such a Taste of the Powers of the World to come as is consistent with final Apostacy only the seeming Zeal of the stony Ground the rapturous Joy of an Hypocite from the Power of Imagination and a heated Fancy from the workings of meer Natural Self-love upon Mistaken Apprehensions of God and a false Opinion of Heaven but by the Holy Effects let me be assured of the Cause and Principle that was of God Teach me from the Sweetness of all Spiritual Communion with God now in any of his appointed Ordinances to argue to my self what the most ravishing Satisfaction will be that the Enjoyment of God in Heaven will afford the Soul Our Holiness is now imperfect to what it shall be and therefore our Consolation Peace and Joy is but in part and incomparably less than we are assured it will be when we shall be admitted to behold the Glory of the Lord. 'T is now at most but as the Break of Day to the Lustre of the Meridian Sun But if in this low imperfect State we can sometimes obtain so near a View of his Glory and feel such sweet Communications of his Grace how much more of this Consolation and Joy is reserved to Heaven If in this Pilgrim State the Gifts and Graces and Comforts of the Holy Spirit are so refreshing O! what hath God prepared beyond the Grave for those who love him If now he sometimes shed abroad his Love in our Hearts after such a Manner how much better shall I love him and feel the Influence and Evidence of his Love to me when I shall be with him and see him Face to Face If the Apprehensions of this Future Blessedness do now encourage raise and animate my drooping Soul O what shall I know and see And how shall I rejoyce when the Vail is removed If a Sacramental Communion with God and Jesus Christ be sometimes so sweet and so affecting what will the Blessed Communion with God and all his Saints above amount to when I shall sit down with all the Children of God in the Presence of the Bridegroom at the last Great Supper of the Lamb in Glory If the Earnest of our Inheritance be so reviving what will be the full Possession of it If the Hopes of that Glorious Day by Holy Meditation be so transporting what will be the End of our Faith and Hope If a Grape or two in the Wilderness be such a Cordial what will be the whole Vintage in the Land of Promise Shall I after all this forget my own Experience and run from God and Heaven to embrace or seek a perishing Toy Shall I hide my self with Saul among the Stuff and Lumber of this World when God is calling me to a Glorious Crown Art thou O my Soul a King's Son an Heir of Heaven an Expectant of such great Felicity and yet stoop so low Hope for Heaven and yet grasp this Earth and hug the vain Appearances of Earthly Good Hope to be like to God and Oh how Glorious an Hope is that to partake of his Image and live Eternally with him and yet be solicitous anxious and disquieted about Honour and Money and a Temporal Interest And mightily concerned about the Momentany Gratifications of the Flesh and the Enjoyments of this World Art thou a Pilgrim and Stranger here and travelling Home to the Heavenly Country and yet eager and passionate about Earthly Things Should an Heart that is set upon Heaven or may be so and ought to be so should it burn with such Kitchin such Common-Fire And neglect the unconceivable Riches and Pleasures and immortal Honours of the other Life and the Dawnings of that Glory upon my Soul by the Foretasts of it in this How great is the Disproportion between the Heavens and the Earth How vast the Circumference of the one and how small a Point the other How many thousand Miles doth the Sun travel in the Heavens while it passeth but one Inch upon a Dial Oh! that my Affections were carried to Heavenly Things with a swiftness somewhat answerable to the Glorious Object And let their Motion to Earthly Things be rather slow and insensible like that of the Sun on a Dial. Since I profess to believe and wait for the Heavenly Glory should I not live as seeking such Things as expecting such a Glory And are careless and indifferent Thoughts sleepy heartless Prayers faint and weak Endeavours becoming in such a Case Shall I not mend my Pace and double my Diligence in my preparatory Work When I can believingly foresee the Blessed Recompence waiting for that Everlasting Light of the Sun of Righteousness which no Eclipse shall ever darken or obscure for that Eternal Glorious Day which shall never be closed with an Evening When I shall see the Face of God in Christ and be like him participate more of his Image rest in his Love and dwell for ever in the Light of his Countenance according to the Prayer and Promise of my Blessed Saviour And ought not such a Prospect to sweeten the Bitterness of all our intermediate Sufferings We are now oftentimes in Heaviness and Sorrow but Eternity will be enough for an uninterrupted Joy When we shall exchange all our Troubles for Everlasting Rest our Prisons for Perfect Liberty our Poverty for the Riches of God Darkness for Light Discord for Love Deformity for Beauty our Weaknesses and present Languishings for Strength and Vigor Folly for Wisdom Disgrace for Glory Sickness and Pain for Eternal Ease and Health the Animal for the Angelical Life Imperfection and Pollution for Consummate Holiness our Sighs and Tears and Sorrows and Complaints for Triumphant Everlasting Praise our Losses Affronts Disappointments Perplexities Fears Groans and Death for Crowns and Scepters Hymns and Hallelujahs Light and Life and Bliss unutterable and such great things as are fit for us to hope but too great to be now particularly understood and talkt of while we know but in part and see through a Glass darkly Yea it seems as if it were not lawful to utter 'em 2 Cor. 12.4 and now they cannot be exprest or fully known For Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard or can it enter into the Heart of man to conceive that prepared Glory SECT XXI A Devout Meditation upon Psalm 73.25 Whom have I in Heaven but Thee And there is none upon Earth that I desire besides Thee WHAT is there in Heaven or Earth O Lord but thy Presence to be valued loved desired chosen sought or delighted in There is nothing in either World desirable without Thee nothing certainly above Thee nothing in Comparison with Thee In Thee alone I trust on Thee I depend in Thee I repose my Confidence and Hope from Thee I expect all my Felicity and Salvation Whatever I can lose yet with the Continuance of thy Favour which is my Life I have still Enough With that I am Rieh without it I am Poor and Miserable And if I want the Love of God all that Heaven and Earth
can give besides will not make me happy In Thee therefore I would terminate all my Affections all my Devotions There is nothing of Heaven to be had on Earth but in thy Favour Image and Love and the reviving Sense of it And all the Heaven I expect hereafter 't is in the more full and immediate Communications of these in thy blessed Presence I can desire nothing upon Earth I can injoy nothing in Heaven but Thee both here and there thou art and shalt ever be my All-sufficient Satisfactory Portion my Everlasting All None else can be the Portion of my Soul Nothing else can fill up all its Wants answer all its Cravings be suited to all its Capacities appease and charm all its restless Motions and give Complacence to all its Desires and be the proper Object of all its Affections What is there else can justly claim my Love or pretend to my Supreme Affection in comparison with God Thou art alone the proper Center of it Thine Infinite and Incomparable Excellencies who art Love it self deserve my choicest Love and thy numberless Mercies and Benefits challenge it as a just Debt as a piece of Homage due from all and of special Gratitude also from me Oh that I could love Thee above all things who alone art worthy of all my Love O that Divine Love might be the ruling Principle within me to inspire all my Thoughts to regulate all my Desires to set all the Powers of my Soul on Work O that it might take the full Possession of my Heart and so animate and order all my Actions to please him whom my Soul loveth If as yet I cannot say with thine Apostle Lord thou that knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee Yet I can say Lord thou knowest that I would love thee Thou hast provided for our Happiness by that first and great Command of loving thee with all our Hearts and Souls and Strength But alas how backward is my sluggish carnal Heart to this Delightful Exercise Tho' I have so oft been told that God is Love and that He that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him O shed abroad thy Love into my Soul that I may feel the Vital Power and Influence of it and live continually in the Love of God and that nothing may ever be able to separate me from it Whom have I in Heaven or Earth to Hope in but Thee I expect more from Creatures than they can or will perform but God can do for me more abundantly than I can ask or think exceed my largest Thoughts out strip my highest Expectations And no Man was ever disappointed who made Thee his Hope When I meet with Crosses and Wrongs Unfaithfulness Contempt Hatred and Persecution from Men I need not wonder I was never told by God it would be otherwise here Did I look for less from Creatures and expect more from God Did I reckon this World to be a State of Trial and not a Place of Rest and Satisfaction my Faith and my Desires would be stronger with respect to God and Heaven and Temporal Calamities and Disappointment less afflictive and Vexatious And what is there O Lord in Heaven or in Earth my Soul can desire besides Thee Is there any thing desireable but as it is thine of thee and from thee And bears some Impression of thine Excellence or brings some Intimation of thy Love And what can I reasonably desire what that is worth desiring or having but thou art able to be and do and give In whom or what shall I Rejoyce but in Thee O Lord shall I solace my self in Transitory Goods that slip between my Fingers and perish in the Using or relish Carnal Joys which pollute and debase the Soul When I may and ought to Rejoyce in Thee at all Times as the only Source of Perfect Everlasting Joy Let me then stir up my Drooping Desponding Unbelieving Heart to rejoyce in God who takes Pleasure in the chearful Service and Obedience of his Children who delighteth in those who delight in him Is not * Vid. Mr. How Of delighting in God Delighting in God a most Essential Vital Part of Religion Should it not be my Constant Frame Hath not God sufficiently provided that it may be so Can I say and believe that God is the Portion of my Soul that he is my God and I hope to live with him for ever and not Rejoyce Or can I consider the Grace of the new Covenant the matchless Love of Christ and the precious Promises of the Gospel and not see reason to Rejoyce Yea doth my Soul love God and endeavour to please him and is not the very Act and Exercise of holy Love mixt with unspeakable sweetness Whom is there in Heaven or in Earth or Hell that I ought to Fear but Thee Who hast a Negative Voice in all the Designs of Men and Devils an Hook in their Nostrils a Bridle in their Mouths to make them fulfil thy Pleasure and in every thing accomplish thy Sovereign Decree Is there any other in whom I may repose my Trust but in Thee O Lord the Rock of Ages The might of thy Power the Unsearchabless of thy Wisdom the Righteousness of thy Nature the Stability of thy Truth the Riches of thy Grace and the Immutability of thy Promises are a sure Foundation for my Soul to trust to and relye upon Thy word stands firm for ever and the Truth of thine Ability and Readiness to help in every Time of Need Endures the same throughout all Generations At all Times and in all Places my Soul may trust in Thee and find Relief And they who know thy Name will do so for in the Lord Jehovah is Everlasting Kindness and Strength To answer all my Doubts to supply all my Wants and fulfil all my Desires May not God take it unkindly that I trust him no more And is it not a criminal Unkindness that I give him not the Glory of all these excellent Attributes which are the grounds of Trust by a constant steady intire Dependance on him for all that I need I have none in Heaven but Thee O Lord as the Object of my Invocation and Worship Let other Christians have Recourse to New Mediators and call upon other Gods I will make mention of thy Name and of thy Righteousness only And ask of Thee whatsoever I need for the sake of thy Christ my only Adorable Mediator Him thou hearest alway with him thou art always well pleased I honour the Holy Angels as Glorious Attendants about thy Throne and bless thee for them as Ministring Spirits for the Good of thy Servants but I dare not invoke or worship 'em because they are Fellow Servants On the same Account I honour the Memory of Departed Saints but neither invoke them or pay them Religious Worship That Glory thou wilt not give unto another I have no Precept in Holy Scripture to direct no Promise to encourage no Example to authorize the
nor the Mean man for his Poverty O Fool O Wretch that I am shall many then say who now brave it out in Pride and Vanity unconcern'd about a future Judgment not to be persuaded by the Terrors of the Lord which I was so often warn'd and foretold of What Refuge of Hope can I now flie to What can I say for my self What can I do to escape to die to exist no longer I would have no compassion on my own Soul I would not so much as consider its danger I shall now find none from Christ I can expect none His Mercy is gone and gone for ever I am lost undone tormented and must eternally be so O the Amazement Horror and Despair of self-condemned Sinners in that day of Vengeance O my Soul what is there of greater Consequence or of greater Certainty from the Word of God than that I must appear to Judgment when Christ shall come again Lord teach me to believe it firmly to consider it often to lay it seriously to heart to act under the Influence and Power of it as long as I live that at the Great Resurrection from the Dead I may lift up my head with a joyful Hope and find the Judge to be my Friend my Advocate my Jesus and not my Enemy and Destroyer XXIII Meditations of the Glory of Christ in his Glorified Saints and of the thankful Admiration of Believers when He shall come again from Heaven which shall be continued to all Eternity THE Terror of our Lord's Appearance to Judgment cannot be greater to the Wicked than the Comfort and Joy of it will be to the Saints When they shall see Him whom their Souls love ascend with him to Heaven and be welcom'd according to his Promise with those endearing words * Mat. 25. Come ye blessed Children of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of the World 'T was for your sakes I assumed Flesh lived on Earth and died on the Cross to purchase this Glorious Kingdom for you which I now come to give you the Possession of 'T was for this I prayed and suffered on Earth for this I interceded ever since in Heaven I was heard in that Prayer accepted in those Sufferings and my Intercession granted that where I am you may be also to behold my Glory Come therefore good and faithful Servants enter into your Lord's joy O what ravishing words will these be What an Ecstasie of Love and Kindness is implied in them What matter of rejoycing may it now give me to admit the Hope that my Blessed Savior will say such words as these to me and bid me stand upon his Right Hand among his Sheep O what an exulting frame of Soul will such Expressions raise How shall all my Doubts and Fears and Sorrows be scattered in a moment and cease for ever O Glorious Day when my blessed Lord shall thus publickly acknowledge me for his own and plead my Cause against all the Accusations of Satan and the malicious Calumnies of all his Instruments when I shall be able to say of all my sins and sufferings as my Lord upon the Cross It is finished it is finished My warfare being accomplish'd being more than Conqueror over all through him who loved me and died for me and now is come to wipe away all tears from mine eyes as it were with the Napkin that was bound about his Head when laid in the Grave all being the fruit of his meritorious Death Then shall I have nothing more to fear or wish or beg I shall offend provoke and dishonour him no more or by my folly and scandal discredit his holy Name and Gospel but by consummate Holiness be fitted to rejoyce in his Presence and Love and celebrate his Praise for ever I shall never more lament his Absence or complain of his Anger never see a cloud on his Face or a frown in his Look any more Now I must wait and pray struggle and strive labour and suffer desire and expect believe and hope c. but then perfect Rest and Holiness Love and Joy Vision and Fruition Bliss and Glory unutterable and everlasting shall take place All the Attributes of God all the wonderful Perfections of Christ will then be glorified in Believers and admired by them His invariable Truth will then be honoured which they trusted to and waited for for now they shall know and find they did not wait in vain They hop'd in his Word and ventur'd their Salvation upon it and now they shall receive the end of their Faith and Hope infinitely beyond what they ever expected or believed The Glory of Divine Wisdom will then appear when the Constitution Administration and Design of the Mediator's Kingdom shall be fully known in the admirable Order and Beauty of every part of it with the exact Tendency of all the particulars to one Glorious End and the whole Undertaking crown'd with so blessed an Issue What is now a Mystery even to Believers themselves and hath a Veil upon it shall then no longer be so all the Riddles of God's Grace and Providence shall be plainly understood O how transporting a View must it needs be when the Glory of all the Divine Attributes which God intended to accomplish in and by Christ shall be manifest to his Redeemed Saints The whole method of our Salvation will then appear to be the fruit of unserchable Wisdom when we shall all see the Reality and Substance and entire Scheme of all that God designed in and by him all that was typified of him and foretold concerning him in the Old Testament How will it all appear to be the manifold Wisdom of God! Ephes 3.10 As in uniting Heaven and Earth together in the Person of our Moderator fulfilling the truth of a terrible Threatning in his Death and by the same way accomplishing * Vid. Mr. Charnock of the Divine Attribute Wisdom many gracious Promises satisfying Justice and at the same time shewing Mercy manifesting infinite Grace and Kindness by shedding of Blood conquering Death by dying and disarming the Law by Obedience to it c. afterwards subduing the World to the Faith of the Gospel by the foolishness of Preaching making men wise to Salvation by the Knowledge of the Cross and spreading that Faith the more by all the opposition made against it c. How wonderfully will a clear View of these things discover and glorifie the Wisdom of God! But the Love and Grace of Christ the infinite Goodness and Compassion of God will then be magnified in an especial manner What but Sovereign Love in the whole Contrivance and Council of God about our Redemption What admirable Love and Grace in the whole Management of that design What unparallel'd kindness in the Accomplishment of it by the Sacrifice of the Son of God And how Glorious will this Love appear when he shall come again to give us the full Harvest of all his Purchase With what admiring Thankfulness
freeness of his Love the Riches and All-sufficiency of his Grace towards all who come unto God by him I adore Thee O most blessed Spirit as proceeding and sent from the Father and the Son to renew all the Powers of my Soul and restore the Divine Image there to enlighten my mind to know and receive the Truth as it is in Jesus and purify my Heart and to sanctifie all the Members of my Body and make them Instruments of Righteousness unto Holiness which before were Servants unto Sin and gradually to deliver me from the power the defilement and abode of Sin as from the Guilt and Punishment by the Blood of Jesus And as the Witness of God to the Truth of the Holy Scriptures and as the Great Paraclete to comfort and establish the Hearts of Believers sealing them up to the day of Redemption and giving them the Earnest of the Heavenly Inheritance O blessed Spirit be thou my Witness that though I have violated the Law of God and defac'd his Image and formerly undervalu'd the Love of Christ and the Grace of the Gospel yet by thine Aid I now accept what I have so long neglected And thankfully devote my self henceforward to be the Lord's in a Covenant Relation But fearing and distrusting my self I give up my self entirely to the conduct of thy Grace depending upon it for my establishment and perseverance O form my Heart into an obediential Frame that in every thing I may endeavour to answer the Ends and Obligations of this Devoted State To this One God I have once again dedicated and resign'd my self to serve and please and honour Thee in Thought Word and Act to the last moment of my Life In the Performance of all Duties even those which I have been most averse from in the mortification of every Lust and the forsaking of every Sin even those which I was once most addicted to Resolving deliberately to allow my self in nothing great or little secret or open which I shall know or believe to be contrary to thy holy Will making it my business to be fruitful in good Works to the Praise of my Redeemer waiting in the use of all his appointed means for higher measures of Grace and Holiness to be more Victorious over inward Lusts and outward Temptations still pressing towards the mark for the prize of my high and holy Calling even Eternal Life I call Heaven and Earth O Lord to witness this day That I own and avow this to be my Mind and the setled Prevailing Purpose of my Soul This I again ratifie and confirm without any Clauses or Exceptions So help me O my God Glory be to God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Spirit XXIX Practical and Consolatory Reflections on the preceding Self-dedication or Covenant with God I Have this day solemnly Avouched the Lord to be my God to walk in his ways thereby to fortifie my Resolutions that I and my * Deut. 6.17 18. House and All that I can persuade to be of my mind will serve the Lord. I intend desire and hope never willfully to Violate the Faith which I have now plighted in the presence of God but to continue stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord c. Should I undertake any new Imployment or enter into any new Condition or change the place of my Abode where I might see more of God's dishonour and meet with more and stronger Temptations to Sin and be called to the performance of more difficult Duties greater Watchfulness and Self-denial c. I would hope hereby to engage the Presence of God with me and his Blessing on all my Affairs on which depends the success of all that I undertake and would hope the better to preserve my Integrity not only This Year but in all the remaining portion of my Time by the abiding sense of my Covenant with God thus seriously renewed This is the Method I have been often advis'd to for Peace of Conscience under doubts and scruples concerning my spiritual state to put the matter out of doubt by again accepting the offered Mercy and Grace of the Gospel and heartily consenting to the New Covenant giving up my self to God in Christ to be ruled and saved by him Blessed be God I have now done so Lord say Amen to thy part of the Covenant that Thou art and wilt be my God as I desire unfeignedly to do to mine that I will be thy Servant But because Articles are sooner consented to than made good tho' I seriously intend never to disown this my solemn Act and Deed but firmly to adhere to it as long as I live that having sworn I will endeavour to perform it that this shall be my Everlasting Choice never to be recanted or alter'd yet considering the sad Instances of my former Weakness and the vigilance and subtle malice of my Great Adversary I again implore the succour of Divine Grace to keep it for ever in the purpose of my Heart that it may be as the Laws of the Medes and Persians never to be reversed I have given up my Name to be Thine O put thy fear into my Heart that I may never depart from Thee Imprint thy Laws upon my Heart that my Obedience may be uniform and universal unwavering and perpetual suitable to so honourable and near a Relation to Thee I am sensible I want Wisdom and Strength to that purpose but thou hast bid me ask it of Thee who givest liberally to All without desert and upbraidest not with present unworthiness or former faults O lead me not into Temptation but deliver me from Evil. Stand by and strengthen me in the Hour of Trial lest I forget my Vows and deny thee O that my Soul may never draw back lest Thine have no pleasure in me I can serve no better Master O let mine Ears be bored to the door of thine House as the Token and Assurance of my being thy Servant unto Death I know 't is my Duty I am sensible 't is my Privilege and Honour I am convinc'd that 't is my Interest and Felicity my Soul my Life my present and everlasting Welfare and All depends upon it that thou shouldest be my God for ever O conduct me by thy Holy Spirit of Grace that I may walk and act as having heartily consented he should be so and direct my Heart into thy Love and the faithful keeping of thy Commandments That when so many Professors make shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience and discredit the Religion of my Lord by their shameful Falls thou may'st make me to stand and improve the warning of their Examples to walk humbly and while I stand to take heed lest I fall Having thus surrendred my self to God what is there O my Soul that is ever like to prevail with me to go back and revolt from him Is the gratification of a Lust the securing of an Estate compliance with a Friend the pleasing of a Superior
never live out of it and set my Heart and Affections on this World as if I should never remove to another and trifled away my precious Time and Life as if a change would never come That Few do seriously admit such Thoughts is too evident by the general Course and Practice of their Lives For to what Hazards do Men expose themselves what Pains will they take what Inconveniences will they bear with what unwearied Industry will they toyl and labour to get a little Money or Honour in this World tho' they know not but they may be called out of it before the End of this Year And yet the same Persons are remiss and slothful about a future Life negligent and unconcerned about an Eternal State careless and indifferent yea sottishly stupid about the Welfare of their Immortal Souls Henceforward O my Soul whatever others do let me resolve to live in the Expectation of a Change which I know is certain and may be very near SECT XI Of the Expectation of Another Life The Vanity and Misery of Man in his Best Estate if there be none The satisfactory Removal of that Supposition by the Thoughts of God and of Eternal Felicity in his Blessed Presence LET me retire a little O my Soul and bethink my self what a World this is what Men design and seek and do and suffer with what false and feigned Joys they are pleased being only happy by Comparison and with what real Sorrows they are afflicted what innumerable Disappointments Sicknesses and as troublesome Remedies Dangers Labours Pains and Calamities of all sorts Multitudes groan under and loudly complain of And what little unworthy Ends are pursued by all that do not seriously seek Eternal Rest and how often frustrated And withal consider the Cares that disquiet us the Errors that deceive us the many Temptations that assault and overcome us how busie we are about Vanities how often dejected and melancholy for the breaking of a Bubble how eager and industrious to pursue a Shadow active and in earnest to destroy our selves and one another and then reflect on the Malice and Cruelty the Filthiness and Impiety and great Corruption which abounds every where whereby God is dishonoured and provokt to Anger after this what a Theater of Tragedies must this World appear what an Hospital of Sick and diseased or rather distracted Persons How should I be tempted to say Lord why hast thou made all Men in vain In vain indeed if I could not look from this Sea of Troubles to the Haven of Rest from this dark Prison to the Region of Light from this deceitful troublesome and defiling Earth to a Blessed Everlasting Heaven For verily if there be no World but this Every Man in his Best Estate in this World is altogether Vanity Selah Psal 39.5 'T is a certain undoubted Truth the prefixed verily tells us so and that it deserves to be well considered we learn from the concluding Selah Every Man is Vanity Not the Inferiour Parts of the Creation only but Man the Lord of all And Every Man every Adam from himself to the last Man that shall by ordinary Generation descend from him Not the Ignorant Poor or Wicked only but all the Individuals of this Species Young or Old Strong or Weak Beautiful or Deformed Rich or Poor High or Low Good or Bad in respect of the Body and this present Life every one is vanity and this is true suppose him in his Best Estate not only in helpless Infancy and Childhood or in decrepit old Age not only in Pain and Poverty and Disgrace but in his most setled most flourishing most envied and admired Condition upon Earth in the midst of Strength and Wit and Honour when at best as to Body and Mind and outward Circumstances when he looks fairest when he shines brightest in the height of all his Glory with the greatest Likelyhood of a Continuance yet then he is but Vanity In his Frame in his Temper Constitution Inclinations Actions and Employment he is a meer Shadow an empty mutable inconsiderable Thing and not to be accounted of His Heart his Head his Imaginations Reasonings Desires Purposes Projects Hopes and Fears are all Vanity and altogether Vanity in all the Parts and Kinds and Particulars of it He not only may be but he is so in his best Estate if this World be his Best if this be our All and nothing more to be expected after Death And how should such a Reflection strike me to the Heart to suppose that after a few Years are ended I must return to my first Nothing and my very being be (*) Vid. Mr. How 's Vanity of Man as mortal swallowed up of Eternal Death what Satisfaction can I then take in any present Enjoyments if an Eternal Annihilation be at hand when I must bid Adieu for ever to all that I now possess What Delight can I have in the ordinary Comforts of Life with this Belief that within a Year or two it may be to Morrow I shall sink into the Dust and exist no more What Pleasure in any thing with this dismal Expectation The more flourishing my Condition is in this World the more should I dread to lose it if nothing better nothing at all can be injoyed after Death Some Philosphers have ignorantly urged such a consideration as an Antidote against the fear of death but the admission of it may rather deprive a Man of all the comfort of Life What then is the advantage of a Wise Man above a Fool the exercise and improvement of our noblest Faculties would render us more miserable than others if nothing be expected and certain when this Life is over Not only sensual but intellectual pleasures would be disturbed and destroyed by such Thoughts that very shortly the next Year or Day I must disappear and all my Injoyments and Hopes be utterly and for ever lost with my very Being Were the case thus which such Consequences evince it is not it were better for most Men they had never been Born whether their conditition here be Prosperous or Afflicted For what Comfort or quiet can any Man have in Plenty and Prosperity when this frightful apprehension of an approaching end is ever present and what Consolation can it yeild a Man who is afflicted and Calamitous and yet loves his Life above all things to think that he shall not cease to be miserable but by ceasing to be And what is become of all Religion if such a Thought be entertained All Devotion to God is thereby extinguish'd all the Restraints of Vice removed the Flood-gates of Impiety opened the Encouragements of Vertue the Rewards of Holiness the Foundation of Patience in Tribulation and suffering for Righteousness sake all at once taken away Lord Confirm my Belief of the invisible future state of Rewards and Punishments and let not Sadducism and Infidelity damp my Zeal in thy Service or rob me of the Comforts of this Life which if I have any solid ones
bed of sickness breathing out his last faint breath and passing into the other world to answer for the Crimes and Follies of a wicked Life Lord revive these thoughts upon my Soul and let me feel the power and influence of them in the hour of Temptation and in every time of need and let the consideration of the death of Believers the Blessedness they are thereby entred into and the Happiness they are possessed of quicken my desires and diligence to prepare to follow When I think were they are and what they are doing what is their work and what their state what their continual imployment and what their enjoyments and how different from ours I cannot but wish to be with them to be as they are and do as they do to know and love and praise God as they They are not hindred by such a clog as this Body is to us or tempted by their senses appetite and fancy to sin against Him They complain not of a seducing Flesh unruly Passions low and disordered thoughts of temporal Afflictions spiritual Desertions the snares of the World and the malice and subtilty of the Devil We who are Pilgrims and Travellers are exposed to these difficulties and storms which they are freed from They are now rejoycing in the light of God's Countenance and shall never question his love more while we are in Tears and Sorrows groaning to be delivered But think O my Soul that They were lately such as We are now They were members of the militant Church before they entred into Joy and Triumph They had their conflicts and difficulties their hour of Temptation and time of Trial as we have ours They were slandered and persecuted and sadned and disappointed as their Followers are They went to Heaven the same way and got the victory after the same manner by Repentance and Faith and humble persevering Obedience They were once Imperfect as we are now and complained of the Body of Sin and Death and struglings of unmortified lust as we do And were sometimes in the dark about their interest in the promise and walked heavily by the hiding of God's face and indured Temptation even as we And as we have nothing to do or suffer but what they met with we have the same Encouragement that administred to their support the same God and Saviour the same way and rule the same Assistance by the aids of his Holy Spirit offered to us the same promises and the same rewards proposed which they enjoyed first in faith and hope and afterwards in fruition Yea they passed through the dark valley and so must we Their Earthly tabernacle was dissolved and so must ours be We must expect to go the same way to Rest and Glory and wait God's time for our admission We must finish first the work which God hath for us to do and suffer and then all Tears shall be wiped from our eyes we shall grieve no more we shall sin no more but be as the Angels in Heaven or as the Spirits of the Just made Perfect SECT XIII What Influence the Consideration of Eternity would have upon our Hearts and Lives if soundly believed and considered especially if the supposition of Dying this year be annexed to it WIth what Humility Mortification and Self-denial what Seriousness Watchfulness and resolved Constancy would every Christian Live on Earth did he act always under the influence and power of a confirmed Faith concerning the Life to come We should not then grudge at a little labour or boggle at a few difficulties in our Way What tho' I meet with injuries and affronts hardships and inconveniences being now in a Forreign Country and every day I live one Days journey nearer my Eternal Home Shall I not patiently bear momentany Sorrows while I believe I am hastening to Eternal Joy Did I look more to the Everlasting World should not I make the pleasing of God in order to my Eternal welfare the great business of my Life Should I not serve the Lord with more fervency of Spirit and be better fortified against the fears of Man who can but hurt and kill the Body nor that neither without the permission of God Shuld I not order all my affairs answer all Temptations mortifie inward Lusts live in the Exercise of Grace and in circumspect persevering Obedience in order to it Should I not watch more over my Heart and Lips and Ways be more diligent to trim my Lamps more crucified to this world more careful to call my self frequently to an account and renew my Repentance Would not my Converse be more useful and edifying my Discourses more savory and full of Religion my Prayers to God more humble and earnest my Charity to Men more unfeigned and extensive and my Preparations every way more suitable to such a Faith and to such Apprehensions of an Everlasting State Could we carry the thoughts of Eternity about with us every day and often admit them in our civil and secular affairs did we repeat it frequently to our selves at least every Morning as soon as we are awake that we are near Eternity this grain of Incense would perfume the whole Temple and be an Antidote against inward Lust and impure thoughts against the infection and defilement of bad Company and the snares of worldly Business and do much to prevent vain and sensual actions and to cure vain affections Did we believe it and believe it near should we not take as much pains to secure Eternal Life as we see Men do to get riches Should we not use the same diligence care and circumspection the same prudent foresight watchfulness and perseverance to prevent Everlasting Destruction as others do to provide against Poverty and to live in Plenty a little while on Earth Should we not rejoyce as much in the promise and hopes of it as others do in the prospect and expectation of some Earthly Advantage Lord I confess and bewail the weakness of my Faith How often have I concluded and said that Heaven alone is the place of Happiness and yet my carnal Heart is too much affected with Earthly Things How often have I re-resolved upon the conviction of the certainty of the Eternal World to mind this less and to affect and seek it no more as I have done and yet my foolish Heart is hankering after it still O crucifie my Affections to things below and let the believing Thoughts of the next Life render me victorious over all the Temptations of this Pardon and cure the staggering trembling Thoughts of an unbelieving Heart by greater measures of a lively Faith That my desires may be strong and urgent and my diligence and stedfastness in the way of Truth be some way correspondent to this important Article Let me live only for Eternity hope for nothing but Eternity design and intend nothing as my chief end but Eternity and seek and mind nothing in comparison with Eternity Did we believe it how would every thing in this World
better be without If God receive my Soul and will raise my Body at the last day whether it putrifie and consume under ground or above it is no great matter They who are alive will be more concerned in that than I shall be Graves are for the sake of the Living rather than the Dead The Sun the Rain the Air Birds Beasts Worms will all contribute to give me Burial if Men deny it The only difference is that it will be a little longer e're I am buried If my Soul rest in the Bosom of my Saviour and by presevering in the love and practice of the Truth I have secured my Reputation with wise and good Men I need not be sollicitous what become of my Body My Almighty Judge will raise me a glorious Body like his own and reunite it to my Soul as easily as certainly as for any of those whose Bodies were preserved in Caves and Vaults in proud Sepulchers and under stately Monuments I may dye this Year and shall not then have the satisfaction to see my Children or nearest Kindred Educated and Provided for setled and disposed of But is not the everliving God the same Cannot he as well take care of them when I am gone as now answer all my Prayers after my decease and exercise that Fatherly Care Wisdom and Love which shall dispose of their Conditions save them from Temptations and supply all their Wants and exceed all my Desires in reference to them and fulfil his Covenant-promise from Generation to Generation to the Childrens Children of them that fear him O how weak is my Faith that cannot trust God in so common and plain a case Lastly I may dye this Year and not live to see the ruin of the Antichristian Kingdom and Interest and the accomplishment of many Excellent Promises which concern the Rest and Peace and Purity and Glory of the Churches of Christ on earth in the latter days But have I not deserved by my provoking Unbelief Ingratitude and Disobedience to dye in the Wilderness and not behold the promised Land or see the Peace of Jerusalem And will not the struglings of Satan to support Babylon infer a dismal night of darkness and distress before the expected Morning of Deliverance So that it may now if ever be truly said Henceforth Blessed are the Dead who dye in the Lord. And if God will take me to himself in the other World I cannot possibly be a loser Tho' I should not see the Beginnings of a New Heaven and a New Earth in this However I rejoyce in Hope and pray incessantly for the Resurrection of the Witnesses and the rebuilding of Sion and the more plentiful effusion of the Holy Spirit the great comprehensive Promise of the latter Times to effect a glorious Kingdom for Christ on Earth And my Faith assures me I shall hereafter see the Son of God revealed from Heaven cloathed with Majesty sitting on a Cloud leading the Heavenly Host raising the Dead by his powerful Voice summoning all the World to appear to Judgment gathering his Elect and finally destroying Death and him that had the Power of it the Devil condemning the wicked to everlasting Destruction but acquitting honouring and rewarding his poor Members with infinite and Eternal Blessedness SECT XV. Of Dying in a Foreign Country and of Dying Young Considerations proper to Reconcile the Mind to both I May not live to the end of this Year God in his Providence having called me abroad I may never see my Native Country more Let me still remember O my Soul that where ever I am I am travelling towards the Grave and passing to another World That I may live in all places as a Pilgrim and Stranger here on Earth with Affections suited to my condition becoming one who is travelling in a Strange Land Let me bear the Inconveniences I may meet with in this World as Strangers in their Travels are wont to do Let me not repine at the ill Accommodations of an Inn where I am to lodge but a night or two but encourage my self with the assurance of better Entertainment at home when my Pilgrimage is ended and my Journey over One of my dearest Holy Friends and Fellow Travellers whose memory will be ever precious (g) Mr. Thomas Bent who dyed at Geneva May 10. 1683. with those who knew him quickly arrived to his Journeys end and is entred into Rest betimes Which of his Companions shall next follow we know not or how soon Lord Make me apprehend the nearness of my change in every place and if I am prepared for dying no matter where it be There is no one Country farther from the Presence of God than another The whole World may be considered as one Great House and the several Kingdoms and Countries of it but as different Apartments in the same House and they who tarry at home are no more exempt from Death than they who travel abroad The Earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof I can go no where to be out of his Territories I shall still tread upon my Father's Ground I had rather be an Israelite in a Wilderness with the Presence of God than a Courtier in idolatrous Aegypt Abraham the Father of the Faithful and the Friend of God was banished from his own Country and should I never set foot again on my native Soyl there is no reason of murmuring against my God who hath dealt thus with many of his Favourites And while I have been in a strange Land he hath not suffered me to feel the wants and necessities and heart of a Stranger Among a People of a strange Language he can and doth provide for me all things richly to enjoy I may set up my Ebenezer hitherto hath God supplied all my wants The Presence of my Gracious Father is every where the same in some measure Blessed be my God I have hitherto found it so And may I not rejoyce in God in a Desert though all the World should forsake me though all the World should be against me Should I have no other Friend or Helper is not God an infinite God Enough and without his Favour and Presence what can all this World do for me If I am sick and in danger of Death among my Relations and Friends if the comforts of the Almighty do not refresh and delight my Soul they cannot And if I want not these in my last Agonies no matter in what part or corner of the Earth I breath my last If the word and promise of God be my Foundation an holy Hope my Anchor Christ my Pilot and Heaven my Country I shall not fail of being landed there at last Suffer me not to forsake thee O Heavenly Father while I live and do not thou forsake me in my last Hour and let it come when and where thou wilt If my blessed Saviour will receive my departing Soul at Death I am not sollicitous in what Country or part of the Earth it be And that
Misery will be as far from an End as when he first began to feel it It will then be but the Beginning of Sorrows which will Never Never Never End Think O my Soul that this is the Portion of the Sinners Cup this is the Wages of Sin and the certain Doom of final Impenitence and Unbelief 'T is no Politick Cheat or Melancholly Dream but the express repeated Word of God and Christ the Holy Prophets and Apostles and the Voice of Reason too Supposing but the Immortality of the Soul and the Power of Self-Reflection the Punishment of Sinners must needs be Everlasting as carrying continually an Hell within them unless God work a Miracle to prevent it which there is no Ground to imagine he will or Shadow of Reason why he should God hath pawn'd his Truth and his (*) Deut. 32. c. 40 41. Eternity to execute this Sentence of his threatned Wrath. He is a God of Infinite Mercy 't is true but he hath told us how far his Merey shall extend He will not exercise one Attribute to the dishonour and the disparagement of the rest That obstinate and impenitent Sinners shall thus perish is not because the goodness and mercy of God are not infinite but because his other Perfections are so viz. His Holiness Justice Truth Soveraignty and Wisdom Was it Wisdom and Goodness to annex such a Penalty to the violaion of his Law and can it be inconsistent with them to inflict his threatned wrath Shall we suppose God to uphold his Dominion and Government by a Falshood to keep the World in awe by the menaces of such punishment as shall no where never be executed Is it unlikely that God should exercise so much severity and is it not as improbable that his repeated Word and Oath should prove false Is it not a righteous thing with God as the Governour of the World thus to punish the obstinate Despisers of his Grace who slighted his Authority disobeyed his Law affronted his Soveraignty derided his Power denied his Truth contradicted his Holiness and joined Issue with the Devil to pull him from his Throne who abused his Patience and Long-suffering and scorned all his threatnings who thrust away their own happiness and would not take warning who burst all his bands asunder and broke through all obstructions and would not be stopt in their course of Vanity and Folly or so much as consider the danger who rejected his calls to Repentance and refused his Mercy when it was offered and preferred a Lust before his favour and the Pleasures and Profits of this World before the Heavenly Glory and notwithstanding all the methods of his Grace and the checks of his Providence and of their own Conscience they will go on they will dye Let me O my Soul adore the Soveraign Justice of God in all his Judgments and tremble at the threatnings of that Eternal Wrath which so few consider or believe till 't is too late Let the foresight and the fear of such an intollerable endless Punishment be a means to save me from it Let me herein read the evil of Sin and learn to abhor and avoid it Let me pity and warn and counsel and pray for those of my Relations and Acquaintance who live in Sin and run the Hazard of this Eternal Ruin Let me not envy the foolish Mirth and momentany Prosperity of the Wicked whose present Joy must e're long expire and an Everlasting Destruction succeed in its room (*) Job 20. Chap. 4 5. How short is the Joy of the Hypocrite and the Triumph of the Wicked is but for a Moment Let me fear and dread every thing that leads to this dismal Issue and improve every thing that may help me to escape it And by Consequence let me less value all the Good and Evil of this present Life judge of all things by this Light be patient under Temporal Calamities and thank God that it is not Hell and thank him more that present Sufferings do help to save me from Eternal Ones Whatever I can suffer in this World let my Condition be never so dark and sad and afflicted it is not it cannot be such but that every one of the Damned would think it an infinite Happiness to exchange with me and be as I am Let me think of those Exquisite and Eternal Flames to cure my Impatience under the sharpest Tryals and Afflictions I may now suffer Did I believingly Consider an Everlasting Hell * Qui non expergiscitur ad haec Tonitrua jam non dormit sed mortuus est S. Augustine I should not think much of any thing that is required to prevent it The severest Exercises of Religion the strictest Temperance the nicest Chastity the largest Charity the greatest Self-denial all the Hardships of Repentance and Mortification and Continuance therein to the Death tho' for many Years more than I am like to live would be reckon'd easie as well as just if set in the Ballance against the Eternal Mischiefs of the Damned What will not Men do and suffer to prevent a Temporal Death They will endure a painful Course of Physick tear out their very Bowels by Purges and Vomits and are content to be cut and scarrified and to suffer any thing almost to save their Lives But how little will they do to be saved from the Wrath to come One would think they should have no Rest or Peace or be able to live a quiet Hour 'till they had made some Provision against the Hazard of this Eternal Destruction and look upon all Men as their Friends or Enemies according to the Help or Hindrance they received from them in reference to it But the direct Contrary is every where apparent Men are careless and secure jovial and merry in the Way that leads to Hell and esteem and love and chuse that Company that will help to bring them to this Place of Torment Yea such is their Stupidity and strange Perverseness that they will not suffer to be told of their Danger If you tell them that by such a Course or such an Action they will lose so much Money or their Lives will be in Danger they reckon it an Obligation will take it kindly and return you Thanks But when they are told by such Courses and Actions they will lose their Souls and the Favour of God and the Hopes of Heaven and must perish for Ever this they will not receive they despise the Message and scorn and hate the Messenger are displeased and angry at such Faithfulness O bless the Lord O my Soul for any good hope through Grace of escaping this Intolerable and Endless Misery And let all that is within me bless his Holy Name I have deserved the same endless and unsupportable Wrath which Thousands are now under and shall be under to all Eternity but he did not suffer me to fall into it To be delivered out of those Torments after many Years Misery would be thought an admirable unspeakable Kindness
be by the damned Spirits Oh that I might now feel more of this Heavenly Life begun and carried on in my Soul by a farther Participation of his Holy Image and Conformity to his Will by more vital Effects of his indwelling Spirit in my Soul forming it to be a Temple to himself for his own Delightful Residence that forgetting that which I have received I may still be Coveting and desirous of more forgetting what I have attain'd I may press on with an Holy Eagerness and Fervency towards the Mark When I seriously examine my own Heart had I nothing else to prove the Weakness of my Grace and the sinful Remainders of Unbelief but the low Desires and few Comfortable Thoughts the seldom joyful Prospect of this Blessed State how sad an Evidence were it of my low Attainments that I breath with no more Impatience after that Blessed Holy Rest in the Injoyment of God and Christ and labour no more in preparing for it When we profess to believe that all the Desires of our Souls shall be fix'd on Him and filled with Him as our Infinite and Supreme Good and all the Expectations of Faith and Hope swallowed up in Endless Admiration Gratitude and Joy being fully satisfied and at Rest in the Presence and Vision of God without the least Inclination or Desire of Change And by Consequence There will be no need of Novelty as now to a give a Relish to our Happiness All Happiness in this World is by comparing a Man's present Condition with his past or with that of some Inferiours But the Intrinsick Good Felicity and Joy of Heaven will need no such Foil to set it off no such Comparison to make it prized The Blessed Spirits will never lose the lively Sense of that low and miserable Condition from which they were raised to so great a Glory and so will ever equally rejoyce in the Happiness of their Translation and Wonderful Change And what was at first delightful will for Ever be so and not disdain'd or lessen'd by a Continuance as it happens in this World from the Emptiness Shallowness and Vanity of the Creature An Affectation of Variety and Desire of Change proceeding always from a Sense of Want But Holy Souls shall never be weary of Seeing Loving and Enjoying God his Blessed Presence will afford us Undecaying and Endless Satisfacton Pleasure never to be interupted or abated and never to cease The Blessed Object is absolutely Infinite and so will be always new to a Finite Understanding and Continual Fresh Communications from his Infinite Fulness must needs make our Subjective Happiness to be always new and Eternally such Let me by such Thoughts quicken and excite my Diligent Endeavours after a greater Meetness to injoy so great a Bliss And to that end Consider whether any of those Happy Souls who have finisht their Course and obtained the Prize do now regret their utmost Diligence Patience and Perseverance during their short Abode here to secure the Blessedness of an Endless Life No no they are far from repenting the Time they spent the Trouble they were at the Care they used the Difficulties they met with the Sufferings they endured to conflct with the World and the Flesh to resist Temptation to watch over their Hearts and Words and Ways to work out their Salvation to please God and be faithful to him c. They find to their Unspeakable Comfort and Everlasting Joy that Heaven makes amends for all they could do or suffer in order to their Coming thither Yea they find that they were not Diligent and Humble and Patient and Circumspect enough That they did not love God and seek his Glory redeem their Time and improve all their Talents and Opportunities of doing and receiving Good and give up themselves intirely to prepare for Heaven to that degree they should have done They find by the Transcendency of the Blessed Recompence that it deserved infinitely more than the most Active Zealous Christian upon Earth did ever do in order to it Lord Quicken my Resolutions and Endeavours by such Thoughts as these Inspire my Sluggish Carnal Heart with Holy Light and Life and Zeal and Fervour that looking to the Things which are not seen which are Eternal I may (*) 1 Tim. 1.19 lay up a good Foundation against the Time to come and so lay hold on Eternal Life But Alas How much have I neglected the great Duty of Holy Meditation How little Skill and Experience have I in it How tastless and inspid oftentimes are my Thoughts of God! how confused and unsteady how little Pleasure or Advantage have I by Contemplating his Highest Excellencies Yet methinks could I but retain the same awakened lively Thoughts of Heaven and Eternal Life which sometimes I have had might I continually feel the Sweet and Sacred Influence as for a little Season I have sometimes felt it how little how very a Nothing would all this World be to me How comparatively weak its strongest and most alluring Snares to draw me off from God! with what an unshaken Mind could I refuse and resist ' em with what an unconcerned Indifference could I look upon all its most charming Glory Could I maintain such a Frame of Spirit as I have sometimes had for a little while in the serious Contemplation of Divine Misteries in Fervent Prayers and other Solemn Duties of Religion when the Acts of Faith were strong and lively my Heart set on fire with Love to God and Holy Breathings after Him admiring his matchless Grace to fallen Sinners and to my Soul in particular when he brought me to the very Suburbs of Heaven tho' alas how seldom by the delightful Thought of what the Blessed Spirits above enjoy in being where Christ is and beholding his Glory when I was ready to say within my self 'T is good to be here this is no other than the Gate of Heaven Oh! when shall Mortality be swallowed up of Life But when I thought at any time to fix and settle in such sweet Contemplations how quickly did my lazy backward Heart fly off how soon did the Flame decay and dye away how soon did I find my self fallen down to Earth again sunk down from the Bosom of my Lord presently forgot my self and Heaven to dwell among the Pots and embrace a Dunghill 'T was not on my own Wings O Lord that I soared so high but I hope by the Breathings of that Holy Spirit of Light and Love who bloweth when and where and how long he listeth who gave me at any time any such first Fruits of the Spirit who convinc'd me of the Certainty of the Heavenly Inheritance by a lively believing Foresight of it who made me earnestly desire the Wings of a Dove to be gone and appear before God in Sion made me Pant and Groan to be delivered and to be with God and Christ with inexpressible Desire and Joy unconceivably mixt with Sighs and Groans O my God! let not this experience be only
Invocation of any other but Thee In whom I believe and trust Rom. 10.14 Having such a God in Heaven what can I need on Earth His Eyes behold me his Wing is over me his Hand can supply me his Grace provide for me I can want nothing that is Good unless I should need somewhat which God the infinitely Blessed and All-sufficient Good cannot bestow If thou art the Portion of my Soul all my Enemies cannot make me miserable unless they can void Heaven of the Presence of God hinder his Care bind up his Hand or obstruct his Love But tho' my Enemies cannot I fear my Sins may They alone can separate between God and my Soul And considering the multitude and aggravations of them and thine unspotted Holiness and Justice I should have too much reason to fear and tremble yea and utterly despair If I had none in Heaven but thee But thy word assures me that I have a Mediator there a faithful and a compassionate High-Priest Jesus Christ the Righteous whom thou hast exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance and Remission of Sins Who liveth for ever in Heaven to make Intercession till he hath brought me there to behold his Glory and partake of it That Glory O Lord thou hast reserved for Heaven in this World we only desire believe and hope to enjoy it Whom have I in Heaven That is the Place of Fruition What can I desire upon Earth This World is the Place of Desires as the other of full Enjoyment Most of that which Men call Enjoyment in this Life consists but in Desire Desire or Lust is all that is in the wicked World 1 John 2. c. 13. the Riches of a Covetous Worldling makes him desire more and the Great Mystery of Intemperance is to create and increase Desires and Desires of another kind are the Portion of Good Men in this World Oh! that I could breath after a State of perfect Fruition in Heaven with more importunate Desires Who will give me to be in Heaven with thee On Earth I desire nothing So one Version Let me O my Soul think of Heaven as such a Place or State of Blessed Enjoyment speak of it seek it long for it prepare for it as such And let Jesus Christ who is the Desire of all Nations through whom all Divine Communications are made to fallen Sinners be the Great Object of my present Desires and Love Let me desire nothing but as in Him and for Him that believing his Word obeying his Law adoring his Person imitating his Example trusting his Promise constrained by his Love partaking of his Image filled with his Grace and comforted by his Spirit my Meditations of him may be sweeter and my Love stronger and I may have nothing more left to desire for my Self but that God who hath raised and exalted Him would keep alive my Faith and Hope and Holy Desires till he hath made me meet to be with Him and after having guided me by his Grace and Spirit and Counsels here on Earth would receive me to his most Blessed and Glorious Presence in Heaven Amen Amen XXII The Glorious Appearance of Christ to Judgment considered as Certain The Terror and Astonishment Confusion and Despair of Wicked Jews and Christians to behold their Judge and hear his Condemning Sentence to EVERLASTING Destruction WHen our Blessed Saviour shall appear to judge the World I read that it shall be In his own Glory the Glory of his Father and of the Holy Angels If by the Glory of the Father be meant that of the Divinity as the Original and Author of all things in Nature as the Almighty Creator of the World and by the Glory of his Holy Angels be understood that of the Legal Administration the Law being given by the Disposition of Angels and by his own Glory that of the Gospel as he is the Messiah that in the Glory of all these he shall come to Judgment We have a summary Account of the three different Revelations which God hath made of himself to Mankind by the Light of Nature that of the Law and the more manifest one of the Gospel According to which every Man is to be judged at the last Day Tho' we cannot distinctly tell what or how great our Lord's Glory will then be we may be certain it will be suitable to the Dignity of his Royal Person suitable to the Grandeur of his Father's Majesty with the Splendour of a Triumphant Prince who is Heir of all Things and hath all Power in Heaven and in Earth committed to him the Great Lord of both Worlds Head of Angels and Men and suitable to his Glorious Office as Mediator and the appointed Judge of Quick and Dead If at his Tranfiguration his Face shone and his Raiment was white and glittering How much more Splendid will his last Appearance be When the Bodies of his Saints shall be seven times brighter than the lustre of the Sun And if his Members shall then be so glorious how transcendently more so will their Head their Lord appear If the Delivery and Promulgation of the Law on Mount Sinai was accompanied with such Circumstances of Terrible Majesty how much more may we suppose the Great Assize will be attended with when he comes to judge for the violation of the Law and the contempt of the Gospel And if even Moses did then exceedingly quake and fear what will be the Consternation and trembling of the wicked World at the Coming of Christ When he shall be revealed from Heaven in flaming Fire with a glorious retinue of his mighty Angels as so many bright Stars about the more glorious Sun of Righteousness The Lights of Heaven shall be eclips'd the visible Sun shall vail its blushing head as infinitely out-shone the present Glory of the Creation be all benighted by reason of his transcendent Brightness Yea the Heavens shall be wrapt up as a scroll the Elements melt away with a mighty noise the Earth and all its works be burnt up and the whole Universe as one great Bonfire to adorn the Triumph of our Lord's Appearance And this usher'd in by the Voice of an Archangel proclaiming his approach and the Voice of God supplying the use of a Trumpet to raise the Dead and possess Mankind with an awful Reverence of their Judge Thus in Triumph as a Conqueror and a Judge shall he come again who once appear'd in the form of a Servant to be Judged and Condemn'd by Man Then he was called King in scorn Now he will appear as much above all Earthly and Humane Greatness as once he stoop'd for our sakes beneath it Then the Contempt of Nations and no way esteem'd Desirable when he came from the Womb of his Virgin-Mother Now the Terrour of the World when he comes again from the Right-hand of his Father No more to be subject to a state of Meanness but to render vengeance to all who know not God and obey not the Gospel and to be
and Labour the Work he calls me to is excellent and the Reward glorious to know and love and serve and obey Him in order to Eternal Life and shall I yet be Idle Is this the Use and End of all my Time And do I know it and believe it Do I indeed believe it and yet delay and loyter and wast my precious Hours in Vanity Am I going into Eternity and entring into another World and know that I must be in Heaven or Hell for ever and have I Time to throw away Am I fit to die and to appear before my Judge or am I not Am I made meet for Heaven by pardoning Mercy and sanctifying Grace Have I the Earnest of the Spirit to witness and assure me of it Is my Interest in the Promise of Eternal Life as firm and my Evidence of it as clear as it may be made Am I not conscious to my self that much of this necessary Work is yet to be done And shall such an unprepared Soul as mine be careless and indifferent how I spend my Time SECT VII Of the Ordinances of Heaven Day and Night Summer and Winter Seed-time and Harvest their order and succession establisht by God is the effect of Infinite Wisdom and Goodness What they may teach us WHen I consider the beginning of another Year I can hardly avoid reflecting on its several parts Summer and Winter Spring and Fall Day and Night and their alternate Turns This calls me to observe and admire his Eternal Power and Godhead Wisdom and Truth who is the Great Author of this admirable variety Who hath fixed the Earth with his Foot and hanged it on nothing and setled the Luminaries of Heaven for Excellent Ends The Sun to Ruleby Day and the Moon by Night thereby to distinguish Times and Seasons to separate Day and Night Winter and Summer and consult the convenience of Man and Beast by their due Succession The Day is thine the Night also is thine thou makest Summer and Winter How wonderful is their Order Beauty and constant Course that when the Sun withdraws and the shadows of the Evening cover the Earth with darkness to conclude the Day the Moon and Stars supply the place of the absent Sun during the Night And that tho' they differ in length yet gradually lessen till they are both equal at the years end and have made the same Circuit How excellent a work of God is that quick succession to one another The supposition of a perpetual Night is a dismal gloomy thought O what will the Everlasting Darkness of the Infernal Prison be The Sun by day enlightens the Earth directs our Motion guides our Way governs our Travail assists Conversation awakens Industry warms the Earth and Air gives Life and Vigor and fruitfulness to all things under the Sun and makes the whole Inferiour Creation to rejoyce An Emblem of God's universal Goodness who is kind to all his Creatures How admirable is its Lustre how glorious is its Light how loudly doth it proclaim his Power and Wisdom who made this and the other Lights of Heaven by his powerful Word and preserves them hitherto by his daily Providence If God be now so glorious contemplated in his Works considered in the lustre of the created Sun viewed only through the Windows of Sense how much more glorious will he appear hereafter when we shall see him face to face and nothing interpose betwixt us and his incomparable Light If mine Eyes dazle to look upon the meridian Sun in what inaccessible Light must he dwell who is the Father of Lights If this lower World the common receptacle of his Friends and Enemies have so much of his Glory vouchsafed them by the Heavenly Bodies O what a place will Heaven be where shall be no Sun or Moon nor need of any but the glory of God shall lighten it and the Lamb be the Light thereof While I thus consider the Sun and the Day I must not think the Night is useless which discovers another part of the Heavens not discernable by the Day viz. the Stars and Planets refreshing the Earth cooling the Air giving necessary Rest to the Creatures c. Their order motions aspects oppositions influences are all useful and instructive The agreeable mixtures of Light and Darkness the regular succession of Day and Night within a few hours are exceeding wonderful and advantageous In other parts of the World where the Sun-beams are more direct and its heat excessive God hath made amends by the length of the Night under the Equinoctial Line it is always Twelve hours and in the more Northen parts where the Influence of the Sun is weaker the days are proportionably longer So good is God to all his Creatures in all parts of the world As the Morning and Evening answer to the day of Twenty four hours so doth Spring and Autumn to the Twelve months of the Year that we may not pass immediately from one extream to another but gradually be disposed for so great a change as is between Summer and Winter and Winter and Summer So merciful and gracious and infinitely wise is God in all his Works so that we cannot say one part of the Year is more necessary than another The Winter is as useful for the good of the Universe as the Summer In this we are supplied with what is necessary to maintain us in that And the admirable Situation of the Sun most probably in the Center of the World seems much to contribute to it If it had been at a farther distance from us our Earth would have been in a manner desolate because the Influence of the Sun could not have been considerable And if it had been nearer the Stars above would have wanted Light and this Earth under been burnt up The Excellent Order which it hath now obeyed for above six Thousand Years is also wonderful The Sun never stood still but once and that by a Miracle tho' much inferiour to that of it's daily Progress What a Subject is here to admire the Power Goodness Wisdom and Faithfulness of God Lord what is Man For whom thou dost all this And because I find every Year that the Day dies into Night the Summer into Winter and Herbs and Plants lose their Beauty and Verdure and shed their Blossoms may I not hence learn to consider and prepare for my own Approaching Change In Prosperity Health and Ease and Life to expect and make Provision for Trouble Sickness Pain and Death as every Wise Man in Summer would do for Winter and work with all my Might while it is called to day while the Light continues because the Night of Darkness is at hand when none can work SECT VIII Of Evils to be expected in this Year the Wisdom and Mercy of God in concealing from us the Knowledge of future Events NOT only few and uncertain but Evil likewise are the Days of the Years of my Life may every one say with the Patriarch Jacob. A
What will be the next Word O my Soul how much am I concerned to know it Will it be Blessedness or Misery Will it be Life or Death This one Word is the Joy of Angels and the Horror of Devils the Unspeakable Delight of Blessed Saints and the Confusion and Despair of Condemned Sinners At the Creation of the World Time got the start of us and was five days elder than we but our Immortal Souls shall endure beyond the utmost Limits of Time and last as long as the Everlasting Father of Spirits of whose Duration there is no End Shall I then exist and live though my Body perish and see Corruption Shall my Soul my Self exist beyond the Grave in Felicity or Misery and that for ever and according to my present Actions What am I then most concerned to mind What am I to chuse What am I most to fear to wish to do What is a Shadow of Honour and Reputation among dying Men What are a few Drops of fleshly Pleasure for a Moment to Eternal Rivers of Pleasure at God's right Hand What are the sufferings of an Hour or two to the Pains and Anguish of Eternity What can the World Flesh or Devil give me comparable to Eternal Life What can I suffer in the way of Holiness that may be set in the Balance against an Everlasting Hell And yet how often O my Soul how boldly how unconcernedly how foolishly do I hazard the One and forfeit the Other for the Sins and Vanities of this World Whereas one Prospect of Eternity should make every thing that is Temporal appear little in my Eyes The highest Elevations of Earthly Greatness Abundance of Riches the Great Affairs Business and Employments of the World Pomp and Splendor and Reputation and all that now flatters the Senses and the Vanity of Mankind Oh! that I could but live as believing and expecting an Eternal State as having it in my Eye managing all my Affairs with a Visible Reference to it discovering to all the World by my Behaviour and Deportment that I do in earnest believe it certain for be it never so Certain if I do not apprehend and consider it as such it will no more affect me than a Fable Neither is it enough to consider it as certain but as near For the most weighty the most terrible things apprehended as at a great distance will little move Thinking of the long Interval between the advantage of being exempted from such Evils for so long a time will please me more than such distant Calamities will affright Let me therefore endeavour to impress the consideration of Eternity as at hand more deeply on my Heart that I may walk and live discourse and pray and demean my self in every thing as near an unchangeable State Am I not convinced that this is certain from the nature and operations of my Soul from the reflections of Conscience from the Righteousness of God in his Government of the World from the present unequal distributions of Good and Evil by his Providence and from the plain and frequent assertions of his Revealed Will I have nothing to object nothing to reply but I find a necessity of inculcating and urging the consideration of it in order to its influence I find it needful to reflect often how near I am to such an endless State that in one Instant by Death I enter upon it And that this Instant may be as near me as my next Thoughts That the holy Scripture describes the two contrary Conditions after Death and every Man and Woman in the World shall share in one of them as both Everlasting the one by Eternal Life Eternal Glory an incorruptible Crown that fadeth not away an incorruptible Inheritance an House Eternal in the Heavens c. the other by unquenchable Fire a Prison whence no escape Eternal Damnation Everlasting Burning Everlasting Punishment Everlasting Destruction a Worm that never dies wrath that is ever to come blackness of darkness for ever ever c. Think O my Soul that in One of these two contrary States I must abide for ever in endless Joy or Sorrow Blessed in the Presence of God or for ever banished from it And whoever thou art that readest this apply it seriously to thy self 't is thine own case Yea I tell thee from God that Holiness of Heart and Life is absolutely Necessary to the former and that without it thou shalt never see his Face but be punished with Everlasting Destruction from the Presence of his Glory Is this an Unquestionable Truth O let me consider it till I feel the Power and Efficacy of so Important a Principle let the Impression be Deep and Lasting let it pierce and enter into my very Soul to cool the Heats of Lust to quench Sensual and Earthly desires and to mortifie all Inordinate Affections to this World and fix my Resolutions to mind and seek Eternal Life with all my Heart These are not difficult and perplexed Niceties which wise and holy Men differ and disagree about They are not Metaphisical Subtleties which few can understand but the express Word of God and the daily Dictates of my own Reason and Conscience which all Christians and almost all Men in their Wits except in an Hour of great Temptation confess and own or whether they will or no are forced to expect and fear if they are not in a Condition to consider them with a joyful Hope Lord cure the unbelieving Doubts concerning these Great Things which notwithstanding the plainest Evidence the Devil may at any time suggest Iet a confirmed Faith be the Reality of what is thus future that my Soul may be influenc'd by them as it is wont to be by Things present Let it be the Substance of Things hoped for and the Evidence of Things unseen and as yet at a Distance as if the Day of Judgment were already come and there were no intermediate Time to pass between this and that O Eternity Eternity the more I consider it the more unfathomable still I find it Vnchangeable Blessedness or remediless endless Torments An Eternal Blissful Day or Everlasting Horror Darkness and Despair Life or Death Glory or Destruction to last as long as the Immutable Living God! None of the Patriarchs who lived longest arrived to the period of a Thousand Years which in comparison of God's Everlastingness is set forth but as one day But strictly considered Millions of Years and Ages have no proportion with it because no multiplication of them will amount to Eternity Whereas one Hour hath some proportion to an hundred thousand years because a certain number of Hours will amount to so many years But no number of Years or Ages never so often multiplied will make up Eternity As no substraction of Millions of Years will lessen it an entire Eternity will be still to come and will ever be to come When innumerable myriads of Years are past Eternity shall then seem but to begin because when as many more are over
the like Especially considering how my sins are aggravated by every Mercy I have received by every Affliction I have undergone every awakenning Sermon I have heard every motion of God's Spirit and every check of my own Conscience that I have resisted every offer of his Grace every warning of his Providence every invitation and call of his Word every purpose to Repent and every resolution I have made to forsake sin The greater knowledge I have had of my danger the longer time I have deliberated about it the oftner I have confess'd my sin and been sorry for it every reproof I have had from others and every promise I have made my self doth aggravate and encrease my Guilt How many Years hath God vouchsafed me to work out my Salvation But how little have I done towards it Had I died this last Year how unprepar'd must I have made my Appearance before his Tribunal What opportunities of doing and receiving good have I let slip Have I not made it more my business to seem Religious than really to be so How much of the Patience of God have I abus'd Refusing his Calls to Repentance resisting the strivings of his Spirit smothering my Convictions and turning the Grace of God into wantonness Instead of returning Gratitude for all his Love I have repeated my Transgressions after Forgiveness and gone in a circle of Repenting and Sinning even to this day Lord I am asham'd and lay my self in the dust before thee To me belongs nothing but shame and confusion of Face If God should condemn and punish me as a Rebel and a Traytor and give me the Portion of Hypocrites I cannot but own his Justices even in Hell I must do it with my flaming Tongue and Breath O spare me for thy Mercy 's sake Enter not into Judgment with thy servant for in thy sight shall no flesh living be justified if Thou lay Judgment to the Line and Equity to the Plummet Give me Repentance unto life never to be repented of never to be retracted again Bring me to the Blood of Jesus which cleanseth from all sin Behold the sighings of a contrite Spirit For I acknowledge my Transgressions unto thee against whom I have sinned O Lord forgive the Iniquity of my Sin I am unworthy to lift up my Hands and Eyes towards Heaven unworthy to be called thy Son or thy Servant I am vile in mine own eyes because I have made my self vile in Thine For this I am troubled and mourn and my Soul is grieved within me O thou Heavenly Physician of Souls from thy Pity alone I expect my cure I am miserable and undone without thy Compassion and expect no relief but from the Treasure of thy Grace I must perish and sink under the burden of Sin if thy merciful hand do not save me and lift me up I am intangl'd and insnar'd by the Devil and my Lusts and without thy Succour can never hope to get free O Lord forgive my Sin and heal my Soul Deliver and save me for thy Mercies sake May I not yet hope in thy Mercy Thou hast mercifully born with me hitherto Thou callest me to repent thou commandest me to return and promisest to forgive those Sins which are confessed and forsaken O do not cast me out of thy Sight and Presence now I desire from the bottom of my Heart to return to thee I abhor my self in dust and ashes for my past Iniquities But alas such is the hardness of my Impenitent Heart that I am even asham'd of my humblest Repentance how much more may God despise and reject it But hast thou not given thy Blessed Son to die for Sinners and exalted him to this very end to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance and Remission of Sins And by the word of thy Grace thou beseechest all even the greatest Sinners to accept of mercy and art more willing to Pardon than we can be to Repent 'T is thy Delight and Glory agreeable to thy Nature and declared Name as a God gracious and merciful slow to Anger and of great Kindness forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin O Pardon mine Iniquity for it is great and receive an humble Penitent who implores thy Grace according to the Tenor of thy new Covenant flying to the Arms of thy Mercy through the Merits of Jesus Christ who is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him Lord hear my Prayer and let not the mixture of my weaknesses and unworthiness turn it into Sin but graciously vouchsafe to look upon a Returning Prodigal and cause me to hear the voice of Joy and Gladness that my sorrowful Heart may be comforted and my life be directed to thy Praise Lead me into the path of life that I may no longer err from the way of thy Commandments Teach me to do thy Will O God and write thy Law upon my Heart that I may never more return to Folly I am convinc'd of the Evil of Sin of thy Right to govern me of the Equity and Justice of thy Law of the Sweetness and Rewards of keeping thy Precepts O sanctifie my Heart and make me Sound in thy Statutes that I may hate every false way and be devoted to thy Fear the remainder of my Life If there be any particular Lust or Wickedness which through the power of Temptation and the deceitfulness of Sin you have fallen into that hath wasted Conscience and robb'd you of your Peace and provok'd God to write bitter things against you be sure to humble your self without delay in an especial manner for that Back-sliding Confess it freely with its Aggravations Consider whether it was not after some special manifestation of God's Love after some special Warning some strong Conviction under or soon after some great Affliction from God or some more than ordinary Kindness of his Providence c. And impress such Thoughts to humble your self the lower search into the grounds and causes of such Apostacy such as the abatement of your Watchfulness the neglect of serious closet-Devotion making bold with Temptation too great compliance with vain Company venturing too far in lawful or indifferent Things too much Confidence in your own Wisdom Strength and Stedfastness not fearing sufficiently the Approaches and Beginnings of Sin or avoiding the fuel incentives and occasions of it c. Palliate and disguise nothing that may make your Sin exceeding sinful lest by some little Art of the Devil you deceive your self by an half-Repentance and the Evil Spirit you think to be cast out return again with seven worse than himself and so your latter end be worse than your Beginning For if the Sin be not truly hated but only cover'd over with penitential Ashes it will quickly flame out again when it meets with combustible Matter and a strong blast of Temptation But if you are griev'd to the very Heart and abhorr the Sin and resolve to quit it you need not doubt of God's readiness to receive you
to Mercy His Spirit is yet striving with you if you are willing to Repent and return to God He sought you and call'd you to return when you were wandring as a lost sheep in the broad way And can you think he will not be found of you if you seek him with your whole Heart Therefore renew your Repentance and beg more earnestly a Spirit of Humility Holy Fear and Watchfulness And every Morning implore Divine succours against that Sin and all Temptations to it which as much as possible you must avoid Constant and fervent Prayer after Repentance must be your Refuge and your Remedy If you let fall your Hands this Amaleck will prevail again As soon and as far as you fail in the Constancy and Fervency of that Duty your Sin will get strength and successfully attempt you another time But by this Practice God may turn Evil to work for Good make you gain by your Loss stand the faster by your Falls and become stronger by the discovery of your Weakness and so be better establish'd for the future But take heed that you pervert not the Grace of God and encourage your self to sin again by the Supposition that if you should Fall 't is but to Repent and renew your Resolutions and all will be well This is a subtile Artifice of Satan but such methinks as should take with none who have ever known by Experience what it is to Repent Who have felt the burden of Sin to be heavier than a Milstone than the weight of a Mountain Who have tasted how evil and bitter a thing it is to depart from God Who have loathed and abhorr'd themselves with deep Remorse and Sorrow and Anguish of Spirit wishing with all their Hearts that they had not sinn'd and if it were in their power would give all the World to retrieve it and would rather die than commit that Folly Luk. 23.30 17.2 again they then repented of Let those who have not their own Experience to confirm this read over and consider the Case of David when he wrote the Penitential Psalms How many like him have roar'd and cry'd out under the sense of Sin of stings and furies in their Conscience of the poison'd Arrows in their Souls and his Terrors surrounding them where-ever they went from the sense of his Sins Malignity the apprehensions of God's Anger and the consequent Fears of his Wrath. Serious Repentance after great Transgressions is another Thing than most imagine it When their aggravated Sins shall beset them behind and before be placed in order before their eyes and set in array against them 'T is always a work of Difficulty as well as Importance to crucifie corrupt affections to tear a beloved Lust from the Heart with self-indignation to abhorr and cast away what before you lov'd and delighted in How did David's Sin stare him in the Face It is continually with me it is ever before me said He. It haunted him like a Spectre or like Belshazzar's Hand-writing on the Wall it still appear'd before him in some horrid shape However Sin may smile in its first address and bespeak us in flattering language and promise Pleasure and Profit and great Advantages and Satisfaction these are but fair Appearances This is but the outside of the Cup and the Colour of the Liquor It will prove Gail and Wormwood and a mixture of deadly Poison if ever God set it home upon the Conscience and awaken us to a true sense of it And the Continuance of daily Repentance for Sin which all Christians are called to is no such easie matter neither Constant Self-abasement and Humiliation before God from a sense of his Majesty and Holiness and of our many Sins and Pollution thereby The imperfection of our best Duties continually to be bewailed inordinate Affections to be still mortified always resisting and opposing Sin in its Root and Branches conflicting against the whole Interest of the Flesh the World and the Devil seeking after more Holiness to be deriv'd unto us by the Grace of Christ to be wrought in us by his Spirit and maintain'd by his Power and making daily Applications to the Fountain of all Grace for spiritual strength to continue our warfare against Sin in all Instances of outward Duty and inward Actings of Grace even as long as we live all this is included in it Due Apprehensions concerning Repentance as so comprehensive and difficult a Duty would teach us to beware of Sin XXVII The Necessity of Christian Resolution to Vpright Persevering Obedience how full and extensive it ought to be and yet humble by what means we may be assisted to perform that which we resolve HAving acknowledg'd my Transgressions unto God and begg'd Forgiveness and experimentally learn'd the Evil of Sin by the bitterness of Repentance I resolve for the future to watch against it more narrowly and against every thing that leads to it endeavouring to please and honour my God and Saviour by an upright obedient Heart and Life And for the Remission of my former contracted Guilt I trust to Jesus Christ according to the Revelation made in the Gospel of what he is hath done and suffer'd and continues to do in Heaven for the Salvation of Repenting Sinners who desire to come unto God by Him But how often O my Soul have I mock'd God and deceiv'd my self with formal and faint Purposes of Amendment My good Resolutions have been all of them as the morning Cloud and the early Dew which quickly passed away One fresh assault of Temptation hath swept away all my good Purposes as a Spider's Web. I have falsified so many and broke my word so often that I dare not trust to any thing I now resolve or rely on any Promise I should farther make Succour me therefore O Lord by thy powerful Grace that what was defective in my former fruitless Resolutions may be now rectified Let me be more humble in the sense of my Weakness more dependant on thy Grace and more heartily seek it from time to time Strengthen me with Strength in my Soul with Might and Power in my inward man that I may so resolve and purpose as to perform that I may not be one day hot and the next cold zealous in the Beginning but faint and lukewarm in the Brogress fervent and serious only in Resolving but weak and impotent in the Execution Having chang'd my Master my End and my Hopes by returning unto God from whom I had gone astray I firmly resolve through the assistance of his Grace to change my Course of Life that Old things being done away all things may become New that * Rom. 6.22 being made free from sin by pardoning Mercy and become the servant of Christ I may have my fruit unto Holiness that my End may be Eternal Life In the interim whether I live or die let it be unto the Lord resolving both in Life and Death to be absolutely his And to that purpose O my Soul Let
voluntary Consent and Choice thou art my God and thy Presence in Heaven my ultimate Felicity I have trusted to thy Gracious Promise to prepare me for it and bring me to it O fulfil thy Word unto thy Servant wherein thou hast caused me to hope and mercifully receive my departing Soul that seeks Thee that loves Thee that breathes after Thee and desires nothing but to know Thee better and love Thee more and be more entirely conform'd to thine Image and live always in thy Blessed Presence Thou hast called me out of the World plac'd thine Image upon me enabled me to make it my Business though with many Imperfections to serve and please and honour Thee Oh Receive me to the fulness of thy Love and Grace and present me faultless before the Presence of thy Glory with exceeding Joy Amen Holy Father be it unto me according to thy Word through the Merits and Intercession of my All-sufficient Saviour Jesus Christ the Faithful and True Witness in whom all thy Promises are Yea and Amen XXX Thanksgiving to God for his Innumerable Benefits and Mercies particularly in the Year past with some Direction and Advice concerning it HOW precious and delightful are the Thoughts of thy Benefits O Lord how great is the sum of them Should I count them they are more in number than the Stars Shall I not observe and consider them maintain a grateful sense of them and publickly acknowledge them on all occasions that I may Bless the Lord at all Times and his Praise be continually in my mouth More especially should I conclude and begin the Year with solemn Praises to my Great Benefactor and Preserver I ought to begin and close every Day with it thereby to make the out-goings of the Morning and the Evening to rejoyce in God Every Year every Day every Hour every Moment offers me an occasion to Praise him because he is every minute gracious and hath been so ever since he gave me my Being Almost one half of my Time hath been spent in Sleep when I remember not God nor my self yet doth He who never slumbers nor sleeps remember me in Mercy and watch over me for good Yea though in the other half by Day I have forgotten him in a worse sense by casting off his Fear and not remembring that his Holy Eye is upon me yet hath he not forgotten to be Gracious Therefore I will praise the name of God with a Song and will magnifie him with Thanksgiving and never forget his benefits With which Sacrifice he is better pleased than with an Ox or Bullock that hath horns and hoofs He hath prolonged my Life this last Year when so many others of his more useful Servants have been remov'd by Death and given me farther Time and Space to Repent when multitudes have been surpriz'd in their Impenitence Yea it was He who formed me in the Womb and brought me safely into the World by whose Providence I have hitherto been supplied In Him I live and move and continually exist To his undeserved Goodness I am beholding for all the Good of any kind which I ever enjoy'd To his Bounty I am indebted for all that I now have and must depend upon it for whatever I can hereafter expect Through Infancy and Childhood he was pleas'd to preserve me favouring me with many Advantages in my Birth and Education providing for me a competent Livelihood Psalm 69.30 disposing the Circumstances of my Condition Relations Places of Abode c. more advantageously than he hath done for Thousands affording me many Helps for the Improvement of my Mind and the encrease of Knowledge and preventing my Necessities and even my Desires with numberless Blessings which I never so much as ask'd for He hath caused several of my Relations to yield me Comfort when they might have been sore Afflictions He hath raised up Strangers to befriend me and shew me Kindness How many favours have I receiv'd from God by the Instrumentality of other Men to whom God gave the Will and the Power the Opportunity and the Inclination How often hath he deliver'd my Soul from Death mine Eyes from Tears and my Feet from falling by seasonable Preservations so that I do yet walk before him in the Land of the Living He hath rescu'd me from the brink of many a Precipice which through Ignorance or Inadvertency I did not apprehend or fear When I knew not which way to turn he hath made my Path plain Under sinking Disappointments he hath commanded Succour and been a present Help in the time of Trouble In Great Perplexities his Eye hath been my Guide and his own Arm hath brought Salvation it may be by the Ministry of his Holy Angels obeying his Order and giving unusual Intimations of very great and otherwise unsuspected Dangers or sending Relief and Deliverance by such small unlikely and unexpected Means as carried the Name of God visibly engraven on them Innumerable Calamities he saves me from which others groan under and as many Blessings am I favour'd with whereof they are destitute He spreads my Table and fills my Cup and gives me All Things richly to enjoy when many Excellent Persons of whom the World is not worthy are fed with the Bread of Affliction and the Water of Affliction Others have only Necessaries or but few Conveniencies in comparison with the Plentiful Provisions God hath made for my Chearful Obedience to him And shall I not Praise him for * Deut. 33. ver 13 14. the precious Things of Heaven the blessings of the Earth the Dew and the Deep and more especially for the God-will of Him who dwelt in the Bush to sanctifie and sweeten all Whereby Common Mercies become the Pledge and Fore-runner of better Things as the fruit of his Special Kindness the witness of his Truth and the seed of Peace and Joy and Righteousness and Praise by reason of his Blessing on all that I possess which otherwise would prove a Snare and a Temptation and be intermix'd with a Curse And besides the ordinary and continued Bounty of every Day in the midst of how many Difficulties and Dangers have I felt the dear Obligations of his Preserving Mercy abroad and at home in Foreign Countries as well as my own in the midst of Enemies and among Friends in all Places and at all Times He hath prolonged my Health or made my Bed in Sickness He hath often granted the Desires of my Heart whenever it was for his Glory and contradicted my Wishes and disappointed my Endeavours in other Instances when it was more to my Advantage From how many Mischiefs hath he sav'd me by such Things as I deprecated and would have hinder'd How many Evils hath he turn'd for Good He hath heard my Cry in the day of Adversity and set my feet in a large Place He hath Chasten'd me for my Profit His Rod and his Staff have comforted me He hath spoken comfortably to me in the Wilderness Affliction hath been useful and
by the Year passed and the Covenant of Grace or the Gospel state by the New Year then begun and that by the Sound of Trumpets was prefigured the future Preaching of the Gospel according to that of the Apostle Their sound went forth unto all the Earth and their words unto the end of the World And so the Feast of Trumpets is abrogated by the Preaching of the Gospel if that were typically signified by it The Publication of the Gospel is the joyful sound Psal 89.15 And Ministers are to lift up their Voice like a Trumpet Isai 58.1 the discharge of their Office as Watchmen is express'd by setting the Trumpet to their mouth Hos 8.1 Ezek. 33. When the Jews shall be converted to the Faith of Christ it is said in that day the great Trumpet shall be blown and they shall come who are ready to perish Isa 27. ult 'T was the Office of the Priests to sound these Trumpets Numb 10.8 The publick Dispensation of the Gospel is committed to Ministers set a-part for that Work as the Sons of Aaron for theirs We read but of two Trumpets at first for Eleazar and Ithamar the two Sons of Aaron Numb 3.4 But David added many Musical Instruments And in Solomon's time at the Dedication of the Temple we read of One hundred and twenty Priests who sounded with Trumpets 2 Chron. 5.12 Without supposing any Type here in a strict and proper sense we may yet farther consider the Parallel and observe how the Joy and Gratitude these Trumpets did excite is exceeded by that greater Rejoycing promised and foretold by the Prophets when the glad Tidings of the Gospel of Salvation by the Messiah should be publish'd to the World Isa 54.1 Luk. 2.11 Gal. 4.27 Which hath been in part accomplish'd and will be more compleat in that Kingdom of Peace and Purity which Christ will establish upon Earth toward the end of the World And shall be finally perfected at the end of Time when Days and Years and Time thus measured shall be no more When the Messiah our B. Saviour having finished his Mediatory Undertaking as to what concerns Earth shall come again from Heaven with the Trump of God to raise the Dead and summon all the World to their final Judgment Then shall he deliver up the Kingdom to his Father And the Faithful shall enter into the Joy of their Lord and be forever with him There is a Tradition among the Jews mention'd by Maimonides Canones de Poenit. cap. 3. can 5. That on the First Day of the New Year God enters into Judgment for the Sins of the Year and Life past That every one's Faults are weighed against his good Works He that is found Righteous is sealed unto Life And he that is found Wicked is sealed unto Death And 't is a general Custom that hath obtained among the Jews for the ten first Days of the New Year to rise out of their Beds in the Night and to continue in their Synagogues praying and worshipping until break of Day The superstitious and ridiculous Ceremonies of the Vid. Ceremon Cout parmi les Juifs d'aujourdhay par 2. c. 5. modern Jews on this Day I shall not repeat However vain and groundless superstitious and absurd many of their Customs and Practices are on this Day Yet this blind Devotion of the Jews may justly shame and condemn the Christians of our Age Who commonly spend the Beginnings of every Year worse than any other parts of them and instead of any solemn Retirement for Prayer and Meditation which might assist them to number their Days and prepare for Eternity instead I say of such seasonable Exercises how do vain and hurtful Sports and Pastimes or trifling and unedifying Mirth and fruitless Conversations consume the greatest part of the Days and Nights too of the Beginning of the Year And thus when the first fruits of the Year are offer'd up to Sin and Vanity 't is no wonder if the following parts of it are employ'd to no better purpose without any due concern for the Soul and an Everlasting State To endeavour some Remedy to these Disorders and give some Assistance to such as desire seriously to make Religion their Principal Business is the end of publishing the foregoing Reflections I most heartily beseech the God of all Grace to influence by his Holy Spirit the Conscience of every Reader that some such good Effect may be attained Having found the Practice recommended to be of some use to my self and my own Heart warmed in composing the Substance of these Papers though without any Intention at that Time of exposing them to the World 't is not unreasonable to hope That what hath been beneficial to one may be helpful to another It cannot certainly be improper to Begin the Year with God with whom we should begin every Day 'T is decorous and becoming to Dedicate our selves to Him in a more solemn manner than ordinary at such a Time Thankfully to acknowledge the Favours and Blessings we have particularly received the Year Past And to recollect the Sins we have been guilty of to confess and aggravate 'em with Humility Contrition and deep Remorse to renew our Covenant with God to repeat and fortifie our Resolutions of living better imploring his Grace to assist us in it to reflect seriously on the Mutability Frailty and Brevity of our present Life to consider the Swiftness Uncertainty Irrecoverableness and consequent Value of our Time to look forward to a Blessed or Miserable Eternity one of which we must every one share in And to confirm our Faith in the Certainty thereof considering our near Approach to such an unchangeable State To think what Improvement we should make of the Death of others especially of Relations and Friends who have lately been called home To make the Supposition in good earnest that we may follow them This Year and die before another New-Year's-Day To impress such a Thought on our Hearts and the Inferences that may naturally be deduced from it To beg of God to enable us to Redeem our Time and discharge the duty of our particular Places and prepare us for all the Events of the following Year And so effectually Teach us to number our days that we may apply our Hearts unto true Wisdom Lest we be surprized by an Vnexpected Death before the Period of another Year And lastly to pray for our Relations and Friends Families and Neighbours and our Enemies too and plead with God on the behalf of Sion and the afflicted and deformed state of the Protestant Churches To some of these and the like Purposes I hope what is here offered may be subservient if considered with Seriousness and Application after humble Invocation of the Blessing of God and the Aids of his Spirit composing our Minds and Thoughts as in his most Awful and Holy Presence I have only this to request That if Any Reader shall find any real Benefit in this kind he would so far requite my