mercy is most transparent And in the day of Judgment shall his justice most eminently shew forth and exercise its strict and severest measures 2. Sad and dismal is the sentence that upon this great day shall pass upon all such whose Faith hath not according to ability and opportunity been fruitful in the good works of Charity Mat. 25.41 42. Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire For I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat And if these shall be eternally damned who have not given of their own goods for the relief of others what shall become of the Oppressor the Extortioner the Cheater the Thief and of every one who either by force or fraud publickly or secretly hath either taken or detained what of right belongs unto others Surely if the one shall go the other shall be driven hurried with a vengeance into everlasting fire Ver. ult 3. Great unconceivably great shall be the perplexity and anguish of the impenitent sinner in this great day beholding as Anselm meditates on the one side his sins accusing him and on the other the strict and impartial justice of Heaven ready to pass sentence upon him seeing below him the mouth of Hell gaping to devour him and above him an angry Judge condemning him to that place of Horror feeling within an accusing Conscience tormenting him and without the whole world in consuming flames 1 Pet. 4.18 And if the righteous shall scarcely be sav'd where shall the ungodly and sinner appear or where shall he hide himself that he may not appear For any wicked one to lie hidden on that day is impossible and to appear is dreadful and intolerable S. Chrysostom saith that the very sight of an angry Judge shall be then more unsupportable than a thousand Hells 4. This is that dismal day foretold by our Lord himself wherein they shall say Blessed are the barren Luke 23.29 and the womb that never bare and the paps which never gave suck Then shall they begin to say to the mountains fall on us and to the hills cover us And hide us from the face of him that siteth upon the throne Rev. 6.16 and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand Woe is me that I have sinned woe woe is me that I have offended this great and terrible Judge of all the world but as is his Majesty so is his Mercy great and wonderful Have mercy upon me O God on that great day have mercy upon me and deliver me now in this world from the society from the temptations from the guilt of the wicked Ps 141.4 Let me not be occupied in any ungodly works with the men that work wickedness that I be not reckoned and ranked amongst them in the world to come III. The day of Judgment is not only of all days the most dreadful but the most joyful also The righteous and the holy and the just shall appear in glorified bodies encircled with the shining rays of excessive light but the wicked in bodies or carcasses rather both hideous and loathsome To the impenitent and wicked of the world 't is a day of the greatest terror but to the holy and humble of heart and life a day of Jubilee and greatest joy a day of shame and confusion to the one of glory and consolation to the other How great then shall be the glory of the holy Christian and how great the shame of infidelity and Atheism how great the joy of the true Believer whose Faith has been fruitful in all good words and how great the sorrow of the Heretick Hypocrite the profane and dissolute for then and not fully till then shall God render to every man according to his works Rom. 2.6.7 To them who by patient continuing in well doing do seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life But to them who are contentious and obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile But glory honour and peace to every man that worketh good For there is no respect of persons with God What heart can worthily think of these things without trembling and great astonishment if not purified and sincerely devoted to the service of God Teach me O Lord thy way Ps 86.11 and I will walk in thy truth O knit my heart unto thee that I may fear thy name fear to offend thee the great and righteous Judge of the world in the least particular of thought or desire of word or of deed Lord who never failest to help and govern them whom thou dost bring up in thy stedfast fear and love keep us we beseech thee under the protection of thy good providence and make us to have a perpetual fear and love of thy holy name through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen IV. When the Son of man cometh Luk. 18.8 shall he find faith upon the earth All we who are called Christians profess to believe both the certain coming of Christ to Judgment and the uncertainty of the time That we must all stand before his dreadful Tribunal and receive every man according to his works but this is generally a dead Faith it quickens not the affections it excites not to such holy conscientious actions as the firm and cordial Belief of all this does imply and command and so will prove as dangerous to the Souls of such Believers as if they had no faith at all With most of men the Judgments of God and all the amazing concerns of Eternity are no more but words which they hear they have but very narrow very shallow and dark conceptions of them they understand not their great astonishing importance and are not therefore deeply affected therewith to become wise unto Salvation O raise up thy stupid Soul I do here summon there whosoever thou art that regardest these Meditations and thou art hereby summon'd particularly as by name to make thy appearance at this general Assizes to be held at the great and last day and there to give an account of every passage throughout thy whole life which shall be as strictly and throughly sifted and examined as if there were none but thy self to be tried as if no cause but thine alone were to be heard Eja Charissime Consider my dear Christian brother out of what great danger thou mayst now deliver thy self and from what great fear thou mayst be freed if now thou dost alway stand in awe and sin not if now thou beest alway suspectful of death and solicitous of the Judgment to come T. K. l. 1. c. 23. Prepare then prepare thy self now now that thou hast time and leisure prepare thy self for that great day for upon thy Trial then depends either thy everlasting well-being 1 Cor. 11.31 Jam. 4.8 9 10. Act. 10.4 Luk 2.37 2 Cor. 11.27 or
remember how momentany were their sinful pleasures but never to be ended their pains Then shall they curse their Parents that begat and the womb that bare them and the paps they sucked so terrible shall be the Torment of this never dying ever-gnawing Worm that they shall curse themselves that they do still live yea and curse God himself who is blessed for ever I have called but ye have refused Prov. 1.24 Ezek. 33.11 Mat. 11.28 Joh. 6.37 44 56. saith the Lord called saying Turn ye turn ye unto me with all your heart Come unto me all ye that are weary But we vain men slight and neglect nay too many contemn such gracious invitations they are not affected or delighted with the presence of God or if they come to his house and approach his presence there 't is not either with that internal Devotion and external Reverence 't is not with such pure hearts and clean hands as becomes the presence of so great and glorious so holy and pure a Majesty and is it not then most just and equal that all such irreligious irreverent and profane persons be banish'd the blissful presence of God for ever And so hath the Lord threatned Isai 65.12 Because when I called ye did not answer when I spake ye did not hear but did evil Therefore thus saith the Lord my servants shall eat but ye shall be hungry my servants shall drink but ye shall be thirsty my servants shall rejoyce but ye shall be ashamed Behold my servants shall sing for joy of heart but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart and shall houl for vexation of spirit Whatever therefore be the guise of the multitude to walk every one after the lusts of their own hearts and to follow their own imaginations in the contempt of the Lord's admonitions and commands Psal 5.7 yet as for me whilst I have life and liberty I will come into thy house even upon the multitude of thy mercies and in thy fear will I worship towards thy holy Temple My heart hath talked of thee and of this gracious command of thine Psal 27.9 Seek ye my face Thy face Lord will I seek O hide not thou thy face from me under the cloud of my sins and the thick cloud of my transgressions nor cast away thy servant in displeasure but vouchsafe that my approaches to thy divine Majesty may be so frequent and fervent and with such Humility Reverence and Devotion performed that my person and my services may in this life be accepted before thee that I hear not at the last day that dismal doom of the wicked Depart from me ye cursed MEDITAT II. Of the Darkness of Hell TO be banished the presence of God who is the Fountain of Light is to be involved in the terrors of Darkness Mat. 22.13 Ca. 25.30 Job 10.21 22. and therefore after Take him away it follows cast him into outer darkness And so is the place of Hell described A land of darkness and of the shadow of death a land of darkness as darkness it self and of the shadow of death without any order and where light is as darkness And this must needs be so because Hell is farthest remote from Heaven the Region of Light being seated as 't is generally believed in the centre of the earth where neither Sun Moon nor Stars display the least ray or glimmering of their Light and where not the least beam of the divine Mercy shall ever appear There is Fire indeed in Hell but such a Fire as burns without shining a Fire without light not unlike whereunto is the Fire of blind Zeal Jam. 3.6 the tongue whereof setteth on fire the course of nature and is set on fire of Hell All the light which the sulphurous Fire of Hell affords serves only to discover the ghastly sight of infernal Fiends reviling scourging tormenting the damned without mercy without intermission and there perhaps may the wicked see some of their friends and acquaintance and of their companions in their sins involv'd with them in the same punishment which are sights so dreadful as shall augment their Torments Here is darkness then and no darkness such darkness as shall hide from the eyes whatever is pleasant and desirable and yet no darkness to hide from the dismal sight whatever is vexatious and adds the greater anguish to the aking heart This dismal darkness of Hell is call'd The outward darkness respecting the inward darkness of humane Souls and those manifold deeds of darkness which issue from the one and run head-long to the other If then thou hast followed the lusts of thine own darkned heart and obeyed the suggestions of Satan the Prince of darkness if thou hast loved and acted the works of darkness of sinfulness and error more than the sacred acts and influences of Grace and Truth it is most just that thy portion be with blackness of darkness for ever Joh. 3.19 Vouchsafe blessed Lord of light and life vouchsafe to display the sacred beams of thy Celestial light into my darkned Soul dispel and dissipate thence all the black stain and guilt of sin contracted by my daily back-slidings from thee all those clouds of ignorance and error which darken my understanding all those noisom lusts of the world and of the flesh which incessantly infest and infect my Soul that I pass not from these inward to that outward darkness where is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth MEDITAT III. Of the Fire of Hell OF all the Torments invented and practised by the malice of men or devils that by Fire is the most fierce and frightful how does it amaze the minds of men when they see it flaming in their houses and consuming their habitations and estates and yet the Fire of Hell is far more dreadful and tormenting as differing from our ordinary fire especially in three respects 1. Our fire feeds only upon gross and corporeal substances but Hell fire feeds upon spirits and damned souls and 't is therefore as much more fierce and piercing than our fire as a spirit is more quick and active than a gross heavy body Be not deceived O my Soul with any fond conceits of vain men that this fire is only metaphorical or fantastical allegorical or poetical because 't is prepared for the Devil and his Angels who are spirits and not liable to visible flames But the word of God which cannot lie and many undeniable reasons by the learned deduced thence Mat. 3.12 cap. 13.42 cap. 25.41 Mark 9.43 47. do confirm it to be a real yea a material fire but more spiritual and refined and so more eating piercing and tormenting than the fire which burns upon our hearths 2. Our fire doth alway burn and torment after the same manner but Hell-fire being the instrument of divine Justice doth more or less rage and afflict according as the persons condemned thereunto have been more or less guilty And 't is observable that the sinful Souls
me in the lowest Pit I confess I have so far incurr'd thy wrathful displeasure as to be laid in the nethermost Hell which is a place of darkness even blackness of darkness for ever and in the deep Abyss of inextricable Torments Thine indignation lieth hard upon me whereto I have provoked thee by manifold offences and thou hast vexed me with all thy storms those tempests of affliction and trouble which disturb my peace are sent from thee to scowre the rust of corruption off my Soul Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me and made me to be abhorred of them The invisible society of holy Angels with the prayers and good wishes of holy men I enjoyed whilst I was innocent and heavenly-minded but now being polluted they are estranged from me and abhor me in my sins I am so fast in prison that I cannot get forth I am so enfetter'd in the bonds and chains of my sins that without the help of a divine hand I cannot be loosed from them My sight faileth for very trouble the bright eye of my mind is dimm'd and darkned through the pressures of my spirit and in this sad condition Lord I have called upon thee as being my only refuge in danger support in trouble and succour in all distress I have stretched forth my hands unto thee by my practice according to my prayer Dost thou shew wonders among the dead or shall the dead declare thy works of wonder or shall the dead rise up and praise thee They must have part in the first Resurrection which is from the corruption of sin who worthily shew forth thy praise Shall thy loving kindness be shewed in the grave or thy faithfulness in destruction both in the state of the first and of the second Death there is a deep silence of thy Goodness and of thy Truth Shall thy wondrous works be known in the dark and thy righteousness in the land where all things are forgotten Thy righteous and admired deeds are not once mentioned either in the grave of Death or in the Pit of Hell in both estates there is an utter forgetfulness of all thy Goodness and Truth But that I may be delivered from such a sad condition Vnto thee have I cried O Lord and early shall my prayer come before thee Before I be surprised by Death let my prayer for thy prevented and assisting Grace be not rejected Lord why abhorrest thou my soul I am unclean I confess and 't is but just I should be abhorred and forsaken but being withal penitent and humbled why hidest thou thy face from me as being still displeased with me and deaf to my petitions I am in misery and like unto him that is at the point to die Death as the wages of sin dogs me at the heels even from my youth up thy terrors have I suffered with a troubled mind The terrors of my Conscience for sin have been alway accompanied with a troubled and contrite spirit which thou hast promised not to despise Thy wrathful displeasure goeth over me The apprehension of thy wrath and displeasure invades and overflows my soul and the fear of thee hath undone me the fear of thy wrath in the day of Judgment and of the never-dying Torments of Hell hath ruin'd all my worldly consolations They came round about me daily like water overflowing all the powers and passions of my Soul and compassed me together on every side leaving no visible means of evasion and peace My lovers and my friends who professed themselves to be such in my worldly prosperity and amidst my carnal delights hast thou put away from me they are alienated and estranged in time of my trouble and hid mine acquaintance out of my sight they will not now see me who formerly frequented my company And therefore being thus desolate and deeply endeangered unto thee as my only hope and refuge O Lord God of my Salvation I have cried day and night continually for Deliverance and Salvation that my soul may continually bless thee and say Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. THE Fourth general Meditation OF HEAVEN 1. THE Land of Canaan was promised to Abraham the Father of the Faithful in these words of command Gen. 13.14 Lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art Northward and Southward Eastward and Westward For all the Land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy seed for ever The Celestial Canaan is herein promised unto thee if a true Son of the Faithful Abraham Lift up then thine eyes O my Soul and Contemplate the ravishing Felicities of this Land of Promise This is thy Native Country where thou wast at first Framed by the hands of the Almighty after His own Image Why then dost thou not pant and breath and sigh and long to be at Home Why art thou so well pleased with a strange Land and delightest rather to be a Pilgrim in the Valley of Tears than a Free Denizon in the Land of Peace a Foreigner in the city of Babylon than a Citizen in the heavenly Jerusalem Away away from Lebanon O my Soul thy beloved calleth thee away from the Dens of Lions Can. 4.8 Psal 55.6 and the mountains of the Leopards O that I had wings like a Dove for then would I flee away and be at rest 3. We read that the Lord brought Moses to the top of mount Pisgah and shewed him the promised land where having the wilderness behind him and the happiest of all lands before him he represents the devout and heavenly minded Soul who considering the manifold troubles in the wilderness of this world and the joys and felicities of the world to come is highly ravished in the contemplation and desire of the one to the extream contempt of the other Did I but seriously consider the ways of my present peace and contentment I could not but observe that the Commandments of God have so much intrinsick sweetness and felicity in them as to excite the most simple and stubborn Soul to obey them and yet so excessive are the ardors of divine Goodness and Love as to engage our obedience by the promises of Celestial Joys Unto this immarcescible Crown of Glory we are Created by God the Father Redeemed by God the Son and Sanctified by God the Holy Ghost in the sacred Waters of Baptism wherein we are adopted not only sons but heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven What blindness then doth so much possess the minds of the greatest part of the sons of men that all their desires and endeavours should be so wholly taken up with the vain frail empty and dying things of the Earth to the slight and neglect of those never fading joys of Heaven The first and largest step we take towards Heaven is from the state of Sin into the state of Grace the other viz. from Grace to Glory is a more easie and ready passage there being nothing betwixt