Life Amen Amen The Prayer O Holy Jesu thou Lord of Life and Glory who by thy Death hast overcome Death and open'd unto us the Gate of Everlasting Life at the hour of Death and in the Day of Judgment Good Lord Deliver us Grant that the End of our life on Earth may be the Beginning to us of a blessed Eternity in Heaven that the Second Death the never-ceasing one may have no Dominion over us but that when we discontinue Living with men we may dwell with thee our God and Converse with all the blessed Society Above Grant Heavenly Father that when we come to lye on a Death-bed we may be able to look backward with Comfort and Consolation on a well spent Life and forward with a bright prospect of Glory and Immortality beyond the Grave that when we are nigh unto Death and our bodyly strength Languishing our faith and hope may Revive and become vigorous and we may then feel the joyous Approaches of that Salvation which we before had wrought out with fear and trembling We know O Lord that 't is appointed for all men once to Dye and that no one can rescue his life from the pit of Destruction and yet do we live as if we had made an Agreement with Hell and had an unforfeitable Lease of our lives O give us to Dye unto sin Now that we may sleep in Christ at our Departure and be Awaken'd be Rais'd to life again in the Restitution of all things Afford us some Refreshing beams of the Light of thy Reconciled Countenance when passing through the dark valley of the Shadow of Death grant that we may then fear no evil but may have the Testimony of a Good Conscience which may be a supporting Cordial to our weak and fainting Spirits Grant that we may not live in such an unprepar'd state of Soul as that we should be afraid to Dye and Appear before thy Judgment seat but cause us so to Demean our selves as that the Sting and Terrour of Death Sin may be taken away before Death it self lays hold on us that when it comes we may welcome it with Smiles and Gladness may lift up our heads with Joy at our hastening Dissolution as knowing that then the time of our Redemption draweth near Be Thou present with us at the hour of Death O blessed Jesu who sufferedst Death for us upon the Cross by the vertue of that thy precious Death Sweeten we beseech thee the bitterness of ours When our Eyes shall be Darkned in the Agonies of Death kindle in our hearts the Light of saving Faith when our Speech shall fail and leave us O do thou speak Inwardly unto us by the Comforts of thy Spirit and grant that we may speak mentaily unto Thee by Devoul Sighs and Groans which cannot be utter'd when we are nigh unto the End of our Days may we be nigh the end of our Hopes even the Salvation of out Souls O give us in our last Exiremities Joy in believing Hope in our Latter End humble Resignation of our Spirits into thy hands an holy Contempt of this Earth an Enflamed Love of Heaven Longing desires to be with Thee with our Saviour christ with Angels and Glorified Saints which is much better than being here Amen Amen for thy Mercies sake Meditation XVII On the Last Judgment MEthinks I view the Judge of the whole Earth Terrible and yet Gracious coming in the Clouds of Heaven with all his Glorious Retinue of holy Angels methinks I hear the Arowzing Call of the last Trumpet see the innumerable Dead take the Alarm Awake Move and Rise at its all-powerful Summons I behold methinks the Righteous Rising first with Smiles and Exultation in their Faces as knowing that their Redemption that the Reward of all their Pious Labours draweth near I behold also the ungodly Rising Last and yet even then most unwillingly shaking and trembling for fear of their approaching Tryal and Condemnation Heaven above Threatning them Hell beneath Gaping wide for their Reception I bâ—hold too the Court-Book of an Universal Registry open'd each Mans Indictment and Accusation publickly Read his own Conscience the while bearing Witness and either Accusing or Excusing him in that fearful Judgment I hear methinks the Decisive Sentence 〈◊〉 ronourced of either Eternal Happyness or Misery of either come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepar'd for you before the foundations of the World or else of Depart from me ye Accursed into Everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Oh the different Effects these different Sentences have on the Persons they are directed unto The Righteous receive their Sentence with Joy and Acclamations with transporting Thanks and Hallelujahs with an humble Admiration that the Recompence of their finite Defective Services should be a far more Exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory The ungodly Reprobates entertain their Doom with hideous Howlings and Lamentations with heart-piorcing Sorrows and Affrightments with fruitless desires to return again into their Graves or to be perfectly destroyed and Annihilated Come ye blessed O Delightsome sound O wellcome hearing wellcome especially from the moâ—â—â— of our Judge Come There is no need sure of a pressing Invitation to accept of so much Bliss and Happyness behold they Run they draw near upon the first Intimation of it they fly with haste into the possession of their Eternal Inheritance They now please themselves in the Remembrance of their former Godly Sorrows Mortifications and Self-denyals which through the Mercy 's of God and Merits of their Saviour have procured them such an exceeding Great Rejoycing All their former Tears dry up at the sight of their Glorious Redemption and they would not for a World but they had Denyed themselves in the Life past that now in the Resurrection of the Just they may be own'd and Approved of by their Advocate and Acquitter Depart ye Cursed blessed Lord whither should they depart Can they Goe any where where thou art not present who sillest all things tho' they descend into the Deep and remain in the uttermost parts of the Sea yet Thou art there though they make the Darkness of Hell their hiding-place yet thou art there also thine Omniscient Eye shall even there find them out and thine Almighty Arm shall punish them Depart from Me A Dâ—parture from thy Beatifick presence O God must needs render the Departed Accursed for Thou art all that 's Good the Loss therefore of Thee is an Universal Loss Thou art the Center and Rest of the Soul and therefore to be separated from Thee must be the most unquiet and miserable Condition imaginable A Departure from the Joyous Light of thy Countenance O blessed Jesu who only hast the words of Eternal Life can certainly be no other than Eternal Death One would have thought indeed that to be Deprived of Thy Sight might have been punishment enough without the Damneds Entrance in Hell-flames and tortures but that besides the mental Anguish for their
and may we at length be blest with the Enravishing Approbation of well-done Good and faithful Servants enter ye into your Master's Joy Amen Amen Meditation XVIII On Heaven HEaven A place where God's Honour dwells where his Honour and Glory dwell in the most Supereminent Degree Where is the blessed Jesus in all the pompous Resplendencies of his Exaltation Surrounded with infinite Honours of his perfect Obedience and most meritorious Sufferings Where the Reflected Rays of the Divine Majesty add New lustre to the brightest Cherubims and the innumerable Host of Heaven the Glorified Company of Saints and Angels drink plentifully of those Rivers of pleasure which are at God's Right hand for Evermore Pleasures Refin'd and Spiritual Sincere and unallay'd with any mixture of Sorrow pleasures fixt and Durable as God the Unchangeable Author of them so compleat as to Satisfie and yet so Recreatively Satisfying as not to become Dull and Cloying For in Heaven a Continual fresh Addition of Happyness flowing in upon the Soul both Gratifies its appetites and also Quickens and New-Excites them There the blessed Inhabitants beholding constantly the Beatifick Presence are changed thereby from Joy to Joy from Glory to Glory Receive incessant Communications of the Divine inherent Fulness and have their Desires hereby the more Enflamed their Capacities the more Enlarged to receive still further participations of God's inexhaustible bounty And thus they spend a Rapturous Eternity ever-Loving ever-Praising ever-Adoring and Delighting in God their Saviour And the more they Love and Praise and Delight in Him still they find more Cause more Reason more Desire and Longing of Soul to do so Here 't is the happy Residentiaries Understandings are wide open'd to all the amazing Lights and Discoveries of Truth to the Mysteries of Creation and Providence of Redemption and Sanctification to the now puzling Difficulties of Nature and of Grace of God's Prescience and Man's Free-will Here 't is the Wills also of the Glorified are render'd conformable unto are Swallowed up in and made one with God's Holy Will and Pleasure that their Affections become Seraphickly pure Spiritual and servent that both the Spirits of Just Men made perfect and their brethren Angels burn with Divine Love are enflamed with holy Ardours of Devout Gratitude and Thanksgiving to God the Author of their Beings and kind bestower and preserver of all their Enjoyments Heaven The bright Aboad of all bright and pure and clarified Souls Of all those who have had Heavenly Tempers and Dispositions implanted in them here who have Contemned the World Triumph'd over its depraving pomps and Vanities who have Crucified the flesh with the Corrupt Lusts and Affections thereof who have vanquish'd Hell overcome the Temptations of the Devil offer'd a Grateful violence to Heaven by the importunities of servent Effectual Prayer by the Severities of Repentance Mortification and Self-denyal There in the happy Regions Above they reap the fruit of their pious labours with a plentiful Interest and Encrease of Glory There all the Good all the truely Wise all the Just and Chaste and Charitable Souls of whom this World was not Worthy who were burning and shining Lights amidst a crooked and perverse Generation by their Singularly holy Examples shine as Scars of the first Magnitude in the Kingdom of Heaven they Love God with the Intensest most Dutiful Affection and they Love one another as themselves without any Envying or Repining at their Neighbours happyness who enjoy a Greater Degree thereof than they but each Beatified Spirit enjoying as much of God and Heaven as he is capable of Receiving is fully Satisfied with his own measure of blessedness and derives also pleasure and Contentment from the possessions of his brethren though more highly Glorifyed There in Heaven they Love there they Adore and there they Enjoy for an Endless Duration there their United Employ of Loving Praising and Worshipping God of Returning him Thanksgivings for all the Miracles of his Stupendious Love Unite them the more intimately unto God and Unite them also more closely in Affections to one another a Glorified Saint not repining at the more Advanced Glory of an Angel an Angel of an inferiour Order not Grudging at the Happyness of a Superiour nor any of those Morning Stars of the Creation Envying the Saints their most Illustrious Honour in having the Humanily Dignified with a Personal Union to the Godhead O Heaven The Glorious Receptacle of Heaven-born Souls of the Favourites and Sons of God when shall I come and Appear before him When shall I be made more exactly Like unto him seeing him as he Is When shall I be joyn'd to the Devout Adoring Quire of Angels O Celestial Temple how my Soul Longs to Enter Thee the Holy of Holies One Day in thy Courts is better than a Thousand elsewhere Gracious God deny me what Thou wilt of this Earth so thou givest me at last an inheritance in Heaven That will make ample Amends for all my wants here below That will fully Recompence all the Sufferings of this Mortal Life O my Soul is such a Glorious prize as that of thy high Calling in Christ set before thee and shall not this incite thee to press forward to that Mark To Run the Race of holy Obedience with patience chearfulness and a pious Contention Is such an Heaven such an Exceeding Great and Eternal weight of Glory the Object of thy Hopes and hast thou the Stupidity not to let it be the Object of thine Endeavours also Hast thou the heart to neglect so Great Salvation Shall it not encourage and stir thee up to give all Diligence to make thy Calling and Election Sure Oh how unworthy are they of Eternal Life who will not Exert their utmost power and industry to obtain it Blessed Lord Bring down much of an Heavenly Frame and Temper into our Souls which may Qualifie us for an Enjoyment of Heaven hereafter let there be Divine God-like habits of mind wrought and implanted in us at present that Awaking up at the Resurrection after thy Likeness we may he Satisfied therewith Amen Amen holy Saviour The Prayer O Soveraign Excellency and most Exalted Blessedness whose Delight some Presence makes Heaven and the hiding away of whose face in Displeasure is the chiefest Constituent of Hell O grant that having Such an Heaven such an Exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory the Object of our Faith and Hopes we may labour after an Heavenly frame and Disposition in our Souls which may Qualifie us for the celestical State hereafter Grant that we having Given unto us such Great and precious promises as those appertaining to this Life and a better may by the incitement of these become partakers of thy Divine Nature escaping the Corruptions which are in the World through lust O Holy Father give us a Lively View of Heaven by an Eye of Faith and so Raise up our minds thither that we may always have our Thoughts our Desires our Conversation there whence we look for the
beat down Satan under our feet we are beset with Spiritual Enemies we have no might to help our selves against the Great Company of Temptations which dayly assault us our eyes are only upon thee from whom alone cometh our Health and Salvation Help Lord or we perish help or we are Ruin'd Eternally stretch forth thy Right hand to save us or we sink in the waves of vicious Allurements which so impetuously beat against us O be Thou pleased to speak those Tempests into a Calm do Thou either Restrain the unruly waters of strife sinful Assaults which aâ—â— ready to come in even unto our Souls or else Assist and bear us up that they may not overwhelm us Suffer us noâ— O Lord to be Tempted above that 〈◊〉 are Able but together with the Temptation make a way to escape that we may resolutely withstand it and having done all may stand O make us diligent in all our Duties watchful against all Temptations that they never become a snare to catch and entangle us but cause us to Resist manfully according to our Baptismal Engagement the World the Flesh and the Devil striving against sin against alâ— wicked Enticements Provocations and Opportunities leading thereunto And in all our pious conflicts makes us more than Conquerors through Christ which strengthens us O holy Father Thou Preserver of men the Prince of this world Satan cometh he cometh to search and to Try us O Grant he may find nothing in us to close with his Temptations keep us from sin keep us from every evil way of the Destroyer Deliver us from all our Ghostly Adversaries for we fly unto Thee to secure and hide us O pluck our feet out of the wicked Net which they have privily layd for our souls We fly unto thee O thou Refuge of all those who put their Trust in thee we fly unto thee to Repel and Quench all the fiery darts of the Devil let him not have any Advantage over us but give us strength in the day of battle and holy Contention Grant that thy Kingdom may daily Rise and the Kingdom of Satan dayly fall in our hearts Lord We wrestle not only with flesh and blood with the Corruptions of our own Nature but with Principalities and Powers with Spiritual wickednesses in high places O Give us therefore Power in thee our God let thy Spirit be sufficient for us let thy strength be manifested in our weakness and make us in the conclusion mightily to prevail Cause us to take unto our selves the whole Armour of God to watch and pray to fast and mourn and strive our utmost against sin and Temptation that having fought a good fight and finished our course and kept the faith henceforth may be laid up for us a Crown of Righteousness a Crown which fadeth not away Eternal in the Heavens Amen Amen Meditation VI. Against the Sin of Pride PRide How incongruous a thing to a poor Indigent Dependant Creature To a compound of Vileness and Corruption of Misery and Folly whose foundation being in the Dust ought to humble him thither from whence he was taken Pride was not made for Man says Solomon it Becomes better any other part of the Creation for they still Retain that beautiful Goodness at first impress'd upon them by their Divine Maker the Stormy wind and Tempest the Sea and raging Floods as boisterous and unruly as they be are yet Elements fulfilling God's Word The Moon observes her certain seasons and the Sun knoweth his going down All Nature keeps its Regular Course at first ordain'd it only Man Irregular Man has Deviated from his primitivâ— state of Order and Innocence anâ— thereby has Degraded himself belovâ— the very Beasts which perish so thaâ— 't is much more a matter of profounâ— humbling to Man that immortal Corruption was his Off-spring than thâ— Mother Earth Natural Corruption was the Parent-principle of his formation To be proud and yet to be a Beggar to live upon Alms what a Solâ—cism what an inconsistency is it And yet thus it is with us we aâ— Beggars of our dayly Bread froâ— God or at least should be such alâ— we possess all we Are was Originally from him we are his Pensiâ—ners and Alms-People And how in sufferable a thing then is Pride 〈◊〉 Man how indecorous What hast thoâ— says the Apostle St. Paul which thoâ— didst not Receive and yet boastest thâ—â— as if thou hadst not Received it Surely all boasting is excluded where whatever we have is of Grace and not 〈◊〉 Debt is ours in Trust only not in Propriety Ah 't was this sin of Pride which first brought sin into the world which first came into it and which will Last go out of it Ambition was as early as Nature and Adam was little sooner a Man than he Aspired to be as God knowing Good and Evil But alass 't was this his undue Aiming at so Great a height which was the occasion of his fall and he knows now Evil only by the Loss and Privation of Good Pride 'T was this turned the Apostate Angels out of Heaven which made even that infinitely Blissful place uneasie to them while proudly reaching at the incommunicable Prerogatives of the Deity that Aspiring sin changed their Angelick Nature into that of Devils And 't is this Vice of pride which is more or less an ingredient in all the wickedness committed by degenerate Mankind foâ— every wilful iniquity is a rejecting the Divine Authority and Soveraignty of God and a Vertual saying within our selves Who is Lord oveâ— us 'T is this sin of excessive Self-Loveâ— and too good an opinion of our own Endowments which includes in itâ— mixture of the greatest folly for 〈◊〉 implies misapprehension and Error Ignorance and Inconsideration Ignorance of those Imperfections and Deformities Sins and Seeds of Misery within us which were they discovered must needs humble and abase us An how troublesome a Guest 〈◊〉 Pride in a Man's bosome it create both uneasieness to himself and alâ— others about him while it makes him Envy Superiours take to Heart the slights of Equals and even to rage with passion at the Disrespect of Inferiours O 't is this vice of over-rating our selves keeps us Strangers at home makes us unjust Censurers abroad Causes us to think too highly of our own worth too meanly of that of others 't is this hinders our growing Wiser and Better our imagining we are wise and good enough already But alass did we see all we lack we should soon fall in our own Conceit and wish for much more Wisdom and Goodness than we have Pride nothing more looses a man Friends and Gains him Enemies nothing more renders him an object of universal Scorn and Contempt so that the proud person by Pride defeats his own Aims he challenges Honour as his due but by unduly challenging it he reaps Dis-respect and Derision But above all nothing more than Pride renders us the Scorn and Hatred of God the Lord beholdeth the lowly with an Eye
be heal'd Wash his Soul clean O God in Christ's most Precious Blood Conform him more and more to the Holy Doctrine and Example of the Ever-blessed Jesus Sanctifie him with all the Saving Graces of thy Renewing Spirit Give him if it be thy Will some Delightful Foretastes and Anticipations of Celestial Blessedness Hope towards Thee an Enravisht Sense of thy Favour Joys in the Holy Ghost unspeakable and full of Approaching Glories However if this be too great a Vouchsafement make him at least Willing to be Dissolved Fit for Heaven Full of his Saviour Empty of himself and of all Trust in his own Defective Righteousness and whenever thou takest him out of this World take him we Beseech Thee unto thy self into Everlasting Felicity Amen Holy Jesu for thy Precious Death and Passions sake Amen A Prayer to be used on the Lord's Day in the Morning Preparatory to the Duties of the Day BLessed and Glorious Lord God Thou Lord and Instituter of the Sabbath who allowest us Six Days in Seven for our Temporal and Worldly Concerns and hast Set Apart the Seventh only for thine own more Especial Service O how wisely hast thou Provided for both our â—ouls and Bodies For how would our Outward Man want Food and Raiment were not Days of Labour afforded it wherein by honest Industry to procure those Necessaries and how would our Spirit Pine away and Languish as to all Gracious Endowments were not Seasons appropriated to thy Divine Worship O that therefore at present we may Rest from the works of Sin as well as from those of our particular Callings O that we may be in the Spirit on this thine own Day that we may worship thee thereon in Spirit and in Truth that we may keep it so Holy and Sanctified unto Thee as that it may be a Pledge and Earnest of an Eternal Sabbatisme with thee in Light and Glory This is the Day which the Lord hath made by his Justifying Resurrection O may we Rejoice and be Glad therein with an Holy Rejoycing This is the Day which was the Birth-Day of our Hopes and future Blessed Expectations O may it prove a Day of Growth and Improvement in Grace of holy Ardours and Devont Enravishments Grant Gracious Father that we may not find our own Pleasure nor Speak our own Words nor do our own Deeds on this thine Hallowed-Day but may both Call and Esteem it a Delight Holy of the Lord Honourable O that Heaven an a Heavenly Frame and Temper of Spirit may be Begun in us Here by means of our pious Intercourses with Heaven amidst the Duties of thy Day We are Going O Lord unto thy House of Prayer the Place where thine Honour dwells O pardon us that we are not Prepared according to the Preparation of thy Sanctuary that we have not yet put off our Carnal and Earthly Affections Considering that the place whereon we are to stand is Holy Ground O do Thou our God vouchsafe to Go along with us into thy Temple by the Holy Aids and Assistances of thy Spirit Cause us to Approach Thee there with Reverence and to worship before thee with a Zealous Affection when we Meditate let us do it with all Seriousness Heavenly-Mindedness and Edification when we Pray let it be with the utmost Attension Faith and holy Fervour when we Hear the Glad Tidings of thy Gospel may it be with all Diligent and hearty Attendance on thy Word and Doctrine when we Read thy Holy Scriptures may they make us wise unto Salvation may we Read them with Vnderstanding with an Affectionate Gust and Relish with a Reforming Change and inward Digestion of them into Spiritual Grace and Nourishment O may this Day be added to our Share in an Happy Eternity by our Religious Improvement of it mayst Thou our God come Down unto us herein by thy Divine Influences and may we be Taken up unto thee by Devout Praises and Adorations Accompany we beseech Thee O Lord with thine own more Especial Presence thine own more Especial Ordinances and holy Institutions Cause us by the Spiritual food of pious Duties to Increase in Grace and to be Nourished up to a perfect Manhood in Christ Jesus Being Rooted and Grounded in Divine Love and built up through Faith unto a Capacity of Eternal Salvation How Earthly O God would beour Affections How Carnal and Sensual our Souls were their Thoughts and Desires alwayes busied about the things of this World Blessed be thy Name therefore that thou hast Enjoyn'd us a Season wherein to call off our Thoughts and Affections from things Temporal wherein to unloosen our Spirits from Sense and Sensual Concernments and allowest us a Sweet Converse and Communication with Thee the Fountain of all Happyness O make us more to value this inestimable Priviledge make us at present to Improve it to the best Advantage Cause us to hold a pious Harmony of Praises and Hallelujahs with thy Blessed Saints and Angels now in Heaven 'T is the Employment will be our Continual Joy and Blissful Recreation in the Regions Above O give us therefore to Habituate our selves to it Now and thereby partake of Heavenly Satisfactions even on Earth Give a Blessing to thy word Preached and to the Prayers offer'd to thy Divine Majesty on this Day while Paul plants and Apollos â—aters do Thou O God Give the Sanctifying Increase That we may be able Experimentally to say we have Tasted and Seen â—ow Gracious the Lord is we have of a Truth found how 't is Good for us that â—e have waited upon thee in the midst of thine holy Ordinances And then by these means of Grace being Train'd up and Fitted for Everlasting Glory we shall at length be Translated thither where the Exercises of Holyness shall Cease being means of Begetting or Confirming us in Grace and shall only be our Delight and Joy and Heavenly Entertainment for an Eternal Duration Amen Blessed Lord Amen FINIS Books Printed for and Sold by Thomas Speed at the Three Crowns near the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1693. THirty Six Sermons viz. 16 Ad Aulum 6 Ad Clerum 6 Ad Magistratum 8 Ad Populum With a large Preface by the Right Reverend Father in God Robert Sanderson late Lord Bishop of Lincoln The Eight Edition corrected and amended Whereunto is now added the Life of the Reverend and Learned Author Written by Isaac Walton Folio Conversation in Heaven Being Devotions consisting of Meditations and Prayers On several Considerable Subjects in Practical Divinity Written for the Raising the Decay'd Spirit of Piety By Lawrence Smith LL. D. Fellow of St. John's College in Oxford A Sermon at the Funeral of the Reverend Mr. Thomas Grey Late Vicar of Dedham in Essex Preach'd in the Parish-Church of Dedham Febr. the 2d 1691 2. With a short Account of his Life By