and no doubt when it is performed with good ends and designs as it is an act of Austerity and holy Revenge upon our Selves so by God's Mercy it will procure that Mortification that we aim'd at by it and we shall find either the Temptation removed or God impowering us from on High with Grace sufficient to withstand it 3. It is very profitable and instrumental for the removing or prevention of Judgments and that either particular upon thy Self Family or Friends or National Ahab though a wicked King yet because he fasted and humbled himself before God tho positive Judgments were denounced against him he receives a Suspension of them in his days 1 Kings 21.27 and 29. and tho David found not that effect when he fasted for the Child 2 Sam. 12.16 because his Sin was notorious and scandalous and God would have the punishment as publick to yet it is manifest that David expected it and thought that the readiest way to attain it The Heathen Ninevites succeeded in their Fast for the removal of a general Judgment upon the whole City Jonah 3.5 they proclaimed a Fast and in the tenth verse you have the good success of it God repented of the evil that he had said he would do unto them and he did it not Lastly Fasting is very seasonable when we have any extraordinary thing to beg of God I do not give much Credit to the many Stories amongst the Romish Credentials and what great things have been done by Prayer and Fasting but we have a much surer Word of Prophesie we know what the effect of Hester's Fast was Esther 4.16 how she obtained her request for the deliverance of the Jews We know that when Paul and Barnabas were to be ordained Apostles there was Fasting as well as Prayer premised Acts 13.3 Therefore if we have any Internal Mercy or Grace to desire of God or if we have any extraordinary External Blessing to implore at his Hands let us unto our Prayer joyn Fasting also One Emolument more I will by way of surplusage subjoyn which probably with some sort of persons may be more perswasive than all the rest and that is the advantage of it upon the Score of Health In most Constitutions when the Stomach does as it were keep Holy day and is not charg'd with a new load or taken up with the concocting of new Food it hath time to digest Crude and Superflous Humours which oppress it and so after Concoction either manifestly evacuates or insensibly dissipates them so that that which could not be before digested by a full Stomach is now effectually performed by an empty one All the ways and passages of the body are by this means rendred open and ready for Exclusion Fasting powerfully opens Obstructions makes Respiration more Free and Easie and the Mind and all the Senses more chearful quick and vegate Fasting is not onely the Physick of the Soul but the Body too Many Diseases have been by this prevented many cured Hence that of Fernelius Quos igitor morbos inediâ— non sustulit Medicatione curato So that you see if we had nothing else in Prospect but our own Health Fasting or rather in this sense Abstinence seems most fit and reasonable It will be impossible for me to prescribe to every one how often they ought to fast Every Man's piety and his necessary occasions must instruct him in the frequency of this Duty From those who labour and are bound in the Sweat of their Brows to procure a Competency for themselves and their poor Family little of this Duty is expected However seeing they ought to separate some time before the receiving of the Holy Sacrament for Examination of themselves Prayer and Preparation they cannot do better than add Fasting also But for those who are not under such indispensible necessities and have any tolerable leisure their Piety certainly may well prompt them to set apart one Day every Week for Fasting Calling themselves to an Account of their Sins Humiliation and Prayers unto God for Pardon Preventing or Strength'ning Grace It is Observed even in the outward affairs of this World that those who keep the closest Accounts thrive best and though there be a Day-Book as they call it in which they set down the Debentures of every Day yet once in a Week at least these are all summ'd up and put into a better Form in the great Shop-book that they mey be found and review'd upon all occasions Thus ought the Spiritual Merchant do likewise though he examines himself every day for the Sins thereof yet he ought to have other particular days to look them over again that so having a few of them altogether it may make him more humble more penitent If thou therefore art a Man of leisure and God hath wrought in thy Heart to set apart one Day in a Week thus to humble thy self before him to be reconciled to and to be at peace with him and thy own Conscience thou hast thy liberty to choose which Day of the Week thou wilt for this purpose only give me leave to inform thee That it hath been the Practise of the Primitive Christians and that not without some reason and it is the Command of our Church too to set a part Friday for that purpose as being the Day of our Blessed Saviour's Crucifixion which was thus long observ'd by the Christians after his Passion Others choose rather Saturday for that Action which was likewise kept as a Fast by the Christians who bewailed our Saviours absence he now lying in the Grave And others observe the same day because it may serve as a preparation to the Lords Day which may be best sanctified when some Preparatory Religious Acts have gone before casting off the Cares and Thoughts of the World before-hand that they may attend upon the Lord without distraction Either of these I judge convenient enough neither do I think it necessary to bind you to either of them Prudence and your own occasions must prescribe to you in this However this is my Custom I always design Fryday for my Fasting day because if by any Interposition of Friends or Company or accidential Business I am then hindred from my Design I may have the benefit of another Day i. e. Saturday to perform my Devotions in You may also perhaps see cause to set apart a particular day or days in a year to humble your self for any great or capital Sin that day committed or to praise God for any great mercy or deliverance that day received And that you may perform this Exercise the better I shall give you some particular Rules or Directions for it Rules for a Religious Fast THe Evening before you fast insert some such Petitions as these by way of preparation into your private Prayers O blessed God to whom all hearts are open and all desires known and from whom no secret is hid I could not think a good thought unless thou hadst first infused it into my Soul
well as America in England as well as Soldania yea in the cleerest times of Light and greatest Knowledg when Reason seems to be exalted to its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 highest pitch yet like the Moon at full by a strange kind of interposition of our sensual and brutish Appetites suffers the greatest Eclypse and all the use it seems to serve us for is to make us only more ignorant and less pious For how do Men now a days strain their Reason shall I call it or Curiosity rather to so high a peg endeavouring to find out hidden and abstruse Mysteries such as God hath not revealed and he thought fit we should be ignorant of How curious and inquisitive are they to find out how the World was made according to the Rules of Philosophy and how it is still upheld by the same natural Causes And they proceed so far till at length they lose both their Hypothesis and Reason too and because they cannot find how these things should Physically be will thence conclude they are not at all The Fool hath laid aside all his Modesty that he had in the days of the Royal Prophet then he dared not to make his Tongue the Index of his Mind and prate of his Folly but only tacitly in his heart said there is no God but now alass he out-braves the Sun at Noon day and not only his heart but his lips which should shew forth God's praise are become the Trumpets of his wicked Thoughts he dares boldly proclaim the No-being of Him who gave to him and all things else a Being and thinks it a certain badg of Gentility and the mark of a pregnant polite wit so to do But whether these brave Gallants think as they say will be no hard matter to determine for certainly though they may be so bold as to utter it with their lips yet they cannot with all their skill disband their own fears lest it should be otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no more than they can run away from their guilty Consciences nor yet quiet or satisfie their guilty Souls Otherwise what mean these secret Stings and Racks of Conscience That horrour of Mind and paleness of Countenance Those distracted and many times desponding thoughts when seiz'd with a fit of some sharp Disease and the apprehensions of their approaching death Quos diri consciafacti Mens habet attonitos sur do verbere caedit Occultum quatiente animo tortore flagellum Juvenal 13. Satyr Epicurus himself though he seem'd to disown a Deity yet confesses he feared nothing more than Death and the Gods One clap of Thunder shall force Caligula to run under his Bed and even the rough and stubborn Marriners in a Storm will cry every one unto his God The Satyrist of old observ'd it of such Hi sunt qui trepidant ad omnia fulgura pallent God hath imprinted a fear of punishment in the very hearts of Men which upon the Commission of any great Sin dogs them with secret pangs and horrours and though like the Wounded Deer they run every where to disentangle themselves Haeretlateri Laethalis arundo yet still the Arrow sticks fast Though they love not God yet they have a flavish fear of him and are forced with Juvenal to confess Esse aliquos manes subterranea Regna That there are some tormenting Spirits and a Kingdom of darkness The Prophet Isaiah excellently describes them Isaiah 48.22 The wicked is like the troubled Sea when it cannot râ—st whose Waters cast up mire and dirt There is no peace saith my God to the Wicked So that the Psalmist's Axiom is undeniable Psalm 58.11 Doubtless there is a God that judgeth in the Earth But lest these stout Hectors should still maugre all the impressions of Nature and convictions of Conscience which they endeavour as much as in them lies to stifle and silence continue to persist in those most Irrational and Atheistical Tenets let them laying aside all prejudicate thoughts consider with me the subsequent Reasons endeavouring to evince That the Existence of a God and a Providence in the World is as cleerly demonstrable as any Truth whatsoever The greatest Physical certainty that it is possible for any Man to have is from Mathematical Demonstrations as That every whole is greater than its part that of a Triangle its three Angles are equal to two right Angles that if you add equal to equals the result will be equal c. These Axioms I say are as undeniable and as certain as any we can speak of now that the Being of God is as certain as any or all of these will appear hence As first of all without this Concession of a Deity all things that are the Objects of Sense may quite delude and impose upon our understandings Cartes Princ. lib. 1. yea we cannot be assured of Mathematical Demonstrations themselves or any thing else that seems cleerest and truest to our judgments and apprehensions and we may be still in a Dream and not discover whether these things seemingly so demonstrable are really true or barely Phantasms Chimaera's and the results of our giddy Fancies for I must be first ascertain'd of the infallibillity of my Senses before I conclude that things represented to me by them are true and this it is impossible for me to be assured of before I have the knowledg of a Divine Existence But when I seriously consider and am assured that there is a God and that his chiefest Attribute is Truth which hath a direct Repugnancy to Deception and Error and that He will not cannot therefore impose upon and delude my Senses Hence is it that I infer the reality of them and thence conclude that all things that are truly represented to my Senses are indeed so as they are represented because God never obtrudes Falsities upon us under the pretext of Truth Neither doth it at all invalidate this Argument to assert that we are often deceived because that the Deception proceeds not from the Understanding but from our Will when we too rashly consent to things not clearly and distinctly understood Therefore all Mathematical Truths are not to be suspected and the Existence of the Divinity no more nay less to be doubted of than them Next of all it is plain and obvious even to the lowest Capacity yea known by the dim light of Nature that what at first had a beginning did not derive its being from it self but that there must be some super-intended Cause on which in respect of their Substance all other things do depend and which must have in it the Complement of all Perfections and that can be no less than a Ray of Divinity or rather God himself How perfect is every part of the Creation Who can tell where any thing is superfluous or any thing deficient And the more perfect cannot be produced from that which is less perfect as by its efficient and total Cause Therefore seeing such Beauties and Perfections as
rebus se junctaque longe The Divine Nature is wholly taken up in the Contemplation of its Self These think it not fit to give God a Descent below the Circle of the Moon and that his knowledge would become vile if it were abused to take notice of trivial Objects and Occurrents and are apt to say as Job cap. 22.13 How doth God know Can he judge through the dark Cloud He walks through the Circuit of Heaven And there is a vast Interposition betwixt that Place and Earth but these are either Monsters in their Manners or Frantick in their Understanding or ever find themselves confuted by a Thunder or a Plague by Danger or Death The Persian Gallants the Day before the Fight with the Athenians being confident of the Victory over their Enemies drinking Drunk railed against their Religion and all their Gods saying There were no such things that all things came by Chance and Industry nothing by the Providence of a Supreme Power But the next day being conquer'd by their Enemies and pursued to a River where they could not pass then fell on their Knees and begg'd God for Deliverance It is certain that God's Eyes run to and fro in the whole Earth taking exact cognizance of every Action and observes it at one Intuition with the very same Advertence as if there were nothing else in the whole World for him to observe Curat universa ut singula singula ut universa Neither is his knowledge so stinted and only confined to Action but as the Royal Prophet observes There is not a word in our Tongues but he knows it altogether Yea it goes farther for it extends even to Thoughts secret Thoughts and he knows them afar off And indeed did we not believe this we should rob God of one of his most principal Attributes his Omnisciency without which he could not be God and certainly if God be privy to all our Actions he does not suffer them to pass by without regard but even the most abject of them all is strictly adverted to by him and we shall one day give a severe account of them Neither is it beneath but highly consistent with his Majesty to concern himself with the low Affairs of the World Non vilitatem arguit sed perfectionem This doth not disparage his Wisdom but honour it Archimedes propounded it as a matter of wondrous Reputation to himself if he could have made a just Numeration of the Sand which he foolishly attempted The Glass is not vile because it presents Deformities nor the Sun defiled because its Beams fall on Muddyplaces If God could be infected with our Corruption it might be some prejudice to him but he can turn that to his Honour which Man doth to his Dishonour He humbleth himself to behold things done in Heaven and in the Earth the one is no more humbling to him than the other and he can as well behold that at his Footstool as that which surrounds his Throne St. Paul tells us 1 Cor. 9.9 That God takes care for Oxen yea he takes care for Creatures less worthy Ravens and Sparrows yea he is concern'd for those things that we put no Value on our selves even the Hairs of our Head which are all numbred Then how great reason have I to conclude that nothing even the most inconsiderable thing here below is left running to the sensless Guidance of Chance and Fortune SECT IV. That all Minerals Vegetables and Animals with what ever else having in it a Medicinal Vertue had it first impressed on them by that Supream Being which was the first Author and Maker of them THe good and all-wise God in Commiseration of our frail weak Natures who are liable to as many Infirmities and Diseases as there are Vessels and Parts in our Bodies did not only provide for us Food but Medicine not only a naked supply of Meat and Drink by which we live but also an ample store of Medicaments by which we may live well and either prevent or cure those Diseases that our frail Tabernacles render us obnoxious unto and which would otherwise make our lives no better or rather worse than Death and therefore he at first gave such Vertues to Minerals Vegetables and Animals as he in his Infinite Wisdom knew they were capable of receiving and best able to communicate to his Creatures for their Health and Benefit Omnia fecit numero pondere mensura This great Physician hath so provided for his Patients that there is not an Herb or Medicine wanting to relieve or cure any Malady nay he seems to be prodigal and exceed in this his care and lest some should not be able always to be procured he hath prepared many of the same Vertue and Efficacy Suitable to the Disease he hath provided suitable Remedies When I consider besides the Variety excellent Beauty and Symmetry of Parts the exact Temperature of the Elements and Qualities the various Natures of Plants growing in one and the same Field nay in one and the same Area or Bed of Earth I am even ravish'd with Wonder and Admiration Every Plant hath a Voice in it Quoe non hominem sonat sed Deumcerte which bespeaks God only the Author and Contriver of it and gives us various Instances of the Divine Goodness his Liberality Wisdom and Providence The same may be said likewise of Minerals the preparations of which are of most wonderful and excellent I had almost said unsearchable Efficacy For for one particular Vertue which we know and have experienced in any of them so scanty is our knowledg how many occult are there that we are altogether ignorant of and which escape the discovery even of the most inquisitive and prying Physicians Maxima pars eorum quae scimus est minima pars eorum quae nescimus However there do not want daily Experiences and Discoveries of their Incomparable Qualities and those Diseases that prove to be too Herculean for Plants are with no great difficulty subjugated by these Last of all in the Animal Kingdom what great Rarities and Vertues are couch'd within their Bowels which are of singular use both for Food and Pharmacy serving as well to nourish and restore the decaies of Nature as to repair the ruins introduced by Diseases Now if we will not obstinately shut our Eyes against so clear a Light and wilfully stop our Ears to such audible Voices as these we must certainly conclude That nothing less thanan All-wise and Omnipotent God who by his fore-knowledg saw the necessities of Mankind and those Diseases we were obnoxious unto could implant such Vertues on those Medicinal Things as might exactly answer their end and oppugn that Valetudinary State we were like to meet withal here in this World Neither doth his bare endowing these his Creatures with such suitable Qualities and his conferring them on us for those particular ends only shew from whence they came but also the wonderful manner of disclosing their effects and natures to us doth sufficiently
hath vouchsafed to thee in the whole course of thy Life whether Spiritual or Temporal And here seeing Gods Mercies are like himself infinite it will be impossible for me to set down any definite number of them and therefore I shall leave it to every particular person to make his own Collection and Observation But certainly the Spiritual Advantages will be very great to intermix the remembrance of Gods Mercies with the remembrance of his own Sins especially at such a time of Humiliation it will conduce much to the augmenting of his sorrow and contrition for sin for when the pious Soul shall thus reason with himself Lord I have daily provoked thee to displeasure by my sinful and wicked Life though thou hast followed me day by day with thy Mercies I have crucified my Blessed Saviour afresh and put him to an open shame though he thought it not too much to suffer such great things and at last to die for me to rescue me from everlasting Damnation I have grieved thy holy Spirit by my frequent Oppositions of his blessed Motions who would have led me to Repentance and hath often courted and invited me to it and when I have run wilfully into Sin O what earnest solicitations hath he made unto me to forbear Thus and thus O Lord hast thou done for me but yet what unworthy returns have I made for all this love of thine O my Soul canst thou think of this without remorse Canst thou forbear condemning thy self and justifying God And to say Thou O Lord art Righteous but I am Vile and Wicked thy ways are upright and equal but mine very crooked and unequal thou hast not dealt with me after my Sins nor rewarded me according to my Iniquities This was the Method that God himself took with David to work him to a true Compunction of Spirit after he had been guilty of Adultery and Murder 2 Sam. 12.7 8. where you have God reckoning up the Mercies he had confer'd on David I anointed thee King over Israel and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul and I gave thee thy Masters House and thy Masters Wives into thy Bosome and gave thee the House of Israel and of Judah and if that had been too little I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things which in the 13. v. made him with sorrow of heart confess that he had sinned So in Deut. 32.6 Is not he thy Father that hath bought thee hath not he made thee and established thee Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Directions for Saturday THings of great moment are never so well performed as when there hath some preparation gone before to usher them in Hence it is that we read John 19.31 of the preparation of the Passover which was the day before it was to be celebrated and Mark 15.42 of the preparation of the Sabbath Moses taught the People over Night to remember the Sabbath Exodus 16.23 and our Saviour himself sends Peter and John before-hand to prepare the Passover Luke 22.8 Here is a memorandum annex'd to this Commandment which is not to any other as if God had said Remember before-hand to keep holy the Sabbath day A Man must not think he can step from his Shop-board or his Plough or his Recreations into the Church and perform a Sacrifice well pleasing to God Alass our hearts are so corrupt and our memories so tenacious of the vanities and things of this World that it is no easie matter to give them a dismission and I fear when we have done our utmost even our best preparations are very mank and imperfect and certainly I cannot easily be induced to be lieve that he designs to sanctifie the Sabbath who without some manifest and necessary hindrance doth not make some preparation for it before it comes You may therefore in order to it make use of this following Method The Forenoon and till Three in the Afternoon which if I mistake not was the beginning of the preparation of the Sabbath among the Jews you may spend as you do other days only it may be your care so prudnetly to dispose of your common Affairs that they may be about that time at an end The remaining part of the day and till you betake your self â—o rest which should be earlier than on â—â—her days that you and your Family may rise the earlier the next Morning â—ou cannot do better than spend in priâ—ate Prayer for Devotion Sincerity â—aith Thankfulness and other Graces which are fit for the Actions of the following day or that you find your self â—o stand in need of or in publick Prayâ—rs in the Church if there be any as 〈◊〉 is great pity there should not in reading the Scripture or some other good Book in Meditation and the like holy Exercises In the close of your Evening Devotions desire God to fit and prepare you for the great business of the ensuing day that he will banish all vain and and worldly Thoughts Desires and Cares that he will fill thy Soul with Affections suitable to thy Duty that so lying down in his fear and being awak'ned to the Comforts of the succeeding day thy Soul may be affected with the Majesty of it and thy Mouth filled with his praise that he will abstract thy thoughts from all the Vanities and Concerns of this World and sublime them to a higher degree of Purity that so beginning his day in his fear thou may'st wholly spend it in his Service and end it in his favour to the Glory of his great Name the discharge of thy Duty the comfort of thy Soul here and everlasting Happiness hereafter in and through Jesus Christ Having thus prepared thy self thou may'st not fear to want the Assistance of Gods Spirit in the Duties of the following day which though thou art not so strictly able to perform as God requires yet thou mayst do it so as he will be pleased to accept in and through Jesus Christ Directions for the Lords Day AS soon as you are awaked in the Morning lift up your Soul to God by some Devout Ejaculations or short Prayer and say This is the day which the Lord hath made I will be glad and rejoyce in it Psal 118.24 Grant That as Christ was raised up from the dead by the Glory of the Father even so I also may walk in newness of Life Rom. 6.4 Because thou livest I shall live also Joh. 14.19 Thanks be to God who hath not appointed us to Wrath but to obtain Salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live with him 1 Thess 5. â— 10. Knowing that he which raised up â—he Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus 2 Cor. 4.14 and shall present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy Jude 24. Glory be to God on high on Earth peace good will towards Men Luk. 2.14 Thou art my God and I will
Irreversible so certainly shall all the Off-spring of Adam High and Low Rich and Poor Learned and Unlearned descend unto the gates of the Grave mingle their dust and pay down their Symbole of Mortality Divesne prisco natus ab Inacho Nil interest infimâ De gente sub dio morieris Victima nil miserantis orci Omnes eoâ—em cogimur c. Horat. Carmin Lib. 2. Ode 3. St. Austin observes three kinds of â—eath The first is when God forsakes â—he Soul so he forsook Saul 1 Sam. 6.14 and so he forsook Pharaoh Exod. â—13 This Death is also mentioned Matt. â— 22 Let the dead bury their dead The second is When the Soul forâ—â—kes the Body which is in the common â—urse and order of Nature So Lazaâ—s died John 11. The last is When both Body and Soul â—ffer eternal Death and this is mentiâ—ned Matt. 25.46 and so also Luke 16. â—2 23. The Rich also Man died and was â—uried and in Hell he lift up his Eyes â—eing in torments c. Now Sin is the parent of all these â—ut great sins and a state of impenitency â—nd hardness of heart are the cause that â—ove God to the first and last First to â—rsake the Soul but not till the Soul â—rsakes him next to consign him over 〈◊〉 that state of Immortal Death The second kind of Death is common â—o the Godly as well as the Wicked to â—im that feareth an Oath as well as â—im that sweareth to the Religious as â—ell as the Profane because Gods Decree 〈◊〉 unchangeable Eccles 7.20 and because â—hat even they also cannot lead a sinless life but have many sins many frailties and imperfections that they cannot totally be freed from while they live Death saith the Apostle passed upon all Men for that all have sinned Rom. 5.12 Death then is certain to all nullum Saevà caput Proserpina fugit and yet nothing more uncertain than the time of it Mors certa est incerta dies One dies in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and vigor of his Age when his Bones are full of Marrow and his Blood of Spirits Another in his Infancy wen there are great expectations of future comfort and hopeful successes Another is intombed in his Mothers Womb and never sees the Light Another dies in the Flower of his Youth Another in Old Age but all sooner oâ— later come to one Seat the Grave One goes well at Night to his Bed and in the Morning is found dead Lotus nobisum est hilaris coenavit ideâ— Inventus mane est mortuus Andragoras Martial l. 6. Another goes out of his doors anâ— his beloved Consort is with much joâ— and impatience expecting his happy reâ—urn and anon she receives the sorrowâ—â—l news of his Death by a Fall or a â—eavor Of all the uncertain things in â—â—e World I know not a more uncerâ—â—in thing than the times of our Death There are so many thousand Casualâ—es that may intervene to deprive a Man â—f life that it is a greater wonder that â—e is than that he is not A Plague or â—â—me popular Disease or Fevour or Smallâ—ox an Immoderate Grief or profuse â—y an Intemperate Draught or undiâ—ested piece of Meat yea a Hair or a â—rape-stone with Myriads of other acciâ—ents may introduce Death And as Death is certain so is Judgâ—ent too As it is appointed unto Men once to â—e so after this the Judgment As one fixed by an irrevocable unalterable Deâ—ee so is the other too He hath appointed a day in which he â—ill judge the World Acts 17.31 This Judgment will be universal both 〈◊〉 to persons and things God will judge â—e secrets of all hearts by Jesus Christ â—om 2.16 Every Man shall receive the â—â—ings done in his body according to â—â—at he hath done whether it be good or evil 2 Cor. 5.10 and to that end we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ God is said to be the Judge of all Heb. 12.23 which evinces the certainty of a day of Judgment Otherwise to what purpose is there a Judge And shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right Here the good man finds the sharpest Misery and greatest Afflictions the Evil Man the sweetest Felicity and fullest Pleasures Here the Rich mans Table stands pressed with Delicacies and poor Lazarus lacks even Crums to feed him Therefore it would much impeach the Justice and Goodness of God if there were not a time and place to make some retribution to each of these to reward the Righteous and to punish the Wicked Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompence Tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels 2 Thess 1.6 7. Remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented Luke 16.25 So that a Man shall say Verily there is a reward for the Righteous Verily he is a God that judgeth in the Earth Psal 58.11 Otherwise where is our Hope For if in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all Men most miserable 1 Cor. 15.9 Nothing could buoy up the Spirits of a good Christian amidst all the heavy Pressures and Afflictions of this Life but that he has the Hopes and Assurance that there is an exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory laid up for him in the life to come St. John in his Revelation tells us Chap. 20.12 13. That he saw the Dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their Works And the Sea gave up the Dead which were in it and Death and Hell delivered up the Dead which were in them and they were judged every Man according to their Works From the whole you see there is a certainty nay a necessity of Death and Judgment This then should teach thee O my Soul 1. First to be often meditating of it before it comes Nil sic revocat a peccato quam frequens Mortis et Judicii meditatio This will restrain thee from Sin and make Death and Judgment less terrible when it comes Is there such a day approaching for all the Sons of Men How should we then resolve with David to make a Covenant with our eyes that they behold not vanity that we set a Watch before our Mouths and keep the door of our lips as with a bridle that we offend not with our tongues that we always have clean hands and a pure heart that at length we may dwell in his Tabernacle and rest upon his holy Hill for ever Si sapis utaris totis Colinediebus Extremumque tibi semper adesse puta Martial I know the sting of Death is Sin but thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ 2. Are there