in Oblivion The Prayer O Lord what is our Life It is but a Vapour which is soon vanished and gone thou hast given us a short Portion of time on this side the Grave our Condition is vain unsatisfied and full of disquiet and we have no hope but in thee O Lord O teach us to number our days that we may apply our Hearts unto Wisdom to remember and to know our latter end that so we may never Sin against thee II. Grant that we may live as though we were always dying being of mortified Souls and Bodies of bridled Tongues and Affections and that instead of heaping up Riches we may strive for a Treasure of good Works laying up in Store for the time to come that having recovered our Strength lost by the Commission of our Sins when we go hence and are no more seen we may have a residence in those heavenly Mansions which are prepared by thee our Lord and Saviour Amen Meditation IV. That we ought continually to watch and pray WAtch said our Blessed Lord Because ye know not at what hour the Son of Man will come The Romans watch'd in their Arms yet sometimes without their Shield that they might have nothing to rest upon to attract them to sleep it is therefore thy Duty O drowzy Mortal to watch with vigour and well armed Ardent Prayers to the Almighty are the true Arms of Christians and the Shield which encourages sleep is the vain hope of a longer Life II. The frequent Cries of the Roman Soldiers were Wake Wake Thus they encouraged one another to Constancy in watching The Heavens themselves the seat of God's Glory waking and incessantly toyling admonish thee to watch If thou art not grown deaf like the Adder or fallen asleep in Carnal security hear the Voice of Christ Watch and Pray and St. Mark in his holy Gospel tells thee that Christ in the Conclusion of his Sermon thrice repeats these Words Mark 13. Take ye heed watch and pray for you know not when the time is Verse 33. Secondly Watch ye therefore for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh at Even or at Midnight or at the Cockcrowing or in the Morning lest Coming suddenly he find you sleeping Verse 35 36. Lastly And what I say unto you I say unto you all Watch Verse 37. III. And with the same Admonitions by the mouth of St. Matthew he crys to us Watch ye therefore for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come Matt. 24.42 and again Watch therefore for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh Matt. 25.13 the same he repeats upon the Mount of Olives Watch and pray that ye enter not into Temptation Matt. 26.41 IV. Upon the same Text he Preaches in St. Luke's Gospel Watch ye therefore and pray always Luke 21.36 the same watchfulness how often doth St. Paul reiterate these Claps of Thunder upon us to awaken us from sleep We are deaf yea dead indeed if these loud Exhortations will not rouse us Whoever thou art that sleepest in Viciousness awake Thou canst not plead ignorance in the Egyptians fate when the destroying Angel entred Egypt and made a vast Slaughter both upon Man and Beast so that Pharaoh's heart was hardened to his own Destruction V. Remember the Lot of the ten Virgins when there was at Midnight a great Cry made and they that were prepar'd were admitted to the Nuptials but the drowsie Sleepers were excluded Dost thou remember the Folly of the gluttonous Servant when his Lord came unlook'd for and at an hour when he least thought of him Or hast thou consider'd the vigilant Master of his Family who wakes at all hours that the Thief can have no opportunity to break the house open And Lastly dost thou remember thy Saviour was born at Midnight and peradventure he may come at that hour to judge the Universe Therefore watch as if every day were thy last The Prayer GRacious God let thy Grace reform our Lives and Manners that we may watch diligently and pray without Ceasing keep our mouth from slander guile and deceit let us never incline to Actions of injustice or uncleanness in partaking with Thieves or Adulterers either in their Sin or Punishment that when thou who art the righteous God of the World shalt appear in perfect Beauty with a consuming Fire before thee and a Tempest round about thee with Terrours and glorious Majesty calling the Heavens and the Earth together to judge thy People thou mayst gather us among thy Saints in Glory II. O let the day-spring of thy Favour visit us from on high that we may seek thee with an early Devotion pursue after thee with a Constant and Active Industry and at last possess thee with the firm Comprehensions of Love and Charity That in this World we looking for thee in Holiness of Living longing and thirsting after thee with fervent Desires may for ever hereafter behold thy Power and Glory Give us the Mercies and the Portion of thine inheritance that so we may Honour thee by an eternal Oblation of Praise and Thanksgiving in the highest Heavens Amen Meditation V. Death often to be thought of MAny in this World live as if they thought they should never die nor in the least consider their Latter end It was a Custome with some of old whensoever they intended a sumptuous Feast to put a Deaths-head into a Dish and serve it up unto the Table II. Which being meant for a significant though silent Orator to plead for Temperance and Sobriety by minding Men of their Mortality and that the end of their eating should be to live and that the end of their living should be to dye and the end of their dying to live for ever for even the Heathens who denied the Resurrection of the Body did yet believe the immortality of the Soul was look'd upon by all sober and considering Guests as the wholsomest part of their Entertainment III. And since 't is true what is said by Solomon that Sorrow is better than Laughter for by the sadness of the Countenance the Heart is made better Whereupon the Royal Preacher concludes it better of the two for a Man to go into the House of Mourning I cannot but reason within my self that when the Heart of Fools is in the House of Mirth there can be nothing more friendly or more agreeable to their wants than to invite such Men to the House of Mourning and there to treat them with a Character of the most troublesome Life of Man which being impartially provided will serve as well as a Death's-head during the time of their floating in this Valley of Tears IV. For this is useful to all by way of Instruction not to be amorous of a Life which is not only so short as that it cannot be kept long but withal so full of trouble as that 't is hardly worth keeping Nor by consequence to doat on a flattering World which is so little
we must all appear before the Judgment-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 2 Cor. 5.10 V. Immortal but afflicted Soul canst thou hear all this and not dissolve thy self into Tears When not only in thy Bed of Sickness by a secret Divine Power all those Works which thou hast done be they Good or Evil shall be presented and appear before thee but in that great and fearful day of Account when all Flesh shall come to Judgment All these in Capitals shall appear written before thee VI. Not one Bosome Sin were it never so closely committed subtilly covered or cunningly carried but must be there discovered Adam shall be brought from his Bushes and Sarah from behind the Tent-Door and miserable perplexed Man shall say to his Conscience as Ahab said to Elias Hast thou found me O mine Enemy What innumerable Bills of Inditements then will there be preferred against thee To all which thou must hang down thy Head and plead Guilty VII O how art thou fallen into the Gall of Bitterness and Misery what can the Thoughts and the Imaginations of thine Heart say for themselves but that they have been evil continually What can the words of thy Mouth speak for themselves but that they have been full of all filthiness and obscenity Lastly what can the works of thine hands plead for themselves but that they have been loaden with Transgressions and Iniquities VIII But perhaps thou hast some fond hopes of a Pardon and so like some deluded Offenders by flattering thy self with a vain hope of Life alienatest thy thoughts from thinking of a better Life But do not so deceive thy self for if it be not by saithful Repentance sought for here there is no hope for any Pardon there to be procured nor for any Appeal to be there admitted not one minutes reprieve granted nor one moment of Adjournment of Death's heavy Sentence That severe Sentence of eternal Death Depart from me shall be the Sentence to lose whose Countenance and depart from his Presence is to bring thy Soul into endless Torments The Prayer O My God thou who hast appointed a time for every Man to die and after that to come to Judgment make me to remember my End that fitting my self for it I may cheerfully encounter it and so prepare my self for that Judgment which shall come after it II. O make me walk in thy light now while I have light to walk in and to work out my Salvation now while I have time to work in For time will come unless we walk here as Children of light when we shall have neither light to walk in nor time to work in O inflame my Heart with thy Love and teach me thy Judgments and my Soul shall live Meditation XIV Upon Hell HArk how the Damned cry out that while they were here on Earth they lived better than thou and yet they undergo the Sentence of Damnation thus they tax God's Mercy and indulgence towards thee of Injustice and Partiality Such is those Damned Souls Charity mean time thou livest securely feedest deliciously and puttest the thought of the evil day from thee by walking foolishly in the ways of Vanity II. Little desire then mayst thou have sinful Man to see Death having so little hope of Life after it Had some of those damned Objects who are now lost for ever received those many sweet Visits Motions and free Offers of his Grace those opportunities of doing good and many means of eschewing evil no question but they would have been as ready to entertain them as thou hast been to reject them III. Think with thy self how happy had that Rich Glutton been if he had rewarded poor Lazarus with some few Crumbs from his Table Had it not been far better for him to have given to the Poor all that ever he had To have disrobed himself and exchang'd his purpled Garments for Rags of Poverty than to dwell in everlasting Burnings IV. How happy had that rich Man in the Gospel been if instead of encreasing his Barns he had inlarged his Bowels to the Poor little dreamt he how soon his Soul should be taken from him when he addressed his Care for so needless a Provision His thoughts were so taken up with Building his Barns wider that he never considered How Tophet was ordained of old how it was made deep and large the Pile thereof Fire and much Wood and how the Breath of the Lord like a stream of Brimstone doth kindle it Esay 30.33 V. Turn unto thy self O my Soul and see whom thou canst find in more Danger of falling into that place of Horror than thy self How hast thou bestowed thy time how hast thou employed thy Talent hast thou not laid it up in a Napkin or hast not thou worse improved it by employing it to some ignoble Ends have not many been damned for less than thou hast committed and did it grieve thee to repent of what thou hadst done that thou might'st escape that Condemnation VI. Many a wretched Soul lies there tormented for less Offences than ever thou transacted and hast thou yet turned to the Lord that thou mayst be pardoned It is written in what hour soever the Righteous committeth iniquity his Righteousness shall not be had in Remembrance Ezck. 18.24 Now if the Righteousness of him shall be forgotten by committing iniquity who leaveth what he once loved relinquisheth what he once professed what can we think of the Repentance of that Sinner who returns again to his Sins like the Dog to the Vomit or like the Sow to her wadowing in the Mire VII How many have ascended even up to Heaven and amongst the Stars have built their Nests and yet have suddenly faln from that Glory by glorying in their own Strength and so drench'd themselves into endless Misery And this was the Reason of their lost Estate because they aspired unto that Mountain to which the first Angel ascended and as a Devil descended VIII And canst thou excuse thy self of being one of that number Hast thou not sometimes made a fair shew to the World of plausible Arguments of Piety hast thou not been sometimes like the King's Daughter all glorious without but how soon didst thou lose this Glory and fall from that seeming Sanctity or Holy Hypocrisie into open Prophaneness and Impiety IX And now what will become of me in this extremity the Wages of sin I know is Death a Death that never dieth but liveth eternally where nothing shall be heard but weeping and wailing groaning and howling sorrowing and gnashing of Teeth How grievous then shall be my Anguish how endless my Sorrow and Sadness when I shall be set apart from the Society of the Just deprived of the sight of God deliver'd up unto the Power of the Devils and forced along with them into unquenchable Fire there to remain to all Eternity X. With what dejected Eyes and a
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
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
my Sin III. O Lord be merciful unto me heal my Soul for I have sinned against thee Call to remembrance O Lord thy tender mercy and thy loving kindness which hath been ever of Old O remember not the Sins of my Youth nor the Offences of riper years but according to thy mercy think thou upon me IV. Cast me not away in the time of Age forsake me not now that my strength faileth me Go not far from me O God my God haste thee to help me Thou O God hast taught me from my youth up until now Forsake me not therefore in my old Age when I am Gray-headed V. The days of our Age are Threescore years and ten and though some be so strong that they come to Fourscore which is a mercy wherewith thou hast Crowned me thy unworthy Servant yet is their strength then but Labour and Sorrow so soon passeth it away and we are gone But Lord suffer me not to go hence in thy Displeasure O suffer not my Sun to go down in thy wrath nor my days to be shut up in the darkness of thine Anger VI. But as thou art pleased to bring me to my Grave in a full Age like as a shock of Corn cometh in his Season so let me be gathered at last like Wheat into thy Heavenly Granary And let mine Age be renewed as the Eagles in thy Kingdom of Glory Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be World without end Amen VII Thou in whose hands are the Keys of the Grave and the issues of Life and Death Thou in whose Power alone it is to kill and to make alive and to bring down to the Grave and to raise up again Thou who hadst Compassion upon Peter's Wives Mother by recovering her out of a Fever Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me whole VIII Thou who didst shew thy mercy to those Daughters of Abraham the Woman that for twelve years together was diseased with an Issue of Blood and another who by the space of eighteen years was so bowed together that she could in no wise lift up her self thou didst loose both these and many more from their long infirmities Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me whole IX Thou who didst restore to Life the young Maiden that was dead Lord if thou wilt thou canst restore me to my Health who am an aged Sinner and a sick feeble Creature Thou canst mitigate my Pains and renew my Strength and lengthen my days For thou makest our Beds in our Sickness and art the Lord of Life and Health and Strength even thou art the Almighty God and the Horn of my Salvation O thou ancient of days X. But Lord as for these outward Blessings I wholly submit my self and them unto thy good Pleasure If it be thy Blessed Will to have the days of my Pilgrimage prolonged upon Earth make me to live always to thy Glory and to my own Souls Comfort as thou dost add days to my years so do thou likewise add Repentance to my days XI But if thou thinkest it more expedient for me that I should die than live then welcome my Death and Dissolution without which there is no entring into Life eternal nor hopes of being with Christ Welcome Jesus who by thy Death hast taken away the Sting of Death Welcome that Cup whereof thou my dear Saviour hast drank before me and which even to the very Dregs thou hast drank off for me XII And therefore I will readily take this Cup of Death which thou hast begun unto me and Praise the Name of the Lord. I will Praise thy Name O sweet Saviour who givest me this Cup of Death the Cup of Salvation I will Praise thy Name who hast born all our Sicknesses for us and all our infirmities XIII I will Praise thy Name who art the Physician of Souls and callest all such unto thee as are weary and heavy Laden that thou mayst refresh them Amongst which great number behold me O Lord thy poor and aged thy weak and sick Servant weary in my Bones and laden with my Sins But Lord I come unto thee in obedience to thy Call and of those that come near unto thee thou castest none out Lord I come unto thee for ease and refreshment XIV O my beloved Saviour Jesus in the midst of the weariness of my Body in the midst of the load and burthen of my Sins in the midst of the Sorrows which are in my Heart O let thy Comforts and Consolations refresh my Soul XV. And when the snares of Death compass me round about let not the Pains of Hell take hold upon me But by all the Merits of thy Nativity Death Resurrection and Ascension I beseech thee to seal unto me in thine own precious Blood and by thy most Holy Spirit the full-Pardon of all my Sins and to admit me who am thy own Purchace to a Participation of thy Glory A Prayer for a Happy End in time of Sickness O Most glorious Jesus Lamb of God Fountain of eternal mercy Life of the Soul and Conqueror over Sin and Death I humbly beseech thee of thy Goodness and Compassion to give me Grace so to employ this transitory Life in vertuous and pious Exercises that when the Day of my Death shall come in the midst of all my Pains of Body I may feel the sweet refreshings of thy Holy Spirit Comforting my Soul and relieving all my spiritual necessities II. Lay no more upon me than thou shalt enable me to bear and let thy gentle Correction in this Life prevent the insupportable Stripes in the World to come give me Patience and Humility and the Grace of Repentance and an absolute renouncing of my self and a Resignation to thy Pleasure and Providence with a Power to perform thy Will in all things and then do what thou pleasest to me only in Health or Sickness in Life or Death let me feel thy Comforts refreshing my Soul and let thy Grace pardon all my Sins Amen Meditation XXIII Thanksgiving for Ease in Sickness or Recovery out of it BLessed by thy Name O Lord for blessing the means which are applyed unto me It is thy hand and the help of thy mercy that thou hast relieved me The Waters of affliction had long since drowned me and the Stream of Death had gone over my Soul if the Spirit of the Lord had not moved upon these Waters and led me forth besides the waters of Comfort II. O spread most gracious God according to thy mercy thy hand upon me for a Covering and also enlarge my Heart with Thanksgivings and fill my Mouth with thy Praise Praise the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me Praise his Holy Name who hath saved thy Life from Destruction and Crowned thee with mercy and loving kindness III. Grant Lord that what thou hast sown in Mercy may spring up in Duty Let my Duty and
received by the Holy Catholick Church and holds in Consent or Harmony with the Holy Scripture the Christians Armour by which and the constant Practice of Piety every faithful Soldier of Christ may be enabled to pull down those strong Holds of his spiritual Enemy and by Possessing his Soul in Patience obtain a glorious Victory VII With all due Reverence I esteem of those two Sacraments Baptism and the Lord's Supper the one to cleanse and purifie us at our entring the other to strengthen and sanctifie us Living and to glorifie our Souls at their departing As with my Heart I believe unto Righteousness so with my Mouth do I confess unto Salvation VIII Neither do I profess my self such a Solifidian asto hold Faith sufficient to Salvation without Works Neither such a Champion for good Works as to hold Works effectual without Faith As Faith is the Root so are Works the Fruit. These are ever to go hand in hand together otherwise that fearful Curse which our blessed Saviour sometimes pronounced upon the barren Fig-tree must be their Censure IX And now in this day of my Change as in this Confidence I have ever liv'd so my Trust is that in the same I shall dye that in the Resurrection of my Saviour Christ Jesus is my Hope And in his Ascension is my Glory For I believe that my Redeemer liveth and that with these Eyes I shall see him X. And having thus returned a due Account of my belief my next thing is to remember that Message returned by Isaiah the Son of Amos to Hezekiah set thine House in Order for thou shalt die 2 Kings 20.1 for it is a Maxim when the outward part is orderly disposed the inward cannot chuse but be better prepared XI To remove then from me the Cares of this present Life that I may take a more willing adieu of the World before I leave it weaning my desires from it by addressing my self to a better for live he cannot in the Land of the living who prepares not himself for it before his arriving XII And now my Worldly Cares are drawn near unto their Period Seeing then I am sailing towards my Harbour let me strike Anchor that taking the Wings of the Morning I may fly to the Bosome of my dear Redeemer go forth then my Soul what fearest thou Go forth why tremblest thou thou hast had enough of these Worldly Pleasures for what foundst thou there but Anguish turn then thy Face to the Wall and think of the I and of Promise XIII Thou hast now but a little time left thee the remainder whereof is justly exacted by him that made thee Sighs Sobs Prayers and Tears are all the Treasures that are left thee and precious Treasures shall these be to thee if presented by Faith to the Throne of mercy for the Enemy can never prevail where Christian Fear and constant hope possesseth the Soul XIV Let thy desire then be planted where thy Treasure is placed and as one ravished with a spiritual Fervour cry out and spare not with that devour Father St. Hierom Saying Should my Mother tear her Hair rent her Cloaths lay forth those Breasts which nursed me and hang about me should my Father lye in the way to stop me my Wife and Children weep about me I would throw off my Mother neglect my Father contemn the Lamentation of my Wife and Children to meet my Saviour XV. And less than this O my Soul thou canst not do if thou callest to mind what thou leavest to whom thou goest and what thou hast in Exchange for that thou losest For what dost thou leave here but a World of Misery to whom goest thou but to a God of Mercy and what haft thou in Exchange for a vile frail and corruptible Body but immortal Glory Whatsoever thou hadst here was got with Pain kept with Fear and lost with Grief whereas now thou art to possess eternal Riches without Labouring and to enjoy them without fear of losing The Prayer O God my Heart then is ready my Heart is ready too long have I sojourned here and made my self a Stranger to my Heavenly Countrey It is high time for me then to discamp and to leave these Tents of Kedar that I may rest without Labouring rejoyce without sorrowing and live without dying in the Celestial Tabor saying with that Vessel of Election I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ even so Lord Jesus come quickly A Prayer when we hear a Bell ring for a Person at the Point of Death OEternal God I humbly thank thee for speaking in this voice to my Soul and I humbly beseech thee also to accept my Prayers in his behalf by whose occasion this voice this sound is come to me For though he and all of us have highly offended thee yet do thou in mercy receive us and grant that now his Soul being ready to depart from hence to thy Kingdom it may quickly return to a joyful re-union to that Body which it hath left and that we with it may soon enjoy the full Consummation of all in Body and Soul II. I humbly beg at thy hand O merciful God for thy Son Christ Jesus sake That thy Blessed Son may have the Consummation of his Dignity by entring into his last Office the Office of a Judge and may have Society of humane Bodies in Heaven as well as he hath had ever of Souls and that as thou hatest Sin it self thy hate to sin may be exprest in the abolishing of all Instruments of Sin the Allurements of this World and the World it self and all the temporary Revenges of Sin the Stings of Sickness and of Death and all the Castles and Prisons and Monuments of Sin in the Grave III. Let time be swallowed up in Eternity and hope swallowed in Possession and ends swallowed in infiniteness and all Men ordained to Salvation in Body and Soul be one intire and everlasting Sacrifice to thee where thou mayst receive Delight from them and they Glory from thee for evermore Amen Meditation XXXII Of this Life compared with Eternity FOrasmuch as Man who is born of a Woman hath but a short time to live and is full of Trouble so Man as regenerate and born of God hath a long time to live and is full of Bliss A Life so long that it runs parallel with Eternity and therefore without an abuse we cannot use such an Expression as length of time II. It is not a long but an endless Life it is not Time but Eternity which now I speak of Nor is it a wretched Eternity of which a Man may have the Priviledge as he is born of a Woman but an Eternity of Bliss which is competent to him only as born of God III. And of this Bliss there is such a fulness that our Heads are too thick to understand it Or if we were able to understand it yet our Hearts are too narrow to give it Entrance Or if our Hearts could
I Sâ—…tse A FUNERAL GIFT Iob 34 15 All flesh shall perish together man shall turn again unto dust A Funeral Gift OR A PREPARATION FOR DEATH WITH Comforts against the Fears of approaching Death And Consolations against immoderate Grief for the loss of Friends By the Author of the Devout Companion All the Days of my appointed time will I wait till my Change come Job 14.14 LONDON Printed for Henry Rhodes next Bride Lane in Fleet-street 1690. Price bound One Shilling TO THE TRULY HONOURED The LADY J. C. Madam YOur vertuous Requests to which your Merits gave the force of a Commandment oblig'd me to send my Devout Companion into the World and Madam since it hath met with so Candid a reception by your Ladyship whose early Piety proves so exemplary a Second Obligation presents it self wherein I esteem it a kind of Sacriledge to defraud you of being a Patroness to that which you may so justly challenge Prayer and Meditation are the Golden Rules towards a good Life and we can never miscarry in this dark World if we walk by the Light of a sincere Conscience For with these Holy Guides we implore the Almighty to cleanse our Hearts from all vain and unlawful Thoughts our Mouth from all foolish and idle Words and our whole Lives from all wicked and unprofitable Deeds That which I offer now Madam to your Divine Consideration is Mortality a Theme which some never care to hear of others are negligent in preparing for it and many use their utmost endeavours to put it as an Evil day far from them but all their Strategems are in vain for Death is so potent and bears such sway that none can resist his invincible Power none is exempted from the silent Grave nor none knows how soon they may be called Well-complexion'd Nature indeed may struggle here for a time but at last must yield it self to that pale Messenger Our chief Business here is to trim our Lamps and be vigilant to sow the immortal Seed of Hope and expect hereafter to reap the increase To deprecate the Almighty not to cut us off in the midst of our Folly nor suffer us to expire with our Sins unpardoned But to make us first ready for that Celestial Kingdom and then to receive us into eternal Glory This Madam is the only intent of this ensuing Treatise and may these short but plain Directions have that influence on those Persons which stand in need of these Divine Truths is the hearty and earnest Prayer of Madam Your humble and Faithful Servant in Christ Jesus E. S. A FUNERAL GIFT OR A PREPARATION FOR DEATH Meditation I. Vpon remembring our Creator in the Days of our Youth TO remember thy Creator was one of the choicest Expressions in the Royal Preacher's Sermon For who is he that is Young knows whether he shall live to be Old and yet that voice which sounds those words so loud to the whole Universe is scarce audible in the Ears of many II. This is one of the Divine Chanter's most harmonious Lessons and yet the sordid World is not pleas'd with the Tune 'T is a wonder that the best of School-Masters should have so few Disciples being his Rhetorick is so Divine and Excellent and yet it is a Text which though they will neither hear nor read they cannot chuse but see for the whole World upon it is a Commentary every Creature we behold Preaches this Doctrine which we supinely sleep out with our Eyes open III. Nature wears this Memento in her Forehead the very brute Beasts in this can reason with us and Man could not so soon forget his Maker did he but remember himself But alas Youth loves not to be put in mind of a Heavenly Being 't would clog his Memory and make him think of his Prayers too often IV. Piety will but cool his Blood Religion makes him look Old the thoughts of Heaven and the other World will create in him a greater Gravity than becomes his years his Sanguine Complexion informs him he is not in a fit Temper to study Divine things he may serve God time enough when he is at leisure V. Thus these temporal Objects of Pleasure drive away our thoughts from Celestial Dignities and those purer Joys which attend it We can spend the Beauty of our years in Vice and think to please God well enough with the Deformities of old Age We can revel away our Piety and Time in vain Delights and Pleasures and think our selves strong enough to force Heaven and become Religious when we are withered with infirmities and have nothing left us but Repentance and a Tomb. VI. We are so well satisfied with the sweetness of Sense that we are careless of any other Felicity and so much delighted with the Happiness of Sinning freely that we could willingly be of that Religion where Vice is most tolerated VII We place our Devotion with the Epicure in Natures riots Sportful meetings are our Religious Exercises and a Sermon is as tiresome to us as a Funeral to hear of our end in the midst of our Jollity sounds like the Lecture of Death and the unwelcome Echo of the Grave Let the Preacher exhort us never so well to remember our Maker we had rather follow Satan's Doctrine to enjoy the World as long as we can and think of Heaven when we have nothing else to do The Prayer O Lord shall the Lusts of the World be greater in my Soul than the love of thee Shall the temporary Delights of Sin drown the memory of thy Glory my Life is but a Span and yet I beseech thee shorten that rather than it should be spent in a neglect of thee better this earthly Tabernacle should be dissolved than become a Theatre for Sin to revel in II. Let me pay Nature her due Debt sooner than perhaps she would call for it rather than run in Score with thy Justice 'T is better I should die and be lost in the Memory of the World than ever forget thee thou formedst me from nothing not to sin but to serve thee and hast imprinted in me a Ray of thy self that I might not seek my own but thy Will nor pursue the World but Heaven III. Make me therefore to see the solid and ravishing Consolation that is in serving thee and that joy which accompanies thy Grace that so I may no longer follow my Sense but my Saviour it is none of the least Sins of our Youth that we are careless and forgetful of thee our Creator and no wonder we are so insensible of the joys to come that live in such a constant and continued neglect of Heaven IV. Make me therefore O my God to Consider that had I the Fruition of all that I can wish or long for here I should not only be satisfied but in the end find how miserable he is that setteth his Heart on any thing but thy self teach me therefore so to enjoy the World that I lose not thee nor the
Memory of that blessed reward thou hast promised to them that honour and truly fear thee Amen Meditation II. The remembrance of Death a powerful Remedy against Sin THe serious remembrance of Death shakes off all Sense of Vanity and turns Honey into Wormwood and the Expectation of it saith Chrysostom permits us not to be sensible of those Delights and Pleasures which we daily enjoy and indeed what is it not able to perform When duly considered it not only takes Possession of some parts but on the whole Fabrick of Man's Body II. Death spares no Age nor Sex nor bears any respect to degrees of Dignity The Young die as soon as the Old and the Infant may end its few days in the Cradle some may expire their last Breath by Poyson or a Fall others by a slow Rheum or a quick descent of Humours some may lie oppressed with the Waves of Affliction and others may be Thunder-struck from Heaven III. Among so many dubious various and sudden Accidents what Security or what Appetite can we find to sin amidst so many incertainties Therefore since we die daily let us think upon Times Hour-Glass where the Sand empties the upper Glass and fills the lower and consider it is so with Life every moment something slides away the present Life empties and flows into another Nothing here is certain to us not the hour of the Day nor a moment of Time IV. Happy are they who wisely use every day and hour as their last and employ every moment of time towards the securing their Eternity They will with readiness abstain from their wickednesses who believe every hour and moment decreed to be their last Could we bestow on the improvement of our Souls the time we so vainly trifle away our day would be short enough not to seem tedious and long enough to finish our appointed Task V. O vain and fruitless Hope how many dost thou deceive and flatter with thy deluding Promises of old Age and yet cuttest them off in the midst of their years That may happen to one which happens to many How many has Death prevented in the midst of their Excess of wickedness and cut off half the Crime How many fall with a mind full of revenge though with an innocent hand How many have been snatch'd away in the Attempt and have received the due reward of their Impieties many in the very moment of a wicked Action begun have been forc'd to leave their evil Designs unfinish'd VI. Now shouldst thou be in the number of those what hour Nay what moment is more certain to thee than to another who can expect a Crime from such a thought when with that Crime he expects Death and with Death just Punishment No prudent Man will sport in the midst of a Storm or at the brink of a Precipice contrive mischief No man is facetious being unarmed in the midst of his armed Enemies Then how much more supine and careless is he who in the perpetual fear of Death when every hour is dubious every moment uncertain dares presume on those things which procure an unhappy Death to Eternity VII O foolish and unwise Whither do we run on in a full Career and hasten so much to be punish'd for ever Why do we not betimes follow that prudent Council of the Son of Syrach who like a wise School-Master delivers to us this Epithete In all thy works saith he remember thy latter end and thou shalt not sin Prayers against sudden Death ALmighty and everlasting God who at first breathest into Man the Breath of Life whereby he became a living Soul But when thou takest away that Breath he dies and is turn'd again to his Dust from whence he was taken Look upon me I beseech thee in Mercy through the Merits of thy alone Son in whom thou art well pleased and not on my Sins who have in a high manner provoked thy Justice By his agony and bloody Sweat by his bitter Death the Price of my Redemption deliver me from sudden and unprovided Death II. O Blessed Jesu by all thy Labours and Pains by thy precious Blood and sacred Wounds by thy last Exclamations and bitter Crys upon the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit Most earnestly I beseech thee not to hasten my Departure out of this World in thy heavy Displeasure but in thy tender Pity and Compassion remember that I am Dust and Ashes thou hast made me and formed me throughout O do not suddenly cast me Headlong from thee into the Lake that burns with Fire and Brimestone from whence there is no Redemption But Grant me I beseech thee a hearty and sincere Repentance a true sorrow for sin a broken and contrite Heart which thou O God wilt not despise That so living here in thy fear I may at the last die in thy Favour and Praise and Bless thee to all Eternity Meditation III. What Life is LIfe is as a Flower of the Field which in the Morning is green but in the Evening it is dryed up and withered it is as smoke which ascends up and vanisheth to nothing it is a bubble Dust Froth a drop of Dew it is Ice a Rain-bow a wasted Torch a Spring-day a most inconstant April a Spiders-web a slender Stalk a small Cloud a Bladder full of Wind. II. Life is like brittle Glass a tender Leaf a fine Silk Thread a Golden Apple fair to the Eyes but infirm within Many such things may the Life of Man be compared to whose Body is subject to many Diseases and Pains while it lives here and at last to Death it self and then it is so far from being prized and valued that it is not to be endured above Ground but laid to rot in the Earth and become a Feast for Worms III. Poor miserable Mortals what Riches do we seem to heap up what Honours do we invest our selves withal and what Pleasures do we pretend to enjoy Yet all these are but a Dream short and vain They have slept out their sleep and all the Men whose hands were mighty have found nothing says the Psalmist Psal 76.5 O Man thou dreamest thou wert Happy and Blessed But of all those things which you enjoy'd and hoped for what do you retain These were the Dreams of those that wak'd and the meer Toys of Dreamers IV. Life therefore what is it Seek but to know and you soon will find that the time of humane Life is a Point Nature Inconstancy Sense Obscurity And the whole Body a Composure easily corrupted The mind roving and unstable Honours Smoke Riches Thorns and Briars Pleasures Poison and all things appertaining to the Body are like a River which yields both Salt water and Fresh Every thing accommodating the mind is a Dream Life is indeed a Warfare as St. James tells us and the Habitation of a Stranger in a foreign Land The Store-house of innumerable Miseries and Fame after Death is buried
to be enjoyed and its Enjoyments also so full of vexatious mixtures V. Again 't is useful to encourage us not to stand in fear of Man that must submit to the King of Terrours and whilst he lives can but kill the Body Nor to scruple at the paying that common Debt we owe to Religion as well as Nature that God may give us an Acquittance as well as Mortality We having received an Ensurance from the infallible undertaker that the way both to save and prolong a Life is Religiously to lose it or lay it down VI. Again it is useful to admonish us after the measure that we are negligent to Merchandize with the Talent of our time for the unspeakable advantages of Life eternal and to do all the work we can whilst it is Day because the Night cometh when we shall be able to work no more VII Lastly it mindeth us as to be doing because our Lord cometh and is at hand so to be vigilant and watchful because we know not in what hour In a word the more transitory and the more troublesome the Life of Men shall appear to be by so much the better will be the Uses which we are prompted to make of its Imperfections The Prayer TEach me O Lord to number my days that I may apply my Heart unto true Wisdom and be more ready to go to the House of Mourning which is the Temple of the Wife than to enter into the House of Mirth the School of the Scornful Suffer me not to set my Affections on things here below that flourish for a time and then fade away but grant that I may place my Affections on Heaven above where thou fittest at the Right hand of the Father for evermore II. Set Scourges over my Thoughts and the Discipline of Wisdom over my Heart lest my Ignorance increase and my Sins abound to my Destruction let my Repentance be speedy and perfect bringing forth the Fruits of a holy Conversation Give unto me a Faith that shall never be reproved a Hope that shall never make me ashamed a Charity that shall never cease a Confidence in thee that shall never be discompos'd a Patience that shall never faint a noble Christian Courage that shall enable me to glorifie thy Name and rejoyce in thy Mercies in the day of Recompence at thy glorious Appearance Amen Meditation VI. Of the Shortness of Humane Life THe days of Man are but few yet they are as many as Nature design'd him and his Glass is run out without being broken unless it be by the hand of Time The whole Duration of time it self is but the Non-age of Eternity and therefore Moses as the Psalmist spoke very aptly when he addressed his Speech to God A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past Psal 90.4 which is infinitely less than was yesterday when it was present II. And 't is the same in effect with that Expression of David the Psalmist Royal who said his Age was as nothing in respect of him who is all in all and that as great as some Men do seem to be to themselves and others Every Man is but Vanity at his best Estate Psal 39. what he is at his worst 't will be impossible to express unless we shall say with David too that he is altogether lighter than Vanity it self III. Now if a thousand years are but as yesterday and as yesterday when it is past too how short a thing is the Life of Man in Comparison How short when compar'd with the long Line of Time How nothing when compar'd with the Circle of Eternity Threescore and ten are all the years which are allowed by Moses to a natural Man's Life and though some are so strong as to arrive at Fourscore yet that overplus of years is but Labour and Sorrow IV. They do not live but linger who pass that Tropick of their Mortality From after Threescore years and ten they are but survivers to themselves at least they feel themselves dying and their Bodies become their Burdens if not the Charnel-houses or Sepulchres wherein their Souls lye buried V. The vulgar Historians thought fit to call it Eorum Amplius which we cannot better express in English than if we call it their Surplusage of Life When Nature in them is so strong as to shoot beyond her own Mark. Her Mark is Threescore and ten if Moses himself hath set it right or place it further at Fourscore farther yet at an Hundred the Life of Man we see is short though it should reach the very utmost that Nature aims at The Prayer WHat didst thou bestow our Reason on us for O Lord but to hearken unto the voice of thy Law that the Celestial Oratory of thy word might at least win us from an ignorant Prophaneness Shall Heathens that had no other end no other reward for their Piety than some temporary Applause or the inward Triumphs of their Spirits for doing well out-strip us in the Beauties of a moral Life and we that have higher and purer Hopes be scarce honest for thy sake II. Shall they that knew thee not be more passionately good than we that have found out Heaven and expect Eternity to succeed Though it was not in the Power of Man to find thee till thou didst reveal thy self in Christ yet now having so richly and fully shewn us the Treasures of thy Love shall we not strive to do something for thy Glory III. Make us we beseech thee to consider the Advantages that are in thy Service the Happiness that attends Obedience and that Crown which is the reward of Faith that so our Affections being mortified unto these perishing Objects here below may be enlivened only with Desires after those eternal Excellencies that are in thee Amen Meditation VII That we ought to seek early after God SUch Lovers are we of Heaven that we think it no sin to serve our selves first and make our Creator wait the leisure of our Devotion Miserable Creatures whose Religion reaches no higher than their Bodies for whose very Superfluities we study to provide whilst our brighter part lies all naked and unthought of II. Such Strangers are we even to our own Souls so insensible of the Joys to come that we look no higher than the World and in sphearing all our Hopes within Mortality as if we had nothing durable beyond our Breath suffer Eternity to be forgotten III. We cannot live without our Maker and yet how do our Lives neglect him How eager how ambitious are we after an Enjoyment here but carry not the smallest Passion for his Glory The Jollities of the World swallow up all thoughts of Heaven and in the Pleasures of Sense we can drown Immortality IV. Is there any thing dearer than our Lives and yet even these are of no value in respect of a better The very Exigences of Nature are trifles to the Concernments of our Souls it is better to starve than die for ever and lose
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
the Cursings and Howlings of Fiends and Furies shall entertain their melodious Ear deformed and hideous sights shall entertain their Lascivious eye loathsome Stenches their delicious Smell Sulphur and Brimstone their luscious Taste Graspings and Embracings of Snakes their amorous Touch and Anguish and Horror every Sense VI. Where those miserable damned Souls shall be tormented both in their Flesh and Spirit In their Flesh by Fire ever burning and never decaying and in their Spirit by the Worm of Conscience ever gnawing and never dying where there shall be Grief intolerable Fear horrible Filth incomparable Death both of Soul and Body without hope of Pardon or Mercy VII And now to close with the last the loss whereof exceeds our Sufferings in all the rest When we consider our unhappiness not only to get Hell the Lake of Horror and Misery but to lose Heaven the place of endless Joy and Felicity what Heart can ponder on it and not resolve it self into a Sea of Tears in Contemplation of it VIII What can the wretched Soul imagine when she lifteth up the light of her mind and beholds the Glory of those immortal Riches and withal considers how she has lost all for the petty Concerns of this Life O how can she be less than confounded with Anguish and cry out in the affliction of her Spirit when she shall cast her Eyes upon this worthless Earth and take a full Prospect of this uneasie World and perceive how her sight was intercepted by a foggy Mist Then presently looking up admiring the Beauty of that eternal Light she instantly concludes that it was nothing else but Night and Darkness she here embraced IX O how then she faints falters and fruitlesly desires that she might have some small Remnant of time allotted her what a sharp Remedy what a severe manner of Conversation would she enter upon What great Promises would she endeavour to perform and with what strict Bonds of Devotion would she seemingly bind her self but then all will be in vain for the Decree is gone forth and as she had her full swing of Pleasures here so she must have her just measure of Torments hereafter The Prayer MOst Gracious and dear Lord out of thy boundless Compassion look upon my grievous Affliction Keep not silence at my Tears for I am a Stranger with thee and a Sojourner as all my Fathers were I have none to fly unto but thee and so highly have I provoked thee that unless thou takest Pity and receivest me for his Blood which was shed for me I am lost eternally II. O thou good Shepherd call me thy lost sheep home for I am lost unless thou callest me Lost for ever unless thou savest me Meditation XVII With Comfort Faith applys her self to the sick Man's Conscience WOunds cannot be cured before they be opened Neither do we doubt but by ministring some fitting Prescriptions our endeavours will bring forth such good Effect as you shall find great ease in your Afflictions You tell me how the remembrance of your End is very terrible to you not so much in regard of your fear of Death as of that dreadful Day of Judgment which attends it II. For you find in your self such an infinite and unsupportable weight of sins pressing down your Soul even to the Gates of Hell as less than grieve you cannot else were you insensible of the loss of a Soul Trust me Sinner so far am I from condoling with you as I rejoyce in your sorrowing for this Sense of your Sins leads you to a Remedy which had you not been afflicted and brought even to the brink of the Pit you had still lived in supine Carelessness III. Now may you say with the Royal Psalmist It is good for me that I have been afflicted Else you might have gloried in your Sins and have perished for ever Be then of good Comfort and suffer not Cain's desperate Conclusion to take possession of your Spirits for I must tell you He sinned more in saying Greater is my Sin than can be pardoned than in murdering his Brother for as in the one he laid violent hands on the image of God so in the other he detracted from the highest and dearest Prerogative belonging to him IV. For there is no Attribute wherewith he is more delighted than to be styled a God of Mercy We may safely then conclude that Despair is of a more high and hainous Nature than any sin For tell me has not God himself with his own Mouth promised and is he not able and willing to perform what he hath promised That at what time soever a Sinner doth repent him of his Sin from the bottom of his Heart He will put away all his wickedness out of his remembrance Ezek. 18. though late Repentance then be seldom true yet true Repentance never comes too late V. The good Thief on the Cross had no sooner repented him of his Sin and Confessed Christ but he was even at the last hour received to Mercy which Example as it admits no Liberty to encourage any to presume so it is a Fortification to others against Despair VI. Indeed there is nothing that endangers Man's Salvation more than by giving way to delay yet when the sorrowful Soul heartily repents him of what is past and with a constant Religious resolve intends to redeem the time to come his pious Tears devout Prayers Holy Resolves will find ready Admittance to the Throne of Grace For as his Mercy is above all his Works so will he extend it in a large manner on that Work which stands in most need of his Mercy VII This your long Experience has observed and plenteously tasted else have your Sojourning years been ill bestowed that he is Gracious Merciful and of Long-suffering and it has been evermore the Property of this good and careful Shepherd to call home those that were wandring and to embrace those that were returning It has been ever the Condition of this valiant Joshua to exhort you to fight and then to assist you in the Conquest VIII Come then tell me are you weary and so heavy laden that you must faint by the way if you be not refreshed Go to him that has invited you and you will receive Comfort be not then wavering in your Faith but take fast hold of his Promises who will not fail you and rely on his Mercies who in your greatest straits will deliver you The Prayer BLessed Jesu how justly mightest thou have reproved me with O thou of little Faith O it is but a little one the least Seed in the Garden but O Lord I beseech thee increase it and pray unto thy Father that my Faith fail not So shall my Heart be purified I become justified and have access to thee by Faith and hereafter live with thee and thy faithful ones in the inheritance of the Just Meditation XVIII Hopes Address to the Sick Penitent A Froward Patient requires a rough hand and a resolute Heart I am not
ignorant of your Disease and your Malady relies much upon my Cure therefore be not doubtful of your Recovery if you do but ingenuously discover to me your infirmity II. I am not altogether unacquainted with my Sister Faiths late visit to you whose sound Cordial Comforts would have wrought such powerful Effects in you as you might have had less occasion for any other Receipts had you discreetly applied what was so seasonably and Soveraignly ministred III. But before I begin with you let me so far prevail on your Temper that you would remove from your too much dejected and depressed Spirit all those unbeseeming Thoughts which perplex your quiet and be not so great an Enemy to your self as to reject that which may rectifie your State and of a Faint-hearted Souldier become a Couragious Warrior IV. To prepare you the better for this spiritual Encounter my first Essay must be to remove those scales from your Eyes which by long continuance are grown so thick that they cast a Mist before your knowledge For though I have been long a Stranger to you yet let us now renew our Acquaintance the which you will not repent of for I never yet lodg'd in that Soul which esteem'd me not a welcome Guest V. Many before this time had untimely perished had they not by me been seasonably supported by Land and Water have I offered my self a Friendly Companion and have firmly stuck to them who relyed on me in time of greatest danger or opposition And when no Token of Deliverance appear'd No hope of Liberty approached I with this Anchor brought them to the Haven safely Planting them so securely as no Peril could interpose their Security VI. And now tell me is my Strength so weakened as I cannot perform what I have formerly so happily effected indeed I must inform your flender Judgment that I am unalterably the same and do find the same Spirit in those to whom I apply my Cure the Accomplishment of which is always my principal Care VII Take then for an Helmet The Hope of Salvation 1 Thes 5.8 Look for the blessed Hope Tit. 2.13 Let thy Flesh rest in Hope Psal 16.9 Be ye of good Courage all ye that hope Psal 31.24 For I must tell you Hope deferred maketh the Heart sick but the righteous hath hope in his Death Prov. 13.12 14. VIII For so well and surely is her Foundation grounded as Hope maketh not ashamed Rom. 5.5 Rejoyce then in Hope be patient in Tribulation Rom. 12.12 So shall the God of Hope fill you with all Joy To whch fulness I recommend you where you may cheerfully say with Holy Job that perfect Pattern of Patience I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth And though after my Skin Worms destroy this Body yet in my Flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not anothers Job 19.25 26 27. The Prayer O My Merciful Lord God who bindest up the Wounds of every Contrite and truly penitent Sinner Suffering him not to be tempted more than he can bear but out of the abundance of thy Compassion givest him an issue out of his Temptation make me ever with a Religious fear so to put my trust in thy Mercy as I may never be swallowed up of my Misery II. And seeing we are saved by Hope Give unto me such a saving Hope as neither too much Confidence may make me presume nor the too perplexing Consideration of my many Sins bring me to a Despair of Pardon III. Be near me Dear Lord in the hour of my Visitation let the Enemy have no Power over me but so shadow me under the Wings of thy Mercy that the remembrance of thy Judgments may rouse me sleeping and the Memory of thy Mercies raise me waking to render Praise unto thee as my Hope is in thee my help from thee O Lord everlasting To whom with thee and the Holy Ghost three Persons and one God Lives and Reigns together World without end Amen Meditation XIX The Exercise of Charity CHarity is cold and such Companions are not easily entertained nor such Guests kindly received where the one bids us give that we may receive the other Commands us to bestow all that we have and when all is distributed to expect our reward in Heaven But this sowing of Bread upon the Waters is of too hard a Digestion to be reaped by a foolish Worldling and yet it must be so sown or your Harvest is lost for ever II. You are here planted in a vale of Misery and the true Exercise of Charity will cover all your Scarlet sins with the white Robe of Mercy And to confer on your peaceful Progress the higher Honour if you will resolve to leave the World and receive her who is despised of it she will conduct you safely to the Kingdom of Glory III. St. Paul informs you 1 Cor. 13.13 says he Now abideth Faith Hope and Charity these three but the greatest of these is Charity Hast thou an earnest Desire to be instructed in what most concerns you to be edified in what most imports you It is not knowledge but Charity that must work this good effect in you For Knowledge puffs up but Charity edifieth 1 Cor. 8.1 IV. Would you be perswasive in Oratory or powerful in Prophecy or an useful Almoner for your Souls safety You must necessarily be accompanied by Charity or you are but as sounding Brass or a tinkling Cymbal 1 Cor. 13.1 your Power to remove Mountains shall not remove in you the least Mole-Hill of your sin Your bestowing all your Goods to feed the Poor shall not make your Soul Rich if Charity be wanting V. Seeing then the Tongues of Men and Angels are but Tinklings and very Sounds without Charity Knowledge becomes fruitless without the edifying Help of it Prophecies be they never so Mysterious Sciences be they in their own Nature never so commodious are altogether unprofitable without Charity Let all your things says the Apostle be done with Charity 1 Cor. 16.14 Follow after Charity 1 Cor. 14.1 Above all things put on Charity Col. 3.14 and St. Peter advises us Above all things have fervent Charity for Charity shall cover a multitude of sins 1 Pet. 4.8 and again add to Godliness Brotherly kindness and to Brotherly kindness Charity 2 Pet. 1.7 VI. And now seeing I have here given you a full draught of Charity by a due Examination of your self you will easily find whether she be in your Heart or no for by these Divine Effects you shall find her to be yours For Charity suffereth long and is kind envies not vaunteth not it self is not puffed up 1 Cor. 13.4 You shall likewise know even by your outward Behaviour whether or no you have received Charity or given her Harbour For Charity doth not behave her self unseemly seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil 1 Cor. 13.5 VII You shall
and frail as the Apples of Sodom which being specious to the Eye did fall to Crumbles by every Touch. The Frame of our Building is not only so frail but as some have thought so ridiculous that if we Contemplate the Body of Man in his Condition of Mortality and by reflecting upon the Soul do thereby prove it to be Immortal we shall be tempted to stand amazed at the inequality of the Match but to wonder at our Frailty were but to wonder that we are Men. II. Yet sure if We that is our Souls for our Bodies are so far from being Us that we can hardly call them Ours are not capable of Corruption our Bodies were not intended for our Husbands but for our Houses whose Doors will either be open that we may go forth or whose building will be Ruinous that needs we must we cannot by any means possible make it the place for though our Bodies as saith our Saviour are not so Glorious as the Lilies yet saith Job they are as frail III. And by that time with David they wax old as doth a Garment how earnestly with St. Paul shall we groan to be cloathed upon 2 Cor. 5.2 to be cloath'd with New Apparel whilst the Old is as 't were turning For when Christ shall come in the Clouds with his Holy Angels at once to restore and reform our Nature He shall change our vile Bodies that they may be changed like unto his Glorious Body IV. But here I speak of what it is not what it shall be though it shall be Glorious yet now it is Vile though it shall be Immortal yet now 't is fading though it shall be a long Life 't is now a short one it is indeed so short and withal so uncertain that we bring our years to an end like a Tale that is told Psal 90.9 V. Death comes so hastily upon us that we never can see it till we are Blind We cannot but know that it is short for we fade away suddenly like the Grass and yet we know not how short it is for we pray that God will teach us to number our days Psal 90.12 VI. This we know without teaching that even then when we were born we began to draw towards our end Wis 5.13 whether sleeping or waking we are always flying upon the Wings of Time even this very moment doth set us well on towards our Journeys end whether we are Worldly and therefore study to keep Life or Male-contents and therefore weary of its Possession the King of Terrours will not fail either to meet or overtake us VII And whilst we are Travelling to the very same Countrey I mean the Land of Forgetfulness without considering it as an Anti-Chamber to Heaven or Hell although we walk thither in several Roads 't is plain that he who lives longest goes but the farthest way about and that he who dies soonest goes the nearest way home VIII I remember it was a Humour I know not whether of a Cruel or Capricious Emperour to put a Tax upon Child-births to make it a thing exciseable for a Man to be born of a Woman As if he had farm'd God's Custom-house he made every Man Fine for being a Man a great instance of his Cruelty and as good an Emblem of our Frailty our State of Pilgrimage upon Earth IX For we arrive at this World as at a Foreign and strange Countrey where I am sure it is Proper although not Just that we pay Toll for our very Landing and then being Landed we are such transitory Inhabitants that we do not so properly dwell here as sojourn X. All the Meat we take in is at God's Ordinary and even the Breath which we drink is not ours but his which when he taketh away we die and are turn'd again into our Dust insomuch that to expire is no more in Effect then to be honest to pay back a Life which we did but borrow The Prayer THou hast brought us from nothing O Lord that we might see thy Salvation that we who might have been for ever without thee might through the knowledge of thy self be made Partakers of thy Glory II. O enliven us that we may give up our selves wholly to thy Service and perpetually study to do something to the Honour of thy Name that we may not throw away those Souls on the Vanities of the World which thou hast given us for thy self and to be employed in thy Service But that sacrificing our Wills to thine and our Lives to a perfect Love of thee we may find that joy which accompanies thy Grace here and that Glory which knows no end or change hereafter in thy Presence for evermore Amen Meditation XXVII That Death frees us from the Vexations Troubles and Cares of this mortal Life A Short Life and a Merry is that which many Men applaud but as the Son of a Woman hath but a few days to live so even those few days are full of trouble And indeed so they are in whatsoever Condition a Man is plac'd for if he is Poor he hath the trouble of Pains to get the Goods of this World II. If he is Rich he hath the trouble of Care to keep his Riches the trouble of Avarice to encrease them the trouble of Fear to lose them the trouble of Sorrow when they are lost And so his Riches can only make him the more illustriously Happy III. If he lives as he ought he hath the trouble of Self-denials the trouble of mortifying the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts Col. 3.5 the trouble of being in Deaths often 2 Cor. 11.23 the trouble of Crucifying himself Rom. 6.6 and of dying daily 1 Cor. 15.31 IV. If to avoid those Troubles he lives in Pleasure as he ought not he hath the trouble of being told that he is Dead whilst he lives 1 Tim. 5.6 the trouble to think that he must die Eccles 41.1 the trouble to Fear whilst he is dying that he must Live when he is Dead that he may die eternally V. Not to speak of those Troubles which a Man suffers in his Non-age by being weaned from the Breast and by breeding Teeth in his Boy-age and Youth by the bearing the yoke of Subjection and the rigid Discipline of the Rod in his Manhood and riper years by making Provision for all his Family as Servant General to the whole VI. Not to speak of those Troubles which flow in upon him from every quarter whether by Losses or Affronts Contempts or Envying by the Anguish of some Maladies and by the Loathsomeness of others rather than want matter of trouble he will be most of all troubled that he hath nothing to vex him VII In his sober Intervals and Fits when he considers that he must die and begins to cast up the Account of his Sins it will be some trouble to him that he is without Chastisement whereby he knows he is a Bastard and not a Son Heb. 12.8 VIII It will disquiet him not a little
Mortification for times of Sickness and old Age when 't will be easie to leave their Pleasures because their Pleasures will leave them yet in the Judgment of God the Son the Word and Wisdom of the Father 'T is the part of a Block-head and a Fool to make Account of more years than he is sure of days or hours XI He is a Sot as well as a Sinner who does adjourn and shift off the Amendment of his Life perhaps till twenty or thirty or forty years after his Death 'T is true indeed that Hezekiah whilst he was yet in the Confines and Skirts of Death had a Lease of Life granted no less than fifteen years long but he deferr'd not his Repentance one day the longer 2 Kings 20.6 XII And shall we adventure to live an hour in an impenitent Estate who have not a Lease of Life promised no not so much as an hour shall we dare enter into our Beds and sleep securely any one Night not thinking how we may awake whether in Heaven or in Hell we know 't is timely Repentance which must secure us of the one and 't is final impenitence which gives us assurance of the other XIII What the Apostle of the Gentiles hath said of wrath may be as usefully spoken of every other provoking Sin Ephes 4.6 Let not the Sun go down upon it Let us not live in any Sin until the Sun is gone down because we are far from being sure we shall live till Sun-rising XIV How many Professors go to sleep when the Sun is gone down and the Curtains of the Night are drawn about them in a State of Drunkenness or Adultery in a State of Avarice or Malice in a State of Sacriledge or Rebellion in a State of Deceitfulness and Hypocrisie without the least Consideration how short a time they have to live and how very much shorter than they imagine XV. Yet unless they believe the y can Dream devoutly and truly repent when they are sleeping they cannot but know they are damn'd for ever if the Day of the Lord shall come upon them as a Thief in the Night and catch them napping in their impieties 1 Thes 5.2.4 2 Pet. 3.10 XVI Consider this all ye that forget God lest he pluck you away and there be none to deliver you Psal 50.22 Consider it all ye that forget your selves that forget how few your days are and how full of Misery Consider your Bodies from whence they came and consider your Souls whither they are going Consider your Life is in your Breath and your Breath is in your Nostrils and that in the management of a moment for the better or for the worse there dependeth either a joyful or a sad Eternity XVII If our time indeed were certain as well as short or rather if we were certain how short it is there might be some Colour or Pretence for the putting off of our Reformation But since we know not at what hour our Lord will come Matth. 24.42 43 44. this should mightily engage us to be hourly standing upon our watch Hab. 2.1 XVIII Next let us consider that if our days which are few are as full of trouble it should serve to make us less fond of Living and less devoted to Self-preservation and less afraid of the Cross of Christ when our Faith shall be called to the severest Tryals XIX O Death saith the Son of Sirach Eccles 41.2 acceptable is thy Sentence to the Needy and to him that is vexed with all things The troubles incident to Life have made the bitter in Soul to long for Death and to rejoyce exceedingly when they have found the Grave Job 3.20 21 22. XX. If the Empress Barbara had been Orthodox in believing Mens Souls to be just as mortal as their Bodies Death at least would be capable of this Applause and Commendation that it puts a Conclusion to all our Troubles XXI If we did not fear him Who can cast both Body and Soul into Hell Matth. 10.27 28. We should not need to fear them Who can destroy the Body only because there is no Inquisition in the Grave Eccles 41.4 There the wicked cease from troubling And there the weary are at rest There the Prisoners lye down with Kings and Councellors of the Earth The Servant there is free from his Master There is sleep and still silence nor can they hear the voice of the Oppressour Job 3.14 17 18 19. The Prayer O Lord God of my Salvation thou hast delivered me from the Captivity and Bondage of Sin and Misery fill my Heart with holy Sorrow and Compunction whenever I trespass against thee and teach me so to deny my self to mortifie my Affections to crucifie my Lusts and all the Temptations of the Flesh that I going on my way Mourning and Weeping despising the Pleasures of this Life may when thy great Harvest shall come and thy Reapers the Angels shall separate the Wheat from the Tares come before thee with Joy and escape everlasting Burnings through the Mercies of Jesus Christ Amen Meditation XXXI The Sick Man's last Will and Testament IN the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost I a poor Sinner of sound and perfect Memory being daily read in the Lecture of Man's Mortality how all Flesh is Grass and the Beauty thereof as the Flower of the Field which this day flourisheth to morrow withereth and that it is every Chriftian's Duty to Prepare himself before Death come lest it find him unprovided at such time as it shall approach II. Moved I say with these Considerations I have here made this my last Will and Testament as followeth First I bequeath my Soul into the hands of my gracious Redeemer by whose most precious Blood I was Ransomed and by whose Merits and Mercies I hope to be Glorified III. And forasmuch as there was no safety out of the Ark nor no Salvation now without the pale of the Church figured by the Ark and that the Tares from the Wheat must be severed And the Sheep and the Goats must not into one Fold be gathered IV. Here in the Presence of God and his Holy Angels for the discharge of my own Conscience and the Satisfaction of others who perchance have in their Opinions been divided doubting much how I in Points of Religion stood affected do I make a free and publick Confession of my Faith Being that Cement by which we are knit unto her and made Members of her V. I believe the Holy Catholick Church to be the Communion of the Faithful whereof I desire to live and die a Member to suffer for which I should account it an Honour holding this ever for a Principle that none can have God for his Father that will not take this Holy Spouse the Church for his Mother VI. There is no Article in the Apostles Creed which I do not believe for Catholick and Orthodoxal with the Exposition thereof and every Clause or Particle thereof in such manner as it hath been universally