offended'st him with thy excessive mourning or what was worse for the losse of some temporall substance and so provoked him with thy indiscreet sorrowing or which was worse for that thou mightst not enjoy thy full of pleasure and so plunge thy soule downe into the balefull pit of predition for ever Thy desire was to passe time over with a merry heart and to satisfie her in the lusts thereof And yet thou hadst so much divinity in thee as sometimes to consider how none could partake in comfort here and elsewhere How none could be there comforted who was not here afflicted How none could be there solaced unlesse hee here sorrowed How the Almighty had a Sonne without sinne but none without a scourge One who wept often but was never seene to laugh One who from his birth to his death made his life a continued Scene of sorrow One who in the bitternesse of his soule called and cryed to all such as past by him to come unto him to behold him and witnesse with him If ever there were sorrow like unto his sorrow O no my deare Saviour there was never sorrow like unto thy soâ—rrow yet I who occasion'd thy sorrow partake little in thy sorrow O bring mee now to a true sense of my sinne to a true sorrow for my endanger'd soule Let my eyes be so well acquainted with teares as my affection may be estranged from all joyes Let mee become so happy a Mourner as with devout Magdalen I may become an hearty Convert of an hainous sinner and so by ceasing from sinne become a welcome Guest to my Saviour CHAP. 43. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousnesse for they shall bee satisfied MAny times hast thou hungred oft hast thou thirsted but tell mee was this for righteousnesse No this hunger of thine was rather like the Prodigals in hungring after the huskes of vanity or like Esau's in hungring after delicacie or like Ahabs in hungring after anothers Vineyard greedily or like Hamons in hungring after honour gracelesly And the like was thy thirst Thou thirsted but it was with Gehezay after gold or with those before the Flood after full cups or like Nimrod after blood or like Amnon after lust All this while resolve mee where thine heart is It cannot be lodged in the Sanctuary being so betroathed to vanity Thy delight cannot bee in the Law of the Lord. Thine heart can never endite a good matter so long as thou suffers it to wander from thee like light Thamar after this manner O how farre is this after hungring how to promote Gods glory how farre is this from thirsting after workes of mercy For how soever some of these who dedicate themselves to the devotion of the world upon a more serious remembrance of Gods heavie judgements prepared for every rebellious and impenitent Sinner may sometimes seeme struck with remorse of conscience and heartily wish with Balaam the death of the righteous yet so long as they care not for walking in the wayes of the righteous nor with an humble holy zeale thirst after righteousnesse nor mortifie their desires by the Law of obedience they may bee long time wishers before they bee enjoyers Such desires can never produce good effect which are not seconded with the fruits of a good life Where piety has lost her practise there is small comfort in the Court of Conscience As the faithfull man liveth by faith so must hee live in the life of faith and walke according to the profession of his faith or hee shall never receive the promises of faith Hee who believes whatsoever is necessarily to bee believed and observeth whatsoever is by the divine Law of God commanded that man shall be accepted But what is to bee expected in this wide world this wilde wildernesse where there appeares such want of obedience in youth such want of devotion in age such want of conscience in both And what art thou unhappy Pilgrim who speakest these things but as leaven to make soure the Lumpe Thy life hath corrupted many reclaimed none None more ready to sinne none more slow to sigh for those sinnes which hee hath committed None hungring nor thirsting more after those troubled brooks of vanity and lightnesse none hungring nor thirsting lesse after those precious treasures of Righteousnesse Deare Lord be mercifull unto mee a Sinner I thirst Lord I thirst give mee to drinke of those waters of life for unlesse thou helpe mee and reach them to mee I remaine desolate and hopelesse of reliefe in this time of my necessity Sweet Iesu the well is deepe and I have not wherewith to draw unlesse thou draw mee to thee and bestow on mee what with all humility I begge of thee O increase in mee an holy hunger and constant thirst after righteousnesse that my wayes and workes may bee sanctified throughout in the practise of obedience CHAP. 44. Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtaine mercy CAnst thou unmercisull Pilgrim looke for mercy at the hand of thy Maker and never so much as open the bowels of thy compassion to thy poore Brother Art thou not in farre deeper areâ—res to him that made thee then hee is unto thee whom thou usest so unmercifully what would become of thee if hee should deale with thee according to his justice and throw thee into that Lake of fire and brimstone where the worme is ever gnawing and never dying fire ever burning and never cooling and death ever living and never ending where woe and sorrow howling and gnashing of teeth is the best melody that raging Tophet can afford Now to avoide a place of such endlesse torment who would not suffer the losse of any temporall estate nay even of life it selfe Yet thou unhappy one wilt not make thee friends of thy worldly Mammon nor in workes of mercy expresse thy selfe a Christian Every where maist thou find subjects fit to exercise thy Charity in every lane in every street thy poore languishing Brother begging reliefe for his sake who suffer'd death for thy sake and yet thou turnest away thy face from him his many ragges and running sores make thee abhorre him Again thou canst not encounter thy Debter but with much distemper though the times be hard his family poore and his necessities great yet conceivest thou no pitty of his distressed estate Thou layes thine executions upon him throwes him into prison where it is the least of thy care what become of him Let him starve for food thou art well contented his poor enâ—eebled corps no sooner lose their breath then thou losest thy debt and art here with well satisfied Againe should any poore way-faring soule repaire to thy house this Cell of thy Pilgrimage and after that ordinâ—ry forme of begging in Italy should beseech thee to doe good for thine owne sake thine answer as it has been ever would be like that churlish Nabals Shall I give my bread and my flesh unto strangers Tell mee then how canst thou looke for the
heavens are uncleane O when the righteous shall scarcely be saved what wil become of the wicked when the axe of his judgement shall not spare the greene tree what will become of the dry O nothing but woe woe may befall thee miserable delinquent if hee deale not with thee in mercy but in judgement I believe in the Holy Ghost This ninth Article Saint Iames the lesse delivered And thou art taught to believe thus much by it that the Holy Ghost the third person in the blessed Trinity is the Spirit of comfort truth and unity without which it is impossible to please God For as hee promised unto his Apostles a Comforter so in the shape of a Dove and in the forme of cloven tongues there appeared unto them this promised Comforter But how is it that thou beleevest in the Holy Ghost and yet with thine hardnesse of heart and loosenesse of life grievest the Holy Spirit of God Thus to beleeve if thou be not penitent will rather bee a meanes to draw on thee then remove from thee Gods heavy judgement The holy Catholike Church This tenth Article of faith Saint Simon founded But how dost thou beleeve the holy Cathelike Church or how is thy faith grounded if thou observe not what the Church has commanded How canst thou bee a Member of her so long as thou livest divided from her Or how canst thou truly call her Mother so long as thou hearknest not to her commands but becommest disobedient to her O then by a right faith knit thy selfe unto her or else disclaime thy being a Member of her But looke unto it for God thou canst not have for thy Father unlesse thou have his Church for thy Mother Neither canst thou ever hope to bee a Citizen in his Church triumphant unlesse thou bee first a Member of his Church Militant The Communion of Saints the forgivenesse of sinnes To this eleventh Article is Saint Iudas Thadaeus intitled And this Communion of Saints thou beleevest and for the forgivenesse of sinnes thou lookest And yet thou livest not as if thou desired to bee of this Communion Neither rendrest thou any such fruits of repentance as may cherish in thee the least hope of Remission The Resurrection of the body and the life everlasting Amen With this last Article Saint Mathias closeth our Creed And by it thou beleevest that thy body shall rise againe from the dust and that thy soule shall live with the just But hast thou not fed thy Body too delicately to rise againe to glory Hast thou not taken too much pleasure in sinning ever to enjoy life everlasting O thou blessed Trinity in unity and Vnity in Trinity thus have I made a confession of my Faith unto thee but my many faintings failings wants weaknesses and imperfections greatly discourage mee unlesse thou in thy mercy strengthen me I beleeve Lord O helpe my unbeleefe Give mee the shield of faith that here on earth I may acquit my selfe like a valiant Champion and in Heaven be made by thee a triumphant Citizen CHAP. 65. Having thus examined himselfe and found in the whole course of his life a fainting in faith and failing in Works He recalleth to mind those Quatuor Novissima or foure last Remembrances Memorials hourely necessary for all Christians THus hast thou laid thy selfe open to all discovery and there is no good thing to bee found in thee For in thy faith thou hast found a fainting and weaknesse and in all thy workes a failing and barrennesse Most freely went that blessed Father to worke and no lesse dangerous has beene thy walke when hee confessed himselfe in this fort Iinherit sin from my father an excuse from my mother lying from the Devill folly from the world selfe-conceit from the pride and arrogant opinion of my selfe Deceitfull have beene the imaginations of thine heart crooked have beene thy wayes malicious thy workes And yet hast thou taken the judgements of God in thy mouth Desiring nothing more then to blind the eye of the world with a counterfeit zeale But all such Hypocrites God will judge Hee will not be mocked with For as the Divell has his sive with which hee lets goe the good but keepeth the bad So the Lord has his Fanne by which he lets goe the bad and keepeth the good O when hee shall separate his goats from his sheepe his wheat from his tares when the Iust and the Wicked shall appeare before him and every man shall be put into the ballance O â— feare mee then thou wilt bee found many graines too lightâ— It were well for thee then to prepare thy selfe against that great and fearefull day And to furnish thee all the better by making thee a true Convert of an impenitent Sinner recall to mind those Quatuor Novissima or Foure last Remembrances Memorials hourely to bee thought and so necessary to be reteined in thy memory as the Christian use of them may prepare thee before Death summon thee and in this vale of misery fit thee for thine heavenly voyage to eternity And yet while I speake thus unto thee I find thy condition to be wofull for if thou consider them the very thought of them cannot chuse but startle thee and if thou neglect them thou wilt stand in amaze when they encounter thee O my deare Lord remember me in thy mercy and so prepare my memory that these Foure necessary Remembrances may never depart from me Let mee be prepared for Death before it come that it may never take mee unprepared whensoever it shall come Let mee thinke of that fearefull day of Iudgement and judge my selfe before I be judged that â— may not be found light in thy scale when I shall be weighed Let me O let me thinke how there is an Hell for the damned for better is it by timely fearing it to avoid it then by never dreaming of it head-long to fall into it Lastly let mee thinke of Heaven how it is the place of the Blessed and that none but those that are of a cleane heart shall dwell in it O cleanse thou mine heart that I may bee prepared for it and with much spirituall joy be received in it CHAP. 66. Death IT is strange that Death should bee such a stranger to thee when hee so daily visits those that neighbour neere thee Thou hast beene familiarly acquainted with many whose habitation is not now to bee found who have enjoyed the pleasures of sinne freely Others who have inlarged their Barnes and store-houses carefully others who have ruâ—â—led in their honours highly and could deliver a Word of Command bravely and now behold how all these being arrested at Deaths suit were enforced to veile to his surly command They have made their Beds in the darke They have left their Houses unto others they are gone unto their Graves and must not returne againe Their substance they have left unto others and strangers are become their Heires They are rooted out from the face of the
THE PENITENT PILGRIM Few and evill have the dayes of my life been Gen Cap 47. v. 9. LONDON Printed by John Dawson 1641. THE PENITENT PILGRIM PSAL. 66. 16. Come and hearken all yee that feare God and I will tell you what he hath done to my soule LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson and are to be sold by Iohn Williams at the signe of the Crane in Pauls Church yard 1641. TO THAT IMMACVLATE LAMBE CHRIST IESVS THE SOLE SAVIOUR AND RECEIVER OF EVERY PENITENT SINNER HATH THIS POORE PILGRIM HUMBLY HERE PRESENTED THESE HIS PENITENTIALL TEARES The Summe or Graduall Symptome of the Penitent PILGRIM CHAP. 1. THe poore Penitent Pilgrim bemones his present sinfull condition 2 His comming into Idumaea the companions hee consorted with there 3 How his owne Meniâ—y became his deadliest Enemy 4 His encounters with the world 5 His Combat with the flesh 6 What Assaults hee suffered by the Divell both in company aâ—â—â—rivacy 7. Three Engines by his spirituall Enemy reared that his Fort might be razed 8. The Concupiscence of the flesh 9. The Concupiscence of the eyes 10. The pride of life 11. How neither the Law of Nature nor Grace could call him home from his wandring course 12. Hee takes a view of the whole Decalogue and hee scarce finds in it one Commandement wherein either in part of in all hee has not beene a most grievous Delinquent 13 Hee examines himselfe touching the First Commandement 14 His breach of the Law touching the Second Commandement 15 His transgressing of the Third in prophaning Gods name 16 His dishonour to Gods Sabbath 17 Hee confesseth how this bloody issue of sin streamed forth likewise into a breach of the second Table and first of disobedience to his parents 18 His contempt of the second in his practising mischiefe against his Neighbour 19 His contempt of the Third in playing the Wanton 20 His breach of the Fourth in his cunning defeating of his Neighbour 21 His breach of the Fifth in suppressing testimonies to witnesse a truth or suborning witnesses to maintaine an untruth 22 His dis-esteeme of the Sixt and last in coveting what was anothers and desiring to increase his owne with the losse of others 23 Hee takes a view of those seven spirituall works of mercy and acknowledgeth his failings in each of them 24 Teaching the ignorant 25 Correcting the delinquent 26 Counselling the indigent 27 Comforting the afflicted 28 Suffering injuries patiently 29 Forgiving offences heartily 30 Praying for his Persecutors fervently 31 Hee takes the like view of those seven corpor all works of mercy and acknowledgeth likewise his failings in each of them 32 Feeding the hungry 33 Giving drinke to the thirsty 34 Harbouring the harbour lâ—sse 35 Cloathing the naked 36 Vâ—siting the sick 37 Visiting redeeming the captive 38 Burying the dead 39 With sorrow of heart he remembers those eight Beatitudes whereof hee hath deprived himselfe by giving entertainment to sin 40 Blessed are the poore in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven 41 Blessed are the meeke for they shall possesse the Earth 42 Blessed are they that mourne for they shall be comforted 43 Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousnesse for they shall be satisfied 44 Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtaine mercy 45 Blessed are the cleane in heart for they shall see God 46 Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shall be called the children of God 47 Blessed are they that suffer persecution for righteousnesse sake for theirs is the kingdome of heaven 48 How seven Guests under a colour of lodging with him sought his undoing 49 Pride 50 Covetousnesse 51 Lechery 52 Envy 53 Gluttony 54 Wrath. 55 Sloath. 56 How by their treacherous assault his Cinque ports become endangered 57 Sight 58 Hearing 59 Smell 60 Taste 61 Touch. 62 Being thus encompassed with danger â—ee 〈◊〉 himselâ—e for 〈◊〉 63 〈…〉 prayer and in every particular he finds himselfe a great Offender 64 Hee renders a private accompt of his Faith and in every Article of the Creed he finds a fainting failing weaknesse and want 65 Having thus examined himselfe and found in the whole course of his life a fainting in faith and failing in works He recals to mind those Quatuor Novissima oâ— Foure lasâ— Remembrances Memorials hourely necessary for all Christans 66 Death 67 Iudgement 68 Hell 69 Heaven 70 With the Remembrance of these He becomes afflicted in spirit 71 Faith appeares vnto him with a cheerefull presence affording him comfort in his affliction 72 Hope seconds that comfort 73 Charity promiseth him in this vaile of misery to cover all his scarlet sinnes with the white robe of mercy and by keeping her company conduct him safely to the kingdome of glory 74 He takes comfort And now wearied with sojourning longer in Idumaea he turnes to Canaan 75 The poore peniteut Pilgrims last Will and Testament His Funerall Obsequies The Pilgrims Prayer LOoke upon me deare Father thy poore Penitent Pilgrim I confesse Lord I confesse that if thou shouldst deale with mee according to my iniquity there were no hope at all left to me of mercy For what houre in all my life since my first entrance into this life wherein I have not in some manner or measure nay above all measure become a grievous transgressour But there is mercy with thee and therefore art thou fearedâ— mean time I of all others have greatest cause to feare for abusing thy mercy I have plentuously tasted of thy love and considering it I have many times resolved to become a faithfull convert and zealous observer of thy Law But these faire promises clâ—sed in a weake performance No sooner was therâ— the least opportunity offâ—red me of sinning then it found in me an easie impression Pregnant was I in conceiving prompt in consenting and prone in committing Yet Lord when I was going down evento the gates of hell left I should enter in thou held me And when I drew neere the gates of death lest they should receive me thy grace prevented me Whence I perceived by the influence of thy sweet Spirit whereby I became enlightned that whensoever I fell it was through my owne frailty but wheÌ„soever I rose it was through thy great mercy Yea I foundthee ready in every opportunity to afford me thy helping hand in my greatest necessity When I wandred thou recalled me when I was ignorant thou instructed me when I sinned thou corrected mee when I sorrowed thou comforted me when I fell thou raised me when I stood thou supported mee when I went thou directed me when I slept thou kept me when I cried thou heard me Nay shall I more fully declare thy good nesse towards me If after these few but evill dayes of my pilgrimage even now when the keepers of the house tremble and the strongmen bow themselves and the grinders cease because they are few and they waxe darke that looke out by the windowes if I say after these many too many
against the Devil my great Accuser CHAP. 11. His dis-esteeme of the Sixt and last in coveting what was an others and desiring to increase his owne with the losse of others FOolish wordling thine own experience had not long since told thee and thou mightst have remembred it had not thy folly so deluded thee how touching the world he had the least part in it who had the most of it Againe he had the most command over it who with most indifferency used it To love it was to be drowned in it to leave it was bravely to neglect it and in that neglect amply to be supplyed by it Where as such as be worldly are ever labouring of a Dropsy The richer they are in estate the hotter they are in pursuit These see and yet they will not credit their own sight what a very small portion of Earth must suffice them How their thirsty and unbounded desires must be then brought to a strait a very straite compasse And these things I oft times considered wondring much at the vanity of men that knowing how their mouths were to be filled with gravell how any thing could in reason be so deare unto them which should choake them And yet casting mine eye upon my selfe I found very well how I was one of this List. One that could scatter his owne like a prodigall rioter and catch at an others like a covetous Miser One that could bee content that his Neighbours providence should maintaine his riot One that had a dangerous leering eye after his Neighbours Wife or more then a moneths mind to his maid or to such a parcell of ground which lay fitting for him or to some of his Cattell and these even any of these could he find in his heart to enjoy without returning satisfaction for them It is true very true that the Story of Ahab is old in respect of time but new in respect of daily practise Every day shall wee find an Ahab borne every day a Naboth dye His Vine yard must occasion a breach betwixt him and his Land-lord He must forego it or loose his life that owes it The anger of a Great man is violent His will is his Law his inferiour must bend or breake If the plot lye neare him it becomes an eye-sore to him Hee will either buy it or come any way by it that he may enjoy it O how can I utter this without remorse How may I endure my selfe when I heare these things These are they which wound mee for like poysonous Arrows they stick in my flesh neither can I answer one for a thousand How strong have beene my desires in shedding my owne bloud What dayes have I spent in carefull carking painefull toyling What nights in cunning compassing watchfull contriving how I might come by my purpose These cares made sleepe many nights a stranger to mine eyes And yet this my affliction seemed sweet unto me such was the strength of an inured misery O my Soule how tedious would one of these houres have seem'd had it beene employed in casting about for that inheritance which shal never perish Alas what could I imagine that this earthly Tabernacle of mine should never be dissolved That my indirect wayes should never bee brought to judgment That God had forgotten the poor and that he would not revenge their wrongs to my shame yes Lord I consider'd this and the more my sinne for I sought to put away thy judgements farre from my memory not to think of them lest they should startle me Thus was their doctrine deare unto me who sought to sow pillows under my elbow To fatten me in my transgressions with a tush God seeth not But O Lord holy and just thine eye is ever over mee and thine câ—are is not shut from mee nor from those who cry for vengeance against mee This it is which causeth mee to walke heavily all the day long to chatter like a Craine and with much affliction of spirit to poure forth my complaint to thee my Lord and my God O when I remember how cunningly I sought to winde mee into the acquaintance of my Neighbour how smoothly I glozed with him what court'sies I offer'd him meerly to surprize him make my selfe a gainer by him how I seemed to esteeme least what I prized most that so my practises might be suspected lesse How I could easily dispence with any indirect way so I might by it be brought to mine owne end How I neglected no time to fit mine owne turne O while I remember these things I am utterly cast downe there is no breath in mee my flesh faileth mee and my strength decayeth within mee For I know Lord how thou hast these things in thy remembrance and if thou deale with mee according to thy justice there is no hope for such an incorrigible Sinner he is lost he is lost for ever And yet Lord there was a little Zacheus whom thou calledst from the Receipt of Custom and no doubt who knew the World and how to make gaine in the World who left his Calling for thee climb'd up into a Figtree to see thee and came downe speedily from thence to receive thee and that he might more fully confirme his love unto thee divided his goods that hee might wholly reserve himself for thee O deale so with mee my sweet Saviour that of a Covetouâ— Sinner I may become a true penitent Convert in bestowing the small remainder of my dayes to thine honour CHAP. 23. Hee takes a view of those Seven Spirituall workes of mercy and acknowledgetle his failings in each of them THou hast taken now a full view of those two Tables delivered by God unto Moses by him to us And thou canst not to thy great griefe finde one the breach whereof may not justly accuse nay convict thee Goe on yet a little further and thou wilt find thy selfe ever worser and worser Tell mee doest thou hope to receive mercy Thou doest well to hope for without hope the heart would break but what hast thou done that might become so acceptable in his sight as may bring thee in a full hope or assurance of receiving this mercy at his hands Thou knowst well that wee are to worke out our salvation with feare and trembling That not unto him that cryeth Lord Lord but for him that doth the will of his Father which is in Heaven is the place of blisse prepared For if workes be the fruits of faith to make a fruitfull faith thou should'st apply thy selfe to bee plentuous in good works Thou knowest how the barren Fig tree became accursed how the barren Wombe in the old Law was held accursed The Pharisees Prayer because it bore more leafes then fruit was rejected The Publicans Prayer because it bore more fruit then leafes was accepted Love is the fulfilling of the Law Now what argument is there of the love wee beare him if wee have not a longing desire to doe that which may please him The proofe of
earth and now they consider the vanity of their desires how they who lay land to land while they were here find now what a small scantling has suffic'd them in this their returne to their lasthome Poore shell of corruption what dost thou thinke of these things I know well that great revenues swelling honours smiling pleasures are dangerous and fearefull eye-sores to a dying man He lookes back upon his Honours and askes of them if they cannot relieve him but like false hearted Reteiners they fly from him and present their service to another so quickly have they forgot their dying Master Hee looks backe then upon his Revenues those household Gods of his his inchisted treasures and askes of them if they cannot redeeme them But alas they have no such power these reserve themselves for his prodigall Successour or succeeding Rioter they were so poorly used and employed by him as they have quickly forgot their dying Master At last hâ— looks back upon his pleasures unhappy pleasures which now torment him more then ever they did delight him and he askes them if they can allay his paine or any way succour him but alas they soone leave him for they find nothing in him nor about him that may entertaine them An easie farewell then have these taken of their dying Master But thou poore Pilgrim hast no honours to transport thee no fortunes to detaine thee no pleasures to ensâ—are thee For the first the count'nance of greatnesse never shone upon thee for the second worldly wealth could never yet so burden thee and for the last though thy youth might affect them the infirmities of age have now estrang'd them from thee And yet the voyce of death is more terrible to thee then the noise of a Canon No note more dolefull 〈◊〉 summons more fearefull And in this thou art not much to bee blamed for Death is fearefull to all flesh But so to plaint thine hopes on Earth as if thou mightst never goe from earth nor returne to earth albeit thou canst find nothing on earth worthy to entertaine thee is the unhappiest condition that may befall thee O thinke then of that time even now while thou hast time when thy soule poor languishin soule finding thy eyes shut thy mouth closed and all those senses of thy body perished by which shee used to goe forth and be delighted in these outward things whereto shee was affected shall returne unto her selfe and seeing her selfe all alone and naked as one afflicted and affâ—ighted with exceeding horror shall through despaire faile in her selfe and fall under her selfe O whither wilt thou fly in hope of succour to comfort thy poore soule in a time of such danger Even to thee will I fly O God of my salvation for thou wilt not suffer my soule to descend to corruption Nay such is thy loving kindnesse as thou wilt make my bed in my sicknesse And because nothing is more certaine then death nothing more uncertaine then the houre of Death prepare mee continually against the houre of Death And that Death may appeare lesse fearefull unto mee send thy Holy Spirit to comfort me that being inwardly armed by thee against the assaults of Death and sury of my Ghostly Enemy I may fight a good fight and cry O Death where is thy sting O Hell where is thy victory CHAP. 67. Iudgement VVOe is mee I tremble to thinke of it and yet I cannot thinke how to avoid it Iudged I must bee and who will speake for me A fearfull witnesse I have withâ—n me to accuse me sinnes of omission sinnes of Commission to impeach me sinnes of ignorance sinnes of knowledge sinnes oâ— malice to convict mee though one were sufficient to condemne mee But thou wilt aske mee of what art thou to bee brought to account for what art thou to be brought to Iudgement Even for all thy thoughts words and workes For God will bring every worke into Iudgement with every secret thing whether it be good or whether 〈◊〉 be evill And that it may appeare that thou shalt be accountable for all these first touching thy thoughts Of these thou shalt be judged for froward thoughts separate from God And hee shall judge the secrets of men With their conscience also bearing witnesse and their thoughts the meane while accusing or else excusing one another Secondly thou shalt give account of all thy words Of every idle word that men shall speake they shall give account in the day of Iudgement Thirdly thou shalt be accountable for all thy workes For we must all appeare before the Iudgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad O my poore afflicted Soule canst thou heare these things and not melt thy selfe into teares seeing that not onely in the bed of thy sicknesse by a secret divine power all those workes which thou hast done be they good or evill shall appeare before thee and be presented to thee but in that fearefull day of Account when all flesh shall come to Iudgement all these in Capitall Letters shall appeare written before thee Not one privie bosome sinne were it never so closely committed or subtilly covered or cunningly carried but must bee there discovered Adam shall bee brought from his bushes and Sarah from behind the doore and man miserably perplexed man shall say to his conscience as Ahab said to Elias Hast thou found me O mine Enemy O what numberlesse numbers of Bils of Inditement shall bee then and there preferred against thee And of all these to be found guilty O how art thou falne into the gall of bitternesse and all misery For what can the thoughts and Imaginations of thine heart say for themselves but that they have beene evill continually what can the words of thy mouth say for themselves but that they have beene full of all filthinesse and scurrility Lastly what can the workes of thine hands say for themselves but that they have beene loaden with transgressions and iniquity But perchance thou hast some hope of a pardon and so like some of our deluded Delinquents here on earth by flattering thy selfe with a vaine hope of life estrangest thy thoughts from thinking of a better life But doe not so deceive thy selfe for if it be not by faithfull repentance sought for here there is no hope for any pardon there to bee procured nor for any Appeale to be there admitted nor for one minutes Repreve to bee there granted nor for that heavy sentence of Death to be one moment adjourned That sentence of eternall Death Depart from me this shall bee the sentence To lose whose countenance and to Depart from his presence is to bring thy soule into endlesse torments eternall anguish O my God thou who hast appointed a time for every man to dye and after that to come to judgement make me to remember mine end that fitting my selfe for it I may