the Cup of Salvation Salvation is in the cup death is now no more since the Lord of life destroyed death his death hath quickened our life and hath sweetned and taken away the sting of death from us Our Apostle does not ask Oh death what is thy sting though the words which follow seem to be an answer to such a question the sting of death is sin it seems then that death is not the sting of sin but sin is the sting of death for says Anselm we do indeed dye for sinning but we do not sin for dying And as those words following answer to a Question which they ask not so the former words ask a question to which those following answer not Oh death where is thy sting Now not to tell you where it is is as much as to say it is no where death hath now no sting let us all rejoyce and be glad this serpent may hiss at us this wasp may buz about us but it can now neither bite not sting us the sting of death is gone and nothing remains but the name nay the name too is gone to them that are in Christ Jesus the death of the godly man is not to be called a death but a sleep a resting from their labours a delivery out of prison a laying down their burden a flying to their desired home death now hath lost her sting it is not now a punishment but a happy passage not so much an end of this life as an entrance into a better not a destruction but a dissolution only a separation of the soul and body for a short time that so they might be joyned together to enjoy heaven and happiness with Christ our Lord and life to all eternity Thus have we asked this one question of death Oh death where is thy sting now let us ask another of our selves why are we so desperately and despairingly afraid of death since we have heard and do certainly know that death hath lost her sting Oh faithless and faint-hearted man why dost thou tremble O Christian to encounter with thy last enemy since its weapon is now taken from it why dost thou shrink at the coldness of the serpent when thou knowest her poyson and sting are quite taken away Oh faithless and faint-hearted soul to be so afraid of a shadow Alas why do we so dreadfully fear death since our souls are not lost but sent before it is for those only to tremble at death that pass from one death to another from the death of the body on earth to the death of the body and soul in hell for ever it is for those only to fear a temporal death so terribly who are either ignorant or do despair of eternal life who go from their Prison in this world to the place of their execution world without end But as for those that are in Christ Jesus they pass from a prison to a Palace from a dungeon to a Throne from a crazy and miserable Tabernacle here to an eternal habitation in the heavens It is for them says Cyprian to fear to be dissolved who have no hope to be with Christ A despairing fear of death is but a despair of eternal life after death Men naturally chuse rather to suffer a great deal of pain and live than to endure a small pain in dying which demonstrates that it is something after death and not death it self which we so much dread Let those only desire to linger in the miseries of this present life who hope thereby to delay a while the torments and miseries of the life to come But as for us Christians we that are in Christ Jesus why are we afraid to arrive at our haven of rest after so many dangers storms and shipwracks which we have suffered in this world having fought a good fight and finished our course why do we doubt or delay to go and receive our Crown of glory having run our race why seem we so unwilling to receive the prize let us not fear the threats of a Temporal death but rather let us rejoyce in the promises of eternal life For whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we dye we dye unto the Lord therefore whether we live or dye we are the Lords Let not our lives be so wicked and prophane as that we should be therefore ashamed to live neither let us be so negligent and ignorant of death as to be therefore afraid to dye But at the instant of our departure let us every one say as that dying Saint did which Hierom mentions go forth my soul go forth what dost thou fear Let every soul of us learn to say sincerely and chearfully at his last passage from his earthly Pilgrimage What though I dye I know that my Redeemer liveth though my body be dissolved yet shall my Spirit be conjoyned with Christ my Saviour Lye down then O my body and return unto thy dust mount aloft O my soul and meet thy Saviour in the Air my body shall be earth and worms meat for a short time but my soul I am assured shall be a companion with Saints and Angels for ever and ever Amen Divine Contemplations and Soliloquies upon Death and Eternity I. AS all the creatures O God were made by thy wisdom so they may be useful for our instruction to teach us to dye my garments that wax old may put me in mind that I my self shall wax old like a Garment and that as a Vesture I shall be changed Let me not therefore love the shadow and leave the substance let me not change heaven for earth things temporal for things eternal and since my life is but as a day let me so live by thy Divine assistance this day as if I were certain to dye to morrow and since my life is but as a watch in the night my soul shall wait for thee O Lord before the morning watch I will wait for thee in zealous Affections in unwearied patience in undoubted confidence and expectation of the joy that will come in the morning wherein thou wilt appear for my deliverance out of this transitory life and with my lamp prepared I will be in readiness to meet my Bridegroom at his coming II. Whilest I behold the heavens the works of thy hands O Lord and the Sun and Moon which thou hast ordained which shall all pass away as a tempest I will look for a new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness the heaven of heavens the City of the ever-living God the celestial Jerusalem the place where thy honour dwells therefore while I am on earth let me consider that I am but earth let me always remember that I am but dust an house of clay a body of corruption let me not be earthly-minded like those whose God is their belly whose glory is their shame and whose end is destruction who mind earthly things While I look upon the water-flouds let me say this is mine
perfect it By it thou art liable to death and all that troop of calamities miseries and diseases which precede death An insufficient sorrow Tempted I acknowledge and perceive that I was not only born and conceived in sins but also that God hath been offended by me by divers manifold and great transgressions I perceive this and I am heartily sorry but may be that sorrow is not sufficient as not being answerable to the faults nor an equivalent satisfaction for my transgressions Comforter True the grief and trouble of conscience that arises from the consciousness of sin can never answer the grievousness and deformity of the sins seeing God is an infinite good that is offended sin an infinite evil that is committed and the punishment of hell prepared for sinners is infinite how then by thy contrition canst thou satisfie the infinite justice of God and expiate his infinite wrath Christ hath performed that which of thy self and by thy own strength thou couldst not he hath made an infinite and equivalent satisfaction for thy sins If thou couldst have satisfied by thy self if thou couldst have done away thy sins by thy own contrition and grief what need had there been for Christ to have come down from heaven and to have laboured so long under the weight of the Cross Isai 43.24 Thou hast made him to serve with thy sins and hast wearied him with thine iniquities He has trodden the wine-press alone and of the people there was none with him Look therefore that thou think not that the grief of thy contrition either can be or ought to be so great as that it should answer to the greatness and deformity of thy sins but therefore and for this end doth God require a true confession of sin and a sincere contrition of heart that the free remission of sins which thou obtainest through Christ apprehended by faith may take place Christ preacheth but it is to the meek that is Isai 61.1 Luk. 4.18 Mat. 9.12 the humbled in spirit he heals but it is the broken-hearted For the whole have no need of the physician that is those that think themselves to be well He preaches remission but it is to the captives that is to those that are sensible of the spiritual captivity of sin for that man desires not to be freed from bondage that thinks himself free in every respect He preacheth sight Joh. 9.41 but it is to the blind that is to those that lament the spiritual blindness of their heart for they that say they see their sin remaineth They that say they are rich and increased in goods and have need of nothing know not that they are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked He preacheth forgiveness but it is to the broken and contrite in heart The Lord killeth 1 Sam. 2.6 and maketh alive he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up He kills by contrition that he may make alive by consolation he bringeth down to the grave by the hammer of the Law that he may bring up from the grave by the comfort of the Gospel The weight of sorrow Tempted Troubles have compassed me about my heart is broken and overwhelmed my sins come flocking before me which grievously torment my conscience and strive to bring me down to hell Psal 32.3 there is no quietness in my bones from the terror of the Lord my soul refuseth to be comforted 77.2 v. 3. I am troubled and my spirit is overwhelmed I see no place whither I can flee and seek a remedy of my sins Comforter If thou wilt flee flee to Christ He friendly inviteth all that labour under the weight of sin Mat. 11.27 and are pressed with the yoke of that evil mistress Iniquity Hide thy self in his wounds until the tempest of God's anger be overpast Rom. 3.25 Christ is the propitiatory to which thou maist flee by a true faith and rest under the shadow of his wings Psal 42.1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks so thy soul being even spent by the heat of thy sins and the anger of God thirsteth after Christ the fountain of living water springing up to everlasting life If thou comest to him he will not refuse thee nor thrust thee from him for thus run the promises Rev. 22.17 Whosoever thirsteth let him come and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely 21.16 To him that thirsteth will I give of the well of life freely Mat. 11 28. Come to me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest In me and through me ye shall find rest to your souls v. 29. Him that cometh unto me Joh. 6.37 I will not cast out With a faithful heart embrace these words of Christ which are the words of eternal and immoveable truth let thy heart propound to it self these his promises Psal 27.8 and seek the face of God Put Christ as in the midst between thee a sinner and an angry God Appeal from the throne of God's severe justice to the throne of mercy prepared for thee in and by Christ The infernal hawk follows hard after and persecutes thy soul let it flee therefore like a fearful and frighted dove to the elifts of the rock Cant. 2.14 which are the wounds of Christ Moses accuseth thee therefore sigh that Christ may interceed for thee Thy conscience is troubled Bern. Serm. 61. in Cant. but let it not be cast down from hope and trust but remember the wounds of Christ Aug. in Medit. Let the firmness of all thy trust be in the wounds of Christ which flow with the streams of mercy and want no holes whereby they may flow out Idem Serm. 22. in Cant. Let the Passion of our Saviour Jesus Christ be thy last refuge and the only remedy of thy sins It can help thee when thy wisdom fails thy righteousness is not sufficient the merits of thy holiness are of no avail And this is another and indeed an essential property of true faith to look with the eye of the heart on Christ hanging on the cross from his wounds to hope for and draw a remedy for a mans own wounds to rest upon him with a sincere trust of heart and as it were to wrap ones self in his most holy merit For this is the voice of true faith Behold me thou who on the cross didst die And to my sins thy side a shelter give My heart pants after thee my sins pass by By sin I dye but by thy blood I live If therefore being pricked for thy sins thou hunger and thirst after righteousness Bern. Ser. 22. in Cant. believe on him that justifieth the ungodly and being justified by faith alone thou shalt have peace with God Confess thou art not worthy Lib. 1. vit Bern. cap. 13. nor canst obtain the kingdom of heaven by thy own merits but let this be thy trust
lived as to be ashamed to live amongst you nor yet am I afraid to dye because we have a good God He that has furnished thee with the gifts of teaching for the benefit of his Church knows how to endow others also with the same Wherefore if with the Apostle thou be'st straitned so as thou knowst not which of these two to chuse Phil. 1.23 desiring to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best or to abide in the flesh which is more profitable for the Church know that to die is gain to thee and to live is benefit to the Church Rom. 14.7 8. None of us liveth to himself neither doth any die to himself For whether we live we live unto the Lord namely that we may gain unto him more souls in the Church or whether we die we die unto the Lord that we may obey his fatherly will calling us from our station whether we live therefore or die we are the Lord's that most gracious and powerful Lord's from whose love neither life nor death Rom. 8.3 8 39. can separate us Hitherto thou hast obeyed the will of God in faithfully bestowing thy services on the Church obey him also in readily embracing his will calling thee to the fellowship of the Church triumphant Thou art duly solicitous for the increase of the Church out of charity but yet in the mean time thou oughtest to commit the care of governing and preserving the Church unto God out of faith Nothing is more wholsome here nothing better nothing more conformable to piety than to resign ones self wholly to the divine will and by pious prayers to commit unto him a full power to dispose of our life or death Bern. in me dit devotis c. 6. col 1196. We may undoubtingly hope for one of these two things He will either give that which we ask or that which is better Psal 37.5 Commit thy way unto the Lord and trust in him and he shall bring it to pass Short life brought upon ones self Tempted I fear I my self have made my life shorter by my sins how then can I hope for the presence and help of God in death Those that are guilty of their own death obtain not a better life after death Comforter But that is to be understood of those that from impatience lay violent hands on themselves and force the soul to go out of the tabernacle of the body against the will of God far be such a purpose from thy piety For none ought to bring a voluntary death on himself to avoid some temporal afflictions Aug. 1. de civ Dei c. 26. lest he fall into those that are everlasting none may do this for other mens sins lest he come to have this most grievous one of his own who was not polluted by those of others none may do this for by-past sins for which he has the more need of life that they may be healed by repentance none may do this out of a desire of a better life that is expected after death because those that are guilty of their own death obtain not a better life after death But if thy mind be troubled with those thoughts that by the immoderate use of meat and drink or from any other disorder thou hast made thy life shorter lament this with hearty groans and place all thy confidence on the merit of Christ firmly purposing to amend thy life and God will pardon thy iniquities who hath promised forgiveness of sins to those that truly repent Manasses a man of blood had himself broken the thread of his life and yet heartily repenting he obtained the glory of eternal life The thief on the cross received things worthy of what he had done Luk. 23.41 but heartily returning unto God he entred with Christ into paradise Gen. 3.15 Nay our first parents had brought death on themselves and all their posterity yet nevertheless embracing that Evangelical promise of him that should break the serpents head they were cheered again with enlivening consolation Ambrose's saying to Theodosius the Emperor Wherefore if thou hast followed them sinning follow them also repenting with tears Gods hand is not yet shortned nor hath his mercy failed by the number of years the gate of pardon is not yet shut seeing there is granted still space of repentance The love of this life Tempted I could have wished longer to have enjoy'd this life and the benefits of it I could have wished longer to have possessed the blessings of God granted me in this life Comforter See that by the inordinate love of this life thou bewray not thy self not truly to love the chief good Anselm de mensur crucis lit E. All our heart is so owning to the love of God that so much of it as is given to another is taken from God He loves God less that with him loves any thing which he loves not for his sake Thy heart is a vessel but it is full of the love of the world therefore there is no room for the true love of God to enter turn out the inordinate love of the world that the love of God may enter in Does the present life so delight thee which is all of it a dangerous and hard warfare What else is it to live long than to be afflicted long and to sin long Cypr. serm de mortal pag. 215 If in thy dwelling the walls should totter for oldness and the roof above should shake thy house now weary with its aged structure should threaten a sudden downfal wouldst thou not pass out of it with all speed If when thou art sailing a troubled and stormy tempest should foretell a future shipwrack by the waves raised with the force of the winds wouldst thou not make swiftly towards the haven Behold the world totters and slides and witnesseth its ruin not now by the age but the end of things and dost thou not give God thanks dost thou not congratulate thy self that being withdrawn by a timely exit thou escapest the ruins the shipwracks and the storms that are a coming Ambros in cap. 8. ad Rom. As the sea stirr'd up by contrary winds insults and causeth a tempest to the sailours so the generation of the unfaithful being mov'd by a conspiracy disturb the minds of the faithful and the enemy acts with so great perverseness that one cannot tell what first to shun For if the Powers cease to be against us he enrageth the spirits of private persons if these be also bridled he raiseth a combustion by those of the same family and if this be quencht by his art he causeth discord amongst the brethren themselves that the house being beat upon at its four corners it may fall on some side wherefore with one consent Christians must flee from hence For they should follow that holy man's example who knowing that war is here waged against perfidiousness desired that he might depart in peace This
our life and being and he delights not in our destruction death was never intended against us but against our sin we were therefore made mortal that our sins might not be immortal we must dye once that sin may not always live Oh death what dost thou Thou dissolvest the rarest composition of heaven and earth thou dividest our spirits from our clay thou dost separate soul and body sharper art thou than any two-edged sword and entrest to the dividing asunder the soul and spirit yea thou dividest between the marrow and the bone Thou makest our dust return to the earth and our Spirit to God that gave it Oh death Thou makest our spirit to vanish our breath to stop our blood to cool our colour to change our beauty to fade and our strength to fail thou as Solomon saith Eccles 12.2 makest the keepers of the house our hands to tremble and the strong men our feet to bow themselves thou makest the grinders our Teeth to cease and them that look out at the windows our eyes to wax dim thou shuttest the dores of our lips and stoppest our windpipes the Daughters of Musick Thou cuttest short the silver Cord of our Marrow and breakest the golden bowl of our brain pan thou breakest the pitcher of our veins at the fountain of our liver at the cistorn of our heart there breakest thou the wheel of our head Oh death Thou art ordained for us all It is appointed for all men once to die we must all walk in this way all-tread this same path we must all sleep the same sleep our last sleep and the dark night of death will at last overtake us all our fathers are dead saith the Father our friends are dead and we our selves must die also Some are gone before us some do accompany us and some will come after us as wave after wave dashes against the Rock so shall we all one after another dash against this hard and cold Rock of death And thus sooner or later we all must die at last We are born with that condition that we must die we do therefore put on the Garment of our body that we may again put it off Death is the Law of Nature and to dye is but to pay a Tribute due to Nature it is as natural for us to live and then to die as it is for us to wake and sleep Oh death Thou wilt certainly come yet it is most uncertain when nothing is more certain than death but than the hour of death there is nothing more uncertain of that day and hour knoweth no man Matt. 24.36 that is of the day of judgement and the hour of death Death comes as a thief in the night both certainly suddenly and violently it takes one upon the house top another in the field one working in the Vineyard another grinding at the Mill one upon the house top of honours another in the field of pleasures one labouring in the Vineyard of a Christian calling another grinding at the Mill of worldly cares and troubles a man knoweth not his time Eccl. 9.12 that is the time of his death God will not discover to us the time when death shall come upon us because he would have us think it to be ever near us he will not let us know our last day because he would have us imagine and expect every day to be our last This one hour the hour of death is hidden from us that all the hours of our life might be the better improved by us saith St. Augustine Oh Death Thou art impartial and indifferent to all thou callest equally and as soon at the gate of the Palace as at the door of the Cottage thou makest the skull of the King and begger alike and between the dust of either thou knowest no difference thou hast neither pity upon the poor nor respect unto the rich thou neither scornest the foolish nor dost thou reverence the wise How dieth the wise man says Solomon even as the fool Eccl. 2.16 Thou dost long threaten the old man and soon betrayest and sruprizest the young thou never sparest any for their Age Sex degree or wealth we can by no power or force resist thee nor by any diligence avoid thee no tears can move thee no money bribe thee no art nor Eloquence can perswade thee Oh Death Thou hast manifold appearances and comest to us in several forms and shapes toward the old man thou approachest pale and lean toward the young bloody and boysterous to the bad man thou appearest as black as Hell it self and terrible to every man Thou comest to us sometimes by the hands of men sometimes by the Teeth of beasts sometimes by Fire and sometimes by water sometimes by a cold blast of wind sometimes by the slipping of a foot and sometimes by the falling of a tyle or stone sometimes in our cloths and sometimes in our meat and drink We dye several ways and by divers means some dye in War and some in peace some by sea and some by land some in the field and some in their beds some by their own neglects and intemperance others by a sudden wound or a languishing disease and thus by a Thousand ways of dying one death or other at last destroys us all Oh Death How bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that liveth at rest in his possessions Oh Death how acceptable is thy judgement to the needy saith the Wise man Ecclus 41.1 2. Oh death thou art indeed like a shadow thou fliest those that follow thee and followest those that flye from thee thou hastnest toward us when we desire to avoid thee and when we would imbrace thee thou then delayest us Death is the rich mans fear the poor mans desire Thou art often called upon in adversity seldom or never thought on in Prosperity In prosperity we complain and cry with Hezekiah Isai 38. to have further time added to our days but in adversity we are apt every one to wish with Elijah It is enough now O Lord take away my soul for I am no better than my Fathers 1 Kings 19.4 Oh Death How dreadful a thing art thou to flesh and blood how do we abhor to think that the Grave should be our house and that we should make our bed in darkness to say to corruption thou art my father and to the worm thou art my sister and my mother How hateful is it to inherite serpents and worms to be separated from our selves and return to our dust How terrible is death to us not only from our own experience but from the example of others as often as we see or hear that another is dead we are concerned to think that we must dye also and when we are sick and think that death is coming upon our selves how are we troubled not well knowing what we shall do or whither we must go we are afraid to dye even we who have good hope of a better life after
infirmity I am lighter than water that runneth away apace I beseech thee therefore O my God who sittest upon the floods of water and art a King for ever to send the heavenly dew of thy grace upon me who am part of thine inheritance to refresh my wearied soul Let every herb that I behold cause me to contemplate my own estate that I shall one day be cut off like the green herb and shall wither away like the grass let the Sun that shines over my head lift up my heart to the Son of righteousness to that light which lightens the Gentiles and the Glory of the people Israel Let the Moon that rules by night make me call upon thee the father of light to illuminate me while I sit in darkness and in the shadow of death in whom is no variableness nor change as there is in the Moon finally let the beasts the birds the fishes yea the very flies and insects which seem to be the very scorn of nature let them all by the shortness of their lives remind me of the brevity of my own and since it is thy blessed will O dear Saviour let me be contented and rejoyce therein for ever III. O Lord the life of my life and the God of the spirits of all flesh make me willing to dye since it is thy ordinance and appointment for all things serve thee let me not forget thee nor behave my self frowardly in thy Covenant make me willing to die and to say with old Sin can Lord now let thy servant depart in peace and with St. Paul I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ and because my spirit is willing and my flesh weak raise it and quicken it with thy free spirit by bringing to my remembrance thy promises and comforts to me on every side and since it is thy holy pleasure I should die and not live I am satisfied therewith for thy law is within my heart therefore make no long tarrying O Lord my God IV. How long O God shall I live to sin against thee for as long as I live in this earthly Tabernacle I can do nothing but sin to will is present with me but I find no strength nor ability to perform for I find a Law in my members rebelling against the law of my mind making me captive to the law of sin and death so that the good which I would do I do not but the evil which I would not do that do I. Deliver me therefore dear Lord from this body of death that I may enter the gates of life and go to the Angels and Saints and be one of them and continue with them to all Eternity my soul thirsteth for God even for the living God make hast therefore O Christ and deliver me V. Let my Conversation in this world O Lord be such that I may neither be ashamed to live nor afraid to die I know that to the natural man death is very fearful and terrible but let me be thine by thy grace strengthen me in my greatest weakness be present with me with thy consolations even to the last moment and compass me about with songs of deliverance and then though I walk through the vally of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy left hand is under my head and thy right hand doth embrace me why should I be afraid in the evil day or why should my soul be disquieted within me for death will then be to me advantage let me therefore sigh and groan in being desirous to be delivered from this burden of the flesh and to be thereby made partaker of immortality and of those unutterable joys and pleasures which thou O my blessed God and Saviour dost enjoy for ever let my faith O Lord scatter all my fears and let my soul long for thy salvation deliver my soul out of Prison and take me to thy everlasting mercy put an end to my sins by the end of this life that I may live with thee without end VI. Set a watch O Lord before the doors of my heart and so order my thoughts that I may always set thee before me and in the midst of life let me so remember death that when my days in this world are at an end I may return unto thee my rest let not the flight and departure of this my Spirit from my body be on the Sabbath day that is in the rest and tranquillity of my sins nor in the winter or frost of my hard heart nor in the midnight of my security when I least look for it let not this dangerous thief of carelesness and security break into my soul nor hinder me from a serious and continual meditation of death and of the heavenly habitations If I forget Jerusalem in my mirth let my right-hand forget her cunning those thoughts that are imployed about my death are my best teachers teach me therefore to die unto sin and to live unto righteousness Morning evening and at mid-day let me wait for the coming of my blessed Saviour who shall turn my night into day my darkness into light my heaviness into joy my labours into rest when death shall be swallowed up into victory where the serpent shall sting no more and where the second death shall never hurt me VII Guide thou O Lord my God the ship of my soul through the sea of this world by the direction of thy holy word wherein thou hast caused me to put my trust let me sayl so safely that by the winds and waves of temptations I may never be driven either upon the Rocks of Presumption or Despair but that I may happily arrive at the haven of the promised land of thy heavenly Kingdom While I behold thee O Lord in thy justice I am afraid and am ready to despair and while I look upon thee in thine infinite mercies I am subject to presume Let thy hand therefore so support me that I may be defended by thy fatherly goodness as with a shield that I may not be cut off by the course of thy severe justice as with a sword I must confess that in justice I have incurred thy wrath and deserve condemnation but through thy manifold mercies O Lord I long and look for thy salvation I am the workmanship of thy hands destroy not therefore that which thou hast made but bless it and bring it to a perfect end thou hast redeemed me O Lord thou God of truth and therefore I promise to my self that I cannot be lost if I sincerely put my trust in thee for then thou hast promised me salvation in thy word and thou hast bound this thy promise with an Oath and sealed it with the blood of thy Son and that before the best witnesses in heaven or earth thy holy spirit bearing witness with my spirit that I am a child of God Now upon such considerations as these I fix and ground my faith and am perswaded that after
Jesus standing o' th right hand of God And then think earth too mean a place for thee Whom he redeem'd with his most precious blood Sweet Jesus Thouwast pleas'd to buy me come I 'm not the worlds but thine then fetch me home If in this life only we have hope we are of all men most miserable 1 Cor. 15.29 THE world presents thee Ophir gold but stay Lose not thy Interest in God for Clay The world presents short pleasures to thine Eye Thy God presents blest Immortality Be circumspect the world 's a crafty Cheat And sells its Vanities at too dear a Rate Thy Soul 's more worth than all the world enjoys Exchange it not for Fooleries and Toys Which to thy fancy may seem precious things Yet are but Adders Poyson Serpents stings Wounding the dying soul that cannot die Nor live less than to all Eternity Consider him who said My soul take pleasure Go eat and drink thou hast abundant Treasure Laid up for many years That very night This wretched soul was stript of all delight And hurried hence amidst its chiefest joy By furious Ghosts Triumphing in their prey There are but few that solid wisdom prize And search Eternity with sacred Eyes Of saving faith Imploring not to miss Grace here below in Heaven Eternal Bliss Let thy Redeemer in thy heart be fixt So shall no sorrow with True joy be mixt Nor tempting vice thee from his precepts draw Omit no time fulfill his Royal Law With son-like fear and thou shalt have no less I' th end than everlasting Happiness The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is Eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6.23 There is therefore now no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Rom. 8.1 SAid I not Lord that I would sin no more Yet sin again hath got me on the score Pray I not without ceasing to be free From sinful thoughts yet sin abides in me When I awake sin seeks to gain my heart Contending for precedence by desert Of Birth-right from the womb and would controul My holy thoughts and close besiege my soul That matchless gift of thine what shall I do Comply with sin and be its Captive too Who arms the Creatures with enticing smiles And with deceitful arguments beguiles Unstable Souls no I will shun its charms Thy strength my God to shield me from its harms I do implore else I am lost undone O let me find redemption in thy son The son of thy dear love who 's freely bent To bath my soul and make it innocent With his pure crimson streams whose mighty power Trampled on Death and Hell that dreadful hour The Graves restraint he vanquished at length By his victorious and triumphant strength The Temple Veil he rent in open view And gave himself to Gentile and to Jew A sacrifice for sin He is that Lamb Foretold and Typified in Isaac's Ram. The builders Scorn yet the chief Corner-stone Ezekiels Shepherd Daniels Holy One My Rock my only confidence my stay Forsake me not but guide me in thy way I am the Jonah I did cause the Rout To beg a Murtherer and cast thee out I stript thee of thy cloaths and of thy skin And my transgressions tortur'd thee within My sins thy sharpest sufferings contriv'd My sinfulness thee of thy life depriv'd Drew down thy fathers wrath which none could bear But only thee my Lord my Life my Fear Uphold me yet a little to endure Sins Buffetings the victory is sure Faith tells me so and patience bids me wait And I shall gain a conquest to the height Of my expected hope I shall but die And then shall go to immortality To live with perfect souls in perfect bliss Discharg'd of such a Nothingness as this Then wait my soul with patience for thy rest Prepar'd from everlasting to invest Thy nakedness with purest white array Free from the Moth and power of times decay While with incessant pleasures thou art fed A Crown of glory shall begirt thy head Perpetual Halelujahs shalt thou sing Unto thy God thy Saviour and thy King The souls Longing COme Lord my head doth burn my heart is sick While thou dost ever ever stay Thy long deferrings wound me to the quick My Spirit gaspeth night and day O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee II. How canst thou stay considering the pace Thy blood did make which thou didst wast When I behold it trickling down thy face I never saw thing make such hast O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee III. When man was lost thy pity lookt about To see what help i' th earth or sky But there was none at least no help without The help did in thy bosom lye O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee IV. There lay thy Son and must he leave that Nest That hive of sweetness to remove Thraldom from those who would not at a feast Leave one poor Apple for thy Love O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee V. He did he came O my redeemer dear After all this canst thou be strange So many years baptiz'd and not appear As if thy love could fail or change O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee VI. Yet if thou stayest still why must I stay My God what is this world to me This world of woe hence all ye clouds away Away I must go up and see O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee VII What is this weary world this meat and drink That chains us by the teeth so fast What is this Woman kind which I can wink Into a blackness and distast O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee VIII With one small sigh thou gav'st me t' other day I blasted all the joys about me And frowning on them as they pin'd away Now come again said I and flout me O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee IX Nothing but drouth and dearth but bush and brake Which way so'ere I look I see Some may dream merrily but when they wake They dress themselves and come to thee O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee X. We talk of Harvests there are no such things But when we leave our Corn and hay There is no fruitful year but that which brings The last and lov'd though dreadful day O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee XI Oh loose this frame this knot of man unty That my free soul may use her wing Which now is pinion'd with mortality As an intangled hampred thing O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee XII What have I left that I should stay and groan The most of me to Heaven is fled My thoughts and joys are all packt up and gone And for their old acquaintance plead O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee XIII Come Dearest Lord pass not this Holy season My flesh and bones and joynts do pray And even my verse when by the rhime and reason The word is Stay sayes ever Come Oh shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee Vpon Death WHy should we not as well desire our Death As sleep No difference but a little breath 'T is all but rest 't is all but a releasing Our tyred limbs why then not alike pleasing Being burthened with the sorrows of the day We wish for night which being come we lay Our body down yet when our very breath Is Irksome to us we are afraid of death Our sleep is oft accompanied with frights Distracting dreams and dangers of the nights When in the sheets of Death our Body's sure From all such evils and we sleep secure What matter Doun or earth what boots it whether Alas our body 's sensible of neither Things that are sensless feel not pains nor ease Tell me and why not worms as well as fleas In sleep we know not whether our clos'd eyes Shall ever wake From Death w' are sure to rise I but 't is long first Oh is that our fears Dare we trust God for nights and not for years Conclusion THe God of love my Shepherd is And he that doth me feed While he is mine and I am his What can I want or need II. He leads me to the tender grass Where I both feed and rest Then to the streams that gently pass In both I have the best III. Or if I stray he doth convert And bring my mind in frame And all this not for my desert But for his holy Name IV. Yea in deaths shady black aboad Well may I walk not fear For thou art with me and thy Rod To guide thy Staff to bear V. Nay thou dost make me fit and dine Even in my enemies sight My head with Oyl my Cup with wine Runs over day and night IV. Surely thy sweet and wondrous love Shall measure all my days And as if never shall remove So neither shall my praise FINIS