DIRECTIONS ABOUT PREPARING FOR DEATH Eccles 11.8 If a man live many yeers and rejoyce in them all yet let him remember the days of darkness for they shall be many All that cometh is vanity LONDON Printed by A. Maxwell for John Baker and are to be sold at the Peacock in Little-Brittain Anno. Dom. 1669. To the much Honoured Sir John Langham Knight and Baronet Honoured Sir 'T IS now about six yeers since that at your Desire and for your own private use I penned the following short and plain Directions your apprehensions of your approching change being the occasion For though God hath been pleased to exempt you from very many of the usual Concomitants of old Age so that you have not known nor do to this day what they mean by your own experience yet the very Number of your Years and the weakness you find creeping on you though through Gods mercy joyned with a good measure of Health cannot but mind you of your long Home Ecc. 12.5 and give you to understand that there is but a little of your Glass to run And as I was by your desire put upon the Writing of the ensuing little piece so am I now upon the Printing of it And if it may prove more publickly useful than I first design'd I shall have cause to acknowledg the Divine Goodness therein and to bless God for it Now the Lord graciously help you in your preparations for your Eternal State which you do well to be much thinking of grant unto you that you may find mercy in that day 2 Tim. 1.18 multiply his Favours Spiritual and Temporal upon your posterity and make them all great blessings in their several stations That being happy Instruments of Gods Glory in this World they may be Vessels of Glory in that which is to come This is the unfained and daily Prayer of Sir your very much obliged Servant in the Lord. T. B. Directions about Preparing for Death THERE is but one and the same Direction for living Well and dying Comfortably And therefore the Holy Scripture which was given to instruct us How to order our conversations aright Psal 50.23 hath in teaching us that Lesson sufficiently withal taught us the other too A good Life cannot but have a blessed Conclusion The end of the upright man sure enough shall be peace Psal 37.37 And doubtless that man's Hope is likely to prove no better than a Spider's web Job 18.14 who expects to reap mercy from God at his latter end and yet in the days of his health makes no provision by sowing in righteousness for such an Harvest Hos 10.12 Esa 32.17 Our Souls are not to be Bequeathed to God as a Legacy at Death but Soul and Body and all we have ought to be devoted to him and his service in our Life-time and throughout the whole course of our lives from first to last Ecc. 12.1 Apoc. 2.10 Yet I dare not absolutely affirm that a Death-bed Repentance is invalid but this is sure He that deferrs his Repentance till then will be hard put to it even to satisfie himself about his own sincerity if his Conscience be awake That which a man gives not till he be necessitated is no proof of his Liberality And if to put off our turning to God and resignation of our selves to him till we be arrested by Death be a sign of our Love 't is hard to tell what Argument there can be of a mind Alienated from Him Yet I should be far from discouraging any man as I said from entertaining thoughts of turning from his evil ways as if there were no hope for him for who can tell but God may shew mercy Jonah 3.8 9. However this is certain To get our Hearts mortified to the World to sue out our pardon through the Blood of Christ to Believe and Repent to Reform our ways to be Holy Righteous and Sober to work out our Salvation with fear and trembling to make our Calling and Election sure are not only works for Dying men but they are every mans Duty even to day while it is called to day Heb. 3.13 15. The Living the Healthy the Strong the Young as well as the Aged are to learn these Lessons while their parts are vigorous while their understanding memory senses are best able to perform their several Ofces Functions These are things concern all so as nothing more as well when they are apt fondly to imagine that Enemie Death a great way off as when they have cause to think they hear the sound of his Feet at the Door How sadly then do those persons delude and abuse themselves and God knows there be multitudes of such who have a strong fancy that they may all the while they live balk the way of Gods precepts those paths of pleasantness to the spiritually-minded but rugged and tedious to such as are carnal Pro. 3.17 Rom. 8.7 and yet find a short cut to Heaven when they dye And in the strength of this Fancy do adventure to run perfectly counter to the direction of our Blessed Saviour Mat. 6.33 seeking to make sure of other things first and most presumptuously promising themselves that the Kingdom of Heaven shall be added to them at last This I know they do in love to their flesh and that they may make provisions for it as the Apostle speaks Rom. 13.14 but it is a most dreadful thing that a man in favour to his flesh should be thus cruel to his own Soul hardning himself against it as if it were none of his as we read Job 39 14-18 the Ostrich serves her young ones being so wholly unconcerned about his own Eternal Welfare and Woe But to let these men pass As for such as are spiritually-wise they will not be tempted to run such hazzards They will be careful with all speed to do those things which others when they come to dye shall wish they had done Not but that the Best of men have their failings which they are sensible of and see cause to be deeply humbled for Psal 19.12 notwithstanding their greatest care to work out their Salvation that they may have nothing to do when Death comes but to Dye And therefore though when their last hour is at hand they have no new work for the main to go about but only that to go over again which every Christian is or should have been accustomed to long before yet they know it concerns them to bestir themselves with the wise Virgins Mat. 25.7 In trimming their Lamps and that so much the more because Night is approaching Joh. 9.4 Though therefore they have oft searched their Hearts and inquired into their spiritual estate they now do it again they review their lives they examine how matters stand between God and their souls they consider what account they shall give of their Stewardship they look over their Evidences for Heaven and stir up themselvs to exercise their Faith and renew their Repentance they labour by Meditation to
get a prospect of the promised Land that having their Hearts dis-intangled from the Creature they may bid adieu to this vain World and their souls may chearfully and with comfort take their flight to those Blessed Mansions above That this is the right way of preparing for death I am now to shew somewhat more particularly But first it will be needful for me to speak of the causes of that I should call it stupendious if it were not common unpreparedness and unwillingness that is in the most as to their death and departure hence when as yet they know well enough it is unavoidable Now the causes here of are principally and chiefly three viz. 1. Their inordinate and unreasonable Love of this present World and the enjoyments of it from which they are loth to let go their Hold. 2. Conscience of sin and the sad Apprehensions they have of the Guilt under which they lye 3. And Consequently the great uncertainty they are in of what will become of them in the next World For if our affections were weaned as they should be from things below had we some good assurance our sins were pardoned and that we should be happy in the world to come there would be so little of terrour in death that we should be willing and ready at a days at an hours-warning to lay down our earthly House of this Tabernacle in hope of an house made without hands eternal in the Heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 2. and hardly any more afraid to dye than we usually are to compose our selves to sleep when night is come That we may therefore be in a continual preparedness for our last hour and able to welcome Death cheerfully when ever it shall summon us to be gone hence Three things are to be done 1. We must out of hand labour with our hearts to make them dead to all things sublunary our profits honours pleasures even all our earthly comforts 2. We must with all speed and importunity sue out our pardon at the Throne of Grace through the Blood of Christ 3. We must daily be giving all diligence to make our Election more and more sure and to work out our Salvation And thus doing whether the Master of the House come at even or at Midnight or at Cock-crowing or in the Morning as 't is Mark 1â— 35 we shall be in a readiness for him and received by him into his joy Mat. 25.21 1. To begin with the first It is not possible we should ever be ready and willing when God calls us hence to leave the world if we have not first learned to use it as if we used it not 1 Cor. 7.31 For if our hearts be set upon these present things and we engaged in an over-eager pursuit and prosecution of them it will be as death to us before we dye to think of parting with them and bidding them an everlasting Adieu And yet alas this is the Temper of all the Sons of Adam the profits and pleasures and accommodations of this Life whether they enjoy in hopes or possession little or much of them seem very great things in their eyes and esteem And 't is natural to them to prize and value them above measure The Love of the World and of the things in the World is so prevalent with the most that if it were put to their choyce they would be for living here always and not care for any better or any other Heaven To have their Inheritance on this side of Jordan would please them best if it might be granted to them here to abide and here to have a continuing City Heb. 13.14 Till a mans heart therefore be otherwise affected the thoughts of removing hence must needs be bitter and unpleasing and let any one judg how such a person is likely to be prepared for his Great change Now to loosen our affections from the Creature two things are requisite 1. Serious and Deep Meditation 2. Fervent and Frequent Prayer Two things are to be chafed into our hearts by often Meditating on them 1. How empty and vain all these inferiour things are 2. How much better things by far and more worthy our affections there are to be enjoyed 1. For the Vanity of all things under the Sun it cannot be better set forth than by those Arguments which Solomon who was inspired by the Holy-Ghost to write on this Subject useth in the first Chap. of Eccles I shall mention only four of them 1. What profit saith he Eccl. 1.3 hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the Sun Which is as if he had said He hath none at all or that which next to none When a man with his bustling and taking pains and distracting cares by day and by night hath run out his precious time wasted his strength worn out his body and tired himself Let him but sit down a while and cast up his accounts to see what he hath purchased and he will find that Solomon hath adjusted them right to his hand in the Text last cited and that upon the whole He hath no profit that is none comparatively none worth speaking of For Suppose a man hath gotten by his labour under the Sun as much as any ever did Yet 1. First When all 's done In many respects he is still but upon the same terms with those of his Neighbours that have not haply the Hundredth or the Thousandth part of what he enjoys He is still as subject to diseases weaknesses and pains he lyes as open for all his Honour or Estate to the Calamities of Mankind to the loss of his most intimate Friends of his dearest Children and most belov'd Relations and may every whit assoon be crossed and afflicted in them as the meanest person He can no more ransom from going to the Grave Psal 49.7 yea or procure a reprieve for any he most tenderly loves than the poorest Man Honour and Riches are no fence at all to the Owners of them or to their Families from the Feaver the small Pox the Gâ—ut the Stone or from the Pâ—â—â—â—â—ence it self and innumerable Evils more A man by all the Labour he takes under the Sun hath in such cases as these and many beside that might be nam'd no priviledg more than those of a lower condition nor is he raised one jot above the Level of them whom he useth to look upon as his Underlings Thus far therefore A man hath no profit of all the Labour he takes under the Sun 2. But then again further He that hath the greatest share of these earthly things doth in many regards stand upon worse terms than those do who enjoy much less of them He is oft perplexed with those Cares Anxieties Vexations Discontentments and Fears that others in a lower station are not acquainted with And is exposed to those Inconveniences and Dangers who can number them all from which his inferiors are secur'd The sleep of the labouring man is sweet but the abundance of the
Vanity is this For 1. Ere a man can come to reap the fruit he desires of what he hath sowed and spent his study and labour about Death is upon him and he must be gone And though he would give all his Estate for a few yeers reprieve though he would never so fain be respited for a little while longer till he might see such or such a business dispatcht it will not be granted How often falls it out that a man brings some Project which he was long in travel with to that forwardness that there wants but little more than the laying of the Top-stone and yet Death forceth him to leave his work imperfect How frequently is it seen that when a man is now going to tast the sweet of some Accommodation that he hath been some yeers labouring for and hath gotten at length Death comes on a sudden and dasheth the cup out of his hand before it touches his lips How usually doth it happen that when a man begins to sing Soul take thine ease thou hast much goods laid up he is presently disturbed by hearing a voice saying Thou fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee Luk. 12.19 20. Secondly All these things which he hath toiled and laboured for he must leave behind him and the word of God tells him He knows not for whom Psal 39.6 He hopes indeed they shall be for such as he himself hath design'd but daily Experience as well as the Scripture shews that 's a thing no man hath any certainty of To be sure As he came naked into the world so again naked he must return Job 1.21 And when he dieth he shall carry nothing away his glory and his riches shall not descend after him Psal 49.17 All things in the world being in this respect like those standers that a man must leave behind him when he removes from one house to another And this the wise man takes notice of as a sore evil that a man shall take nothing of his labour which he may carry away in his hand but in all points as he came so shall he go and from hence inferrs What profit hath he that thus laboured for the wind Eccles 5.15 16. Now if the case be thus can the things of this world be fit Objects for an Immortal Soul to doat upon Or is there any likelihood they should contribute to the Satisfaction of so noble a Being any more than Vanity it self would be able to do Thirdly Solomon's next Argument to prove the point we are speaking of seems to be taken from the very Constitution and frame of this world and its several parts The Sun riseth and goeth down and hasteth to the place where he arose The Wind goeth to the South and turneth about to the North it whirleth about continually All Rivers run into the Sea unto the place whence the Rivers come thither do they return again All things are full of labour Eccles 1.5 6 7 8. that is The World and all the parts of it are so constituted and framed that they do proclaim to every one that hath ears to hear Arise begone this is not your resting place Mic. 2.10 Let any man that hath eyes to see but look about him and suppose he were askt the question that was put to Jeremy chap. 1.11 13. What seest thou What could he answer but I see the Sun the Wind the Sea and all Creatures in a perpetual hurry agitation nothing keeps the same face for a day together without some alteration And what of this Why doth this look like the place where Happiness is to be found Do not all Creatures with one voice proclaim aloud that All is vanity and that we must seek somewhere else for that felicity we pant and gasp after Certainly there are no such Vicissitudes and Changes there is no such unquietness in the place appointed for Man's eternal Rest If we were but considerative and would but show our selves men as the Holy Ghost speaks Esa 46.8 we might easily gather and collect from hence that here below is nothing but Vanity and that Creatures and Creature-comforts were never ordained by God for those ends that men in their folly think to make them serve for Give but a suit of Apparel to an Indian that goes naked and is not acquainted with such clothes as we wear and let him but consider the frame and make of them and he will easily guess by comparing the several parts of it with the parts of his body which was and which was not made for each And if we did but seriously compare what 's to be had in this World and our Souls together might we not as easily find it out that things here below were never made for them and that their only use is to give us a little Accommodations for our Bodies and that but for a while Might we not soon discern that here is not any thing to be had which will do the soul good or conduce to its welfare and therefore that as to such a purpose All things are Vanity A fourth Argument by which the Preacher demonstrates how empty all things under the Sun are is the little or rather the no-satisfaction that they do All afford The eye saith he chap. 1 8. is not satisfied with seeing nor the ear with hearing And he argues thus from the less If the eye and the ear cannot be satisfied with things seen and heard betwixt which yet there is some proportion much less can the Mind and Soul of Man be filled with any thing sublunary betwixt which there is no proportion at all Now the Eye though it have seen never so much would fain see more the ear would learn and discover something further and is still listning after some new thing The most pleasing Objects in a little while grow stale and we are weary of them A man may look upon that he delights in till his eye-strings crack e're he have his fill break his neck as one saith sooner than his fast on earthly contentments Men quickly grow to a loathing of what they have most importunately longed for and have no sooner got what they did eagerly desire but would presently fain have something else We promise our selves great matters while we are in expectation of such and such things but we find not that in the fruition which we looked for The contentment we have in the things of this World is from the Fancy we have of what is in them while we behold them at a distance but the nearer we come to them the less we see in them to be taken with He that feedeth on them feedeth on ashes and he hath no better than a lie in his right hand Esa 44.20 Now thus it would not be if they were not meer emptiness and vanity Where happiness is there is full and compleat satisfaction without any nauseating There the desires of the soul are all rectifi'd and no one of them meets with