nor railing Rabshake's shall come there to belch infectious gorges forth to poison the hearts of any subjects in that Kingdom of glory No Polubragmatical Michiavelians nor crafty Boutefews shall interrupt that Kingdoms endlesse peace No bold Sejanus can insinuate into that glorious presence to corrupt it No male-contented Cataline can lurk there either to traduce the glorious Majesty of the King of kings or to seduce inferiour Officers Nor is there any warlike Ammunition magazin'd there No Civil Warrings can destroy that glorious Kingdom nor can any factious Jarrings deface that glorious Church No new-fangled Athenians nor schismatical Corinthians can disturb the unity or destroy the uniformity of that Church No over-mastering Pope nor undermining Jesuit no new Church-making Familist nor no Church-making Atheist can gain such favour or get such footing there as to eject the settled Saints and work the ruine of all the Church No ravenous Wolves in sheeps clothing can creep by any Postern-gates into that fold to flea or fleece the flock and mistake feeding on them for feeding of them Nothing that worketh any abomination can come there and therefore every thing that tendeth towards the grand abomination of desolation must needs be for ever excluded thence the glory of all there must last for ever and all in that glory must live for ever being free from sin they shall be from death from death spiritual in it from death temporal by it and from death eternal for it that presence of the ever-living God doth set them free from all for ever there is no dying they that are there are sure to live for ever the glorified Saints shall never be reduc't to a nullity those crowned personages shall not be folded up in a confused Chaos death has no power here they are free from the sting of death and from the stroke free from all tendencies unto death and from all fears of dying Now who would not gladly live in such a priviledg'd place where that boldest Sergeant Death cannot come to arrest Such is the sanctuary of Gods glorious presence that 's free from all kinds of death and free from unkinde Devils too from Devils infernal and Devils incarnate too No evil Angels can ascend from the bottomless pit into the presence to tempt any there to sin nor hellish Furies to torment for sinning in times past No Devil of the lower hell nor any of this wicked world above it can finde any entrance thither There is indeed free quarter for Saints but none for sinners the Free men of that City and all the Denizons of that Kingdom are always freed from all unwelcome troublesome intruders the spirit of strife and debate can never thrust the Devils mysterious cloven foot into that presence to set Divisions to cause Distractions to bring Destruction No carnal pride can ever beget fond fashionists in the streets of that most holy City nor spiritual pride breed up fantastical Factionists in those Mansions No hideous blasphemies nor filthy obscenities nor thumping oathes not hellish cursings nor peevish censurings are used by any in that presence all profane and black-mouth'd monsters of men are exiled for ever from that society of Saints and so are all insinuating Sycophants and false-hearted Pharisees that place shall be free from all evil or tending to it no evil company no evil by company no company of evil no devils not be devill'd men no tempters no tormentors nor any other infernals no devils incarnate either white or black no kinde of death either temporal or eternal no kinde of wars no kinde of woes no kinde of sufferings surely they must needs be happy that are in such a case Yet let me tell you that it is not the absence of evil alone that can make a man truly and fully happy it may cause some joy but not the fulness of joy till the affluence of all good things be enjoyed with it Now in the glorious presence of God there is not onely the absence of all evil but the presence of all good All things that are desirable are there and all things there are desireable there are profitable pleasures and pleasurable profits things inconsistent here are all coincident there those gifts that go not here together are all united there those comforts which are divided here in several streams do meet all there as in their fountain or rather in the ocean No one here may look to enjoy all good things but all there do ever so There are the precious Merchandices of all Cities for that 's the City of all precious Merchandices there are the true Delights of all Countreys for that 's the true Countrey of all Delights There are all the real Honours of the the Court that can never be lost and that 's the right Court of Honour that can never be put down There are all the true pleasures of Paradise for that 's the true Paradise of all pleasures What does any of your souls take most delight in what do you most of all desire there you may have it in the fullest measure and there enjoy it in the finest manner There is to satisfie all desires do you desire or delight in Gold or precious Stones or costly Gems or stately Palaces there 's a City of pure Gold clear as crystal walled and gated and garnished with Jaspers and Saphires and all sorts of Pearls and precious stones as St. John describes it Revel 21.18 c. Or do you delight in glorious triumphs and pompous shews there are triumphs everlasting and the glory of all Nations shall flow into that City in triumphant manner Revel 21.26 Or do you delight as Massinissa and Dioclesian did in curious Gardens in fruitful Orchards in healthful Walks in pleasant Fountains there is the Celestial Paradise wherein the most curious and nice had he a hundred times as many eyes as Argus might employ them all at once with various curiosities and transcendent rarities All those admir'd Gardens of Adonis and Alcinous of Po. and Tantalus and the Hesperides could never boast no not in any fiction of the Poets of such a living Fountain as that which floweth in the middle of this Garden of Heaven and affords the Water of life nor yet of such a Tree as that of Life which bears twelve kinds of fruits and brings forth every moneth as Saint John expresses Revelations 22.1 Or do you delight in or desire peace there can you never want it that new Jerusalem is the true Jerusalem the blissful vision of Peace a City at Peace and unity in it self There endless triumphs of peace are solemnized by all the Citizens that 's the place of peace there 's the Prince of peace the Authour of peace the Maker the Creatour of it There 's the full enjoyment of that mother blessing and all other blessings with it the true God of peace is there and the true peace of God which passeth all understanding Or do you desire truth with peace there are both together the God of peace is the God of truth and the truth of God is there revealed fully the true worship of the most holy God is there established and the true God is worshipped there in the beauty of holiness Or do you delight in the melody of curious musick there are soul-ravishing Anthems chanted and warbled by the sweetest of all the heavenly Quire in that Mother Church that glorious Temple Christs Church Triumphant Or do you delight in ease and rest from wearisome labours there the true Christian Sabbath is kept holy whereof our Sunday Sabbath is but an adumbration or preparatory Eve Jerusalem below hath six dayes for working for one Sabbath day for rest but Jerusalem above is free to sanctifie an endless Sabbath as free from labour as from sin Or do you delight in the presence of great Personages there is the mighty and Almighty Monarch of Heaven and Earth the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and there is his second self his onely begotten Son the Son of his love in whom he is well pleased his right hand Favorite his Christ our Lord and Jesus in the height of his honour invested with power to unlock the Exchequer of his Fathers richest favours with the key of his eternal merits and to deal them forth in glory to those that followed him in grace In a word there are all sorts of rich delights that endless fountain can never be drawn dry for there is all in all to draw them forth there are soul-ravishing joyes and soul-admiring felicities everlasting joyes without any interrupted mutation such are those divine Raptures which shall flow from that communion they enjoy in that glorious presence with unspotted Angels and glorified Saints I shall shut up all in the words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 2.9 Eye hath not seen nor ear heard or is it possible for the minde of man to conceive the glory that God hath laid up for them that love him It being beyond the power of Mortals to imagine the glory of that Kingdom the brightness of that Diadem and the splendour of that Crown which no hand of treason shall be ever able to take off the Wearers head Having now brought this happy Pilgrim to the New JERUSALEM where I leave him to take his fill of those everlasting pleasures To which place through the merits of that all-sufficient and satisfactory Redemption may I and my Readers in his good time arrive FINIS
their hearts and the Devil himself sometimes counterfeits an Angel of light Many make a fair profession of Christianity that speak well hear much and understand more upon examination you will finde by their actions that they have meerly a form of godliness but deny the power of it that at best will appear but like the Devil in Samuels Mantle We use to say that all is not gold that glisters and 't is as true that all are not holy that seem so all not Saints that have demure looks and specious pretences Our Saviour hath told us that the tree is known by his fruit and God that searches the reins knows the heart and judges of the outward actions by it Balaams words bespeak him both a Prophet and a Saint and he did as clearly prophesie of Christ as any Prophet of the Lord either before or after him and 't is thought by some that his Prophecy of a Star to rise out of Jacob c. drew those Persians King to attend the motion of that Star that appeared at our Saviours Incarnation 'T is most certain that Balaam spake so well that no man could speak better yet he could speak so bad that the Devil himself could not speak worse as when he advised the Moabites to send their Daughters to commit whoredom with the Israelites which occasioned the death of twenty four thousand Hebrews And so I pass from the Speakers description to the description of his Speech The speaker was Balaam and his speech or rather his prayer was Let me dye the death of the righteous and let my latter end be like his Balaam is so taken with the rayes of that Glory he beholds at a distance that he grows impatient No more of life nothing in it so desirable No more of this world he sees more glory in the next and therefore courts death to convey him to that glory which he so much longs for Let me dye c. What could he not dye without asking leave without much intreaty death was ready to attend him and for want of help he might have been his own executioner and as King Saul did a long time after made his own sword to have given him his Mittimus to the grave No Balaam as bad as he was would not lay violent hands on himself he knew that God would not entertain any runnagate or straggling sons that came without his call That God who infus'd a living Soul into our Bodies when we began to be will not have that soul come forth till he require it 'T is written Revel 3.21 To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my Throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his Throne To him that overcomes not to him that runs away to him that conquers not him that flies from his colours We are now but on our way not yet in our countrey In this world we must do our work in that to come we must have our wages Here we must fight under the Banner there we must receive if we deserve it the Crown This world is a Sea of trouble that a Haven of rest and those who to avoid the troubles of this rush themselves out by laying violent hands on themselves shall never reach the happiness of that For how can God afford Mercy to those who have none for themselves Balaam would dye but how There are saith one three sorts of death the death of Nature the death of Sin and the death of Grace or rather a gracious death or the death of the Just 'T is onely the last that Balaam sues for Let me dye sayes he but no death will serve his turn but that of the Just Let me dye the death of the righteous and let my latter end be like his My latter end he is not altogether for himself he hath some care of his posterity after him he knew that God would be Abrahams exceeding great reward and that he would be the same to his seed that he was to him be the God of his seed and of his seeds seed and in them should all the Nations of the world be blessed So Balaam prayes in respect of his own particular end and for his posterity those that were come or were to come out of his loins Let my latter end be like his Now for the further amplifying of this Prayer of Balaams I shall draw these following Conclusions from it First That the Righteous dye c. Secondly That their death is happy and attended with glory Thirdly That none shall dye so but those that live so or that a holy Life is the onely prologue to a happy Death Lastly I shall present you with some short Directions how to lead such a life how to reach such a Death and this shall be my conclusion That Death is a debt of Nature to be paid by all the sons of men is so known a truth that it needs no further proof then common experience the decree hath long since gone forth that all men must once dye So sure as death sayes our common Proverb and that 's so sure that nothing more certain For of all the Priviledges that Christ purchast for the sons of men he never granted this for he himself tasted of death and so must all those do that breathe upon this earth except those onely that shall be found alive at the day of judgement which shall not dye but be chang'd None are exempted from deaths rage no honey without this gall no exaltation without this humiliation all must pass through his black Gates ere they can enter into glory And this brings me from the first conclusion to the second from the certainty of death to all mankinde to the Happiness of it to the righteous Let my latter end be like his I cannot blame Lalaam for making such wishes and it had been well for him if it had fallen so he had then been eternally happy as now miserable Indeed death to a righteous man is but a sleep for so our Saviour stiles it it puts an end to our miseries and a beginning to our joyes it cures all diseases the aking head and the fainting heart Asa of his Gout and Mephibosheth of his lameness Lazarus of his Sores and Gehazi of his Leprosie finishes that life that was a kinde of death or a passage to it and gives birth to another not subject to mutation and serves as a short bridge to conduct the Pious soul to a spacious inheritance But it may here come within the verge of an inquiry whether the righteous may desire death 't is answer'd that it may de desired not for it self but for what it brings First we may desire it as it puts a period to sin there 's no offending of God in the Grave sin will be an inmate with the choicest of Gods Saints whilst they are here but is forc't to leave them when they leave the world For as one observes sin was
the Midwife or rather the womb that brought death into the world and death must be the Grave to bury sin so the Mother is killed by the Daughter Again we may desire it as it brings us home to our Fathers house near our Head and our elder Brother so Saint Paul desir'd it Phil. 5.23 Secondly That none shall dye so but those that live so c. For as the effect follows the cause or the shadow the body so happiness is the attendant of holiness Would Balaam dye the death of the Righteous that was so far as a learned Author observes of him from living the life of the Righteous that he gave Pestilent counsel against the lives of Gods Israel and though here in a fit of compunction he seem a friend yet he was after slain by the Sword of Israel whose happiness he admires and desires to share in Carnal men care not to seek that which they would gladly finde some faint desires and short-winded wishes may be sometimes found in them but their mistake is in breaking Gods chain to sunder Holiness from Happiness Salvation from Sanctification the end from the means they would dance with the Devil and sup with Christ at night Live all their lives long in Dalilahs lap and then go to Abrahams bosom when they dye The Romanists have a saying that a man would desire to live in Italy a place of great pleasure but to dye in Spain because there the Catholick Religion as they call it is so sincerely profest And a Heathen being askt whether he would rather be Socrates a painful Philosopher or Craesus a wealthy King answer'd That for his life he would be Craesus but for the life to come Socracrates But stay not here and hereafter too you know what Father Abraham said to Dives in flames Son Remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and therefore now must look for evil That King Balaks proffers were so liberal that Balaam was loath to forgo so fat a Morsel his mouth watred and his fingers itcht to be dealing with Balak he will ask God again and again to gain such a prize and his heart again is ravisht with Israels happiness he would fain please Balak if he might not displease God in it and partake of both but as Balak had not his will so neither had Balaam either his wages or his wish God oftentimes fools wicked men of their expectations that whilst they strive to gain the happiness of both worlds at once finde neither so here I know not how fitter to compare Balaam then to a stranger travelling a far Countrey beholds the state and magnificence of the Court but no interest in the King or to a surveyor of Lands that takes an exact compass of other mens Grounds of which he shall never enjoy a foot I shall see him sayes Balaam so shall every eye and those also that pierc't him but not as Abraham saw him and rejoyced nor as Job Chap. 19.25 The pure in heart onely see him to their comfort when Balaam beholds him it shall be with terror and though when he made this prayer his soul danc't on his lips ready to flye off yet was he never nearer heaven then those Pisgah Hills Had Balaams works been answerable to his words or his worth to his wishes he might have reacht his desires But as Saul who was once among the Prophets fell after from God so Balaam is not long in these raptures and therefore for all his devotion though he were not so wicked as to kill himself is nevertheless so unfortunate as to fall by the Sword of the Israelites even among the thickest of Gods Enemies the Midianites as you may read at large in the one and thirtieth Chapter of this Book of Numbers v. 8. There is no man so much an enemy to himself but would be happy if happiness were to be gain'd with wishing for Ask the wickedst man upon earth if he does not hope to dye well he will tell you he does and so he will if a word upon his death-bed will do it A Lord have mercy upon me but alas Heaven is not to be attained on such easie tearms Cain may be distracted for his Murder Balaam and Saul may Prophesie Ahab walk in Sack-cloth Judas Preach and do miracles and all to no purpose 't was not Esau's blubber'd eyes that could recover either his Birth-right or his Fathers blessing I cannot but reprehend their folly that spend their dayes in sin and vanity and at the point of death think to turn suddain penitents as if that would do how foully are they mistaken that think so for he that lives like a devil upon earth though under an Angels vail shall never be a Saint in Heaven So I have now done with the parts propos'd what remains but that I in brief give some short directions how to lead this happy life how to reach that happy death and so I le conclude For the certain and speedy attainment of which be pleased seriously to weigh these following instructions First be conversant in the Scriptures make that your day and your night studies and take notice of the lives of all Gods Saints and endeavours to track them in those steps which brought them to glory Make Abrahams faith and Jobs patience Eliahs zeal and Hezekiahs Integrity patterns of your immitation Let Joseph be an example of unconquer'd chastity and Moses of meekness and humility Let Davids troubles teach us to depend upon Gods Providence and Pauls perseverance not to be weary of his Corrections Remember the Character which our Blessed Saviour gave of the Baptist That he was a burning and a shining light Indeed the Saints of God in all ages have serv'd as Beacons on hills to give light to a crooked and perverse generation Oh that we could but learn by their examples to adorn our profession and we shall be no losers in the end What sayes David Marke the upright man and behold the just indeed he is worth the noting for the end of that man is peace He it is that may be truly said to leave this world like a Lamb and shall for ever be owned in a better for one of Christs fold But above all look upon him that is the Author and finisher of your Faith strive to immitate the blessed steps of the holy Jesus whose feet were ever running Gods Commandements whose hands were ever busied in works of Charity his eyes ever looking for Objects of Mercy whose Soul was ever yerning with bowels of Compassion whose discourse was alwayes gracious and guile never found in his lips And that we may be the better fitted to write after such blessed copies let us set a narrow watch over our thoughts words and actions that we offend in neither but remember that he is an Almighty and Omniscient God with whom we have to do and all things naked and bare to his all-seeing eye and that we may make a happy progress in
shining on it well nigh puts it out so Vertue flames more brightly being blown on by the cold winde of adversity but is extinguisht by the sun-shine of prosperity like lime which is set on fire with water and as some report is quenched with oyl That prosperity doth draw more to ruine then adversity doth drive the Prophet David intimates where he sayes A thousand shall fall besides thee and ten thousand at thy right hand There is ten to one whose vertue the right hand of prosperity doth choak more then the left hand of adversity doth starve Afflictions are Gods troops and he their Captain intended for the perdition of the wicked for the purgation of the godly he will not lay any more on any of his servants then he shall enable them to bear alas the miseries of this life are not worthy of the felicities of the next nor may these crosses stand in competition with that crown nor are the greatest torments that can here be inflicted comparable to those endless and insufferable tortures which the wicked shall be sensible of the greatest that a Saint can suffer here is but the malice of men and devils the damned in hell shall taste the wrath of the Almighty The sufferings of the Saint and the triumphs of the sinner are but for a moment but the reward of the one and the plagues of the other are to eternity Suppose our life here spread with roses yet they are marcessible and if with thorâ—s yet they are dying The jewels of the Crown will receive a damp and the terrors of the Cross will soon be at an end Groans and joyes in this life are both expiring our troubles and our triumphs have both their setting The distresses of the world are a short and a sudden tempest and the delights of it are a shedding flower Now as an elegant Writer observes who would not rather endure the Hell of a few dayes miscries here and enjoy the Heaven of eternal happiness hereafter then enjoy the Heaven of a few days pleasure here and endure the eternal miseries of Hell hereafter Temporal pleasures are dearly bought with the loss of eternal and temporal sufferings are well requited with eternal pleasures That is a miserable happiness that must end in such miseries as must never end and those are happy miseries that shall soon end in endless happiness This life is but a journey towards death and but a short one and death is yet a shorter passage to a longer and a better life That life of joyes is worth the wishing that shall never have an end and that end of our life is full as worthy of our wishes that shall begin the joyes of that endless life and that end must be ere long for life is short Man that is born of a woman is but of few dayes and full of trouble He is of few dayes that he might not live too long in trouble and his dayes are full of trouble that he might not long for more of them then a few Mans dayes are full of trouble that a few might serve his turn and make him weary of them and his dayes of trouble are but few that he might not be too much wearied with them If it be mans misery that his few dayes are full of trouble 't is Gods mercy that mans days of trouble are but few The few dayes of mans life are full of trouble that man might be daily minded of his duty in seeking after another a better life and mans dayes of trouble are but few that man may not be wearied so as to leave seeking for the other life before that this doth leave him What but the happiness and glory of that better life held up the spirits of Gods afflicted servants in their greatest sufferings in this 'T was the recompence of reward that Moses had respect to which made him spurn at the treasures of Egypt and refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter and to slight all the discouragements and afflictions which he here met with Let the miseries therefore which accompany mortality wean us from all fondnesse towards this life present and the felity of life eternal make us the more earnestly to long after that The thoughts of the Elizian happinesse did so encourage a poor Grecian a meer Pagan at the instant of his death that he rejoyced much to think of going to Pythagoras and other learned Philosophers to Olympus and other skilful Musicians to Hecataeus and other approved Historians to Homer the prince of Poets and other famous Wits that were his followers that Poetical Paradise the Elizian Field could make a Pagan give his longum vale to this present world with notable resolution and shall not the real pleasures of the celestial Paradise the fulness of joy in the glorious presence of God encourage a Christian at his death to depart as comfortably as a faithlesse Grecian Shall fantasie in an Heathen be more powerful then faith in a Christian Is not the company as good which we believe to be at Gods right hand as that which he imagined to be in Elizio campo and are not the joys as many and as great Well therefore may a Saint chear up himself at his departure by thinking of his going to Saint Peter Saint Paul Saint James Saint John and to all that glorious company of Apostles and of his going to Elias and Elisha and Isaiah and Ezekiel and to Daniel and all that goodly fellowship of the Prophets and of his going to Saint Stephen the Proto Martyr and to Ignatius and to Justinus and to our Cranmer and our Ridley and our Hooper and our Taylor and all that noble army of Martyrs and of his going to that Reverend Patriarch Abraham the father of the faithful and to Isaac and to Jacob and to all the holy Patriarchs and of his going to the holy Angels and Arch-Angels and Thrones and Powers and Principalities and to the spirits of all just men made perfect Who can think of being thus transported and not be transported with the very thoughts of it Surely it must needs be a very consolatory Viaticum to the soul of a dying Saint to think of exchanging Earth for Heaven and the sordid company of sinners for the sweet society of Saints And this is it which makes the Saint entertain death as a friend whom the sinner fears as an enemy The Saints of God in all Ages have lookt upon him as a friend because by him they have been wafted to glory Moses sing when he was told his last Elijah had his Sufficit he desir'd his God to take away his life Old Simeon craved a dismission and St. Paul a discharge In the times of Persecution how did the Martyrs run in troops to the flames even to the amazement and admiration of their Persecutours which made a mortal Enemy to Christianity in the dayes of Queen Mary who speaking of some of the Primitive Christians and of the glorious Martyrs that
then suffered bade a vengeance on them for he thought they took delight in burning and that they long'd for death I should swell this Volumn too big if I should here insert the last sayings of dying Saints who exprest as much willingnesse to be disrob'd of their mortality as ever they did to put off their cloaths to go to rest And no marvel for death to a righteous man is but as a door to let him into glory to such endlesse glory as I shall not here stand to insist of for with a discourse of that everlasting happinesse I shall close the Book and for the present leave it to fall on a worse Subject We 'l now come to the sinner who as we have seen already seems by his outward prosperity to be the onely happy man as having the world at will and all things in it at his command but alas notwithstanding all this we shall finde that he and happiness are at a great distance if we but seriously consider the shortness of his joyes and the eternity of his miseries that this is all the heaven he is ever like to have he hath his portion in this life and these short pleasures to end in endless torments This world as it is a School to the Saint so a Stall to the Sinner it fits the one for a Fellowship in the New Jerusalem and fats the other for an eternal slaughter here the Saint suffers a while to be eternally happy and here the sinner flourishes for a moment to be everlaâ—â—ingly miserable What more woeful then a sinners welfare It is for slaughter that the Oxe is fatned ease slayes the simple and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them they spend their dayes in wealth and end their dayes in woe their merry dance determines in a miserable downfall the sinners cup of honey is mixt with dregs of gall He loves his belly well that with Esau will sell his birth-right for Pottage I had rather beg my bread with Lazarus then my water with Dives In what slippery places hath God set wicked men He that now thinks himself as high as heaven knows not how soon he shall be laid as low as hell and he that is now carouzing and quaffing with his dammy Blades and pampering his guts with the left hand blessings knows not how suddenly he shall be plac't at the left hand of that Judge who shall give to all their right and send him and his crew to yell out their late Lamentations in Tophet Zophar though none of the best men himself could tell Job that the triumphing of the wicked is but short and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment like the thorns in the fire the bubble in the water the flowers in the earth or the clouds in the air they blaze and consume they flourish and fade they vanish and fly away A candle burns more brightly when nearest the end and the wicked are in greatest pomp when nearest their ruine witnesse those sad examples of Absalon Jezabel Haman Herod c. so that his joyes here are but like a fit of musick before a fearful execution or a Syrens song before a dismal storm and of the short time he hath here to frollick it how often is he disquieted by Gods judgements from without and by his own conscience from within First from without God oftentimes meets with the sinner here to put him in minde of what he shall feel hereafter and that if he will not take warning by this he shall be paid to purpose in a worse place As a Saint looks upon afflictions from God as the gentle chastisements of a loving Father the sinner looks upon them as the severe punishments of an angry Judge and as a sad presage or preface of those insufferable miseries he shall finde in hell 2. From within his guilty conscience oftentimes proves as a cord to strangle his joyes and to mar his mirth Did not Josephs Brethren experiment this in Egypt and Ahab in his house of Ivory and Belshazar amidst his sensualities this is it that tells him of his past offences and future miseries which so much distracts him that it makes him afraid both of himself and others ever fearful lest some just hand should cut off his happinesse with his life Our Richard the Third after the murther of his two innocent Nephews had fearful dreams insomuch that he did often leap out of his bed in the dark and catching his sword which alwayes naked stuck by his side he would go distractedly about the chamber every where seeking out the cause of his own occasioned disquiet And Charles the Ninth of France after the Parisian Masacre was so inwardly terrified that he was every night laid to sleep and wakened again with a set of Musicians Alas what happinesse is it to have a house of Cedar adorn'd both within and without with beaten gold to have his chests lin'd with the Gold of Ophir to have the richest Robes that ere the sun shin'd on the largest Wardrobe the coicest Cates and the most desir'd delights that his way were spread with Roses and pav'd with Diamonds when his roof is open to the thunderbolt of Heaven and has a hell in his conscience and God for his enemy But put the case the sinner were not troubled with these outward calamities nor inward afrightments yet he were notwithstanding this still miserable for in the highest exaltation of his mirth the very name of death cools his courage and strikes him through with terrours he would not if he might have his will ever part with this world for he knows that there is nothing of happiness to be found for them in the next he could with all his heart accept of St. Peters motion to build Tabernacles here and live for ever but alas that must not be for put the case he sees many go before him his turn will come shortly after old age will soon seize upon him when his feet will be full of gouts his back full of pain his heart full of sorrow and his soul full of sin and now all his happiness is blown over as though it had never been or if he could call to minde his past felicities the thoughts of them would be so far from administering any comfort to him that it would but distract him and he does now begin to wish he had never been born or else a longer lease of his life 'T is storied of Lewis the Eleventh King of France that he was so wedded to this life that he prohibited the mention of the word Death in his Court but alas death regards not the threats of Princes nor the tears of Peasants The stoutest man and greatest Monarch that ever was hath been forc't to submit to him and his messengers The honourable Garter cannot cure the Gout nor the Chair of State ease the Choluck nor a golden Diadem remove the headache Nuga the Scythian despising the rich presents and ornaments that were sent