâ—ats his fellow-servants and eats and drinks and is drunken He gives himself up to all manner of wickedness He is unrighteous to his fellow-servants he beats them and unfaithful to his Master he abuseth his goods he eats and drinks and is drunken Sin doth not lie skulking in the â—ecret trenches of his heart but appeareth boldly in the open field of his life T is a sign an enemy hath great power when he sheweth himself openly 2. The occasion of it His Plea for it His Lord delayeth his coming Because he hath not a speedy reward he layeth aside all good works because of Gods gracious forbearance he argueth a general acquittance for all his evil works He makes bold to riot because he is not called to a speedy reckoning We tremble not at the noise of those Cannons which we fancy to be a great way off That which is lookt upon at a distance seems small and so is despised though the same beheld near appears great and terrifieth us In the severity of the Lord we may read 1. How sore his judgement is He shall cut him asunder and give him his portion among unbeleivers These two expressions speak the dreadfulness of his doom though no words can speak fully how woful it is He shall cut him asunder An allusion to some tortures then in use amongst the Heathen to shew the exquisite pain which his body shall suffer And give him his portion among unbeleivers Because the hottest Hell is reserved for such The wrath of God abideth on them Joh. 3. ult to note the extream punishment which his soul shall undergo 2. How sudden it is unexpected evils are most dreadful The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him Sudden frights overwhelm the spirits Those miseries which seen at some distance have been entertained with patience surprising men on a sudden have â—triken them into despair Death comes sometimes like a Thief up into our windows coming in at the door is ordinary but coming in at the window is unlookt for Ier. 19. 21. As the snare secretly and unexpectedly seiseth the silly Bird so doth a day of death the simple Children of men Luk. 21. 35. Our Saviour speaks of his coming in the second or third watch of the night which the Jews called Intempestum Gallietnium not in the first and fourth because saith Theophilact they are the dead time of the night when men are in their soundest sleep to shew us how suddenly and unexpectedly he shall surprise most men Luk. 12. 38. Reader This present days work may be the last act of thy life it behoveth thee therefore to do it well When thou art in thy Closet thou mayst think with thy self I may possibly never pray more never read the word of God more how reverently uprightly graciously should I therefore pray and read When thou art eating or drinking or refreshing nature thou mayst consider for ought I know this may be the last time that I may use these creatures of God how fearful should I be of abusing them how should I eat my bread as before the Lord. When thou art in thy Shop or about thy calling thou mayst ponder this Possibly my last sand is running and I must this day bid adieu for ever to Wares and Shops and Flocks and Fields and all civil commerce O how heavenly should I be about these earthly affairs How spiritual about these temporal things Who would not do his last work well Ah how holy should he be at all times who hath cause every moment to expect the coming of an holy and
strong This Sampson of death can fetch meat out of the eater and out of the strong sweetness Deaths harbinger sickness which prepareth its way before it will make me melt like Wax before the Sun though my strength were the strength of stones and my flesh as brass Fresh Flowers are cropt in their pride and greatest beauty The Autumn of death comes ordinarily before the winter of old age Besides I am liable every day to many sudden accidents and unexpected surprisals How many die in their Shops or Fields or in the Church or Streets as well as others in their beds All men do not go out of the world at the fore door of sickness many at the back-door of a violent death When my blood frisketh merrily in my veins and light sparkleth gloriously in mine eyes when my countenance is most fresh and lovely and my senses are most quick and lively even then aâ— my best estate I am altogether vanity I may draw a long line of life because nature may afford radical moysture enough for it when death lieth in ambush like a theif in the candle and wasteth all on a sudden Should I as the rich fool reckon falsly to a million when I cannot count truly to one and promise my self many days when my soul may be required of me this night how gross is my delusion Ah how sad how fatal is that error that can never be mended The time past is gone and never never to be called back All my prayers and tears all the revenues of the world cannot regain the last moment The time to come is Gods not mine own It is not in my hands therefore I have no reason to reckon upon it I am both foolish and dishonest if I dispose of anothers goods Reversions are uncertain and he may well be poor that hath no estate but what he hath in hope or rather presumption Lord thou reckonest my life not by ages no not by years but by days thou hast told me that my days are few my time is little though my work be great I acknowledge my proneness to put far from me my dying day whereby I gratifie my grand enemy in drawing nigh to the seat of iniquity O help thy servant to live every day as if it were his last day Grant that I may live well and much though my life be little and short because there is no day of my life in which I can promise my self security from the arrest of Death let me expect it every day and every hour of every day that when ever my Lord shall come I may be found well-doing I Wish that since the eye of my God is ever on me my eye may be ever on him and I may be so pious as to carry my self all the day long as in his presence What ever I do my God observeth whatever I speak my God heareth whatever I think he knoweth I may call every place I come into Mizpeh The Lord watcheth and observeth Ah how holy should he be who hath always to do with so pure and jealous a Majesty The Iews were to dig and cover the natural excrements of their bodies because the Lord their God walked in the midst of their camp Sin is the spiritual excrement of my soul and infinitely more odious and loathsom to my God O how watchful should I be against it who walk ever in his company The Sun is said by some to be all eye because it hath a thousand beams in every place it filleth the largest windows and peepeth in at the smallest key-hole it shineth on the Princes Pallace and the Poor mans Cottage the Heavens above the Earth beneath and Air between it looks on every person with so direct a countenance as if it beheld none beside The natural Sun is darkness to the Sun of righteousness the whole world to him is a sea of glass he seeth it thorough and thorough The Watch-maker knoweth all the wheels and pins and motions in the Watch He that made me cannot be ignorant of me nor of any thing in me or done by me Whether I be in my Shop or Closet Abroad or at Home in Company or Alone the Hand of my God is with me and the Eye of my God upon me O that I could set him ever before me and set my self ever before him that I could always see him who always seeth me and like a Sun-dyal so receive this Sun in the morning as to go along with him all the day Lord thou searchest and knowest me thou knowest my down-sitting and uprising thou understandest my thoughs afar off Thou compassest my paths and lying down and art acquainted with all my ways For there is not a word in my tongue but O Lord thou knowest it altogether Whither shall I go from thy Spirit and whither shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend up to Heaven thoâ— art there If I make my bed in Hell behold thou art there If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the utmost parts of the Sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me If I say surely the darkness shall cover me even the night shall be light about me Yea the darkness hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day The darkness and the light are both alike to thee O teach me to walk before thee and to be upright I Wish that the end of all my days may be the beginning of every day that my first thoughts in the morning may be of him by whom alone I think The Firstling under the Law was to be the Lords and why not the first fruits of every day under the Gospel Surely the worthiness of the person deserves precedency of dispatch It is no mean incivility to let an honourable man wait our leasure what impiety is it then to let the great God stay till the dreggy flesh or world be served Ah how unworthy as well as wicked is it to put that God off who deserves all I am and have with the leavings of his slaves Besides the soul usually walks up and down all day in the same habit in which it is dressed in the morning The day is usually spent well or ill according to the morning employment If Satan get possession in the morning t will be many to one but he keeps his hold all day What youth is to age that is the morning to the day if youth be not tainted with vice age is imployed in vertue He that loves chastity will not marry her that spent her youth in whordom A man may give a shrewd guess in the morning when second causes are in working what weather will be most part of the day If I set out early in my heavenly journey I am the more likely to persevere in it all the day As some sweet Oyls poured into a Vessel first will cause whatsoever is put into it afterwards to taste and
days in the Kalender of their lives for Festivals and make them all Play-days as if there were never a working day among them that are as busie and tedious in dressing their worm-eaten bodies as Children in dressing Babies and are more troubled at the smallest disorder in their hairs then the greatest disorder in Church and State would give up all and much more if they had it for a little time Then the Nobles and Kings and Emperours of the world will disesteem their honours and height and trample upon their Robes and Scepters and â—rowns for a little time Then they who dally with their days of grace and delay the preparation of their souls for death and judgement as if time were at their command and they could force it to attend their leasure that live as if Death were their servant and must wait on them till they thought fit to come to their graves will find that time was time indeed O my soul of what worth will time be at that day and wilt thou waâ—te it at this day Alas how little is that time which thou hast to improve for thine unchangeable estate My life is but a shadow that is gone when the Sun hides his head A Bubble that vanisheth when a small breath of wind appeareth A day that is soon overtaken by a night a span nothing Thou hast made my days as an hand-breadth mine age is nothing unto thee Wert thou able to secure a long life though thou hâ—sâ— work enough of infinite weight to imploy it all yet thou mightest have more colour of reason for being lavish but when thy time is little and thy business of such consequence what unspeakable madness is it to be wasteful of it He that hath thousands of acres of Land will spare some for a Park some for a bowling-green some for a court-yard some for pleasure and pastimes but he that hath but a little land upon which himself and his family must live and by which they must be maintained can spare none at all for vain pleasures but must improve all to real profit Man that is born of a woman is but of few days He comes up as a Flower fleeth as a shadow and continueth not and wilt thou O my soul revel and riot away this poor pittance in which thou shouldst work out thy salvation O that I could value this jewel in some measure answerable to its worth and do the work of the day in the day allotted me for work Time rightly husbanded is acceptable time a day well imployed is a day of salvation Lord though my journey be great my time is little Nay how much of that little time have I lost A considerable part of it hath been taken up with my Infancy and Child-hood wherein I did little above a Beast My youth hath been squandred away in trifles and vanity and too much of it in lust and iniquity Much of what remains if thou shouldst add a few more days to my life must be spent in eating and drinking and sleeping and necessary natural actions and shall I not redeem it to my power for the service of my Saviour O affect my soul throughly how Eternity rides upon the back of time that I may prize time highly redeem it carefully and improve it so faithfully that eternity may be my friend and when time shall have an end I may enjoy that joy which hath no end I Wish that I may every day so cast up my accounts that I maybe always ready for the great Audit-day Wise Stewards do not write down great sums in gross which they have disbursed for their Lords at several times but set down the particulars whereby they are prepared for a general reckonning and enabled to justifie their accounts My trust is more weighty then of any Princes Steward on earth my Master will be more exact then the severest humane Lord and am I not then concerned so to number my days as to reckon every day what I receiâ—e from my Lord what I disburse for my Lord and at the foot of every day to write the total sum How foolish is he that rejects his books till his bookâ— reject him 〈◊〉 is it not better for me to look over the book of my conscience and observe what blots and errors are there whilst I have licence and liberty to correct them then to neglect them till those eyes which are purer then to behold iniquity come to look it over and leave be denyed of ever amending what he finds amiss O my soul this evening now I am writing this page I must send to thee Amaziah's challenge of Joash Come let us see one another in the face Why should we that are so near together be such strangers to each other I must ask thee as Elisha did Gehezi Whence comest thou Where hast thou been What hast thou done this day for God and thy self Hast thou lived or onely been in the world this day Doth thy soul work thine eternity work go forward or backward Hast thou lived as if thou wâ—rt going to die and walked in the fear of the Lord all the day long Hath the awe and dread of the divine Majesty all along possessed thee Dost thou consider that thou hast one day less to live and one day more to account for Suppose God should come to thee this night as he did to Belshazer with a Mene Mene It is numbred It is numbred Thy days are told God hath counted them up and finished them thou shalt not live to see a morrow Thy days are extinct the grave is ready for thee Art thou ready for thy grave If God should say to thee as that Lord to his Servant Give an account of thy Stewardship for thou shalt be no longer Steward Are thy accounts and Gods even Dost thou reckon as he doth What do all the actions of this day stand for in thine account Figures or Ciphers somthing or nothing What were thy first thoughts in the morning Was he who came first to thee with his morning mercies first served by thee How didst thou pray in thy Closet and Family What sorrow accompanied thy confessions Was thy heart broken that thou hast broken his holy laws What faith and fervency did accompany thy requests Was the heat of thy affections answerable to the weight of thy petitions Didst thou present thy petition to the Master of Requests the Lord Iesus Christ by him to be delivered to the Father What spiritual joy and delight didst thou find in Thankesgiving Didst thou wonder at that infinite cost which the glorious God is at with such an unworthy wretch How didst thou râ—ad the word this day Did it come with power and authority to thy conscience was it mingled with faith Didst thou hide it in thy heart Hadst thou any resolution to make it thy rule and Counseller and Comforter and to order thy conversation according to it How didst thou eat and drink this day Didst thou feed
holiness Even Benhadad the King of Syria an enemy to the Prophets and People of God in his health will send a Prince to Elisha with a large present and most submissive expressions thy Son Benhadad in his sickness 2 King 7.9 Sickness gives men a double advantage for holiness 1. It takes off their hearts from creatures by teaching them experimentally what a poor weak cordial the whole creation is to sick or dying men When men are strong and lusty they can taste and savour earthly things carnal comforts hinder their endeavours after spiritual They take up with creatures as Esau and say they have enough but sickness makes them know the emptiness of all sublunary things When men are sick they cannot rellish the worlds dainties and delicates The preferments and riches and pleasures of the earth are all unsavoury and uncomfortable to them They now see the vanity of those things which heretofore they so much idolized how unable they are to revive their fainting spirits or to allay their pain or purchase them the least ease or procure them the least acceptance in the other world and hence the price of the worlds market falls abundantly in their judgements Bernard tells us of a Brother of his that when he gave him many good instructions and he being a Souldier regarded them not he put his finger to his side and told his Brother One day a Spear shall make way to this heart of thine for admonition and instruction to enter 2. In sickness conscience is usually allowed more liberty to speak its mind and men are then more at leasure to hear it In health their callings or friends or lusts or sports or some carnal comfort or other take up their hearts and time that conscience must be silenced as too bold a Preacher for offering to disturb them in their pleasures or if it will use its authority and continue to speak in Gods name and forbid their foolishness and Atheism and sensuality and prophaness they are deaf to its calls and commands and drown its voice with the noise of their brutish delights But in sickness they are taken off from their trades and pastimes and merry meetings and jovial companions when their bodies are weak their fleshly lusts are not so strong as formerly whereby conscience hath a greater opportunity to tell them of their miscarriages and wickedness and they themselves are more attentive to its words and warning Reader It s a special peice of wisdom to improve such a season for the good of thy Neighbours soul. When the Wax is softned then we clap the Seal upon it lest it harden again and be incapable of any impression When the hand of God hath by sickness made the heart of thy wicked friend or brother soft and tender then do thy utmost to stamp the Image of God upon it Paul would preach whilst a door was opened and there was likelyhood of doing good It s a great encouragement to work when the subject upon which we bestow our pains seems capable of what we prosecute and probable to answer our labour We have some heart to strike a nail into a bâ—ard because there is hope it will enter but no list to drive a nail into a flint because we despair of effecting it The Smith strikes when the Iron is hot he knoweth if he should stay till it is cold his labour would be in vain Friend take the advantage of others bodily sickness to further their spiritual health lest they either die in their sins or harden upon their recovery Opportunity is like a joynt in some part of a fowl which if we hit upon we may easily carve and divide the fowl but if the Knife fall on this side or that side of the joynt we do but mangle the meat and take pains to no purpose It is the speech of Master Richard Rogers in his seven Treatises I have visited some persons that have been condemned to die in whom through the blessing of God upon his endeavours I have found as good signs of saved persons as of any that died in their beds not having tasted of repentance before 2. It s a special opportunity of Receiving good We are taught more effectually by the eye then by the ear The sight of a sick or dying person hath often a strange and a strong operation upon the beholder When the Father heard of one that sinned notoriously he cried out I may be as bad as this man is When thou seest one dangerously sick thou mayst think with thy self I must â—e as this man is sick unto death when none of my Relations or Possessions can afford me the least comfort and O how much doth it concern me to prepare before-hand for such an hour If this mans work be now to do when his life is ending how sad is the condition of his precious soul O that I were wise to consider timely and to provide seasonably for my latter end The sight of a dead man was instrumental to the spiritual life of Waldus The sight of others sickness may well quicken me to the greater industry and diligence after spiritual health Do I behold my Neighbour whose Sail formerly sweld with a full gale of worldly enjoyments now wind-bound chained to his chamber or fettered to his bed unable to rellish his food or take any comfort in his friends Do I see him full of Aches and Pains Tossings and Tumblings crying out in the evening Would God it were morning and in the morning Would God it were evening because of the anguish of his Spirit Do I behold his cheeks pale his eyes sunk his lips quivering his loyns trembling his heart panting and nature striving and strugling with the disease to keep its ground and yet at last forced to quit the field and leave the victory to its adversary how many excellent observations may I draw from such a Text What a fool am I to trust the world which leaves this man in his greatest want How mad am I in loving sin which is the cause of all these crosses and miseries and which makes death so mortal to poor souls Of how much worth and value is the blessed Redeemer who will comfort a Christian in such a time of need and carry him through his last conflict with joy and conquest How careful should I be to get and keep a good conscience which in such a day of extremity will yeild me true courage and confidence The wise man doth not without cause tell us It is better to go into the house of mourning to the terming or charnel-house then to the house of feasting for that is is the end of all men and the living will lay it to heart Eccles. 7. 2. Men in a house of feasting are apt to be forgetful of their duty to God themselves and their Neighbours Isa. 22. 13 14. Amos 6. 3 6. Isa. 5. 11 12. When the body is filled the soul is often neglected Iob was afraid of this in
his Sons Iob 1. 5 6. It may be my Sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts i. e. when they had been feasting at their elder Brothers house God gives Israel a special caution against this Deut. 8. 12 14. Men in an house of mourning are put in mind both of Gods Soveraignty who draweth away their breath and they perish Psa. 104. 29. and their own frailty how soon they are gathered and withered even in their prime and pride Psa. 39. 5. I am blind if I do not see mine own end in the end of another and distracted if I do not provide for my last enemy which I must necessarily encounter Thus it s a mercy to our selves to be merciful unto others and whilst we visit the sick we visit our own souls Who would not do his Neighbour good when he may be confident it will tend to his own gain I have but hopes by my visit of advantaging a sinner but I may be sure if I be faithful therein of profiting my self SECT III. THirdly It may be the last opportunity thou mayst ever have of advantaging thy sick neighbours soul. His sick-bed may be his death-bed and then t will be too late to counsel or advise him There is no Purgatory in the other world Diseases both bodily and spiritual must be purged away before death or never He that is filthy at death must be filthy still even to all eternity All the tears in hell will not wash out the least spot in the soul All the fire of hell will not purge out the least dross Therefore Christ took the opportunity of dropping good counsel into the heart of the Theif on the Cross knowing that if he had omitted it a very few hours longer the soul of the poor Theif had been lost for ever Hadst thou a friend going to Sea and never to return again waiting at a Port for a Wind and then to be gone and hadst busineâ—s with him of as great concernment to him as his life thou couldst tell him of a quicksand which he must beware of or he will be cast away wouldst thou not be quick and speedy to acquaint him with it lest he should be under Sail before thou didst see him would it not cut thee to the heart if he should miscarry through thy negligence The Application is easie The soul of every Neighbour is or ought to be dearer to thee then the body of thy nearest friend or relation When thy wicked Neighbour is sick his soul is launching for ought thou knowest into the Ocean of eternity whence he shall never â—ever return more He waits onely for a wind a word from God and he is gone The sick bed is the passage or path-way to the grave Thou hast work to do with him that is more worth to him then his life that iâ— of as great value as his immortal soul and eternal salvation Now thou mayst acquaint him while he is on the shore with his danger and the way of his delivery but if once he launch into the Main thou mayst call loud and long enough after him in vain O will it not pierce thee to the quick if his soul should be swallowed up in the boundless and bottomless Sea of divine wrath through thy laziness or unfaithfulness When the day drew near for the destruction of the Jews the heart of Haman swelled with hopes and Hester had then an opportunity to step in and preserve the lives of her Countrymen Mordecai tells her Who knoweth whether thou art come to the Kingdom for such a time as this She made use of the season and saved their lives with the hazard of her own Had she delayed a little longer it had been too late they had all been sacrificed upon the Altar of Hamans ambition When the hour of a wicked mans death approacheth the heart of the roaring Lyon is big with expectation of his prey and a Christian friend hath then possibly an opportunity to save the poor creatures soul Now or never there is no knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whether the sick person is going If he make use of the price God puts now into his hands by serious prudent faithful and affectionate counsel he may help the â—inner to heaven Who knoweth whether he be come by the Providence of God into the sick mans Chamber for such a thing as this I have but one thing more to commend to thee and then I shall speak to the work it self Before thou goest to thy sick Neighbour go to God by prayer intreat him to direct thee what to speak and to succeed what shall be spoken It is his own Ordinance and therefore thou mayst the more comfortably beg and expect his assistance Nehemiah would speak to God before he spake to the King for the afflicted Jews Hester prefers her Petition first to her Maker that her prayer might prosper and then her Petition to her Husband for the lives of her Countrymen God is the Principal Agent and if he be left out all thy labour will be lost Wherein the exercising thy self to Godliness in visiting the sick consisteth 1. In endeavouring to benefit the soul of thy Neighbour 2. In getting some spiritual profit to thy self First In endeavouring the spiritual good of thy Neighbour We are enjoyned in the eighth Command to mind and further our Neighbours temporal wealth but much more his spiritual welfare T was true which Bucers Physitian told him when he expressed his eagerness to die Non sibi sed multorum utilitati se esse natum That he was not born for himself but for the good of many others Every Saint is to be as it were a common stock for the profit of many He is born and new born not onely for himself but for others benefit The Lynx is a spotted unclean beast that knowing how his urine will congeal into a precious stone and be profitable to men maketh an hole in the ground when he pisseth to hide it from them Iob who knew the advantage that might acrue to others thereby would not conceal either the word or works of God from them Iob 6. 10. and 27. 11. To this end 1. Labour to be acquainted with the state of the sick persons soul. It s dangerous to give either Purges or Cordials ignorantly or at peradventure The souls of men are of unconceivable value and therefore not to be tampered or trifled with It s a good step to the cure to understand fully the disease and the constitution of the Patient therefore Physitians feel the pulse view the urine enquire of the sick person or his friends concerning his former course of life diet present digestion of his food place of his trouble or pain c. that they may proceed upon good grounds and give sutable and effectual advice So shouldst thou Reader in visiting the sick inform thy self either by conference with some serious Christians of their acquaintance before-hand or by some searching
aspire heaven-ward when its returning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to its original divinity according to Plotinus his phrase of death As his Saviour he brings out his best wine at last and his last works are more then his first Rev. 2. 19. The blessed Prince and Lord of life should be our pattern at death He got his Father most glory he did his Church most good by his death though he was eminently serviceable to both all his life time It s said of him He was obedient Phil. 2. 7. to the death Which may import 1. His continuance in well-doing His obedience lasted to the last moment of his life so should ours Elisha would not leave his Master till taken from him into Heaven and we should not leave our Lord till taken to him into Heaven Polycarp in his old age being urged by the Proconsul to deny Christ answered I have served him eighty six years and he never once hurt me and shall I now deny him 2. His obedience in his death His death was a Free-will offering in obedience to his Fathers command Not onely his birth and life was an answer to his Fathers call A body hast thou prepared c. Then said I Lo I come to put on that body to take upo◠〈◊〉 that nature and thereby and therein to do thy Will O God but also his death was in pursuance of his duty This commandment received I of my Father Thus the Christians death must be offered up as a sacrifice to God in obedience to his command The Sinners soul is Prest to this War in which there is no discharge This night thy soul shall be required of thee The Saint understanding the orders from the Lord of Hosts is a Voluntier He gives up the Ghost Into thy hands Lord I commend my Spirit 3. The gracious manner of his dying The Sun of righteousness when setting did shine most gloriously Though at his death he had such infinite disadvantage being to wrestle with the frowns of an incensed God the fury of earth and Hell and met with clouds black and thick enough to have obscured the graces and hindered the holiness of any but himself from shining at all yet how brightly did they break forth in the midst of all those Fogs and Mists and Darkness What holy counsel and comfort did he give his Disciples to prepare them for his departure in his last and one of his longest Sermon Ioh. 14 15 16. What an heavenly prayer doth he put up to his Father for them and all his elect to give them both a taste and a pledge of that intercession which he was going to Heaven to make for them When he was hanging on the Cross under such an heavy weight as the sins of the whole World Grace was not depressed His love to his Mother is observeable Woman behold thy Son And from that hour that Disciple took her to his own house John 19. 26. But his love to his membrenâ— though enemies was wonderful Father forgiâ—â— them they know not what they do His Faith in his Father Father into thy hands I commend my spirit His pity to one of the Theives His Patience in bearing the scoffing words and taunts more bitter then Worm-wood of them that passed by reviling him as well as in suffering the wracking of his bones and whole body and the anger of an infinite God in his soul without any murmuring may well call for our admiration Reader he hath set thee a pattern that thou shouldst follow his steps Some tell us the Phoenix of Saba in Arabia Faelix so called from Phoenicea or the Purple colour of her wings liveth six hundred and sixty years at the end of which time she buildeth her a nest of Cassia Calamus Cinnamon and other precious spices and gums which the Sun by the extremity of his heat and the wavering of her wings fires and she taking delight in the sweetness of the savour hovers so long over it that she burns her self in her own Nest. Thus did the blessed Jesus and thus ought his followers to expire in a Nest of sweet Spices the exercise of the graces of the holy Spirit It was a poor farewel to the world which even Octavius Augustus gave when at the point of death he called for his Looking-glass commanded to have his Head and beard combed and his shriveled Cheeks smoothed up then asking his friends if he had acted his part well Cum ita responderint vos omnes igitur inquit Plaudite It is a dreadful conclusion which Pliny relates the Hyberboreans to make who when they have lived to one hundred years or more make a great feast to which they invite all their friends and after their jollity and mirth throw themselves down a steep rock and so perish Ungodly men are always worst at last when they come to the bottom they are flat and dead and nothing but grounds and dregs How often in the eyes of the world do wicked persons go out like a Lamp leaving a stench behind them The scandalous sinner usually like the Goats beard or star of Jerusalem closeth up the flower of his presumptuous hope at high noon he is cast in his own conscience long before his death The Hypocrite ordinarily as the Daysie and Dandelion declares the approach of the evening by shutting up before its approach If he be gold in the morning and silver at noon yet as we say of Butter he is lead at night What is the hope of the Hypocrite when God shall take away his soul As its storied of the Pardora a people in India that in their youth they have silver hairs but in their age their hairs are quite black Or as the She Wolf hath a yearly defect in generation the first time she hath five the second time four then three then two then one then barren ever after So the Hypocrite dâ—clines and decreaseth in goodness faster then the Moon in its last quarter and is commonly worst at last But the sincere Christian hath his best at the bottom and hath his daintiest dish reserved to be served in at the last courseâ— Naturalists tell us of Honey that that is the thickest and best Honey which is squeezed last out of the Comb. O what excellent periods and endings both in regard of the exercise of grace and comfort have many of the Children of God made The Death-bed to some Saints hath been like Tharah to the Israelites in the Wilderness where after many journeys growing near to the Land of Canaan they rested themselves and it was called Tharah from Roah and Tarah which signifieth a breathing time The Sun when it declines into the West hath even then much more light then any of the Stars The meanest upright Christian when he is near setting hath more joy and comfort then a specious Hypocrite any day of his life When some asked Oecolampadius lying on his death-bed whether the light did not offend him he answered pointing
militant Calvin was heard before his death often to sigh out How long Lord How long will it be ere thou avenge the blood of thy Servantsâ— The people of God are the purchase of Christ and of the same family and body with the dying Christian and therefore must needs be dear to him 4. For his Benefactours and those that have done good to him and his Paul had received some kindness from Onesimus he refreshed him in his bonds and in the 2 Tim. 1. 8. which was the last of his Epistles and thought to be written but a little before his death for he tells us in it I am ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand how pathetically doth he pray for him The Lord grant that he may finde mercy at that day 5. For our enemies This is to follow Gods pattern who doth good for evil and to obey his Precept who commandeth us to pray for them that despitefully use us Stephen when departing out of the World intreats mercy for them who were cruel to him Lord lay not this sin to their charge Act. 7. 60. Our blessed Saviour dying begs hard for their eternal lives who were the instruments and authors of his bloody death Father forgive them they know not what they do Luk. 23. 34. Thirdly In an holy exercise of Faith Courage Repentance Charity and Patience 1. Faith It s the Character of Gods Children that they live by Faith and they dye in the Faith Hab. 2. 6. Heb. 11. 31. The waters say some of the Pool of Bethesda wherein the Priest washed the sacrifices before he offered them was of a reddish colour to note that men must be washed by faith in the blood of Christ before they are ready to be offered a Peace-offering to God by death The dying Christian must expect strong assaults against the bulwark of his faith but what-ever he let go he must keep his hold on Christ. I know no grace that the Devil is such a sworn enemy to as Faith and I know no season that he is more diligent in to overthrow their faith then when they are under some dangerous sickness therefore it s the observation of a good man that he seldom seeth a sick Saint followed close with temptations to recover of that sickness for Satan knowing he hath but a little time useth all his craft and strength to separate the soul from the Rock of his salvation Upon a dying bed reflect upon former experienes of Gods love to thy soul and recollect the former evidences of of thy title to Christ and thereby to Heaven I must tell thee though the certainty of thy salvation depend upon the truth of thy Faith the comfort of thy dissolution will depend on the strength of thy Faith Faith is the shield of the soul and therefore above all in thy encounter with thy great enemy Satan and thy last enemy death take the Shield of Faith Eph. 6. 14. Epaminondas after his victory at Loâ—ctrum wherein he was mortally wounded understanding that his Buckler was safe bid his Chirurgion boldly to pluck out the Dart that stuck in his side and died cheerfully The Saint the Souldier of Christ who is wounded even to death and keepeth his Shield of Faith safe may leave the world with courage The Apostle Paul who knew whom he had beleived 2 Tim. 1. 12. rings a challenge in the ears of death O death where is thy sting and sings a triumphant ditty at the approach of death The time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the Faith Henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4. 7 8. When Iacob had beleived the report of Iosephs life his heart was revived Is Joseph yet alive saith he I will go down and see him before I dye When the true Israelite can firmely credit the testimony which God hath given of Iesus the Son of Ioseph how he being an enemy was reconciled to God by the death of his Son and shall much more being reconciled be saved by his life and by faith can cling on him his heart though dying is then enlivened O with what comfort can he take his journey into the other world When Philip viewed his young Son Alexander Now saith he I am content to dye Old Simeon springs young again at a sight of Christ and having embraced his Saviour in the armes of faith as well as in the armes of his body he begs a dismission out of this valley of tears being assured thereby of an admission into fulness of joy Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Having with an eye of faith beheld Christ he counts his life but a bondage and desires to depart or be loosed from fetters as the word signifieth and is taken Mat. 27. 17. We read of the Lords worthies that by faith they stopped the mouths of Lions Death is a fierce and cruel Lion but faith will pull out its teeth that it cannot hurt us or stop its mouth that it shall not devour us This grace like the Angel sent from Heaven when Daniel was cast into the Lions Den will save the Christian from being torn in peices O Friend The Robes of Christs righteousness is the onely Coat of Male which can defend thy soul against the shot of death If thou canst with Moses go up to Pisgah and take a view by faith of the Land of promise thou wilt comfortably with him lay down thine earthly Tabernacle Iob desired death as eagerly as the Labourer in an hot summers day desires the shadow Paul longed for it as vehemently as the Apprentice for the expiration of his Indentures and all because they had first beheld Christ by faith It s no wonder that many of Gods Children have called earnestly to be laid to bed knowing that it would prove their everlasting happy rest and when their bodies are carried by mortal men to their Mother Earth their souls should be conveyed by glorious Angels to their Father in Heaven 2. Courage A Christian should be a Voluntier in death Many of the Martyrs were as willing to dye as to dine went to the sire as chearfully as to a Feast and courted its pale and gastly countenance as if it had bee a beautiful Bride When King Lysimachus threatned Cyrenaeus Theodorus with Hanging Istis quaeso inquit ista horribilia minitare purpuratis tuis Thedori quidem nihil interest humine an sublime putrescat Threaten these terrible things to thy brave Courtiers Theodorus cares not whether he rot in the Air or on the Earth Cyprian said Amen to his own Sentence of Martyrdom Hierom reports of Nepotianus that he gave up his life so chearfully that one would have thought he rather walked forth then died When Ignatius was led from Syria to Rome to be torn in peices of wild
Beasts he often wished by the way that he were in the midst of those Beasts that were to devour him and that their appetites might be whetted to dispatch him fearing lest it should happen to him as to some others that the Lyons out of a kind of reverence would not dare to approach them being ready he said rather to provoke them to fight then that they should suffer him to escape Bradford being told by his Keepers Wife that his Chain was a buying and he was to die the next day pulled off his Hat and thanked God for it When some wondered that Adam Damplip could eat his food so well when his end was so near he told them Ah Masters Do you think that I have been Gods Prisoner so long in the Marshalsey and have not yet learned to die Yes yes and I doubt not but God will strengthen me therein Ann Askew subscribed her Confession in Newgate thus Written by me Ann Askew that neither wisheth for death nor feareth his might and as merry as one that is bound towards Heaven Indeed it s said of a wicked man that his soul is required of him and that God takes away his soul Luk. 12. Job 27. 10. but of a godly man that he giveth up the Ghost and he cometh to his grave Gen. 25. 8. Job 4. ult Nature will teach the Heathen that death is the end of all outward miseries to all men hence some of them drank of its cup with as much constancy and courage as if it had been the most pleasant Julip but grace will teach the Christian that death is not onely a remedy against all his bodily and spiritual maladies as Sir Walter Rawleigh said of the sharp Ax that should behead him this will cure all my infirmities but also an inlet into fulness of joy and felicity Reverend Deering said on his death-bed I feel such joy in my spirit that if I should have the sentence of life on the one side and the sentence of death on the other side I had rather a thousand times chuse the sentence of death since God hath appointed a separation then the sentence of life Tiâ—us Vespation the mirror of mankind being a stranger to Christ was very unwilling â—o leave the world being carried in an Horse-litter and knowing that he must dye lookt up to Heaven and complained pittifully that his life should be taken from him who had not desired to dye having never committed any sin as he said but onely one Socrates and some of the wiser Heathenâ— comforted themselves against the fear of death with this weak Cordial that it is common to men the way of all the earth Hence it was when the Athenians condemned Socrates to dye he received the Sentence with an undaunted spirit and told them they did nothing but what nature had before ordained for him But the Christian hath a greater ground for a holy resolution and a stronger Cordial against the fear of death even his hopes of eternal life and surely if he that exceeds others in his Cordials be excelled by them in Courage he disgraceth his Physitian Aristippus told the Saylers who wondred that he was not as well as they afraid in the storm Ye fear the torments due to a wicked life and I expect the reward of a good one It s no marvail that they who lived wickedly should dye unwillingly being frighted with the guilt of their past sins and with the fears of their future torments therefore the holy Ghost saith of such a one The wicked is driven away in his wickedness as a Beast that is driven out of his den to the slaughter or as a Debtor driven by the Officers out of his house wherein he lay warm and was surrounded with all sorts of comfort to a nasty loathsom prison But that the righteous who hath hope in his death should even dye almost with fear of it before-hand is matter of wonder Lots soul is exceedingly vexed with Sodom yet he is loth to leave it This world is a wilderness a purgatory a step-mother a persecutor to all the Saints and yet some of them when called to leave it sing loth to depart and would linger behind partly from nature which dreads a dissolution and partly from the weakness of grace To fear death much argueth sometimes wickedness always weakness 3. Repentance It s said of St. Augustine that he dyed with tears in his eyes in the practice of repentance and Posidonius saith of him that he heard him often say in his health that it was the fittest disposition for dying Christians and Ministers Laudatos saith he Chistianos sacerdotes absque digna competenti paenitentia exire de corpore non debere We dye groaning iâ— regard of our bodies why should not our souls sigh that ever they sinned against so good a God! Beasts bite their enemies with more venome and indignation when they are ready to dye Maxime mortiferi solent esse morsus morientium animaliâ—m The Christian should give sin his most deadly bite his greatest abhorrency and grief and shame when he is dying and shall never see sin or sorrow or shame more As its noble and excellent to dye forgiving sinners so also taking revenge upon sin Moses a little before his death is commanded to avenge the Children of Israel of the Midianites and then he is gathered to his people Numb 31. 1 2. Samuel takes vengeance on Agag when he was old and knew not the day of his death David could not dye with comfort till he had charged Solomon to execute that justice on Ioab which he had omitted The last time the Judge seeth the Felon he passeth sentence of death upon him O how should the soul of a dying Saint be inflamed with anger against sin when he considers the rich love that it abuseth the glorious name that it dishonoureth the blessed Saviour that it pierceth and that vast happiness which he is going to possess of which without infinite grace and mercy it had deprived him Some persons when they have been to take their last revenge on their enemies have done it to purpose The beleiver on his dying bed takes his last revenge on sin he shall never have another opportunity to shew his love to his God and Saviour in his spite at and hatred of sin therefore then he should do it to purpose as dying Sampson put forth all his strength and beg divine help that he may utterly destroy it and be avenged on it for all the defilement and bondage it hath brought on his soul and dishonour to his Saviour Dying Iacob cursed the sins of his own Sons Cursed be their wrath for it was fierce and their anger for it was cruel O my Soul enter not thou into their secrets The dying Child of God should curse his passions his pride his unbeleif his selfishness even all his lusts for disobeying such righteous Laws and displeasing such a gracious Lord. When David Chrytaeus
ready by him The loving Husband let him come when he will is ever welcom to a faithful Spouse The actual unpreparedness of some holy persons hath caused their Petitions for a longer stay when God seemed to call them hence Psa. 39. 13. As a Nobleman who is a Loyal Subject and affectionately desires his Princes presence and company at his house may wish that it may be deferred when his house is out of repairs till it is in a better order The habitual unpreparedness of sinners I mean their predominant impenitency and unbeleif hath made death cutting to them indeed The Pismire fears not the Winter having laid in her provision against that season but the Graâ—hopper being unprepared is starved therein Let thy whole life be but a preparation for death He that would dye but once I mean escape the second death must dye daily live in a constant expectation of it and preparation for it Pliny calleth a sudden death the greatest fortune of a mans life Iulius Caesar the day before his death in discourse with Marius Lepidus upon that point what was the best end of a mans life preferred that which was sudden and unlookt for which was his fate the next day Augustus his Successor was of the same judgement and desired Mortem celerem insperatem But the Christian findeth by experience that death to be the best which was most expected and prepared for Meditatio mortis vita perfectissima The Meditation of death is the holiest life â—aith the Father Tota vita meditatio mortis discendum est mori The whole life is but a learning to dye saith the Philosopher Wise Princes lay up ten years for one days Battel A wise Christian will lay up every day somewhat for his last day knowing that if he win that combat he is made for ever Invasions or Insurrections like a sudden breach of the Sea carry all before them when pitcht Battels give equal advantage and cause less terror on each side Evils premeditated are often prevented always mitigated the mind gathering reason and strength together wherewith to encounter them But unthought of troubles like fire in the night are most frightful startling the secure sinner from his quiet repose In order to this preparation I shall mention two or three particulars but briefly having spoken to them else-where 1. Keep a clear conscience in thy health Remember that sin is the sting of death therefore be afraid of sin if thou wouldst not be afraid of death T was Nero's answer to Seneca when he advised him to desist his wicked courses that he might please the Gods Verâ—or ego deos cum talia facio Do you think I fear the gods who dare run upon such actions But he who did not dread the Gods found death dreadful to him for the Historian observeth that he cried pittifully like a Child when he was called forth to be killed T is the righteous onely that is bold as a Lion because the rigâ—teous onely hath a conscience sprinkled with the blood of the Lamb and a conscience void of offence towards God and Man When Hilarion was nigh death Depart my soul saith he depart what dost thou fear thou hast served Christ almost seventy years and art thou afraid of death Bernard observeth of Gerrard I beheld him exultantem in morte hominem insultantem morti exulting in death and insulting over death St. Ambrose undauntedly encountred his last enemy saying I have not so lived that I am afraid to live any longer neither do I fear to die because we have a good Lord. The Testimony of a good conscience was the great Apostles comfort in the midst of his trials and troubles 2 Cor. 1. 12. T is guilt which makes us shie of a severe and Holy Gods presence It is no marvail that Alexander the Conqueror was struck almost dead at the sight of Cyrus Tomb that Sigismond when dying should forbid his servants to mention the word Death that Lewis the eleventh should while in health enjoyn his Courtiers not to speak of Death and when sick prohibit the naming it upon pain of death I do not wonder that Saul upon the news of his approaching danger and death falls groveling on the ground and hath no strength left in him nor that Belteshazar upon the tidings of this Serjeants coming to arrest him fell into an Ague Quaking and Shivering so violently that all the wine which he drank so plentifully in his golden Bowles could not chear his heart nor fetch blood into his cheeks The Malefactour may well dread the thoughts much more the approach of an Assize knowing that he is bound over to it and must appear to be arraigned condemned and executed The entry of death may well be forcible upon them whom it ejects out of all their happiness and whole lives have been made up of unholiness T is vice that paints death with such a formidable countenance with a whip and flames in its hand Friend let thy conversation be pious if thou wouldst dye in peace Such as a mans life is usually such is his death An unholy life is ordinarily followed with an unhappy end A filthy Adulterer mentioned by Luther expired in the armes of an Harlot So also Tigillinus Cornelius Gallus Ladislaus King of Naples one of the Popes died in the embraces of strange flesh A great swearer when he came to dye saith Mr. Bolton swore apace and as if he had been already in Hell called upon the standers by to help him with oaths King Henry the second on his death-bed cursed his Sons the day wherein he was born and in that distemper departed the World saith the Historian which himself had so often distempered We read of one who lived well that died ill and of but one in the whole Book of God who lived ill that dyed well A sinner may presume upon peace at death and bespeak in the language of Iehoram to Iehu Is it peace Jehu Is it peace death or as the Elders to Samuel Comest thou peaceably but the Answer will be the same with that of Iehu to him What peace can there be so long as the whordoms of thy Mother Jezabel and her witch-crafts are so many What peace can there be so long as thy lâ—sts and atheism and ignorance and prophaness abound and thy abominations are so many It s no wonder that such persons like Owles are never heard but at night the close of their days and then they screech horribly What shall we call a mocking of God saith a learned person if they do not mock him who think it enough to ask him forgiveness at leasure with the last drawing of a malicious breath these find out a new God make one a leaden one like Lewis the eleventh of France And again Let us not flatter our immortal souls to neglect God all our lives and know that we neglect him trusting upon the peace we think to make at parting for this is no
other then a rebellious presumption and a contemptuous laughing to scorn and a deriding of God his Laws and Precepts Unquestionably such will be grosly mistaken at last in falling from their heights into Hell As the Daughter of Polycrates dreamed that her Father was lifted up that Iupiter washed him and the Sun annointed him but it proved to him but a sad prosperity for after a long life and large prosperity he was surprised by his enemies and hanged up till the dew of Heaven wet his cheeks and the Sun melted his grease Reader Let me bespeak thee as Iotham did the men of Sechem Hearken unto me that God may hearken unto you Hearken unto me in this day of thy health and life that God may hearken unto thee in the day of thy sickness and death Make thy peace with God now give a Bill of divorce to sin strike an hearty Covenant with Christ keep thy conscience clean every day allow not thy self in any known sin if thou wouldst leave this world in favour with God in the love of good men and to thy eternal gain Nihil est in morte quod metuamus si nihil timendum vita commisit saith the Antient Death hath nothing frightful but what a prophane life makes so They who flie from the holiness of God in life may well fear the justice of God at death A sinner indeed is every day carrying more Faggots to that pile in which he must burn for ever and always twisting those cords with which Devils will eternally scourge him and therefore the guilt of his wicked life and fear of his dreadful wages may well represent death to him in a frightful vizard But he who makes it his constant business to please his Maker to mortifie his earthly members to crucifie the flesh to serve the Wills of God in his generation and to dress his soul against the coming of the Bridegroom shall finde his latter end comfortable and the day of his death better then the day of his birth O Friend if thou wouldst dye comfortably live conscienciously An happy death is the conclusion of an holy life God hath joyned them together and none can part them asunder It s reported of the Dardani that they never Wash but three times when they are Born when they Marry and when they Dye The true Christian must be daily washing his soul by faith in the blood of his Saviour and bathing himself in the tears of repentance and hereby his soul will be fit to be commended into the Hands of God by well dying 2. Clear up thine evidences for Heaven Be not contented to leave thy salvation at uncertainty They who walk in the dark are full of frights and fears The comfort of thy death will depend much upon the clearness of thy deeds and evidences for eternal life The want of diligence about this hath caused many of the Children of God to go crying to Bed and wrangling to their eternal rest They dye and know not how they shall speed in the other world they fall into the hands of their enemy Death as the Lepers into the hands of the Syrians expecting nothing but cruelty and misery trembling every step of the way though they find good chear and all sorts of comforts 3. Dwell much in the thoughts of Deaths Cicero said of Fencing Fortissima adversus mortem dolorem disciplina It was the strongest fence against the fear of death So I may say of entertaining death frequently in our meditations it s a good guard against the terror of death Custom diminisheth the dread of things which to nature are so frightful Marius before he would bring out his Souldiers to fight with the Cimbres caused them to stand upon the trenches to acquaint themselves with the terrible aspect of those Savages and so brought them to contemn them which at first sight they so amazedly feared When we are on a sudden surprized by an unexpected adversary we want time to unite our strength to resist the assault but what we expect we provide for and so are the better able to encounter with it The old people that lived near the Riphaean Mountains were taught to discourse much of Death and to converse with it and to speak of it as of a thing that will certainly come and ought so to do hence their resolutions were strengthned to undergo it with patience and courage As Cordials lose their vertue so even Poisons their venome by frequent use Mithridates by constant use of it made it so far from being mortal that it was nourishing to him Though Death in its own nature be venemous the Christian by frequent meditation of it and application of the blood of Christ to his soul may make it profitable to him 4. Wean thy heart from the earth They who love the earth as their Heaven will be unwilling to leave it though for Heaven Canst thou bear the loss of some worldly comforts when God takes them from thee if not how wilt thou be able to bear the loss of all worldly comforts in a dying hour If running with Footmen weary thee how wilt thou be able to run with Horsemen If a little loss a little load be ready to break thy back what wilt thou do under the weight of a great one Paul was martyred in his affections before he was martyred in his body and dead to the world before he was slain by the world hence he came to dare even death it self and to bid it do its worst I protest by your rejoycing which I have in Christ Iesus I dye daily Should a Messenger have come to Paul and told him you must dye to morrow and leave all the good things of this life He might have said That is not now to do for I died yesterday and this day and every day and I have already taken my leave of this world and all its vanities Those that like Eeles lye in the mud of worldly pleasures are unfit to be sacrificed to God as being unclean creatures and unwilling to part with their present delights though for those that are more excellent The immoderate love of sublunary vanities makes men say as Peter at Christs transfiguration It is good to be here albeit like him they know not what they say 5. Set thy house in order After the heart is set in order the next work is to set the house in order according to Gods counsel Isa. 38. 1. Abraham was careful before his death to settle the affairs of his houshold as appeareth by his providing a fit spouse for Isaac and his giving gifts to the Children of his second Wife and sending them away Gen. 24. 1 2. and 25. 6. This ought to be done in the time of our health and strength partly because we are uncertain whether we shall have time and ability in sickness to do it or no. How many have died suddenly and why not thou and I as well as others Some who had a
of the rich Glutton can prevail to avoid it No time no place no company no houses no lands no relations no youth no strength no power no preferments can priviledge me against the arrest of death God hath decreed it Sin hath deserved it and I must expect it It is so searching that it will discover all the Children of men both to themselves and Angels Though ships are usually distinguished by their Flags yet that is no sure sign for Mariners when in sight and fear of their enemies will ordinarily hang out the colours of other Nations and say they belong to them but when they come to their Haven to unload their vessels it appears to what Country they belong Though men are usually distinguished by their outward behaviours yet many for their own ends put on Christs livery who are of Satans family but when they come to be searched and unladen at the end of their lives t will be known to whom they belong When I come to dye then the great controversie between Christ and Satan concerning my soul will be determined whose it shall be for ever O my soul that thou couldst but conceive what it will be to be sent by death into an unchangeable estate either of bliss or misery If thou diest in thy sins thou art killed with death Shouldst thou now live without conscience thou wilt dye without comfort and remain comfortless for ever Ponder a little with thy self the fearful death of a sinner that thou mayst flie his wicked acts as thou wouldst his woful end In the midst of his jollity and mirth when he is in an eager pursuit of carnal pleasures and posting in the way of worldly delights and running to all excess of riot he is on a sudden by deaths harbinger sickness commanded to stand and proceed no further This cuts him to the very heart His former prosperity like Oyl hath suppled his body and makes him more sensible of his present pain And his immoderate love to those fleshly delights doth abundantly greaten his grief and increase his loss Now the man is thrown whether he will or no upon his sick bed that must be his death bed In this his extremity his Companions and Friends and Wife and Children and Honour and Places and Preferments and Silver and Gold and Houses and Lands and costly attire and dainty fare are all dry things and unsavoury to him no creature can afford him the least comfort If he look into his Chamber his Wife is weeping and wringing her hands his Children are sighing his friends are lamenting and wailing but all this doth increase not mitigate his vexation and misery If he look into his Conscience he finds that taking courage and telling him to his face that though formerly he would not suffer it to speak yet now it must tell him the truth that death and hell and wrath are the wages of his ungodly works It will bring to his mind the time he hath mis-spent the talents that he hath mis-improved the day of grace that he hath despised the great salvation that he hath neglected his secret and private and publick sins the sins of his Childhood of his youth of his riper age those sins which he had forgotten and thought should never have been remembred are all set in order before his eyes His heart which was before harder then the neather Milstone is now pierced though not with an evangelical contrition yet with legal terrors and torments His sickness will allow no rest to his body and his sins will afford no ease to his soul. In the evening he cryeth Would God it were morning in the morning Would God it were evening because of the anguish of his spirit His bones are filled with a painful disease and his body with unquietness The Arrows of the Almighty are within him the poison thereof drinks up his spirit and the terrors of God do set themselves in array against him His review of his past actions his remembring of his slighting Christ for a brutish pleasure or a little fading treasure or a base lust and provoking God and continuance in sin against mercies judgements warnings the light of conscience the motions of the spirit are as so many envenomed Arrows sticking in his side and piercing him through with many sorrows but the thoughts of his necessity of dying and his fore-thoughts of the consequent of death how hell rides upon its back and eternal torments attend it how he must fry in unquenchable flames and take up his everlasting lodging amongst roaring Lyons frightful Dragons and the hellish crew sink him quite down To add some more Gall and Wormwood to his cup of bitterness the Devil now steps in and sheweth him his sins in their black hew in their bloody colour and countenance to make him hopeless and desperate The poor creature in this miserable plight and plunge knoweth not what to do whether to go for releif Dye he would not but must live he would but cannoâ— Now he wisheth that he had prayed and served God and minded his soul and salvation more and gratified his flesh and embraced the pleasures and honours of the World less Now he desireth that he might live a little longer and thinks O how would I redeem time and follow after holiness and walk with God what would I not do and suffer to lay up some comfort some cordial against such an hour But whilst he is thus in the midst of his vain wishes Death tells him by the violence of his distemper that the time of his departure is at hand His eyes now begin to sink his speech to faulter his breath to shorten and his heart to fail him and a cold sweat to seise on his whole body He strives and struggleth with all his might to continue here but Death like a Cruel Serjeant drags him to the bar of God whence he is immediately with frowns and fury dismist and haled to the dreadful and eternal Dungeon of Hell O the howlings the screeching the groans the grief which possesseth this poor soul when he is attached by Devils those merciless Officers and carried by them to the lake that burns with fire and brimstone for ever The Spirit being now gone the Body remains a cold lump of Clay forsaken of its dearest friends loathsom to its nearest relations sit for no company but the wormeaten congregation amongst which it must abide till the last day when it shall be joyned to the soul and partake with it in unconceiveable and endless torments Ah who can read such a souls estate with dry eyes or think of such a condition without sorrow O my soul what are thy thoughts of such a death Wouldst thou for the most prosperous Worldlings life dye such a death Doth not thine heart ake whilst thou art musing on it If thou wouldst not meet with the end of such men avoid their ways Lord I confess my self a great sinner and thou mightest justly leave me to walk
in the counsel of the ungodly and to go in the paths of the destroyer that my feet should tend to death and my steps take hold of hell yet for thy sons sake teach me thy way and lead me in thy righteousness that my soul may never be gathered with sinners nor my life with bloody men that I may die the death of the righteous and my latter end may be like his I wish that I may look upon a dying Bed as a Fit Pulpit in which I may preach my Makers and Redeemers praise The speeches of dying persons are often highly prized as savouring of most sincerity and least suspected of selfish ends They who scorned my counsel and rejected my advice in my health and strength as fearing it proceeded rather from interest then simplicity of heart will if they have the least grain of charity believe me in earnest and my words to be the language of my soul when I am dying and entering into my eternal estate The worst of men have some reverence and respect for dying Christians What thrusting and crowding even to the prejudice of their bodies hath there often been to hear the speeches and last words of dying men The vilest Malefactour who is cut off by the Sword of justice is permitted with patience to speak and attended to with diligence at the Gallows If enemies have some respect for dying Felons and will hearken to them with meekness what hopes may a dying Saint have of advantaging the souls of his friends O that I might greedily embrace such an opportunity of advantaging the interest and honour of my God the service and good of my neighbours and by my pious language and gracious carriage at my latter end make others in love with holiness holy men and the holy one of Israel Sinners catch hold of every season to propagate their ungodly seed and commend Satans rotten wares to the men of the world Why should not Saints be as vigilant as diligent for their God and Saviour Lord I know not in what manner by what distemper it will please thee to call me to thy self I beg if it may seem good in thy sight that nothing may befal me on my dying bed which may render me uncapable of commending thee and thy ways and worship to others My chearfulness in bearing thy will and activeness to extol thy work and reward may through thy blessing perswade Satans drudges to forsake his slavery and admit themselves thy servants O that I might allure others to prepare for such a day by lifting up my head with joy when that day of redemption draweth nigh The Apprentice makes merry when his time is expired and he enjoyeth his freedom The Bride hath a feast and musick when her Marriage-day is come This life is my time of service death sets me at liberty In this World I am contracted to my dearest Saviour my solemn marriage is in the other world into which I pass through death Why should I fear that Messenger which brings such good news and be troubled at that friend who will do me so great a courtesie O enable me to live every day according to thy Gospel that keeping my conscience clean and my evidences clear I may in the day of my death rejoyce and be exceeding glad Give me to savour the sweetness of thy love the pleasantness of thy paths to feel the powerful influences of thy spirit the vertue and efficacy of thy word so to rellish communion with thy self and thy dear Son all the days of my life that when I am going out of the world and comming to thee O Father I may from my own experience quicken and encourage others to forsake earthly vanities before earthly vanities forsake them and to take thee for their chiefest good and choicest happiness who will never leave them nor forsake them I Wish that the nearer I draw to my reward the more zealous and industrious I may be about my work and that when my body droppeth and faileth most my soul may be most vigorous and active in the exercise of grace I am infinitely indebted to the blessed God for his unspeakable grace to my precious soul my engagements to the dearest Redeemer for loving me and washing me in his own blood are far beyond my apprehension This is the last opportunity that I shall ever enjoy to testifie my thankefulness and to do my God my Saviour my soul any service O how diligent should I be to promote their interest and improve this season Nature in its last conflict with a disease puts forth it self to the utmost it draweth in those spirits which before were scattered in the outward parts to guard and arm the heart it rallieth all those forces which are left if possible to win the day O why should not grace in its last encounter muster up all its strength and put forth it self to the utmost Lust is strong to the last when nature is weak and spent and the sinner disabled from his unclean or intemperate acts even then he can hug them in his heart and roul them under his tongue as a sweet morsel and commit them over and over again in his thoughts and fancy and affections The dying Theif on the Cross when his hands and feet were nailed and by force kept in order could yet find his tongue at liberty before his death to rail at and revile the Lord of life Ah is it not a thousand pities that grace should be outvied by lust and that those that are paid with such lamentable wages as everlasting burnings should dye serving their cruel Master and enter into Hell belching out their blasphemies and spitting their poison in the face of Heaven and that the Children of God should do their father so little service when they are going to their blissful mansions and can do him no more love to my self as well as to my God may quicken me to labour with all my might when I draw near my last hour As I fall now I lie for ever My eternal estate dependeth more upon my death then my life It s possible though rare that a prophane life may be corrected by a penitent death but a wicked death can never be amended He that shoots off a piece if he be not steady just at its going off loseth his Charge and misseth his Mark He that dieth ill dieth ever he is killed with death He that goeth awry when he goeth out of the world shall never come back to recal or amend his steps If I am a conqueror now I am a conqueror for ever if I am foiled now I am foiled for ever Cowards will sight desperately when they are in extremity and must either kill or be killed The Historian saith of Cn. Piso a confederate of Catalines that though he had an heart like an Hare yet he could sight like a Lyon when he apprehended a necessity of fighting for his life O that my pains my diligence may be
Joseph shall send to convey me to the true Goshen I Wish that I may with patience submit on my dying bed to the divine pleasure It hath been far from some Moralists to murmure either at the extremity of their sickness or the necessity of dying By impatience I do not help but rather kill my self before-hand It s the general lot of mankind to sickeâ— and dye Am I angry that I am a man that I am mortal Because I know that I must be sick and dye I know that I must submit The knowledge of an approaching evil is no small good if improved Though it cannot teach me to prevent it by all my power or providence yet it may teach me to prepare for it and to bear it with courage and patience Discontent and quarrelling are great arguments of guilt and a defiled conscience The harmless sheep conscious of their innocency do quietly receive the Knife either on the Altar or in the Shambles and give death entrance with small reluctancy when the filthy loathsom Swine roar horribly at their first handling and with hideous cries are haled and held to the fatal block The Children of God and members of Christ who are perfect through their head do often give up the Ghost and desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ when the souls of wicked men are required of them and they are strangely passionate at the approach of death and with dreadful screeches salute its Harbinger sickness O that patience might have its perfect work in me when I am taking my leave of it and its work is near an end Lord my heart is too prone to be impatient under thy hand though thou art infinitely wise as well as gracious and knowest what is best for me In my sickness turn mine eyes upon my sins that my discontent may be at my self for that which is the original of all my sorrows and then I shall never repine or murmur against thee I Wish that I may daily think of death and wait beleiving and repenting and working out my salvation till my change shall come My whole time is given me that therein I might prepare and dress my soul for my blessed eternal estate Why should it not be imployed for that end The Child who hath all day been diligent about his duty may expect his Fathers good word at night But what Master will give a reward to him in the evening who hath all the day long served his enemy My life is the seed which will yeild a crop of horror or comfort in an hour of death If that be good my Harvest will be glorious and joyful if that be sinful my Harvest will be bitter and sorrowful Do men gather Grapes of Thorns or Figs of Thistles The Grapes of comfort are not to be expected from the Thistles of corruption nor the Figs of peace from the thorns of impiety I should blush to commit to the keeping of a cleanly and considerable person a foul and filthy vessel With what face can I commend to the holy and glorious God an impure and polluted soul O how dreadful will it be to meet with my dying bed before I have met with the Lord of life and to be going out of the world before I have seriously considered why I came into it My great work in this world is to get my depraved nature healed by the blood and spirit of Christ ifâ— I forget my business when I have time to do it and trifle away my days in doing evil or doing nothing I lose my soul am unfaithful to my Master and deepen my judgement by the number of my days â— That Traveller may well be agast and perplexed who hath a long journey to go upon pain of death in one day for which the whole day is little enough and seeth the sun near setting before he hath begun his journey How ill doth the evening of my time and the morning of my taske accord together How justly may God reserve the dregs of his wrath for me if I reserve the dregs of myâ— days for him What folly am I guilty of in deferring my preparation for death If he be a ridiculous person that having choice of lusty horses should let them all go empty and lay an extraordinary heavy load upon a poor tired jade that is hardly able to go much more foolish is he that prodigally wasteth his youth and health and strength in the service of the flesh and the world and leaves the great and weighty affairs of his soul and eternity to be transacted on a sick or dying bed O my soul what little cause hast thou to future or delay thy solemn provision for the other world First thy life is uncertain thou hast not another day at thy disposal There are some creatures they say in Pontus whose life lasteth but one day They are born in the morning come to their full growth at noon grow old in the evening and dye at night What is thy life but a vapour that soon passeth away The first minute thou didst begin to live thou didst begin to dye Death was born when thou wast born the last act of life is but the completing of death As on thy birâ—hâ—day thou didst begin to dye so on the day of thy death thou dost cease to live How many outward accidents and inward diseases art thou every moment liable to May I not say to thee as Michael to David Save thy self to night for tomorrow thou shalt be slain Others have died suddenly by imposthumes or the falling-sickness or violent means and if thou promisest thy self a fair warning before the fatal stroak thou dost but cozen and cheat thy self But secondly If thou wert sure to see the evening star of sickness before the night of death overtake thee thou art not sure thy sickness shall not be such as may not incapacitate thee for the working out thy salvation Extremity of pain anguish of body lack of sleep the violence of a fever may indispose thee and distract thee that thou canst not so much as think of God Or thy distemper may be such that the Physitian may charge thee not to trouble thy self with melancholy or sad thoughts lest thou wrongest thy body and yet the Minister commandeth thee to pull up those sluces of sorrow if thou wouldst not lose thy soul for ever Or cold diseases as the Lethargy or Palsie may surprise thee and incline thee to continual slumbers till at last thou sleepest the sleep of death O how sottish art thou and how grosly doth the destroyer of souls delude thee to defer that work of absolute necessity of conversion to God upon which thine endless weal or wo dependeth to a dying Bed when thou art not sure to dye in thy bed but mayst as well dye in thy Shop or Fields or in the Streets when thou art uncertain what disease if thou shouldst meet with a dying bed should send thee to thy eternal
home when thou art neither Master of thy time nor reason nor of thy natural abilities much less of supernatural grace which is indispensably requisite to this great work O that since I must dye once for sin I might dye daily to sin and as the Philistines that they might the better deal with Sampson cut off his Hair wherein his great strength lay so that I may the better deal with death I may by faith and repentance daily cut off and destroy sin wherein the strength of death lieth May I not say to thee O my soul as Joshua to Israel Prepare ye victuals for within three days ye shall pass over this Iordan to go to possess the Land which the Lord your God giveth you Prepare the spiritual food the flesh of Christ which is meat indeed and the blood of Christ which is drink indeed an heart weaned from the world longing to be with God for within a few days thou shalt go in to possess the land of promise Lord I know nothing more certain then death Sin hath deserved it my brittle body inforceth it thou hast decreed it and none can prevent it I know nothing more uncertain then the time when or the manner how Thou hast many ways and means to bring me to my grave not onely ordinary distempers of my body but thousands of casual dangers I cannot promise my self freedom from it in any place or condition Death may seise me abroad at home in company in solitude at bed at board Why should I not always provide for that extremity that enemy which I cannot avoid Why should I not ever be ready for that which may come at any time and will come at some time or other Surely I do not hasten my death by preparing for it but sweeten it exceedingly I â—hall not dye a moment the sooner but infinitely the better Should death overtake me in my sins alas where am I what will become of me for ever I may well salute it as Ahab Elijah with Hast thou found me O mine enemy for t will come to me as the Prophet to that King with doleful dreadful tidings T will bring me news of a dismal dungeon of darkness to be my habitation of Lyons and Scorpions and Dragons to be my companions of a never dying worm an unquenchable fire pure wrath without mixture full torments without measure to be my portion for ever and ever O teach me so to live above this vain empty life so to be crucified to this world so to make my peace with thy Majesty through the great peace-maker and Prince of Peace my Lord Iesus so to set my heart and house my spiritual and temporal concernments in order that I may be delivered from the paw of the Lyon from the teeth of this monster from the sting of this Serpent and though my body be destroyed yet my soul may escape as a bird out of the snare of the Fowler and mount up to thy self to enjoy that happy life which shall know no death I Wish that all the days of my appointed time I may exercise my self herein to keep a conscience void of offence towards God and towards all men There are but two which can afford me real comfort in a dying hour which always take the same side and joyn together God and my conscience Humane friends often stand afar off when they should be most near and I have most need Some of them are loth to come to a sick mans chamber Mournful objects must not disturb their jollity and mirth They are sworn enemies to sorrowful occasions and baniâ—h such foes their quarters or themselves from such coasts Others if they come to visit me love not to see my gastly countenance like not to hear my deep and deadly groans But be they never so full of pity they can onely sympathize with me they cannot relieve refresh me The most they can do is to accompany me to my grave and there they leave me But O the comfort which a loving God and a conscience sprinkled with the blood of Christ and purged from dead works will afford me in a dying hour The smiles of a God and chearings of a good conscience will be musick indeed to welcom me to the shoar after all my tumblings and tossings in this tempestuous Ocean They will make my bed in my sickness help me to lye easie hearten me in my sighs and groans be my feast at my funeral bid me Be of good chear for my sins are forgiven me tell me that my Redeemer liveth and because he liveth I shall live also lodge my body in a grave as in a Bed of Spices and convey my soul into my Saviours Bosome and Embraces when my Houses Lands Honours Friends Wife Children leave me they will cleave to me nay when my breath life heart flesh forsake me they will not fail me yea when faith hope patience repentance shall bid me farewel weeping as Orpah did Ruth these like Naomi will stick to me go with me and seek rest for me O that my heart may be so upright in the service of my God that when I â—hall receive the sentence of death I may be able to say with good Hezekiah Remember now I beseech thee O Lord how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight O my soul what a friend shouldst thou be to thy God thy conscience how faithful to their warnings now in life if thou wouldst have them thy friends at death Hereby thou mayst be able to triumph in that hour of temptation to defie death it self and bid it do its worst Though it be the common gate through which the sinner goeth into prison where he meets with Chains and Fetters and cold and all sorts of miseries yet thou shalt go through it into the Kings Pallace where thou shalt have rivers of pleasures and 〈◊〉 entertainment If Jacob went down so joyfully 〈◊〉 Egypt when God had said to him fear not to go down for I will go down with thee and I will bring thee up again What needest thou fear to go down into the Grave when thy God hath undertaken to go down with thee thither and to bring thee up again Thy body may be turned into dust but thy God is in Covenant with thy dust and thy head the blessed Redeemer will not suffer one muscle or nerve or artery or vein of any of his members to be lost With what chearfulness mayst thou take thy leave of thy body Farewel sweet body thou hast been in some measure faithful to thy soul in the service of thy Lord Farewel I must bid thee goodâ—night till the morning of the resurrection Be thou content to go to bed and sleep in the dust and rest in hope for though after the skin wormes destroy this body yet in my flesh â—hall I see God Whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold him and
soul 1 Pet. 1. 17. Who would make his Belly his Gut his God who confidereth that every meal may be his last or that thinketh his dainty diet his fine fare doth but provide a greater feast for wormes Who would give way to sinful wantons who beleiveth that whilst he is unloading his lust God may put a period to his life He that is high in conceit of himself little dreameth how low he must shortly be laid Who would be proud of that body which shall ere long see corruption become such a noysom loathsom carcass that the nearest and dearest relations will not endure the sight or sent of it He who loveth the world inordinately forgetteth that he may leave it suddenly and must leave it certainly Would Haman have bragged so much of Hesters banquet if he had known that his own corps should be served in for the last course Would the Israelites have tempted God for meat if they had thought that death should have been their sauce Would Achan have coveted the golden wedge if he had mused of his so sudden departure into the other world Without question he would have forborn the Babylonish garment if he had seen death at his back so ready to strip him naked Had the rich fool thought that his bed should that night have proved his grave he would never in the day have prided himself in his goods Who would not at Gods call vilifie that flesh which will be ere long a lump of filth and be choice of that soul which lives for a more high and heavenly flight It is reported of the Brachmans that they use no cloaths but Bear-skins no houses but Caves no food but such as nature dresseth When Alexander came to them in his travails he asked them the reason of this severe kind of living They answered him We know we shall dye whether to day or to morrow we know not and therefore why should we take care either for power to govern others or for riches to live in pleasures or for honour to be esteemed of None are so loose to the world that great hinderance of holiness as they who ponder they must leave it Travellers who look on themselves near their journeys end care not to burden themselves with much baggage Their moderation will be known to all men who believe The Lord is at hand Those who are most mindful of their deaths are most faithful in their lives Iob was eminent in grace because Iob was daily conversing with his grave All the days of his appointed time he waited till his change came Job 14. 14. That servant will follow his work most and best who expecteth his Masters coming every moment It is said of the Kite that by the turning of his tail he directs and winds about his whole body The same is reported of the Glede or Puttock Fish also say Naturalists turn and wind about by the fins in their Tails Reader could I but prevail with thee to mind the end of thy life it would help thee very much to order thy conversation aright O said God that my people were wise then would they consider their latter end Deut. 32. 29. The Thebans made a Law that no man should build an house for himself to dwell in before he had made his grave Several of the Philosophers had their graves made before their doors that when ever they went abroad they might remember their deaths If thou wouldst but in thy out-goings and in-comings behold the place of thy burial I doubt not but thou wilt be watchful over all thy ways When thou art in the midst of thy delights as Ioseph of Aritmathea have thy tomb in thy garden and it may prevent thy surfeiting by those dainties When thou sittest at Table let the first dish set before thee be according to Prester Iohns custom a deaths-head and then with what fear wilt thou feed how thankfully wilt thou receive the creatures even as through the beloved Son how soberly wilt thou use them even as in Gods sight If God raise thee to the height of prosperity and some friend do but as Moses and Elias to Christ when his Face did shine as the Sun and his Raiment was as white as Snow Luk. 9. 30 31. talk to thee of thy decease which thou must shortly accomplish it will abate thy love to the worlds withering vanities and quicken thine endeavours after the eternal weight of glory If God cast thee into great adversity and thou dost but consider thy time here is but short and therefore thy troubles cannot be long this will make thee contented in the saddest condition When thou beholdest thy relations and fore-thinkest that thine eternal separation from them is at hand and that within a few days thou shalt never have another opportunity to help them heaven-ward how will it stir thee up to do them all the good thou canst now both by thy Precepts Pattern and Prayers If when thou attendest on publique Ordinances thou wilt but cast thine eye on the Graves in the Church-yard as thou passest along and meditate thus Within a little time I must be laid in the dust when I shall hear no more pray no more enjoy a Sabbath no more when I shall never never more have a tender of a Saviour never more have a season to beg mercy in for my poor soul. After such awakening thoughts with what attention wouldst thou hear with what affections wouldst thou pray with what intention and devotion with what seriousness and uprightness wouldst thou perform every duty Some say that nothing in this world is so strong as death because it subdueth the mighty it conquereth the greatest conquerours it overcometh all Sure I am that death hath great force and power over mens souls as well as over their bodies The thought of it hath raised some to a spiritual life The consideration of death hath also caused others to live much in a little space when they have sâ—en the â—un of their lives near setting and the night of their deaths approaching they have in the day followed their work with the greater diligence None will work so hard as they who think themselves near their everlasting homes There were two Emperors Adrian and Charles the fifth that in their life time caused their Coffins to be carried before them and their exequies to be solemnly celebrated to this end possibly that considering they were but men dying men they might thence be righteous in their government and virtuous in their actions It is reported of Turannius that after he was ninety years old he got leave of Caesar to retire himself from Court and the old man would needs be laid in his bed as one that had breathed out his last and all his Family must bewail his death Friend do thou in earnest what he did in jest Suppose thou wert this day to bid adiew to thy Friends Relations Honours and Possessions and to travail into the unknown other world to
reversed but stand for ever In this world God judgeth men sometimes mediately sometimes immediately which is the first judgement from which men may appeal by repentance to his mercy-seat but this the last judgement once for all once for ever in which men receive their final their eternal doom Ioh. 11. 24. Here Iacob appeals from Laban to an higher tribunal Gen. 31. 53. And David from Saul to the King of Kings The Lord judge between me and tâ—ee 1 Sam. 24. 12. Psa. 17. 2. And Paul appeals from Festus to Caesar I stand at Caesars judgement seat Act. 25. 10. But then there can be no appeal to an higher Court no writ of error can be brought no arrest of judgement no second hearing obtained The sinner condemned to eternal death then is gone for ever no pardon no not so much as a Reprieve can be procured for one hour The Saint absolved and declared an heir of eternal life is blessed for ever he shall be beyond all fear all doubts in himself above all shot all opposition from others In this life Niniveh was threatned Niniveh repented and Niniveh was â—pared the sentence pronounced was not executed at least it was respited but then every sinner will repent weep and wail but repentance will be hid from the eyes of the Judge all their tears will be in vain when they are cast then they are gone for ever To provoke thee to holiness 4. Consider The felicity of the godly at that day O with what joy will they lift up their heads when that day of their redemption is come This life is the day of their oppression and persecution but that day will be the day of their redemption At this day they are troubled and vexed with a tempting Devil and deceitful hearts and false proud unbeleiving flesh but that will be the day of their redemption from them all No wonder they love the appearing of Christ and look and long for his appearing when it will be the day of their redemption and time of their refreshing â—rom the presence of the Lord. When thousands and millions shall howl and lament When the Oratour will be silenced and have his mouth stopped When the Souldier that durst venture into the mouth of the Cannon and dare death it self shall play the Coward and seek for any hole to hide himself in when the Captains and Kings and Nobles shall call to the Rocks to fall on them and the Mountains to cover them from the presence of the Lord and the wrath of the Lamb even then the godly shall sing and rejoyce 1. Their godliness will then be mentioned to their eternal honour As God hath a bag for mens sins Thou sealest up mine iniquities in a bag so he hath a book for their services A book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and thought upon his name Then all their prayers and tears their watchings fastings faith love zeal patience almes imprisonment loss of goods name liberty life for Christ and the Gospel will be manifested to their honour and praise and glory at the coming of Christ 1 Pet. 1. 7. Mat. 25. 34 53. 2. Their names will be then vindicated With the resurrection of bodies there shall also be a resurrection of names Now indeed the throats of wicked men are open Sepulchres wherein the credit of the godly is buried Ioseph is an Adulterer Nehemiah a Traytour Ieremiah a Rebel against the King Paul a mover of sedition a pestilent fellow and one that turned Christian for spite because the High Priest would not give him his Daughter in Marriage but when the Sea and Death and Hell shall give up their dead then shall the throats the open Sepulchres of wicked men give up the names of the godly Then their righteousness shall be cleared as the Sun and their uprightness as the noon day 3. Their persons shall be then publiquely acquitted They shall be cleared by publique proclamation before God Angels and Men. Hence it 's said Their sins shall be blotted out when the time of refreshment shall come from the presence of the Lord. The sentence of Absolution passed in their conscience by the Spirit at this day is sweet and puts more joy into their hearts then if all the Crowns and Scepters of this world had befallen them but O how comfortable will it be to be declared just by the Judge himself before the whole world at that solemn and imperial day They may then ring that challenge Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect Rom. 8. 33. And none will accept it or take up the Gantlet Who Shall God whose Children and Chosen they are No It is God that justifieth Shall the Iudge No It is his undertaken-work to present them to the Father without spot or wrinckle or any such thing He hath washed them in his own blood and made them as white as innocent Adam or Angels He was judged for them and will not passe judgement against them He cannot condemne them but he must condemne himself for they are his members his body his brethren bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh Shall the Law No They have fully answered all its demands superabundantly satisfied it through their surety both in perfect obedience to all its precepts and undergoing its punishment What the Law saith either in regard of commanding compleat subjection or cursing for the omission of it it saith to them that are under the Law but they are not under the Law but under Grace Shall Conscience No Next to God and Christ its their best friend as Christ pleads for them to his father so Conscience pleads for them to themselves This is their rejoycing the testimony of good Consciences that in simplicity and godly sincerity they had their conversations in this world 2 Cor. 1. 12. Shall Satan No The accuser of the brethren will be then cast down and his place will be found no more in Heaven then then those blessed promises will be performed The seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head and the God of peace shall tread Satan under your feet 4. The Saints happiness will be then perfected and he shall never know more what sin or sorrow meaneth or what want of Gods favour or doubt of Christs love or defect of joy and comfort meaneth The Christian hath so much laid out upon him in this world Vocation Adoption Pardon Peace Joy in the Holy Ghost hopes of Glory that in the worst condition that Men and Devils can plunge him into he finds cause to say Yet God is good to Israel to them that are of a clean heart but then when he shall enjoy all that is laid up for him and know the full extent of Gods promises to him the all of Christs purchase for him and the utmost reward of his piety then surely he will cry out with the Psalmist O how great is that goodness which thou hast laid up for them
that fear thee which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men Clemens Alexandrinus makes mention of a place in Persia where there were three Hills when people came to the first they heard a clashing of armour when they came to the second they heard a confused noise when to the third nothing but songs of triumph At the day of the Saints Conversion he comes to the first hill then he heareth a clashing of armour listing himself under the Captain of his salvation and proclaiming open war against the world flesh and wicked one At the day of death he comes to the second hill a confused noise his friends are weeping and grieving his wife and children are mourning and bemoaning their loss though his soul be rejoycing to think of the rest to which it's going yet the flesh sweateth panteth is pierced and pained At the day of judgement he comes to the third hill where he heareth nothing but songs of triumph Victoria Victoria Hallelujahs Salvation Honour Glory Praise to the Lord and to the Lamb for ever At that day of judgement the whole world shall see and say Verily there is a reward for the righteous Then shall the wicked return and discern a difference between them that fear God and them that fear him not Then Grace will appear in all its embroydery and glory on that day of its coronation when the worst in Hell shall admire and adore it Now holiness hath a wonderful disadvantage partly by the persecutions afflictions bonds and imprisonments that attend it and chiefly from the darkness of mens understanding and the weakness of their eyes they are not able to view the thousandth part of its comeliness but then Holiness shall be freed from that black Guard of Hell that dogs her to destroy her and then the eyes of all the world shall be strengthned so much as to behold her amiableness then she shall be owned honoured acknowledged by God Angels and all the Children of Adam then she shall be attended not with Mulcts and Penalties and Bonds and Fetters but Crowns and Scepters and Palms and Kingdoms and then O then how lovely how beautiful will she be indeed 5. To affrighten thee from sin Consider the misery of sinners at that day It s called the day of perdition of ungodly men Sin will be sin indeed at that day When sin shall be stripped naked of the favour and countenance of great men of the preferments and advantages and riches and honours and offices with which it is cloathed here below and instead thereof be invested with fire and flames and brimstone and blackness of darkness and whips and serpents and unconceivable and eternal torments what an ugly loathsom strumpet will she be even in the eyes of them that now dote on her commit whordome with her and sacrifice their strength and time and estates and souls and God and Christ and Heaven and all to her Then the Drunkard will find his liquor more bitter then wormwood when he shall have a cup of pure wrath without the least mixture of mercy brought to him and he forced to take it down though there be eternity to the bottom Then the Persecutor of Gods people shall find that it had been better to have been rotting in a ditch or boyling in a furnace of lead then to have spent his time in wronging the poorest meanest member of Christ when God shall recompence tribulation to them that persecute his people and to them that are persecuted rest and peace Then every sinner will believe and feel what now though God himself tell him he will be an infidel in that it is an evil and bitter thing to depart away from the living God The wicked is reserved as the Beast for the slaughter-day to the day of destruction he shall be brought forth as the condemned Malefactour on execution-day at the day of slaughter Ah how dreadful will the sinners doom be then The tribunal of the Judge will be a tribunal of fire He shall come in flaming fire to render vengeance c. The Law by which he will try them shall be a Law of fire or a fire of Law Deut. 33.2 The Judge himself to them will be a consuming fire Heb. 12. 28. And the judgement which he will denounce against them will be Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels for ever Ah who can dwell in everlasting burnings who can abide devouring flames Who can imagine the shame that will cover their faces the horror that will fill their hearts the terrors and tortures and torments that must seize them for ever If Iudas was so ashamed when he saw Thamars signet and staff the remembrances of his sin how will they be confounded when all their revellings and roarings their chambering and wantonness their cursing and swearing and all their sins shall be opened before all the world If Herod was so afrighted when he supposed that John was risen from the dead that the Baptists ghost by walking in his conscience robbed him of all comfort what afrightment will possess them to see the Saints whom they have nick-named disgraced imprisoned and it may be murdered risen from the dead owned and honoured by the Judge and the chief Favourites in the Heavenly Court If Saul was so troubled when he did hear Christ call to him out of Heaven that he fell to the ground what trouble what tribulation will possess them whom he shall curse with a bitter curse and call to Devils to seize on and associate with and prey upon for ever and ever The Saint shall find mercy the sweetest mercy in that day of judgement but the Sinner shall have judgement the sorest the most cutting killing judgement without the least drop of mercy If the day when God gave the Law was so dreadful full of thundrings and lightnings and fearful noises that the people cryed out Let not God speak to us lest we die and Moses himself did exceedingly quake and fear and if the day were so dreadful when the Son of Gods infinite love bare the curse of the Law that the rocks were rent the earth trembled the Sun was darkned how dreadful will that day be when God shall make inquisition into and deal with the vessels of wrath for the breath of the Law Who can abide that day of his coming Who shall stand when he appeareth Well may it be called the great and terrible day of the Lord Iesus Well might the wise man when he had seemingly laid the reins on the young mans back and given him leave to run on in the way of his own heart and eyes pull him in with this Curb Remember that for all these things God will bring thee to judgement When Sapores King of Persia had raised a violent persecution againstâ— the Christians Vsthazanes an antient Nobleman and a Christian who in the Kings minority had the Governmenâ— of the People was so terrified that
more they desire He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver nor he that loveth gold with increase Many men have too much of the world but no worldly man hath enough His voice still is like the Horse-leech Give Give Though he hath enough to destroy him yet he hath not enough to content him When the Parthians had taken Crassus the covetous Roman who had robbed the Temple they poured molted Gold into his mouth saying Drink now thy sill thou greedy wretch of that which thou hast so long thirsted after The Covetous Caliph of Babylon when taken Prisoner was set by the Great Cham of Tartary in the midst of those treasures which he had wretchedly scraped together and bidden eat his fill and satisfie himself but amongst all his heaps of silver and gold he was miserably famished The soul will starve for all the food which the whole world afâ—ordeth it A worldling is like Tantalus who had Apples at his Lips and water at his Chin yet pined for want In the midst of his sufficiency he is in straights If thou tryest the whole creation and empannellest every creature upon the Iury to enquire where satisfaction is to be had they will write Ignoramus upon the Bill If thou askest the Sea it will answer as concerning wisdom The Sea saith It is not in me And the Depth saith â—It is not in me The Earth saith It is not in me Ask every worldly blessing particularly and it will say It is not in me Thou mayst call and cry to them in thy need for comfort as eagerly and earnestly as Rachel for children and will each answer as Iacob did here Am I in Gods stead that hath with-holden thy desire from thee Or as the Angel to the women Why seek ye the living among the dead he is risen he is not here Am I a poor finite being in Gods stead to satisfie the vast desires of thy capacious soul Why seekest thou living comforts amongst dead creatures it is gone it is not here The World entertains its best guests no better then Caligula did his favourites whom he invited to a feast and when they were come set golden dishes and golden cups empty before them and told them they were welcome and he would have them feed heartily All the trees in the garden of the creation are like those trees which Solinus mentioneth in Assyria the fruit whereof seemeth as yellow as gold but being toucht is as rotten as dirt 4. The things of this world are vexatious Their sting paineth far more then their honey pleaseth They are like the Egyptian reed which will not onely fail them that trust it but also pierce them with splinters and wound them deeply sooner or later They who will be rich pierce themselves through with many sorrows 1 Tim. 6. 9. Instead of satisfaction thou wilt find vexation The things of this world are not onely wind for their vanity but also thorns for the vexation they cause As when the blood is corrupted by a poisoned Arrow it flieth to the heart thinking to find some remedy there but as soon as it toucheth the heart it findeth death where it lookt for life Thus men that are pressed with miseries run to the world as their refuge hoping to finde comfort and refreshment there but alass that doth increase their afflictions and gives them rather matter of more mourning then any abatement of their sorrows They who dive into the bottom of this Sea of the world to the hazard of their lives instead of the pearl of contentment and happiness which they take such pains for bring up nothing but their hands full of the sand and gravel of vexation and anguish All the ways of worldly delights are strowed with nettles and briars so that its greatest darlings are but like Bears robbing a Bee hive that with much labour get a little honey but are soundly stung for their pains Therefore reason much more religion may sound a retreat and call us off from our eager pursuit of these lying vanities Car on il nyâ— arâ—en a gaigner que des coups volontiers il ny vapas No man makes haste to the market where there is nothing to be bought but blows 5. Vncertain There is no constancy in outward comforts As Brooks in Winter are carried with violence and run with a mighty stream flowing over with abundance of water on every side when there is no want nor need of waters but in the heat of Summer is dried up when water is scanty and hard to be had Such is the friendship of the world t will promise us many things when we have need of nothing but when the wind turns and afflictions overtake us it is like a tree withered for want of sap and as a ditch without any water to refresh us When the sun of our prosperity is hid and coverd with a cloud these shadows vanish and disappear As leaves fall off in Autumn so doth the friendship of creatures fail men when the sap of that maintenance which commanded their company is withdrawn from them Man in honour doth not abide Psa. 49. As the rising Sun coming into our Horizon like a Giant ready to run his race appearing to us with a full and glorious countenance within an hours space is obscured with mists or darkned with clouds and however if it meet with neither of these when it arriveth at its noon-day height it declines descendeth setteth and is buried under us So the Ambitious person sheweth himself to the world as chief favourite at Court with much pomp and pride by and by his honour is eclipsed by the hate of the People or frowns of his Prince or envy of his fellow Courtiers or if not yet he dyeth and carrieth nothing away and his glory doth not descend after him The like is evident of earthly treasures they are soon gone though not soon gotten As a gallant ship well riggd trimmed tackled manned with her top and top gallant and her well spread sails putteth out of harbour to the admiration of many spectators but within a few days is split upon some dangerous rock or swallowed up of some disasterous tempest or taken by some ravenous Pyrate so are this worlds goods on a sudden taken from their owners or their owners from them There is a hole in our strongest Bags and rust in our choicest mettal The Apostle calls riches uncertain riches and honour a fancy and all the things of this world a fashion 1 Tim. 6.17 Act. 24. 1 Cor. 7. 29. We are not certain to keep these birds in our yards whilst we live for Riches make themselves wings and flie away but we are certain if they do not leave us that we shall leave them We brought nothing into this world and it is certain we shall carry nothing out of the world Reader how unwise is he who neglecteth eternal substance for fading nothings The Romans are recorded as guilty of much folly that in their fight
with Mithridates they were so eager after their prey that thereby they missed taking the King who could not otherwise have escaped their hands Ah! how foolish art thou if through thy violent pursuit of a perishing world thou shouldst lose an eternal kingdom As Constantinople was lost through the covetousness of the Citizens so is the crown of life and glory the City that hath a foundation through mens eager endeavours after earthly things The beloved Disciple doth not unfitly represent all the beauties and glories and excellencies of this lower world under the name and notion of the Moon which is ever in changes and never looks upon us twice with the same face and when it is at the fullest is blemished with a dark spot and next door to declining Rev. 12. 1. An old man of Brasil discoursing with the Merchants of France and Portugal and perceiving the long and dangerous voyages which they took to get riches asked them If men did not dye with them as well as in other Countries They told him Yea. He asked them who should possess their riches after their deaths They said their Children if they had any if not their next kindred Now saith the old man I perceive ye are fools for what necessity is there for you to pass the troublesome Seas wherein so many perish and to run so many hazards Is not the earth that brought you up sufficient to bring up your children and kindred also We have children and kindred that are likewise dear to us but when we consider that the earth which nourisheth us is sufficient to nourish them we rest satisfied That busie Bee and great trouble-world Alexander had a tart yet wise reproof from Diogenes when being taken with the Philosophers witty answers he bade him ask what he would and he would give it him The Philosopher desired him to grant him the smallest portiou of immortality Alexander said that is not in my power to give Then saith the Philosopher Why doth Alexander take such pains and make such sâ—ir to conquer the world when he cannot assure himself of one moment to enjoy it Ah! why should thou neglect thy God and Christ and soul and eternal good and tyre and weary thy self night and day for these unsatisfying comforts which may leave thee to morrow and of which thou canst not secure the enjoyment of one moment If God complain of wicked men and threatens them with fierce wrath and fiery indignation for selling the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of shoes and would make them know that he valued his people at an higher price and would not suffer them to be sold at such a rate What will become of thee if thou shouldst sell thy soul thy salvation thy God thy Christ for silver for vain unsatisfying corruptible silver when their value is above millions of worlds O take heed that thou dost not cast away thy self for such transitory trifles Let not the Worlds venison cause thee to lose thy Fathers blessing T was a poor change of Glaucus to exchange gold for copper but O what a sad exchange wilt thou make to exchange heaven for earth the endless fruition of the blessed God for a moments enjoyment of creatures Thou wouldst condemn that Mariner of folly who seeing a Fish in the water should leap into the Sea to caâ—ch it which together with his life he loseth What a fool art thou for mortal comforts to lose an immortal crown The women of Corinth saith an ancient Father did set up Tapers at the birth of every child with proper names upon each of them and that Taper which lasted longest in burning had its proper name transferred to the Child God himself gives the highest and richest though conceited worldling his name Thou fool this night c. Nabal is his name and folly is with him The plain truth is the world is the ruine and destruction of men Its pleasures and honours make the sinner merry and jolly as the hearb Sardonia the eater who eating dyeth They that will be rich fall into temptations and snares and many hurtful lusts which drown men in perdition 1 Tim. 6. 9. The world serveth its darlings as that tyrannous Emperor did his servants let them through a sliding floor into a Chamber â—ull of Roses that being smothered in them they might meet the bitterness of death in sweetness O do not spend thy strength for that which is not bread but hearken to Christ and thou shalt eat that which is good and thy soul shall delight it self in fatness Isa. 55.3,4 Secondly Consider the brevity of thy life He who hath but a little time and a great task must work hard or his work will not be done The Birds know their time and improve it in some Countries the shorter the days are the faster they flye Heathen have been sensible of this Theophrastus cryed out on his dying bed Ars longa vita brevis Time was short and not sufficient for humane arts and sciences Seneca saith of himself Nullus mihi per otium exiit dies partem noctis studiis devovi I lose no day through idleness but even devote part of the night to my studies The very Devils follow their cursed trade with the greater diligence knowing that their time is short Rev. 12. 12. Now Reader Consider how few thy days are What is your life even a vapour a coming and a going a flood and an ebbe and then thou art in the Ocean of eternity I have read of one that being asked What life was was answered answerless for the party of whom the question was demanded onely turned his back and went away We come into the world and take a turn or two about in it and God saith Return ye Children of men A little child may number the days of the oldest man We project high things and lay foundations for an earthly eternity but the longest life is less then a drop to that Ocean Yet alas the most are blown off in the spring and few continue to fall off in Autumn Plutarch compareth Galba Otho and Vitellius in regard of their short reign to Kings in Tragedies which last no longer then the time in which they are represented on the Stage The River Hypanis in Scythia bringeth forth every day little bladders out of which come certain Flies which are bred in the morning fledg'd at noon and dye at night Man cometh up like a flower and is cut down he fleeth as a shadow and continueth not Job 14. 2. This short time posteth away with speed How soon do our days vanish Iob tells us that his little time made great haste to be gone My days are swifter then a Weavers shuttle Job 7. 6. The Weavers shuttle is an instrument of very swift motion and so swift that it is used for a Proverb for all things that are swift and speedy Radius Textoris dictum Proverbiale Radio velocius The Latines express it by a beam of the
defence Though others like the old world are drowned are destroyed in these waters yet thou shouldst ride safely in a well pitcht Ark and to free thee from any fear of miscarrying the Lord himself would shut thee in When others are in the open air on whom storms and tempests have their full force thou shouldst be housed in Gods presence-chamber and kept secret by his side As Gideons fleece thou shouldst be dry when all about thee are wet The whale of destruction may digest thousands of Mariners but one godly Ionah is too hard for him The torrent of fire that ran from AEtna and consumed the Country yet parted it self to safeguard them that releived their aged parents When the Grecians had taken Troy and given every man liberty to carry out his burden they were so taken with the devotion of AEneas in carrying out first his houshold gods and upon a second licence his old Father Anchises and his Son Ascanius instead of treasures which others carried out that they permitted him to carry what he would without any disturbance Ieremiah in the Babylonish captivity was tendered and regarded highly by the King of Babylon When Sodom was destroyed Lot was preserved It was storied of Troy that so long as the Image of Pallas stood safe in it that City should never be won It is true of godliness so long as the fear and love of thy God are within thee so long as thou makest religion thy business nothing shall hurt thee every thing shall help thee godliness will bring in all gain and at all times No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly A Child of God by adoption is in some sense like the Son of God by eternal generation heir of all things 1 Cor. 3.30 31. Whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or Life or Death or things present or things to come all is yours and ye are Christ's and Christ is God's Nay the Christians riches are not onely unsearchable Ephes. 3. 8. but also durable Prov. 8. 15. When a wicked man dieth all his riches dye with him His treasue is laid up on earth therefore when he leaves the earth he leaves his treasure Psa. 49. 17. When a godly man dyeth his riches follow him Rev. 14. 13. His treasure is in heaven and so when he dyeth he goeth to his gains O Reader what an argument is here to provoke thee to piety godliness is profitable in all conditions in all relations in both worlds In prosperity t will be a sun to direct thee in adversity a shield to protect thee in life t will be thy comfort and which is infinitely more in death that hour of need 't will be thy enlivening cordial The smell of Trefoil is stronger in a cloudy dark season then in fair weather The refreshing savour of the sweet spices of grace is strongest in the Saints greatest necessities When Death the King of terrors comes to enter the list and fight with thee for thy soul and eternal salvation for thy God and Christ and Heaven and happiness when all thy Riches and Honours and Friends and Relations would leave thee in the lurch to shift for thy self as Dogs leave their Master when he comes to the water Godliness would be thy shield to secure thee against its shot and make thee more then a conquerour over it Thou mightest call thy dying bed as Iacob the place through which he travailed Mahanaim a Camp for there Angels would meet thee to convey thee safe through the Air the enemies country of which Satan is Lord and Prince to thy Fathers houses where thou shouldst be infinitely blessed in the vision and fruition of thy God and Saviour for ever Godliness would be the Pilot to steer the vessel of thy soul aright through those boysterous waters to an happy port The Arabick Fable mentions one that carried an Hog a Goat and a Sheep to the City the Hog roared hideously when the other two were still and quiet and being asked the reason gave this account of her crying The Sheep and Goat have no such cause to complain for they are carried to the City for their Milk but I am carried thither to be killed being good for nothing else The Ungodly person may well cry out sadly when sickness comes for then guilt flyeth in his face and conscience tells him death will kill him he is good for nothing but to be killed with death Rev. 2.25 he never honoured God in this world and God will force honour out of him in the other world He may well screech out dreadfully at the approach of death whose body death sends to the grave and his souls to intolerable and unquenchable flames but the godly man may bid death welcom knowing it will be his exceeding gain and advantage Reader When others like the Israelites are afraid and start back at the sight of this Goliah thou mightest like little David encounter him in the name of the Lord and overcome him Thou mightest triumphantly sing in the ears of death O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The Lord of life would sweeten death to thee and subdue it for thee nay make it at peace with thee that thou mightest say to death as Iacob to Esau I have seen thy face as if it had been the face of God who hath made thee to meet me with smiles instead of frowns Death would help thee to that sight to that knowledge to that state and degree of holiness for which thou hast prayed and wept and fasted and watched and laboured and waited many a day as it s said of Iob there was none like him in the earth so I may say of this calling there is none like it upon the face of the earth the very enemies of it in their hours of extremity being judges Ah who would not work for God with the greatest diligence and walk with God in the exactest obedience and wait upon God with the greatest patience when he is assured that in the doing of his commands there is such great reward and those that sow to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting The Conclusion Reader I have now ended this Treatise but whether thou if a stranger to this calling wilt put an end to thy carnal fleshly ways and begin this high and heavenly work or no I know not If thou art ambitious thou hast here encouragement sufficient godliness will ennoble thee and render thy blood not only honourable but royal If thou art voluptuous here is a bait which may take thee godliness will bring thee to a river of pleasures to such dainties and delights as take the hearts of perfect and glorious Angels If thou art covetous here is a golden weight to turn the scales of thy desires and endeavours godliness is profitable unto all things it hath the promise of this life and of that which is to come when thy house and lands and honours and neighbours and
take thy leave of hours and days and months and years and time and to sail into the boundless Ocean of Eternity Suppose thou sawest death creep in at thy Chamber window come up to thy Bed-side draw the Curtain take thee by the hand and tell thee that he is come from the Infinite Almighty jealous most holy God to fetch thee immediately into his presence there to answer for all thy thoughts words and deeds and to receive either matchless and endless pain or unchangeable and unconceiveable pleasures according as thy practices have been What wouldst thou think at such a time of godliness Good Lord what a price wouldst thou set upon it what wouldst thou not do or give for it Then godliness will be godliness indeed as little and as lightly as thou settest by it now And why is it not worth as much now Dost thou not see death like a Mole digging thy grave under thee Dost thou not feel that worm within thee which will ere long consume thee Beleive it thy death may be nearer then thou dreamest the glass of thy life may be almost out though thou thinkest it s but new turned The Murdering-peice which kills thee parting thy soul and body may be discharged with white powder give thee no warning at all The next Arrow which is shot may hit thee The next time the Bell goes may be to tell others that thou art dead The next time the Earth is opened may be to receive thy body in Thou seest some fall on thy right hand some on thy left hand some of thy very age and of greater strength and health and canst thou esteem thy self shot-free Is not every carcass a cryer and every Tomb a teacher calling upon thee to number thy days and apply thine heart unto wisdom Silly man is like the foolish Chicken though the Kite comes and takes away many of their fellows yet the rest continue pecking the ground never heeding their owner nor minding their shelter Death comes and snatcheth away one man here a second there one before them another behind them and they are killed with death undone for ever Rev. 2. 23. yet they who survive take no warning but persist in their wicked and ungodly ways They are destroyed from morning to evening they perish for ever without any regarding it Doth not their excellency which is in them go away they dye even without wisdom Job 4.20 21. It is the saying of an Heathen That it is impossible for a man to live the present day well who doth not purpose to live it as his last I may say to thee Friend It is impossible for thee to live the present day ill if thou wilt but live it as thy last day If thou dost but consider Well this place may be the last place I shall come into shall I pollute it with sin or shall I not rather perfume it with sanctity This expression may be the last that ever I shall speak shall it â—e tainted with vice or shall it not rather be seasoned with grace This action may be the last that ever I shall do and shall it be a deed of darkness or shall it not rather be a work of the day of the light This Sermon may be the last that ever I shall hear and shall I now be heedless After this I shall never more have a call from Christ and â—hall I now be careless This Prayer may be the last Prayer that ever I shall poure out to God if God deny me now I am damned and undone for ever and shall not my head and heart and will and mind and all be working that it may be a prosperous a prevalent prayer This Sabbath may be the last Sabbath that ever I shall sanctifie I may from henceforth and for ever be deprived of all such opportunities of getting and increasing grace of serving and honouring my Saviour and of working out my own salvation If I sow not now good seed I must never expect an happy harvest If I buy not now the market will be quickly over Shall I lose any precious minute of this holy day Is it time now to trifle about the affairs of my soul and eternity Well I will through Christ take heed how I hear I will hear in hearing I will pray in praying I will hear and hearken cry and call with all my heart and strength and soul and mind that if it be possible the Lord may not leave me without a blessing When the Oratour thinketh he is at the close of his Oration then he useth his chiefest Art and Rhetorick to move his Auditors affections he would have his last part his best part O Reader if thou wilt but often wind up this weight of thine approaching death it would keep thy soul in a quick spiritual and regular motion at all times As ashes preserve fire and keep coals from going out so the thought that we shall ere long be turned into ashes will preserve the fire of grace alive and in action Sixthly If thou wouldst exercise thy self to godliness Mind a daily performance of sacred duties He that hath nothing of his own whereupon to live must be frequently fetching in provision from the Shops or Market where it is to be had The Christians life is maintained not by himself but by what he receiveth from God Not that we are sufficient of our selves our sufficiency of God therefore there is a necessity of daily converse with God by holy Ordinances and of waiting at his gate as the beggar who hath neither a bit of bread nor a penny to buy any at the rich mans door for supply Our spiritual strength is like Israels Manna rained down daily we are kept by a divine power and allowed but from hand to mouth that we might continually depend on and resort to the Lord Jesus for our allowance Paul speaks in some places of his great disbursements how much he laid out for God and his people that he laboured more then all the Apostles but you must think Whence had Paul such a spiritual stock that he was able to outvy all others in his expences he tells you that the Son of God kept house for him and that he was the Steward to spend of his treasure and thence his disbursements were so large I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life that I live in the flesh is by the faith of the Son of God Gal. 2. 20. As the Plant Mistel having no root of its own both grows and lives in the stock or body of the Oak So the Apostle having no root of his own did live and grow in Christ. As if he had said I live I keep a noble house am given to Hospitality above many in labours more abundant in watchings in fastings more frequent in perils and dangers and deaths often but the truth is I do all this at anothers cost and charge not at mine own I am beholden to Christ for