of others who have been guilty of any of these or of any other sinful pollutions and have not wept and bewailed the same with the tears of Repentance Wo unto you that laugh now in your sinful pleasures Luk. 6.25 for ye shall mourn and weep either here or hereafter And 't is sad and sottish to put off this necessity of weeping to the other world where the Tears of sorrow and sad Repentance shall avail nothing And this is all the water that Hell affords Luk. 16.24 not a drop to cool the tongue tormented in those scorching Flames only those driesly Tears which the violence of her Torments do extort which being salt and brinish and spent in vain shall the more encrease the bitterness and augment the miseries of the condemned sinner Weeping in this life as 't is a sign so 't is some ease to the inward sorrow of the Soul which outwardly evaporates it self by Tears But 't is not thus with the weepings in Hell there no Tears no Sighs not the saddest Lamentations can mitigate in the least the sorrows of the Soul because there is nothing but what doth torment without any intermixture of ease or allay which is manifest from the conjunction of weeping and gnashing of Teeth to intimate there is not such a Lamentation as gives ease to the Soul but rather embitters the same even to rage and madness and dire execrations of it self and of all its instruments and companions in her sins accompanied with blasphemous revilings of the justice of God O that now my head were waters Jer. 9.1 and mine eyes a fountain of tears by weeping here to prevent the weeping in Hell hereafter now to bewail my sins that I sorrow not when 't is too late where weeping and wailing shall not asswage but augment my sorrows Lament O sinner and gnash thy teeth through a holy indignation to be so foolish and mad as for a little sinful pleasure or dirty delight to run the hazard of being obnoxious to never-ending pains and sorrows Blessed are they that mourn Mat. 5.4 both for their own sins and for the sins of others through the fear of Hell and desire of Heaven for they shall be comforted their scars prevented their desires obtained A broken and a contrite heart Ps 51.17 O God thou wilt not despise A heart broken with godly sorrow for sin and venting it self in Tears with Prayers Humiliations and Confessions mixt with Faith in the Bloud of my dear Redeemer Thus Lord thus I humbly beg to be delivered from thy wrath and from the deplorable wailings of a sad eternity Amen MEDITAT VII Of the Perpetuity of Hell-Torments THE Perpetuity of Hell-Torments is in the thought thereof a Torment unspeakable for in every instant of the Sufferings of the Damned they suffer all the Torments of those infinite thousands of years to come the continuance whereof is not measured by Time but by the bottomless Abyss of Eternity and the immutability of Divine Justice and what is time to eternity Behold as a drop of water is to the sea Eccl. 18.10 and a gravel-stone in comparison of the sand so are a thousand years to the days of eternity In this life fear hath torment but torment hath no fear but hope rather of release and delivery but in Hell the Damned both fear what they suffer and also suffer what they fear even the everlasting duration of their sufferings Rev. 20.10 They that are cast into the Lake of fire and brimstone shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever The Damned in Hell saith holy Bernard shall die unto life and yet shall for ever live unto death For therefore shall they live for ever that they may be the food of death eternal Are not they then without understanding that work wickedness Psal 14.4 who being endued with Reason and capable of Counsel who knowing the shortness of this life and the uncertainty of the same and withal believing the everlasting duration of the life to come do nevertheless bend all their thoughts and endeavours upon what concerns this present temporary Being even to the great hazard of being obnoxious to the Pains and Torments of a sad Eternity such madness in the hearts of men can never be throughly bewail'd even with Tears of Bloud Wo to them who now do laugh at what shall be hereafter most sadly bewailed and wo to them who shall feel by sad experience what they now either believe not or but slightly regard it Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come Matt. 3.7 That there is a wrath to come every Christian believes and 't is a fierce wrath and a terrible Rom. 2.8 9. even indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil and hath not repented him of the evil and of the iniquity he hath done Of the coming of this wrath also frequent warning is given both by the works and by the word of God and by the Ministers of his Church but who takes warning given who regards the power of this wrath very few regard it though the less it be regarded the more fierce it will be for even thereafter as a man feareth Ps 90.11 so is thy displeasure Fear thou the Lord Prov. 3.7 O my Soul fear the Lord and depart from evil Thou Psal 76.7 O Lord thou alone art to be feared and who may stand in thy sight when thou art angry The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life Pro. 14.27 to depart from the gates of death Fear not them that can kill the body Mat. 10.28 but are not able to kill the soul but fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear Heb. 12.28 For our God is a consuming fire The LXXXVI Psalm PARAPHRASED Verse 1. BOw down thine ear to him who now bows down his heart and hear me O Lord confessing for I am poor extremely wanting of the graces of thy Spirit which should make me rich towards God I have little or no treasures laid up in Heaven and therefore I am in misery liable to the eternal miseries of Hell But Preserve thou my soul from that dismal place of Torments for I am holy separate and devoted to thy Service though a poor unprofitable servant and upon this account I make bold to call thee my God whom I worship and serve and humbly beseech thee to save thy servant who putteth his trust in thee for the riches of grace and salvation wherein Be merciful unto me O Lord who art rich in mercy for I will call daily upon thee that it may please thee in great mercy to deliver me from that misery whereunto my poorness in grace but abounding sins make me obnoxious Comfort the soul of thy servant that the sorrows of death overwhelm me not For
the same fire but not in the same degree of pain and suslering As under the same heat of the Sun upon Earth all creatures are not alike scorched but some are more some less sensible of its darting beams according to their several constitutions So in the fire of Hell the degree of its burning shall not be alike in all because what here the diversity of bodies there the diversity of sins shall effect So that though all be tormented with the like flames yet not every one in the like manner and degree of torment Gregor But alas the lowest degree of suffering in that place of horror is punishment enough if seriously considered to afright the sinner from all the errors of his ways There be many who now think this or that to be severe commands Love your Enemies Deny thy Self Fast and Watch and Pray Take up thy Cross but surely 't will be much more hard and bitter to hear Tho à Kemp. Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire There was an Hermite call'd Olympius who had a Cell near the River Jordan where he was constantly plagued both with excessive heat and the bitings of innumerable Flies who being demanded why he would continue there to endure such perpetual vexations Answered I suffer patiently the bitings of these Flies that I may escape the dismal bitings of that Worm that dieth not And this great heat I endure that I may escape the flames of Hell which are intolerable and everlasting and these Heats but for a moment Prat. Spir. c. 141. O let not then the severest commands of the Gospel nor the difficulties and labours of Repentance startle and afright thee let not the breach or neglect thereof seem a light and a small thing unto thee but Remember that to endure the pains of Hell but one hour is more exceeding painful and asslicting than a thousand years of the most strict and severe austerities in Fasting and Sackcloth and Ashes Remember the Worm that dieth not The Fire that is not quenched The inseparable society of tormenting Devils The horrid howlings of damned Souls The everlasting banishment from the presence of God and from the Regions of light The insufferable stench horror and stifling fumes The Eternal hunger and thirst lamentation and woe and surely if these remembrances will not move thee to imbrace the strictest commands of thy blessed Redeemer thy heart is hard indeed and harder than the nether Milstone 'T was otherwise with the Psalmist Psal 119.120 my flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy judgments But I humbly beg I may be here even here in this life punish'd for my sins but spare O spare me in the life to come and from those intolerable pains of the nether Hell good Lord deliver me through Jesus Christ MEDITAT V. Of the Bonds and Chains of Hell RIghteous art thou O Lord Psal 119.137 and upright are thy Judgments 'T is a justice becoming the just judge of the World that the Licentious and Profane who in this life would not be bound up nor restrained from following and fulfilling their exorbitant lusts but have walked in the counsel of the ungodly and stood in the way of sinners that they who bound up their hands from doing the works of God's Commandments and bound up their feet from walking in the paths of his most holy Laws that they whose sins are bound upon theirs Souls and not loosed by true Repentance through Faith in the Bloud of Christ 't is just I say that such should incurr this sad and dismal Sentence Mat. 22.1 Bind him hand and foot By the feet in holy Writ is frequently meant our affections whereby our Souls do move as our bodies do by our feet And by our hands our actions are meant so that by the binding of both in Hell is intimated that it shall not there be possible either to act or so much as affect what is good and conducible to our redemption thence To be bound to one place though in Silken Cords or Chains of Gold though 't were on a Bed of Roses or the sweetest Perfumes to be so tied as not to be able to stir hand or foot is a very great punishment to the free active and stirring soul of Man How much more then a sorer punishment is it to be bound in fiery Chains eating through the flesh into the very Bowels nay through all the most hidden and deepest recesses of the Soul and be forced to lie down in a Bed of Flames and therein not to be able to stir either hand or foot not to move or change from side to side for the least ease or mitigation of Torment For the binding of the feet implies there 's no escaping no flying from the place of Torment and the binding of the hands that there 's no fence against the tormenting Fiends that there 's no way to be gone no work to be done to mitigate in the least their insupportable sufferings 'T is therefore one great reason of God's forbearance with finners in this life to bring them to Repentance because there 's no possibility by Repentance to abate the sorrows of impenitent sinners in the life to come He must have a heart of Stone or rather of Flint the hardest of Stones who in remembrance of his sins is not greatly terrified and humbled in the very thought and apprehension of these fiery tormenting Chains of Hell And such a hardness of heart is contracted by a long continued custom in any sinful course And every sin unrepented is justly punished 1. By being insensible of sin and 2. without the fear or remembrance of future Judgments which makes that vast difference betwixt the wise man and the fool The wise man feareth and departeth from evil but the fool rageth and is confident Prov. 14.16 Blessed Jesus whose innocent tender hands were rudely seized and bound with Cords of injustice and violence vouchsafe to loose all the Bonds and Chains of my Sins wherewith both my hands and feet affections and actions are infettered and infested and grant that the wounds they have made in my Soul being washed with my Tears may be healed by the Soveraign Balsam which from thy Wounds and Stripes and Bonds does flow Ps 25.14 Pluck my feet out of the Net of every temptation to sinfulness and error Ps 119.48 and let my hands be continually lift up unto thy Commandments to do them that I be not liable to be bound by any of the Spirits of vengeance in the fiery Chains of the nether Hell where is weeping and wailing MEDITAT VI. Of the Laments of Hell THere shall be weeping Mat. 25.30 and wailing and gnashing of teeth They shall deservedly weep in Hell whose eyes upon earth have been full of Adultery 2 Pet. 2.14 Lasciviousness and greediness of the Creature whose eyes have been set upon their covetousness Prov. 13.30 and their eye-lids lifted up with scorn and contempt
PRACTICAL MEDITATIONS UPON THE Four Last Things VIZ. I. Death II. Iudgment III. Hell IV. Heaven By R. SHERLOCK D. D. DEUT. XXXII 29. O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter End LONDON Printed by J.H. for L. Meredith at the Star in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1692. PRACTICAL MEDITATIONS UPON THE Four Last Things c. The First Meditation THE clean Beast which was only commanded to be offered in Sacrifice unto God under the Law was such as chewed the Cud Lev. 11.3 and divided the Hoof mystically representing the qualifications of the clean and pure Christian Rom. 12.1 1 Pet. 2.4 5. who is himself that spiritual Sacrifice God requireth under the Gospel By chewing the Cud holy and divine Meditation is intimated by dividing the Hoof may be mystically meant the last end of man which is a dividing asunder the Soul from the Body by Death and a separation of the holy from the wicked by Judgment which shall assign to either their everlasting habitations either in Heaven or in Hell Of these Four Last Things S. Bernard saith that First Death is of all things to flesh and bloud most formidable Secondly Judgment than the which there is nothing more terrible and dreadful Thirdly Hell the Torments whereof are insupportable Fourthly Heaven the Joys whereof are beyond Apprehension most Blissful and Ravishing And these Subjects of holy Meditation would prove the most prevalent to turn all persons professing Christianity from all the errors of their ways whether in Opinion or Conversation would they but seriously consider the shortness and uncertainty of this present life the strict account must be given of all our Thoughts Words and Actions even to every idle Word especially spoken to the detriment of any That in all these we shall have the Devil and his Angels vehemently to accuse us and our own Consciences to testifie against us A most severe Judge to pass sentence upon us from whose impartial doom the endless Torments of Hell shall receive the wilfully erroneous and impenitent sinner but eternal Joys and never fading Felicities shall crown the Orthodox and Holy Psal 6.17 The wicked shall be turned into Hell and all the people that forget God Wisd 3.5 But the Souls of the righteous are in the hand of God and there shall no torment touch them Ath. cr Mat. 25. ult They that have done good shall go into everlasting life and they that have done evil into everlasting fire Psal 4.4 This Faith is professed by many but by few believed with the heart for he that cordially believes these principles of his Religion will stand in awe and sin not he will not dare in defiance of this Faith knowingly and wittingly to transgress the Laws of the great Majesty of Heaven and 't is such a Faith attended by Fear and this Fear by Care and Caution that must preserve the Soul from the Torments and entitle her to the Joys of the other World Aristotle saith That he who believes not can neither Hope nor Fear and consequently he who doth truly believe these Essentials of his Religion cannot but both hope for the Happiness and fear the Misery of the World to come 'T is recorded of a Friar that he complained to his Abbot that he was weary of that idle lazy life and therefore he desired leave to depart to some other place To whom the Abbot returned answer Thy laziness is a manifest sign that thou didst never truly believe and seriously consider of the Pains of Hell and the Joys of Heaven for the deep sense of these would preserve thee from â—ll laziness in thy Cell Pra. Spir. cap. 142. O that they were wise Deut. 32.29 that they understood this that they would consider their latter End It is the greatest and most comprehensive of all the parts of true wisdom so to consider as rightly to prepare for our latter end for to end well is the summ of all our hopes and of all the happiness we can hope for It is a great vanity to desire a long life without the thought of leading a holy life 'T is a great vanity to be so wholly intent upon this present life as not to provide for the life to come 'T is a great vanity to be in love with what suddenly fadeth away and not to hasten in our desires and endeavours to that joy which shall never end T. K. l. 1. c. 1. Have mercy upon me Psal 9.13 O God and consider the trouble I suffer of them that hate me my Spirit is troubled for the daily incursions of my ghostly enemies Thou that liftest me up from the Gates of Death Such is this frail mortal life all the ways whereof are vanity and iniquity even Gates leading to Death eternal From the which I humbly beg to be raised up and exalted by thy right hand That I may shew all thy praises within the ports of the daughter of Sion glorifie thee with thy Church Triumphant in Heaven I will rejoyce in thy Salvation to be thus lifted up and sav'd is a joy unspeakable and glorious Remember me Psal 106.4 O Lord according to the favour thou bearest unto thy people and visit me with thy Salvation That I may see the felicity of thy chosen and rejoyce in the gladness of thy people and give thanks with thine inheritance MEDITAT II. Of the Shortness and Frailty of this present Life MAN that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble Job 14.1 He cometh forth like a Flower and is cut down he fleeth as a shadow and continueth not In the midst of life we be in death whilst every day we live is one day nearer to the end of life For what is your life Jam. 4.14 't is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away The time of my life past is already swallowed up by death which still dogs me at the heels to devour the short remainder of my flitting days Not to consider this shortness and frailty of humane life is to make my life yet more short and frail So Drex vita brevis omnibus Life is short unto all but shortest unto those who forget what is past are negligent in what is present and fear not what is to come Lord make me to know mine end and the number of my days that I may be certified how long I have to live that the length of my days is of the shortest measure for behold thou haste made my days as a span Verily every man living is altogether vanity The most high and mighty the most honourable and wealthy are not exempt from this character for Honours Riches Friends all the delights of the Sons of men with all the Pomp and Pleasure and power of the world depending upon the shortness and frailty of humane Life Nihil est magnum re quod parvum tempore nec longis
remember how momentany were their sinful pleasures but never to be ended their pains Then shall they curse their Parents that begat and the womb that bare them and the paps they sucked so terrible shall be the Torment of this never dying ever-gnawing Worm that they shall curse themselves that they do still live yea and curse God himself who is blessed for ever I have called but ye have refused Prov. 1.24 Ezek. 33.11 Mat. 11.28 Joh. 6.37 44 56. saith the Lord called saying Turn ye turn ye unto me with all your heart Come unto me all ye that are weary But we vain men slight and neglect nay too many contemn such gracious invitations they are not affected or delighted with the presence of God or if they come to his house and approach his presence there 't is not either with that internal Devotion and external Reverence 't is not with such pure hearts and clean hands as becomes the presence of so great and glorious so holy and pure a Majesty and is it not then most just and equal that all such irreligious irreverent and profane persons be banish'd the blissful presence of God for ever And so hath the Lord threatned Isai 65.12 Because when I called ye did not answer when I spake ye did not hear but did evil Therefore thus saith the Lord my servants shall eat but ye shall be hungry my servants shall drink but ye shall be thirsty my servants shall rejoyce but ye shall be ashamed Behold my servants shall sing for joy of heart but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart and shall houl for vexation of spirit Whatever therefore be the guise of the multitude to walk every one after the lusts of their own hearts and to follow their own imaginations in the contempt of the Lord's admonitions and commands Psal 5.7 yet as for me whilst I have life and liberty I will come into thy house even upon the multitude of thy mercies and in thy fear will I worship towards thy holy Temple My heart hath talked of thee and of this gracious command of thine Psal 27.9 Seek ye my face Thy face Lord will I seek O hide not thou thy face from me under the cloud of my sins and the thick cloud of my transgressions nor cast away thy servant in displeasure but vouchsafe that my approaches to thy divine Majesty may be so frequent and fervent and with such Humility Reverence and Devotion performed that my person and my services may in this life be accepted before thee that I hear not at the last day that dismal doom of the wicked Depart from me ye cursed MEDITAT II. Of the Darkness of Hell TO be banished the presence of God who is the Fountain of Light is to be involved in the terrors of Darkness Mat. 22.13 Ca. 25.30 Job 10.21 22. and therefore after Take him away it follows cast him into outer darkness And so is the place of Hell described A land of darkness and of the shadow of death a land of darkness as darkness it self and of the shadow of death without any order and where light is as darkness And this must needs be so because Hell is farthest remote from Heaven the Region of Light being seated as 't is generally believed in the centre of the earth where neither Sun Moon nor Stars display the least ray or glimmering of their Light and where not the least beam of the divine Mercy shall ever appear There is Fire indeed in Hell but such a Fire as burns without shining a Fire without light not unlike whereunto is the Fire of blind Zeal Jam. 3.6 the tongue whereof setteth on fire the course of nature and is set on fire of Hell All the light which the sulphurous Fire of Hell affords serves only to discover the ghastly sight of infernal Fiends reviling scourging tormenting the damned without mercy without intermission and there perhaps may the wicked see some of their friends and acquaintance and of their companions in their sins involv'd with them in the same punishment which are sights so dreadful as shall augment their Torments Here is darkness then and no darkness such darkness as shall hide from the eyes whatever is pleasant and desirable and yet no darkness to hide from the dismal sight whatever is vexatious and adds the greater anguish to the aking heart This dismal darkness of Hell is call'd The outward darkness respecting the inward darkness of humane Souls and those manifold deeds of darkness which issue from the one and run head-long to the other If then thou hast followed the lusts of thine own darkned heart and obeyed the suggestions of Satan the Prince of darkness if thou hast loved and acted the works of darkness of sinfulness and error more than the sacred acts and influences of Grace and Truth it is most just that thy portion be with blackness of darkness for ever Joh. 3.19 Vouchsafe blessed Lord of light and life vouchsafe to display the sacred beams of thy Celestial light into my darkned Soul dispel and dissipate thence all the black stain and guilt of sin contracted by my daily back-slidings from thee all those clouds of ignorance and error which darken my understanding all those noisom lusts of the world and of the flesh which incessantly infest and infect my Soul that I pass not from these inward to that outward darkness where is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth MEDITAT III. Of the Fire of Hell OF all the Torments invented and practised by the malice of men or devils that by Fire is the most fierce and frightful how does it amaze the minds of men when they see it flaming in their houses and consuming their habitations and estates and yet the Fire of Hell is far more dreadful and tormenting as differing from our ordinary fire especially in three respects 1. Our fire feeds only upon gross and corporeal substances but Hell fire feeds upon spirits and damned souls and 't is therefore as much more fierce and piercing than our fire as a spirit is more quick and active than a gross heavy body Be not deceived O my Soul with any fond conceits of vain men that this fire is only metaphorical or fantastical allegorical or poetical because 't is prepared for the Devil and his Angels who are spirits and not liable to visible flames But the word of God which cannot lie and many undeniable reasons by the learned deduced thence Mat. 3.12 cap. 13.42 cap. 25.41 Mark 9.43 47. do confirm it to be a real yea a material fire but more spiritual and refined and so more eating piercing and tormenting than the fire which burns upon our hearths 2. Our fire doth alway burn and torment after the same manner but Hell-fire being the instrument of divine Justice doth more or less rage and afflict according as the persons condemned thereunto have been more or less guilty And 't is observable that the sinful Souls
doomed to these flames are represented by our Lord unto those Tares that are bound in bundles to be burnt Matth. 13.30 denoting all kind of sinners to be punished with them that are of their own rank and quality e.g. The proud with the proud The drunkard with his good fellow The adulterer with the unclean and so in all others according to the enormities of their lives shall be their susterings after death And although in this life 't is some mitigation of sorrow to have companions therein of the same quality yet in Hell 't is far otherwise for there the more sinners with their sins the more fuel is added to that dismal fire So that when I consider all the sins that have been committed against the Majesty of Heaven since the beginning of the world to the end thereof are as so many faggots to feed the fire of Hell I cannot but tremble at the greatness of its force and fury and carefully avoid the society of sinners in this life that I suffer not with them to the encrease of our mutual torments in the other world 3. Our fire may be quenched Mat. 3.12 Isa 66. ult Isa 30. ult nay 't will quench it self when its fuel is wasted but the fire of Hell is unquenchable because First The breath of the everlasting God like a stream of Brimstone doth enkindle it Secondly The fuel that feeds this fire shall never be consumed viz. Immaterial Immortal Beings of whom being tormented in these flames 't is affirmed Rev. 9.6 that they shall seek death and shall not find it they shall desire to die but death shall fly from them Miserable wretches whilst they had time and leisure to seek life they neglected it nay it is too common Ut cujus vita mortua fuit in culpa illic mors vivat in poena Greg. that when life in Christ is offered unto many in the blessed food of their Souls they slight and contemn it and therefore 't is most just as the Father observes that they whose life in this world was no other than a death in sin their death hereafter should be a life in punishment for sin everlastingly But as to the unquenchable fire of Hell Remember O my Soul that there is now a fire within thee the which if it be not quencht in this life will bring thee to fire unquenchable in the other world and this is the rank and fulsom fire of Concupiscence Thy carnal lusts and thy worldly lusts being now followed and fulfilled are the fuel that feeds that dismal fire of the Infernal Lake and the worm also that never dieth is bred of the same corruption even in the dunghil lusts of the heart actuated by the hot suggestions of Satan And as the fire of Concupiscence doth now more or less rage in thy heart so as to follow the sway thereof so shall the fire of Hell be more or less raging hereafter if these lusts do not die within thee before the death of nature seize thee Take then the advice of the Wise Syracides Eccl. 7.17 Humble thy self greatly for the vengeance of the wicked is fire and worms And of S. Col. 3.5 Paul Mortifie therefore your members that are upon earth fornication uncleanness inordinate affection evil concupiscence and covetousness which is Idolatry For which things sake the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience Blessed Jesus by the merits and mysteries of thy Circumcision I humbly beg the true Circumcision of the Spirit and by the virtue of thy Crucifixion strengthen me to crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts lest any of those exorbitant fires being not opportunely quenched involve me in those flames of Hell which are unquenchable MEDITAT IV. Of the extent of Hell-Pains Greg. mor. WHen I consider righteous Job on the Dunghil the holy Baptist hungring in the Wilderness S. James beheaded S. Peter crucified the Torments and Deaths of innumerable Martyrs the manifold Afflictions of the holy and elect people of God I cannot but consider and know assuredly that very great and many shall be the Torments of the wicked in the world to come since God suffereth those whom he dearly loves to be so much afflicted in this life The Pains of Hell in the extent of them do herein differ from all present bodily pains that these are partial only in some particular parts joynts and members of the body whilst other parts are free from pain But in Hell the whole man in all the Senses internal and external in all the parts of his body and powers of his soul yea the most spiritual faculties shall be tormented with fire and brimstone rage and despite grief and anguish misery and malediction For the pains of Hell are a concourse of all kinds of pain of all at the same time and of all of them for ever The Taste shall be punished with bitterness the Appetite with hunger and the Tongue with thirst the Sight with horror the Hearing with astonishment the Smell with stench the Heart with anguish the Imagination with fear the Reason with madness the Judgment with confusion and in the very Bowels fire unquenchable And this is most just that as the wicked have employed all the powers and parts both of Soul and Body as weapons of unrighteousness unto sin so should their punishment be in all their Senses Members Faculties that as each hath transgrest by sinful Pleasure and inordinate Delight so each should have its peculiar afflicting Torment There is no sin unrepented in this life but shall have its proper peculiar torment in Hell There the proud shall be filled with confusion The slothful shall be pricked forward with burning goads The covetous shall be pinched with penury The glutton and the drunkard shall be pined with a perpetual hunger and thirst The envious shall howl like mad dogs for rage and grief The luxurious and lovers of Pleasures more than lovers of God shall wallow in burning pitch and stinking brimstone And in a word in whatsoever thing a man hath in this life offended in the same shall he be tormented if not by a true and timely Repentance prevented And this the miserable Dives felt when he wanted a drop of cold water to cool his Tongue in Hell who whilst upon earth had fared sumptuously every day 'T is undoubtedly true that all persons condemned to the flames of the nether Hell are not equally tormented therein for though the fire of Hell be one and the same yet it torments not all after the same manner nor in the same degree of torture but every man shall therein more or less feel the smart of its fury as by the nature quality and frequency of his sin he hath less or more deserved the same Gen. 18.25 for shall not the Judge of all the world do right The more high peremptory and presumptuous as also the less obstinate and impenient sinner shall both suffer under the torment of
unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul being hereunto encouraged by thy grace and goodness For thou Lord art good even the inexhaustible Fountain of goodness and gracious propitiously inclined to hear the supplications of thy people and of great mercy against the greatness of iniquity unto all them that call upon thee even to all that call upon thee faithfully depending upon thee alone for help and safety Give ear to my prayer not slightly hearing the sound of my words but ponder the voice of my humble desires the intense desires of my humbled soul I humbly desire to be considered In the time of my trouble and that 's the whole time of my Pilgrimage here upon earth I will call upon thee for protection and deliverance whereof I will never despair for thou hearest me if my Prayer be pure and humble and therefore will I call upon thee as long as I live Among the Gods that be either falsly so called or be so called by participation of divine Power as the Angels in Heaven and Kings of the Earth there is none like unto thee O Lord either for Power or Wisdom there is none that can do as thou dost thy Works do far exceed the Power of any created Beings to do the like and therefore in fulness of time All nations whom thou hast made shall no longer make Gods unto themselves but shall come and worship thee O Lord the Maker of all Men and of all Things and being admitted Members of thy holy Catholick Church shall glorifie thy Name both with heart and voice and by the good Works of their Obedience to the Gospel of Christ For thou art great which all thy Works declare and dost wondrous things not to be apprehended but admired and 't is therefore in all the parts of the World confessed that thou art God alone all others being either falsly or feignedly called Gods And that I may accordingly worship thee aright Teach me thy way O Lord that I neither mistake the right way nor stumble and fall therein but stedfastly and constantly walk in thy truth and this Way and this Truth is my blessed Redeemer who by his Doctrine and Example Doings and Sufferings Life and Death is the way that leads to Life Eternal O knit my heart unto thee by the indissoluble bonds of a true Faith firm Hope fervent Charity that I may fear thy Name so as that I neither dare to sin against thee nor too much presume upon thy mercy I will thank thee O Lord my God as from whom both my whole Self and all the little good that is mine does proceed with all my heart as being hereunto excited by the fear and love of thy Name and I will praise thy Name for evermore And there is very great reason I should do so For great is thy mercy toward me not only manifested in all the good things I do enjoy but in my deliverance from manifold evils and especially from the greatest of evils for thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell in the broad way that leads thereunto I have a long time walked and 't is of thy great mercy that I have not long since been hurled headlong to that dismal place of Torments And still I have great cause to complain O God the proud are risen against me proud Lucifer and his infernal Fiends and the congregation of naughty men have sought after my soul the wicked of the world conspire with the Devil and his Angels by their sinful suggestions to subvert the innocence of my Soul to have her portion with them in the neithermost Hell But thou O Lord art full of compassion especially to all them who chuse rather to suffer than to do what is offensive to thy Majesty and mercy in pardoning the offences of the truly penitent long-suffering not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance plenteous in goodness abounding in thy blessings and truth both in performing thy promises of mercy to the penitent and in rendring to every man according to his works O turn thee then unto me who by my sins have justly provoked thee to turn away thy face from me and have mercy upon me a miserable sinner and that I may no more offend thee give thy strength unto thy servant even ghostly strength and fortitude manfully to resist the Devil and all his numerous troops of sensual and worldly lusts in all whose assaults vouchsafe to help the son of thine handmaid that I may overcome all their temptations unto evil and carefully keep my vow and promise made when I was first admitted to be a Son of thy handmaid the Church Shew some token upon me for good let some sign of thy favour towards me appear that they who hate me my ghostly enemies may see it and be ashamed when they shall behold all their conspiracies and assaults against my Soul defeated by the assistance of thy divine Grace because thou Lord hast holpen me and comforted me thy help to overcome when I am tempted unto sin is a great comfort to my Soul for I have hereupon a good ground of hope that thou wilt deliver my Soul from the nethermost Hell and that being raised up from the gates of Death I may shew all thy praises within the ports of the Daughter of Sion Saying Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. The LXXXVIII Psalm PARAPHRASED Verse 1. O Lord God of my salvation my Corporal and Spiritual Temporal and Eternal Salvation is from thee and therefore I have cryed day and night at all times and seasons and in all conditions prosperous and adverse before thee as unto whom alone the inmost intimate desires of my soul are naked and open O let my prayer enter into thy presence be received and accepted by thee incline thine ear unto my calling so graciously hear as to grant my humble requests My soul is full of trouble which being the consequent of Sin is the forerunner of Death and my life draweth nigh unto hell which openeth wide her mouth to swallow down such polluted Souls I am counted as one of them that go down to the Pit look'd upon as a dead man and a cast-away and I have been even as a man that hath no strength which is derived from the Lord of life to escape the snares and terrors of death Free among the dead not likely to be freed from my troubles but by death which puts an end to all the miseries of this sinful life like unto them that are wounded by the fiery darts of the Devil and lie in the grave of corrupt conversation which leads to the grave of death the wages of sin and whosoever thus lie there are out of remembrance both forgotten by the righteous and also are cut away from thy hand repuls'd from amongst those blessed Sheep which shall be rank'd on thy right hand in the day of Judgment Thou hast laid
me in the lowest Pit I confess I have so far incurr'd thy wrathful displeasure as to be laid in the nethermost Hell which is a place of darkness even blackness of darkness for ever and in the deep Abyss of inextricable Torments Thine indignation lieth hard upon me whereto I have provoked thee by manifold offences and thou hast vexed me with all thy storms those tempests of affliction and trouble which disturb my peace are sent from thee to scowre the rust of corruption off my Soul Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me and made me to be abhorred of them The invisible society of holy Angels with the prayers and good wishes of holy men I enjoyed whilst I was innocent and heavenly-minded but now being polluted they are estranged from me and abhor me in my sins I am so fast in prison that I cannot get forth I am so enfetter'd in the bonds and chains of my sins that without the help of a divine hand I cannot be loosed from them My sight faileth for very trouble the bright eye of my mind is dimm'd and darkned through the pressures of my spirit and in this sad condition Lord I have called upon thee as being my only refuge in danger support in trouble and succour in all distress I have stretched forth my hands unto thee by my practice according to my prayer Dost thou shew wonders among the dead or shall the dead declare thy works of wonder or shall the dead rise up and praise thee They must have part in the first Resurrection which is from the corruption of sin who worthily shew forth thy praise Shall thy loving kindness be shewed in the grave or thy faithfulness in destruction both in the state of the first and of the second Death there is a deep silence of thy Goodness and of thy Truth Shall thy wondrous works be known in the dark and thy righteousness in the land where all things are forgotten Thy righteous and admired deeds are not once mentioned either in the grave of Death or in the Pit of Hell in both estates there is an utter forgetfulness of all thy Goodness and Truth But that I may be delivered from such a sad condition Vnto thee have I cried O Lord and early shall my prayer come before thee Before I be surprised by Death let my prayer for thy prevented and assisting Grace be not rejected Lord why abhorrest thou my soul I am unclean I confess and 't is but just I should be abhorred and forsaken but being withal penitent and humbled why hidest thou thy face from me as being still displeased with me and deaf to my petitions I am in misery and like unto him that is at the point to die Death as the wages of sin dogs me at the heels even from my youth up thy terrors have I suffered with a troubled mind The terrors of my Conscience for sin have been alway accompanied with a troubled and contrite spirit which thou hast promised not to despise Thy wrathful displeasure goeth over me The apprehension of thy wrath and displeasure invades and overflows my soul and the fear of thee hath undone me the fear of thy wrath in the day of Judgment and of the never-dying Torments of Hell hath ruin'd all my worldly consolations They came round about me daily like water overflowing all the powers and passions of my Soul and compassed me together on every side leaving no visible means of evasion and peace My lovers and my friends who professed themselves to be such in my worldly prosperity and amidst my carnal delights hast thou put away from me they are alienated and estranged in time of my trouble and hid mine acquaintance out of my sight they will not now see me who formerly frequented my company And therefore being thus desolate and deeply endeangered unto thee as my only hope and refuge O Lord God of my Salvation I have cried day and night continually for Deliverance and Salvation that my soul may continually bless thee and say Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. THE Fourth general Meditation OF HEAVEN 1. THE Land of Canaan was promised to Abraham the Father of the Faithful in these words of command Gen. 13.14 Lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art Northward and Southward Eastward and Westward For all the Land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy seed for ever The Celestial Canaan is herein promised unto thee if a true Son of the Faithful Abraham Lift up then thine eyes O my Soul and Contemplate the ravishing Felicities of this Land of Promise This is thy Native Country where thou wast at first Framed by the hands of the Almighty after His own Image Why then dost thou not pant and breath and sigh and long to be at Home Why art thou so well pleased with a strange Land and delightest rather to be a Pilgrim in the Valley of Tears than a Free Denizon in the Land of Peace a Foreigner in the city of Babylon than a Citizen in the heavenly Jerusalem Away away from Lebanon O my Soul thy beloved calleth thee away from the Dens of Lions Can. 4.8 Psal 55.6 and the mountains of the Leopards O that I had wings like a Dove for then would I flee away and be at rest 3. We read that the Lord brought Moses to the top of mount Pisgah and shewed him the promised land where having the wilderness behind him and the happiest of all lands before him he represents the devout and heavenly minded Soul who considering the manifold troubles in the wilderness of this world and the joys and felicities of the world to come is highly ravished in the contemplation and desire of the one to the extream contempt of the other Did I but seriously consider the ways of my present peace and contentment I could not but observe that the Commandments of God have so much intrinsick sweetness and felicity in them as to excite the most simple and stubborn Soul to obey them and yet so excessive are the ardors of divine Goodness and Love as to engage our obedience by the promises of Celestial Joys Unto this immarcescible Crown of Glory we are Created by God the Father Redeemed by God the Son and Sanctified by God the Holy Ghost in the sacred Waters of Baptism wherein we are adopted not only sons but heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven What blindness then doth so much possess the minds of the greatest part of the sons of men that all their desires and endeavours should be so wholly taken up with the vain frail empty and dying things of the Earth to the slight and neglect of those never fading joys of Heaven The first and largest step we take towards Heaven is from the state of Sin into the state of Grace the other viz. from Grace to Glory is a more easie and ready passage there being nothing betwixt