are going to hell and after forty or fifty yeares living know not what belongs to dying more than with Ezekiah to turne their face to the wall and weepe when it comes The way to dye willingly is to conne death before hand he that hath spent his life in providing for his death is not troubled at his death how to be provided of a better life My care shall be not how I may not dye but how I may live ever Prosperitie is a great enemy to goodnesse how hardly doe those which have riches enter into the Kingdome of Heaven I heare Israel praying in Aegypt quarreling in the wildernesse When they were at their bricke-kills they would be at their devotion and no sooner are they at ease but they are wrangling for their flesh-pots I think many a man had not been so bad if he had but been poore It is the saying of a wise Father that Salomons wealth did him more hurt than his wisdom did him good Trouble and want do that many times which faire meanes cannot wealth like knowledge puffes up when poverty as their infirmities did many in the Gospell make men flock to CHRIST I will never pray more heartily to God for His blessings than for grace to use them nor to lessen my miseries but to add to my strength Though my afflictions be many or often so my strength be equall I shall get by them the stronger my tryall the greater will be both my victorie and my reward The way to live ever is to live well there is no way to everlasting life but a good life it is not living at ease or at randome or at rack and manger in pompe and plentie mirth and jollity and with Saul think to drive away the divell with musike God cares not how rich or how powerful thou art but how good We should so live as wee may have joy of our life and bee made partaker of those joyes and that life which are for ever There are many dead men and manie deaths there is a death in sinne and a death for sinne and a death to sinne the two first we may thanke our selves for if wee had not knowne sinne we had not known death but the last we must thanke God for it is from Him that wee dye to sinne that have deserv'd to dye for it who Himselfe dyed for us and hath taken our sins upon Him and at once delivered us from the sting of death and the strength of sinne And thankes be to God who hath given us this victorie through our Lord IESVS CHRIST We are in this world as Israel in the wildernes and Christ is to us as Moses was to them if He leave us wee know not which way to turne us nature cannot carrie us to God Here all our sufficiencie is from Him and we say well in our praier for thine is the power and the glorie and it is by that power that wee come to that glorie our strength is but borrowed our standing but leaning upon His arme our going but leading in His hand It is with us as it was with S. Paul upon the way wee must be led we must be carried to God we must pray turne us O Lord unto thee and wee shall be turned Of our selves wee are unable to goe yet drawe us and wee shall runne after thee so shall wee come to thee with thee that are rather images that have feete and walke not without thee It is betweene some sinners and God as betweene some men their creditors all their care is how to be trusted not how to pay My first care shall be as little as I can to come in Gods debt and my next care how to come out of it Our goodnesse must be that part of the wallet that hangs behinde us seene of others not of our selves our sinnes must bee that part that hangs before us seene both of others and our selves To conceale sinne was never the way to be forgiven it or what art thou the safer that thou canst conceale it from men and not from God I had rather be censur'd for my sin than be damned for it As in Moralitie so in Divinitie not to goe forward is to goe backwards and not to thrive in goodnesse is not to be good When I compare what I am with what I have beene I am not a little proud but when I compare what I should bee with what I am with Peter I begin to sinke only here 's my comfort I shall be receiv'd not according to what I am but what I am in Christ. Every good heart is accuser judge and executioner of its ownfaults Why should I be afraid of standing at the tribunall of my owne conscience and not of God at one I must and if I judge my selfe I shall not bee judged I will prevent Gods judgements with my owne and the feare of what I should suffer with the sorrow for what I have done to him only is the last judgement terrible that shunnes the first Wicked men as they make most shew of mirth so they have least their heart and their face do not agree they carrie that in their owne bosome that spoiles their laughing they are alwaies pursued by themselves and encountred with their own thoughts Their sleepe is dreaming and they dreame of those judgements in their sleepe which they have deserv'd waking every noyse is of thunder and everie thunder of the last day every shadow is a spirit and their sinnes are so many divels about them they have a double hell they dy a thousand deaths here and hereafter dye eternally There is no joy like the joy in the Holy Ghost Nay there is no joy but that and that is as farre above all earthly joy as our heavenly joy shall be above this Hallelujah above Hosanna Let mee but have this within and I care not how the square goe without Death to the wicked ever comes unwelcome because they see it in its worst shape ghastly Faine they would not goe and goe they must it is impossible they should live still but it is intolerable to be still dying which is the life they are to live a living death I will pray God to season this life to me as I may not bee in love with it and so to remember me of my death as I may not be afraid of it and in my life so to prepare me for my death that at my death I may not onely bee prepared but assured of a better life When I remember the sinnes I have already committed and some it may be not throughly repented of and those which I do hourely commit and some it may be not taken notice of so many of infirmitie stealing upon me and other stronger sinnes breaking in upon me I doe not will that good which I should or want power to that will or perseverance to that power I am at a stand with the Apostle and thinke miserable man that I am who shall deliver me
us in modestie to submit to Him and thinke that our best which God thinkes so Seneca an heathen but a Philosopher could say hee was better borne than to be a slave to his body and they are no better that are continuall factors for it Every man layes up for a hard winter and a Rainie-day I will lay up for that day which I am sure will come and am not suer how soone it will come The bare desiring of earthly things is not unlawfull Hee who first taught us to pray allow'd us this in Give us this day our daily Bread 't is the excesse either in using or in caring for them makes them ill to us that are not so in them selves I will so desire these as I may bee the better for enjoying them and so imploy them as I may have little to account for them Why should I abound to my cost Teares are a second Bâ—â—â—â—sme of the soule 〈◊〉 it is rinced anew as the sinnes of the old worlde so of this little world neede a deluge There is but one sorrow never to be repented of the sorrow of repentance only these teares goe into Gods bottle and thus blessed are they that mourne Others eyes are Sermons unto mine when I see a Peter weeping for his denyall it puts mee in minde of mine why should I weepe for the losse of my friends 〈…〉 my health or of 〈◊〉 state and not of my soule There are two kindes of teares of joy and of griefe and two causes of these kindes Heaven and our Sinnes the one of affection the other of remorse the one for what we have done the other for what we would have these two shall vie teares in mine eyes to be forgiven and to be dissolved This World is a stage the play is a tragi-comedy of the life and death of man every man playes his part and exit and it may be he that hath liv'd a begger would not exchange with the KING when he comes to dye for then he is rewarded not according to what he hath beene but what hee hath done I wil not greatly care what part I play but to doe it well Home is home be it never so homely sayes the Proverbe Men goe forth to labour and come home to take their ease this world is our worke-house and Heaven is our home why am I loth to goe to my rest This world is the valley of teares and we may sooner want them than cause to shed them I will bee content to sow in teares that I may reape in joy I reade of Augustus when ever hee heard of any that dyed suddenly hee wish'd him and his friends the like happinesse he shall not choose for me Let him and his brother-heathens pray for their fooles paradise Our Church hath learn'd us a better Language From sudden Death good Lord deliver us I ever thought it not a little blessing to dye by degrees In this case the farthest way about is the nearest way home Mee thinkes it is but th' other day I came into the world and anon I am leaving it How time runs away and we meet with Death alway e're wee have time to thinke our selves alive One doth but breake-fast here another dine hee that lives longest doth but suppe We must all goe to bed in another World I will so live every day as if I should live no more 't is more than I know if I shall All goe to the same home but all goe not the same way one falls by the hand of a brother another by the fall of a house c. Againe all goe to the same home but all goe not the same pace one dyes in his cradle another on his crutches to some their life is a prey to others a burthen Iob and Ionah are weary of living and Lot and Hezekiah would live longer as for the way I shall ever pray God that I may take my last sleepe in a whole skinne but for the pace Come LORD IESVS come quickly Death was given for punishment of sinne but is the end of it when we lost Paradise we met with this and againe when we part with this wee meet our Paradise they that know whither they are going cannot but wish themselves gone and say with our Saviour but in another sense Arise let us goe hence Through how many dyings doe wee come to our Death And how many deaths may wee come to Infinite are our waies out of this life that have but one way into it Our life is compos'd of nothing but deaths for that wee may live other creatures die again our child-hood dyes and is forgotten when we are growne up Our youth dyes when wee are men Our man-hood dies when we are aged at last Our age dyes and all dyes and wee dye with it every day dyes at night now if my life consist of dayes what doe I else but dye daily Favour is a thing to esteeme but not to build on hee that stands upon others leggs knowes not how soone they may faile him Greatnesse is not eternall I will never leane so hard upon any man that if he breake he shall give me a fall The things of this world are in a manner but apparitions not so indeed all our Pompe is but like the strowing of Boughes before our Saviour taken up againe straite our provision here is like that of the Gibeonites apt to moulder open to the theefe and the moath to be corrupted and stole wee have waters but like those of Marah bitter we have riches but we have crosses sweete meate but sowre sauce they make a fair shew but they last not I may say of them what my Saviour did of Israel their goodnesse is but as a cloude c. I will use this world but I will bee in love with that better onely why should I delight to be miserable This world is a region of Ghosts or of dying men if not dead our life is but one continued sicknesse and we are ever in a comsumption wasting wee now accompany those to the grave whom shortly wee must keepe company with in the Grave Every man must have his turne and GOD knowes whose turne is next it may bee thine it may bee mine and mine before thine GOD knowes thou hast more yeares it may be and therefore as thou thinkest some strides before I am no lesse subject to diseases and therefore no whit behinde these threaten no lesse to mee than age doth to others Every ache every stitch tolles the bell in mine eares for some have dyed of these but every strong sicknesse digs the grave and sayes service over mee and cries Dust to dust c. Since there is a time to dye and I know not the time I will provide for it at all times Blessed is that servant whom when the Master comes he shall finde watching No man thinkes hee shall live ever yet most men thinke they shall not dye yet otherwise they would dye better
from this body of death Even He that delivered His body to death for me Oh God thou that workest in me both to will and to doe worke my will to thine da Domine quod jubes c. Give but power to obey and what thou wilt command Death is as hatefull to man as old age to beautie and we are ever complaining of the shortnesse of our time unlesse calamitie make it seeme long which yet if they be never so little over they are weary of that which before they wished for death as I will not be in love with tribulations so I will not love my life the worse for them nor the better for wanting them if prosperity make me fond of living or afraid of dying it had been better for mee if it had not been so well I shall pay deare for my ease It is better to go into the house of mourning than into the house of laughter nay the way to the house of laughter is through the house of mourning so our Saviour Blessed are they that mourne for they shall be comforted Mirth like Salomons strumpets leads to the chambers of death and the voluptuous man goes out of this World as hee came into it crying and into another world where there is nothing but weeping It is a great weaknesse to defer to doe that which must be done if I must once weepe I will doe it now It is better to cry for remorse than for anguish There were no such tyrant upon earth as the envious man if he had but his will no man should live a quiet life or dye a naturall death but himselfe hee sees his neighbours house burning and warmes him by the fire and is refreshed there is no estate that he hath not a quarrell to no person his equals hee hates because they are his equals his inferiors because they are not his equals and his superiors because he is not their equall he is an enemy to all mens peace but most of all to his own and I think if he were put to it himselfe knowes not what hee would be or have others be It is the greatest vanity in the world to runne mad for others pleasures what if I have not the same thing or in the same measure I have enough to serve my turne if they have more yet they must account for it and I will never envy any man that he hath more to answere for to God than I have I shall not account for the talents which I never had Gods blessings and our thankes must ever goe hand in hand one good turne requires another Wee must not thinke to serve our selves of God and not serve Him His blessings are not only encouragements or rewards but bonds Of these the more we have the more we owe and our care must be not onely to receive but to repaie Why should we strive to come out of every mans debt but GODS The charity of forgiving is more difficult than that of giving and more worth by how much our selves are more deare to us than our goods in the one wee are doers but in the other sufferers and many a man would doe for another that would not suffer for him I am but halfe a Christian if I have only learn'd to pitie and not to forgive we cannot at once remember our profession and our wrongs if they bee small the matter is the lesse if they be great our glorie is the more nor only our glorie but our reward it is our owne faults if wee be not gainers by our injuries Gluttony is not onely a sinne but a disease not onely to be forbidden but to bee afraid of other sinnes hurt in future this in present and robbes not only of eternall life but of this and destroies the body together with the soule Our bodies were not given for cellarage to lay in bread and beare in I will remember that I was not therefore borne or doe live meerely to eate and drinke but therefore eate and drinke that I may continue life I have seldome known any wickednesse so hainous that had not clients as well as patrons Corah had cōpanions with him in his sinne before in his punishment But innocency doth not go by voices I will never looke at my partners but my cause I desire no other Advocates but GOD and the truth It was the accusation of the old world that they were eating and drinking till they entred c. and is still of this and will be so to the end though this were not the end of our being but for the continuance of it I will use my meat as others doe their Physicke onely for health to satisfie not my desire but my stomach I can a great deale cheaper and safer feede my belly than my eye We see men set not their best wares upon the stalls but within lapp'd up it is neither commendable nor wise to shew our excellencies as Musicians do in all companies what are we the better that we thinke well of our selves while others thinke not so Or what are we then worse that others thinke meanly of us while we think so too Since those art never the better for thy selfe-conceitednes nor the worse for thy humilitie why shouldst thou make thy selfe envied for those graces which thou hast by shewing them and derided for making shew of those thou hast not and would'st seeme to have and art at once noted of men for a boaster and of God for a dissembler I will be content to be lowly in mine owne esteem and others that I may bee high in Gods A handsome garment is no argument of a strait body those are not alwaies the best men that make the most shew of holinesse Demurenesse may stand with falshood Pretences are evermore suspicious they that are ever perfum'd 't is to be thought have naturally ill breaths we must not ever beleeve our senses goodnesse is plaine and would be knowne by her workes but not tell of them whilest hypocrisie is painted to hide ' its wrinkles and would bee taken for better than it is and with the figge-tree it shall be curst for flourishing if wee are true Christians wee are both sides alike Goodnesse doth not go by yeeres many times you shall have that from a Samuel in his long coates which you shall not have from a Saul at forty yeeres old and yet it is not forwardness commends us but perseverance Some men like some fruits promise faire in the blossome but wither ere they be pluck'd others like some graine lye long in the ground but grow up the taller it is dangerous to deferre long but it is worse not to hold out I will love and endevour early holinesse yet it is better to begin late than to have done betimes there is a penny for him that comes at the eleventh houre If thy youth have been faulty it is comfort that thy age is otherwise It is no disparagement to have beene wicked but to continue