to so improper so unfit a time it is rightly said that late repentance seldom happens to be true and serious and God by a just judgment oftentimes disregards those when they are dying who thought it grievous to remember God when they were well in health Of these the Divine Wisdom thus speaks Prov. 1.24 c. Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have set at nought all my counsel and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh when your fear cometh as desolation when distress and anguish comeâ—h upon you Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me For that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord they would none of my counsel they despised all my reproof The Prayer O Most infinite Wisdom thy thoughts are not like our thoughts since then it did not please thee to reveal unto us the hour of our death grant that I may be always prepared for an happy departure hence that at thy coming I may be found watching and ready let not the hour of death surprize me in my sins and let me never spend one day without true repentance Inliven my Soul to be perpetually aspiring after thee and loving thee that so all things that happen to me may work together for good and nothing may be able to separate me from the love of Christ Jesus thy Son our Lord Amen CHAP. IX That Death is not to be fear'd SInce then it is certain that all must die that life is short and the hour of death is uncertain and that therefore it becomes us to be every moment prepared for an happy departure hence unless we will run the hazard of losing our Souls for ever the devout Christian therefore may prepare himself to die well if in the second place he learns not to fear death This then is the second head of those general and daily preparations for a blessed death that we bear the thoughts of death with a couragious mind and that we never be captivated with the false pleasures of life and the fond desire after earthly things for the pleasures of life and the blandishments of this World are chiefly to be reckon'd amongst those things which make death most bitter and formidable to us We know no union more close than that of Soul and Body so that nothing can appear more terrible than death which separates Soul and Body those two intimate companions moreover in this life there are many things we much value and which engage our affections to them such as are magnificent Buildings sumptuous Apparel Vessels of Gold and Silver Riches fruitful Fields delightful Gardens pleasant Vineyards Parents Children Wife and Friends of all which since death bereaves us 't is no wonder if we account it bitter Hence 't is said in Ecclesiasticus Cap. 41.1 O death how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that liveth at rest in his possessions unto the man that hath nothing to vex him and that hath prosperity in all things But now a diligent consideration of the miseries and troubles of this life of which we shall speak by and by and of the joys of eternal life of which we have before treated will soon root out of our hearts all fondness and complacency for earthly things for these pleasures are false and counterfeit and under the sweet lies gall and bitterness This made Solomon the wisest of Kings who wanted nothing this Wotld could afford to make his life happy upon his own experience say that all things under the Sun are vain and empty Vanity of Vanities Eccl. 1.2 all is Vanity In this World we live like Strangers and Pilgrims why then do we not desire to return into our own Countrey what ever we leave behind us here shall there be recompenced with far more Excellent and Transcendent Rewards Thus our Saviour adviseth us Mat. 6.19 Lay not up for your selves treasures upon Earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal But lay up for your selves treasures in Heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal Altho' many things here are pleasant and grateful to us yet compar'd to Eternal Life they are nothing to be accounted off when we die we do not lose all those faithful Servants of Christ which were here so dear to us they will follow a little after When we die we are gather'd to our people and go unto our Fathers and we shall there have the acquaintance of more and far better Friends Angels and Archangels without number Dan. 7.10 for thousand thousands minister unto God and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before him what an unspeakable joy will it be to have a familiar conversation with the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs and all the faithful Servants of Christ And as the pleasures of this life are as nothing if they be weighed in an even ballance with the glories of immortality to which we pass by the gate of death so also death it self is not to be feared by us for though it is called the most terrible of all evils because it separates those two intimate Friends Soul and Body and delivers up the Body which was here so tenderly beloved and provided for to be eaten up by Worms though death consider'd in it self be the punishment of sin and befalls us by the Divine Malediction and though death be to be dreaded by one who is involved in a multiplicity of worldly business and is not provided for his departure out of this life and so is very doubtful of his future state yet forasmuch as by the death of Christ it is made the way and passage to eternal life to a good man who is prepared for an happy death it is not at all to be fear'd that the day of death is better than the day of ones birth Eccl. 7. â— For when we are born we enter into this World which is a scene full of miseries and calamities but when we die we leave them all and are translated into that other blessed life which is replenish'd with all kinds of felicities We are first of all in this World subjected to the slavery of our corruptions and original Sin whilst afterwards the seeds of many lusts spring up in us infidelity ambition covetousness hatred envy uncleanness and such like thus St. Paul complains that he was sold under sin Rom. 7.14 This is the height of misery and to a man enflamed with a desire after an holy life and in whose breast one spark of piety remains nothing can happen more grievous than the corruptions of the flesh of this the Apostle farther complains Ibid. v. 18. I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no
It is appointed for all men once to die Are not my days few Cease then and let me alone that I may take comfort a little Before I go whence I shall not return even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death Job 10 20 21. For I know that thou wilt bring me to death to the house appointed for all living Job 30.23 Daniel Sennertus HIS MEDITATIONS Setting forth a plain Method OF LIVING HOLILY AND DYING HAPPILY Written Originally in Latin and noâ— Translated into English â—â— qui se meâ—ninerâ—nt inquilinos esse in conducto habitare 〈…〉 je gerunt 〈◊〉 miâ—â—s gravatim excunt ita qâ—i intâ—lligunt dâ—micilium câ—â—poris ad hâ—eve tempus à natura commadatum eâ—se vivunt temperâ—â—aius libentius moriuntur Sen â—â—ala mors putanda non est quam bond vita praecessit neque enim facit malam mortem nisi quod sequitur ipsam mortem St. Aug. de Civ Dei LONDON Printed for Sam. Keble at the Great Turks Head in Fleet-street over against Fetter-Lane MDCXCIV THE PREFACE WHEN Death shall put a period to our Lives we must appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ and according as we have behav'd our selves here we shall be consigned to an Eternity either of Bliss or Woe Which four last things being of such vast concern and moment to us have always been esteemed most worthy of our serious thoughts and contemplations for what is there that can more powerfully move a Man to forsake the ways of sin and walk in the paths of virtue and conform himself to the Divine Will than a constant Meditation on these things To what purpose should any one endeavour to encrease his substance by fraud injustice and oppression or set his heart on Honours and Riches still coveting to add field to field if he doth but think with himself that when Death approaches he must leave all these worldly things behind him and that for ought he knows even this Night his Soul may be required of him and then whose shall all these things be Who is there that would not be afraid of committing shameful and abominable crimes even in secret where no eye can see him when he considers that in the last day of Judgment the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed and all his most private actions be laid open before Men and Angels and that he must give a strict account of all his thoughts words and deeds before the great Judge of all the Earth Who would dare to drown himself in voluptuousness and the sinful lusts of the flesh if he did but remember that for the enjoyment of such vain and momentary pleasures he must endure the most exquisite torments of Hell to all eternity Who is there that would not chearfully walk in the narrow path that leadeth unto life though he were sure in the way to meet with tribulation distress and persecution bonds and imprisonment famin and nakedness peril and Sword if he did but lift up the eyes of his mind and behold that exceeding and Eternal Weight of Glory which is laid up in Heaven for those that suffer for Christ Jesus Since therefore the frequent consideration of these things hath so much force and efficacy to invite Men to vertue and deter them from sin I was easily induced to translate the following Meditatious into our Native Language notwithstanding the multitude of other books that have been written on the same Subject for Men being generally so forgetful of their mortaâ—ity especially in time of health and prosperity there can never be too many admonitions given to put them always in remembrance of these things although they know them already This Book was first publish'd in Latin at Wittembergh in the year of our Lord 1636. By that famous Physition Daniel Sennertus a Man well known to the learned World especially to the Gentlemen of his own faculty for his excellent works in that Art but besides what he so deservedly profess'd he was a spiritual Physitian also and took care to deliver such wholsom Medicines that all the Diseases of our Souls might be healed and that both Soul and Body might live for ever thereby imitating our Blessed Saviour who as he healed all manner of sickness and all manner of Diseases amongst the People so he also called all sinners to repentance and exhorted them to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven It may not be amiss here to add a short account of this Book M. Hen. Witten Memor Medicorum p. 105. Francof 1676. and its Author from one who hath given us some memorials of his life in an Oration spoken the year after his Decease in the Vniversity of Wittembergh The innocency saith he and probity of his Life and that Humanity which he shew'd to all Men did greatly advance his renown such was his love and care for Religion that he suffer'd nothing to be prefer'd before it He had perfectly digested in his mind the rules and precepts of it which he as carefully endeavoured to manifest in his life least he should appear to be in Word only and not in Deed a Christian the duty whereof he was perswaded did not more consist in the knowledge than in the practice of Christian virtues wherein that he might be the better exercised he had judiciously and accurately described THE NO-CHRISTIAN CHRISTIAN for he thought if vice were throughly known the contrary virtue would thereby be represented more fair and strong As the People of Lacedâ—mon recommended sobriety to their Children by bidding them look on the filthiness of Drunkards On the same design there is now lately publish'd by himself a most judicious Treatise of THE WAY TO LIVE HOLILY AND DY HAPPILY For he cannot without great hazard dye well who hath led an ill life and scarcely can any one live as he should that is ignorant of the right method or doth not diligently exercise himself in it He dyed on the 21st Day of July in the Year of our Lord 1637. When he had not yet been ill four Days Some may perhaps object against the composure of this Book that whereas the design of it is to prepare us to dye happily so many Chapters should be spent in the general and more remote preparation for Death whilst we are in our health and vigour and but one to be allotted for that more immediate and particular preparation which is to be performed when Death approaches This may indeed seem a great objection to Worldly Men who scarcely ever think of dying till they see they can live no longer But the devout Christian knows that a Death Bed is very unfit both for time and place for so great a work that all his life is little enough to work out his own Salvation and to prepare himself for an happy Eternity and that if he demeans himself soberly righteously and godlily whilst he lives in this present World he shall have the less to do when ever it shall please
shall be Forgiven The Apostle St. Paul reckons these amongst the works of the Flesh Gal. 5.20 21. Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions Envyings and such like and pronounceth that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God And St. John saith 1 Joh. 3.14 15. He that loveth not his Brother abideth in Death Whosoever hateth his Brother is a Murderer We have good reason to bear with the infirmities of others because there are many things which others must bear with in us For no one is perfect You see plainly that you are not able to bring your self to live according to those Rules which you could wish and why then should you be angry with others if they do not live just as you would have them Mat. 7.5 first cast out the Beam out of thine own Eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the Mote out of thy Brothers Eye let us therefore bear one anothers Burthens Gal. 6.2 for there is no body without fault And then farther let us endeavour to keep our selves from Slandering and Calumniating of others by not being too curious in enquiring into the Words and Actions and Lives of our Neighbours for what O Man is it to thee what another says or does Rom. 14.4 Who art thou that judgest another Mans Servant To his own Master he standeth or falleth Do thy best to give a good account of thine own Words and Actions to God and he also is obliged to render an account of his to the same God to whom all things are naked and open he sees all things under the Sun and knows what every one thinks and desires and to what end they direct their Actions therefore commit all to him rest contented and do not disquiet thy self with others cares The Prayer O Lord our most Merciful Father who in thy Son Jesus Christ hath called me to Eternal Life and forgiven me all my sins let thy Holy Spirit also direct and rule my heart that I may daily persevere in a true Repentance continually strive against my sins and increase more and more in all vertuous and godly living And for as much as my own strength is not sufficient to contend against so many Enemies and to bring my good purposes to effect do thou O Lord stretch forth thy Right Hand to assist me least I saint in the Warfare and Satan get the Dominion over me Thou O Lord resistest the Proud but givest grace to the Humble The proud in heart is an Abomination to thee vouchsafe me therefore O Lord an humble Spirit devoid of all High-mindedness according to the example of our Blessed Lord who being in the form of God humbled himself even to the Death of the Cross that he might exalt us unto everlasting life Make me to consider that I am but Dust and Ashes and have no reason to lift up my self let me not be proud of those gifts which thou hast bestowed on me and scornfully despise others but confess that what ever good is in me I have received it all from thee O Lord naked came I out of my Mothers Womb but thou hast bountifully given me Meat and Drink Cloathing and Habitation and all things necessary for the preservation of my life Make me to be contented with my Daily Bread that my mind may never be possess'd with Covetousness But may remember that I must go out of this World naked as I came and therefore may lay up my Treasure in Heaven which I may enjoy to all Eternity And because I know that in me dwelleth no good thing and the Flesh always Lusteth against the Spirit and is daily enticing me to the pleasures of this World grant O Lord that by the assistance of thy Holy Spirit I may crucifie and mortifie the Flesh with its affections and Lusts and may live soberly righteonsly and godly in this present World and serve thee in pureness of Spirit all the days of my life Grant also that according to thy command and example we may love one another Root out of our Hearts all bitterness and malice that the Sun may never go down upon our Wrath but that we may do good to those that hate us and forgive all that have offended us Lord I beseech thee take from me Pride and give me the Spirit of Humility Extinguish in me the desires of the Flesh and inflame my Heart with the love of thee Cast out of my mind the fury of anger and implant therein the gift of Patience Remove from me the love of Vain-glory the bitterness of Envy and bestow on me the sweetness of Charity and Humility the gift of a meek and quiet Spirit which is in thy sight of great price CHAP. XVII A Diary of the practice of Piety BUT for as much as the Exercises of Piety ought to be every day performed because no body can be certain which shall be that last day when he shall depart out of this life and every day for ought we know may be our last It will therefore be very useful to have both in our view and memory the course of one day regularly dispos'd according to the pattern whereof we may lead our lives that so every day we may be prepared for an happy Death First then O Man when you awake out of sleep in the Morning let your earliest Meditations be on God nor ever let any thing but the thoughts of God first enter into your mind For serious Contemplations of God being once admitted into our minds will keep out all evil Devices think then first that God will easily hereafter raise you from the dead as now you are awaken'd from your sleep Afterwards when with open'd eyes you behold the light of the Sun think with your self how great the Glory and Majesty of the last day will be when so many hundred thousand glorious Bodies shining like the Sun and Stars shall go with Christ their Judge like so many Suns into eternal life and therefore use all diligence that you may appear one of that blessed number Afterwards revolve in your mind that the Devil like a Roaring Lion 1 Pet. 5.8 walketh about seeking whom he may devour That he was not far from you the night past and had a desire to hurt you and could have done it unless God had defended you by the Ministry of his Holy Angels And withal think that the Holy Angels were encamped all night round about you that now you are rising from your Bed they stand by you and therefore take care to behave your self Circumspectly as being placed in the presence of God and the blessed Angels When you put on your Cloaths think that they are the Tokens of guilt with which we cover our shame and nakedness and therefore you have no cause to be proud of them and whilst you cover your Body let not your Soul be naked but put on the wedding Garment even the Righteousness of Christ and think