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
unto life None so easily raiseth one lying in bed Aug. serm 44. de verb. dom as Christ the dead out of the grave From all which things it plainly appears how truly the blessed Apostle called the death of the godly gain Phil. 1.21 for 't is gain to have escaped the increase of sin 't is gain to have passed from worse and to have arrived at better Psal 116.15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints and it is good to them because of rest better because of security best because of blessedness Pains of Death Tempted I fear not death but its pains for I have often seen the eyes of dying persons growing dim their ears waxing deaf their tongue faultering I have seen the sweat and anguish the horrour and nakedness of dying persons I have often heard the groans and complaints of the soul compell'd to go out of the tabernacle of the body Comforter Those that believe in Christ are preserved from those pains of death or at least their pains are mitigated Christ hath taken upon him what was most bitter in death namely the sense of God's wrath Ex. 15.25 Let us cast the tree of the cross into our death on which Christ died for us and it shall become a pleasant sleep Verily Joh. 5.51 verily I say unto you saith Christ if any man keep my saying he shall never see death that is he shall not only not see everlasting death but neither that ghastly and horrible shape of temporal death And if a very little taste of bitterness be in the cup of death we are to drink yet what and how little is it in respect of that brook whereof Christ drank in the way of this life for us Psal 110.7 how little is that little draught to be esteem'd in comparison of that cup which our heavenly Father gave him to drink off in our stead Matt. 26.42 Asaying of Methodius Our death is like a medicinal purge of our soul and body and seeing by it the poison of sin is as it were purged out of our flesh what wonder if some Aloes be mixt in this purge Our death is the midwife to life eternal what wonder if the same happen to us as to an infant born into the world out of the narrowness of its mothers womb by whom the pains of the birth are in part endured There is no birth without all pain That Fit will last but a moment and lo the day of our death will be the birth-day of eternal life Strait is that gate that leadeth us unto life what wonder if we feel something of straitness in its passage Christ is our Captain and breaker up Mic. 2.13 he opens the way before us we must cleave to him with a true faith that we may pass with him through the gate of death and may come to the path of eternal life that is known to him Psal 16.11 Sin yet dwelleth in our flesh what wonder if through the remainders of sin it be made to feel some straits of death Rom. 5.1 In the mean time our conscience hath peace in Christ who is our true peace Eph. 2.14 who rising from the dead brought the gift of peace to us Death hath nosting left whereby it can wound our soul it fasteneth its teeth in our heel but its poison is taken from it by Christ that it cannot infuse it into us when it fastens its teeth Untimely death Tempted I seem to be called out of this life too soon God snatcheth me away in the midst of my days Psal 55.23 therefore I fear lest this be a sign of God's anger seeing it is written Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days Comforter There is nothing untimely which God hath timed Long life indeed is God's gift but yet short life is not always a sign of God's anger seeing sometimes God commands even the godly and those that are beloved by him to pass betimes out of the habitation of this world that being freed from the dangers of sinning they may be translated into a security of not sinning and may not be made to undergo publick calamities that are often more sad than death it self God's people go and enter into their chambers Isai 26.20 and shall shut the doors upon them they shall hide themselves as it were for a little moment until the indignation be overpast Isai 57.1 The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart the merciful men are taken away and none considers that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come He shall enter into peace he shall rest in his bed walking in his uprighteness Wisd 4.7 Though the righteous be prevented with death yet shall he be in rest For the honourable age is not that which is of long time 〈◊〉 neither that which is measured by the number of years But wisdom is the gray hair 〈◊〉 and an undefiled life is the old age He pleased God and was beloved of him 10 so that whereas he lived among sinners he translated him 11 He was taken away lest wickedness should alter his understanding or deceit beguile his mind 12 For wickedness by bewitching obscureth the things that are good and the unstedfastness of concupiscence perverteth the simple mind Though he was soon dead 13 yet fulfilled he much time 14. For his soul pleased God therefore hasted he to take him away from wickedness Though we cut down those trees that do not bring forth and let those stand that do yet God does otherwise The godly dies most happily whether he die in a good old age Sph. Philos c. 36. p. 411. or in the very flower of his youth Quid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aliud nisi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nisi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nisi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nisi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is What is life but violence what is the body but a grave what but a chain what our birth but a passing to the grave Wilt thou take it ill to be freed betimes from these evils and chains The earlier the heavenly Emperour recalleth thee from the station of this life the sooner he putteth thee in a place of rest peace and victory The services further owing to the Church Tempted I might in my place hereafter further profit the Church of God by my labour in some kind to this end therefore I could wish a space of longer life were granted to me Comforter All this is to be committed to God's disposal namely how long God will have thee to live for the service of his Church Therefore say with that ancient Doctor of the Church and most deserving Bishop Ambroses dying words recorded by Posidon in the life of Augusti◠c. 27. I have not so
15.36 37. That which thou sowest is not quickened except it die first And that which thou sowest thou sowest not that body that shall be but bare grain 38. it may chance of wheat or of some other grain But God giveth it a body as it hath peased him and to every seed his own body * Aug. de verb. Apost serm 34. He therefore that quickeneth granes of seed dead and rotten whereby thou maist live in this world much more will he raise thy self that thou maist live with him for ever Tertul. in Apolog. cap. 45. p. 738. The light that daily at evening disappears in the morning is renewed and darkness comes goes by turns the stars that vanish out of sight wax bright again the seasons of the year are ended and return fruits are consum'd and grow again at least the seeds do not rise with encrease unless first corrupted and dissolv'd all things by perishing are preserved all things are reform'd by death Day dies into night Id. lib. de resurrect carn pag. 54. and is in a manner buried in darkness The honour of the world has its funeral every substance is obscured All things grow vile are whisht and stand amaz'd there is every where a vacation a rest of things So light being lost is lamented And yet it revives again the same whole and entire to all the world with its ornament with its portion with the Sun killing its death the night breaking open its grave darkness enjoying it self till the night also return again with its attendants For the beams of the Stars also are kindled again which the morning had extinguished The absence of the Constellations is brought again which a temporal distinction had withdrawn The Moon is renewed which a monthly number had consumed Winters and summers springs and autumns are hurled round with their vertues manners fruits For earth has been taught by heaven to cloath the trees after their nakedness to colour the flowers afresh to put forth grass again to give the same seeds that were spent and not to give them till they are first spent An admirable way to become a preserver from a destroyer it takes away that it may restore it loses that it may keep it corrupts that it may keep entire that it may encrease it spends In that it restores more plentiful and gay than it bereaved Usury is spending and injury is usury and gain is loss in one word every condition is a relapse Whatever thou meetest with once was whatever thou hast lost all is again All things return to their station after departure They are therefore ended that they may be Nothing perisheth but for preservation Therefore all this revoluble order of things is a witness to the resurrection of the dead For God taught by works before he taught by letters he preached by his power before he preached by his word He first sent Nature to thee to beamistress to teach thee and afterwards Prophecy that being a disciple of Nature thou mightst the easilier believe Prophecy that thou mightst presently receive when thou heardest what thou hadst already seen every where and that thou maist not doubt that God will be a raiser up of the flesh who knowest him to be a restorer of all things Are such types to be esteemed in vain as are to be seen in the world is God to be thought weaker than Nature Idem in Apolog. adv gentes c. 45. p. 737. Nay view thy self in thy self discover a testimony of the resurrection Recollect what thou wert before thou wert even nothing for if thou hadst been any thing thou wouldst have remembred Thou therefore that wert nothing before thou wert becoming the same nothing when thou shalt cease to be why canst thou not again be of nothing by the will of the same author who would have thee to be from nothing What new thing shall happen unto thee thou who wert not wast made When again thou shalt not be thou shalt be made Give a reason if thou canst which way thou wast made and then ask which way thou shalt be made and yet surely thou shalt be made more easily because sometimes thou hast been who wert not difficultly made when thou hadst never been Idem de resurrect carnis p. 54. If God made all things of nothing he can bring the flesh reduc'd into nothing out of nothing He that hath made is fit to make again by how much it is more to make than to remake to have given a beginning than to have restored by so much believe it easier to restore flesh than to make it at first The flames of Purgatory Tempted I fear the avenging flames of the fire of purgatory after death for seeing I am beset with divers infirmities of sins I fear lest God therefore enter into judgement with me Psal 143.3 and most justly adjudge me to the flames of Purgatory Comforter Those with whom God enters into judgement that is who by true conversion in this life are not yet reconciled to God he adjudgeth not to any purgatory fire to be tormented for a certain finite time but to be burned in an infernal and unquenchable fire for ever But those who heartily acknowledge their sins and truly believe in Christ have the Warrant of their Saviour that no place of grief or torments after death is to be feared by them for thus he saith Verily verily I say unto you He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death to life Aug. lib. 3. hypogn The word of truth only owneth two sorts of men to wit good and bad penitent and impenitent believers and unbelievers it only acknowledgeth two receptacles after death to wit of consolation and torment of reward and punishment of heaven and hell a third sort of men or places we know nothing of nor do we find any thing in the Scripture Id. serm 8. de verb. Apost Id. 21. deciv Dei c. 25. There are two habitations one in an eternal kingdom the other in eternal fire therefore there is no middle place for any where a man may not be in punishment that is not placed in the Kingdom Id. 1. de peccat merit remis c. 28. any place that he can be in except with the Devil that is not with Christ He that believeth saith Christ and is baptized Mark 16.16 shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned †Joh. 3.18 He that believeth on the son shall not be condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he believeth not in the name of the only begotten Son of God vers 36.5.29 He that believeth in the son hath everlasting life but he that believeth not in the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him They that have done well shall go forth unto the resurrection of life but
thee that Christ thy treasure liveth Let the frame of heaven and earth perish flee pass away thou hast the most faithful promises of a new heaven and a new earth Isai 65.17 2 Pet. 3.12 Behold I create new heavens and a new earth saith the Lord in which shall dwell righteousness so that none any longer remembreth the former Rev. 21.1 Let the tabernacle of thy pilgrimage fall the mansion of the heavenly countrey abideth ever Nor is there any reason thou shouldst fear the accusation either of Satan or the Law or thy sins thy sins are thrown into the depth of the Sea namely into the abyss of Gods mercy God hath thrown them behind his back Mic. 7.19 Isai 38.17 Ezech. 18.24 so that he will remember them no more hereafter Satan believe me shall not fetch thy sins up out of the sea nor shall dare to bring them into the sight of the Judge Thy sins are * Psal 32.1 Psal 51.1 forgiven covered blotted out they shall not be brought again into judgement The Devil will in vain accuse the godly because the blotting out the hand-writing by the blood of Christ shall be turned to him Col. 2.14 His accusation for sin shall be to no purpose because the forgiveness made through Christ shall be alledged against him Vain shall be the accusation of the Law because in this life there preceded reconciliation with God through faith Lastly thou hast no reason to fear Christ's sudden coming again to judgment for though the day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night 1 Thes 5.2 yet God hath not appointed us to wrath 9. but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ Who died for us 10. that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him The judgment day is not to be feared by them for whom the heavenly kingdom was prepared from the beginning Mat. 25.34 Eph. 1.4 who were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world Commit therefore into the faithful hands of God the precious pledge of thy soul he will keep it in death and in judgement and he will introduce it being joyned to the body into the palace of heaven to everlasting glory A Prayer in Sickness HEar me O God thou giver and restorer of life in whose hands life and death health and sickness are Hear me not according to the desire of my will but according to the good pleasure of thine own will If thou wilt thou canst heal me say but one word and I shall be whole Thou art the length of my dayes in thy hands my lots are but if now thou call me to the heavenly country by the way of death first mortifie in me all inordinate love of this life give me strength of spirit that I may overcome the pangs of death and in the midst of the darkness of my dimm eyes kindle and encrease in me light of heart with thee is the well of true life and in thy light shall I see light Thy death O good Jesus is the remedy of my death and the merit of eternal life I embrace thy word with a faithful heart therefore I am sure that thou dwellest in my heart by faith I will not let thee go out of my heart until thou bless me and chear me with thy enlivening consolation Thou hast said He that believeth in me shall never die my heart presents this thy word before thee and with this faith I come to the throne of grace thou wilt not cast out nor reject him that cometh unto thee Let thy precious blood wash me from my sins let thy wounds hide me from the anger of God and the rigour of judgment I will die in thee thou shalt live in me I will abide in thee thou shalt abide in me thou wilt not leave me in death and dust but wilt raise me to the resurrection of life Thou hast fought and overcome for me fight now and overcome in me let thy strength be perfected in my weakness My soul cleaveth to thee I will not suffer my self to be plucked from thee Let thy peace that passeth all understanding keep my heart and senses into thy hands I commend my spirit thou hast redeemed me thou God of truth Take my poor soul which thou hast created redeemed wash it from sins in thy blood sealed with the earnest of thy holy Spirit and fed with thy body and blood thine it is thou gavest it me take what is thine and remit the guilt of my sins wherewith I have stained it Let not the fruit of thy passion perish in me nor let thy precious blood be unfruitful in me O Lord in thee have I trusted let me never be confounded Amen FINIS THE Christians TRIUMPH Over DEATH With some Divine Contemplations Soliloquies and Poems thereupon LONDON Printed by Margaret White for Nath. Crouch 1679. THE Christians TRIUMPH Over DEATH CONTEMPLATIONS On 1 Cor. 15.55 Oh Death where is thy sting UPright Adam was made Immortal but sinful Adam begot all his sons mortal even as he had made himself Adam therefore is dead and all the sons of Adam do but live to die the sentence of death past upon us all in him we are born to see this sentence executed upon our selves and as Adam himself dyed the same day he sinned that is brought himself into a necessity of dying though as to the time of his death he was reprieved for nine hundred and thirty years after that day So we in Adam came under the same necessity though it be some thousands of years after before the sentence be executed upon us As a Malefactor is a dead man in Law at that instant when the sentence is pronounced against him though his execution be respited for some few days after So according to Gods law and decree we are all dead in Adams doom though it please God to prolong these days of ours wherein we must live to die according to his irrevocable doom A Malefactor is not executed sometimes one two three four five or six days after judgment past so likewise we were all adjudged to die before we were born but God with whom a thousand years is but as one day hath appointed the first second third fourth fifth or sixth thousand year of the world to be the day of our execution There is more necessity of our dying than of our being born It is not so necessary that he who is not should be as that he that now lives should once die the former may be supposed but the latter is fully expressed It is appointed for all men once to dye Heb. 9.27 There is alwayes a greater necessity of the end than the means death is the end of life not only in the execution of it but in the intention Morti nati sumus we are born to dye and we dye from the time we are born The day of our birth what is it but the beginning of the day
of our death and the day of our death but the end of our birth-day our birth-day precedes the day of our death but the day of our death is preferr'd before that of our birth by the wise Solomon Eccl. 7.3 The day of death is better than the day one is born And did we rightly consider this our birthday is indeed a purishment and the day of our death in comparison thereof a reward for death only is the remedy against the miseries of life and to dye is but to rest from those labours and to be free from those sorrows whereunto we are born What a plague and punishment were the day of our birth into a sinful miserable world did not the day of our death give an end to all such evils both of sin sorrows and pains Now since as I have said our birth-day is but the beginning of our death and the day of our death but the end of our birth-day we seem to speak improperly to call the day of our departure only the day of our death On our last day indeed we cease to live but from our first day we begin to dye our last day is not the cause of our death but the consummation of it it doth rather finish than begin our death it is not the last and utmost minute of our life which brings death upon us it doth rather manifest and declare that death was always with us As the Prophet speaking of persecution says we are killed all the day long Psal 44.22 and the Apostle St. Paul concerning his own sufferings I dye daily 1 Cor. 15.31 So that though no violence or injury were offered to us yet even through natures frailty we dye daily and by fatal Mortality are killed all the day long we dye daily from the time we first begin to live the first day of our life is our longest day and every day afterward takes away one day from our lives and the longer we have lived the less time we have to live Quotidie morimur c. sayes Seneca we dye daily and every day takes away part of our life and while we are yet growing up our life decreases the very day that we now live we do divide it with death As by the time we spend in eating sleeping working and playing so by the moments which pass away in reading speaking writing our lives are shortened We dye daily our times dye daily our actions dye daily our Persons dye daily our times dye daily the time past is dead to the time present the time present is dying to the time to come yester-day is dead to this day and this day is dying to the morrow our actions dye daily what is done and past is dead to what we are now doing and what we now do is dying to what we shall do hereafter we hardly remember what we have nor conceive what we have done nor delight in what we have done so do our actions dye daily to our memories our understanding our Affections Our persons dye daily our infancy dies to our childhood our childhood to our youth our youth to our manhood our manhood to our old Age and our old Age dies into our death A man is in a continual Consumption of himself his days waste him as well as he spends his days one part or other of him languisheth perisheth or corrupts every day we dye by piece-meal not all at once saith Seneca There is not one day but wherein our spirits do in some measure waste our blood cools our moisture dries our stomach fails our liver corrupts our Lungs consume our bowels yearn our hearts faint or our head akes Every day either some vein stops some sinew shrinks some bone breaks some skin is withered some flesh bruised or at least some parts or member decayed The eyes grow dimmer of sight the ears more dull of hearing or the palate more unsavory of tasting every day than other Thus the several parts dye by little and little and thus at last the whole becomes dead As the Candle consumes from the time it first begins to burn so doth the Oyl and marrow of mans life waste from the very time he begins to live Man is like a candle that either consumes himself in the Candlestick of this world or else he is smothered under the Bushel of his mothers Womb. An hour-glass runs constantly from the very time it is turned up man is like this hour glass he is but running sand or moving dust and as the sand in the hour-glass falls by degrees one sand after another till the whole be run out so a man drops away by little and little till the whole is extinguished A traveller goes forward many days towards his journeys end man is a Traveller his life is the way he goes and death is the end of his journey and is it then a strange thing for us to dye when our whole life is but the way and path that leads to death Do we think we shall never arrive to that which we are continually going toward sayes Seneca There is no way on earth to which there is not an end the most intricate Labyrinth hath a way out of it at last We are continually walking towards death how can we then chuse but meet with it at last we dye daily how can it then be avoided but at last we must come to be dead Wretched man then that thou art why dost thou not daily dispose and prepare thy self for death since thou diest daily sayes St. Bernard Imagine thy self to be dead since thou must of necessity dye Wo unto us wretched creatures that all of us are so near death and yet most of us put this day so far from us Death is ready to take us by the hand in the natural execution of its office before we are willing to take it to heart by our Christian Meditation We go toward the grave with our faces turned backward so that our feet are just ready to fall into the pit before our eyes do once look upon it There are many who feel death before they know what it is and do wofully hazard and experience it before they could be perswaded either wisely to consider or conceive thereof for though we daily see death seizing upon others yet we can hardly be perswaded to believe our selves concerned as a learned Author says men behold nothing more familiarly than death and yet they forget and neglect nothing more Death then is a mighty King the great Conquerour of mankind to whom all the Glorys of this world must submit and yet our blessed Apostle exultingly cryes out Oh death where is thy sting Let us then consider St. Pauls Appellation or his summons to death Oh death what art thou a Chimera a fable a bugbear a dream a shadow a nothing Oh death thou art none of Gods creature the Wise man saith God made not death neither hath he pleasure in destruction Wisd 1.13 God is the God of
yet when he shall hear that terrible sound Arise ye dead and come to judgment how will his heart even melt and his bowels quiver within him when he shall have his severe Judge above him and hell beneath him and his worm within him and fire round about him Oh then my soul dye unto thy sins and to thy pleasures here that thou maist live to God hereafter XIII Death is the ending of our days not of our life for when our day shall close and our time shall be no more then shall our death conduct us to a life which will last to all eternity for we dye not here to dye but to live for ever therefore the best guide of our life is the consideration of our death and he alone leads a life answerable to his Christian profession who daily expects to leave it It is very strange that we should be so industriously carefull to avoid death and so carelesly improvident of the life to come whereas nothing makes death bad but that estate which follows it but the reason is we are spirtually blind and see not nor know in this our day the things that belong to our peace We have naturally neither sight nor feeling of the joyes to come But when God shall enlighten the darkness of our minds and reveal his son in us when once the day dawneth and the day-star ariseth in our hearts Oh then our death will be our joy and the rejoycing of our hearts then shall we infinitely desire to be dissolved to be with Christ Let us therefore with unwearied endeavours labour to bring Christ home to our hearts and to keep him there Let us dye to our sins and our lusts here that so in the world to come we may everlastingly live unto Christ and in him Divine Poems Man that is born of a Woman is of few days and full of Trouble Job 14.1 I. OUr time 's still flying and we all make hast To live our last We come into the world to see 't and then Go out again We are born crying and we spend our breath In sighs till death Our life is but a Toil ere we can try What course of life is best 't is time to dye II. The Merchant wasts himself with fretting cares With hopes and fears And when his bags are fill'd his last day comes He leaves his sums When he would joy in what his pains hath got Straight he is not By all the care wherein his life is spent Perhaps he gets a costly Monument III. The Scholar bends his curious thoughts to find What is the mind He studies to know good but seldom does The good he knows Some winding up their Wit to an high strain Have crackt their brain He that 's most learned only comes to this To know at last how Ignorant he is IV. The ranting Gallant wears out time and cloths To learn new Oaths He scorns to take affronts but thinks it brave To be Hells slave The countrey Farmour's thinking night and day Of Corn and Hay But Hawks and Hounds are for the better sort Who lose their time in seeking of their sport V. In every Action whatsoe're it is Something 's amiss We ne'er observe a mean we run and sweat Or can't get heat Some bitterness still interrupts our joyes Or too much cloys Our choicest Comforts are inlaid with fears And all our pleasures sprinkled o're with tears VI. Amidst this Trouble here 's my hope that I Shall shortly dye Our time o'recast with sorrow soon decays Like winter days W' are Pilgrims here on earth This is our way No place of stay The way 's unpleasant come Death be my friend And bring me quickly to my Journies end Vpon the death of Christ I. THis day prest with our sins the most high fell Lest he should feed on us Christ satiates Death With his own blood quenching the Flames of Hell Enkindled by the fire of 's Fathers wrath To make atonement for our sins God dyes Our Jesus is God Priest and sacrifice II. Lo how the hasty Jews cry Crucify Lo how they judge the Holy one to death Whose atribute is Immortality Lo how they murther him who gave them breath The King of glory suffers shame and he That made the world is hang'd upon a Tree III. Lo how they nail unto the Cross his hands Who spans the Heavens how his feet they pierce Who over hell and Death Triumphant stands Whose boundless presence fills the Universe How every Varlet the Almighty scorns Lo he by whom Kings reign is crown'd with Thorns IV. And now the souldier with his cruel spear Dares pierce the side of the Blest Prince of peace His torments are so great as man can bear The angry Godhead will not make them less When God himself withdrew grief fill'd his heart Curst sin for which God and Christ seem'd to part V. He bow'd his head on which so heavy lay The sins of Adam and all Adams seed Which by his death he did revive this day To Heal our wounded souls his Limbs did bleed Lord I believe let me partaker be Of thy Deaths power that I may live to thee Vpon the Resurrection of Christ I. Our Lord is risen and the powerful Grave Holds him no longer He hath made his way Even through the Gates of Death that he might save His heavenly flesh from turning into Clay The Grave knew not whom he had taken when He saw who 't was he let him out agen II. Upon this day the Suns Creator rose And the Eternal life came from the dead He that made ours did his blest eye unclose And saw the place where his own Corps were lay'd Death Conquer'd thus he laid his grave-cloths by As Trophees of his signal victory III. I know not whether may more strange be thought For God to dye or man to rise again Our holy Jesus made both true he fought The Lyon Death even in the Grave his den And thus he entred the strong bounds of Fate Not as led Captive but to captivate IV. The King of terrors now has lost his power And is become a servant unto all Who will but imitate their Saviour Who made a triumph of his Funeral And now he 's up me thinks I hear him say To all that dye in him Rise come away Vpon the Ascension of Christ I. WHo on the water walkt now climbs the Air And without dying thus he goes to heaven Although his habitation now be there Yet we on earth are not of him bereaven He 's like those lights which in the skies appear Though there his Body be his Rays are here II. Now he 's ascended up on high Lo he Gives us his hand that we may get up too By him our strength we walk our light we see He makes us able shews us what to do To heaven he 's gone for us there to provide Blest man whose God 's his Harbinger and guide III. Look up my Soul and with blest Stephen see Thy