of the Arch-angel Arise ye dead and come to Judgement saith St. Hierome These thoughts made him eat drink with great moderation These brought a Holy fear upon him in all his actions These kept him from going beyond the bounds God had set him These struck seriousness into him in all places These made him as circumspect in the Market-place as if he had been at Church and as devout in the Street as if he had stood at the high Altar And therefore I do not wonder at that Hermit that he became so serious a Man as Antiquity reports him who carried a little Book about him consisting only of four Leaves in which he was always seen reading and after reading meditating in the first leaf was express'd Christ's passion and what that darling of Manking suffered for poor Mortals during his abode in the World in the second was represented the process of the future Judgment with the Terrours and Constureations that guilty men will be in at that time in the third were described the Glories of Paradise and of that third Heaven which all Holy Souls shall enter into there to possess the Inheritance of the Saints in light in the Fourth was drawn to the life the Picture of Hell and of the Miseries which shall await the stubborn and impenitent in the next life these four Leaves were soon read over but they afforded infinite matter for thoughts and meditations and by these his Soul was so warmed that he cared not what became of him here so he might but enjoy the promis'd Glory that Life Immortality Christ had brought to light by the Gospel So true is that saying of St. Chrysostom There is no Man that thinks much of Hell that will ever fall into it as indeed there is no Man who makes light of it that will ever escape it For as it is among men they that are afraid of the Penalties of the Law seldom or never feel them for their fear makes them shun those actions which deserve them This keeps them from Theft and Rapine from Murder and Adultery from Burglary and Wrong from Violence and Oppression and consequently from the punishments the Law inflicts in such cases The Plagues and the Stripes they fear make them cautious and whatever their inclination may be the Rods and Axes they fear restrain them whereas those that are regardless of the Mulct bring it upon themselves so it is here the frequent thinking of it is the best Antidote against the Terrours of that future Judgment if the Ninivites had not feared their overthrown they had certainly been overthrown and how could they have feared it if they had not thought of it If the men that lived before the Flood had thought of it and been afraid they would not have been drown'd nor would the People of Sodom have been consum'd by Fire if they had taken this course It 's a great misfortune not to think of the fulfilling of Gods threatnings for he that thinks nor of it of all men will be the first that shall have woful experience of it It is reported of Agatho that in his last sickness falling into a Trance for three Days together he lay with his Eyes fix'd upon Heaven and all that time look'd very ghastly recovering out of the extasy and being ask'd by his Friends where he had been and what his thoughts had been during those three Days and what made him look so strangely O my friends said he do you ask me Where I have been alas I have been these three Days standing before the great Tribunal and seen how the most just Judge sentenced divers Souls to Eternal darkness and who would not stand amazed at the dreadful spectacle It was therefore a very good Prayer of St. Ambrose I do most vehemently desire O Lord that thou wouldst be pleased to imprint and very deeply imprint the Landskip of the future World the Miseries of the Disobedient the Groans of the Stubborn the Agonies of the Impenitent the Shrieks of the Profane the Vexations of Hypocrites the Fears of the Careless the Destruction of the Covetous the Perdition of Worldlings the Flames of the Revengeful the Terrour of Damnation and Eternal Torments and the future Felicity of thy Kingdom upon my Mind for it is impossible that he that thinks much of these things should not become thy Child and Servant and one of those whom thou hast predestinated to Eternal Life Do'st thou laugh said the Old Man in Ruffinus to a youngster whose behaviour was very light when you and I are to be judged before Heaven and Earth and indeed that Person that surveys what the Divine Jesus hath said of this future Judgment thinks how in that Day the Powers of Heaven will be shaken the Sun turned into Darkness the Moon into Blood and the Stars forbear to give their Light how the World and all the Elements will be on Fire the Universe melt like Wax the Earth be burnt up the Seas dried and the Rivers consumed and with what Glory and Bravery the once afflicted Son of God will then appear with an Army of Angels about him displaying their Banners and carrying the Sign of the Son of Man before him how before him all Nations will be assembled and all that are in their Graves upon hearing the Voice of God loud as Thunder and more dreadful too will be summon'd to appear before his Bar the Judge shining in his Meridian Glory brighter than Moses clearer than the Sun and how the Consciences of Guilty men will quake at this sight their Hearts misgiving them that their Portion will be in outward Darkness how formidable all the transactions will be how immutable the Sentence after it is once passed not to be altered or deprecated by Saints or Angels how all evasions and subterfuges will be out of doors there and all possibility of transferring our Errours upon others who have been partners with us in our sins will vanish how those that make themselves fools for Christ's sake in this life were reproached reviled derided and laughed at for their severities would not lose their Souls for a trifle nor sell their Birth-right to Eternal Bliss for a Morsel of Meat would held fast their Integrity though solicited by innumerable losses and crosses and by their nearest Relations to curse God and die how these who were here made the off-scourings of all things will then be absolved and quitted and have Seats appointed them in the Mansions of Glory there to reign and sing the goodness of God to all Eternity I say he that seriously surveys these things if he be a Person who hath not debauch'd or lost his reason cannot but be affected by passages of this Nature and think it time to curb himself in his sensual delights and satisfactions But 2. Bare thinking is not enough but the particulars of this future Judgment must be actually applied to our selves general things and what is done to others though they may
sight of a Comedy a probable means to make you live above the World are the profane railleries that are used there fit preparatives for austerity of conversation Is this the way to promote gravity to visit the Stage where all gravity is lookt upon as Pedantry and traduced as a thing proper only for old Usurers and Women who are past their sins and vices Is this the way to advance seriousness to be much at places where seriousness is censured as a trick of Divines or at the best as an effect of vapours and the natural result of melancholy and the spleen As a Christian you are to shun the very appearances of evil and is this your obedience to delight in that which is evil to applaud it with your smiles to commend it with your tongue and to encourage it by your presence As a Christian you are the Salt of the Earth and consequently are to preserve your Neighbour from corruption and is this the way to preserve him from infection by your presence in such places and being as vain as he to encourage not only the actors in their unlawful profession but the spectators too in their disobedience to the Gospel And what is this but to make your self a Proctor to sin to help people to be undone to assist them in going to Hell and to make your self accessary to their folly Are these the Christians that are to help one another to Heaven Are these the Christians that are to go hand in hand together to Gods everlasting Kingdom Are these the lights the shining the burning lights that are to light the ignorant Brother to the inheritance of the Saints in light Is not this to be blind to the great design of the Gospel And if the blind lead the blind shall not they both fall into the pit Wo to that man by whom the offence cometh it had been better for him that a Mill-stone were hang'd about his neck and he drown'd in the midst of the Sea saith our great Master Matth. 18.6 Does not this threatning fright you Doth this put no sad thoughts into your mind Do you believe he spoke true And do not you think you are concern'd What is your going to a Play-house but giving Offence What is it but hardning other men in their sins Is not this tempting young people to those extravagancies they should detest Is not this justifying the Players profession and to make them think that you approve of their ludicrous vocations Their profession is infamous by our Law which looks upon them as persons of no honest calling and if you go to see their actings and to see how they prostitute themselves doth not this look like a commendation of their undertakings And have not you sins enough of your own to answer for but you must load other mens upon you too Are you afraid Gods anger to you will not be great enough except you add your Neighbours offences to make his wrath the heavier All those persons of your acquaintance that go to a Play because you do are all Scandalized by your example and is not this putting a stumbling-block in your Neighbours way especially if people believe that you have some goodness in you or have a name that you are Religious how bold doth this make other persons to venture on these vanities And how dreadful must this make your account Either you do not think much of other World or if you do you cannot but conclude that these things will lie very heavy upon your conscience one day What if you do not think it to be sin will your thinking so excuse you Willful ignorance is as bad as a known sin and how easily might you know such doings to be sinful But being unwilling to be better informed judge you whether it will not agravate your Condemnation how could the Primitive Christians know these things to be sinful And is not possible for you to know it They had the Bible so have you They had the same precepts that you have only they did not read the Scripture so superficially as perhaps you do and that was the reason why they came to the knowledge of this sin while you halt betwixt two opinions Their affections did not hanker and bend so much after the World as perhaps yours do and therefore they might easily perceive Christs and the Apostles meaning while you who dote too much upon these outward things have a cloud or mist before your eyes that you cannot discern the sense of the Holy Ghost Your present divertisements may hide the guilt from your sight but when the Summons of a terrible God to appear at his bar shall rouze your Conscience one day you 'l be of another mind How Did Christ come down from Heaven and die and spill his blood for you that you might securely indulge your carnal Genius Did he sacrifice himself for you that you might please your self with such fooleries Hath he appeased the Almighties wrath for you that you might spend your time in a Theatre Is this a proper end of the mighty purchase he hath made Did such phantastick actions deserve so great a condescension Is it likely that he would have astonish'd all the Angels of Heaven with his descent into this valley of tears if this security in carnal satisfactions had been his design One would rather think that so deep a humiliation called for the greatest severities and was shewn on purpose to engage poor mortals to the profoundest acknowledgments of his favour One would think that such miracles of charity challenged a most serious behaviour and that after this men should not dare to think of trivial and impertinent things This is more likely to be the end of his Incarnation and Suffering then the other To delight in such vanities is a disparagement to his love a blemish to his charity a disgrace to his condescension and an undervaluing of so great a mercy And do you thus reward him Do you thus requite his kindness Is this the return you make him for his sweat and agonies for his sighs and groans for his pains and all his labours Did he bleed that you might grow strong in sin Did he die that you might cherish the lusts of the Flesh Did he make himself of no reputation that you might please your self with divertisements invented only to affront him and to render his endeavours to convert our souls ineffectual Have not you observed it Have not you taken notice how men and women who have had some zeal for Religion and very pious inclinations how that zeal hath decreas'd upon their frequenting of these Houses how their goodness hath decay'd how flat they are grown in Devotion how weak in their holy performances how dull in the work of meditation how slovenly and superficial in Gods service may be they have kept up some outward shews some external formality some earnestness for the fringes of Religion or for the ceremonial part of Christianity But
wants have the Lord Jesus in thine Eyes regard not so much the poor Man's Nature because he is of the same Flesh with thee nor so much his Relation because he is of Kin to thee nor so much his Country because he is of the same Town that thou art of nor so much his Religion because he professes the same Faith with thee nor so much his Person because he is a Gentleman nor so much his readiness to extol thy bounty as the Love and Charity of the Holy Jesus to thy Soul and Body Have that in thine Eye chiefly when thou openest thy Hand let him be in thy Mind when thou distributest thy bounty this makes thy Charity amiable and acceptable and fit to be proclaimed and commended in this Day And indeed How dost thou know Christian but that thy Saviour may sometimes disguise himself and appear to thee in the shape of a poor Man and wilt not thou give freely wilt not thou give cheerfully wilt not thou give readily since thou knowest not but thou mayest give it to thy Saviour himself And how glorious an Encomium will it be in the last Day to hear him say before the World I was naked and this good Man cloathed me I was in Prison and he visited me The three Angels of Old disguised themselves in the shape of Travellers to try Abraham's hospitality and from hence possibly came the heathenish Fables that their Jupiter came in the Habit of a poor Man to Philemon who entertaining him Jupiter made his House a Temple and the Owner the Priest of it and that Apollo coming as a Traveller to Mydas and being kindly entertain'd by him rewarded his Bounty with vast Wealth and Riches though we have no warrant from Scripture to believe that Christ doth actually disguise himself to us in such shapes and appears to us to try our Charity yet it is no impossible thing and we may piously believe it thereby to encourage our selves to cheerful Contributions lest finding us hard-hearted and ill-natured covetous and incompassionate he deal with us as Jupiter among the Heathens is said to have dealt with Lycaon whom when he came to visit as a guest and found cruel instead of being hospitable he turned him into a Wolf Christ hath threatned the hard-hearted a worse and stranger Metamorphosis for they that will not be like him in doing good shall be doomed to be like Devils to mourn and lament as they and to Eternal Ages too for this is the Sentence Go into Everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels for I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat c. Mat. 25.41 42. 12. Let nothing discourage you from admiring those men who have always lived in the Thoughts and Contemplation of this future Judgment we admire men for their Parts Abilities and Accomplishments we admire Aristotle for his Learning Archimedes for his Mathematicks Socrates for his Gravity Absolum for his Beauty Achitophel for his Policy Saul for his Tallness Arion for his Musick Asahel for his Nimbleness the Men of Benjamin for their Skill in Slinging Darius for his Gratitude Cicero for speaking Virgil for Poetry Vrbino for Painting c. but these are poor things for our Reason to admire Men that live Day and Night in a sense of this future Judgment live continually in expectation of the Archangel's Trumpet or the Summons of Almighty God these are the Men whose Praise we ought to shew forth in the Gates Let others admire Demosthenes for his Rhetorick I will admire St. Paul who so look'd at the things not seen even at this Judgment as to rejoice in Tribulation and though troubled on every side yet was not distressed though perplex'd yet was not in despair though persecuted yet was not forsaken though cast down yet was not destroy'd appeared to the World as sorrowful yet was always rejoicing as poor yet made many rich as having nothing and yet possessed all things 2 Cor. 4.7 8 18. 2 Cor. 6.10 Let others admire Arcesilaus for his Prudence Scipio for his Fortitude Aristoclides for his humanity Pythagoras for his Philosophy I will admire the Primitive Believers who stood in such awe of this Great Day that their constant Thoughts and Contrivances were how to resist their Adversary the Devil and upon this account stood fast in Faith quitted themselves like Men were strong and always abounding in the work of the Lord. The thoughts of this Day made them vigilant sober heavenly minded despisers of the World charitable kind tender-hearted fruitful in all good works and why should we delude our selves or fancy we need not do so or that they did more then they ought to have done The Best of Men the Wisest Men the Holiest Men that ever lived have been frighted over-awed supported preserved in goodness by the contemplations of this Day and therefore if we are not it 's no sign that we are wiser then they but that we are more stupid we are all ambitious of participating of their glory and why should we be afraid of taking the way that led them to it These are the men who choose the better part These are the men who though laugh'd at by the World are a Crown of Glory and a Royal Diadem in the Hand of their God and for their Shame they shall have Double and for their confusion they shall rejoice in their portion Their light shall come the Glory of the Lord shall rise upon them They shall break forth on the right Hand and on the left and in Righteousness shall they be established They shall dwell on high their place of defence shall be the Munition of Rocks Bread shall be given them their Water shall be sure Their Eyes shall see the king of Glory in his Beauty they shall behold the Land that is very far off even the Land where Rivers of Pleasure flow where no Tears are to be seen no Sorrow to be found no anguish to be heard of These are the Men which at last shall sit down in the Throne of God and having suffered Hunger and Thirst with the Holy Jesus here shall Eat and Drink at his Table in his Kingdom These Men will at last be look'd upon with greater fear and reverence then now they are and when the bruitish World shall see them advanced to the highest Seats of Bliss and behold that these which once were the most contemptible Creatures shall judge the World with the Son of God they will change their Voices and with the Maltheses be ready to call them Gods whom but a little before they condemned as Varlets and Villains I conclude this discourse with St. Peter's exhortation 2 Pet. 3 9 15. The Lord is not slack concerning his Promise as some men count slackness but is long suffering to us ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance But the Day of the Lord will come as a Thief in the Night in the which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of Persons ought ye to be in all Holy Conversation and Godliness looking for and hastening unto the coming of the Day of God wherein the Heavens being on Fire shall be dissolved and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat Nevertheless we according to his Promise look for New Heavens and a New Earth wherein dwells Righteousness wherefore Beloved seeing that ye look for such things be diligent that you may be found of him in Peace without Spot and Blameless FINIS ERRATA PAge 38. line 13. read Farms p. 4.5 l. 1. r. To let the World see the Bands p. 55. l. 12. r. persons are who are employ'd p. 210. p. 10. r. imitation BOOKS Printed for and sold by Mark Pardoe at the Sign of the Black Raven over against Bedford House in the Strand Doctor Horneck's best Exercise 8 o. Dr. Hooper's Sermon before the King on the Fifth of November His Sermon before the Lord Mayor Sir William Petty's Essay in Political Arithmetick 8 o. His Observations on Dublin Bills of Mortality 8 o. Novels of Elizabeth Queen of England containing the History of Queen Ann of Bullen in Two Parts 12 o. Observations on Feavers 12 o. Plain Man's way to Worship 12 o. Becteri Minera Arienaria 4 o. mdash De nova Temporis 4 o. Holder's Elements of Speech 8 o. Charras Experiments on Vipers in 8 o. Socrat. Eccl. Hist. l. 1. c. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 24.25 Plat. in Phaed. Ps. 8.6 1 Sam. 15.23 Es. 1.3 Lam. 1.12.13.14 Chrysost. Homil 2. in 2 Thessalon Rev. 22.15 Zephan 1.14 15 16 17 18. Prov. 5.11 12. Happy Asectick p. 425 Seqq. Philip. 4.4 Eccl. 2.4 8 10 11. Gen. 4 21. Council Eliber c. 79. Council Constantinop 6. c. 50. Es. 3.18 19 20 21. 1 Tim. 2.9 10. 1 Pet. 3.3 4. De Serm. in monte lib. 2. 1 Tim. 2.9 1 Pet. 3.3 Vid Cyprian de Habit. virg Ed Oxon. p. 95. Esth. 14.16 Cyprian de Habit Virgin 1 John 2.15 16. Rev. 17.4 Tertull. de cult Faemin lib. 2 c. 13. Vid. Celada commentar in Judith c. 10 Plutarch in Apophthegm Aelian var. Hist. l. 8. Rom. 8.9 Rom. 8.5 Platin. in Paul 2. Euseb. lib. 5. c. 15. Gregor Naz. in laudem Gorgon De Habit. virg p. 100. Homil. 31. in Matth. Vid. P. Martyr loc com class 2. c. 11. P. Mart. loc cit Summ. Part. 2. tit 6. c. 6. § 3. De Bell. Belg. l. 1. Hom. 49. in Matth. De vanit scient c. 18. Ps. 119 47. Exod. 23.13 Vid. Gerh. Joh. Voss. de Idol l. 2. c. 8. Matth. 5.13 Ephes. 5.4 Mar. 8.38 Salvian degubern Dei lib. 6. Tertul. de spect c. 15. c. 15. c. 15. c. 16. c. 17. c. 23. c. 23. c. 25. c. 25. c. 26. c. 26. c. 27. c. 29. 2 Cor. 6.4 5. Pro. 7.14 Vid. Dreâ—â—l Tribun Christi l. 1. c. 8. § 5. In Epitaph Paulae Rom. Rev. 21.2 21. Psal. 37.6 1 Pet. 2.23 Matt. 11.22 Luke 6.38
that Man hath a dominion over all irrational Creatures and is it not convenient that at the end of the World when all Men have acted their part on this Stage this Viceroy should be examined and asked how true he hath been to his Soveraign King What he hath done with the Creatures which have been given him for his use And whether he hath not minded his own business more than his Masters If there is no Judgment to come there can be no God for without a future retribution this God cannot be just and a God that is not just is imperfect and if imperfect he cannot be God so true is that saying of Averroes that whatever is most Noble and most Praise-worthy in Man must be attributed to the best and greatest Being God blessed for evermore But Justice we see is that which makes a Prince on Earth great and is one of the highest Perfections he is capable of which was the reason that when Ptolomy asked the Seventy Interpreters of the Jewish Law What King lived freest from Fear and Violence He was Answered He that exercises Justice punishes the Bad and rewards the Good and consequently this Justice must be ascribed to God as the most perfect Being it would be the most unreasonable thing imaginable that those who love and fear him most should be most oppressed and go without reward and those that abuse and dishonour him slight and undervalue him should live prosperously and never feel his displeasure or indignation If God be wise and just this cannot be and since this reward of the Innocent and severity on the Wicked is not administred and dispensed in this World it must needs follow that it must be in another and the day of this future recompence we call the day of Judgment And though the apprehensions of that vast multitude of Men which believe or profess it about the manner and method of this day be very different yet it is enough that all agree in the thing even those who have not the revealed Scriptures of the Old and New Testament from whence we may justly fetch the truest and exactest description of it those Revelations and Writings the Christians have and what is said in them concerning the righteousness of God being most agreeable to the Nature of God and the Actions of Men and the Rules the Supreme Architect hath engraven on our reason That there are some Men who deny a future Judgment we need wonder no more than we do that the Fool should say in his Heart there is no God That which makes a Man deny the one tempts him to be bold in disbelieving the other It 's the interest of a sinful life there should be no Retribution and how can a Man act against God with any cheerfulness or alacrity except he puts him out of his thoughts and to complete the folly fancies that he 'l never call him to a reckoning It 's Mens vices that are the cause of their Atheism and were it not that they are inamoured with their lusts their reason would soon joyn issue with these verities It 's not for want of Arguments that Men are unbelievers in this knowing Age but for want of sobriety and consideration and while they suffer themselves to be drawn away by their sensual appetite no marvel if in time their Flesh encroaches upon their Understanding and their bruitish desires corrupt their very Reason and they begin to think that God is altogether such a one as they themselves But let 's see 2. What there is in the prospect of this future Judgment that is able to damp the greatest Mirth and Jollity 1. In the prospect of this Judgment there appears a very serious Judge even the mighty Jesus the Son of God who was seen to weep often but to Laugh never even he that came into the World to teach Men self-denial in sensual pleasures not only unlawful such as wantonness Effeminacy Fornication Adultery Uncleanness Drunkenness Feeding our Eyes with Lustful Objects and which produce ill desires in us deriding and jeering our Neighbours for their infirmities luxury in cloathing eating and drinking mimick gestures filthy jesting love-tricks talking loosly c. But in some measure in Lawful also especially where a greater good is to be promoted and hath bid us use these outward comforts as if we used them not and rejoyce in them as if we rejoyced not with fear and cautiousness that they draw not our hearts away and with a generous indifferency as Persons who have laid up their Treasure in another World and look for the Blessed hope and the Glorious appearing of the great God Such a Judg appears in this prospect one who descended into this vally of Tears upon the most serious errand imaginable even to call sinners to repentance to make them sensible of what God expects at their hands to convince them that they have Souls to be saved to assure them that though God is patient yet he will not be everlastingly affronted by bold and daring Men and Judges otherwise of things than besotted mortals and is in good earnest when he bids them set their affections upon the things which are above one who will not be put off with fooling nor spare a Malefactor for a jest one who gave Mankind a being and habitation here not to play but to work not to mind trifles and rattles but the concerns of a tremendous Eternity a Judge whose Eyes are like flames of Fire and his Feet like Brass glowing in a Furnace who was indeed a Lamb when he had his conversation here on Earth and like one was led to the slaughter not opening his Mouth and his still so to all those that take his Yoke upon them and learn of him to be humble and meek but will at last appear in all the Robes of Majesty which the Clouds of Heaven and a guard of Ten thousand times ten thousand Angels and all the light of the Throne of God can furnish him with This Judge knows all the secrets of our hearts and before him all things are naked and open and no creature can hide himself he is one who cannot be imposed upon by sophistry nor wheadled into a wrong Judgment of things by equivocation whose presence will shake the World and put the greatest Captains and stoutest Souldiers into fits of trembling and make them cry to Rocks and Mountains Fall on us and hide us from the Face of him that sits upon the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. This Judg is not to be corrupted nor to be bribed cannot be carried away with outward respects which make Judges here on Earth pervert Judgment these Judge too often according to affection and call white black and black white good evil and evil good defend vice under the notion of vertue rashness under the name of fortitude laziness under the colour of moderation and timorousness under the title of cautiousness these do too often become advocates for the prodigal and
the Government they have lived under whether they have paid Tribute to whom Tribute was due Honour to to whom Honour and whether they have not used their liberty for a cloak of maliciousness In the same manner Parents will be strictly examined whether they have brought up their Children in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord Children whether they honoured their Parents as became Persons who under God owed their being to them Servants whether they served their Masters according to the Flesh in singleness of Heart as unto Christ and likewise all other Persons according to the relations and Offices they stood in for in all these relations men are Stewards and both Reason and God's Justice and his Word require that all should give an account of their Stewardship At this time the Soul being throughly a waken'd from her former Lethargy every sin will appear more dreadful every errour more red every fault more bloody every offence blacker than ordinary for the Fire of that Day doth not only scorch but enlighten and elevate the Soul into a thinking state and none of the former Impediments will now be able to divert her Thoughts which will be fix'd upon an offended God and his Majesty Greatness and Holiness and make at this time more sensible impressions on her while every thing especially what hath been committed against God will appear in more lively colours and consequently if the Conscience hath not the remembrance of a former sincere Repentance to support her self withal the frights must necessarily be great and the whole frame sink into inexpressible confusion There are innumerable sins which neither Prince nor Magistrate can take notice of how many Poor are oppressed how many innocent men wrong'd daily A Socrates is abused and hath no helper but neither this Man's misery nor the others oppression shall escape the Eyes of that all-seeing Judge who will infallibly publish both the one and the other and make good the Type St. John speaks of Revel 6.5 And I beheld a black Horse he that sat on him had a pair of Ballances in his Hand Ballances to weigh every Man's evil works which if they be found to prepondenrate above the good or to be pure sins pure offences without a godly sorrow to take off either the colour or the the weight all will be turned into blackness and desolation 3. In the prospect of this Judgment there appears a very wonderful Scene the Person that is the Judge is the Lawgiver too the Party offended the Witness and his own Advocate He that shall sit on the Tribunal in that Day was the Person that came down from Heaven and blessed the World with the equitable Precepts of the Gospel it 's he that went up into a Mountain and from that Pulpit pronounced Blessed are the Poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Blessed are the Meek for they shall inherit the Earth Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after Righteousness for they shall be filed c. Matt. 5.1 2 3 4 5 6. It 's he that came to undeceive both the Jewish and Heathen World in the false Notions they had imbibed concerning their duty and cleared the Moral Law of Moses of the false Glosses the Pharisees had put upon it explain'd the will of God set it naked and pure before the People he came to call to Repentance and let them see what were the proper preparatives for the everlasting joys of Heaven It 's he who guarded the Law which he promulged with Sanctions suitable to his Majesty and Greatness and as he made the rewards Eternal so the punishments he threatned to the stubborn and impenitent were endless too So it became him who appeared in the World to offer infinite Mercy to poor Sinners to reveal to them God's infinite Love to their Souls and to acquaint them with the infinite condescension of the Son of God who would humble himself to the Death of the Cross to redeem them from the Bondage of the Devil He that came into this Valley of Tears with so much love and light about him might justly enjoin reformation of the whole Man and a transformation of the Mind and temper of the Soul and require a conformity to his own life and insist upon mens becoming patient and humble and charitable and contented and peaceable and watchful over their Thoughts and Words and Actions and Heavenly minded How could this Grace which appeared to all men challenge less then self-denial and contempt of the World and living in the Thoughts and Expectation of a better life and seeking earnestly for Glory and Honour and Immortality And as he that will be the Judge in that day is the Law-giver too so he understands best the meaning of his Laws nor will tricks and evasions and false constructions of those Laws signifie any thing before him who will not depart from the sense his Eternal Wisdom put upon them and which by his Prophets and Ministers he once caused to be proclaim'd in the Ears of men The Sinner in that day will no◠have to do with Deputies and Lieutnants and Delegates who too ofte◠make the Law a Nose of Wax an◠can turn and interpret it to what sense they please and their Interest dictates are sometimes unskilful and apt to mistake the Law of their Superiours and these Laws not being of their own making are the colder or the more remiss in executing them but here men shall see the Law-giver himself who will not be put off with pretexts and pretences as ordinarily Deputies and such Persons are 〈◊〉 who employ'd by the Supreme Law-givers in a Common-wealth or Kingdom Even here on Earth where the Lawgivers themselves sit Judges the Malefactor must expect severer dealings in this case even Lycurgus's Wife shall not escape that durst break her Husbands Law against riding in a Chariot during the time of Divine Service and Zaleucus his Son must lose his Eye for slighting his Fathers Orders against Adulterers not to mention the Severities of Epaminodas and others on their own Children where the Legislators have sat Judges of their Crimes and Errours The Almighty Judg in that day will justly resent the affront done to his Laws and indeed none is better able to declare the heinousness of such contempt than he and this must necessarily encrease the Terrour of that day And as he is the Law-giver against whose Precepts the Sinner hath offended so he is the Party offended too Sinner This is he whose Body and Blood thou hast so often receiv'd unworthily in the Sacrament this is he to whose Cross thou hast been an Enemy so many years on whose Merits thou hast trampled whom thou hast so often Crucified afresh whose House thou hast dishonoured whose Gospel thou hast been Ashamed of and therefore wonder not if such thundering fueries come forth forth from the Throne at last do'st not thou remember how oft thou
and they not only denied it but swore to it by all that 's good and holy I bid them take their ease and be merry and they made themselves Swine I bid them neglect God's Service on the Lord's day but they profaned it besides by playing and drinking and other enormities I bid them keep what they had got but they went beyond what I prompted them to oppressed cheated dissembled and made way to their Wealth through oppression of the Widow and Fatherless These therefore have my Image and Superscription and consequently must be mine I claim them as mine own I challenge them as they are Apostates and Traitors to thee It is thy Statute which like the Laws of Medes and Persians is irrevocable that those shall be despised who did lightly esteem thee Nor can God be worse than his Word but must deliver up the Sinner whom no Mercy could reform to these tormentors Nay if we have oppressed any Persons those very Persons will be Witnesses against us Abel will in that Day bear witness agaisnt Cain his Murderer Naboth against Ahab whole Countreys against their Tyrannical Princes Israel against Pharaoh in the same manner those whom we have corrupted with Gifts or Moneys or some other way will stand up against us Herodias against Herod Drusilla against Felix the Harlot against her Inamorato Helena against Paris Danae against Jupiter and Men and Women perverted by Hereticks against the broachers of false Doctrines and how can there be want of Witnesses when our School-masters our Parents and other good Men whose Counsels we rejected whose Admonitions we despised and whose frequent Exhortations we laughed at will be forced to speak what they know against us Sinner The Ministers of the Gospel those who follow'd thee with checks and intreaties to be reconciled to God will be obliged to speak of thy stubbornness and impenitence Nay this Pulpit these Walls these Stones these Pews will cry out against thee Heaven and Earth are even in this life call'd in as Witnesses against the Monsters who were more inconsiderate then the Ox or Ass much more in that Day when God will bring every thing into Judgment not only the sinful actions but the very places in which those actions were committed Such Witnesses will be the Riches and Goods thou hast abused thâ— Gold thou hast spent upon thy Luxury the Silver thou hast thrown away in a frollick the Garments thou hast abused to Pride the Corn and Bread thou hast play'd withal the Hungry whom thou hast not fed the Thirsty to whom thou hast not given Drink the naked whom thou hast not clothed when it lay in thy power the Prisoners whom thou hast not visited these will all be accusers of thy abuses and uncharitableness But the accusation of all these might yet be born with it 's the Testimony of the Judge who shall approve of all that these Witnesses averr which appears most dreadful and terrible and therefore certainly the prospect of this Judgment is able to damp the greatest mirth and sensuality And as this Judge will himself be Witness in that Day so he will be his own Advocate too To this purpose saith the Pathetick Nazianzene What shall we do my Friends what shall we say what Apology shall we make when this Judge shall plead for himself in that Day Though disobedient Wretch I made thee of Clay with mine own Hands and breathed the Breath of Life into thee I made thee after my Image I gave thee Reason and Understanding and Power and Dominion over the Beasts of the Field a mercy which if I had not vouchsafed unto thee those Creatures which are stronger than thou would have master'd destroy'd thee I plac'd thee among the Pleasures of Paradise made thee a happy Inhabitant of Eden and when thou wouldst needs hearken to the false and treacherous suggestions of thy sworn Enemy behold in pity and commiseration to thee I resolved to be Born of a Virgin and accordingly took Flesh and became Man for thy sake was Born in a Stable lay unregarded in a Manger swadled in Rags and Clouts endured all the reproaches and injuries that Childhood is subject to bore thy griefs and assumed thy infirmities and was made like thy self that thou might be like me in Felicity at the end of thy Race I suffered men to trample on me to buffet me to spit in my Face to give me Gall and Vinegar to drink to Scourge me to crown me with Thorns to Wound and Nail me to the Cross and all this that I might deliver thee from Eternal contempt and torments Behold the mark of the Nails which were struck into my Flesh. Behold my wounded side I suffered that thou might'st Triumph I died that thou might'st live was buried that thou might'st rise and made my self a scorn of the People that thou might'st reign in Heaven and why would'st thou throw away this Mercy Why would'st thou refuse this Treasure What evil Spirit did possess thee to make light of these kindnesses Why would'st thou pollute that Soul which I redeemed with mine own Blood Why wouldst thou make thy Heart a habitation of Devils which I intended for my Throne Why would'st thou lose that which I purchased at so dear a rate VVhat pleasure couldst thou take in doing that which cost me so many sighs and tears and a bloody sweat why would'st thou make a mock of so great a Mercy How could'st thou undervalue a Favour of that importance and consequence Can any Hell be thought too much for such stubbornness Either thou didst believe that thy God did all this for thee or thou didst not If thou didst not believe it why didst thou make confession of it with thy Mouth If thou didst how couldst thou be so ungrateful How could'st thou abuse a Friendship of that worth and value Thou lovest a Friend a Neighbour a Man a VVoman for kindnesses which are meer shadows and bubbles to my love and hadst not thou reason to love me beyond all earthly comforts Hadst not thou reason to prefer my Favour before the smiles of a transitory VVorld How did I deserve such preposterous doings at thy Hands Couldst thou have dealt worse with a Slave or with an Enemy than thou hast done with me Did this condescension deserve dost thou think such affronts and injuries such contempt and disobedience as thou hast returned to me Therefore as for those mine Enemies which would not have this Man to Reign over them bring them hither and slay them before me All this appears in the prospect of a future Judgment and therefore there must be Vertue in it to check that mirth and jollity which infatuates Souls and leads them into ruine 4. In the prospect of this future Judgment there appears the unspeakable anguish and misery of those who have been most jolly and merry in this life Dives who cloth'd himself in Purple and fine Linnen and fared sumptuously every day appears there quaking and trembling
power of his might resisting temptations growing in grace labouring after a greater hatred of sin a greater fortaste of Heaven a greater conformity to the will of God a greater sense of the love of God c. and he that in good earnest minds these things will have no great desire to busie himself about such pittiful trivial and impertinent things these will be trash and dirt to him and his soul will soar above them and scorn them as the Divels lime-twigs whereby he lies in wait to deceive And though I will not deny but that a man in case of danger and when his life is in jeopardy or when he would pass through a party of his enemies may lawfully disguise himself and by art change and alter his countenance that he may not be known and though a man who hath lately had the small Pox or hath been Sun-burnt or whose face hath been parch'd with Wind may lawfully take care by ordinary helps to reduce his face to his former or native colour and complexion and though we do not judge it against the law of God to hide some great blemish or defect in the Face whereby spectators may be offended and particularly Women that are with Child frighted and though it is not inconsistent with the rule of the Gospel to wash the Face when dirty yet all those paints and additional washes and artificial black spots whereby Men and Women endeavour either to set off their complexion the better to give themselves a more pleasing colour or to mend their meen or to make themselves look more beautiful or to attract the eyes and admiration and sometimes the unlawful Amours of those they converse withal are things which a Christian must be a stranger too When I say men it is not without reason for we read of such a beast as Paul the Second Pope of Rome who whenever he went abroad painted himself that the beauty of his Face might in some measure be answerable to the comeliness of his stature which was procere and tall and it 's to be feared that this effeminacy dwells in too many persons of the masculine Sex at this day However as Women are usually more faulty this way then Men so they give us but small hopes to believe that they are heirs of Heaven while they are so industrious to please men and others here on Earth St. Paul would not please Men no not in the Ceremonies of the Law which were things formerly commanded by God thinking it unworthy of a Christian that had been freed from that Yoke by the Son of God and how unworthy must it be then to please Men in things which God hath never commanded nay by many hints and places discover'd his dislike of How justly may God look upon 't as presumption to alter that Face which he thought fit to create in that shape it is of and what is it but contending with our Maker and expostulating with the Potter Why hast thou made me thus and controuling his art and wisdom while not content with the countenance he hath given we seek to appear in a better As we are Christians sincerity must be our character not only in heart but in the outward behaviour and what sincerity can there be in cheating Men with our Faces and to make them believe that to be natural which we know is counterfeit and artificial We that are naturally prone to pride and levity and lightness of deportment had not need encourage it by such incentives and put Oyl to that fire which without great help is apt to burn into Hell We shall meet with impediments enough from the World and the Devil in our spiritual race it 's madness therefore to encrease those obstacles by new inventions of our own and we that know how apt every thing is to damp our holy fervours had not need add such vanities to extinguish them In the whole Scripture we read of no Women that ever painted themselves but one that was cursed to a Proverb even Jezabel 2 Kings 9. 33. and Eusebius makes mention of a great instrument of the Devil whereby he sowed heresies in the Church that used this trade viz. Maximilla Even among the Heathen those that did so were none of the best fame and credit in the World such as Poppaea Nero's Wife and others and in Holy writ for the most part this delight is described as meretricious and a quality of Strumpets and Harlots as we see Ezech. 23.40 And certainly neither these examples nor descriptions can be any great inticement to a Christian to imitate such infamous patterns who is to remember those who have spoken to him in the name of the Lord and to follow their faith considering the end of their conversation Heb. 13.7 It was an excellent Character St. Gregory Nazianzene gave of the pious Gorgonia No Gold saith he adorned her Temples no flaxen hair no borrowed locks no artificial curles flew about her sacred Head no flowing Mantles no transparent Vails no looser garb hat wanton'd in the Air no costly stones vying with the brightness of the Stars no Painters arts help'd to grace her noble frame no operator assisted her to countermine the work of God in her and by deceitful colours to hide the curious fabrick of her Face or to prostitute the Divine shape that was in her to wanton and impurer eyes or to vitiate her natural image which was reserved for God and another World by an adulterous fictitious beauty But even then when she was acquainted with all the tricks and modes of ornaments she would acknowledge and own none but whather piety and the harmony of her soul did give her No other Red pleased her but what her modest blushes caused no white but what fasting and abstinence brought into her cheeks and as for Painting and modish looks and borrow'd Beauty she left those impertinencies and vanities to actors and Ministers of the Stage persons who have forgot to blush and are ashamed of nothing so much as of sobriety and gravity This is an example for all Christian Women to write Copies by and though the age we live in hath long ago learned to despise this self-denial as a starcht formality and precise niceness yet that doth not make it of less value before Almighty God who sees with other eyes and is resolved to rectifie these willful mistakes if other means here on Earth will not do it with Eâ—eâ—â—al Vengeance To this purpose St. Cyprian Art not thou afraid vain Woman who makest use of Paint and Washes and such other curious fooleries about thy Face art not thou afraid that thy Creator when thou comest before him will not know thee but exclude thee rather from the promised Inheritance May not he reasonably use the language of a Censor and a Judge and say This is not my Creature here I see nothing of my Image Thou hast polluted thy skin with false applications the hair I gave thee is changed
necessarily be named in these living Landskips yet it should be only named and never named but with horror and the generosity and grandeur of vertue only acted the the life for indeed nothing is fit for action or imitated but vertue vice should never appear but in its ugly shape for if you dress it in its shining Robes though it be but for a quarter of an hour such is the venom of this Basilisk it breaths a poisonous vapor both on the Actor and the Spectator and while the one comes to see sport and the other to get money both go away from the Theater worse then they came and though both come away laughing yet both prepare for bitter mourning and lamentation I have shewn you what Drama's may be useful and commendable but Sir all this differs very much from the modern plays the aforesaid question relates to these being things fitted for vanity and luxury for in these though the punishment of vice and rewards of vertue are represented to the life yet it 's done rather with advantage to the former then to raise the credit of the latter and the effect shews it viz. the corruption and debauchery of youth and persons of all sorts and sizes which I shall more largely speak of in the sequel The Plays speak of are suited to the loose humour of the age which seems to hate all things that are serious as much as Rats-bane and delights in nothing so much as in jests and fooleries and seeing the most venerable things turned into ridicule Here no Play rellishes but what is stuft with love tricks and that which makes people laugh most is the best written Comedy wantonness is set out in its glittering garb and the melting expressions that drop from its lips are so charming to a carnal appetite that the young lad wishes himself almost in the same passion and intrigue of Love he sees Acted on the Stage it looks so pleasant and ravishing Here Religion is too often traduced and through the sides of Men that differ from our Church the very foundation of Christianity is shaken and undermimed not but that Hypocrisy in Religion ought to be severely lash'd but then it must be done in a grave becoming and serious way such as Christ and his Apostles used against the painted Sepulchres the Pharisees The Stage hath that unhappy character that it is looked upon by the generality as the grand place of divertisement Men come thither not to learn but to be merry and since acts of hypocrisie look so very like acts of true Religion the danger is that while you raille the counterfeit you hurt the Original and while you dress the Image in a fools Coat the substance suffers in the ridiculous representation So that here Men and Women are insensibly poison'd and the good thing they see made aukward in an enemy in time looks but odd and strange in a friend and by degrees the vertue is hated in good earnest because one that was in the habit of an hypocrite did practise it Here few sacred things are spared if they serve to make up the Decorum of the Act and Heathenism is reduced into Christian territories in a pleasant way the Pagan Gods must make the Drama great and while these are in all the Actors mouths the licentious spectator in time applies that to the true which the fond Poet ascribed to fictitious Deities Here the supream Creator is too often reviled through the ill language that 's given to Heathen Numens and things that savour of real piety rendred flat insipid and impertinent here all that may raise the Flesh into action and desire is advanced and whatever serves to lay reason asleep and to exalt fancy and imagination and the glory of the World is made the proper object of admiration Here all the wanton looks and gestures and postures that be in the mode are practised according to art and you may remember you have seen people when dismist from a Play strive and labour to get that grace and antick meen they saw in the mimick on the Stage Here Men swear and curse and actually imprecate themselves and though they do it under the name of the person they act yet their own tongue speaks the sin and their body is the agent that commits it and thus they damn themselves for a Man in imagination And are these things fit for a Christian to behold a Christian who is to be new Creature a candidate of Eternity an heir of Heaven an enemy to the World a spiritual Prince a King over his lusts and Emperor over his carnal desires Is this a sight agreeable to the strait way and the narrow gate which leads to life Can you or any man reconcile such darkness with light such Idols with the Temple of God Is there any thing in the Gospel more plainly forbid then conforming to the World and what can that prohibition import if conformity to the World in beholding these dangerous sights be not in a great measure meant by it We may put forced glosses upon the words but doth not this look like the natural sense of them Holiness for without it no man shall ever see the Lord is the very Character of men who name the name of Christ if they bear not that name in vain and will any man of sense be so bold as to say that Shews which have so much sin in them are sutable to that Holiness We know who said Turn away mine eyes from beholding Vanity and who sees not that he who delights in such shews neither dares pray that prayer nor can have any desire to imitate David in his holiness for he is pleased with vanity fixes his eyes upon it makes it the pleasing object of his sight and consequently instead of turning his eyes away from it turns them to it and would not for a World lose that pleasure If thy right eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into Hell said he who hath protested that not the least tittle or jot a of his words shall perish Matth. 5.29 If there be any sense in this passage the meaning must necessarily be that if the eye or beholding an object prove an occasion of evil the eye must be so carefully and so totally withdrawn from that object as if it were actually pluck'd out or were of no use in the body what an occasion of evil the beholding of such Scurrilous shows is none can judge so well as he who takes notice how by these sights the horror which attended some sins is taken off and men are tempted to entertain a more favourable opinion of them how apt upon these occasions they are to laugh at those sins which require rivers of tears and to smile at the jest they hear which deserves their most rigid censures how natural is it to be
shall be a poor man poor in Grace poor in gifts of God's holy Spirit poor with Respect to God's Favour poor even to contempt destitute of those richer incomes which sanctified Souls receive deprived of the Juice and Sap which flows from the flourishing Vine the Lord Jesus in want of a foretaste of Heaven and of a sense What the hope of Gods calling is and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance is in the Saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his Power toward them that believe according to the working of his mighty Power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right Hand in heavenly places Eph. 1.18 19 20. Who can grumble at Religion after all these advantages Who can find fault with it after this prospect of its benefits Who dares asperse that beauteous Virgin after such Fruits it bears Who would not esteem it Who would not prize it Who would not honour it Who would not speak well of it Who would not look upon it as a horn of plenty and a treasury of the greatest comforts Who would not maintain the honour of it against all opponents who would not vindicate it when it is abused Who would not rise up in defence of it when blasphemous Tongues would traduce and revile it Let no man say here I can follow my Carnal pleasures and yet be religious too Alas What Piety can that be where thy Affections are divided betwixt Religion and Worldly Pleasures and where these Delights commonly have the greater share May be thou sayest thy Prayers so have I seen Parrets and Magpies repeat a few Sentences which they have been taught May be thou goest to Church so have I seen a Blind-man sit down by a Candle but to no purpose Thou mayest attempt to reconcile the Temple of God and Idols but these attempts are as vain as thy pleasures are while these sensual delights ingross thy Mind the Word must needs be a dead Letter to thee Heaven cannot supple thy Soul Hell cannot fright it the Thunders of God are insignificant to it and thou art unfit to dye unfit to appear at the great Tribunal The Heathens tell this Fable That Ceres coming down from Heaven one day gave out that she was a Nurse whereupon King Eleusius took her to attend his Son Triptolemus and having him under her Tuition in the day time she fed him with celestial Milk and in the night she cover'd him with Fire to give him Immortality Religion is that Fire which must make you immortal this purges away your dross and cleanseth your Hearts from the dregs of Sin and Death makes you bright and shining and capable of eternal Light No Nurse is so tender of you as Religion is it feeds you with celestial Milk that you may be strong in the Lord and able to put on the whole Armour of God and grow up into a perfect Man in Christ what if it will not suffer you to please your Flesh beyond what is necessary for it's Subsistence must it therefore be your Enemy Will you count it a Foe because it denies you the Sword which would kill you How lovely should this very thing make it in your Eyes How dear should this make its holy Precepts to you How should you rejoyce that you have such a Monitor to prevent your Ruine What Praises do you owe to God that witholds you from that which would throw your Souls upon their Death-beds I conclude the Inference with this Story Two Brethren were travelling one a very prudent Man the other rude and silly coming to a place where two Ways met they dispute which of the two they should take one look'd as if great Art had been bestow'd upon it Flowers grew on both sides and it seemed to be most frequented the other look'd rough and uneven liker a Foot-path than a High-way the weaker Brother charmed with the out-side was clearly for making choice of the former but the wiser though he saw that the pleasant way invited the Eye yet I fear saith he it will not bring us to a commodious Lodging the rather because I have heard that the less beaten Path leads to an Inn where we may have excellent Accommodation The foolish Fellow was peremptory in it that the most pleasant way must be the right way and prevails with the Brother to bear him Company and being advanced considerably in it they light upon a Company of Robbers who immediately clap Shackles on their hands and feet and hale them both to their Captain and Governour Here one Brother accuses the other the wiser charges the other with Stubbornness the weaker blamed the other's Facility and alledged That since his Brother pretended to greater Wisdom than he he should not have been perswaded In fine both are found guilty and both laid up in Prison These two Brethren are your Souls and Bodies your Soul is the wise your Body the foolish Brother Let not your Body by its Importunity prevail with the Soul to consent to its Desires and Fondnesses of the dangerous Delights of the World O! hearken not to the Perswasions of a sensual Appetite that chooses a present Satisfaction but considers not there are Robbers at the end of the way which will certainly throw both into outward Darkness 5. The great Day is at Hand let 's prepare for it So Christ told his Disciples and so the Apostles taught the Christian World nor must we wonder that the Blessed Jesus should fright his Followers with the Approaches of that day when he knew it would not come in sixteen hundred Years and more which are past since his appearing in the World I omit here the Calculations of curious Men who have been bold to determine the Year in which the day of Judgment will happen some that follow the Tradition of Elias have allow'd two thousand Years to the Oeconomy before the Law two thousand to that under the Law and two thousand to that under the Gospel and after this have placed the Succession of that tremendous day But I doubt that this is rather a Jewish Criticism than a real Prophecy for God having created the World in six days and a thousand Years being as one Day with the Lord it 's like Men have concluded from this Notion That as the World was created in six days so after six days i. e. six thousand years it would be destroyed Some when they have seen any extraordinary Judgments of Hail or Rain or Thunder or Locusts or great Confusions happen in the World have from thence inferr'd the immediate coming of this Day Some have placed it in one Year some in another but all these are needless Speculations It 's enough that the Decree is sealed in Heaven that there will be such a prodigious day and it was as truly at hand in Christ's time as it is now and now as much as it was then nay as much now as it will be
the Sentence but the sinful Soul once condemned to suffer hath no hopes of forgiveness no hopes of being Repriv'd no hopes of being released not but that God is infinitely more merciful then the meekest Prince on Earth can be but the time of Mercy is past Once he was merciful to her to a Miracle his Mercy was her Shield Mercy did encompass her Mercy lay entreating of her Mercy courted her Mercy though abused came again and tried new arguments Mercy followed her Mercy preserved her from a Thousand evils Mercy would not suffer the roaring Lion to touch her for many years Mercy stood by her even then when she desperately affronted her Maker Mercy was patient towards her Mercy wept over her Mercy call'd to her Mercy would have pull'd her away from her Errors but she thrust this bright Angel away would have none of it made light of it laught at its charms despised its entreaties scorned its carresses disregarded its smiles refused its offers rejected its embraces and therefore cannot seed her self with hopes of Pardon now Nay the Malefactor here on Earth when Men will not Pardon hath yet hopes that upon his true Repentance God will Pardon him but the Soul that departs hence in a sensual carnal condition the same she lived in hath no higher Court to appeal to none above God to make her moan to none beyond the supream Lawgiver to address her self to The God the hath despised and whose Mercy could make no impression on her is to be her last Judge and therefore how much more disconsolate must her state be then the condemn'd Malefactor's here on Earth 5. Whenever you converse with sick and dying men and are present when their Breath leaves their Bodies think and reflect upon this day Think with your selves This man is going to be judged his Soul is entring into the Territories of another World to know what her everlasting state must be This will shortly be my case I must ere long follow her to God's Tribunal here my stay will be but short here I have no continuing City here I am not to tarry long my Friend that 's gone shews me the way that I must go I saw him expire I heard his last groans I was by when his Eye-strings broke if the Lord Jesus gave him any assurance of his favour before he died with what chearfulness will his Soul meet her Bridegroom in the Air how welcome will he be in the Court of the great King What rejoicing will there be when he and the other glorified spirits behold one another and they see that one more is added to their Number for there is no envy in Heaven no grudges no fretting because so many are admitted into the Everlasting Mansions but the more holy Souls do enter there the more their joy encreases If this my Friend hath lived above the World while he lived here with what gladness will his Soul be brought and enter into the Kings Palace How will his Name be remembred there How kindly will Angels talk of him How favourable will the Judge be to him but if his Devotion and Piety hath been but Paint and Shew what a surprize will it be immediatly upon his coming among the spirits of another World to be arrested at the suit of the Great God and to be carried away to his Tryal He is taken away from his sick Bed but should his Soul be sent away with a Curse how much worse will Hell be then his sick Bed In a sick Bed Physick may yet give some ease but Hell scorns all Medicines no Drugs are of any use there no Cordials no Cataplasmes are to be found there no vulnerary Herbs grow in that Wilderness On a sick Bed Friends may yet comfort us but in Hell there is no Friend all are Enemies all hate one another because none can deliver the other from his Torments In a sick Bed Neighbours may give their advice but in Hell no advice can be given for the Inhabitant are not capable of taking it The Devils indeed may advise them to speak evil of God because of the irreversible doom they lie under but that 's a Remedy infinitly worse then the Disease and they that follow this counsel increase God's Anger and their own Plagues and as they venture upon new Sins so God must inflict new Curses and try new Rods and new Scourges which makes the misery truly infinite Such Reflections the sight of a sick and dying Man will cause nor is this judging of his everlasting and final State but a mere conditional Meditation undertaken for no other end but to affect our own Souls with the day of God's righteous Judgment to improve our own Thoughts and to make a holy use of such Occasions as God's Providence thinks fit to present to us 6. Whenever you go to a Funeral think of this Day of Judgment When you see the Mourners go about the Streets when you your selves accompany the Corps to the Grave think of the great Sentence the Soul will receive upon her Approaches to the Throne of the Heavenly Majesty St. Hierom describing the Funeral of the happy Paula that famous Saint who while she lived here was Eyes to the Blind a Nurse of the Poor a Staff to the Lame and an Example to all religious Persons tells us That when she was dead there were heard no Shrieks no Howlings no Weeping no despairing Lamentations but Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs her Corps was carried to the Grave upon Bishops Shoulders Prelates carried Lamps and Wax-Candles before her and a Quire of Singing-Men accompanied her to her Tomb and most of the People of Palestina came together to attend the Funeral The Monks crept out of their Cells the Virgins from their Retirement and good Men in all Places thereabout thought it Sacriledge not to pay the last Office to her The Widows and Orphans as in the case of Dorcas came and shew'd the Garments she had made for them and all the indigent and needy cryed they had lost a Mother and for three Days Psalms were sung in Greek Hebrew Latin and Syriack and every Body celebrated her Funeral as if it had been their own When you behold the Funeral of such a holy Person think how with far greater Pomp the Angels meet her Soul at the Gates of Heaven and on their Shoulders carry it to the Throne of everlasting Mercy Think how joyfully those blessed Ministers conduct such a Soul to her eternal Rest and how they triumph that she is deliver'd from the Burden of the Flesh and advanced from a Valley of Tears to a Place of endless Glory When the great Constantius died in Brittain his Ashes were put in a golden Chest and with great Pomp carried through France and Italy to Rome but think how far greater Honour it is for such a holy Soul to be convey'd by the Spirits of Light into the City coming down from Heaven prepared as a Bride adorned for her