Lastly death like the Angell plucks us out of Sodom and conducts us to Zoar a city of refuge and safety It translates us out of a prison to a Palace from a vale of misery to a kingdome of glory from Leeks and Onions to Rivers of Milk and Honey From the Tents of Kedar and Tabernacles of the wicked to mount Sion the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable company of Angels to the generall Assembly and Church of the first born which are inrolled in heaven to God the Judge of all to the spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Testament Heb. 12.22 23. Death is like the common gate of a city thorow which the Malefactor passes to execution but the honest Citizen to his recreation We know that if the earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternall in the heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 Where God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes and there shall be no more death nor sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain Rev. 21.4 These things considered we may with Solomon praise the dead that are already dead more then the living that are yet alive Eccles 4.2 And say with S. Paul To me to live is Christ and to die is gain Phil. 1.21 CAP. IV. There shall bee a Resurrection IT troubles us not to see the Sun set because we know it will rise again the next morning God restored to Iob every thing double but his children they were not amissi but praemissi not lost but laid up and then shall be a day of restitution Though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reins be consumed in me Job 19.26 27. Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise awake and sing yee that dwell in the dust for thy dew is as the dew of herbs and the Earth shall cast out her dead Isa 26.19 So then death is but a Parenthesis and the soul and body though disjoyned by it will meet again together Nay the body shall not onely arise but it fares with the body as with old houses which being pull'd down new ones are erected in their rooms better and more stately then the former It is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption It is sown in dishonor it is raised in glory It is sown in weakness it is raised in power It is sown a naturall body it is raised a spirituall body 1 Cor. 15.42 43. Thus death like a rare Alchy mist dissolves the base metal of our bodies and converts it to a purer substance The body when it rots in the grave is as linnen worn to rags and cast upon the dunghill but at the resurrection it is like those Rags gathered up and made into paper which many times becomes gilt and capable of noble and divine impressions The fire burnt the bands of the three children but sindged not so much as a haire of their heads Dan. 3.27 Death looses us from the bands of our sins but shall not cozen us of a nail of the hand or an hair of the head for all our hairs are numbred CAP. V. The goodness of God SAint Ambrose being asked by his friends whether he was not afraid to die answered he was not because he had a good Lord. What time I am affraid I will trust in thee Psal 56.3 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evill for thou art with me Psal 23.4 Into thy hands I commit my spirit for thou hast redeemed it ô Lord God of truth Psal 31.5 He that hath created our souls after his own Image and redeemed them with his owne bloud will not refuse them when they are commended and given up unto him When Stephen was giving up the ghost he saw the heavens opened and the Sonne of man standing at the right hand of God Acts 7.56 Christ who sits at the right hand of God was then said to stand to shew how ready he is to receive the souls of his servants These considerations being applyed and wrought well upon our hearts will make us cry out with David Oh when shall I come and appear before him Psal 42.2 O that I had wings like a dove that I might flie hence and be at rest Psal 55.6 Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the Tents of Kedar Psal 120.5 With old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word Lu. 2.29 With Paul I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 With Saint Iohn Come Lord Jesus come quickly Rev. 22.20 SECTION IV. EVery man desires with Balaam that he may dye the death of the righteous and that his last end may be like his and I cannot blame them For to die well is a point of the greatest consequence in the world because eternity depends upon it And as the tree fals so it must ly whether it be to the North of Gods judgment or to the South of his mercy Eccles 11.3 Now this work of dying well cannot be done extempore I have therefore in the last place contracted the art of dying well into a few precepts CAP. I. Live well TO live well is to fear God and to keep his Commandements Eccles 12.13 To love God and our neighbour Mat. 22.37 To deny all ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously godly in this present world Tit. 2.12 To doe justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God Micah 6.8 To repent of our sins to beleeve in Christ to keep his Commandments Who so doth these things shall never fall Psal 15.5 A fair day may have a foul evening but a good life cannot have a bad death Such as the premisses are such will be the conclusion It is said of Moses that he died according to the word of the Lord or at the mouth of the Lord for the Hebrew will bear this reading and the Chaldee paraphrases it He died at a kisse of the Lords mouth God kisses the righteous in their deaths and as it were sucks in those souls which he breathed into them Deut. 34.5 Old Hilarion when he lay a dying bespake his soul in this manner Get thee out of me O my soul get thee out of me why fearest thou that hast served God almost this seventy years Jerom in vita Hilarionis Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace Psal 37.37 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints Ps 116.15 Blessed are they that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their works follow them Rev. 14.13 CAP. II. Particular directions IN the time of thy sickness with
Ezekiah call thy self to an account for all thy sins mourn for them in the bitternesse of thy soul confesse them to God and ask forgivenesse 2. Send for thy Minister To whom if need be make a speciall confession and take along with thee the benefit of his absolution Whos 's soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained John 20.23 If I forgave any thing to whom I forgave it I forgave it in the person of Christ 2 Cor. 2.10 Secondly let thy Minister pray over thee Is any sick among you let him call for the Elders of the Church and let them pray over him If he hath commited sins they shall be forgiven him Jam. 5.14 15. Thirdly let him give thee the Sacrament of the Lords Supper This is the best viaticum and provision for so long a journey I may say to thee as the Angel to Eliah Arise and eat for the journey is too great for thee And if with Eliah thou dost eat and drink thou maist travell in the strength of this meat to Horeb the mount of God 1 Kings 19.7 8. This is the bread that came down from Heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die Who so eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath eternall life and I will raise him up at the last day Joh. 6.51 54. V. Euseb hist l. 5. c. 45.3 Set thine house in order 2 Kings 20.1 This will not make thee die more quickly but more quietly 4. Remember the poor When we have beene kindly entertained at a friends house it is good manners to give the servants something when we goe away Blessed is he that considereth the poore the Lord will deliver him in the time of trouble The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing and will make all his bed in his sicknesse Psal 41.1 3. 5. If thou beest a father or mother of children call them before thee and blesse them So did Jacob when he departed Gen. 49.1 6. Make restitution if thou beest able to such as thou hast wronged and defrauded Without restitution there is no remission Enquire with Samuel whose oxe thou hast taken or whose asse thou hast taken whom thou hast defrauded whom thou hast oppressed or of whose hand thou hast received a bribe and restore it Send for them who have offended thee and forgive them and for those whom thou hast offended and ask forgivenesse Lastly resign and give over thy self to God Behold here I am let the Lord do to me as seemeth good to him 1 Sam. 15.26 Not my wil but thine be done And if thus thou beest prepared at the day of death oh well is thee and happy shalt thou be Psal 128.2 Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall finde thus doing thus dying Mat. 24.46 A short prayer for a happy departure O Most glorious Lord the GOD of the spirits of all flesh in whose hands are the times of all men and the keys of the Grave I most meekly beseech thee of thy goodnesse to pardon and forgive me all my sins and to make me ever mindfull of my mortality Lay often before mine eyes by thy remembring spirit that the days of my pilgrimage are but few and evil that I have here no abiding and continuing City that all flesh and the goodlinesse thereof is but a flower that fadeth a shadow that vanisheth away that so numbring my days I may apply my heart to wisedome and with the wise Virgins provide Oil in my Lamp and make my calling and election sure before I go hence be no more seen And when it shall please thee to cast me upon the bed of sickness and to compasse me about with the sorrows of the grave I beseech thee for thy names sake for thy mercies sake for thy Son Jesus Christ his sake not to be far from me in that needfull time of trouble when I shall finde heavinesse in my flesh and there be none to deliver me But draw near unto my soul and be about my bed to pardon my sins to pacifie my conscience to strengthen my faith to mitigate my pains to receive my soul when it shall be commended unto thee Receive it O God the Father for thou hast created it Receive it O God the Son for thou hast redeemed it Receive it O God the Holy Ghost for thou hast sanctified it Receive it ô holy blessed and glorious Trinity that being translated out of this vale of misery it may raign with thee one everliving and immortall God in the Kingdome of Glory world without end Amen SECTION I. Of the day of Judgement CHristian Reader let my Meditations now passe as thou thy self must from the day of death to the day of Judgment For it is appointed for all men once to die and after that to come to judgment Heb. 9.27 CAP. I. There shall bee a day of Judgment IT is an Article of our faith that CHRIST who nâ—w sits at the right hand of his Father shall come from thence to judg the quick and the dead Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied of it saying Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints To execute Judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against hâ—m Iude 14 15. God shall bring every work into judgement with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evill Eccles 12.14 I saw the dead small and great stand before God The Sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to his works Rev. 20.13 It is very observable that all other Articles of the Creed have been opposed by Heretiques either in whole or in part but no Heretique denied a day of judgment Vide Danaeum in his Cat. of heresies against the Creed In this world Solomon says no man can know love or hatred by all that is before them For all things come alike to all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the good and to the clean and to the unclean to him that sacrificeth to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath Eccles 9.1 2. Now shall not the Judge of all the world do right Gen. 18.25 There must be a day wherein the wicked shall be punished and the vertuous rewarded A day wherein God will put a difference betwixt an Israelite and an Aegyptian betwixt a Sheep and a Goat betwixt wheat and tares There shall be a day when I will make up my Jewels and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God
therefore from the bar of thy justice to the bowels of thy mercy beseeching thee in that day to deal with the soul of thy servant not as a severe Judge but as a mercifull Jesus It will be O Lord a day of wrath but gather me under the shadow of thy wings untill the indignation be past over It will be a day of darknesse of gloominesse but lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me and I shall be saved It will be a day of Judgment but in that day by thine agony and bloody passion and by whatsoever thou hast done or suffered for me good Lord deliver me And to this end I beseech thee give me grace to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world to keep a good conscience void of offence towards thee my God and towards all men to abound always in the works of charity and mercy and to judg and condemn my self here that I may not be condemned hereafter That so whensoever this day shall seise upon me I may not be bound up with the bundle of tares which shall be cast into unquenchable fire but gathered with the wheat into thy garners and set with the sheep upon thy right hand and called in the number of those blessed ones to inherit a Kingdom that Crown of righteousnesse which thou hast purchased and prepared for all those that love and expect that day of thy appearing Now unto thee ô Christ together with thy Father thy blessed Spirit be ascribed all power praise dignity and dominion now and for ever Amen A PRAYER FOR the Morning OEternall and most glorious Lord God and in Iesus Christ our merciful and loving Father we thine unworthy creatures sinful dust and ashes are here in all humility of souls bodies prostrate at the lowest footstool of thy glorious Majesty beseeching thee to bow down thine ears unto our prayers and to open thine eyes upon our supplication who from the ground bottom of our hearts do acknowledg and confess that we have been unprofitable servants prodigall children bad stewards of that time which thou hast afforded us for repentance good works of those talents which thou hast committed to our improvement If we put our hands into our bosomes we must needs draw them out all leprous For we are the brood of rebellious and disobedient Parents our hearts are cages of unclean birds of noisome lusts and the thoughts thereof have been evil and only evill and that continually And if ô Lord we look forth unto the actions of our lives there is no sin which we have not committed no commandment which we have not broken These eys which now look up unto heaven have beheld vanity these tongues which now call upon thee have blasphemed thee and these hands which we now lift up unto thee have been many times lift up against thee and thy Statutes So that we have made our selves unworthy of the least of thy mercies but worthy of the greatest of thy judgments But deal not with us after our sins neither reward us according to our iniquities Spare us good Lord spare thy people whom thou hast created after thine own Image and redeemed with thine own Blood And according to the multitude of thy tender compassions which have ever been of old to us blot out the multitude of our transgressions Pardon our sins and receive us again unto thy favour for his sake and sufferings who hath satisfied thy Justice to the utmost farthing And for the short residue and remainder of our days give us grace to consecrate it to thy service to redeem that time which we cannot recall and to make our calling and election sure before we go hence and be no more seen And because the corruptions of our nature are too many and too strong for us and the Divel like a roaring Lion goes about continually to devour us leave us not to our selves but assist us by thy grace perfect thy strength in our weaknesse and preserve both our bodies and souls spotlesse and unblameable that when we shall have finished our course and run the race of our naturall Pilgrimage we may receive that crown of righteousnesse which thou the righteous and just Judg hast laid up for all them that love and expect the day of thy appearing And together with us we intreat thee for a blessing upon our King Queen Prince and the rest of the Roiall Progeny upon our Councellors Ministers Magistrates upon our friends kinred and acquaintance upon the whole Church and every afflicted member of it And accept of our morning sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for all the mercies and favours comforts and deliverances which from time to time thou hast afforded and continued to us We thank thee for thy last mercy in preserving us from the dangers of this night past for refreshing our bodies with seasonable rest and bringing us safe to the beginning of this day Lord what is man that thou art so mindfull of him or the Son of man that thou shouldest thus visit remember him Give us grace O Lord to remember thee and to be mindfull of thy mercies that we may praise thee for all the truth and faithfulnesse which thou shewest to us in the land of the living that as thou hast brought us to the comforts of this day so thou mayest go along with us in the same to enable us for the duties of those callings wherein we are placed and to deliver us from those dangers to which we are exposed even for Jesus Christ his sake in whose most blessed name and words we conclude these our weak and imperfect prayers saying as he himself hath taught us in his holy Gospel O our Father c. A PRAYER FOR the Evening O Most glorious and ever living LORD God which inhabitest eternity and dwellest in that light which no mortall eye can attain unto the God in whom we live and move and have our being we thine unworthy servants do here in all lowlinesse and humility present our persons and prayers before thy divine Majesty confessing acknowledging that we were conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity and as if that had been but a smal matter we have heaped up our actuall transgressions as the sand upon the Sea shore and as the stars in the firmament for number We have broken thy Commandements we have prophaned thy Sabbaths we have dishonoured thy name we have abused thy creatures we have neglected the day of our visitation turned thy grace into wantonness whereby we have most justly provoked thy wrath and everlasting displeasure we have wounded our own consciences weakned our assurance of salvation grieved thy good Spirit which sealeth us up unto the day of our redemption And now Lord if thou shouldest deal with us after our deservings thou mightest pour upon us the deluge of thy wrath and fury to sweep us out of the land of the living into that place