God 't is better to go naked than not to be cloathed with Immortality 't is better we should want here than hereafter that fulness which knows none V. And yet how many are there that had rather lose Heaven than the World pawn their Consciences sooner than want and for a Fortune sell away their Christianity How many make sin their Study and think it a Credit to invent new Methods of impiety and are such careful Providers for Eternity that they will be labouriously wicked and for a profitable iniquity think it no loss to be privately Damn'd VI. Are there not nobler ways of living than by losing our Names and Souls at once is infidelity a preservative against Misery And must we build our Supports on the Ruins of our Faith Piety makes no Man poorer nor does Religion rob us of our Enjoyments but makes them sweeter VII Our Contentments are not lessened but enlarged and lengthened by adoring the Giver nor is the further from but the nearer to a Blessing that begins with Heaven and prefers his Saviour before the World Designs thus founded are not ever unfortunate and he that contrives for his Soul as well as his Body shall learn a Policy will baffle the World and non-plus its wisest Generation when after all his Losses he shall find a reward richer than all the Revenues of the Earth together The Prayer ANd yet so insensible are we O Lord of thy Glory and our own Felicity that we can entertain any thing with more Pleasure than the thoughts of an Eternity We can spend the allowance of our time in Sin and sacrifice even all our years to Vice but count a Moment too long too much to be employ'd in thy Service We can dwell and drown our selves in Pleasures and think a few spare minutes a fair Gift of time for our Devotion II. But as thou hast made us for thy self O Lord enable us to continue so that as we have received all we have from thy Bounty we may sacrifice all our Desires to thy Glory knowing as nothing in this Life can make us happy without thee so nothing can make him miserable that hath thy Kingdom for his Inheritance Meditation VIII That Affliction is necessary to all Persons THere is no Person on this side the Grave that is exempted from Affliction and whom God hath not visited one way or other and sent his Rod for an Ambassadour to declare his Will as either by the loss of an affectionate Husband a most endeared Wife a darling Child or else by some pungent and grievous Sickness or by some eminent Miscarriage in point of Honour and Estate or if by none of all these yet at least he has been threatned by the woful Examples of other Men. II. And it is evident from that difficult but useful Text Mark 9.49 That we must be every one Seasoned with Salt or Fire that our putrid Affections must be eaten out here or else our Persons destroyed hereafter but Blessed be he who shall preserve us in Tears of Brine that he may not consume us in Fire of Brimstone and we ought to smile on those Stripes which are meant to drive us to Immortality III. Let us not think our selves too wise to be thus instructed or too old to be thus educated or too great to be thus corrected Perhapsthe Rabbins of our Schools are in the School of Jesus Christ no more than humble Abcedarians they that are aged enough by Nature may have hardly yet attain'd to be Babes of Grace and they who brandish the Sword of Justice are themselves under God's Lash IV. And since we cannot ever enter into the Kingdom of Heaven unless we receive it as little Children let us therefore as little Children down on our knees before our Father let us Confess that we have sinned let us ask him Forgiveness and promise never to do the like V. He will not cast away his Rod until he sees that we have kiss'd it and that we can say with the Prophet David it is good for us to have been afflicted For whom his Menaces do not better they accidentally make worse and if we harden our Hearts we do but weighten his hand The Prayer SO miserable hath Sin made us O Lord that we are all become the Sons and Daughters of Afflictions we have lost not only Paradise but Heaven too forfeited not only the Pleasures of this Life but also the Joys to come and with the true Comforts of the World are stript of thy Favour too II. He whom thou madest the Monarch of the Creatures groans under the Bondage of Sin and by the misery of his Crimes hath cancell'd almost the Glory and Miracles of thy work And now might we have been extinguish'd in our Guilt had not he who is the brightness of thy Glory dropt a new Life into our eclipsed Natures by the Power of his Blood and Merits and by reconcilcing us to thy self given us an Admission to better and more enduring Pleasures III. Grant therefore that having obtained Mercy we may walk accordingly that being bought for Heaven we may no more sell our selves to Sin nor vainly prefer a few moments of Pleasure before an Eternity of Joy that so when our Souls shall expire with our Breath they may be transplanted to those Heavenly Mansions that never fade and enjoy the Pleasures of Eternity in the Bosome of thy Glory Meditation IX That Affliction is a Mark of God's favour THat God is never so much in wrath as when he will not vouchsafe to strike I remember Spartianus observes of Geta much what Tacitus did of Tiberius He made so much of those Persons whom he design'd for Slaughter that his Embraces and his best Looks became more dreadful than all his frowns II. Yet considering how rarely it is given to one and the same Man to sit with Dives at his Table and to lye with Lazarus in Abraham's Bosome to have his good things here and hereafter too I cannot but say of many Persons whom the World calls Happy that they who have most of God's Bounty may yet have least of his Love and Favour III. For seeing it is true what the Scripture saith That whom God loveth he chastneth and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth Heb. 12.6 we may with good Logick infer that whom he chastneth not he doth not love nor receive any Son whom he doth not scourge IV. It was shrewdly said of Solon if we believe Herodotus that the Minions of the Earth are but the sport of Heaven God often lends them a kind of Happiness only to shew them he does but lend it at once does prosper their Branches and curse their Root turns them loose into Plenty as fit to be fatted for the Shambles V. And now methinks the difference may be this betwixt a good Man afflicted and an ill Man prosperous that the first does seem to be clearly under God's curse and the second to be beyond it that indeed a tormented but
this a desperate Patient The Prayer DO thou therefore O Lord elevate our Souls and withdraw them from these beggerly Elements to purer and more Celestial Addresses Let thy Kingdom be not our refuge only but our Choice and the perfect Resolution of our Souls to despise the Flatteries of the World for that Glory which nothing but our Sins can deprive us of II. And as thou hast made us for thy self O Lord enable us so to continue that as we have received all that we have from thy Bounty we may sacrifice all our Desires to thy Glory knowing that as nothing in this Life can make us Happy without thee so nothing can make him miserable that hath thy Kingdom for his Inheritance Meditation X. Of Man's Original being born to die IT is demonstrably prov'd we must one day die because we did one day begin to live All that is Born of a Woman is both mixt and compounded after the Image of the Woman of whom it is born not only mixt of the four Elements but also compounded of Matter and Form and all things compounded must be dissolved into the very same Principles of which at first they were compos'd II. Hence are those pangs and yerning of the Flesh and the Spirit of the Appetite and the Will of the Law in the Members and the Law in the Mind the one inclining towards Earth from whence 't was taken and the other towards Heaven from whence 't was sent III. The truth of this had been apparent if it had been only taken out of Aristotle's School but we have it confirmed out of Solomon's Porch too for in the day when Man goeth to his Long Home when the Grinders cease and the Windows be darkned and all the Daughters of Musick are brought low when the Silver Cord is once loosed and the Golden Bowl broken so as the Mourners are going about the Streets then the Dust shall return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return to God that gave it Eccles 12.3 4 5 6 7. IV. When God himself was pleased to be born of a Woman he submitted to the Conditions of Mortality and had but a short time to live for he expired by Crucifixion before he was full thirty four years of Age. V. Man hath a short time indeed as he is born of a Woman for he cometh forth as a Flower and as a Flower he is cut down He flyeth also as a shadow and continueth not And therefore Epictetus did fitly argue the very great fickleness and frailty of Worldly things First because they were made and therefore had their beginning next because they are made ours and therefore must have a speedy end VI. For if we will be but so just and so impartial to our selves as to Arraign our Bodies at the Tribunal of our Reason they will be found by Composition no more than well complexion'd Dust Dust thou art said God to Adam Gen. 3.19 Dust and Ashes I am said Abraham to God Gen. 18.27 He knoweth saith the Psalmist Whereof we are made he remembreth we are but Dust Psal 103.14 VII Were it not that the Spirit of Man goeth upward whilst the Spirit of a Beast goeth downward to the Earth there would be no Preheminence of the one over the other for all go unto one place as to the Centre of the Body All are of the Dust and all turn to Dust again Eccles 3.19 20. VIII Which shews the Vanity and Sickness of those Mens Souls who erect such strong and stately Sepulchres for their Bodies for fear the poor Mans Dust should fully their's as if they did not remember that Man is born of a Woman and that his very Foundation is in the Dust Job 4.19 he may have the more Vanity but not the more Understanding for being in Honour and may the sooner be compar'd to the Beasts that perish Psal 49.12 IX The Protoplast was formed of the Dust of the ground Gen. 2.27 and however his Posterity hath been distinguish'd by issuing out from that Fountain through several Chanels yet their Original Extraction must needs be vile if any thing can be vile which is of God's own making for all Men descended out of the very same Eve and so by Her out of the very same Adam and so by Him out of the very same Earth The Prayer WE know O Lord that thou created'st us after thine own Image and designed'st us for to die as soon as we were born but thou hast sweetned the Bitterness of it to us by first tasting of it thy self and hast taken away the Sting of it that when ever it comes it will prove to us an advantage II. Dust we are O Lord and to Dust we must return High and Low Rich and Poor from the Swayer of the Sceptre to the Drawer of Water must one day appear before thee O then in thy tender Mercy and Compassion have Pity upon poor Dust and Ashes Let not those many failings we are guilty of in this World any ways hinder thy Mercy in sealing our Pardon but receive us graciously III. Bring down and subdue in us every vain Thought and every proud Look that exalts its self against thee mortifie in us all sensual Lusts and vile Affections and bring our Souls and Bodies under the Discipline of true Obedience to thee and thy Holy Will that having learned to deny all ungodliness and worldly Lusts we may live Soberly Godly and Righteously in this present evil World and at last arrive to thine Heavenly Kingdom to live for evermore Amen Meditation XI Memorials hourly necessary upon the four last things Death Judgment Hell and Heaven MOst freely went that Blessed Father St. Augustine to work when he expressed himself in this manner I inherit sin from my Father an excuse from my Mother Lying from the Devil Folly from the World and Self-conceit from the Pride and arrogant Opinion of my self Deceitful have been the Imaginations of thy Heart Crooked have been thy ways Malicious thy works And yet hast thou taken the Judgments of God in thy mouth desiring nothing more than to blind the Eye of the World with a counterfeit Zeal II. But all such Hypocrites God will judge and will not be mocked For as the Devil has his Sieve with which the good escape and the bad remain So God hath his Fan which scatters the wicked but retains the Godly And when he shall separate the Goats from the Sheep the Wheat from the Tares when the Just and the Wicked shall appear before him and every Man shall be put in the Ballance I fear O my Soul thou wilt then be found many Grains too light III. Thy only Remedy then is this proper Medicine to prepare thy self against that great and terrible Day and to furnish thee with those Directions that may make thee a true Convert of an impenitent Sinner Recal to mind those four last Remembrances Memorials hourly to be thought and so necessary to be retained in thy
trembling Heart shall I poor Sinner stand expecting the supream Judge when I shall be banished from that blessed Countrey of Paradise to be devoured in the gaping bottomless Pit where I must never have the Prospect of a Glimpse of light nor feel the least drop of Refreshment but be tormented for Millions of years and so tormented as never to be from thence deliver'd where neither the Tormentors become wearied nor they die who are tormented The Prayer O My dear Lord look upon the price of thine own Blood Thou hast bought me with a great Price O deliver thy Darling from the Power of the Dogs remember me in Mercy whom thou hast bought O let me not go down into the Pit neither let the Deep swallow me up II. For who shall Praise thy Name in the Deep or declare thy Power in the Grave of Silence O thou who art a God of infinite Majesty though the Terrors of Death and Torments of Hell encompass me yet art thou my Saviour my Succour and wilt deliver me and my Soul shall live to Praise thee evermore Meditation XV. Upon Heaven O How should I look up to thee that have so provok'd thee O thou Mansion of the Saints thou Portion of the Just thou City of the great King thou Heavenly and most happy Kingdom where thy blessed Inhabitants are ever living and never dying where thy glorious State is ever flourishing and never declining II. I must Confess to my great Grief and Shame that I have no Interest in thee I have unhappily lost thee in losing my Soul by selling it to Vanity I sometimes resolv'd to Play the part of a wise Merchant and to sell all I had for the purchace of one Pearl But I held the Purchace at too dear a Rate and therefore I have deservingly lost the Jewel III. Foolish Sinner couldst thou find any thing of greater weight to entertain thy best thoughts or bestow thy Care than the Salvation of thy Soul Didst thou think it so easie a Task to get Heaven by an earthly Purchace yet hadst thou but taken half so much Pains to deserve Heaven as thou hast done to win Hell Thou mightest have challenged more Interest to Heaven than now thou canst IV. Many Summer Days and long Winter Nights have thy Follies taken thee up And these seem'd short unto thee because thou tookest delight in those short Pleasures of Vanity but to bestow one short hour upon Devotion how many Distractions did that meet withal and how long and tedious seem'd that hour because the Task was wearisome and thy wandring mind was not inclin'd to so serious a work V. And canst thou now think that so Rich a Kingdom would reserve it self for thee when thou wouldst neither knock to be admitted entrance nor seek after so great a Happiness Health thou art well inform'd comes not from the Clouds without seeking nor Wealth from the Ground without digging and yet Heaven thou thinkest is got by sloth but great Prizes are not so purchased VI. For as the Gate of the Blessed is strait and few there be that enter so are our Tribulations many that we may be of that few which may gain Admittance But I hear thee now cry out as one that had some Sense of his Misery and of the loss he has incurred by Sins committed Thou dost now bewail thy past Follies and correct thy self for so great a neglect thou knowest not how to allay thy Passion till Reason inclines thee to this Meditation VII Miserable Sinner I cannot behold this Earth I tread on without blushing nor can I think upon Death without sorrowing the Day of Judgment without trembling Hell without shaking nor of the Joys of Heaven without Astonishment For Earth I loved it so well as the remembrance of Death became sorrowful For by it I understood I was to be brought to Judgment and from thence having no defensive Answer to be hurried down to the place of torment and consequently to forfeit all my Title and interest in Heaven VIII These Meditations ought to make a deep impression upon our Minds for to acknowledge our Infirmities may make us the speedier look for a Remedy and by degrees find a happy Recovery joyn then all thy Faculties and offer up thy Prayer to the Throne of Grace that God in his Mercy would look upon thee The Prayer GRacious God though I am altogether unworthy to lift up my Eyes unto Heaven or to offer up my Prayers unto thee much less to be heard by thee yet for his Merits and Mercies sake who sitteth at thy right hand and maketh intercession for me reserve a place in thy Heavenly Kingdom for me II. Dear Lord in thy House are many Mansions O bring me thither that I may joyn my voice with those voices of the Angels and sing Praises to thy Holy Name who sittest in the highest Heavens for ever World without end Amen Meditation XVI The remembrance of the four last things reduced to Practice I Find my Soul like a dry ground where no water is and wheresoever I turn my self I find Affliction and Misery on all sides surrounding me What shall I do or where shall I fly When I repose my self from the World in some with-drawing Room intending to forget this lower Orb and prepare my self for the Joys of a better Life while I begin to commune with my own thoughts in the secret Chamber of my Heart I become so affrighted with the Representment of those four last Remembrances as I wholly forget what I intended to speak II. My Tongue begins to cleave to the Roof of my Mouth my Moisture is dryed within me those Active Faculties of my Soul leave me And my understanding departs from me O Death how bitter is the Remembrance of thee with Terror thou summonest me and like a surly Guest thou rushest upon me and resolvest to lodge with me then immediately I feel my self wounded and so mortally as not to be cured III. O how my Divine Eye-sight grows dim my panting Breast beats my hoarse Throat ratleth my Teeth grow black and rusty my Countenance grows pale all my Members stiff every Sense and Faculty fails and my wasted Body threatens a speedy Dissolution yet desires my poor Soul to be a Guest though there is cold Comfort to be found in such a forlorn Inn. IV. But what are all these Terrors of Death to the dreadful Day of Judgment when at the voice of the Arch-Angel and sound of the Trumpet all the little heaps of Dust shall rise where none shall be exempted but all judged How terrible in Majesty will that great Judge appear to such as in this Life would neither be allured by his Promises nor awakened by his Judgments V. How doleful will that Echoing voice sound in their Ear Depart from me I know you not And how ready will that officious Jaylor be upon the delivery of this heavy Sentence to cast them into utter darkness a place of endless Torments where
Life is nothing but Vanity and Vexation of Spirit IV. And what can my Thoughts raise from this Or where shall I be comforted it is thy Mercy O Lord is the only expedient that can relieve me thou O Blessed Jesus art unto me Life eternal and by thy Sufferings Death is to me an advantage while my Body sleeps it shall rest secure and that Rest shall be perfectly Blessed I shall rest from Labour Sorrow and Sin my sleep shall be safe and my beatifical Vision happy while my Body sleeps in the Dust my Soul shall awake to Righteousness when my Soul is dismantled of Flesh and Flesh of fading Beauty my Spirit shall be adorned with the Robes of thy Glory V. While my Dust is driven with the wind upon the Surface of the Earth my Spirit shall fly to the highest Heavens then shall my Eyes be opened to behold my Soul with Purity and Perfection no dark Veil of Nature shall obscure me defect of Senses hinder me or foggy Clouds of sin hover over me my Understanding shall be transparent my Affections pure and my Memory perfect I shall there be fully satisfied in beholding the Spirits of just Men made perfect ravished in enjoying the Presence of Angels and Blessed in retaining the Divine Goodness VI. There can be nothing wanting where there is such Perfection where humane Happiness is eternally united to the Blessed Trinity where I am Christ's and Christ is God's and the Holy Comforter abides with us for ever O most splendid Condition of my sinful Body and blessed Change of my immortal Soul the one is sown in Corruption that it may rise immortal the other layeth down Corruption to inherit Glory VII But wretched Sinner even in this Happiness I am still miserable I found out my quiet but neglect to enjoy it Death reaches to me a Crown but I refuse to accept it I am so prone to affect my own unhappiness to delight in Labour and complain of Rest why do I dwell among these Objects of Vanity the World loves me not nor I it and why do I thus doat upon my Enemy with its frowns it afflicts me with its Smiles it betrays me and there is nothing in it but Vanity and Misery VIII Go then out cheerfully O my Soul from this dark Prison of thy Body to that bright Celestial Palace there God is thy Father and Heaven thy Country thou art here Forlorn Poor Wretched and Naked dispossessed of Graces and robbed of Goodness thou hast there large Treasure and of great Price a Heavenly Mansion and a goodly Heritage Christ hath long ago purchased it and is now gone before to prepare it IX Here in this Life thou longest much to behold what thou never sawest but in the other are great and glorious things prepared for thee such as no mortal Eye hath seen Ear heard neither can it enter into the Heart of Man to conceive how earnestly then shouldst thou long to behold them and much more earnestly to enjoy them how willingly should this make thee say with Holy David My Soul is a thirst for God yea even for the living God when shall I come and appear before the Presence of God X. Alas Thou art here my Soul but groping in the dark daily committing Errours and Mistakes every minute stumbling and falling into Sin Shame and Sorrow in great Dangers of the Miseries of humane Life but in greater Danger of eternal Torments XI All that thou canst pretend to know here is to Confess thy self ignorant Thou only knowest things here by their Events but there thou shalt know them in their primitive Causes thou art here tired out in gaining this imperfect feeble and empty Knowledge there thou shalt be delighted in knowing all that is desirable by knowing him in whom are laid up all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge these transitory drops of Joys are full of Bitterness but those Rivers of eternal Pleasures flow from the Fountain of eternal Sweetness Thou hast here the Pomps and Vanities of the wicked World to delight thee but thou hast there a far greater and more exceeding weight of Glory to surround thee thou art here inclosed by the Misery of Life but thou art there enlarged by the Blessedness of Death XII Blessed Lord all this by Grace I know and stedfastly believe and yet carnally I am still blind and ignorant unable to discuss and unwilling to desire those things which belong unto my Peace but when thou with thy precious Eye-Salve shalt once anoint my Eyes and open them to behold the Beauty of thy Heavenly Temple I shall then ardently affect it and unfeignedly long for it I shall then most readily forsake these brittle Walls of frail Mortality to dwell with thee in perfect Holiness and endless Happiness that Frailty may be swallowed up by Immortality and Immortality rewarded by Eternity The Prayer ALmighty God which wert and art to come who hast sweetned and taken away the Sting of Death by thy perfect obedience and hast perfumed the Grave by the Fragrancy of thy blessed Sufferings suffer me not in my last hour for any Pains of Death or Terrours of Hell to fall from thee let me seriously consider that this Life is miserable and that a happy Death is truly Blessed acquaint me every day with the remembrance of it and bless me every hour with an earnest Desire to it that I may with willingness cast off all Sin and Misery and joyfully put on the Robe of Immortality II. Prepare me O Lord for that Blessed hour and in my greatest Agonies and Extremities when all the Comforts of this mortal Life shall fail then Lord Jesus forsake me not neither be thou far from me Moreover give me then that inward Joy and blessed Comfort of thy Holy Spirit that may uphold and comfort me in all the Terrours and Amazements of this dark and obscure Passage in all the dreadful Temptations of the Devil and my own accusing Conscience Let thy Spirit witness to my Soul that I am thy Chosen purifie me and take away my Dross powerfully Protect me by thy saving Grace so shall I assuredly be made a Partaker of thy Heavenly Kingdom Meditation XXII In time of Sickness HEar my Prayer O Lord which I make unto thee upon my Bed of Sickness incline thine Ears unto me in this time of my trouble O hear me and that right soon Behold thou hast made my days as it were a Span long and my Age though it be great in respect of others yet it is nothing in respect of thee for verily every Man living is altogether Vanity II. My days are consumed away like Smoke and my Bones are burnt up as it were a Fire-brand There is no Health in my Flesh because of thy displeasure neither is there any Rest in my Bones by reason of my Sin My wickednesses are gone over my Head and are a sore burden too heavy for me to bear But I will confess my wickedness and be sorry for
and the Strength of Sin is the Law But thanks be to God which giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 15.55 56 57. Lord now let thy Servant depart in Peace according to thy word and receive his Soul into thy Fatherly Protection Amen A Prayer for a sick Person when there appear small hopes of Recovery O Father of Mercies and God of all Comfort our only help in time of need we fly unto thee for Succour in behalf of this thy Servant here lying under thy hand in great weakness of Body Look graciously upon him O Lord and the more the outward Man decayeth strengthen him we beseech thee so much the more continually with thy Grace and Holy Spirit in the inner Man II. Give him unfeigned Repentance for all the Errours of his Life past and stedfast Faith in thy Son Jesus that his Sins may be done away by thy mercy and his Pardon sealed in Heaven before he go hence and be no more seen We know O Lord that there is no word impossible with thee and that if thou wilt thou canst even yet raise him up and grant him a longer continuance amongst us III. Yet forasmuch as in all appearance the time of his Dissolution draweth near so fit and prepare him we beseech thee against the hour of Death that after his Departure hence in Peace and in thy Favour his Soul may be received into thine everlasting Kingdom through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ thine only Son our Lord and Saviour Amen A Commendatery Prayer for a sick Person at the Point of Departure O Almighty God with whom do live the Spirits of just Men made perfect after they are delivered from their earthly Prisons we humbly commend the Soul of this thy Servant our dear Brother into thy hands as into the hands of a faithful Creator and most merciful Saviour most humbly beseeching thee that it may be precious in thy sight II. Wash it we pray thee in the Blood of that immaculate Lamb that was slain to take away the Sins of the World that whatsoever Defilements it may have contracted in the midst of this miserable and naughty World through the Lusts of the Flesh or the Wiles of Satan being purged and done away it may be presented pure and without spot before thee III. And teach us who survive in this and other like daily Spactacles of Mortality to see how frail and uncertain our own Condition is and so to number our days that we may seriously apply our Hearts to that Holy and Heavenly Wisdom whilst we live here which may in the end bring us to Life everlasting through the Merits of Jesus Christ thine only Son our Lord and Saviour Amen Meditation XXV Of the uncertainties of our Lives and that we ought always to be prepared for Death HOw many ways are there whereby to frustrate the intents and ends of Nature How many are there buried before their Birth how many Mens Cradles become their Graves how many rising Suns are set almost as soon as they are risen and overtaken in darkness in the very dawning of their days how many are there like good King Josias like righteous Abel and Enoch who are taken away speedily from amongst the wicked as it were in the Zenith or Vertical Point of their Strength and Lustre II. It is in every Man's Power to be Master of our Lives who is but able to despise his own nay 't is in every ones Power who can but wink to turn our Beauty into darkness and in times of Pestilence how many are there can look as dead by an Arrow shot out of the Eye into the Heart For one single way of coming into the World how many are there to go out of it before our time I mean before Nature is wasted within us Many are sent out of the World by the Difficulties and Hardships of coming in III. We are easily cut off by eating and drinking the very Instruments and Means of Life Not to speak of those greater Slaughters which are commonly committed by Sword and Famine which yet must both give place to surfeit Death may possibly fly to us as once to Aeschylus in an Eagles Wing or we may easily swallow Death as Anacreon did in a Grape IV. We may be murder'd like Homer with a fit of Grief or fall like Pindarus by our Repose we may become a Sacrifice as Philemon of old to a little Jest Or else as Sophecles to a witty Sentence We may be eaten up of Worms like mighty Herod or prove a Feast for the Rats like him of Mentz V. A Man may vomit out his Soul as Sulla did in a fit of Rage or else like Coma may force it backwards He may perish by his Strength as did Polydamas and Milo Or he may die like Thalna by the very excess of his Injoyment He may be Provender for his Horses like Diomedes or Provision for his Hounds like Actaeon and Lucian Or else like Tullus Hostillius he may be burnt up quick with a flash of Lightning VI. Or if there were nothing from without which could violently break off our thread of Life and which being a slender thread is very easily cut asunder we have a thousand intestine Enenemies to dispatch us speedily from within there is hardly any thing in the Body but furnisheth matter for a Disease VII There is not an Artery or Vein but is a Room in Natures Work-house wherein our Humours as so many Cyclops's are forging those Instruments of Mortality which every moment of our Lives are able to sweep us into our Graves an ordinary Apoplexie or a little Impostune in the Brain or a sudden Rising of the Lights is enough to make a Man Die in Health and may Lodge him in Heaven or Hell before he hath the Leisure to cry for Mercy The Prayer THou didst make us for thy self O Lord and when we by our Sins and Follies had for ever lost thee thou didst restore us to thy self again that we might not be eternally deprived of thee our only good O fill us with perpetual Meditations of thy Love Let those Joys which are so much above our thoughts be ever in them let our inability to comprehend the Happiness of thy Kingdom heighten the Piety of our Ambition after it more that we may walk in some measure worthy of so Divine a Purchace II. Prepare us with all those Heavenly Graces that may entitle us to it and with all those spiritual Desires that may make us breath and long after it that so our Hearts being there before we our selves may come after and being transported in our Desires may be also in our Persons to everlasting Enjoyments and as our Lives are uncertain in this World grant that we may be ready prepared that Death comes not upon us unawares Amen Meditation XXVI On the Frailties of our Lives OUr Houses of Clay as Eliphaz the Temanite fitly calls them Job 4.19 seem as false