Life is nothing but Vanity and Vexation of Spirit IV. And what can my Thoughts raise from this Or where shall I be comforted it is thy Mercy O Lord is the only expedient that can relieve me thou O Blessed Jesus art unto me Life eternal and by thy Sufferings Death is to me an advantage while my Body sleeps it shall rest secure and that Rest shall be perfectly Blessed I shall rest from Labour Sorrow and Sin my sleep shall be safe and my beatifical Vision happy while my Body sleeps in the Dust my Soul shall awake to Righteousness when my Soul is dismantled of Flesh and Flesh of fading Beauty my Spirit shall be adorned with the Robes of thy Glory V. While my Dust is driven with the wind upon the Surface of the Earth my Spirit shall fly to the highest Heavens then shall my Eyes be opened to behold my Soul with Purity and Perfection no dark Veil of Nature shall obscure me defect of Senses hinder me or foggy Clouds of sin hover over me my Understanding shall be transparent my Affections pure and my Memory perfect I shall there be fully satisfied in beholding the Spirits of just Men made perfect ravished in enjoying the Presence of Angels and Blessed in retaining the Divine Goodness VI. There can be nothing wanting where there is such Perfection where humane Happiness is eternally united to the Blessed Trinity where I am Christ's and Christ is God's and the Holy Comforter abides with us for ever O most splendid Condition of my sinful Body and blessed Change of my immortal Soul the one is sown in Corruption that it may rise immortal the other layeth down Corruption to inherit Glory VII But wretched Sinner even in this Happiness I am still miserable I found out my quiet but neglect to enjoy it Death reaches to me a Crown but I refuse to accept it I am so prone to affect my own unhappiness to delight in Labour and complain of Rest why do I dwell among these Objects of Vanity the World loves me not nor I it and why do I thus doat upon my Enemy with its frowns it afflicts me with its Smiles it betrays me and there is nothing in it but Vanity and Misery VIII Go then out cheerfully O my Soul from this dark Prison of thy Body to that bright Celestial Palace there God is thy Father and Heaven thy Country thou art here Forlorn Poor Wretched and Naked dispossessed of Graces and robbed of Goodness thou hast there large Treasure and of great Price a Heavenly Mansion and a goodly Heritage Christ hath long ago purchased it and is now gone before to prepare it IX Here in this Life thou longest much to behold what thou never sawest but in the other are great and glorious things prepared for thee such as no mortal Eye hath seen Ear heard neither can it enter into the Heart of Man to conceive how earnestly then shouldst thou long to behold them and much more earnestly to enjoy them how willingly should this make thee say with Holy David My Soul is a thirst for God yea even for the living God when shall I come and appear before the Presence of God X. Alas Thou art here my Soul but groping in the dark daily committing Errours and Mistakes every minute stumbling and falling into Sin Shame and Sorrow in great Dangers of the Miseries of humane Life but in greater Danger of eternal Torments XI All that thou canst pretend to know here is to Confess thy self ignorant Thou only knowest things here by their Events but there thou shalt know them in their primitive Causes thou art here tired out in gaining this imperfect feeble and empty Knowledge there thou shalt be delighted in knowing all that is desirable by knowing him in whom are laid up all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge these transitory drops of Joys are full of Bitterness but those Rivers of eternal Pleasures flow from the Fountain of eternal Sweetness Thou hast here the Pomps and Vanities of the wicked World to delight thee but thou hast there a far greater and more exceeding weight of Glory to surround thee thou art here inclosed by the Misery of Life but thou art there enlarged by the Blessedness of Death XII Blessed Lord all this by Grace I know and stedfastly believe and yet carnally I am still blind and ignorant unable to discuss and unwilling to desire those things which belong unto my Peace but when thou with thy precious Eye-Salve shalt once anoint my Eyes and open them to behold the Beauty of thy Heavenly Temple I shall then ardently affect it and unfeignedly long for it I shall then most readily forsake these brittle Walls of frail Mortality to dwell with thee in perfect Holiness and endless Happiness that Frailty may be swallowed up by Immortality and Immortality rewarded by Eternity The Prayer ALmighty God which wert and art to come who hast sweetned and taken away the Sting of Death by thy perfect obedience and hast perfumed the Grave by the Fragrancy of thy blessed Sufferings suffer me not in my last hour for any Pains of Death or Terrours of Hell to fall from thee let me seriously consider that this Life is miserable and that a happy Death is truly Blessed acquaint me every day with the remembrance of it and bless me every hour with an earnest Desire to it that I may with willingness cast off all Sin and Misery and joyfully put on the Robe of Immortality II. Prepare me O Lord for that Blessed hour and in my greatest Agonies and Extremities when all the Comforts of this mortal Life shall fail then Lord Jesus forsake me not neither be thou far from me Moreover give me then that inward Joy and blessed Comfort of thy Holy Spirit that may uphold and comfort me in all the Terrours and Amazements of this dark and obscure Passage in all the dreadful Temptations of the Devil and my own accusing Conscience Let thy Spirit witness to my Soul that I am thy Chosen purifie me and take away my Dross powerfully Protect me by thy saving Grace so shall I assuredly be made a Partaker of thy Heavenly Kingdom Meditation XXII In time of Sickness HEar my Prayer O Lord which I make unto thee upon my Bed of Sickness incline thine Ears unto me in this time of my trouble O hear me and that right soon Behold thou hast made my days as it were a Span long and my Age though it be great in respect of others yet it is nothing in respect of thee for verily every Man living is altogether Vanity II. My days are consumed away like Smoke and my Bones are burnt up as it were a Fire-brand There is no Health in my Flesh because of thy displeasure neither is there any Rest in my Bones by reason of my Sin My wickednesses are gone over my Head and are a sore burden too heavy for me to bear But I will confess my wickedness and be sorry for
Mortification for times of Sickness and old Age when 't will be easie to leave their Pleasures because their Pleasures will leave them yet in the Judgment of God the Son the Word and Wisdom of the Father 'T is the part of a Block-head and a Fool to make Account of more years than he is sure of days or hours XI He is a Sot as well as a Sinner who does adjourn and shift off the Amendment of his Life perhaps till twenty or thirty or forty years after his Death 'T is true indeed that Hezekiah whilst he was yet in the Confines and Skirts of Death had a Lease of Life granted no less than fifteen years long but he deferr'd not his Repentance one day the longer 2 Kings 20.6 XII And shall we adventure to live an hour in an impenitent Estate who have not a Lease of Life promised no not so much as an hour shall we dare enter into our Beds and sleep securely any one Night not thinking how we may awake whether in Heaven or in Hell we know 't is timely Repentance which must secure us of the one and 't is final impenitence which gives us assurance of the other XIII What the Apostle of the Gentiles hath said of wrath may be as usefully spoken of every other provoking Sin Ephes 4.6 Let not the Sun go down upon it Let us not live in any Sin until the Sun is gone down because we are far from being sure we shall live till Sun-rising XIV How many Professors go to sleep when the Sun is gone down and the Curtains of the Night are drawn about them in a State of Drunkenness or Adultery in a State of Avarice or Malice in a State of Sacriledge or Rebellion in a State of Deceitfulness and Hypocrisie without the least Consideration how short a time they have to live and how very much shorter than they imagine XV. Yet unless they believe the y can Dream devoutly and truly repent when they are sleeping they cannot but know they are damn'd for ever if the Day of the Lord shall come upon them as a Thief in the Night and catch them napping in their impieties 1 Thes 5.2.4 2 Pet. 3.10 XVI Consider this all ye that forget God lest he pluck you away and there be none to deliver you Psal 50.22 Consider it all ye that forget your selves that forget how few your days are and how full of Misery Consider your Bodies from whence they came and consider your Souls whither they are going Consider your Life is in your Breath and your Breath is in your Nostrils and that in the management of a moment for the better or for the worse there dependeth either a joyful or a sad Eternity XVII If our time indeed were certain as well as short or rather if we were certain how short it is there might be some Colour or Pretence for the putting off of our Reformation But since we know not at what hour our Lord will come Matth. 24.42 43 44. this should mightily engage us to be hourly standing upon our watch Hab. 2.1 XVIII Next let us consider that if our days which are few are as full of trouble it should serve to make us less fond of Living and less devoted to Self-preservation and less afraid of the Cross of Christ when our Faith shall be called to the severest Tryals XIX O Death saith the Son of Sirach Eccles 41.2 acceptable is thy Sentence to the Needy and to him that is vexed with all things The troubles incident to Life have made the bitter in Soul to long for Death and to rejoyce exceedingly when they have found the Grave Job 3.20 21 22. XX. If the Empress Barbara had been Orthodox in believing Mens Souls to be just as mortal as their Bodies Death at least would be capable of this Applause and Commendation that it puts a Conclusion to all our Troubles XXI If we did not fear him Who can cast both Body and Soul into Hell Matth. 10.27 28. We should not need to fear them Who can destroy the Body only because there is no Inquisition in the Grave Eccles 41.4 There the wicked cease from troubling And there the weary are at rest There the Prisoners lye down with Kings and Councellors of the Earth The Servant there is free from his Master There is sleep and still silence nor can they hear the voice of the Oppressour Job 3.14 17 18 19. The Prayer O Lord God of my Salvation thou hast delivered me from the Captivity and Bondage of Sin and Misery fill my Heart with holy Sorrow and Compunction whenever I trespass against thee and teach me so to deny my self to mortifie my Affections to crucifie my Lusts and all the Temptations of the Flesh that I going on my way Mourning and Weeping despising the Pleasures of this Life may when thy great Harvest shall come and thy Reapers the Angels shall separate the Wheat from the Tares come before thee with Joy and escape everlasting Burnings through the Mercies of Jesus Christ Amen Meditation XXXI The Sick Man's last Will and Testament IN the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost I a poor Sinner of sound and perfect Memory being daily read in the Lecture of Man's Mortality how all Flesh is Grass and the Beauty thereof as the Flower of the Field which this day flourisheth to morrow withereth and that it is every Chriftian's Duty to Prepare himself before Death come lest it find him unprovided at such time as it shall approach II. Moved I say with these Considerations I have here made this my last Will and Testament as followeth First I bequeath my Soul into the hands of my gracious Redeemer by whose most precious Blood I was Ransomed and by whose Merits and Mercies I hope to be Glorified III. And forasmuch as there was no safety out of the Ark nor no Salvation now without the pale of the Church figured by the Ark and that the Tares from the Wheat must be severed And the Sheep and the Goats must not into one Fold be gathered IV. Here in the Presence of God and his Holy Angels for the discharge of my own Conscience and the Satisfaction of others who perchance have in their Opinions been divided doubting much how I in Points of Religion stood affected do I make a free and publick Confession of my Faith Being that Cement by which we are knit unto her and made Members of her V. I believe the Holy Catholick Church to be the Communion of the Faithful whereof I desire to live and die a Member to suffer for which I should account it an Honour holding this ever for a Principle that none can have God for his Father that will not take this Holy Spouse the Church for his Mother VI. There is no Article in the Apostles Creed which I do not believe for Catholick and Orthodoxal with the Exposition thereof and every Clause or Particle thereof in such manner as it hath been universally
my Sin III. O Lord be merciful unto me heal my Soul for I have sinned against thee Call to remembrance O Lord thy tender mercy and thy loving kindness which hath been ever of Old O remember not the Sins of my Youth nor the Offences of riper years but according to thy mercy think thou upon me IV. Cast me not away in the time of Age forsake me not now that my strength faileth me Go not far from me O God my God haste thee to help me Thou O God hast taught me from my youth up until now Forsake me not therefore in my old Age when I am Gray-headed V. The days of our Age are Threescore years and ten and though some be so strong that they come to Fourscore which is a mercy wherewith thou hast Crowned me thy unworthy Servant yet is their strength then but Labour and Sorrow so soon passeth it away and we are gone But Lord suffer me not to go hence in thy Displeasure O suffer not my Sun to go down in thy wrath nor my days to be shut up in the darkness of thine Anger VI. But as thou art pleased to bring me to my Grave in a full Age like as a shock of Corn cometh in his Season so let me be gathered at last like Wheat into thy Heavenly Granary And let mine Age be renewed as the Eagles in thy Kingdom of Glory Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be World without end Amen VII Thou in whose hands are the Keys of the Grave and the issues of Life and Death Thou in whose Power alone it is to kill and to make alive and to bring down to the Grave and to raise up again Thou who hadst Compassion upon Peter's Wives Mother by recovering her out of a Fever Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me whole VIII Thou who didst shew thy mercy to those Daughters of Abraham the Woman that for twelve years together was diseased with an Issue of Blood and another who by the space of eighteen years was so bowed together that she could in no wise lift up her self thou didst loose both these and many more from their long infirmities Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me whole IX Thou who didst restore to Life the young Maiden that was dead Lord if thou wilt thou canst restore me to my Health who am an aged Sinner and a sick feeble Creature Thou canst mitigate my Pains and renew my Strength and lengthen my days For thou makest our Beds in our Sickness and art the Lord of Life and Health and Strength even thou art the Almighty God and the Horn of my Salvation O thou ancient of days X. But Lord as for these outward Blessings I wholly submit my self and them unto thy good Pleasure If it be thy Blessed Will to have the days of my Pilgrimage prolonged upon Earth make me to live always to thy Glory and to my own Souls Comfort as thou dost add days to my years so do thou likewise add Repentance to my days XI But if thou thinkest it more expedient for me that I should die than live then welcome my Death and Dissolution without which there is no entring into Life eternal nor hopes of being with Christ Welcome Jesus who by thy Death hast taken away the Sting of Death Welcome that Cup whereof thou my dear Saviour hast drank before me and which even to the very Dregs thou hast drank off for me XII And therefore I will readily take this Cup of Death which thou hast begun unto me and Praise the Name of the Lord. I will Praise thy Name O sweet Saviour who givest me this Cup of Death the Cup of Salvation I will Praise thy Name who hast born all our Sicknesses for us and all our infirmities XIII I will Praise thy Name who art the Physician of Souls and callest all such unto thee as are weary and heavy Laden that thou mayst refresh them Amongst which great number behold me O Lord thy poor and aged thy weak and sick Servant weary in my Bones and laden with my Sins But Lord I come unto thee in obedience to thy Call and of those that come near unto thee thou castest none out Lord I come unto thee for ease and refreshment XIV O my beloved Saviour Jesus in the midst of the weariness of my Body in the midst of the load and burthen of my Sins in the midst of the Sorrows which are in my Heart O let thy Comforts and Consolations refresh my Soul XV. And when the snares of Death compass me round about let not the Pains of Hell take hold upon me But by all the Merits of thy Nativity Death Resurrection and Ascension I beseech thee to seal unto me in thine own precious Blood and by thy most Holy Spirit the full-Pardon of all my Sins and to admit me who am thy own Purchace to a Participation of thy Glory A Prayer for a Happy End in time of Sickness O Most glorious Jesus Lamb of God Fountain of eternal mercy Life of the Soul and Conqueror over Sin and Death I humbly beseech thee of thy Goodness and Compassion to give me Grace so to employ this transitory Life in vertuous and pious Exercises that when the Day of my Death shall come in the midst of all my Pains of Body I may feel the sweet refreshings of thy Holy Spirit Comforting my Soul and relieving all my spiritual necessities II. Lay no more upon me than thou shalt enable me to bear and let thy gentle Correction in this Life prevent the insupportable Stripes in the World to come give me Patience and Humility and the Grace of Repentance and an absolute renouncing of my self and a Resignation to thy Pleasure and Providence with a Power to perform thy Will in all things and then do what thou pleasest to me only in Health or Sickness in Life or Death let me feel thy Comforts refreshing my Soul and let thy Grace pardon all my Sins Amen Meditation XXIII Thanksgiving for Ease in Sickness or Recovery out of it BLessed by thy Name O Lord for blessing the means which are applyed unto me It is thy hand and the help of thy mercy that thou hast relieved me The Waters of affliction had long since drowned me and the Stream of Death had gone over my Soul if the Spirit of the Lord had not moved upon these Waters and led me forth besides the waters of Comfort II. O spread most gracious God according to thy mercy thy hand upon me for a Covering and also enlarge my Heart with Thanksgivings and fill my Mouth with thy Praise Praise the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me Praise his Holy Name who hath saved thy Life from Destruction and Crowned thee with mercy and loving kindness III. Grant Lord that what thou hast sown in Mercy may spring up in Duty Let my Duty and
received by the Holy Catholick Church and holds in Consent or Harmony with the Holy Scripture the Christians Armour by which and the constant Practice of Piety every faithful Soldier of Christ may be enabled to pull down those strong Holds of his spiritual Enemy and by Possessing his Soul in Patience obtain a glorious Victory VII With all due Reverence I esteem of those two Sacraments Baptism and the Lord's Supper the one to cleanse and purifie us at our entring the other to strengthen and sanctifie us Living and to glorifie our Souls at their departing As with my Heart I believe unto Righteousness so with my Mouth do I confess unto Salvation VIII Neither do I profess my self such a Solifidian asto hold Faith sufficient to Salvation without Works Neither such a Champion for good Works as to hold Works effectual without Faith As Faith is the Root so are Works the Fruit. These are ever to go hand in hand together otherwise that fearful Curse which our blessed Saviour sometimes pronounced upon the barren Fig-tree must be their Censure IX And now in this day of my Change as in this Confidence I have ever liv'd so my Trust is that in the same I shall dye that in the Resurrection of my Saviour Christ Jesus is my Hope And in his Ascension is my Glory For I believe that my Redeemer liveth and that with these Eyes I shall see him X. And having thus returned a due Account of my belief my next thing is to remember that Message returned by Isaiah the Son of Amos to Hezekiah set thine House in Order for thou shalt die 2 Kings 20.1 for it is a Maxim when the outward part is orderly disposed the inward cannot chuse but be better prepared XI To remove then from me the Cares of this present Life that I may take a more willing adieu of the World before I leave it weaning my desires from it by addressing my self to a better for live he cannot in the Land of the living who prepares not himself for it before his arriving XII And now my Worldly Cares are drawn near unto their Period Seeing then I am sailing towards my Harbour let me strike Anchor that taking the Wings of the Morning I may fly to the Bosome of my dear Redeemer go forth then my Soul what fearest thou Go forth why tremblest thou thou hast had enough of these Worldly Pleasures for what foundst thou there but Anguish turn then thy Face to the Wall and think of the I and of Promise XIII Thou hast now but a little time left thee the remainder whereof is justly exacted by him that made thee Sighs Sobs Prayers and Tears are all the Treasures that are left thee and precious Treasures shall these be to thee if presented by Faith to the Throne of mercy for the Enemy can never prevail where Christian Fear and constant hope possesseth the Soul XIV Let thy desire then be planted where thy Treasure is placed and as one ravished with a spiritual Fervour cry out and spare not with that devour Father St. Hierom Saying Should my Mother tear her Hair rent her Cloaths lay forth those Breasts which nursed me and hang about me should my Father lye in the way to stop me my Wife and Children weep about me I would throw off my Mother neglect my Father contemn the Lamentation of my Wife and Children to meet my Saviour XV. And less than this O my Soul thou canst not do if thou callest to mind what thou leavest to whom thou goest and what thou hast in Exchange for that thou losest For what dost thou leave here but a World of Misery to whom goest thou but to a God of Mercy and what haft thou in Exchange for a vile frail and corruptible Body but immortal Glory Whatsoever thou hadst here was got with Pain kept with Fear and lost with Grief whereas now thou art to possess eternal Riches without Labouring and to enjoy them without fear of losing The Prayer O God my Heart then is ready my Heart is ready too long have I sojourned here and made my self a Stranger to my Heavenly Countrey It is high time for me then to discamp and to leave these Tents of Kedar that I may rest without Labouring rejoyce without sorrowing and live without dying in the Celestial Tabor saying with that Vessel of Election I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ even so Lord Jesus come quickly A Prayer when we hear a Bell ring for a Person at the Point of Death OEternal God I humbly thank thee for speaking in this voice to my Soul and I humbly beseech thee also to accept my Prayers in his behalf by whose occasion this voice this sound is come to me For though he and all of us have highly offended thee yet do thou in mercy receive us and grant that now his Soul being ready to depart from hence to thy Kingdom it may quickly return to a joyful re-union to that Body which it hath left and that we with it may soon enjoy the full Consummation of all in Body and Soul II. I humbly beg at thy hand O merciful God for thy Son Christ Jesus sake That thy Blessed Son may have the Consummation of his Dignity by entring into his last Office the Office of a Judge and may have Society of humane Bodies in Heaven as well as he hath had ever of Souls and that as thou hatest Sin it self thy hate to sin may be exprest in the abolishing of all Instruments of Sin the Allurements of this World and the World it self and all the temporary Revenges of Sin the Stings of Sickness and of Death and all the Castles and Prisons and Monuments of Sin in the Grave III. Let time be swallowed up in Eternity and hope swallowed in Possession and ends swallowed in infiniteness and all Men ordained to Salvation in Body and Soul be one intire and everlasting Sacrifice to thee where thou mayst receive Delight from them and they Glory from thee for evermore Amen Meditation XXXII Of this Life compared with Eternity FOrasmuch as Man who is born of a Woman hath but a short time to live and is full of Trouble so Man as regenerate and born of God hath a long time to live and is full of Bliss A Life so long that it runs parallel with Eternity and therefore without an abuse we cannot use such an Expression as length of time II. It is not a long but an endless Life it is not Time but Eternity which now I speak of Nor is it a wretched Eternity of which a Man may have the Priviledge as he is born of a Woman but an Eternity of Bliss which is competent to him only as born of God III. And of this Bliss there is such a fulness that our Heads are too thick to understand it Or if we were able to understand it yet our Hearts are too narrow to give it Entrance Or if our Hearts could
in Oblivion The Prayer O Lord what is our Life It is but a Vapour which is soon vanished and gone thou hast given us a short Portion of time on this side the Grave our Condition is vain unsatisfied and full of disquiet and we have no hope but in thee O Lord O teach us to number our days that we may apply our Hearts unto Wisdom to remember and to know our latter end that so we may never Sin against thee II. Grant that we may live as though we were always dying being of mortified Souls and Bodies of bridled Tongues and Affections and that instead of heaping up Riches we may strive for a Treasure of good Works laying up in Store for the time to come that having recovered our Strength lost by the Commission of our Sins when we go hence and are no more seen we may have a residence in those heavenly Mansions which are prepared by thee our Lord and Saviour Amen Meditation IV. That we ought continually to watch and pray WAtch said our Blessed Lord Because ye know not at what hour the Son of Man will come The Romans watch'd in their Arms yet sometimes without their Shield that they might have nothing to rest upon to attract them to sleep it is therefore thy Duty O drowzy Mortal to watch with vigour and well armed Ardent Prayers to the Almighty are the true Arms of Christians and the Shield which encourages sleep is the vain hope of a longer Life II. The frequent Cries of the Roman Soldiers were Wake Wake Thus they encouraged one another to Constancy in watching The Heavens themselves the seat of God's Glory waking and incessantly toyling admonish thee to watch If thou art not grown deaf like the Adder or fallen asleep in Carnal security hear the Voice of Christ Watch and Pray and St. Mark in his holy Gospel tells thee that Christ in the Conclusion of his Sermon thrice repeats these Words Mark 13. Take ye heed watch and pray for you know not when the time is Verse 33. Secondly Watch ye therefore for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh at Even or at Midnight or at the Cockcrowing or in the Morning lest Coming suddenly he find you sleeping Verse 35 36. Lastly And what I say unto you I say unto you all Watch Verse 37. III. And with the same Admonitions by the mouth of St. Matthew he crys to us Watch ye therefore for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come Matt. 24.42 and again Watch therefore for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh Matt. 25.13 the same he repeats upon the Mount of Olives Watch and pray that ye enter not into Temptation Matt. 26.41 IV. Upon the same Text he Preaches in St. Luke's Gospel Watch ye therefore and pray always Luke 21.36 the same watchfulness how often doth St. Paul reiterate these Claps of Thunder upon us to awaken us from sleep We are deaf yea dead indeed if these loud Exhortations will not rouse us Whoever thou art that sleepest in Viciousness awake Thou canst not plead ignorance in the Egyptians fate when the destroying Angel entred Egypt and made a vast Slaughter both upon Man and Beast so that Pharaoh's heart was hardened to his own Destruction V. Remember the Lot of the ten Virgins when there was at Midnight a great Cry made and they that were prepar'd were admitted to the Nuptials but the drowsie Sleepers were excluded Dost thou remember the Folly of the gluttonous Servant when his Lord came unlook'd for and at an hour when he least thought of him Or hast thou consider'd the vigilant Master of his Family who wakes at all hours that the Thief can have no opportunity to break the house open And Lastly dost thou remember thy Saviour was born at Midnight and peradventure he may come at that hour to judge the Universe Therefore watch as if every day were thy last The Prayer GRacious God let thy Grace reform our Lives and Manners that we may watch diligently and pray without Ceasing keep our mouth from slander guile and deceit let us never incline to Actions of injustice or uncleanness in partaking with Thieves or Adulterers either in their Sin or Punishment that when thou who art the righteous God of the World shalt appear in perfect Beauty with a consuming Fire before thee and a Tempest round about thee with Terrours and glorious Majesty calling the Heavens and the Earth together to judge thy People thou mayst gather us among thy Saints in Glory II. O let the day-spring of thy Favour visit us from on high that we may seek thee with an early Devotion pursue after thee with a Constant and Active Industry and at last possess thee with the firm Comprehensions of Love and Charity That in this World we looking for thee in Holiness of Living longing and thirsting after thee with fervent Desires may for ever hereafter behold thy Power and Glory Give us the Mercies and the Portion of thine inheritance that so we may Honour thee by an eternal Oblation of Praise and Thanksgiving in the highest Heavens Amen Meditation V. Death often to be thought of MAny in this World live as if they thought they should never die nor in the least consider their Latter end It was a Custome with some of old whensoever they intended a sumptuous Feast to put a Deaths-head into a Dish and serve it up unto the Table II. Which being meant for a significant though silent Orator to plead for Temperance and Sobriety by minding Men of their Mortality and that the end of their eating should be to live and that the end of their living should be to dye and the end of their dying to live for ever for even the Heathens who denied the Resurrection of the Body did yet believe the immortality of the Soul was look'd upon by all sober and considering Guests as the wholsomest part of their Entertainment III. And since 't is true what is said by Solomon that Sorrow is better than Laughter for by the sadness of the Countenance the Heart is made better Whereupon the Royal Preacher concludes it better of the two for a Man to go into the House of Mourning I cannot but reason within my self that when the Heart of Fools is in the House of Mirth there can be nothing more friendly or more agreeable to their wants than to invite such Men to the House of Mourning and there to treat them with a Character of the most troublesome Life of Man which being impartially provided will serve as well as a Death's-head during the time of their floating in this Valley of Tears IV. For this is useful to all by way of Instruction not to be amorous of a Life which is not only so short as that it cannot be kept long but withal so full of trouble as that 't is hardly worth keeping Nor by consequence to doat on a flattering World which is so little
to be enjoyed and its Enjoyments also so full of vexatious mixtures V. Again 't is useful to encourage us not to stand in fear of Man that must submit to the King of Terrours and whilst he lives can but kill the Body Nor to scruple at the paying that common Debt we owe to Religion as well as Nature that God may give us an Acquittance as well as Mortality We having received an Ensurance from the infallible undertaker that the way both to save and prolong a Life is Religiously to lose it or lay it down VI. Again it is useful to admonish us after the measure that we are negligent to Merchandize with the Talent of our time for the unspeakable advantages of Life eternal and to do all the work we can whilst it is Day because the Night cometh when we shall be able to work no more VII Lastly it mindeth us as to be doing because our Lord cometh and is at hand so to be vigilant and watchful because we know not in what hour In a word the more transitory and the more troublesome the Life of Men shall appear to be by so much the better will be the Uses which we are prompted to make of its Imperfections The Prayer TEach me O Lord to number my days that I may apply my Heart unto true Wisdom and be more ready to go to the House of Mourning which is the Temple of the Wife than to enter into the House of Mirth the School of the Scornful Suffer me not to set my Affections on things here below that flourish for a time and then fade away but grant that I may place my Affections on Heaven above where thou fittest at the Right hand of the Father for evermore II. Set Scourges over my Thoughts and the Discipline of Wisdom over my Heart lest my Ignorance increase and my Sins abound to my Destruction let my Repentance be speedy and perfect bringing forth the Fruits of a holy Conversation Give unto me a Faith that shall never be reproved a Hope that shall never make me ashamed a Charity that shall never cease a Confidence in thee that shall never be discompos'd a Patience that shall never faint a noble Christian Courage that shall enable me to glorifie thy Name and rejoyce in thy Mercies in the day of Recompence at thy glorious Appearance Amen Meditation VI. Of the Shortness of Humane Life THe days of Man are but few yet they are as many as Nature design'd him and his Glass is run out without being broken unless it be by the hand of Time The whole Duration of time it self is but the Non-age of Eternity and therefore Moses as the Psalmist spoke very aptly when he addressed his Speech to God A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past Psal 90.4 which is infinitely less than was yesterday when it was present II. And 't is the same in effect with that Expression of David the Psalmist Royal who said his Age was as nothing in respect of him who is all in all and that as great as some Men do seem to be to themselves and others Every Man is but Vanity at his best Estate Psal 39. what he is at his worst 't will be impossible to express unless we shall say with David too that he is altogether lighter than Vanity it self III. Now if a thousand years are but as yesterday and as yesterday when it is past too how short a thing is the Life of Man in Comparison How short when compar'd with the long Line of Time How nothing when compar'd with the Circle of Eternity Threescore and ten are all the years which are allowed by Moses to a natural Man's Life and though some are so strong as to arrive at Fourscore yet that overplus of years is but Labour and Sorrow IV. They do not live but linger who pass that Tropick of their Mortality From after Threescore years and ten they are but survivers to themselves at least they feel themselves dying and their Bodies become their Burdens if not the Charnel-houses or Sepulchres wherein their Souls lye buried V. The vulgar Historians thought fit to call it Eorum Amplius which we cannot better express in English than if we call it their Surplusage of Life When Nature in them is so strong as to shoot beyond her own Mark. Her Mark is Threescore and ten if Moses himself hath set it right or place it further at Fourscore farther yet at an Hundred the Life of Man we see is short though it should reach the very utmost that Nature aims at The Prayer WHat didst thou bestow our Reason on us for O Lord but to hearken unto the voice of thy Law that the Celestial Oratory of thy word might at least win us from an ignorant Prophaneness Shall Heathens that had no other end no other reward for their Piety than some temporary Applause or the inward Triumphs of their Spirits for doing well out-strip us in the Beauties of a moral Life and we that have higher and purer Hopes be scarce honest for thy sake II. Shall they that knew thee not be more passionately good than we that have found out Heaven and expect Eternity to succeed Though it was not in the Power of Man to find thee till thou didst reveal thy self in Christ yet now having so richly and fully shewn us the Treasures of thy Love shall we not strive to do something for thy Glory III. Make us we beseech thee to consider the Advantages that are in thy Service the Happiness that attends Obedience and that Crown which is the reward of Faith that so our Affections being mortified unto these perishing Objects here below may be enlivened only with Desires after those eternal Excellencies that are in thee Amen Meditation VII That we ought to seek early after God SUch Lovers are we of Heaven that we think it no sin to serve our selves first and make our Creator wait the leisure of our Devotion Miserable Creatures whose Religion reaches no higher than their Bodies for whose very Superfluities we study to provide whilst our brighter part lies all naked and unthought of II. Such Strangers are we even to our own Souls so insensible of the Joys to come that we look no higher than the World and in sphearing all our Hopes within Mortality as if we had nothing durable beyond our Breath suffer Eternity to be forgotten III. We cannot live without our Maker and yet how do our Lives neglect him How eager how ambitious are we after an Enjoyment here but carry not the smallest Passion for his Glory The Jollities of the World swallow up all thoughts of Heaven and in the Pleasures of Sense we can drown Immortality IV. Is there any thing dearer than our Lives and yet even these are of no value in respect of a better The very Exigences of Nature are trifles to the Concernments of our Souls it is better to starve than die for ever and lose
this a desperate Patient The Prayer DO thou therefore O Lord elevate our Souls and withdraw them from these beggerly Elements to purer and more Celestial Addresses Let thy Kingdom be not our refuge only but our Choice and the perfect Resolution of our Souls to despise the Flatteries of the World for that Glory which nothing but our Sins can deprive us of II. And as thou hast made us for thy self O Lord enable us so to continue that as we have received all that we have from thy Bounty we may sacrifice all our Desires to thy Glory knowing that as nothing in this Life can make us Happy without thee so nothing can make him miserable that hath thy Kingdom for his Inheritance Meditation X. Of Man's Original being born to die IT is demonstrably prov'd we must one day die because we did one day begin to live All that is Born of a Woman is both mixt and compounded after the Image of the Woman of whom it is born not only mixt of the four Elements but also compounded of Matter and Form and all things compounded must be dissolved into the very same Principles of which at first they were compos'd II. Hence are those pangs and yerning of the Flesh and the Spirit of the Appetite and the Will of the Law in the Members and the Law in the Mind the one inclining towards Earth from whence 't was taken and the other towards Heaven from whence 't was sent III. The truth of this had been apparent if it had been only taken out of Aristotle's School but we have it confirmed out of Solomon's Porch too for in the day when Man goeth to his Long Home when the Grinders cease and the Windows be darkned and all the Daughters of Musick are brought low when the Silver Cord is once loosed and the Golden Bowl broken so as the Mourners are going about the Streets then the Dust shall return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return to God that gave it Eccles 12.3 4 5 6 7. IV. When God himself was pleased to be born of a Woman he submitted to the Conditions of Mortality and had but a short time to live for he expired by Crucifixion before he was full thirty four years of Age. V. Man hath a short time indeed as he is born of a Woman for he cometh forth as a Flower and as a Flower he is cut down He flyeth also as a shadow and continueth not And therefore Epictetus did fitly argue the very great fickleness and frailty of Worldly things First because they were made and therefore had their beginning next because they are made ours and therefore must have a speedy end VI. For if we will be but so just and so impartial to our selves as to Arraign our Bodies at the Tribunal of our Reason they will be found by Composition no more than well complexion'd Dust Dust thou art said God to Adam Gen. 3.19 Dust and Ashes I am said Abraham to God Gen. 18.27 He knoweth saith the Psalmist Whereof we are made he remembreth we are but Dust Psal 103.14 VII Were it not that the Spirit of Man goeth upward whilst the Spirit of a Beast goeth downward to the Earth there would be no Preheminence of the one over the other for all go unto one place as to the Centre of the Body All are of the Dust and all turn to Dust again Eccles 3.19 20. VIII Which shews the Vanity and Sickness of those Mens Souls who erect such strong and stately Sepulchres for their Bodies for fear the poor Mans Dust should fully their's as if they did not remember that Man is born of a Woman and that his very Foundation is in the Dust Job 4.19 he may have the more Vanity but not the more Understanding for being in Honour and may the sooner be compar'd to the Beasts that perish Psal 49.12 IX The Protoplast was formed of the Dust of the ground Gen. 2.27 and however his Posterity hath been distinguish'd by issuing out from that Fountain through several Chanels yet their Original Extraction must needs be vile if any thing can be vile which is of God's own making for all Men descended out of the very same Eve and so by Her out of the very same Adam and so by Him out of the very same Earth The Prayer WE know O Lord that thou created'st us after thine own Image and designed'st us for to die as soon as we were born but thou hast sweetned the Bitterness of it to us by first tasting of it thy self and hast taken away the Sting of it that when ever it comes it will prove to us an advantage II. Dust we are O Lord and to Dust we must return High and Low Rich and Poor from the Swayer of the Sceptre to the Drawer of Water must one day appear before thee O then in thy tender Mercy and Compassion have Pity upon poor Dust and Ashes Let not those many failings we are guilty of in this World any ways hinder thy Mercy in sealing our Pardon but receive us graciously III. Bring down and subdue in us every vain Thought and every proud Look that exalts its self against thee mortifie in us all sensual Lusts and vile Affections and bring our Souls and Bodies under the Discipline of true Obedience to thee and thy Holy Will that having learned to deny all ungodliness and worldly Lusts we may live Soberly Godly and Righteously in this present evil World and at last arrive to thine Heavenly Kingdom to live for evermore Amen Meditation XI Memorials hourly necessary upon the four last things Death Judgment Hell and Heaven MOst freely went that Blessed Father St. Augustine to work when he expressed himself in this manner I inherit sin from my Father an excuse from my Mother Lying from the Devil Folly from the World and Self-conceit from the Pride and arrogant Opinion of my self Deceitful have been the Imaginations of thy Heart Crooked have been thy ways Malicious thy works And yet hast thou taken the Judgments of God in thy mouth desiring nothing more than to blind the Eye of the World with a counterfeit Zeal II. But all such Hypocrites God will judge and will not be mocked For as the Devil has his Sieve with which the good escape and the bad remain So God hath his Fan which scatters the wicked but retains the Godly And when he shall separate the Goats from the Sheep the Wheat from the Tares when the Just and the Wicked shall appear before him and every Man shall be put in the Ballance I fear O my Soul thou wilt then be found many Grains too light III. Thy only Remedy then is this proper Medicine to prepare thy self against that great and terrible Day and to furnish thee with those Directions that may make thee a true Convert of an impenitent Sinner Recal to mind those four last Remembrances Memorials hourly to be thought and so necessary to be retained in thy
we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5.10 V. Immortal but afflicted Soul canst thou hear all this and not dissolve thy self into Tears When not only in thy Bed of Sickness by a secret Divine Power all those Works which thou hast done be they Good or Evil shall be presented and appear before thee but in that great and fearful day of Account when all Flesh shall come to Judgment All these in Capitals shall appear written before thee VI. Not one Bosome Sin were it never so closely committed subtilly covered or cunningly carried but must be there discovered Adam shall be brought from his Bushes and Sarah from behind the Tent-Door and miserable perplexed Man shall say to his Conscience as Ahab said to Elias Hast thou found me O mine Enemy What innumerable Bills of Inditements then will there be preferred against thee To all which thou must hang down thy Head and plead Guilty VII O how art thou fallen into the Gall of Bitterness and Misery what can the Thoughts and the Imaginations of thine Heart say for themselves but that they have been evil continually What can the words of thy Mouth speak for themselves but that they have been full of all filthiness and obscenity Lastly what can the works of thine hands plead for themselves but that they have been loaden with Transgressions and Iniquities VIII But perhaps thou hast some fond hopes of a Pardon and so like some deluded Offenders by flattering thy self with a vain hope of Life alienatest thy thoughts from thinking of a better Life But do not so deceive thy self for if it be not by saithful Repentance sought for here there is no hope for any Pardon there to be procured nor for any Appeal to be there admitted not one minutes reprieve granted nor one moment of Adjournment of Death's heavy Sentence That severe Sentence of eternal Death Depart from me shall be the Sentence to lose whose Countenance and depart from his Presence is to bring thy Soul into endless Torments The Prayer O My God thou who hast appointed a time for every Man to die and after that to come to Judgment make me to remember my End that fitting my self for it I may cheerfully encounter it and so prepare my self for that Judgment which shall come after it II. O make me walk in thy light now while I have light to walk in and to work out my Salvation now while I have time to work in For time will come unless we walk here as Children of light when we shall have neither light to walk in nor time to work in O inflame my Heart with thy Love and teach me thy Judgments and my Soul shall live Meditation XIV Upon Hell HArk how the Damned cry out that while they were here on Earth they lived better than thou and yet they undergo the Sentence of Damnation thus they tax God's Mercy and indulgence towards thee of Injustice and Partiality Such is those Damned Souls Charity mean time thou livest securely feedest deliciously and puttest the thought of the evil day from thee by walking foolishly in the ways of Vanity II. Little desire then mayst thou have sinful Man to see Death having so little hope of Life after it Had some of those damned Objects who are now lost for ever received those many sweet Visits Motions and free Offers of his Grace those opportunities of doing good and many means of eschewing evil no question but they would have been as ready to entertain them as thou hast been to reject them III. Think with thy self how happy had that Rich Glutton been if he had rewarded poor Lazarus with some few Crumbs from his Table Had it not been far better for him to have given to the Poor all that ever he had To have disrobed himself and exchang'd his purpled Garments for Rags of Poverty than to dwell in everlasting Burnings IV. How happy had that rich Man in the Gospel been if instead of encreasing his Barns he had inlarged his Bowels to the Poor little dreamt he how soon his Soul should be taken from him when he addressed his Care for so needless a Provision His thoughts were so taken up with Building his Barns wider that he never considered How Tophet was ordained of old how it was made deep and large the Pile thereof Fire and much Wood and how the Breath of the Lord like a stream of Brimstone doth kindle it Esay 30.33 V. Turn unto thy self O my Soul and see whom thou canst find in more Danger of falling into that place of Horror than thy self How hast thou bestowed thy time how hast thou employed thy Talent hast thou not laid it up in a Napkin or hast not thou worse improved it by employing it to some ignoble Ends have not many been damned for less than thou hast committed and did it grieve thee to repent of what thou hadst done that thou might'st escape that Condemnation VI. Many a wretched Soul lies there tormented for less Offences than ever thou transacted and hast thou yet turned to the Lord that thou mayst be pardoned It is written in what hour soever the Righteous committeth iniquity his Righteousness shall not be had in Remembrance Ezck. 18.24 Now if the Righteousness of him shall be forgotten by committing iniquity who leaveth what he once loved relinquisheth what he once professed what can we think of the Repentance of that Sinner who returns again to his Sins like the Dog to the Vomit or like the Sow to her wadowing in the Mire VII How many have ascended even up to Heaven and amongst the Stars have built their Nests and yet have suddenly faln from that Glory by glorying in their own Strength and so drench'd themselves into endless Misery And this was the Reason of their lost Estate because they aspired unto that Mountain to which the first Angel ascended and as a Devil descended VIII And canst thou excuse thy self of being one of that number Hast thou not sometimes made a fair shew to the World of plausible Arguments of Piety hast thou not been sometimes like the King's Daughter all glorious without but how soon didst thou lose this Glory and fall from that seeming Sanctity or Holy Hypocrisie into open Prophaneness and Impiety IX And now what will become of me in this extremity the Wages of sin I know is Death a Death that never dieth but liveth eternally where nothing shall be heard but weeping and wailing groaning and howling sorrowing and gnashing of Teeth How grievous then shall be my Anguish how endless my Sorrow and Sadness when I shall be set apart from the Society of the Just deprived of the sight of God deliver'd up unto the Power of the Devils and forced along with them into unquenchable Fire there to remain to all Eternity X. With what dejected Eyes and a
trembling Heart shall I poor Sinner stand expecting the supream Judge when I shall be banished from that blessed Countrey of Paradise to be devoured in the gaping bottomless Pit where I must never have the Prospect of a Glimpse of light nor feel the least drop of Refreshment but be tormented for Millions of years and so tormented as never to be from thence deliver'd where neither the Tormentors become wearied nor they die who are tormented The Prayer O My dear Lord look upon the price of thine own Blood Thou hast bought me with a great Price O deliver thy Darling from the Power of the Dogs remember me in Mercy whom thou hast bought O let me not go down into the Pit neither let the Deep swallow me up II. For who shall Praise thy Name in the Deep or declare thy Power in the Grave of Silence O thou who art a God of infinite Majesty though the Terrors of Death and Torments of Hell encompass me yet art thou my Saviour my Succour and wilt deliver me and my Soul shall live to Praise thee evermore Meditation XV. Upon Heaven O How should I look up to thee that have so provok'd thee O thou Mansion of the Saints thou Portion of the Just thou City of the great King thou Heavenly and most happy Kingdom where thy blessed Inhabitants are ever living and never dying where thy glorious State is ever flourishing and never declining II. I must Confess to my great Grief and Shame that I have no Interest in thee I have unhappily lost thee in losing my Soul by selling it to Vanity I sometimes resolv'd to Play the part of a wise Merchant and to sell all I had for the purchace of one Pearl But I held the Purchace at too dear a Rate and therefore I have deservingly lost the Jewel III. Foolish Sinner couldst thou find any thing of greater weight to entertain thy best thoughts or bestow thy Care than the Salvation of thy Soul Didst thou think it so easie a Task to get Heaven by an earthly Purchace yet hadst thou but taken half so much Pains to deserve Heaven as thou hast done to win Hell Thou mightest have challenged more Interest to Heaven than now thou canst IV. Many Summer Days and long Winter Nights have thy Follies taken thee up And these seem'd short unto thee because thou tookest delight in those short Pleasures of Vanity but to bestow one short hour upon Devotion how many Distractions did that meet withal and how long and tedious seem'd that hour because the Task was wearisome and thy wandring mind was not inclin'd to so serious a work V. And canst thou now think that so Rich a Kingdom would reserve it self for thee when thou wouldst neither knock to be admitted entrance nor seek after so great a Happiness Health thou art well inform'd comes not from the Clouds without seeking nor Wealth from the Ground without digging and yet Heaven thou thinkest is got by sloth but great Prizes are not so purchased VI. For as the Gate of the Blessed is strait and few there be that enter so are our Tribulations many that we may be of that few which may gain Admittance But I hear thee now cry out as one that had some Sense of his Misery and of the loss he has incurred by Sins committed Thou dost now bewail thy past Follies and correct thy self for so great a neglect thou knowest not how to allay thy Passion till Reason inclines thee to this Meditation VII Miserable Sinner I cannot behold this Earth I tread on without blushing nor can I think upon Death without sorrowing the Day of Judgment without trembling Hell without shaking nor of the Joys of Heaven without Astonishment For Earth I loved it so well as the remembrance of Death became sorrowful For by it I understood I was to be brought to Judgment and from thence having no defensive Answer to be hurried down to the place of torment and consequently to forfeit all my Title and interest in Heaven VIII These Meditations ought to make a deep impression upon our Minds for to acknowledge our Infirmities may make us the speedier look for a Remedy and by degrees find a happy Recovery joyn then all thy Faculties and offer up thy Prayer to the Throne of Grace that God in his Mercy would look upon thee The Prayer GRacious God though I am altogether unworthy to lift up my Eyes unto Heaven or to offer up my Prayers unto thee much less to be heard by thee yet for his Merits and Mercies sake who sitteth at thy right hand and maketh intercession for me reserve a place in thy Heavenly Kingdom for me II. Dear Lord in thy House are many Mansions O bring me thither that I may joyn my voice with those voices of the Angels and sing Praises to thy Holy Name who sittest in the highest Heavens for ever World without end Amen Meditation XVI The remembrance of the four last things reduced to Practice I Find my Soul like a dry ground where no water is and wheresoever I turn my self I find Affliction and Misery on all sides surrounding me What shall I do or where shall I fly When I repose my self from the World in some with-drawing Room intending to forget this lower Orb and prepare my self for the Joys of a better Life while I begin to commune with my own thoughts in the secret Chamber of my Heart I become so affrighted with the Representment of those four last Remembrances as I wholly forget what I intended to speak II. My Tongue begins to cleave to the Roof of my Mouth my Moisture is dryed within me those Active Faculties of my Soul leave me And my understanding departs from me O Death how bitter is the Remembrance of thee with Terror thou summonest me and like a surly Guest thou rushest upon me and resolvest to lodge with me then immediately I feel my self wounded and so mortally as not to be cured III. O how my Divine Eye-sight grows dim my panting Breast beats my hoarse Throat ratleth my Teeth grow black and rusty my Countenance grows pale all my Members stiff every Sense and Faculty fails and my wasted Body threatens a speedy Dissolution yet desires my poor Soul to be a Guest though there is cold Comfort to be found in such a forlorn Inn. IV. But what are all these Terrors of Death to the dreadful Day of Judgment when at the voice of the Arch-Angel and sound of the Trumpet all the little heaps of Dust shall rise where none shall be exempted but all judged How terrible in Majesty will that great Judge appear to such as in this Life would neither be allured by his Promises nor awakened by his Judgments V. How doleful will that Echoing voice sound in their Ear Depart from me I know you not And how ready will that officious Jaylor be upon the delivery of this heavy Sentence to cast them into utter darkness a place of endless Torments where
and frail as the Apples of Sodom which being specious to the Eye did fall to Crumbles by every Touch. The Frame of our Building is not only so frail but as some have thought so ridiculous that if we Contemplate the Body of Man in his Condition of Mortality and by reflecting upon the Soul do thereby prove it to be Immortal we shall be tempted to stand amazed at the inequality of the Match but to wonder at our Frailty were but to wonder that we are Men. II. Yet sure if We that is our Souls for our Bodies are so far from being Us that we can hardly call them Ours are not capable of Corruption our Bodies were not intended for our Husbands but for our Houses whose Doors will either be open that we may go forth or whose building will be Ruinous that needs we must we cannot by any means possible make it the place for though our Bodies as saith our Saviour are not so Glorious as the Lilies yet saith Job they are as frail III. And by that time with David they wax old as doth a Garment how earnestly with St. Paul shall we groan to be cloathed upon 2 Cor. 5.2 to be cloath'd with New Apparel whilst the Old is as 't were turning For when Christ shall come in the Clouds with his Holy Angels at once to restore and reform our Nature He shall change our vile Bodies that they may be changed like unto his Glorious Body IV. But here I speak of what it is not what it shall be though it shall be Glorious yet now it is Vile though it shall be Immortal yet now 't is fading though it shall be a long Life 't is now a short one it is indeed so short and withal so uncertain that we bring our years to an end like a Tale that is told Psal 90.9 V. Death comes so hastily upon us that we never can see it till we are Blind We cannot but know that it is short for we fade away suddenly like the Grass and yet we know not how short it is for we pray that God will teach us to number our days Psal 90.12 VI. This we know without teaching that even then when we were born we began to draw towards our end Wis 5.13 whether sleeping or waking we are always flying upon the Wings of Time even this very moment doth set us well on towards our Journeys end whether we are Worldly and therefore study to keep Life or Male-contents and therefore weary of its Possession the King of Terrours will not fail either to meet or overtake us VII And whilst we are Travelling to the very same Countrey I mean the Land of Forgetfulness without considering it as an Anti-Chamber to Heaven or Hell although we walk thither in several Roads 't is plain that he who lives longest goes but the farthest way about and that he who dies soonest goes the nearest way home VIII I remember it was a Humour I know not whether of a Cruel or Capricious Emperour to put a Tax upon Child-births to make it a thing exciseable for a Man to be born of a Woman As if he had farm'd God's Custom-house he made every Man Fine for being a Man a great instance of his Cruelty and as good an Emblem of our Frailty our State of Pilgrimage upon Earth IX For we arrive at this World as at a Foreign and strange Countrey where I am sure it is Proper although not Just that we pay Toll for our very Landing and then being Landed we are such transitory Inhabitants that we do not so properly dwell here as sojourn X. All the Meat we take in is at God's Ordinary and even the Breath which we drink is not ours but his which when he taketh away we die and are turn'd again into our Dust insomuch that to expire is no more in Effect then to be honest to pay back a Life which we did but borrow The Prayer THou hast brought us from nothing O Lord that we might see thy Salvation that we who might have been for ever without thee might through the knowledge of thy self be made Partakers of thy Glory II. O enliven us that we may give up our selves wholly to thy Service and perpetually study to do something to the Honour of thy Name that we may not throw away those Souls on the Vanities of the World which thou hast given us for thy self and to be employed in thy Service But that sacrificing our Wills to thine and our Lives to a perfect Love of thee we may find that joy which accompanies thy Grace here and that Glory which knows no end or change hereafter in thy Presence for evermore Amen Meditation XXVII That Death frees us from the Vexations Troubles and Cares of this mortal Life A Short Life and a Merry is that which many Men applaud but as the Son of a Woman hath but a few days to live so even those few days are full of trouble And indeed so they are in whatsoever Condition a Man is plac'd for if he is Poor he hath the trouble of Pains to get the Goods of this World II. If he is Rich he hath the trouble of Care to keep his Riches the trouble of Avarice to encrease them the trouble of Fear to lose them the trouble of Sorrow when they are lost And so his Riches can only make him the more illustriously Happy III. If he lives as he ought he hath the trouble of Self-denials the trouble of mortifying the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts Col. 3.5 the trouble of being in Deaths often 2 Cor. 11.23 the trouble of Crucifying himself Rom. 6.6 and of dying daily 1 Cor. 15.31 IV. If to avoid those Troubles he lives in Pleasure as he ought not he hath the trouble of being told that he is Dead whilst he lives 1 Tim. 5.6 the trouble to think that he must die Eccles 41.1 the trouble to Fear whilst he is dying that he must Live when he is Dead that he may die eternally V. Not to speak of those Troubles which a Man suffers in his Non-age by being weaned from the Breast and by breeding Teeth in his Boy-age and Youth by the bearing the yoke of Subjection and the rigid Discipline of the Rod in his Manhood and riper years by making Provision for all his Family as Servant General to the whole VI. Not to speak of those Troubles which flow in upon him from every quarter whether by Losses or Affronts Contempts or Envying by the Anguish of some Maladies and by the Loathsomeness of others rather than want matter of trouble he will be most of all troubled that he hath nothing to vex him VII In his sober Intervals and Fits when he considers that he must die and begins to cast up the Account of his Sins it will be some trouble to him that he is without Chastisement whereby he knows he is a Bastard and not a Son Heb. 12.8 VIII It will disquiet him not a little