come forceth from him those teares Can he expect Death Enemie to be Who by his Present hath his force alayd He sent before good workes much Charity Blessings of Orphants which for him have pray'd His sighs and teares appeased hath his King And this supposed Foe glad newes doth bring Death is our guide vnto Eternall blisse Portall of Heaven by which we enter must The Ladder reaching a true happinesse Which bringeth man to live amongst the Iust By him we come Gods glorious face to see From which by life deprin'd we still shall bee Our flesh a prison is vnto our soule Which doth deprive it of that heavenly light With spirituall groanes sighs it doth condole Till it attaine vnto that wished sight Death is the key vnlocks our misery Looseth our bonds and gives vs liberty Death's fangs are par'd his bitter potions sweet His edge abaited all his hurt is done A godly man most kindly he doth meete And of a Foe he is a Friend become His strooke is like the striking of a veine By which small smart sick men theyr health doe gaine Death is the ending of our dayes not life For having clos'd these eyes we wake to live Death having finisht once this mortall strife Our Faith in CHRIST new life to vs doth give Our Night is past our Day star doth appeare Our Cloud is vanish'd and our Morne shines cleare Now ends all sorrowes now all griefes are done Sinne takes his leave and weaknesse hath his end And now behold our Iubilee is come The Haruest of our labors we attend Death's potion onely bitter is in show The taste once past no operation so Mans Glasse once run his flower of Life once dead That vapor vanish'd and that span once grasp'd His breath once failing all his body's Lead In sencelesse coldnesse all his parts are clasp'd He came from earth earth house-roome now him gives His spirit from God with God for ever lives The carnall wicked worldly minded men Who in this life their whole content have plac'd Doth tremble when Death mention'd is to them Because by him all Ioyes from them are chased Their ease and pleasures changed quite will be All mirth is dash'd by present miserie The sight of him vnto their mindes doe bring Remembrance of their sinnes they slightly past The which with woe their soules doe sorely sting For that they see the count call'd on at last Which sure on earth a hell may deemed be When without mercy man his sinnes deth see Those men which onely to delights are given At the approach of death doth feare and quake What earth afforded they accounted heaven And now perforce they must those ioyes forsake Gods blessings they most vildly have abus'd And proffered time of Grace they have refus'd And now those words which ABRAHAM did say To DIVES when for water he did call He findes too true whose smarts without alay His Sorrowes farre more better are then gall His good things onely were upon this Earth But life and them are parted quite by death Terrors and feares must needs their soules affright When guilty Conscience showes Gods angry eye O how they tremble to approach that sight To whom their sinne will out for vengeance cry He who on earth to grieve they did not feare Will give a sentence which their Soules will teare O how mans sinnes that mild aspect doth change He which for man did bleed doth man condemne If by their sinnes from the right path they range Wanting their guide dangers approacheth them The Woolfe once seazing 't is in vaine to flye Theyr Shepheard heares not bootlesse 't is to cry Alas who would this world as ought esteeme If truely he consider every thing Those pleasures which to man most happy seeme Doth soonest fade and gone they leave a sting Man vpon Earth no sure abiding hath Then feare betime before thou feele Gods wrath BELSHAZAR when hee was carrousing set Amongst his Princes in his royall Throne A writing turnes those faire delights to Iet A hand then shew'd makes bone incounter bone He fearefull sits whilst thus it doth indite Thou' rt weigh'd in ballance and art found too light Mans life 's a sceane and tragic ke wo's succeed A Comet alwayes future harmes foretell The happiest life by death is made to bleed If vnprepar'd he dye he goes to hell The gate is shut and they must take their lot For 't will be answered loe I know you not Vnto a thorney field and barren land How fitly may mans life compared be What cares what feares what griefes are still at hand And for one Ioy ten discontents we see We alwayes walke as on a bridge of glasse And oft it crakes as ouer it we passe Still barren is this world of true content Fruitfull enough in procreating wees Thorny afflictions towards vs are bent But certaine Ioyes still backwards from vs goes Who thinkes to catch them doth a shadow chase And like IXION doth a cloud embrace Then why should man thus waste his precious time And triflingly let slip his golden dayes O! turne to God whilst thou art in thy prime And put not off repentance with delayes For when death comes it then will be too late By teares or vowes for to prorogue thy state Boast not of youth or honours wealth or strength Who trusts to them vpon a reede doth leane The which be sure deceiue thee will at length Then strive from these vaine thy selfe to weane And fill thy Lampe with oyle thoughts whil'st thou hast space Least afterward too late thou call for grace Breake off thy sinnes by true repentant teares And turne to God whilst it is call'd to day And rest assured he their prayers heares That vnto him vncessantly doe pray For to incourage thee he this did say Who comes to me I will not cast away Is not mans life compared vnto a flower And O how soone alas the same doth fade and dye Then let man liue prepar'd each day and houre Least vnawares the force of death he try And beare this saying alwayes in thy minde As death thee leaves so Iudgement will thee find And as the Flower in the chiefest prime Doth fade and dye when Sun his face doth hide For 't is not in the earth 's vast slippery clime An euer fading beeing to prouide No more can strength or skill preuaile at all To lengthen life when God by death doth call And as the spring the water forth doth put And by the earth drunke vp no more is seene So when by death our thrid of life is cut On earth we are as we had neuer beene Then whil'st we liue let 's striue to purchase Grace That after Death in Heaven we may have place Alas how many are the snares and bayts Which Sathan layes our poore soules to betray HIENA like he murthers by deceites Through false delights to cause us misse our way His Mermaides Songs are onely sweet in sound Approach them not lest Death thy life doth wound Therefore the safest way vnto our blisse Is meditation of our certaine Death And though we tread the steps of carefulnesse And all our life in sorrow draw our breath The guerdon of our paines our CHRIST will give In causing vs eternally to live Thus by a godly and an vpright life Man of a deadly foe may make a friend And by a wise provision stint that strife Which Sathan laid to bring vs to our end And though our flesh prove false our God is Iust By death our soule gaines heauen our body dust Be ever vigilant in all thy wayes And alwayes live as in the sight of God Performe good actions and vse no delayes Then feare not Death it brings with it no rod With care attend that sure vncertainety And live as euery howre thou shouldest dye This watchfull care wounds Sathan in the head For hee that thinkes of Death doth shun all Sinne By thought of this man to the world proves dead He counts all drosse and only CHRIST would win No earthly Ioyes can cause him life to love His Soule is fixt and nothing can him move Thus each weake Christian may this tyrant foyle For by CHRIST's Death man armed is with strength Though in this Combate he a while may toyle But Faith in CHRIST gives victory at length And with a courage hold man now may cry Death where 's thy sting Grave where 's thy victory What though we dye as dye we surely must Yet by this death we now are gainers made For when our bodyes are consum'd to dust We shall be rais'd from that Eternall shade Our mortall bodyes shall immortall be And with our Soules inioy Eternitie Our troubles in this life now changed are From tokens of his wrath vnto his love For though a while vpon the Earth me share Of griefes and troubles yet when God above Shall by death call vs from the vaile of sinne Wee shall inioy Eternall blisse with him Where all teares shall be wiped from our eyes All griefes and sorrowes then shall ended be We shall be freed from all clamarous cries No discontents nor troubles shall wee see But Peace and Ioyes and comforts shall be found And alwayes in our eares a heavenly sound Our Sences shall partake all of this Blisse Our Eyes shall evermore behold our King Our Hearing heavenly musicke shall possesse Our Tongues shall evermore his Praises sing Thus Smell and Taste thus hands and eares and sight Shall evermore inioy a full delight Vnto this Happinesse and place of Ioy In thy good time sweet Saviour Christ vs bring Where being freed from Sorrowes and annoy Wee evermore thy blessed Praise may sing Where we shall never cease but Night and Day Sing Praise and Glory vnto Thee alway FINIS
a Philosopher sayth Hee that seeketh for true Happines in this world followeth a shaddow which when hee thinketh hee is surest of vanisheth and is nothing and the Apostle PAVL sayth If in this life wee were onely happie wee were of all men most miserable Seeing then it is so Iob. 14. That man which is borne of a woman hath but a short time to liue and that few and euill are the dayes of his Pilgrimage pointed out but to Threescore and tenne and if Nature befriend him so farre as to affoord him life till Fourescore yet is it so full of infirmities that it becomes a burthen to him Life being a briitle and miserable fetter which chaineth the pure and everlasting soule to the vile sinfull and corruptible body Yet where is hee that takes the Wise mans counsell Eccles 12. To remember his Creator in the dayes of his Youth before the evill day comes and the time approach in the which he shall say I have no pleasure in them for if a man live many yeares and rejoyce in them all yet let him remember the dayes of Darknes for they are many the Sun sets and riseth againe but thou alas when thy glasse is run and the short gleame of thy Summers Sun is spent shall never returne againe How soone alas is thy span grasped thy minute wasted thy flower dead thy vapor of life gone without thought without dread eyther of sinnes past or accompts to come Where is there one that lookes into the estate of his Soule with a serious eye that examines his conscience unvayleth his heart and considereth his wayes and how that he is every day of his life a dayes journey nearer his end and nothing is wanting for the expiration thereof but the stroke of death which commeth in a moment and then thou art gone eyther to unexpressable end lesse Ioyes or caselesse and endlesse miseries For no sooner art thou borne to possesse this World but death issueth forth incontinently out of his Sepulcher to finde thy life neyther doth he alwayes send his harbinger before to acquaint thee with his comming but many times entreth unexpected unlooked for and yet darest thou rest in security me thinkes it should make thee tremble were not thy conscience seared to think of the divinenesse of that Iustice before whom thou art to stand being in the day of his Wrath and at the barre of his Iudgment canst thou thinke then to bee able to indure his angry eye whose sight will pierce to the very centure of thy heart and soule and rip up every festred corner of thy conscience O then bethinke thy selfe in time before that gloomy day comes that day of Cloudes and thicke darkenesse that day of desolation and confusion approach when all the Inhabitants of the Earth shall mourne and lament and all faces shall gather blacknesse Joel 2. Because the time of their Iudgment is come alas with what a fearefull hart and weeping eyes and sorrowfull countenance treÌ„bling loynes wilt thou at that last and great assize looke upon CHRIST IESVS when he shall most gloriously appeare with innumerable Angels in flaming fire to render vengeance on them that know him not What a cold dampe will seaze upon thy soule when thou shalt behold him whom thou hast all thy life long reiected in his ordinances despised in his members and neglected in his love what horror and terror of spirit will possesse thee how wilt thou cry to the Rockes and Mountaines to fall upon thee and cover thee from the fiercenes of his Wrath when thou shalt behold the Heavens burning the Elements melting the Earth trembling the Sea roaring the Sunne turne into darknes and the Moone incobloud how will thy numberlesse sinnes in hideous formes appeare before thee every one of them bearing the Ensignes of Gods heavie displeasure dipped in a bloudy coloured dye and crying out for vengeance against thee alas if thy faultring tongue should go about to faine some seeming shew of a colourable excuse how soone would it be stopped all thy actions both for thoughts words and deeds being registred in a booke and kept within the Court of Heaven Oh remember how terrible his voyce was when he gave his Law to his chosen people and thinkest thou it will bee lesse terrible when he shall demand an account of that Law which thou hast so many times carelesly broken Oh then whether will his wrath carry thee where will the blast of his breath hurry thee it was thy sins that inflamed his wrath his wrath will inflame that fire which will never goe out Oh then alas whil'st thou hast time become thy own friend looke into thy selfe and by a serious examination prove the Pilot of thy owne Ship which now lyeth floating on the Seas of this troublesome World ballanc'd onely with cares and disquieting pleasures of this life and how thou sayl'st with a full course towards the haven of endlesse Happines yet one blast of unprepared death will turne thy sayles and plunge thee irrecoverably into that bottomlesse Guife where one houres torment will infinitely exceed all the pleasures thy whole life contained and wilt thou now standing upon the very brim of Hell melt in thy delights Alas slippery is thy footing and thy hold but by the thread of life which stretched to the length soone crackes yet how triflingly spendest thou thy pretious time tyring out thy spirits and robbing thine eyes of their beloved sleepe for those things to the which the time will come that the very remembrance of them will be bitter and to the which thou must bid an everlasting farewell Yet not considering these things how many are there that only spend their time in jollity and sodainly goe downe to the Grave they cry to themselves Peace peace when sodaine Destruction overtakes them not once thinking of IEREMIA'S lamentation for Jernsalem wherein hee complaines That shee remembred not her last end Lamen 1. Would they but consider that as the Tree falleth so it lyeth and as Death leaves them so shall Iudgement finde them they would not draw Iniquity with cords of vanity nor sinne as with cart-ropes did they thinke upon the reward of Sinne did they consider how full of griefe and misery how short and transitorious this present life is and the vaine Pleasures thereof how on every side theyr enemies compasse them and that Death lyeth in wayte against them every where catching them sodainly and unawares Did that saying often sound in theyr eares Arise and come to Judgement they would not deferre theyr Repentance to theyr last end or their old-age when it can not be sayd that they leave Sin but sinne them Shall they offer to the Divell the World and their owne flesh the flower and strength of theyr yeares and serve God with the lees and dregs â—al 1. when the Prophet MALACHY complayned of the peoples evill Offerings hee sayd Offer it now unto thy Governour will hee be pleased with
thee or accept thy person and can they thinke this great GOD will bee pleased with them King 18 If RABSHECHA and HOLOFERNES Iudith 5. but Messengers for theyr Lords tooke it so ill that the Iewes came not forth to make theyr peace with them that they threatned nothing should pacifie their furie but theyr Destruction How much more shall this King of Kings and Lord of Lords whose wrath is so kindled for theyr wickednesse condemne them into utter Darknesse where shall bee wayling and gnashing of teeth for no dead carrion so lothsomly stinketh in the nostrils of an earthly man as doth the wicked abhominable unrepentant man in the presence of God yet not considering this they goe on in a carelesse security heaping one sinne upon another till the burthen become unsupportable and the vials of Gods wrath ready to bee powred on them not once calling them to theyr remembrance or if they doe it is so farre from Contrition that it is rather a delight to them often glorying in the often cōmittings therof they neyther thinking of theyr account nor their end wherein yet they might haue some happines if death were the dissolving both of their body soule For being rid of their bodies they should also be rid of theyr Soules and Sinnes But forasmuch as it is evident that the Soule is immortall there is left no comfort for the wicked to trust in Therfore let such remember ESAV Who hauing once rejected the Blessing Gen. 27. could not after obtayne it though he sought it with teares when it is too late with the fiue Foolish Virgins they may cry Lord Math. 25 Lord open to vs but the gates of Mercy will bee shut and it will be answered I know you not Then woe bee to the sinfull wicked men that haue not power to turne from the filthy workes of this finfull and wretched World that hindereth them from the blissfull state and keepeth backe theyr Soules from the presence of God For when Gods Serjeant Death shall arrest them and they shall bee summon'd to appeare before the Tribunall of the Almighty with what terrible feare will that Soule be shaken and smitten and with how many speares of a piercing Conscience is hee gored and thrust through he will thē begin to thinke of the time past present and that to come the time past he may behold with astonishment to perceiue how fast it fleeted and the multitude of sinnes therein committed the which were accounted pleasures but are now terrors for every one of which he must answere for as saith a Philosopher An accusing Conscience is the secret most terrible thing that can bee at the approaching and cōming of Death and infinit vnspeakable are the feares and griefes it will bring with it for then hee will grieve that the time of Repentance hath beene so ill lewdly past he seeth the divine Cōmandements which he hath contemned he is aflicted because he seeth the inevitable houre approach of rendring an account of the divine just vengance he would tarry still but he is constrained to depart he would recover that is past but time is not granted if he looke behind him he seeth the course and race of his whole life led as a moment of time if he looke before he beholdeth the infinit space of Eternity which expecteth him he sorroweth and sobbeth because he hath lost the joy of euerlasting Eternity which hee might haue obtained in so short a time hee tormenteth himselfe because he hath lost the ineffable sweetnesse of perpetuall delight for one sensuall carnall and momentany pleasure he blusheth considering that for that substance which is Wormes-meat he hath dispised that which Angels prize so highly and weighing the glory of those immortall riches hee is confounded that he hath changed them for the basenesse and vildenesse of Temporall things but when he casteth his eyes upon things below and seeth the darke and obscure valley of this world and beholdeth above it the shining brightnesse of eternall Light then he confesseth that all that he loved in this world was blacke night and ugly darknesse To behold the time present is as ill for there hee can finde nothing but weakenesse and paines his friends eyther mourning by him or else not able to stay with him to see his torments which in this life God hath begun to let him taste having painefull Limbes darke Eyes a faultering Tongue hard browes short breath and a panting heart hasting to appeare before God whō he must behold not as his Father but a most feirce Iudge whose pure eyes beheld all his actions and that through all his life saw nothing but wickednesse no sorrowing teares to wash away those pollutions and therefore that leporous life must receiue a heauie condemnation there will not be any to speake for him neyther will he be able to answere one word for a thousand all those pleasures now stand up to accuse him and his owne Conscience giues in evidence against him saying to himselfe the words of SALOMON Pro. 5. How haue I hated instruction and my heart despised reproofe and I haue not obeyed the voyce of my teachers nor enclined mine eare to them that instructed me woe is me poore wretch into what a laborinth haue my sinnes led me how suddenly and thinking nothing lesse hath this houre intrapped me how hath it rushed vpon me I never dreamed of it what doe now my Honours profit me what doe now all my Dignities helpe me what doe all my friends for me what profit doe now my servants bring mee what fruit doe I now reape of all my riches and goods which I was wont to possesse for now a small piece of ground of seaven foot will containe me and I must be content with a dwelling in a narrow Coffin and with a lodging in a poore Winding sheet my riches shall remaine here behind mee which I scraped together with so great toyle and sweating others shall enjoy them and shall spend them on theyr pleasures onely my sinnes which I haue committed in gathering them wayte upon me that I may suffer deserved punishment for them what can I make now of all my Pleasures and Delights seeing they are all over-past onely theyr dregges are my Potion which are scruples and bytings of Conscience which like Thornes doe pierce me and runne thorough my miserable heart In what taking is this poore Soule if time were now againe with what an austere kinde of life would hee passe it how would hee shun all those alluring Syrens sower sauce findes he for his sweetes and for a minute of Pleasures must possesse a world of Woes nay woes without end soone ended those delights endlesse are those miseries O thou wretched man thou that didst chose rather to sit by the Flesh-pots of Aegypt then by induring a little wearisome travailes to enter into the promised Land which floweth with Milk and Honey See! O see now what a long chayne of
cleare and comfortable in it self and so is it to the eye that is sound yet to a sore eye it is very grieuous not through any default in the sunne but by the diseased disposition of the eye so albeit he in himselfe be perfectly good and doth nothing but good yet to an vnrepentant sinner he is grievous and terrible but if he returne to him by unfained repentance he soone inclineth to mercy as is euident in that wo man whom Christ so called upon her humiliation and acknowledging her selfe to be no better she receiueth this gracious answer Be it vnto the euen as thou wilt and againe in the Nenivites though his decree was gone out against them that yet forty dayes and Ninivie should be destroyed Ionah 3. upon their unfained repentance he also repented of that euill and with aboundance of mercy revoked that sentence For the eyes of the Lord ◠Chro. 16 beholds all the earth to strengthen them that with a perfect heart beleeve and hope in him and againe it is sayd O how good is the Lord unto them Lament 3 that put theyr trust in him and to the Soule that seeketh after him never was there any forsaken that put theyr trust in him and though the hand of your Faith be not strong enough to lay fast hold on him as IACOB did who sayd I will not let thee goe unlesse thou blesse mee Gen. 32. yet if hee perceiue thee creeping after him hee will imbrace thee for hee hath sayd The bruised Reede Math. 12. I will not breake and the smoaking Flaxe I will not quench that is hee will not reiect the desires of the heart though in weake measure if unfeyned and what he hath promised is Truth Hee loveth not as man loveth for they in prosperity will regard vs but if Afflictions or wants come they regard us not but so farre is our good God from this that his beloved Sonne CHRIST IESVS tooke our shape upon him suffering Hunger Cold Nakednesse Contempt and Scornings for his owne mouth testified That the Foxes had Holes and the Birds of the Ayre had Nests but the Sonne of Man had not whereon to lay his head showing thereby to us how farre hee was from contemning our Povertie or refusing us for our wants let us therefore flie to this God who will not fayle us nor forsake us let us cast our care upon him for hee careth for us and set us first seek the Kingdome of heaven and the righteousnesse thereof and all things else shall bee ministred unto us How many haue beene knowne which have gayned to themselves Riches or Honours by unlawfull meanes that have prospered but if for a time they have seemed to doe well their Posteritie have come to ruine and theyr owne ill-gathered treasure like a dilating Gangrene hath rotted theyr owne memory and consumed every part of theyr heyres possession seeming as it were a Curse and doome intayled with the land upon the successour and so proveth not a Blessing but the bane of him that Injoyed it They may for a time flourish like a Bay Tree but suddainely they fade and their place is no where to bee found Oh therefore that they would consider what great evils and how many inconveniences this small prosperity bringeth with it they should find this love of Riches more to afflict by desire then to delight by use for it inwrappeth the Soule in divers temptatiōs bindeth it in infinit cares it allureth it with sundry delights provoketh it to sinne and disturbeth the quiet no lesse of the body then of the Soule and that which is greater Riches are never gotten without troubles nor possessed without care nor lost without griefe but that which is worst they are seldome gathered without sinne and offence to GOD Why then should man bee so greedy of this Worlds pelfe life beeing so short and death following at our heeles What neede is there of so great Provision for so short a Iourney What would man doe with so great Riches especially seeing that the lesse he hath the more lightly and freely hee may walke and when hee shall come to the end of his Pilgrimage if he be poore his estate shall not be worser then rich mens who are loden with much gold the Grave shall both alike containe them as sayth IOB Iob. 3. The small and great are there and the Servant is free from his Master Nay it is better with the poore then with the rich for they shall feele lesse griefe in parting with this trash and pelfe of the World and a smaller accompt is to be rendred before GOD whereas on the other side Rich men leaves theyr Mountaines of Gold with great griefe of heart which they adored as GOD neyther are they without exceeding gerat hazard and danger in rendring an accompt for them Besides as hee came forth of his Mothers Wombe Eccles 5. so naked shall he returne to goe as hee came and shall take nothing of his labour which he may carry away in his hand Psalm 7. Therefore a little that a Righteous man hath is better then the Riches of many wicked I have seene sayth DAVID in the same Psalme The wicked in great power and spreading himselfe like a greene Bay tree yet hee passed away and loe hee was not I sought him but hee could not bee found the transgressours shall be destroyed together the end of the Wicked shall bee cut off but marke the upright man and behold the Iust for the end of that man is Peace Thrice blessed then is that man that feareth God and they whose God the Lord is and he that sots his feare alwayes before his eyes Iob. 5. For they shall bee delivered out of sixe troubles and in the seaventh no evils shall touch them in Famine he shall redeeme them from Death and in Warre from the power of the sword they shall come to the Grave in a full age like as a shocke of Corne commeth in in his season They may for a time bee bungry but they shall be filld for God himselfe will feed them with blessings from aboue and from beneath Even naturall reason will not suffer them to doubt for he that giveth meate in due season to Ants and Wormes of the Earth will he suffer Man to famish who night and day serve and obey him as CHRIST himselfe saith in MATTHEVV Math. 6. Behold the Fowles of the heaven for they sow not neyther reape nor cary into Barnes yet your heavenly Father feedeth them are yee not much better then they This happines moved DAVID to invite us to serve the Lord saying O feare the Lord yee that be his Saints Psalm 34 for they that feare the Lord lack nothing the Lyons doe lacke and suffer hunger but they that feeke the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good The ungodly man when he is full of wealth dyeth for hunger and when they sit even up
know him but bid him be gone and barre the doore against him I know thou wouldest account him most inhumane and ungratefull Isa 5 3. and yet how farre short comes this of CHRIST'S love and bounty to thee for the chastisement of thy Peace was layd upon him and with his stripes thou wast healed O wretched Soule to loose such a Friend Oh unhappie man by this opposition to deprive thy selfe of all Happines for what greater Happinesse canst thou have then to injoy that Fatherly providence by which God preserveth his what sweeter Delights then the Divine Grace the Light of wisedome the consolations of the holy Ghost the Ioy and Peace of a good Conscience the good event of Hope the true liberty of the Soule the inward peace of the Heart to bee heard in Prayer to be helped in Tribulations to be provided for temporall necessities and to bee ayded and to taste of Heavenly Comforts in death whilst I seriously meditate upon these things my Soule is as in a Rapture me thinkes I see CHRIST IESVS comming in the Clouds with thousand of Angels about him the Heavens and Earth flying away at his presence millions of damned Soules yelling and crying to the Rocks and Mountaines to fall upon them and to cover them from the fiercenesse of his sight The Divels quaking and trembling expecting the denouncing of their Torments and the Ioyes the Godly have at that houre For as it is a day of horror and terror to the Wicked so is it a day of joy and gladnesse to the godly for as the body of the one rests in the earth without taste of those miseries it hath deserved even so the Righteous by this sleepe of Death is deprived of this blessednesse in their body untill corruption hath put on incorruption and mortality hath put on immortality and that they are wakened by the sound of the Trumpet which sūmoneth them to appeare before CHRIST when then their soules become againe reunited to their bodyes and both with Ioy beholds the face of God not as their Iudge for he is their Brother and therefore can expect from him nothing but mercy he hath purchased them for himselfe with no meaner a 〈◊〉 price then his owne precious bloud and there fore must needs bee to him acceptable this is theyr yeare of Iubilee this is the Marriage of the Lambe with him they enter Revel 21. and he is theyr God and they are his Sonnes they now behold his face and his Name is in theyr foreheads They now receive the fulnesse of theyr Ioy Revel 22. they now possesse that happinesse theyr Soules thirsted for they now injoy the reward of all theyr labours this blessednesse truly considered on affoordeth more pleasures then the tongue of Man can utter or his Soule remayning in the Prison of his flesh is able to receive without crying out with the Spouse in the Canticles Cant. 2. I am sicke of Love It is no marvell that the Church cryeth Come Lord IESVS come quickly for in this his comming consisteth all happinesse Here is the finall end of all miseries and sinnes it onely prooveth the waters of Mara to the ungodly it is terrible to none but the unrepentant even they who had their eyes sealed from beholding any other Happines then what tended to their pleasures They which tooke to them the Timbrell and the Harp and rejoyced in the sound of the Organs they spend theyr dayes in wealth and were of them that sayd Speake no more to us in the name of the Lord they sayd to God depart from us for wee desire not the knowledge of thy wayes What is the Almighty that we should serve him and what profit shall wee haue if we pray unto him Now alas but too late they see theyr owne follyes now without hope of redresse they behold theyr owne miseries no marvell though the mentioning of the day of Iudgement be terrible to such a man who by his wickednesse deprives himselfe of all those Blessednesses for ill will it prove if the day of Death be not alwayes in his remembrance which is the first judgement and wherein he must stand eyther convicted or acquitted eyther condemned for his bad workes or justified for his good whereof he can have little hope unlesse hee meet his Iudge in the way and make his peace with him whilst he may be found yet there is time to furnish thy lamp with Oyle yet the Gates of Mercy are not shut yet thou mayest so cry as thou mayest bee satisfied with this gracious answer Come yee blessed of my Father Whereas if thou deferre thy Repentance from time to time putting farre from thee the evill day if thou doe not expect the comming of thy Lord but become drunken and fall to smiting thy fellow Servants if thou hide thy Talent in the Earth which God in his goodnesse hath bestowed on thee to better uses Thy Lord will come when he is not looked for Math. 21. and in a time when thou art not aware of and cast thee into utter Darknesse where shall bee wayling and gnashing of Teeth giving thee a just hyre for thy carelesse security It is not thy pleasures that can deferre thy calamities it is not the inlarging thy Barnes that can resist thy misery the greatnesse of Friends will not availe thy Iudge is blinde to Bribery and deafe to all but Iustice if his wrath be not appeased before he come to give sentence it will then be too late to expect mercy V. Comforts for the weake Christian and to beware of Backesliding OVR most subtle malicious Enemy retayning still the hatred hee bare our first Parents at the beginning seeketh to bring us into ever lasting Perdition and so to gaine us to himselfe by one meanes or other to a man nouzeled in Sinne hee useth no other wayes then the lulling him still the faster asleepe in worldly pleasures the Miser he perswadeth still to covet Riches thereby making his Gold his God by which meanes hee filleth up the measure of Wrath against the day of Iudgement the Adulterer hee draweth on more easily by the delightsomnesse of the sinne telling him that stolne bread is sweet Prov. 5. and hid waters pleasant the Proud man hee hath hud-wincked not to thinke of time but to account all loft but what is spent in decking and setting himselfe foorth in the Divels Feathers Thus all sinnes he lessens that so he may cause man to defer his repentance till the last then the which there is nothing more dangerous but when he meets a child in religion who is glad to suck milke from the sweet paps of Gods word him he so to sceth shaketh with telling him of his owne unworthines and the severity of Gods Iustice that the poore Soule is ready to leave his hold and to fall into desperation not daring scarce to looke up to Gods Mercy but if his weaknes become strength and he be raysed by Faith then hee strives
to cause him to become weary and backward in well doing Therefore thou O man I that wouldest doe the good thou doest not but through the deceiveablenesse of thy flesh standeth loytering and with SALOMONS fluggard cryeth Yet a little sleepe a little slumber a wake and behold CHRIST comming in the Clouds Stand up and gird thy selfe like a man lift up thy eye of Faith and behold thy Saviour whose merits plead for thee See him dying for thee and thereby paying thy debts See thy Iudge a just one and therefore will not require that againe which Christ hath already satisfied hee hath beheld the thoughts of thine heart and found thy desires are to serve him concerning the inward Man and though thou didst fall into sinnes most offensive to the eyes of his Divine Maiesty yet hee knowes that the evill thou didst hate that thou didst But it was a Law in thy Members that ledde thee captive to the Law of sin Rom. 7. then if as a Captive forc't it was no longer thou but sinne that dwelled in thee Let the remembrances of these Mercies waken thy Soule from the drowsinesse of Sinne and remember who hath sayd Awake Ephes 5. thou that sleepest and arise from the Dead and CHRIST shall give thee light Hee calleth thee Hee biddeth thee awake let not these sweet calles strike thee dead Math. 20. as his presence did the Keepers who became astonished and were as dead men but rather let that voyce bee of as great power to thee as it was to LAZARVS not onely to rayse thee from the sleepe Iohn 11. but also from the death of Sin And bee as ready to entertaine this love as THOMAS was who no sooner touched his Saviour but cryed out Iohn 20. My Lord and my God Neyther deceive thy selfe with a soothing conceit of what is not in thee Iâ—th 7. For the Tree is knowne by the fruit for men cannot gather Grapes of Thornes nor Figs of Thistles A good man out of the good Treasure of his Heart Math. 7. bringeth forth good things and an evill man out of the evill Treasure of his heart bringeth forth evill things so that howsoever thou mayst seeme to the World yet as a shadow doth alwayes follow the body so feare and desperation will at all times and in all places wayte upon an evill Conseience Let not thy Faith be as a House built upon the Sands which will shake with every blast of Temptations or Afflictions but found it upon the Rocke CHRIST IESVS against which whatsoever beateth shall returne with a greater repulse to it selfe as not being able to move it and having once attayned this perfection take heed of recoyling for CHRIST sayth He that layeth hand upon the Plough and looketh backe is not meet for the Kingdome of Heaven Luke 9. What though the way to Heaven be narrow and full of Difficulties Wilt thou not therefore beeing entred perseuere Who would wish or desire to walke in a way strowed with Roses and planted with divers fragrant Flowers if the assured end of it be death and who would refuse a rough and difficult path that leadeth unto life is it not commonly seene that many men to attaine to Preferment run into most apparent dangers and hazard the losse of theyr life nay I know thou wouldest doe it thy selfe and shall it bee troublesome and grievous to thee to doe that for thy Soule which thou refuseth not to doe for thy Body Shall it seeme a great thing unto thee to suffer a little trouble heere that hereafter thou mayst escape eternall torment What would not the rich covetous man buryed in Hell willingly doe if he might have licence to come into the World againe that he might amend his errors Is it meet that thou shouldest doe lesse now then he would doe seeing that if thou dost persever in thy wickednesse the same torments remaine for thee He that runneth a Race leaveth not till hee come to the Gole So run as you may obtaine Remember LOTS Wife who looking backe became a Piller of Salt so take heed lest thou by looking backe upon the vanities of this life forget the care of thy Soule commanded thee by God so of his child become not a Piller of Salt but a child of Perdition a man having much riches is still â—â—vetous of more and what wealth to be compared to the Soule A thing so great in it selfe that what gayneth hee that getteth the whole world and looseth his Soule even as great a purchase as hee who having with much Labour and great charge obtayned a precious lewell straight giueth it for a trifle Nay were it so it were the lesse for that were but the undoing of the body this the losse of the Soule that friends againe may rayse this is a losse irrecoverable Wherefore thinke no paynes wearisome no labours irksome nor any troubles grievous to attaine true happinesse For our light afflictions 2. Cor. 4. which is but for a moment worketh for us a farre more exceeding eternall weight of Glory while we looke not at the things which are seene but at the things which are not seene for the things which are seene are Temporall but the things which are not seene are Eternall wherefore setting all hinderances apart with cheerefulnesse of spirit take up the Crosse of CHRIST and incourage thy feeble spirit with the saying of the Apostle PAVL The troubles of this Life are not comparable to the joyes that shall bee heereafter 2. Cor. 6. having therefore these promises cleanse your selues from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit perfecting Holinesse in the feare of GOD. VI. That Man ought to bee wonne to follow Godlinesse in respect of the Eternall Happinesse HAving now set before thee Deut. 30. Life and good Death and evill I defire thee to choose Life that both thou and thy seed mayest live for having beheld the deceiveablenes of worldly pleasures and how this momentany felicity is attended on by sorrow and her Confederates me thinks thou shouldest be weary of this house of Clay scituated in a Wildernes of miseries which hourely produceth Monsters that ravenously seeketh to prey on thy destruction and withdrawing thy mind from these fleeting delights elevate thy thoughts to Heaven and contemplate with thy selfe of those Coelestiall pleasures note the beauty of the place the gloriousnesse of the company and the durablenesse of that Happinesse which is Eternity for the beautie of this place this Heavenly Ierusalem looke into the Revelation Revel 21. and thou shalt finde It hath the glory of GOD the light thereof to be like a Iasper stone cleere as Chrystall glorious must it needs bee when the Wall is of Iasper and the City of pure gold cleare like glasse and the Foundations of the Wall garnished with all manner of precious stones the twelve Gates were twelve Pearles every severall gate was of one pearle Revel 15 for the company there are
Angels and Martyrs with the foure and twenty Elders that offer up golden Vials full of odours which are the Prayers of Saints but which is chiefe of all delights there will be GOD himselfe who will bee a Looking-Glasse to the eyes of his Elect Musicke to theyr eares Nectar and Ambrosia to their Palates odoriferous Balsamum to theyr Smelling There thou shalt see the variety and beauty of the seasons the pleasantnesse of the Spring the brightnesse of Summer the fruitfulnesse of Autumne and the quiet of Winter and there shall bee whatsoever may delight thy sences and every faculty of thy Soule there will be the fulnesse of light to thy understanding the aboundance of Peace to thy will and the contitinuance of Eternity to thy memory there the Wisedome of SALOMON shall seeme ignorance there the beauty of ABSASOM shall seeme deformity there the strength of SAMPSOM shall seeme weakenesse there the long life of METHVSALEM shall seeme a span there the Riches of CRoeSVS shall seeme drosse for there thou mayst worthily call the treasures of all Emperors and Kings starke poverty and beggery These things beeing thus Why shouldest thou O man delight to begge and live of Almes when thou shalt finde such aboundance in Heaven looke upon thy selfe and consider how the Lord hath bestowed upon thee a countenance of Majesty with thy face erected towards Heaven and thy eye-lids to move upwards thereby to teach thee that thou wert not formed to spend thy dayes in the moiling cares of this troublesome world but to aspire to that true Happines that maketh all the other Misery Marke the Sea-mans Needle whose nature of that Iron is that in what part it hath touched the Loadstone that part alwayes looketh towards the North and remaineth unsetled till it hath found the Pole even so hath God created Man and hath infused into him a naturall inclination and readinesse that hee should alwayes looke to his Maker as to the Pole and onely true happines When the Children of Jsrael in the Wildernesse were stung by fiery Serpents none could live but those that looked up to that brazen Serpent which MOSES erected so no man beeing stung by those fiery Serpents of sin can live but those that by the eye of Faith looke up to CHRIST IESVS beholding him dying upon the Crosse and applying his death and merits to their otherwise deadly-wounded Soule whereby that Vlcer is cured and they assured of life After ADAM had sinned in eating the forbidden fruit Gen. 3. GOD sent him to Till the Earth out of which he was taken but the soule of man was infused into him by the breath of God Gen. 2. let therefore the cogitations of thy heart and Soule bee turned towards him from whence it had the beeing seeing as sayth Saint AVGVSTINE There is nothing more blessed than this life where there is no feare of Poverty no infirmity of Sicknesse no deceipts of the Divell neyther Death of body or Soule but a pleasant life through the guift of Immortality then there shall be no mischiefes no discords but all agreement because there shall be one concord of all the Saints peace and joy imbrace all things What is it that thou canst desire heere upon Earth that thou shalt not there freely possesse If thou defirest pleasures lift up thy heart and see how delightfull that Good is that contayneth in it the delight and pleasure of all good things If this life created doth please thee how much more shall that life please thee which hath created all things If health given make thee merry how much more shall he make thee merry that giveth all health If the knowledge of the Creatures bee sweet how much more sweeter shall the Creator himselfe be if beauty bee acceptable unto thee it is he at whose beauty the Sunne and Moone admire the glory of which was so great that when MOSES went up to the Mount though he saw but the hinder part thereof his Face became so bright and shining that the Israelites could not behold him what should I stand longer to set forth the beauty of that which if I had the tongue of Men and Angels I could not doe for as the Apostle fayth 1. Cor. 2. Eye hath not seene Eare hath not heard neyther hath it entred into the heart of Man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him Wilt thou then choose with the Prodigall Sonne to eate Huskes with the Swine rather than to returne home to thy Heavenly Father will not all these delights move thee nor cause thee to desire it it may bee thou art timerous knowing thy owne unworthinesse but bee incouraged by the words of thy Saviour who seeing thy faint heartednesse sayth Feare not little flocke Luke 15. for it is your fathers pleasure to give you a Kingdome Thou art one of the flocke and this Kingdome is prepared for thee why dost thou not long to take possession of thy owne pu chased for thee by CHRIST who though hee be thy Elder brother yet thou shalt bee co-heyre with him whose love thou mayst see expressed by his infinite care for in his Prayer to his Father for his Disciples he remembred thee when he sayd I pray not for these alone Iohn 117. but for those that shall beleeve on me that they may all be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee and the glory which thou hast given mee I have given them that they may bee one even as wee are one I will also that those thou hast given mee bee with me Canst thou now have any doubts or waverings in thy Mind Repayre unto him and in true humility of Soule confesse thy selfe unto him and say Father I have sinned against Heaven and against thee and I am no more worthy to bee called thy Sonne This done doubt not but hee will imbrace thee in the Armes of his Mercy the Ring and Robe shall be brought and the fatted Calfe shall be kild for there is more joy in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth than of ninety and nine just persons It is a place prepared for thee before the Foundations of the World were layd O happy Soule that art made possessor of this blessednesse How art thou able to behold any thing in this life with true contentment having seriously beheld this though thou didst dayly suffer torments if for a long time thou didst indure Hell it selfe so that at the length thou mightest see CHRIST in his glory and injoy this blessednesse and haue society with the Saints were it not worthy all Sufferings All Bitternes and all Crosses that thou mightest be partaker of all this good At last what though the world account not of thee but deride thee for thy vertuous living Remember ELIZEVS the Prophet of the Lord who was mocked and called Bald-head in contempt Resolve with thy selfe no sooner to enter into the path of Godlinesse but such is the malitiousnesse of thy Mortall
Enemie that hee will set his members in the way agaiust thee that if it bee possible they may hinder thy proceedings and turne thee backe againe into the broad way of Errors that leadeth to destruction No sooner did SAVL Prophesie but the wicked and the men of BELIAL had him in derision who better affected then PAVL the Apostle whilst he remayned a Persecutor of CHRIST in his members and carried with him the authority of the High Priests to strengthen his proceedings but no sooner was he converted but how many enimies had he which streight sought his destruction hayling him to Prisons to Scourging and to Stonings to death Yet so farre were they from being disheartned by this as that they reioyced that they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of CHRIST When we enter into Baptisme we professe to become CHRISTS souldiers and to fight vnder his banner and is it the part of a Souldier to flye at the first onset he that indureth to the end gaineth not onely the honour but the reward nay the fiercer the assault is the more we ought to oppose our selues against it and though through the roughnes of the incounter we may thinke we haue the worst yet if with patience wee striue to perseuer our Captaine CHRIST IESVS will be at hand to helpe vs for carefull is he of his owne as his owne mouth testifieth when he saith to his Father All thou hast giuen me I haue kept and none of them is lost Let all these proofes arme thy minde to be resolute in going on in goodnes till thou attaine the end where thou shalt gaine the reward of thy abours and take with theel the Counsell of the Philosopher HERMES who sayth It is better to suffer shame for vertuous dealing then to win honour by vicious living When SALOMON had builded the Teinple and sanctified it none might enter into Sanctum Sanctorum the holiest of all but the Priest onely So none can enter into this Kingdome which is the true Sanctum Sanctorum but those who haue by a Religious course of life put off the vanities of this world and cloathed themselves with the Robe of CHRISTS Righteousnesse whereby they are Consecrated made fit to enter When the Children of Jsraell were in the Wildernes they were commanded every day to gather Manna but on the Sabboth they that went to gather found none for that they were on the Even to provide for that day so fayle not thou euery day of thy life to gather this Manna the food of thy soule and to lay vp in store against this day of thy rest least when thou hopest to find thou become frustrate and so thy soule starue with want thereof feede not thy selfe with hopes of entertainement vnlesse thou haue furnished thy selfe with the wedding garment neither thinke to passe with one that is counterfeit though neuer so neare the colour for if it be not found the right one thou shalt be taken and bound hand and foot and cast into utter darkenesse therefore it is that the Apostle sayth Examine your selves whither yee be in the Faith 2. Cor. 13. prove your selves There are many nay most that vnderstanding the infinitnesee of the happines of this place that with BALAAM will desire to dye the death of the Righteous Numb 33 but they will not liue the life of the Righteous because they exempt themselves from many things in the which the wicked place theyr whole felicity they accounting this world theyr Heauen shall therefore finde none other hereafter as in the parable Abraham sayd to the rich man in Hell Son remember that thou in thy life-time received thy good things they were his becausein them consisted all his happines therefore possessing of them here he could not expect a future For as the Apostle saith Be not deceiued God is not mocked for what a man soweth that shall he reape for he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reape corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reape life euerlasting For true blessednes consisteth not in meat or drink or in richnesse of apparell but in Righteousnes and Peace and Ioy in the Holy Ghost A man who hath beene long kept from his father and mother wife or children by imprisonment being once at liberty and entred on his lourney toward thē regardeth not neither the length of the way the wearisomnes of his owne steps nor the dangerousnes of the places he is to passe but goeth on with chearefulnesse and longings till he attaine the end and as a spurre to whet on his speed placeth before the eye of his remembrance the sweete content hee shall finde at meeting can these earthly delights cause a man to vndergoe so many difficulties and shall not the delights which God hath prepared for his and whereof I haue giuen thee a glimpse cause thee with much more feruencie to long to attaine to this place of happinesse and setting a part all hinderances whatsoever six thy eye of Faith vpon those vnspeakeable pleasures which thy soule shall then gayne in Ioy when thou shalt meete with God thy Father Christ Iesus thy Brother and Sauiour who hath by the infinitenes of his love espoused thee vnto himselfe and made the possessor of Heauen where thou shalt as sayth Saint AVGVST imbrace a certaine imbracing aboue all imbracings Thou shalt find a sweetnes aboue all sweetnesse thou shalt see alight aboue all lights thou shalt smell a sauour aboue all savours most delectable thou shalt heare a voyce aboue all voyces for rarenes for that voyce doth sound where no ayre doth moue it this light doth shine where no place doth receiue it this savour doth smell where no blast doth carry it and this imbrace is there touched where it is not sundred to conclude if thou desirest to inioy all blessednesse and to escape all kinde of punishments tribulations and miseries there thou shalt find libertie freedome from them all The God of our Lord IESVS CHRIST the Father of Glory give vnto vs the spirit of wisdome knowledge of him that the eyes of our vnderstanding being inlightned we may know what is the hope of his calling and what the Riches of the Glory of the inheritance of his Saints Amen Of our losse by ADAM and our gayne by CHRIST The first Adam was made a living Soule the second Adam a quickning Spirit For as in ADAM wee all dye so in CHRIST shall all be made alive 1. Corinth 15. GOD by his Wisedame and all-seeing Pow'r Ordained Man vnto Eternitie Sathan through malice turnes that sweet to sowre Man eating the forbidden Fruit must Die No remedy was left to scape this Curse The sore still looked on became the worse He out of that delightsome place is throwne To travell in the Warld with woe distrest Through all his life a Pilgrim he is knowne With Cares and Sorrowes and with griefes opprest The more he lookes into his