PRACTICAL MEDITATIONS UPON THE Four Last Things: VIZ.
- I. Death,
- II. Iudgment,
- III. Hell,
- IV. Heaven.
By R. SHERLOCK, D. D.
O that they were wise, that they understood this; that they would consider their latter End.
LONDON, Printed by J.H. for L. Meredith at the Star, in St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1692.
PRACTICAL MEDITATIONS UPON THE Four Last Things, &c.
The First Meditation.
THE clean Beast which was only commanded to be offered in Sacrifice unto God under the Law, was such as chewed the Cud, Lev. 11.3and divided the Hoof, mystically representing the qualifications of the clean and pure Christian, Rom. 12.1 1 Pet. 2.4, 5. who is himself that spiritual Sacrifice God requireth under the Gospel.
By chewing the Cud, holy and divine Meditation is intimated: by dividing the Hoof, may be mystically meant the last end of man; which is a dividing asunder the Soul from the Body by Death, and a separation of the holy from the wicked by Judgment; which shall assign to either their everlasting habitations either in Heaven or in Hell.
Of these Four Last Things S. Bernard saith, that First, Death is of all things to flesh and bloud most formidable.
Secondly, Judgment, than the which there is nothing more terrible and dreadful.
Thirdly, Hell, the Torments whereof are insupportable.
Fourthly, Heaven, the Joys whereof are beyond Apprehension most Blissful and Ravishing.
And these Subjects of holy Meditation would prove the most prevalent to turn all persons professing Christianity, from all the errors of their ways, whether in Opinion or Conversation, would they but seriously consider the shortness and uncertainty of this present life: the strict account must be given of all our Thoughts, Words and Actions, even to every idle Word, especially spoken to the detriment of any: That in all these we shall have the Devil and his Angels vehemently to accuse us, and our own Consciences to testifie against us: A most severe Judge to pass sentence upon us: from whose impartial doom, the endless Torments of Hell shall receive the wilfully erroneous, and impenitent sinner; but eternal Joys, and never fading Felicities shall crown the Orthodox and Holy.
Psal. 6.17. The wicked shall be turned into Hell, and all the people that forget God.
Wisd. 3.5. But the Souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them.
Ath. cr. Mat. 25. ult. They that have done good, shall go into everlasting life: and they that have done evil, into everlasting fire.
Psal. 4.4. This Faith is professed by many, but by few believed with the heart: for he that cordially believes these principles of his Religion, will stand in awe, and sin not: he will not dare in defiance of this Faith, knowingly and wittingly to transgress the Laws of the great Majesty of Heaven: and 'tis such a Faith attended by Fear, and this Fear by Care and Caution, that must preserve the Soul from the Torments, and entitle her to the Joys of the other World.
Aristotle saith, That he who believes not, can neither Hope nor Fear: and consequently, he who doth truly believe these Essentials of his Religion, cannot but both hope for the Happiness, and fear the Misery of the World to come.
'Tis recorded of a Friar, that he complained to his Abbot, that he was weary of that idle, lazy life; and therefore he desired leave to depart to some other place: To whom the Abbot returned answer, Thy laziness is a manifest sign, that thou didst never truly believe, and seriously consider of the Pains of Hell, and the Joys of Heaven; for the deep sense of these would preserve [Page 4]thee from [...]ll laziness in thy Cell. Pra. Spir. cap. 142.
O that they were wise, Deut. 32.29.that they understood this, that they would consider their latter End.
It is the greatest and most comprehensive of all the parts of true wisdom, so to consider as rightly to prepare for our latter end: for to end well is the summ of all our hopes, and of all the happiness we can hope for.
It is a great vanity to desire a long life, without the thought of leading a holy life. 'Tis a great vanity to be so wholly intent upon this present life, as not to provide for the life to come. 'Tis a great vanity to be in love with what suddenly fadeth away, and not to hasten in our desires and endeavours to that joy which shall never end. T. K. l. 1. c. 1.
Have mercy upon me, Psal. 9.13.O God, and consider the trouble I suffer of them that hate me, my Spirit is troubled for the daily incursions of my ghostly enemies: Thou that liftest me up from the Gates of Death: Such is this frail mortal life, all the ways whereof are vanity and iniquity, even Gates leading to Death eternal: From the which I humbly beg to be raised up, and exalted by thy right hand.
That I may shew all thy praises within the ports of the daughter of Sion: 14 glorifie thee with thy Church Triumphant in Heaven: I will rejoyce in thy Salvation: to be thus lifted up and sav'd, is a joy unspeakable and glorious.
Remember me, Psal. 106.4.O Lord, according to the favour thou bearest unto thy people, and visit me with thy Salvation.
That I may see the felicity of thy chosen, 5 and rejoyce in the gladness of thy people: and give thanks with thine inheritance.
MEDITAT. II. Of the Shortness and Frailty of this present Life.
MAN that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. Job 14.1.
He cometh forth like a Flower, and is cut down: he fleeth as a shadow, 2 and continueth not — In the midst of life we be in death, whilst every day we live is one day nearer to the end of life.
For what is your life? Jam. 4.14.'tis even a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
The time of my life past is already swallowed up by death, which still dogs me at the heels to devour the short remainder of my flitting days.
Not to consider this shortness and frailty of humane life, is to make my life yet more short and frail. So Drex. vita brevis omnibus— Life is short unto all, but shortest unto those, who forget what is past, are negligent in what is present, and fear not what is to come.
Lord, make me to know mine end, and the number of my days, that I may be certified how long I have to live: that the length of my days is of the shortest measure: for behold thou haste made my days as a span—Verily every man living is altogether vanity: The most high and mighty, the most honourable [Page 6]and wealthy are not exempt from this character: for Honours, Riches, Friends, all the delights of the Sons of men, with all the Pomp and Pleasure, and power of the world, depending upon the shortness and frailty of humane Life; Nihil est magnum re, quod parvum tempore: nec longis dilatatur gaudiis, quicquid arcto fine concluditur. Hucher. Ep. Paran. renders every man in all that he is, in all that he has, and in all that he hopes for, in this world, a vanity of vanities, an universal vanity.
The divine à Kempis gives us both the reason and the use of this doctrine: Quia per peccatum — Since by Sin we have lost our innocence, we ought with patience to expect the mercy of God, until this iniquity do pass away, and mortality be swallowed up of life. T. K. l. 1. c. 22.
S. Augustine's Meditation on this Subject.
THE time of my Pilgrimage here upon earth is tedious, wearisome — for this is a miserable life, a frail life, an uncertain life, a bitter life, a laborious life, a sinful life: 'tis the mistress of error and sinfulness, and the hand-maid to death and hell—
This life is rather to be called death than life, as being through the whole course thereof, a passing from Life to Death: for whilst we pass from Infancy to Childhood, from thence to Manhood, and so to Old-age, every such change in Life is but a passage to death, or rather so [Page 7]many stages of Death; for each condition of life is the death of its foregoing state and condition.
There is no condition in this life certain and setled; now we are glad, and anon sad; now we are well, and anon sick; now we are at ease, and anon in pain; now we laugh, and anon weep; now in hunger and thirst, anon in fulness and excess: in honour and dishonour, in wealth and poverty, in heats and colds, in evil report and good report, in fear and terror, and much amazement: and all this and much more than can be exprest, is too often attended by a sudden, unexpected death; and which is yet more miserable, though there be nothing more certain than death, yet vain foolish man knoweth not, considereth not his end.
Eccl. 9.12. So the Preacher: For man also knoweth not his time, as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them.
Aristotle being ask'd, what is man? answered, Imbecillitatis exemplum; Temporis. spolium; fortunae lusus; inconstantiae imago; invidiae & calamitatis trutina; reliquum vero. pituita & bilis.
Quid homo (inquit Gran.) cujus conceptio, culpa, nasci poena, vivere miseria, & mori, tormentum?
Silenus being ask'd by Midas: Quid homini optimum? answer'd: Primò, non nasci: sccundò, quam ocyssime mori.
O senseless mortals! especially being called Christians, and yet to be of so little Faith, as to doat upon a life so frail, short and uncertain, so changeable and calamitous, in defiance of what we daily profess to believe, Life Everlasting.
Blessed are they, and they are but a few, who in hopes and desires to enjoy the unchangeable blessings of the life to come, do slight and despise the fallacious flattering injoyments of this world, lest being deceived by the charms and fawnings thereof, the Deceiver and the Deceived perish together.
'Tis a general complaint, that the world is deceitful, and unsatisfying in all her most alluring enjoyments; and yet so mightily the flesh prevaileth against the spirit, that most men love, (and I am a great fool among the rest) yea doatingly love to be thus deceived: too passionately desiring to injoy still this mortal life how frail soever, and attended with a numerous train of miseries.
But forget not, O remember and forget not, that thou art immortal (O my soul) and that death is but the change of a troublesome for a quiet life, of a frail for a fixed and permanent Being; of an uncertain for a certain abode, and of a temporary for life everlasting. 'Tis but the falling in pieces of an earthly Tabernacle, and when it is dissolved,2 Cor. 5.1.thou hast a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens.
'Tis a fam'd saying of Benedict: Malus mortem, bonus vitam formidat: In the death [Page 9]of the righteous is his hopes of happiness, but in the continuance of this life doth the wicked trust.
Thou wouldst not fear the end of this life, didst thou rightly hope for the beginning of a better: 'Tis for want of treasures laid up in Heaven, the fruits of true holiness, that thou art afraid to die, and 'twill be too late to labour for them, when death approacheth.
The Prayer.
O Almighty God, who alone canst order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men, grant unto thy people (and to me with them) to love the thing which thou commandest, and desire that which thou dost promise; that so among the sundry and manifold changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found, through Jesus Christ.
MEDITAT. III. Of the frequent Remembrance of Death.
1. THIS present Life is the School of Death, wherein we are taught the several lessons of living to die well, or so to die, that we may live Eternally.
Climacus scal. grad. 6. records a story of a Brother, who had lived negligently for many years, and was at last surprized with such a desperate disease, that he was for so long a time depriv'd of his Senses, that [Page 10]he was supposed to be absolutely dead: but recovering again, he immediately secluded himself from all society, and continued for Twelve years, which was the remainder of his time, in that solitary separate condition, lamenting continually the negligences and sins of his by-past life, and the sad condition of all such persons who die in their sins unrepented.
And when the time of his death indeed approached, many of his fraternity flock'd to him, desiring to hear some more than ordinary instructions, and directions from him for the good of their Souls: but all that he would say was this, as the summ of Christian wisdom: If you desire so to live that ye may die happily, then meditate continually upon death: for 'tis scarce possible for that man to sin, who with due regard remembers Death, the wages of Sin.
'Tis said by the said Climacus, That the meditation of death is as necessary to preserve the health of the Soul in the life of grace, as is daily bread to preserve the body in the life of nature.
2. The forgetfulness of Death is the seminary of all the Sins of the sons of men: hence the neglect of all the duties we owe to God and Man: hence the abuse of all the blessings of God, whether relating to this or the other world: hence all luxury, and all the sinful pleasures of the flesh: hence all covetousness, and carnal cares for the things of this life: hence all forgetfulness of the great account we must make of all the works done in the body, together with the banishment [Page 11]from our minds of all fears of Hell, and hopes of Heaven: 'Tis therefore good advice the wise Syracides gives us; Ecclus. 28.6. Remember thy end, and let enmity cease: Remember corruption and death, and abide in the Commandments.
I should not surely dare to sin against my God, would I but seriously consider in every act I do, and in every moment I breath, I am hastening to my last breath, and that then I must give account as of every moment of my time, so of every work, both good and evil, at what time soever performed. And 'twas surely thus S. Paul died daily. 1 Cor. 15.31.
3. To die the death of the righteous is the desire even of the wicked; Numb. 23.10. but his last end shall be very unlike the others.
The only way to die well, is to live well; and he that will live well, must live by dying principles: saying with holy David, My Soul is continually in my hand: Psal. 119.109. and for ought I know it may expire at my next breathing, since many thousands in this very moment do breath their last.
And 'tis only this moment I can call mine: for what time of my life is past, cannot return again to be enjoyed, and what's to come is not in mine, Psal. 31.17. Acts 17.28. but in the Lord's power: My time is in thy hand. In him we live and move, and have our being.
Quam foelix & prudens—He is both a wise, and a happy man, whose endeavours are, so to be qualified in his life, as he desires to be found in his death. T.K. In order hereunto, 'tis the wholsome advice of a Father, Cum mane fuerit— when 'tis morning, think that perhaps thou mayst not see the evening; and when evening comes, remember that 'tis uncertain whether thou shalt see morning.
Those Indian wisemen call'd Brachmans, had their Sepulchres before their doors: that both upon their going out, and coming in, they might remember their approaching death, as a curb to restrain them from all extravagant lustings after the pleasures, riches and honours of this mortal life.
'Tis recorded of John the famous Patriarch of Alexandria, that whilst he was in perfect health he had his monument framed, but not finished: and that he gave order upon every Festival after the publick offices of the Church were ended, one of the Priests should say unto him aloud; Holy Father, your Monument should be finished, Mat. 24.43. because 'tis not known at what hour the thief cometh.
I cannot better advise both my self and my Reader, than that in every thing we go about we would every man of us ask himself this question: Would I now do this if I were ready to die? 'Tis the Wiseman's advice, whatsoever thou takest in hand, Remember the end,Eccl. 7. ult.and thou shalt never do amiss.
When an Emperor of the East was newly proclaimed, before he spake to any person in the stile of Majesty, a Mason comes to him, and shewing him several kinds of Marble, demands of which of those kinds of stone he would have his Sepulchre made: intimating unto him, that although he was made an Emperor, he was not to forget he was a mortal; and therefore it concerned him, with such justice and mercy to govern his Earthly Kingdom, that he might not forfeit the loss of the Kingdom of Heaven.
From the forgetfulness of my death, and the uncertainty of my life, from every evil work whereunto such forgetfulness may betray me, and from a sudden, and an unprepared death, good Lord deliver me.
4. The Lord cloathed our first Parents with the skins of Beasts, to put them in mind of that mortality and corruption of the flesh they had contracted by their disobedience to his commands: the which as we their sinful off-spring do daily bear about us, so ought we also to have the same in a continual remembrance for the keeping under the unruly lusts of the flesh, that we finally pass not from a spiritual to death eternal.
And thus, every truly pious man thus remembers daily the unavoidable death of his corruptible body, so as to keep his Soul unspotted of the world, and alive from the death of sin, continually mortifying all his evil and corrupt affections, and daily proceeding in all vertue and godliness of living.
And thus in the sence of the holy Apostle of our Lord, To die daily, is not only daily to remember death, but daily to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness unto the hopes of Eternal happiness: slighting all the false and flattering felicities of this fawning world, as being not only empty and unsatisfying, but also mortal and dying.
A holy confidence to die well, and in hopes to enjoy Life Eternal after Death, is begotten in the heart, (saith the spiritual A Kempis, A Kempis de Imit. Christ. l. 1. c. 23.) 1. By a perpetual contempt of the world. 2. By a thorough self-denial. 3. By a fervent desire and endeavour for proficiency in Grace. 4. By the love of discipline, or strict corporeal Austerities. 5. By the unwearied labour of true Repentance. 6. By a willing and ready obedience to all God's commands. 7. By suffering contentedly; yea, even joyfully all adversities for the love of Christ.
And thus prepare for thy change to come, looking not (as becomes an Immortal Soul) at the things which are seen, 2 Cor. 4.28.but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
The Prayer.
O God the protector of all that trust in thee, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us thy mercy; that thou being our leader and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we finally lose not [Page 15]the things eternal: Grant this, O heavenly Father, for thy Son Jesus Christ. Amen.
MEDITAT. IV. Of the Horror of Death.
1. UNder the Law, when a Fowl was to be offered for a burnt Sacrifice unto the Lord, The head was to be wrung off; Levit. 1.16. the crop with the feathers to be cast into the place of ashes: Intimating mystically that the way to mortifie the swellings of pride and luxury, and make all the feathers of secular pomp and vanity to flag, is to turn our eyes unto the ashes of the dead, and see the horrid state of such as lye in the Grave, even of the most high, powerful and pompous that ever liv'd upon earth.
"S. Augustine being with his Mother Monica invited to Rome by Pontianus the Prefect, to view the stately Edifices, and ancient Monuments of that eminent City, amongst other rareties, he saw the great Caesar's Sepulchre, and therein his carcass of a livid, gastly colour; his face faln away to such a meagre leanness, as scarce of skin and bone consisting; his Lips being rotted away, his Teeth were seen black and corrupted; his Nose so consumed, that only the wide hollows of his Nostrils appeared; his Belly burst, and swarming with Worms and Serpents; his Eyes quite sunk into his head, and in the two holes thereof two loathsome [Page 16]Toads were feeding— Then turning towards his Mother, he said: What now, dear Mother, is become of the great Caesar, whose pomp, and power, and policy; whose riches, honour and dignity; whose many victories, conquests and triumphs rendred him the most admired Heroe the world afforded? Where now is all his glory? Where the Conquering Armies he commanded? The Cities, Nations, Countries he subdued? The numerous train of Nobility, Gentry, Souldiery that attended him? The vast riches and boundless authority he acquired?—
Whereunto the pious Matron answered, O my Son! no sooner did his Spirit fail, and his breath expire, but all his splendid enjoyments, all his flattering worldly felicities forsook him: His riches, his friends, his attendants, all his conquests and triumphs, all the honour which he got through manifold travels, pains and perils, have all now left him alone in this gastly silent Sepulchre, accompanied only with Worms, Stench and Corruption.—
Such is the end of all flesh: All flesh is grass, Isa. 40.6.and all the goodliness thereof as a flower of the field. The flower is more gay and gawdy than the grass for a little space, but when the verdure of both decays, they have the same withered complexion, they rot and corrupt both alike; and commonly the more gawdy flower is more ugly and stinking than the grass: 'Tis even so with the rich, and the poor, the honourable and the base in this world, they differ only in [Page 17]their outward fashion and appearance: but when death doth seize them they are equally obnoxious to the same solitude, poverty, and nakedness, to the same stench, corruption, and rottenness.
'Tis as true of the greatest Prince, as of the meanest Peasant: When a man is dead, Eccl. 10.11.he shall inherit creeping things, Beasts and Worms. All the difference in the Grave betwixt the rich and the poor, is this; That the dust of the rich, through the luxury, lasciviousness, and intemperance of their life, is more corrupt and loathsome after their death, than is the dust of the poor, whose food and nourishment was more course and sparing.
Why then, my Immortal Soul, art thou so fond of thy corruptible companion, the Body? Remember, its beginning is uncleanness, and its end rottenness? 'Tis thy servant for the present, but if thou too much cocker and pamper it, 'twill rebel, subdue, and lead thee captive to a worse death, than that whereunto it self is liable, even the death of the nether Hell; Mar. 9.44. Where the Worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
2. Death is the wages of sin: And I have sinned, vile wretch that I am, I have sinned, and what shall I do, or what shall I say unto thee, O thou preserver of man? All that I can say is the same still; Psal. 38.18. I have sinned, and as long as I have a day to live I will say it: I will confess my wickedness, and be sorry for my sins.
Mercy, good Lord, mercy I humbly beg: Job 7.20, 21. O why dost thou not pardon my Transgression, and take away mine iniquity?
Are not my days few, cease then, and let me alone, that I may bewail my sins, and take comfort a little, in the hopes of the pardon of them, through faith in the blood of my dear Redeemer, Job 10.20, 21. before I go to the place from whence I shall not return, to the land of darkness, and of the shadow of death.
3. I know that to flesh and blood death is of all terribles the most terrible, Job 18.14. but my blessed Redeemer hath pulled out the sting, and quelled the terrors of death, 1 Cor. 15.55, Heb. 2.14. 56, 57. He hath also destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the Devil. So that now when death approacheth, through Faith and a good Conscience I shall have hope, with all patience and contentment, to drink off that Cup, how bitter and painful soever, saying with my blessed Lord and Master upon his approaching death, Mat. 26.42. Father, not my will, but thine be done.
The Prayer.
ASsist me mercifully, O Lord, to subject my rebellious flesh to the guidance of the Spirit, and my spirit to the Laws of my Redeemer, that when my body shall be the inheritance of Worms and creeping things, my Soul may possess an inheritance uncorruptible, and undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in the Heavens, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
MEDITAT. V. Of Preparation unto Death.
I.
AS there is nothing more certain than death: Psal. 89.47. For what man is there that liveth and shall not see death? So there is nothing more uncertain than the time of death; Mat. 24.36. for of that day and hour knoweth noman.
'Tis therefore unknown, Luk. 12.40. that it might be alway suspected and awaited: The Son of man cometh in an hour when you think not: That his coming may be hourly thought upon; Latet dies ultimus, Aug.ut observentur omnes dies: The day of our death is hidden from us, that all our days should be no other but a preparation thereunto, the certainty of the one engaging us unto sincerity in the other Veri hominis Christiani vita, nihil aliud quam continua ad mortem praeparatio esse debet..
Every danger foreseen is best prevented: And thus death the greatest of dangers may be rendred the least dangerous by a prudent fear, and careful provision for the same: Qui pavet, cavet; qui negligit, incidit: Bern. Prov. 14.16. which may best be englished in the language of the Holy Ghost; The wise man feareth, and departeth from evil; but the fool rageth, and is confident Timeat semper in vita mortem qui mortis metum evadere velit..
II.
The great end of this mortal life, is to prepare for death; or rather for a safe passage through death to life Immortal: For upon the well or ill spending of the few minutes of this present life depends either a blessed, or a miserable Eternity.
It was the advice of a wise man to his friend, to have engraven in capital Letters, in some such place of his house, as might be most frequent in his view, to be often considered: Momentum unde pendet Eternitas.
III.
There is no consideration our blessed Lord hath so frequently inculcated by commands, counsels, exhortations, admonitions, parables, similitudes, arguments and reasons, as this of the Christian watch, i. e. to prepare, to provide, to be ready, to wait for the coming of the Lord, or for the approach of Death; Luke 12.38. whether he shall come in the first, or in the second, or in the third watch: whether in the time of youth, or manhood, or old age: Mark 13.34, 35, 36, 37. at all times, and in all ages he commands all men to be upon their watch.
This watch implies many particulars, which are so many preparatives, unto death.
1. To watch, is to have our eyes open, or our minds enlightned by the holy true Christian Faith.
2. That the affections of our hearts, and the actions of our lives be framed according to what we rightly profess to believe.
3 To have our eyes not only opened, but uplifted towards Heaven above, and not still poring upon the Earth below.
4. In our watch we must carefully observe all the orders and commands given us by Christ the Captain of our Salvation.
5. That we shake off all drowziness and sluggishness, being active and vigorous in the execution of all such commands; and in all the respective duties we owe to God and Man.
6. That when the Lord cometh, and knocketh at the door, by the batteries of death, we be both willing and ready to open unto him: And in order hereunto,
7. That our hearts be prepared to receive the Lord, being so swept and cleansed, that nothing be found in any corner thereof, which may offend him, who is the searcher of all hearts.
8. We must stand upon our watch with our loins girded, or all irrational lusts restrained; that we may be expedite and ready to execute whatever our duty to God or Man requires: Thus S. Jerome stood upon his watch, professing that whether he did eat or drink, rest or labour, sleep or wake, he always heard the voice of the last Trumpet sounding in his ears, Awake and come to Judgment.
9. Lastly, In this watch we must persevere, not to be taken off by any wiles of Satan, concerns of the world, or allurements of the flesh; but to stand fix'd and immovable in our respective stations of Christian duty, untill the great Captain and Lord of life and death shall remove us hence.
And may I thus, blessed Lord, continually wait for thy coming, with my loins girt, in [Page 22]the restriction of all the unruly lusts of my heart, and of all the irrational imaginations of my head also: and my Lamp of the holy Christian Faith burning continually; being fed with the oil or unction of the holy Spirit of God, and shining in and through all the whole course of my life, by all such good works as may glorifie thee our Father which art in Heaven. This is that sacred light (even faith which worketh by love) which will infallibly guide me through all the mazes of this mortal life, and convey me safely through the gloomy shades of death, into the Region of light, and life everlasting. Amen.
IV.
In this life our condition is changeable from better to worse, and from worse to better: But in death all hopes of bettering our condition are buried with the liveless corps. 2 Cor. 6.2. Now is the acceptable time, now is the day of Salvation. 'Tis in the day of this life I am commanded to work out my Salvation with fear and trembling. Phil 2.12. When the night of death cometh no man can then work: Ecclus 9.10. There is neither work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave where thou goest. And it is wisely therefore advised in the following words; Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might: Be vigorous, be active, Col. 1.10. be zealous, be fruitful in every good work.
The Soul that is laden with the fruits of well-doing, shall chearfully in the approach of death commit her self unto God, 1 Pet. 4. ult.as to a faithful Creator.
Those good deeds, which through the merits of Christ will render us secure in the hour of death are,
1. Devout and humble, frequent and fervent prayers unto God, and praises of him, wherein we do most immediately both commit and commend our Souls unto God, and gain his grace and favour, especially when accompanied with,
2. Fastings often: Luke 2.37. By these we offer our bodies in sacrifice unto God: as by Prayer our Souls. Rom. 12.1.
3. Charitable Almsdeeds, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Heb. 13.15, 16.
Such preparation for death is advised by the wise Syracides, Ecclus. 14.12. Remember that death will not be long in coming: and that the covenant of the grave is not shewed unto thee. Verse 13. Do good to thy friend before thou die: put not off to thy last Will and Testament: but according to thy ability stretch out thy hand, and give unto the poor.
To make the poor our friends, or rather our Acts of charity towards them, against the day of death, is commanded by our Lord, Luke 16.9. Make your selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness, in the pious and charitable distribution of your worldly goods; that when you fail, your bodies fail to be the habitation of your Souls; they may receive you into everlasting habitations: Which is yet more fully and plainly commanded by our Lord, Luke 12.33, 34, 35, 36. Thus the wise Virgins were provided, for the coming of the Bridegroom, with oil in their Lamps: their light of Faith was [Page 24]kept flaming by charity and good works, by which means they were admitted into the Bridal-chamber of Celestial Paradise: from whence the foolish Virgins were excluded, who had Lamps, but no Oil; Faith without Charity; or else good works without sincere intentions, and holy affections in the performance of them, Mat. 25.3, 4.—
'Tis not doubted, but every act of Charity is transient, and every good work of what nature soever, takes end with the work done: but the Charity, the Piety, the Wisdom, the Righteousness of every religious work is not of a dying stamp: For righteousness is Immortal, Wisd. 1.17.
As therefore the good works of holy and good men pass away and vanish, so the holiness and charity of their actions pass into Heaven, and stand there upon record to plead through the merits of Christ for their admission into those Regions of bliss.
He hath dispersed abroad, he hath given to the poor, Psal. 112.9.his righteousness remaineth for ever; his horn shall be exalted with honour.
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord; they rest from their labours, Rev. 14.13.and their works follow them.
Lord, I pray thee, that thy grace may alway prevent and follow me; and make me continually to be given to all good works; the never failing fruits of a true Christian Faith; and by these inseparably conjoyn'd to make my calling and election sure, scaled in the bloud of my dear Redeemer. Amen.
V.
1. There are three general messengers of Death: 1. Chance: 2. Sickness: 3. Old age. Chance renders the life of man doubtful and uncertain: Sickness makes it grievous and weariso me: Old Age makes it tedious, and Death inevitable.
Some persons are stifled in their Mothers womb, and die before they see the light of this life.
Some die in their infancy, some in their youth, some in their man's estate, and some there be, but these are of all other the fewest in number, who die in their Old age: And yet the most of men do not only desire, but fondly conceit they shall live to be old, and yet never think themselves old enough to die; which makes so many millions of persons die unpreparedly: And so pass from a temporal to death eternal: For death is then most generally the nearest, when 'tis conceited to be furthest off. Bern. Mors enim propior esse solet, cum longius abesse putetur.
2. 'Tis the thought of a longer, and still of a longer life, that is the great impediment of Repentance, and amendment of life: whereby the Devil hurries men by throngs to be his woful companions in his Region of blackness of darkness for ever. And the great Reason is, because Repentance delayed till Sickness, or Old Age come, is not only uncertain and unsafe, but very seldom or never truly and sincerely performed. 'Tis a dreadful saying of S. Hierome; That scarce one of ten thousand, who have continued in any sinful course of life, without the conscientious [Page 26]practice of a true and timely Repentance, do ever so perfectly repent, as to obtain the remission of their sins in the hour of death.
For the prevention of so great and general a mischief, and perdition of ungodly men; the All-wise and good Providence of Heaven hath ordained, that in all ages and conditions of men this life shall take end: that so none how young and lusty soever, with his bones full of marrow, should yet dare to live unprepared for death, presuming still upon further time for Repentance and Amendment of life.
Tu in senectutem sana defers consilia, & inde vitam vis inchoare quo pauci perduxerunt: stultitia magna est tunc vivere incipere, cum desinendum est.
Blessed Lord, suffer me not thus to deceive my self, through the sly insinuations of Satan, and my own sensual inclinations and desires, but make me so mindful of my end, that I may pass the remainder of my days in the constant practice of Repentance, and Godly fear, that living in thy fear, I may die in thy favour, and in a well grounded hope to live with thee for ever. Amen.
VI.
1. Every change in my frail constitution, every little pain and ache in my corruptible flesh, all distempers and diseases are as so many memorials of my mortality; but the older I grow, Heb. 8. ult. the nearer still is the approach of my dissolution by the hand of death; for that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
2. Happy is the man, who on his bed of [Page 27]death can say with the Apostle, 2 Tim. 4.7. I have fought a good sight, against all the assaults of the Devil, the World and the Flesh, which war against the Soul: I have finished my course: as the course of my life; so the course of godliness in all its respective duties enjoyn'd me. I have kept the Faith, untainted, by any Atheistical imaginations, heretical opinions, or sinful practices: and I have been faithful in the discharge of those offices, and relations, wherein my great Lord and Master hath entrusted and enstated me.
If my heart condemn me not in any of these respects, 8 I may thence conclude with joy and exultation, from henceforth there is laid up a Crown of righteousness, which the righteous Judge shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but to all them also that love his appearance.
The Prayer.
LOok graciously upon me, O Lord, I beseech thee, in the time of my approaching dissolution: and the more the outward man decayeth, strengthen me so much the more continually by thy Grace and Holy Spirit in the inner man: give me unfeigned repentance for all the errors of my life past, and a stedfast Faith in thy Son Jesus, that my sins may be done away by thy mercy, and my pardon sealed in Heaven, before I go hence and be no more seen.
II.
IN the midst of life we be in death: of whom may we seek for succour but of thee, O Lord, who for our sins art justly displeased?
Yet, O Lord God most holy, O Lord most mighty, O holy and most merciful Saviour, deliver us not into the bitter pains of eternal Death.
Thou knowest Lord the secrets of our hearts: shut not up thy merciful ears to our Prayers, but spare us. O Lord most holy, O God most mighty, O holy and most merciful Saviour, thou most worthy Judge eternal, suffer us not at our last hour for any pains of Death to fall from thee.
III.
IN my last hour, O Lord, I humbly beg thy protection from the busie suggestions and direful insultings of my grand enemies, the Devil and his Angels: Oh let not then my Faith fail, or my Hope wither, or my Charity wax cold with the waining flesh: but when all my joynts shall tremble by the batteries of death, mine eyes be darkned, and my tongue falter, then, O then let my heart be enlarged towards my God, waiting upon thee, longing for thee, and incessantly praying, shew me thy mercy, O Lord, and grant me thy Salvation.
The XXXIX. Psalm.
Verses,
1. I Said, I will take heed to my ways: that I offend not in my tongue The meditation of death makes every wise man careful of all his ways, and more especially to avoid the offences of the tongue..
2. I will keep my mouth as 'twere with a bridle: while the ungodly is in my sight The tongue is an unruly evil, and must be tam'd as a wild horse with a bridle, especially when provok'd by captious, contentious and quarrelsome persons..
3. I held my tongue, and spake nothing: I kept silence, yea even from good words, but it was pain and grief unto me Reproaches are for the most part best answered with a discreet silence; so was our Lord, as a Lamb, dumb before the Shearers..
4. My heart was hot within, and while I was thus musing, the fire kindled To abstain from good words is sometimes necessary for the avoiding of an evil construction: but such silence is grievous to the pious Soul, which burns with the fire of divine love, and zeal to God's glory. The zeal of thine house hath even eaten me up.: and at the last I spake with my tongue Though it be often inconvenient to speak before wicked Men, yet it is alway necessary to speak unto God by Prayer..
5. Lord, let me know mine end, and the number of my days: that I may be certified how long I have to live 'Tis a blessing we ought alway to pray for, to be feelingly sensible of the shortness of our life..
6. Behold thou hast made my days as 'twere a span long; and mine age is nothing in respect of thee: and verily every man living is altogether vanity The life of man if compar'd with God's everlasting Being, is rather to be called a death than a life, a vanity, not a verity of being..
7. For man walketh in a vain shadow, he disquieteth himself in vain: he heapeth up riches, and cannot tell who shall gather them The hearts of men are darkned with the shadows of happiness, whilst they vainly care for worldly wealth, which is as transitory and uncertain as the life it self..
8. And now, Lord, what is my hope? truly my hope is even in thee 'Tis not in riches, nor in all the world affords, but in God alone that all hope of true happiness is attainable..
9. Deliver me from all mine offences: and make me not a rebuke to the foolish Our sins deprive us of all true well-grounded hopes in God: and make us liable to the scorn, even of foolish men..
10. I became dumb, and opened not my mouth: for it was thy doing We must with a patient silence suffer the reproaches of others, because occasioned by our offences, and because sent from God for our amendment..
11. Take thy plague away from me: I am even consumed by the means of thy heavy hand And confess withal, that we deserve to be consumed by the just judgments of God..
12. When thou with rebukes dost chasten man for sin, thou makest his beauty to consume away, as 'twere a moth fretting a garment: every man therefore is but vanity Whose lightest chastisements do easily deface the beauty, and decay the strength of the corruptible body..
13. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and with thine ear consider my calling: hold not thy peace at my tears Therefore the devout Soul is poured forth in Prayers, with tears of godly sorrow for her offences, from whence all the miseries of this life do flow..
14. For I am a stranger with thee: and a sojourner as all my fathers were The earth is a strange land to the immortal Soul, whose native home is Heaven, where she was framed by the hands of the Almighty after his own Image..
15. O spare me a little that I may recover my strength, before I go hence and be no more seen Which Image being defaced by her sins, she humbly begs with tears, Time and Space by Repentance, Faith and new Obedience, to recover her native strength and beauty, before she leave her tabernacle of flesh..
Glory be to the Father, &c.
As it was in the beginning, &c.
The Prayer.
SInce my days are but as a span, short and uncertain, I humbly beseech thee, O Lord, to wean my heart from the disquietude of worldly cares: and that I may [Page 33]be fruitful in all the good works of obedience and charity, to repair the breaches of thy blessed Image which mine offences have made, before my departure hence: that so recovering the spiritual health and strength of my Soul, I may die in thy Grace and Favour, through Jesus Christ.
The XC. Psalm.
Verses,
1. LOrd, thou hast been our Refuge from one generation to another Holy men have in all ages of the world applied themselves unto the Lord for succour, support and protection in all conditions..
2. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were made: thou art God from everlasting and world without end Who being eternal is also immutable in his mercy, goodness, power and providence over all..
3. Thou turnest man to destruction: again thou sayst, Come again ye children of men Dispensing both health and sickness, prosperity and adversity, life and death to the sons of men, according to his all-just, allmerciful, all-wise good pleasure..
4. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday: seeing that is past as a watch in the night The longest course of man's life in respect of God's eternal praevision, is but as a day that is already past, or as one of the night-watches, which is both swift and short, and also dark and gloomy through frequent, cross and adverse occurrents..
5. As soon as thou scatterest them, they are even asleep: and fade away suddenly as the grass As sleep is the Image of death, so the life of man in this world is but the image or shadow of life, for as a shadow it fleeth the pursuer and fadeth as the grass..
6. In the morning it is green, and groweth up: in the evening it is cut down, dried up and withered Which the same day beholds both growing and cut down, flourishing and withered..
7. For we consume away in thy displeasure: and are afraid at thy wrathful indignation This frailty of humane life is the punishment of sin, which incurs most justly God's indignation and wrath..
8. Thou hast set our mis-deeds before thee: and our secret sins in the light of thy countenance Whose eyes are ten thousand times brighter than the Sun, both seeing and recording the most secret of our sinful ways..
9. For when thou art angry, all our days are gone: we bring our years to an end, as it were a tale that is told 'Tis through God's just anger for our sins, that our days are shortned, and our years are spent in vanity and trouble..
10. The days of our age are threescore years and ten: and though men be so strong that they come to fourscore years, yet is their strength then but labour and sorrow: so soon passeth it away and we are gone The miseries of man's life are not so great through the shortness thereof, as that his sorrows, and troubles are increased with his days..
11. But who regardeth the power of thy wrath? for even thereafter as a man feareth, so is thy displeasure God's displeasure for our sins is either more or less, according as we do less or more stand in awe thereof..
12. So teach us to number our days: that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom True wisdom is attained by the serious contemplation of the frailty of life and certainty of death..
13. Turn thee again, O Lord, at the last: and be gracious unto thy servants Intermixing with our meditations devout Prayers for the propitious grace and favour of God..
14. O satisfie us with thy mercy, and that soon: so shall we rejoyce and be glad all the days of our life Which alone can satisfie the desires of the immortal Soul, and throughly rejoyce the same..
15. Comfort us again now after the time thou hast plagued us: and for the years wherein we have suffered adversity We may reasonably alledge our sufferings, though for our sins, as motives to implore the consolations of God's Spirit..
16. Shew thy servants thy work: and their children thy glory God's proper work is mercy, and 'tis his glory to be gracious, for the which the righteous do pray both for themselves and their Children..
17. And the glorious Majesty of the Lord our God be upon us: prosper thou the work of our hands upon us, prosper thou our handy work God's glorious Majesty appears by the gracious influences of his holy Spirit: whereby we work the works of God, to his glory and our own eternal happiness..
Glory be to the Father, &c.
As it was in the beginning, &c.
The Prayer.
ALmighty God, the Fountain of all Wisdom, grant me so wisely to number and compare the short and sorrowful days of this mortal Life, with that joyful and never ending day of a blessed eternity; that despising the vanities of the one, I may zealously aspire to the happiness of the other. O satisfie the panting desires of my Soul, with the sense of thy mercy in the pardon of my sins: and let the glory of thy grace appear, in prospering me to perform all those good works of Faith and Obedience, which conduce to my eternal Salvation, through Jesus Christ.
THE Second general Meditation UPON JUDGMENT. And first the Particular Judgment.
IT is appointed unto man once to die, Heb. 9.27.and after that the Judgment: No sooner shall this house of flesh, wherein the immortal Soul doth now inhabit, be shattered in pieces by the hand of death, but in the same moment the departing Soul shall be conveyed by the Angels of God before his Judgment-seat: and this is call'd The particular Judgment, that shall pass upon every person in particular immediately upon his death: Eccl. 12.7. when the dust shall return to the earth as it was, then shall the Spirit return unto God that gave it: 14 To give an account of the works done in the body, whether they be good, or whether they be evil.
That grand enemy of man, the Devil, awaits thy Soul's departure hence, to dog thee to the great Tribunal of Heaven. Ille enim tunc saeviens capit quos nunc blandiens decipit. Greg. In this life he fawns to seduce, but in the other he will roar to devour, as a Lion over his prey: to this end he will vehemently accuse thee, aggravating all thy miscarriages through his suggestions committed, and claiming thee as one of the subjects of his kingdom of darkness: saying to the great Judge of all, as several Fathers observe:
"This person (thou Judge of the world) though he be thine by Creation, Euseb. Emiss. Hom. Aug. orat. cont. Judaos, Pag. yet he is mine by Depravation: He is Thine by nature, but mine by sin, for he has obeyed my suggestions, and disobeyed thy Laws: and therefore though he belong to thee by right, yet he is faln to me by default: he is thine in respect of his workmanship, but mine by the rebellion of his will, and disorder of his affections: having yielded himself to follow my temptations, and to forsake the paths of thy Commandments.
But 'tis not the Devil alone that shall thus accuse thee when arraigned at the Bar of divine Judgment: but (as S. Chrysostom saith) the Heavens and the Earth, and the Sea, the Sun and the Moon and the Stars, both Nights and Days, and all the Creatures thou hast abused, shall bear witness against thee: but above all,
Thine own Conscience shall be as a thousand witnesses; for being then freed from this clog and damp of the corruptible flesh, all thy imaginations and desires, all thy [Page 40]words and works spoken and done in the body, shall appear to thy Conscience in their native, genuine and proper colours, without any ignorance or oblivion, misperswasion or misprision, which now blinds the minds of many thousands to their eternal ruine on that day.
O who shall then be able to answer thee one of a thousand (thou most worthy Judge eternal) if thou shouldst be extream to mark what is done amiss, Job 9.2. Ps. 130.3. and thy great mercy intervene not to mitigate the rigor of thy Justice?
But in thee have I put my trust: Ps. 38.15,Thou shalt answer for me, O Lord my God. I have no other Advocate to plead my cause, but my righteous Judge himself from whom in my daily prayers I have required that they, 16 even mine enemies, should not triumph over me, when I stand to be judged before the Tribunal of Heaven.
Eccl. 23.2, 3. "Who will set scourges over my thoughts, and the discipline of wisdom over my heart, that they spare me not for mine ignorances, and pass not by my sins? Lest mine ignorances increase, and my sins abound to my destruction: And I fall before mine adversaries (in the day of my trial) and mine enemies (the spirits and powers of darkness) rejoyce over me, whose hope is far from thy mercy.
Meditat. II.
My flesh trembleth for fear of thee, Psal. 119.120.and I am afraid of thy Judgments: when I consider [Page 41]the severity of many of thy temporal judgments, which are now intended to drive sinners to Repentance, that thou mightest spare them hereafter, I cannot but foresee the unconceivable rigour of thy eternal judgments, which intend punishment only, without any thought of future mercy to spare and to forgive, as in this life.
And I vile sinner have great cause to fear, as a strict examination which all must undergo, so severe a sentence to pass upon me, having not so conscienciously as I ought obeyed the sacred dictates of the saving grace of God, teaching us, Tit. 2, 11, 12, 13.that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world.
With what face then shall I look for the blessed hope, or hope for blessedness upon the appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ?
I have a greater cause to fear, than to hope; to wave, than to await his coming.
But how shall I avoid, or whither shall I flee from the face of my Judge? whither but from an offended God, to a merciful Redeemer? from the Throne of thy Justice, to thy Mercy-seat? To meet thee now with Repentance in my heart, and the fruits thereof brought forth in the actions of my life; and with such spiritual wings cemented with the bloud of my Redeemer, I may hope to flee from the wrath to come.
O God who art justly displeased for our sins, Mat. 3.7, 8. and pacified by our true and sincere Repentance; spare, O spare all those who confess their sins unto thee: that they whose [Page 42]consciences by sin are accused, by thy merciful pardon may be absolved through Christ our Lord.
Meditat. III.
Before Judgment examine thy self: Eccl. 18.20.and in the day of visitation thou shalt find mercy.
And I, upon the examination of my self do find my heart foul and polluted, and my life stain'd with manifold offences: but that I may escape the judgment of God, I judge my self to be a miserable sinner, I judge my self to have incurr'd the Lord's just indignation, to have deserved the dismal sentence of condemnation to pass upon me. For I have sinned, and I have done wickedly, and I have committed iniquity, and have rebelled against the Lord by departing from his most holy Laws and Judgments.
Many will be my accusers when I come to my great Trial upon life or death eternal: and many and great accusations have they to lay against me: the Devil and his Angels, whose suggestions unto evil I have too often followed; many men, and many women too who have been conscious of my sins, and of whose sins I have been many ways guilty: All the good Creatures of God I have abused, and his mercies in them: all those evil deeds I have committed, and the many good offices I have wittingly omitted, all which stand upon record in the Lord's black book of remembrance: and mine own Conscience shall bear witness to all these undeniable Evidences.
These are the Books that shall be opened against me: and I have not what to answer for my self: Psal. 26.1. But my trust is in the tender mercies of the Lord, therefore I shall not fall, and be cast in my trial. Holy Jesus, who wast condemned being innocent, acquit me though greatly nocent through Faith in thy Bloud.
Judge me, O Lord, Ps. 35.24,according to thy righteousness, not after mine; for 'tis little, and good for little: but 'tis thy righteousness, Holy Jesus, both active and passive, I must plead for my acquittance when judged by thee: then, O then let not mine enemies triumph over me.
Let them not say in their hearts, there, 25 there, so would we have it: neither let them say, we have devoured him: But in the hour of death and in the day of Judgment,
Good Lord deliver me.
MEDITATIONS UPON THE General Judgment.
WHen the Son of man shall come in his Glory,Mat. 25.31,and all his holy Angels with him, then shall he sit upon the Throne of his Glory.
And before him all nations shall be gathered— 32
This is called The day of the Lord, 1 Thes. 5.2. by way of Eminence, as being of all days the greatest.
I.
And that first in respect of the great appearance which shall be upon this day, both of the Judge and the persons to be judged.
1. Great and glorious, terrible and amazing shall be the appearance of the Judge himself, with all his numerous attendants.
His personal appearance shall be in Majesty and great glory; not in respect of his Divine nature, for that appears not to the eyes of flesh; but in respect of his Humane nature assumed.
That nature which appear'd here upon earth, poor, mean, contemptible: wherein he was despised and scorned, whipt and scourged, beaten and buffetted, bespattered with ignominious spittings and vile reproaches: [Page 45]rack'd, disjoynted, distorted, deformed, nailed and pierced, crucified and died: shall upon this day appear cloathed with Majesty and crowned with glory: Every eye shall see him, even they also who pierced him; and the marks in his nailed hands, in his nailed feet, and in his gored side shall appear as so many shining Stars for their glittering splendor.
2. A great day in respect of the numerous attendants upon this great Judge; of whom Dan. 7.9.—when the ancient of days did sit— thousand thousands ministred unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
When this day of the Lord cometh, the Sun shall be turned into darkness, and the Moon into bloud; and all the glittering Stars shall fall from their Orbs: but then the Sun of righteousness shall shine, attended by all the triumphing Saints and Angels of Heaven, who shall appear as so many Stars in the Firmament above, dazling the eyes, and astonishing the hearts of all persons to be judged; and this renders,
3. This day a great day in respect of the appearance that shall then be; even of all the Men that ever lived, or shall live upon the face of the earth: and of all the Angels also, who are more numerous than men in the judgment of the Schoolman; who saith, T. Aq. p. 1. q. 50. Art. 3. that there be as many, if not more, of spiritual than of corporal Beings.
4. A great day in respect of the multitudinous Trials, even of all the works that ever have been done, from the Creation to the dissolution of all things under the Sun.
And not our works only; but,
5. Of all our words, even of every idle word an account must be given: By thy words thou shalt be justified, Mat. 12.36, 37.and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
6. Not our words and works only, but even the inward thoughts, intentions, and desires of our hearts shall be expos'd to open view and censure: the Lord will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of all hearts. 1 Cor. 4.5.
The most seared Conscience of the wicked, and the most subtle secret Conscience of the Hypocrite, shall by the all-piercing light of the divine Majesty be displayed, and appear as manifest and open, as if all the counsels thereof had been written with a beam of the Sun: Ps 90.8. For thou, O Lord, hast set our misdeeds before thee, and our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
'Tis recorded of Agathon, a person famous amongst the Aegyptian Fathers for strictness and holiness of life, that he was notwithstanding exceedingly afraid upon his approaching death: And being demanded the reason of his fear by such as knew the innocence of his life: He answered, That the judgments of God do vastly differ from the judgments of Men: Every way of man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weigheth the spirits, Prov. 16.2. Woe, woe to the most holy and innocent life amongst Men, [Page 47]if the mercy of God do not interpose in the day of Judgment.
For alas, who is so holy, who so pure and innocent, as to stand with any confidence in that all-discerning light of the Sun of Righteousness? Eccl. 23.19. Whose eyes are a thousand times brighter than the Sun, beholding all the ways of men, and considering their most secret parts.
I have been guilty (most merciful Father) I have been guilty of manifold miscarriages, which I have now forgotten, nor can I through the strictest examination of my self, recal to my memory many of mine offences. Job 14.16, 17. But although I cannot, yet thou numbrest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin?— my transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sowest up mine iniquities. So surely are all my transgressions kept in store against the day of my Trial: whilst I sensual and secure, think all is well enough with me, and that my sins are forgotten: Ps. 19.12. O cleanse thou me from all my secret faults: and as they are hid from my memory, Ps. 51.9. so hide thou thy face from them; blot them out of thy Book of remembrance, that they appear not to my confusion on that great and last day.
II.
1. The Lord hath made all things for himself, yea even the wicked for the day of evil, Prov. 16.4. The great day of Judgment is call'd [...], the day of evil: As for which day the Lord hath reserved the full execution of his severe justice upon all the evils of the world.
In the Creation of all things, the power of God was most especially manifested: in the government of the world doth his wisdom most appear: In the Redemption of mankind his mercy is most transparent: And in the day of Judgment shall his justice most eminently shew forth and exercise its strict and severest measures.
2. Sad and dismal is the sentence that upon this great day shall pass upon all such, whose Faith hath not according to ability and opportunity been fruitful in the good works of Charity: Mat. 25.41, 42. Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire—For I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat—
And if these shall be eternally damned, who have not given of their own goods for the relief of others: what shall become of the Oppressor, the Extortioner, the Cheater, the Thief, and of every one who either by force or fraud, publickly or secretly, hath either taken, or detained what of right belongs unto others? Surely if the one shall go, the other shall be driven, hurried with a vengeance into everlasting fire. Ver. ult.
3. Great, unconceivably great shall be the perplexity and anguish of the impenitent sinner in this great day: beholding (as Anselm meditates) on the one side his sins accusing him, and on the other the strict and impartial justice of Heaven, ready to pass sentence upon him: seeing below him the mouth of Hell gaping to devour him; and above him an angry Judge condemning him to that place of Horror: feeling within an accusing Conscience tormenting him, and without the [Page 49]whole world in consuming flames: 1 Pet. 4.18. And if the righteous shall scarcely be sav'd, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear? or where shall he hide himself that he may not appear? For any wicked one to lie hidden on that day is impossible, and to appear is dreadful and intolerable.
S. Chrysostom saith, that the very sight of an angry Judge shall be then more unsupportable than a thousand Hells.
4. This is that dismal day foretold by our Lord himself, wherein they shall say, Blessed are the barren,Luke 23.29,and the womb that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.
Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, 30 fall on us, and to the hills, cover us.
And hide us from the face of him that siteth upon the throne,Rev. 6.16.and from the wrath of the Lamb.
For the great day of his wrath is come: 17 and who shall be able to stand?
Woe is me that I have sinned: woe, woe, is me, that I have offended this great and terrible Judge of all the world: but as is his Majesty, so is his Mercy great and wonderful.
Have mercy upon me, O God, on that great day, have mercy upon me: and deliver me now in this world from the society, from the temptations, from the guilt of the wicked; Ps. 141.4. Let me not be occupied in any ungodly works with the men that work wickedness, that I be not reckoned and ranked amongst them in the world to come.
III.
The day of Judgment is not only of all days the most dreadful, but the most joyful also.
The righteous, and the holy, and the just shall appear in glorified bodies, encircled with the shining rays of excessive light; but the wicked in bodies, or carcasses rather both hideous and loathsome.
To the impenitent and wicked of the world, 'tis a day of the greatest terror; but to the holy and humble of heart and life, a day of Jubilee and greatest joy: a day of shame and confusion to the one, of glory and consolation to the other.
How great then shall be the glory of the holy Christian; and how great the shame of infidelity and Atheism! how great the joy of the true Believer, whose Faith has been fruitful in all good words; and how great the sorrow of the Heretick, Hypocrite, the profane and dissolute! for then, and not fully till then shall God render to every man according to his works. Rom. 2.6.7,
To them who by patient continuing in well doing, do seek for glory, and honour, and immortality: eternal life.
But to them who are contentious, 8, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness: indignation and wrath.
Tribulation, 9, and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil: of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile.
But glory, 10, honour and peace, to every man that worketh good.
For there is no respect of persons with God. 11
What heart can worthily think of these things, without trembling and great astonishment, if not purified and sincerely devoted to the service of God?
Teach me, O Lord, thy way, Ps. 86.11.and I will walk in thy truth: O knit my heart unto thee that I may fear thy name: fear to offend thee the great and righteous Judge of the world, in the least particular of thought or desire, of word or of deed.
Lord, who never failest to help and govern them whom thou dost bring up in thy stedfast fear and love: keep us, we beseech thee under the protection of thy good providence, and make us to have a perpetual fear and love of thy holy name, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
IV.
When the Son of man cometh, Luk. 18.8.shall he find faith upon the earth? All we who are called Christians, profess to believe both the certain coming of Christ to Judgment, and the uncertainty of the time: That we must all stand before his dreadful Tribunal and receive every man according to his works: but this is generally a dead Faith, it quickens not the affections, it excites not to such holy conscientious actions, as the firm and cordial Belief of all this does imply and command: and so will prove as dangerous to the Souls of such Believers as if they had no faith at all.
With most of men the Judgments of God, and all the amazing concerns of Eternity, are no more but words which they hear: they have but very narrow, very shallow and dark conceptions of them: they understand not their great astonishing importance; and are not therefore deeply affected therewith to become wise unto Salvation.
O raise up thy stupid Soul, I do here summon there whosoever thou art that regardest these Meditations, and thou art hereby summon'd particularly as by name to make thy appearance at this general Assizes to be held at the great and last day; and there to give an account of every passage throughout thy whole life: which shall be as strictly and throughly sifted and examined, as if there were none but thy self to be tried, as if no cause but thine alone were to be heard.
Eja Charissime—Consider my dear Christian brother, out of what great danger thou mayst now deliver thy self, and from what great fear thou mayst be freed, if now thou dost alway stand in awe and sin not; if now thou beest alway suspectful of death, and solicitous of the Judgment to come. T. K. l. 1. c. 23.
Prepare then, prepare thy self now; now that thou hast time and leisure prepare thy self for that great day; for upon thy Trial then depends either thy everlasting well-being, 1 Cor. 11.31. Jam. 4.8, 9, 10. Act. 10.4. Luk 2.37. 2 Cor. 11.27. or miserable undoing for ever. Now then cast up thy accounts carefully; examine, try, and judge thy self; confess thy manifold amisses: Humble thy self greatly under the mighty hand of God: Appease [Page 53]the wrath of the great Judge of the world by Prayers and Tears, Eccl. 7.17. and all the sacred offices and acts of true Repentance, by Alms and Offerings and Fastings often: and in a word, 1 Pet. 2.5. by all the kinds of those spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable unto God through Jesus Christ.
Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy fatithful people: quicken our dead and cold Faith with the sacred fire of holy Charity, the very bond of perfection and all vertue, that we plenteously bringing forth the fruits of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded at the last day, through Jesus—
V.
And there was a cry at midnight, Mat. 25.6.Behold the bridegroom cometh: Woe unto me then (saith a devout Father) if I be found sleeping in my bed at midnight, Ambr. in Luc. when the great Judge of all the world shall appear: it concerns me much rather to resolve with holy David: Psal. 119.62.at midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee, because of thy righteous Indgments.
Happy are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find upon their watch, Mar. 13.33, 34. awaiting his coming with their loins girt, their lusts restrained, and their Lamps burning: The light of the holy and true Faith flaming by divine Love, and shining through all the actions of their life: Mat. 5.26. that others seeing their good works may glorifie God the Father of Heaven.
I will stand upon my watch to guard the innocency of my Soul: Mat. 26.41. I will watch and also pray, that I fall not into the snare of the Devil when tempted by him: and that day come upon me unawares.
There be two sorts of sins especially, against which my blessed Redeemer hath commanded me to watch, that the day of the Lord surprize me not: First, Surfeiting and Drunkenness, Luke 21.34. or the pleasures of the flesh. Secondly, The cares of the world, or Ambition and Covetousness: against these grand enemies, which continually war against my Soul, it concerns me continually also to watch and pray.
Blessed Lord, let not, I humbly beseech thee, any importunate cravings of this corruptible flesh seduce me, nor the flattering false felicities of worldly wealth and dignity deceive me; but grant that I being free from all pollutions both from the one, and the other, may await thy coming in all holy but humble confidence, to be ranked not amongst the cursed goats on thy left hand, but amongst thy blessed Sheep on the right hand, and hear that joyful sentence saying, Come ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world: Grant this O heavenly Father.—
Our Father which art in Heaven, &c.
The XXVI. PSALM. PARAPHRASED.
BE thou my judge, O Lord: Verse 1 not to condemn me for my sins, but to accept of my services, though imperfect and weak? for I have walked innocently: not according to the Innocency of thy Saints in Heaven, but according to that of frail Man upon Earth. Neither do I herein presume to justifie my self, but my trust hath been also in the Lord: 'tis not my innocency, but the Lord's mercy I rely upon, and therefore shall I not fall in the day of Judgment.
Examine me, O Lord, and prove me: 2 now is the time, assisted by thy all-piercing Spirit, to examine my self, in order to my grand examination in that day: Try out my reins and my heart; as the silver is tried when the dross is purged out, and this even in the furnace of affliction if it so seemeth good unto thee: that my reins and my heart may be cleansed from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit; and yet even so I dare not undergo thy strict and severe examination of me, but with reflections upon thine immense Goodness.
For thy loving kindness is ever before mine eyes: 'Tis my constant meditation, 3 my hope and my refuge: and I will walk in thy truth: inwardly delighting and outwardly performing the commands thereof: and that I may do this,
I have not dwelt with vain persons, 4 made my abode with such as follow the pomps and vanities of this wicked world: neither will I have fellowship with the deceitful: I have not so delighted in the society, as to be tainted by the evil examples of such as through their deceivable lusts keep not the Covenant they have made with their God: nor is it enough to avoid the society, but
I have hated the congregation of the wicked: 5 not their persons but their wickedness and all their consultations to do evil: and will not sit among the ungodly, so as to continue and be delighted with the errors of their ways.
I will wash my hands in innocency, 6 O Lord: with the tears of true Repentance I will wash the sinful works of my hands, and keep them clean and innocent for the future: and so, not in my sins unrepented, will I go to thine Altar to offer up Vows and Prayers with the precious body and bloud of my Saviour.
That I may shew the voice of thanksgiving: 7 publickly declare the great Thanks and Praise which is due to thy divine Majesty: and tell of all thy wondrous works: joyning with the Ministers of thy Temple in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual songs, wherein thy great works both of Mercy and Judgment are celebrated.
To this end, 8 Lord, I have loved, the habitation of thy house, the place where thou inhabitest more especially than any other houses: and 'tis my delight to come to this house, because 'tis the place where thine [Page 57]honour dwelleth: where the honour of thy Name is continually celebrated: for in his Temple doth every man speak of his Honour.
And since 'tis the joy of my heart to joyn with thy people in the praise of thy Name, 9 O shut not up my soul with the sinners: though in this world I cannot altogether escape their temptation and trouble, yet rank me not amongst them, in the world to come: nor my life with the bloud-thirsty: let me not perish with the cruel, uncharitable and covetous of the world.
In whose hands is wickedness: 10 the works of whose hands are unjust, and destructive: and their right hand is full of gifts: even their righteous actions are for bribes, and sinister ends transacted: and such are all they who make a gain of godliness.
But as for me, 11 though others pursue their worldly interest through injustice and bribery: yet I will walk innocently: that's the desire and resolution of my Soul: O deliver me, through the precious bloud of my Redeemer, which was shed for my deliverance; defend me from all my ghostly enemies that would destroy mine innocence: and be merciful unto me: let thy mercy both pardon my by-past transgressions, and support me through all the perils of this mortal life.
My foot standeth right fixed in my affections to cleave unto thee, 12 and I will praise the Lord in the congregations: in the assemblies of the Lord's people, in the house where his Honour dwelleth: and so shall I hope to be hereafter admitted into the blissfull [Page 58]company of Angels and Saints to praise the Lord for ever: saying,
Glory be to the Father, &c.
As it was in the beginning, &c.
The XLIII. Psalm. PARAPHRASED.
Verse, 1.
GIve sentence with me, O God: when I stand before thee to be judged according to my works done in the body, whether good or evil, O then defend my cause against the ungodly people: Plead for me against all the accusations of men, women, devils, in whose company, or by whose temptations I have done any evil: O deliver me from the deceitful and wicked man, that I be not ranked amongst such upon the left hand of unrighteousness and infelicity.
For thou art the God of my strength: 2 By whom I am enabled to resist all my ghostly enemies: why hast thou put me from thee leaving me to mine own weak, frail and sinful self? And this is the reason, why I go so heavily, in the ways of thy service and of mine own salvation: whilst the enemy oppresseth [Page 59]me; being destitute of thy help, the grand enemy of God and Man over-powers me with his temptations and assaults: But that I may manfully resist and overcome,
O send out thy light and thy truth, 3 the light of thy Grace, and the truth of thy righteousness, which discerns the cause of the righteous from the ungodly, that they may lead me out of all the errours of this sinful life; that being separated from the allurements and society of the ungodly, they may bring me to thy holy hill, where thy Temple is situate, and to thy dwelling, the place where thine honour dwelleth.
And that I may go to the Altar of God both Sacramental, and Mystical: 4 upon the Altar of my heart to offer up my whole self, to be a living Sacrifice, Holy, acceptable unto God, even the God of my joy and gladness, who makes glad my heart by the consolations of his Holy Spirit, when I approach his Altar: and upon the Harp, which is an instrument of a Triangular figure, and represents the heart of man: wherewithal I will give thanks unto thee, O holy and ever blessed Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one God over all, blessed for ever, and my God, even the God of my joy and worship, my Glory and my Crown? O then
Why art thou so heavy, O my soul? 5 There is no sorrow but for sin, because this alone separateth the Soul from the God of all consolation: and why art thou so disquieted within me? 'Tis thy unquiet passions, and unruly lusts, which disturb thy reason, and withdraw thee thus disquieted from a sincere [Page 60]dependance upon thy God: but return, return unto thy rest, O my Soul.
O put thy trust in God: 6 all thy sorrows and distempers are from thy self, thy health and joy is from the Lord: and for this I will yet give him thanks: who is to be praised in both the seasons of sadness and joy: for in both,
He is the help of my countenance, the lightsome gladness of my heart, and my God, both of my Being and Well-being, even the God of all that I am, and all that I have, and all that I hope to be; which is to enjoy the beatifical vision of his divine Majesty: for ever to sing,
Glory be to the Father, &c.
As it was in the beginning, &c.
THE Third General Meditation UPON THE PAINS of HELL.
MAny are the opinions, and disputes, and too curious also the disquisitions, touching the place, and nature, matter, manner, and duration of the pains of Hell: But it would be more Christian prudence strictly to search and find out those crooked, deceitful and polluted paths which lead to that dismal place of torments, that we may decline and avoid them.
'Tis surely better by much not to feel by woful experience the miseries of the damned, than exactly to know, and accurately to discourse of them. And may this be ever my study, blessed Lord, my continual care, and fear, and constant endeavour not in the least particular to sin against thee: for thy wrath and indignation which resteth upon sinners, is a fierce wrath, and a terrible, 'tis not in the power of frail man to sustain the fury of it.
MEDITAT. I. Of the Pain of Loss.
AS there are two general parts of every sin in this life committed: 1. An aversion from the Creator: 2. A conversion to the Creature. So there are two general kinds of punishment for Sin in the Life to come: 1. The Punishment of Loss: 2. The Pain of Sense.
The first, and 'tis esteemed by many holy Fathers the greatest of Hell-Torments, is that which is call'd by Divines, The Pain of Loss, whereunto the wicked of the world are sentenced in these several expressions: Mat. 22.13. & 25.30.41. Luke 13.27. S. Chrys. Hom. 28. Take him away — Cast him out — I know you not — depart from me ye cursed—
"The Pains of Sense in Hell, are intolerable (saith Chrys.) yet for a man to suffer a thousand Hells is less irksome, than to be banish'd from Heaven, to be driven from the presence of God, to be exil'd out of the Regions of Light and Joy, to be rejected of the Lord, and to hear from him, I know you not — Depart from me—
The Loss of Heaven must needs be the greatest of Evils, because 'tis the Loss of the greatest and most perfect good, and of all that is truly good.
To lose the good things we do now enjoy in the world, may be recompenced with advantage by the gain of Heaven; but to lose Heaven it self, to forfeit the right and title we once had happily obtained to be inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven, is a Loss irreparable; Id. Serm. Aug. Enchir. ad Laurent. c. 112. "Nothing can compensate, nothing can equal, nothing to be compared to this Loss, 'tis Hell enough it self if there were no other.
In this life the most wise and holy understand not throughly the fulness of Heavenly joys, and so cannot be sensible of the Torment of their Loss: but in the next life our eyes shall be opened, and the veil upon our hearts removed, and then shall the ungodly see, to their unspeakable grief and anguish of spirit the vast difference betwixt the never fading pleasures of the right hand of God, and the empty transitory pleasures of sin; betwixt that fulness of joy in the presence of God, and the deplorable sorrow of its loss and absence.
It is very probable, that this Torment of Hell is meant by the Worm that dieth not: For nothing can more corrode, and eat so deeply even into the inmost recesses of damned Souls, as to see and consider for what poor beggarly, trifling things of the Earth here below they have lost those blissful Joys and ravishing Felicities of Heaven above, when they shall remember how momentany were their sinful pleasures, but never to be ended their pains: Then shall they curse their Parents that begat, and the womb that bare them, and the paps they [Page 64]sucked; so terrible shall be the Torment of this never dying, ever-gnawing Worm, that they shall curse themselves that they do still live, yea and curse God himself, who is blessed for ever.
I have called but ye have refused, Prov. 1.24. Ezek. 33.11. Mat. 11.28. Joh. 6.37, 44, 56. saith the Lord: called saying, Turn ye, turn ye unto me with all your heart—Come unto me all ye that are weary—But we vain men slight and neglect, nay too many contemn such gracious invitations: they are not affected or delighted with the presence of God, or if they come to his house, and approach his presence there, 'tis not either with that internal Devotion, and external Reverence, 'tis not with such pure hearts and clean hands, as becomes the presence of so great and glorious, so holy and pure a Majesty: and is it not then most just and equal, that all such irreligious, irreverent and profane persons be banish'd the blissful presence of God for ever?
And so hath the Lord threatned, Isai. 65.12. — Because when I called ye did not answer; when I spake ye did not hear, but did evil — Therefore thus saith the Lord, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry; my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty; my servants shall rejoyce, but ye shall be ashamed: Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall houl for vexation of spirit.
Whatever therefore be the guise of the multitude, to walk every one after the lusts of their own hearts, and to follow their own imaginations in the contempt of the Lord's [Page 65]admonitions and commands, Psal. 5.7. yet as for me whilst I have life and liberty I will come into thy house, even upon the multitude of thy mercies, and in thy fear will I worship towards thy holy Temple—
My heart hath talked of thee and of this gracious command of thine. Psal. 27.9, Seek ye my face—Thy face, Lord, will I seek: 10 O hide not thou thy face from me under the cloud of my sins and the thick cloud of my transgressions, nor cast away thy servant in displeasure: but vouchsafe that my approaches to thy divine Majesty may be so frequent and fervent, and with such Humility, Reverence and Devotion performed, that my person and my services may in this life be accepted before thee, that I hear not at the last day that dismal doom of the wicked, Depart from me, ye cursed—
MEDITAT. II. Of the Darkness of Hell.
TO be banished the presence of God, who is the Fountain of Light is to be involved in the terrors of Darkness: Mat. 22.13. Ca. 25.30. Job 10.21, 22. and therefore after, Take him away, it follows, cast him into outer darkness: And so is the place of Hell described: A land of darkness and of the shadow of death, a land of darkness as darkness it self, and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where light is as darkness. [Page 66]And this must needs be so, because Hell is farthest remote from Heaven the Region of Light, being seated (as 'tis generally believed) in the centre of the earth, where neither Sun, Moon nor Stars display the least ray or glimmering of their Light, and where not the least beam of the divine Mercy shall ever appear.
There is Fire indeed in Hell, but such a Fire as burns without shining, a Fire without light, not unlike whereunto is the Fire of blind Zeal, Jam. 3.6. the tongue whereof setteth on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire of Hell.
All the light which the sulphurous Fire of Hell affords, serves only to discover the ghastly sight of infernal Fiends, reviling, scourging, tormenting the damned without mercy, without intermission: and there perhaps may the wicked see some of their friends, and acquaintance, and of their companions in their sins involv'd with them in the same punishment, which are sights so dreadful as shall augment their Torments.
Here is darkness then, and no darkness: such darkness, as shall hide from the eyes whatever is pleasant and desirable: and yet no darkness to hide from the dismal sight whatever is vexatious, and adds the greater anguish to the aking heart.
This dismal darkness of Hell is call'd The outward darkness, respecting the inward darkness of humane Souls, and those manifold deeds of darkness which issue from the one, and run head-long to the other.
If then thou hast followed the lusts of thine own darkned heart, and obeyed the suggestions of Satan the Prince of darkness, if thou hast loved and acted the works of darkness (of sinfulness and error) more than the sacred acts and influences of Grace and Truth, it is most just that thy portion be with blackness of darkness for ever. Joh. 3.19.
Vouchsafe, blessed Lord of light and life, vouchsafe to display the sacred beams of thy Celestial light into my darkned Soul, dispel and dissipate thence all the black stain and guilt of sin contracted by my daily back-slidings from thee, all those clouds of ignorance and error, which darken my understanding, all those noisom lusts of the world and of the flesh which incessantly infest, and infect my Soul, that I pass not from these inward to that outward darkness where is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.
MEDITAT. III. Of the Fire of Hell.
OF all the Torments invented and practised by the malice of men or devils, that by Fire is the most fierce and frightful: how does it amaze the minds of men, when they see it flaming in their houses, and consuming their habitations and estates? and yet the Fire of Hell is far more dreadful and [Page 68]tormenting, as differing from our ordinary fire especially in three respects.
1. Our fire feeds only upon gross and corporeal substances, but Hell fire feeds upon spirits and damned souls; and 'tis therefore as much more fierce and piercing than our fire, as a spirit is more quick and active, than a gross heavy body.
Be not deceived (O my Soul) with any fond conceits of vain men, that this fire is only metaphorical, or fantastical, allegorical or poetical, because 'tis prepared for the Devil and his Angels, who are spirits, and not liable to visible flames: But the word of God which cannot lie, and many undeniable reasons by the learned deduced thence, Mat. 3.12. cap. 13.42. cap. 25.41. Mark 9.43, 47. do confirm it to be a real, yea a material fire, but more spiritual and refined, and so more eating, piercing and tormenting than the fire which burns upon our hearths.
2. Our fire doth alway burn and torment after the same manner; but Hell-fire being the instrument of divine Justice, doth more or less rage and afflict, according as the persons condemned thereunto have been more or less guilty.
And 'tis observable, that the sinful Souls doomed to these flames are represented by our Lord unto those Tares that are bound in bundles to be burnt, Matth. 13.30. denoting all kind of sinners to be punished with them that are of their own rank and quality: e.g. The proud with the proud: The drunkard with his good fellow: The adulterer with the unclean; and so in all others, according to the enormities of their lives, shall be their susterings after death.
And although in this life 'tis some mitigation of sorrow to have companions therein of the same quality; yet in Hell 'tis far otherwise; for there the more sinners with their sins, the more fuel is added to that dismal fire: So that when I consider, all the sins that have been committed against the Majesty of Heaven since the beginning of the world to the end thereof, are as so many faggots to feed the fire of Hell; I cannot but tremble at the greatness of its force and fury; and carefully avoid the society of sinners in this life, that I suffer not with them to the encrease of our mutual torments in the other world.
3. Our fire may be quenched, Mat. 3.12. Isa. 66. ult. Isa. 30. ult. nay 'twill quench it self when its fuel is wasted: but the fire of Hell is unquenchable: because First, The breath of the everlasting God, like a stream of Brimstone doth enkindle it. Secondly, The fuel that feeds this fire shall never be consumed, viz. Immaterial, Immortal Beings, of whom being tormented in these flames 'tis affirmed, Rev. 9.6. that they shall seek death, and shall not find it, they shall desire to die, but death shall fly from them. Miserable wretches! whilst they had time and leisure to seek life, they neglected it; nay, it is too common, Ut cujus vita mortua fuit in culpa, illic mors vivat in poena. Greg. that when life in Christ is offered unto many in the blessed food of their Souls, they slight and contemn it, and therefore 'tis most just (as the Father observes) that they whose life in this world was no other than a death in sin, their death hereafter should be a life in punishment for sin everlastingly.
But as to the unquenchable fire of Hell, Remember (O my Soul) that there is now a fire within thee, the which if it be not quencht in this life, will bring thee to fire unquenchable in the other world: and this is the rank and fulsom fire of Concupiscence. Thy carnal lusts, and thy worldly lusts being now followed and fulfilled, are the fuel that feeds that dismal fire of the Infernal Lake: and the worm also that never dieth, is bred of the same corruption, even in the dunghil lusts of the heart, actuated by the hot suggestions of Satan.
And as the fire of Concupiscence doth now more or less rage in thy heart, so as to follow the sway thereof; so shall the fire of Hell be, more or less raging hereafter, if these lusts do not die within thee, before the death of nature seize thee.
Take then the advice of the Wise Syracides:Eccl. 7.17.Humble thy self greatly, for the vengeance of the wicked is fire and worms. And of S. Col. 3.5. Paul: Mortifie therefore your members that are upon earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness which is Idolatry—For which things sake, the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience.
Blessed Jesus, by the merits and mysteries of thy Circumcision I humbly beg the true Circumcision of the Spirit: and by the virtue of thy Crucifixion strengthen me to crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts, lest any of those exorbitant fires being not opportunely quenched, involve [Page 71]me in those flames of Hell which are unquenchable.
MEDITAT. IV. Of the extent of Hell-Pains.
Greg. mor. WHen I consider righteous Job on the Dunghil, the holy Baptist hungring in the Wilderness, S. James beheaded, S. Peter crucified, the Torments and Deaths of innumerable Martyrs, the manifold Afflictions of the holy and elect people of God; I cannot but consider, and know assuredly that very great and many shall be the Torments of the wicked in the world to come: since God suffereth those whom he dearly loves to be so much afflicted in this life.
The Pains of Hell in the extent of them do herein differ from all present bodily pains: that these are partial only in some particular parts, joynts, and members of the body, whilst other parts are free from pain: But in Hell the whole man in all the Senses internal and external, in all the parts of his body and powers of his soul, yea the most spiritual faculties shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, rage and despite, grief and anguish, misery and malediction. For the pains of Hell are a concourse of all [Page 72]kinds of pain, of all at the same time, and of all of them for ever.
The Taste shall be punished with bitterness, the Appetite with hunger, and the Tongue with thirst, the Sight with horror, the Hearing with astonishment, the Smell with stench, the Heart with anguish, the Imagination with fear, the Reason with madness, the Judgment with confusion, and in the very Bowels fire unquenchable.
And this is most just, that as the wicked have employed all the powers and parts both of Soul and Body, as weapons of unrighteousness unto sin; so should their punishment be in all their Senses, Members, Faculties— that as each hath transgrest by sinful Pleasure, and inordinate Delight, so each should have its peculiar afflicting Torment.
There is no sin unrepented in this life, but shall have its proper peculiar torment in Hell: There the proud shall be filled with confusion: The slothful shall be pricked forward with burning goads: The covetous shall be pinched with penury: The glutton and the drunkard shall be pined with a perpetual hunger and thirst: The envious shall howl like mad dogs for rage and grief: The luxurious and lovers of Pleasures more than lovers of God, shall wallow in burning pitch, and stinking brimstone: And in a word, in whatsoever thing a man hath in this life offended, in the same shall he be tormented, if not by a true and timely Repentance prevented. And this the miserable [Page 73] Dives felt, when he wanted a drop of cold water to cool his Tongue in Hell, who whilst upon earth had fared sumptuously every day.
'Tis undoubtedly true, that all persons condemned to the flames of the nether Hell are not equally tormented therein: for though the fire of Hell be one and the same, yet it torments not all after the same manner, nor in the same degree of torture: but every man shall therein more or less feel the smart of its fury, as by the nature, quality and frequency of his sin, he hath less or more deserved the same: Gen. 18.25. for shall not the Judge of all the world do right?
The more high, peremptory and presumptuous, as also the less obstinate and impenient sinner shall both suffer under the torment of the same fire, but not in the same degree of pain and suslering: As under the same heat of the Sun upon Earth all creatures are not alike scorched, but some are more, some less sensible of its darting beams, according to their several constitutions: So in the fire of Hell, the degree of its burning shall not be alike in all, because what here the diversity of bodies, there the diversity of sins shall effect: So that though all be tormented with the like flames, yet not every one in the like manner and degree of torment. Gregor. But alas the lowest degree of suffering in that place of horror is punishment enough, if seriously considered, to afright the sinner from all the errors of his ways.
There be many who now think this or that to be severe commands, Love your Enemies—Deny thy Self, Fast, and Watch, and Pray— Take up thy Cross— but surely 'twill be much more hard and bitter to hear, Tho à Kemp. Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire—
There was an Hermite call'd Olympius, who had a Cell near the River Jordan, where he was constantly plagued both with excessive heat, and the bitings of innumerable Flies: who being demanded why he would continue there to endure such perpetual vexations: Answered, I suffer patiently the bitings of these Flies, that I may escape the dismal bitings of that Worm that dieth not: And this great heat I endure, that I may escape the flames of Hell, which are intolerable and everlasting, and these Heats but for a moment. Prat. Spir. c. 141.
O let not then the severest commands of the Gospel, nor the difficulties and labours of Repentance startle and afright thee: let not the breach or neglect thereof, seem a light and a small thing unto thee; but Remember that to endure the pains of Hell but one hour, is more exceeding painful and asslicting, than a thousand years of the most strict and severe austerities in Fasting, and Sackcloth and Ashes.
Remember the Worm that dieth not: The Fire that is not quenched: The inseparable society of tormenting Devils: The horrid howlings of damned Souls: The everlasting banishment from the presence of [Page 75]God, and from the Regions of light: The insufferable stench, horror, and stifling fumes: The Eternal hunger and thirst, lamentation and woe; and surely if these remembrances will not move thee to imbrace the strictest commands of thy blessed Redeemer, thy heart is hard indeed, and harder than the nether Milstone. 'Twas otherwise with the Psalmist, Psal. 119.120.my flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments.
But I humbly beg I may be here, even here in this life punish'd for my sins, but spare, O spare me in the life to come, and from those intolerable pains of the nether Hell, good Lord deliver me, through Jesus Christ.
MEDITAT. V. Of the Bonds and Chains of Hell.
RIghteous art thou, O Lord, Psal. 119.137.and upright are thy Judgments: 'Tis a justice becoming the just judge of the World, that the Licentious and Profane, who in this life would not be bound up nor restrained from following and fulfilling their exorbitant lusts, but have walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and stood in the way of sinners; that they who bound up their hands from doing the works of God's Commandments, and bound up their feet from walking in the [Page 76]paths of his most holy Laws; that they whose sins are bound upon theirs Souls, and not loosed by true Repentance through Faith in the Bloud of Christ: 'tis just, I say, that such should incurr this sad and dismal Sentence, Mat. 22.1. Bind him hand and foot.
By the feet in holy Writ is frequently meant our affections whereby our Souls do move, as our bodies do by our feet: And by our hands our actions are meant: so that by the binding of both in Hell is intimated, that it shall not there be possible, either to act, or so much as affect what is good, and conducible to our redemption thence.
To be bound to one place, though in Silken Cords, or Chains of Gold, though 'twere on a Bed of Roses, or the sweetest Perfumes, to be so tied as not to be able to stir hand or foot, is a very great punishment to the free, active and stirring soul of Man: How much more then a sorer punishment is it, to be bound in fiery Chains, eating through the flesh into the very Bowels, nay through all the most hidden and deepest recesses of the Soul, and be forced to lie down in a Bed of Flames, and therein not to be able to stir either hand or foot, not to move or change from side to side for the least ease or mitigation of Torment?
For the binding of the feet implies there's no escaping, no flying from the place of Torment; and the binding of the hands, that there's no fence against the tormenting Fiends; that there's no way to be gone, no work to be done to mitigate in the least their [Page 77]insupportable sufferings: 'Tis therefore one great reason of God's forbearance with finners in this life to bring them to Repentance, because there's no possibility by Repentance to abate the sorrows of impenitent sinners in the life to come.
He must have a heart of Stone, or rather of Flint the hardest of Stones, who in remembrance of his sins is not greatly terrified and humbled in the very thought and apprehension of these fiery tormenting Chains of Hell. And such a hardness of heart is contracted by a long continued custom in any sinful course: And every sin unrepented is justly punished. 1. By being insensible of sin; and 2. without the fear or remembrance of future Judgments, which makes that vast difference betwixt the wise man and the fool: The wise man feareth and departeth from evil, but the fool rageth and is confident, Prov. 14.16.
Blessed Jesus, whose innocent tender hands were rudely seized and bound with Cords of injustice and violence, vouchsafe to loose all the Bonds and Chains of my Sins, wherewith both my hands and feet, affections and actions are infettered and infested; and grant that the wounds they have made in my Soul being washed with my Tears, may be healed by the Soveraign Balsam which from thy Wounds and Stripes and Bonds does flow: Ps. 25.14. Pluck my feet out of the Net of every temptation to sinfulness and error, Ps. 119.48. and let my hands be continually lift up unto thy Commandments to do them, that I [Page 78]be not liable to be bound by any of the Spirits of vengeance in the fiery Chains of the nether Hell, where is weeping and wailing—
MEDITAT. VI. Of the Laments of Hell.
THere shall be weeping, Mat. 25.30.and wailing, and gnashing of teeth: They shall deservedly weep in Hell, whose eyes upon earth have been full of Adultery, 2 Pet. 2.14. Lasciviousness and greediness of the Creature: whose eyes have been set upon their covetousness, Prov. 13.30. and their eye-lids lifted up with scorn and contempt of others: who have been guilty of any of these, or of any other sinful pollutions, and have not wept and bewailed the same with the tears of Repentance.
Wo unto you that laugh now in your sinful pleasures, Luk. 6.25. for ye shall mourn and weep either here or hereafter: And 'tis sad and sottish to put off this necessity of weeping to the other world, where the Tears of sorrow and sad Repentance shall avail nothing.
And this is all the water that Hell affords, Luk. 16.24. not a drop to cool the tongue tormented in those scorching Flames, only those driesly Tears, which the violence of her Torments do extort, which being salt and brinish, and spent in vain, shall the more encrease the [Page 79]bitterness and augment the miseries of the condemned sinner.
Weeping in this life, as 'tis a sign, so 'tis some ease to the inward sorrow of the Soul, which outwardly evaporates it self by Tears: But 'tis not thus with the weepings in Hell; there no Tears, no Sighs, not the saddest Lamentations can mitigate in the least the sorrows of the Soul; because there is nothing but what doth torment, without any intermixture of ease, or allay: which is manifest from the conjunction of weeping and gnashing of Teeth, to intimate there is not such a Lamentation as gives ease to the Soul, but rather embitters the same even to rage and madness, and dire execrations of it self, and of all its instruments and companions in her sins, accompanied with blasphemous revilings of the justice of God.
O that now my head were waters, Jer. 9.1.and mine eyes a fountain of tears, by weeping here, to prevent the weeping in Hell hereafter, now to bewail my sins, that I sorrow not when 'tis too late, where weeping and wailing shall not asswage but augment my sorrows.
Lament, O sinner, and gnash thy teeth through a holy indignation, to be so foolish and mad, as for a little sinful pleasure, or dirty delight, to run the hazard of being obnoxious to never-ending pains and sorrows.
Blessed are they that mourn, Mat. 5.4. both for their own sins, and for the sins of others through the fear of Hell, and desire of Heaven; for they shall be comforted, their scars prevented, their desires obtained.
A broken and a contrite heart, Ps. 51.17.O God, thou wilt not despise: A heart broken with godly sorrow for sin, and venting it self in Tears with Prayers, Humiliations and Confessions mixt with Faith in the Bloud of my dear Redeemer. Thus Lord, thus I humbly beg to be delivered from thy wrath, and from the deplorable wailings of a sad eternity. Amen.
MEDITAT. VII. Of the Perpetuity of Hell-Torments.
THE Perpetuity of Hell-Torments is in the thought thereof a Torment unspeakable: for in every instant of the Sufferings of the Damned, they suffer all the Torments of those infinite thousands of years to come, the continuance whereof is not measured by Time, but by the bottomless Abyss of Eternity, and the immutability of Divine Justice: and what is time to eternity? Behold as a drop of water is to the sea, Eccl. 18.10.and a gravel-stone in comparison of the sand: so are a thousand years to the days of eternity.
In this life fear hath torment: but torment hath no fear, but hope rather of release, and delivery, but in Hell the Damned both [Page 81]fear what they suffer, and also suffer what they fear, even the everlasting duration of their sufferings: Rev. 20.10. They that are cast into the Lake of fire and brimstone shall be tormented day and night for ever, and ever.
The Damned in Hell (saith holy Bernard) shall die unto life, and yet shall for ever live unto death: For therefore shall they live for ever, that they may be the food of death eternal.
Are not they then without understanding that work wickedness? Psal. 14.4. who being endued with Reason, and capable of Counsel, who knowing the shortness of this life, and the uncertainty of the same, and withal believing the everlasting duration of the life to come, do nevertheless bend all their thoughts and endeavours upon what concerns this present temporary Being, even to the great hazard of being obnoxious to the Pains and Torments of a sad Eternity: such madness in the hearts of men can never be throughly bewail'd even with Tears of Bloud.
Wo to them who now do laugh at what shall be hereafter most sadly bewailed: and wo to them who shall feel by sad experience what they now either believe not, or but slightly regard it.
Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Matt. 3.7. That there is a wrath to come every Christian believes, and 'tis a fierce wrath and a terrible, Rom. 2.8, 9. even indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil, and hath not repented [Page 82]him of the evil, and of the iniquity he hath done.
Of the coming of this wrath also frequent warning is given, both by the works and by the word of God, and by the Ministers of his Church: but who takes warning given? who regards the power of this wrath? very few regard it; though the less it be regarded, the more fierce it will be, for even thereafter as a man feareth, Ps. 90.11.so is thy displeasure.
Fear thou the Lord, Prov. 3.7. O my Soul, fear the Lord, and depart from evil.
Thou, Psal. 76.7.O Lord, thou alone art to be feared, and who may stand in thy sight, when thou art angry?
The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, Pro. 14.27.to depart from the gates of death.
Fear not them that can kill the body, Mat. 10.28.but are not able to kill the soul: but fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. Heb. 12.28.
For our God is a consuming fire. 29
The LXXXVI. Psalm. PARAPHRASED.
Verse 1.
BOw down thine ear to him who now bows down his heart, and hear me, O Lord, confessing, for I am poor, extremely wanting of the graces of thy Spirit, which should make me rich towards God: I have little or no treasures laid up in Heaven, and therefore I am in misery, liable to the eternal miseries of Hell: But,
Preserve thou my soul from that dismal place of Torments, for I am holy, 2 separate and devoted to thy Service, though a poor unprofitable servant: and upon this account I make bold to call thee my God, whom I worship and serve, and humbly beseech thee to save thy servant who putteth his trust in thee, for the riches of grace and salvation, wherein
Be merciful unto me, O Lord, 3 who art rich in mercy, for I will call daily upon thee, that it may please thee in great mercy to deliver me from that misery, whereunto my poorness in grace, but abounding sins, make me obnoxious.
Comfort the soul of thy servant that the sorrows of death overwhelm me not: 4 For [Page 84]unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul, being hereunto encouraged by thy grace and goodness.
For thou, 5 Lord, art good, even the inexhaustible Fountain of goodness, and gracious, propitiously inclined to hear the supplications of thy people, and of great mercy against the greatness of iniquity, unto all them that call upon thee, even to all that call upon thee faithfully, depending upon thee alone for help, and safety.
Give ear, 6 to my prayer, not slightly hearing the sound of my words, but ponder the voice of my humble desires: the intense desires of my humbled soul, I humbly desire to be considered.
In the time of my trouble, 7 and that's the whole time of my Pilgrimage here upon earth, I will call upon thee for protection and deliverance, whereof I will never despair: for thou hearest me, if my Prayer be pure and humble: and therefore will I call upon thee as long as I live.
Among the Gods that be either falsly so called, 8 or be so called by participation of divine Power as the Angels in Heaven, and Kings of the Earth, there is none like unto thee, O Lord, either for Power or Wisdom: there is none that can do as thou dost: thy Works do far exceed the Power of any created Beings to do the like: and therefore in fulness of time,
All nations whom thou hast made, 9 shall no longer make Gods unto themselves, but shall come and worship thee, O Lord, the Maker of [Page 85]all Men, and of all Things, and being admitted Members of thy holy Catholick Church shall glorifie thy Name, both with heart and voice, and by the good Works of their Obedience to the Gospel of Christ.
For thou art great, 10 which all thy Works declare, and dost wondrous things, not to be apprehended but admired, and 'tis therefore in all the parts of the World confessed, that thou art God alone, all others being either falsly or feignedly called Gods: And that I may accordingly worship thee aright,
Teach me thy way, O Lord, 11 that I neither mistake the right way, nor stumble and fall therein, but stedfastly and constantly walk in thy truth: and this Way and this Truth is my blessed Redeemer, who by his Doctrine and Example, Doings and Sufferings, Life and Death, is the way that leads to Life Eternal: O knit my heart unto thee, by the indissoluble bonds of a true Faith, firm Hope, fervent Charity: that I may fear thy Name, so as that I neither dare to sin against thee, nor too much presume upon thy mercy.
I will thank thee, O Lord my God, 12 as from whom both my whole Self, and all the little good that is mine does proceed, with all my heart, as being hereunto excited by the fear and love of thy Name: and I will praise thy Name for evermore: And there is very great reason I should do so;
For great is thy mercy toward me, 13 not only manifested in all the good things I do enjoy, [Page 86]but in my deliverance from manifold evils, and especially from the greatest of evils: for thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell, in the broad way that leads thereunto I have a long time walked, and 'tis of thy great mercy, that I have not long since been hurled headlong to that dismal place of Torments: And still I have great cause to complain,
O God, 14 the proud are risen against me, proud Lucifer and his infernal Fiends, and the congregation of naughty men have sought after my soul: the wicked of the world conspire with the Devil and his Angels by their sinful suggestions to subvert the innocence of my Soul, to have her portion with them in the neithermost Hell.
But thou, 15 O Lord, art full of compassion, especially to all them who chuse rather to suffer than to do what is offensive to thy Majesty, and mercy, in pardoning the offences of the truly penitent, long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to Repentance, plenteous in goodness, abounding in thy blessings, and truth both in performing thy promises of mercy to the penitent, and in rendring to every man according to his works.
O turn thee then unto me, 16 who by my sins have justly provoked thee to turn away thy face from me; and have mercy upon me, a miserable sinner: and that I may no more offend thee, give thy strength unto thy servant, even ghostly strength and fortitude, manfully to resist the Devil, and all his numerous [Page 87]troops of sensual and worldly lusts; in all whose assaults vouchsafe to help the son of thine handmaid, that I may overcome all their temptations unto evil, and carefully keep my vow and promise made when I was first admitted to be a Son of thy handmaid the Church.
Shew some token upon me for good, 17 let some sign of thy favour towards me appear, that they who hate me, my ghostly enemies, may see it and be ashamed, when they shall behold all their conspiracies and assaults against my Soul defeated by the assistance of thy divine Grace: because thou, Lord, hast holpen me and comforted me: thy help to overcome when I am tempted unto sin, is a great comfort to my Soul, for I have hereupon a good ground of hope, that thou wilt deliver my Soul from the nethermost Hell: and that being raised up from the gates of Death, I may shew all thy praises within the ports of the Daughter of Sion, Saying,
Glory be to the Father, &c.
As it was in the beginning, &c.
The LXXXVIII. Psalm. PARAPHRASED.
Verse 1.
O Lord God of my salvation, my Corporal and Spiritual, Temporal and Eternal Salvation is from thee, and therefore I have cryed day and night at all times and seasons, and in all conditions prosperous and adverse before thee, as unto whom alone the inmost intimate desires of my soul are naked and open: O let my prayer enter into thy presence, be received and accepted by thee: incline thine ear unto my calling, so graciously hear as to grant my humble requests.
My soul is full of trouble, 2 which being the consequent of Sin, is the forerunner of Death, and my life draweth nigh unto hell, which openeth wide her mouth to swallow down such polluted Souls.
I am counted as one of them that go down to the Pit, 3 look'd upon as a dead man and a cast-away: and I have been even as a man that hath no strength, which is derived from the Lord of life, to escape the snares and terrors of death.
Free among the dead, 4 not likely to be freed from my troubles, but by death, [Page 89]which puts an end to all the miseries of this sinful life: like unto them that are wounded by the fiery darts of the Devil, and lie in the grave of corrupt conversation, which leads to the grave of death the wages of sin; and whosoever thus lie there, are out of remembrance, both forgotten by the righteous, and also are cut away from thy hand, repuls'd from amongst those blessed Sheep, which shall be rank'd on thy right hand in the day of Judgment.
Thou hast laid me in the lowest Pit: 5 I confess I have so far incurr'd thy wrathful displeasure, as to be laid in the nethermost Hell, which is a place of darkness, even blackness of darkness for ever: and in the deep Abyss of inextricable Torments.
Thine indignation lieth hard upon me, 6 whereto I have provoked thee by manifold offences, and thou hast vexed me with all thy storms; those tempests of affliction and trouble which disturb my peace are sent from thee to scowre the rust of corruption off my Soul.
Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me, and made me to be abhorred of them: 7 The invisible society of holy Angels, with the prayers and good wishes of holy men I enjoyed whilst I was innocent, and heavenly-minded; but now being polluted, they are estranged from me, and abhor me in my sins.
I am so fast in prison, 8 that I cannot get forth: I am so enfetter'd in the bonds and chains of my sins, that without the help [Page 90]of a divine hand I cannot be loosed from them.
My sight faileth for very trouble, 9 the bright eye of my mind is dimm'd and darkned through the pressures of my spirit: and in this sad condition, Lord, I have called upon thee, as being my only refuge in danger, support in trouble, and succour in all distress, I have stretched forth my hands unto thee, by my practice according to my prayer.
Dost thou shew wonders among the dead? 10 or shall the dead declare thy works of wonder? or shall the dead rise up and praise thee? They must have part in the first Resurrection (which is from the corruption of sin) who worthily shew forth thy praise.
Shall thy loving kindness be shewed in the grave, 11 or thy faithfulness in destruction? both in the state of the first, and of the second Death, there is a deep silence of thy Goodness and of thy Truth.
Shall thy wondrous works be known in the dark, 12 and thy righteousness in the land where all things are forgotten? Thy righteous and admired deeds are not once mentioned either in the grave of Death, or in the Pit of Hell: in both estates there is an utter forgetfulness of all thy Goodness and Truth. But that I may be delivered from such a sad condition,
Ʋnto thee have I cried, 13 O Lord: and early shall my prayer come before thee: Before I be surprised by Death, let my prayer for [Page 91]thy prevented and assisting Grace be not rejected.
Lord, why abhorrest thou my soul? 14 I am unclean I confess, and 'tis but just I should be abhorred and forsaken, but being withal penitent and humbled; why hidest thou thy face from me, as being still displeased with me, and deaf to my petitions?
I am in misery, 15 and like unto him that is at the point to die: Death as the wages of sin dogs me at the heels: even from my youth up thy terrors have I suffered with a troubled mind: The terrors of my Conscience for sin, have been alway accompanied with a troubled and contrite spirit, which thou hast promised not to despise.
Thy wrathful displeasure goeth over me: 16 The apprehension of thy wrath and displeasure invades, and overflows my soul: and the fear of thee hath undone me: the fear of thy wrath in the day of Judgment, and of the never-dying Torments of Hell, hath ruin'd all my worldly consolations.
They came round about me daily like water overflowing all the powers and passions of my Soul, 17 and compassed me together on every side, leaving no visible means of evasion and peace.
My lovers and my friends, 18 who professed themselves to be such in my worldly prosperity, and amidst my carnal delights, hast thou put away from me, they are alienated and estranged in time of my trouble: and hid mine acquaintance out of my sight, they [Page 92]will not now see me who formerly frequented my company.
And therefore being thus desolate, and deeply endeangered, unto thee as my only hope and refuge, O Lord God of my Salvation, I have cried day and night continually, for Deliverance and Salvation, that my soul may continually bless thee and say,
Glory be to the Father, &c.
As it was in the beginning, &c.
THE Fourth general Meditation OF HEAVEN.
1. THE Land of Canaan was promised to Abraham the Father of the Faithful in these words of command: Gen. 13.14. Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, Northward and Southward, Eastward and Westward— For all the Land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, 15 and to thy seed for ever.
The Celestial Canaan is herein promised unto thee, if a true Son of the Faithful Abraham: Lift up then thine eyes, O my Soul, and Contemplate the ravishing Felicities of this Land of Promise. This is thy Native Country, where thou wast at first Framed by the hands of the Almighty, after His own Image; Why then dost thou not pant, and breath, and sigh, and long to be at Home? Why art thou so well pleased with [Page 94]a strange Land, and delightest rather to be a Pilgrim in the Valley of Tears, than a Free Denizon in the Land of Peace? a Foreigner in the city of Babylon than a Citizen in the heavenly Jerusalem? Away, away from Lebanon, O my Soul, thy beloved calleth thee away from the Dens of Lions, Can. 4.8. Psal. 55.6.and the mountains of the Leopards. O that I had wings like a Dove, for then would I flee away and be at rest.
3. We read that the Lord brought Moses to the top of mount Pisgah, and shewed him the promised land, where having the wilderness behind him, and the happiest of all lands before him, he represents the devout and heavenly minded Soul, who considering the manifold troubles in the wilderness of this world, and the joys and felicities of the world to come, is highly ravished in the contemplation and desire of the one, to the extream contempt of the other.
Did I but seriously consider the ways of my present peace and contentment, I could not but observe, that the Commandments of God have so much intrinsick sweetness and felicity in them, as to excite the most simple and stubborn Soul to obey them: and yet so excessive are the ardors of divine Goodness and Love, as to engage our obedience by the promises of Celestial Joys. Unto this immarcescible Crown of Glory we are Created by God the Father, Redeemed by God the Son, and Sanctified by [Page 95]God the Holy Ghost in the sacred Waters of Baptism, wherein we are adopted, not only sons, but heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven.
What blindness then doth so much possess the minds of the greatest part of the sons of men, that all their desires and endeavours should be so wholly taken up with the vain, frail, empty and dying things of the Earth, to the slight and neglect of those never fading joys of Heaven?
The first and largest step we take towards Heaven, is from the state of Sin into the state of Grace; the other, viz. from Grace to Glory is a more easie and ready passage; there being nothing betwixt the one and the other, but a frail mortal life, which taking end, the Soul that is enriched with the ornaments of divine Grace is immediately cloathed with the Robes of Glory: and therefore both the one and the other is stiled by our Lord Life Eternal, John 17.3. This is Life Eternal, that we might know thee—
3. The happiness of Heaven is the end of all Holiness upon Earth; and that must needs be the greatest good, which is the end of all that is good, for the end is more noble than the means. 'Tis the last good we hope for, and so the most perfect, as being the perfection and accomplishment of all the good we can imagine or desire; nay, 'tis a blessedness beyond our frail imaginations to comprehend: as it is written, eye hath not [Page 96]seen, nor Ear heard, neither have entred into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him Quod Deus praeparavit diligentibus se, fide non capitur, spe non attingitur, charitate non comprehenditur, desideria & vota transgreditur: acquiri potest, aestimari non potest. Aug. in 1 Cor. 2.9..
4. Raise up thy affections (O my Soul) as to be ravish'd with the love of Heaven, so to lament with tears of sorrow and shame thy sloth and negligence, thy coldness and indevotion, thy sinful security and earthly mindedness, and what obstructs thy way, and slackens thy pace towards this place of joy unspeakable and glorious.
O how slight and trivial, how inconsiderable are all the most strict and rigid labours of Repentance and Mortification, of the most profound Piety, and ample Charity, in respect of those Celestial joys whereunto they lead thee!
And if it shall once please God through the merits of Christ to receive thee into Heaven, thou wilt then think all thy prayers and tears, Age quod vgis, fideriter labora in vinea tua: ego (inquit Dominus) ero merces iva: scribe, lege, canta, geme, tace, ora, sustine viriliter contraria: digna est his omnibus vita aeterna, & majoribus praeliis. T.K. sighs and groans, fastings and watchings, all thy labours of love both to God and Man, very well spent, that they have wafted thee over the troublesome waves of this worlds vast Sea, into the Haven of Eternal peace and felicity.
Vouchsafe me, O Lord, a good end of my life, a happy passport out of this world, and lead me in the streight and even path that leads to thy Kingdom; where that I may at last arrive, it shall neither be my care nor fear, what, and how great things I suffer and undergo in my passage thither.
MEDITAT. II. Of the place we call Heaven, and first, its Greatness.
THat Empyreal Heaven, 2 Cor. 12.2. Deut. 10.14. 2 Chr. 6.18. which is the seat of God and of all his holy Angels and Saints for ever, is called also the Third Heaven, and the Highest Heaven, and the Heaven of Heavens; and 'tis of all the places of the Universe the most spacious, large and ample: for it contains all the Heavens and the Earth also, even the whole Creation within its verge and compass.
Do but consider the vastness of the Sun, and of the Moon, with the multitude and magnitude of all the Lights of Heaven, most of which are greater, and some of them far bigger than the whole body of the Earth: Consider also that besides the vast number of Stars, there are empty spaces in the firmament for as many, nay for many more than as many yet: and then admire with astonishment the vast extent and amplitude [Page 98]of the Heaven of Heavens, which containeth all these, and all that is above, and all that is below all these, within its circuit and circumference.
Secondly, Its brightness and Beauty.
The brightness of the Sun, the Moon and the Stars do but imperfectly represent the Beauty and Brightness of Heaven, as 'tis described, Rev. 21.23. Rev. 21.23. And the City had no need of the Sun, nor of the Moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof; which exceeds as much the light of the Sun, as the Suns light transcends that of a glimmering Taper.
The Air of this Country of Heaven is continually pure and clear, bright and splendid; 'tis not capable of any Clouds, Mists, or Vapours, not liable to any Rains, Storms and Tempests, not hick infectious Air offends the Inhabitants of this happy Land; whilst the wretched Miscreants of the nether Hell are involved in blackness of darkness, stifled with the suffocating fumes of sulphureous fire, without the least hope of any purer Air wherein to breath for ever.
Thirdly, Its Tranquillity.
All in this City of God is peaceable and quiet, tranquil and secure, and free even from the fear of the least disturbance; Psal. 90.10. no evil comes nigh this dwelling.
'Tis promised by our Lord, John 16.22. Your joy no man taketh from you: 'Tis alone the joy of Heaven, which cannot be taken away: not by the world which is overcome, and trampled under foot: not by the flesh, for that is so spiritualized, and refined, as no more to rebel against the dictates of the spirit: not by sin, for here enters nothing that is unclean: not by death, for immortality reigneth here: not by any pain or sickness, for these are but the Messengers and Forerunners of Death: not by chance or fortune, for Heaven knows no such heathen Deity: not by Envy, Hatred Malice, Strife, — for all the Inhabitants of Heaven are combined in the sacred Bonds of everlasting Charity. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away, Rev. 21.4.
What the Lord promiseth to his Church Militant is fulfilled in his Church Triumphant, Ps. 147.13, The Lord hath made fast the bars of thy gates: they are inexpugnable by any, by the utmost force and fury of all the Spirits and Powers of Darkness.
The Lord maketh peace in thy borders: 14 Blessed peace dwells here without the least fear or danger of interruption: For the grand Enemy of Peace is hence cast down, fallen like lightning from Heaven, Luk. 10.18. there's no room here for that Author of all division, nor yet for any of his instruments, Ps. 68.30. The people that delight in war: 'Tis the inheritance [Page 100]of Peace-makers, Mat. 5.9. and of the peaceable minded, and of such only as live in Peace upon Earth.
And O that it might please the God of Peace to allay that rancour, to depress that tumour, to asswage that itch of contention which now so much disturbs the peace of his Church upon Earth, and obstructs the way to this heavenly Hierusalem, the City of Peace: Heb. 12.14. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
O God the Athour of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our Eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom; defend us thy humble servants in all the assaults of our Enemies, that would disturb our peace: that we surely trusting in thy defence, may not fear the power of any adversaries, through the might of Jesus Christ—
MEDITAT. III. Of the good things of Heaven.
1. HONOUR.
HOnour in Heaven is not that which swells with vain-glory, and is puft up with the infectious breath of Flattery, and the praise of men, Joh. 5.44. but the honour that cometh from God only.
Honour is the reward of vertue, and he who is the donor of vertue and obedience has promised to honour the obedient and vertuous, saying, If any man serve me, Joh. 12.26.him will my Father honour: What, and how great this honour is we read, Rev. 3.31. Rev. 3.31. To him that overcometh will I give to sit with me in my Throne: even as I have overcome, and am set down with my Father in his Throne: There cannot be surely an higher Honour than this, to be exalted by the right hand of the most High, and placed in the same Throne with the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords: O what Hymns of divine Praise, what applauses and exultations, what shouts of joy shall sound through the whole Court of Heaven, when thus it shall be done to the man whom the King delighteth to honour. Esth. 6.11.
2. POWER.
2. Honour without Power is but a titular, empty, airy happiness: And the Saints shall have all power of what they will, as God hath of what he wills: For as God can do what he will by himself, so can they do what they will by him: For as they will nothing but what the Lord wills; so the Lord wills nothing but what they will have; 'tis not possible, but that they have Power to do whatever they will; so Aug. Manual. c. 35. The Power of the Saints in Heaven is promised by the Lord of all power, saying of the faithful and wise servant, Matt. 24.45, 46.he will make him ruler of all his goods: implying a power given [Page 102]to his Saints, not only over all that is called good upon earth, but also over all the joys of Heaven, which are an aggregation of all that is good. 'Tis promised to him that overcometh, that he shall inherit all things; for being the Sons of God, they are also heirs of God, and joynt heirs with Christ, partakers of all power with him both in Heaven and Earth. Closs. ord. in loc. Rev. 21.7. He that overcometh shall inherit all things: wherein are implicitely promised,
3. RICHES.
3. The Riches of Heaven, are not such corruptible things as Silver and Gold, gorgeous Attire, delicious Fare, large Demesnes, fair Habitations — but without any such frail deceitful pelf there shall be abundance of peace, Ps 72.7. 2 Cor. 4.17. 2 Cor. 15.28.a fulness of perfection and felicity, an exceeding and eternal weight of glory: and in a word; in Heaven God shall be all in all: He who is the Fountain and Well-spring of all good gifts and graces upon Earth, will be himself the Reward and Crown thereof in Heaven; than the which there can be nothing more high and honourable, nothing more great and powerful, nothing more rich, full, eminent, perfect, joyous, and all that can be desired conducing to true happiness.
Happy then, and thrice happy are they who now in this life covet chiefly, covet only to have the Lord for their portion, saying, not from the teeth only, but from the bottom [Page 103]of their hearts, Psal. 16.6, The Lord himself is the portion of mine inheritance, and of my cup: thou shalt maintain my lot. 7 The lot is fallen to me in a fair ground, I have a goodly heritage. And surely he must needs be most exorbitantly covetous, that will not be content with such a heritage: and to possess the Lord himself, who possesseth all things, is the Riches of Heaven.
4. PLEASURE.
Pleasure consists in the union of the Soul with an object of Delight: and in Heaven the Soul shall be united with the most beautiful, and blissful object, viz. The Lord of glory, The light of the World, The God of all Consolation. We read 1 Cor. 6.17. He that is joyned to the Lord, is one spirit, which is the height of pleasure, and perfection of Delight to be so intimately joyned to the Lord as to become one spirit with him: such do deliciously taste and fully see how gracious the Lord is. Psal. 34.8.
There is no earthly pleasure like the taste and sense of the Lord's grace and favour to us: 'Tis yet a greater pleasure to enjoy the Lord as the only object of Love and Delight: 'Tis yet more sweet and pleasurable to acquiesce and be fully satisfied in the enjoyment of the divine Majesty. But the fulness of joy is not only to enjoy, but to know that we shall ever enjoy the beatifical vision, and have the fruition of the supream beauty, and divine goodness for ever and ever.
Now then, Psal. 37.4. O my Soul, Delight thou in the Lord, and he shall give thee thy hearts desire: In the satisfaction and peace of thy desires does thy happiness consist, and this is alone in the Lord obtainable: Ps. 89.16, Blessed are the people, O Lord, that can rejoyce in thee; they shall walk in the light of thy countenance: 17, — Their delight shall be daily in thy name, and in thy righteousness shall they make their boast: 18 For thou art the glory of their strength —
But the soul that will rejoyce in God must be stampt after his Image, and be like unto him, pure as he is pure, holy as he is holy, merciful as he is merciful.
Eph. 5.1, 2. Be ye followers of God as dear children, and walk in love: and so thou may'st hope to enjoy the Lord as the supream object of love and delight in Heaven.
How infinite is the goodness, and how exceeding the bounty of the Lord to his good and faithful servants, to admit them into the same joy, which himself enjoys! for so shall it be said to each of them, Well done good and faithful servant — enter thou into the joy of thy Lord, Matt. 25.25.
The joy and felicity of God does consist in the contemplation, and fruition of his own perfections, and felicities: and such is the happiness of the Saints in Heaven to contemplate, and enjoy the divine Majesty, in the fulness of his joy and pleasure for evermore.
Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we [Page 105]know when he shall appear we shall be like him: for we shall see him as he is, 1 John 3.2. To see God as he is in himself clearly, fully, and with fulness of satisfaction, is the happiness both of God himself, and of all his Saints in him.
O Lord, who hast prepared for them that love thee such good things as pass man's understanding; Pour into our hearts such love towards thee, that we loving thee in and above all things, may obtain thy promises which exceed all that we can desire, through Jesus Christ.
MEDITAT. III. Of the Company of Heaven.
1. Of God's presence there.
1. GOD who is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is the chief and principal Inhabitant of the Heaven of Heavens: God indeed is every where in respect of his Essence, Presence, Power, but in Heaven in respect of his Glory, and the supereminent brightness of his Majesty, which is in Heaven most conspicuous, full, and ravishing: nor could Heaven be called so, it were not Heaven, if not enlightned, and enhappied by God's superlative presence there: Tho. a Kemp. And where ever, O Lord, thou art present, either in grace or glory, there is Heaven: and Death and Hell is every where, where thou art absent.
2. But what doth it avail the company of Heaven that God is there especially present, since God dwelleth with the light which no man can approach unto, 1 Tim. 6.17.whom no man hath seen or can see? The very Angels of Heaven cover their faces with their wings in the presence of God, that the excessive brightness of his Majesty and great Glory overwhelm them not. Isa. 6.2. 'Tis true, but however so much of this eminent glory shall appear, and so fully the splendid Rays thereof be display'd in Heaven, as shall ravish all the blessed beholders thereof with a joy unspeakable and glorious.
They shall be satisfied with the plenteousness of thy house, 1 Pet. 1.7. Ps. 36.8, (viz. of Celestial glory) and thou shalt give them drink of thy pleasures as out of a river: so full and overflowing shall be their satisfaction and contentment.
For with thee is the Well of Life, 9 and of all the joys and consolations of Life: and in thy light shall we see light, even the ravishing Light of Glory in the Light of God's countenance: in whose presence is fulness of joy.
2. The Angels of Heaven.
Next to the blissful presence of God, the society in Heaven is Angels and Archangels, Cherubims and Seraphims, Thrones and Dominions, Principalities and Powers, and all the several Orders of celestial Spirits. Col. 1.16.
The very sight of one blessed Angel upon Earth, would be more joyous and ravishing than to behold the greatest beauty, and most [Page 107]splendid excellency that is liable to the eyes of flesh: yea all the pomp and glory of the World is not comparable to such a sight: how much more joyful and glorious will it be, not only to behold, but to enjoy the society of those innumerable ministring spirits of whom we read, Dan. 7.10. Thousand thousands ministred unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him? Isa. 6.3, &c. Rev. 21.10.
These rest not day and night, crying, Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabbath: Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty of thy glory: To make one in this Hymnidical Quire, and to be received into one of these Mansions of Glory from whence the Apostate Angels fell, is such an astonishing joy as cannot by the tongue of men and Angels be expressed.
3. The Saints in Heaven.
To these Angelical spirits are joyned in society as Members of the same Church Triumphant in Heaven, The glorious company of the Apostles, the goodly fellowship of the Prophets, the noble army of Martyrs, the innumerable train of holy Confessors, Priests, and people of each Sex, and of every condition, of whose numberless number we read, Rev. 7.9. Rev. 7.9, 10. And I beheld and lo a great multitude which no man can number of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the Throne, and before the Lamb, cloathed with white robes, and palms in their hands—and cryed with a loud voice, Salvation to our God—
These are they, which come out of great tribulation, 14, and have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.
Therefore are they before the Throne of God, 15, and serve him day and night in his Temple, and he that sitteth upon the Throne shall dwell amongst them.
They shall hunger no more, 16, nor thirst any more.
The Lamb in the midst of the Throne shall feed them, 17, and lead them to the living fountains of water: And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
Blessed Souls in whom the King of Glory placeth his Throne, and reigneth in them for ever: Blessed are those mouths which shall taste and be satisfied with the Waters of life everlasting, and blessed are those tears which shall be wiped away with the right hand of God himself, and everlasting joy succeed in the stead thereof.
Into this glorious Communion of Saints in Heaven, there daily are, and daily shall be for ever received all such true servants of God, and stout Soldiers of Jesus Christ, who under his banner have overcome the Devil and all his works, the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, all the sinful lusts of the flesh: who have warred a good warfare over these their ghostly enemies, and kept the Faith whereinto they were baptized, without any tincture of Heresie, or Schism, observing God's holy Will and Commandments, and walked in the same all the days of their life.
All of these returning from their wearisome Pilgrimage through the wilderness of [Page 109]this world, to their native home of Heaven, shall be received into, and rejoyce in their proper and peculiar mansions of peace: each differing indeed in the degrees of glory, according to their difference in the degrees of grace, but all shall enjoy their full proportion of happiness, and with common joy shall sing together perpetual Hallelujahs to him that sitteth upon the Throne, Rev. 5.13. and to the Lamb for ever.
And 'tis wonderful amongst the joys of Heaven, and adds exceedingly to the greatness thereof. That as the number of Saints is great, and their joys many: so are the joys of each particular Saint, even as many, and blissful, as the joys of all: And this because each one shall rejoyce as much in the felicity of others, as if 'twere his own peculiar happiness.
Happy and for ever happy were I, if with a floud of Tears and incessant Prayers, if with the devour surrender of all that I am, and all that I have to the love and service of God, I might be admitted into this celestial Society: To come unto Sion, Heb. 12.22, 23, 24.and unto the City of the living God, the Heavenly Hierusalem, and to an innumerable company of Angels, To the general assembly and Church of the first-born, which are written in Heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the Spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant—
All this I believe as a Christian, but my Hope to be admitted into this blessed Society [Page 110]is too weakly grounded: whilst my Charity both towards God and his Saints is too cold and benumb'd.
I do profess to love God, and do desire that my heart may be every day more and more inflamed with the sacred fire of divine charity: but doubtless I must have withal a due regard and veneration for his Saints; for as God is praised in his Saints, so is he dishonoured in their dis-respect, He that toucheth them toucheth the apple of his eye.
Qui derogat alicui sanctorum—Who detracts from any of the Saints of God, Ps. 150.1. Zech. 2.8. detracts from Christ himself, who is the Saint of all Saints, and detracts also from all the Saints in Heaven; for all are united in the sacred bonds of Charity, all think the same thing, all do will alike, and all do love both themselves and all in one. T.K. 2, 3. c. 58.
If the zeal of some persons towards the Saints in Heaven exceed its due bounds and limits, I must not therefore throw off that devout respect which is due unto them; remembring that 'tis the end of my Faith, the summ of my Hope to be by holy Charity joyned with them in the same mystical body of Christ our common Lord, and Redeemer, and with them to love, and to praise the Lord: yea to praise and love him for ever, Ps. 84.4. which is the happiness of the Saints in Heaven: for, blessed are they that dwell in thy house, they will always be praising thee.
And further, the greatness of the joys of Heaven may be in some degree esteemed by the greatness of their purchace: It is not [Page 111]doubted but the bloud of the Son of God is of so great value, that the least drop thereof was of sufficient dignity to redeem ten thousand worlds; and yet our blessed Redeemer, who only knows how to value all things according to their worth, gave every drop of his precious bloud, accompanied with unspeakable torments, pangs and sufferings, to purchase this Celestial inheritance: hence all truly Religious have Heaven their desire, and the Earth their patience, being of the same mind with S. Paul, Cupio dissolvi—I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ—
But I am unworthy, too much unworthy, sinful dust and ashes, to be admitted into the blissful presence of my dear Redeemer: But I will not despair since he hath, 1. purchased this happiness for me Heb. 9.12, 15, 24.; since 2. he hath promised to receive me thereinto Joh. 14.3.; and 3. he hath prayed also for my actual possession thereof, saying, Father, I will, that they whom thou hast given me, Joh. 17.24.may be with me, where I am, that they may behold the glory which thou hast given me.
O Sweetest Saviour, who to save and redeem man vouchsafedst to be made man, and to appear in the likeness of sinful flesh; O when? when will that happy hour come, wherein I shall be admitted to behold thy blessed Face, Ps. 17.16. which the Angels in Heaven behold with joy and wonder? When I shall awake up after thy likeness, I shall be satisfied with it, Joh. 17.5. satisfied to the greatest height and fulness of content, when I shall behold that [Page 112]glory thou hadst with the Father before the world was: even so come Lord, Jesus, come quickly.
MEDITAT. IV. Of the perpetuity of Heavenly Joys.
THE most full enjoyment of all the good things this world affords, is not to be called, or accounted Happiness, because they are not only vain and empty of true satisfaction, but also not permanent and lasting: To every purpose under the Sun tending towards satisfaction and happiness, Eccl. 8.6. there is a time and Judgment, a Time limited for its prosecution and enjoyment, and Judgment also shall pass upon the actions relating thereunto: it must needs follow, therefore the misery of man is great upon him.
But the good things of Heaven are durable, permanent and lasting, hereunto shall no Time succeed, no Judgment follow.
'Tis a maxim in Divinity, That there is no succession in the joys of Heaven, because what is Eternal admits not of what is first, and what is last, but is both, and all in the same moment, which renders those joys transcendently full and ravishing, since in each moment is enjoyed the joys of perpetuity; [Page 113]not increasing by degrees, or protracted by delays, nor yet augmented by several spaces of Time, but wholly and altogether, and in the same moment is enjoyed and received the same glory in its height and fulness, and this never to be diminished, or decayed, forfeited or lost.
Eus. The Glory of them that die in Grace, is Immortal, their Happiness Immutable; their Crown immarcescible; their Life everlasting; and their Reign with God, and the Lamb for ever and ever. No day does pass with these blessed Souls, without its fulness of joy and content: This joy shall be ever new, and yet ever the same: This glory shall never wither or decay, but flourish for perpetual eternities.
And this must needs be so; because celestial joy consists as in the blissful vision of God, so in an assimilation to him: for just men made perfect, are immutable in their perfection and felicity by beholding him who is unchangeable: so the Apostle, We all as in a Glass, 2 Cor. 3.18.beholding the Glory of the Lord, are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
The Moon and the Stars receive their light from the Sun, and become like unto him, by being opposite, and in a sort beholding the Sun's bright face: So the pure Souls in Heaven by seeing God who is the Light of lights, are from him enlightened and made like unto him. So saith the beloved Apostle: Beloved, 1 Joh. 3.2.now are we the Sons [Page 114]of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know when He shall appear, we shall be made like him, for we shall see him as he is: 1 Cor. 13.12. And that is not as now, in a glass darkly, but face to face i. e. as fully as our measure will contain, our proportion bear, and our degree in Grace require.
Gran. medit. "The joys of Heaven (saith Gran.)shall continue as many millions of Years as there are Stars in the Firmament, and many more: They shall last as many hundred millions of years as there have been drops of Rain fallen from Heaven since the beginning of the world, and more, much more. In a word, they shall endure as long as there is a God in Heaven, and this God the same which was, which is, and which is to come, from everlasting to everlasting.
Shall not then my heart be fixed where such lasting joys are to be found? And thither my heart must first be sent by way of Harbinger, before my person can atrive there: I must now have my Conversation in Heaven, before I can have my Consummation there: I must now be Heavenly minded, or else never hope to be admitted into the joys of Heaven.
But O the heavy burden of my sins! These do depress and weigh down the mind, and make her affections grovel in the dust: and yet even these shall not hinder thy ascent into Heaven, if thou tread them under thy feet: For every sin, and vanity trodden down, subdued and mortified is one [Page 115]step, Gen. 28.12. De vitiis nostris senlam facimus, dum vitia calcamus. Luk. 15.7. Heb. 12.1, 2. one Scale or Round of that Celestial Ladder, which being set upon the Earth reacheth up unto Heaven: which the Angels of Heaven rejoyce to behold.
And may the right hand of God assist me, to lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset me, and to run with patience the race that is set before me.
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our Faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, and despised the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God.
Blessed Lord, who hast made me after thine own Image to attain the perfection and felicity of my Being in the beatifical vision and fruition of thy Majesty in Heaven, vouchsafe here to guide me with thy Counsel, and after that to receive me with glory, through the Merits and Mediation of thy blessed Son and my dearest Saviour Jesus Christ —
Our Father which art in Heaven, &c.
The XXIV. Psalm. PARAPHRASED.
Verse 1.
THe Earth is the Lords and all that therein is, the compass of the world, and they that dwell therein: The Heavens are the Lord's chief Dwelling-place, the Earth and all the Nations thereof he hath given to his Son Jesus as he is Redeemer of the World: so Psal. 2.8. Desire of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the utmost parts of the Earth for thy possession.
For he hath founded it upon the seas, 2 and prepared it upon the flouds: As God hath so wisely ordered the Earth, and the Water, that the one may refresh, not overflow the other: so he hath founded his Church upon a Rock above the Flouds of secular Cares and Turmoils, and all the rising waves of this World's vast Sea, which is signified by the Situation of his Temple on a Hill: And,
Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, 3 or who shall rise up (or stand) in his holy place? Who is he that shall be qualified to appear and stand in the presence of God, and to joyn with his people in that solemn [Page 117]worship which in his holy Temple is exhibited unto him? Such a one is also qualified to ascend and raise up his Soul to those mountains of joy in the celestial Sion. And such a one is
He that hath clean hands: 4 The works of whose hands are clean from all injustice and impurity, and washed with the tears of true penitence from the filth of all former pollutions: And a pure heart, to all outward, an inward holiness is required, which consists in the purity of the heart, viz. to be pure from all sordid and vile affections, to be sincere and without hypocrisie in all Religious performances: that hath not lift up his mind to vanity: who follows not those pomps and vanities of this wicked world which he once so solemnly renounced: nor sworn to deceive his neighbour, that will not say, much less swear an untruth, nor yet break his word, especially when confirmed with an oath. Such is the holiness, and innocence that entitles a people to the presence of God in his Temple upon Earth, and in his House in Heaven, 1. the holiness of the heart, 2. of the hands, 3. of the tongue; or Holiness in thought, word, and deed.
He shall receive the blessing from the Lord: 5 The blessings of the Lord shall descend upon him, when he ascends into the hill of the Lord: and righteousness or mercy in the pardon of his sins, or the reward of righteousness, i.e. Salvation not of or from himself, or from any but from the God of his Salvation.
This is the generation of them that seek him: 6 these are those holy and happy people, who so faithfully seek the Lord that they find him, viz. in grace here, in glory hereafter, which is the double blessing of them that seek thy face, O Jacob: All that be true Israelites indeed, thus make their holy and humble addresses to the God of Jacob for his grace and favour.
Lift up your heads, 7 O ye gates, or, lift up your gates, O ye Heads or Princes of the Heavenly Hierusalem: and be ye lift up ye overlasting doors which open the passages to life everlasting: and the King of glory shall come in: he who hath vanquished and gloriously triumphed over the gates of everlasting death, over all the spirits and powers of darkness, is ascended to open the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers.
Who is the King of glory? 8 in whose glorious conquests we may glory, and in whose righteousness we may make our boast? it is the Lord strong and mighty: who although he submitted himself to be betray'd, apprehended, arraigned and condemned to death; yet is he even the Lord mighty in battle, who naked and unarmed, hath vanquished by his sufferings: and by his death overcome death, and him who hath the power of death the Devil: for which victory he rides in Triumph upon the clouds of Heaven: and therefore, 9
Lift up your Heads, O ye gates of the celestial Paradise, which have been shut against [Page 119]the sons of Men from the fall of the first Adam: and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors: Raise up your selves ye immortal souls, open and be enlarged in your desires and affections unto him who hath opened unto you the everlasting doors of glory: and the King of glory shall come in: He who is ascended, will also descend into you, if pure and Heavenly minded, and thither enwrap and raise you whither himself is gone before: if yet for your further satisfaction you desire to know 10
Who is the King of glory: by whose Triumphant ascent into Heaven we believe and hope thither to ascend also? It is even the Lord of Hosts, he who hath the command of all the powers of Heaven, Earth, and Hell, who hath the command especially of all the powers and operations, vertues and graces of the Holy Spirit of God, and dispenseth them accordingly unto all that love and fear his name: He is the King of glory: he is glorious indeed above all, and God over all blessed for ever: and therefore to him, as is most meet, be all glory ascribed.
Glory be to the Father, &c.
As it was in the beginning, &c.
The LXXXIV. Psalm PARAPHRASED.
1. O How amiable are thy dwellings, especially in the high and holy place, thou Lord of Hosts, even of the numerous troops of Angels and Archangels, and of all the powers of Heaven!
My soul hath a desire, which is more than ordinary, 2'tis a longing even to a separation from it self, to enter into the Courts of the Lord, to view those several Mansions of glory, and the blissful condition wherein all the Courtiers of the King of Heaven do praise him for ever: my heart and my flesh when subdued to the spirit rejoyce in the living God; there's no joy like the joy of his presence who giveth life, and a heart to pant and breath after the joys of life eternal.
The sparrow hath found her a house, 3 and the swallow a nest where to lay her young, even thy Altars: And O that my Soul could mount as doth the Sparrow upon her wings with inflamed affections after the pleasures of thy house, and that my flesh might be instrumental to my Soul in bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit, to be sacrific'd upon the Altar of Praise and Thanksgiving unto thee, O Lord of hosts my King and my God, [Page 121]whom alone I desire to adore, worship and obey.
Blessed are they here in hope, 4 hereafter in fruition, who dwell in thy house of Prayer upon Earth, of Praise in Heaven, in both they will always be praising thee: 'Tis our principal errand to the house of God upon earth, and shall be our only employment in his house of Heaven always to praise the Lord.
But we of thy house and family here below, like the young birds near thine Altar are unfledged, and empent in the nest of this corruptible body which weigheth down the Soul, so that amount to Heaven-ward we cannot without the Divine assistance; therefore,
Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, 5 who derives strength of Grace from thee to praise and glorifie thee, and this not only with their mouths, but in whose heart are thy ways, cordially resolving and uprightly walking in the ways of thy service, and of their own salvation.
Who going through the vale of misery, 6 in their pilgrimage through the miseries of this sinful life below, use it for a Well, even the deep fountain of a broken heart, from whence the Pools are filled with water, the eyes flow with tears of that Godly sorrow which worketh Repentance unto Salvation not to be repented.
They will go from strength to strength, 7 from one degree of grace to another, adding to Faith Vertue, to Vertue Knowledge, to Knowledge Temperance, to Temperance [Page 122]Patience, to Patience Godliness, to Godliness Brotherly-kindness, and to Brotherly-kindness Charity, 2 Pet. 1.5. unto the God of Gods appeareth every one of them in Sion, each person thus qualified shall appear in the presence of the supreme Majesty of Heaven: which being the felicity whereunto I am created, and earnestly long for, I therefore humbly beg,
O Lord God of hosts, 8 hear my prayer, thou art the Donor of all those powerfull Graces which mount up our Souls to Heaven; and the Lord of all those hosts of Heaven amongst whom my Soul longeth to be enroll'd: Hearken, O God of Jacob: assist me in all my wrestlings with my ghostly enemies, that I may prevail and obtain thy blessing, which is to be call'd Israel: Seeing God the felicity of Heaven.
Behold, 9 O God, our Defender against all the crafts, and assaults of the Devil, the World and the Flesh: Look upon the face of thine anointed our blessed Redeemer sitting on thy right hand, and interceding for us: and may the sacred beams of his celestial light shine in our hearts, and appear in the holiness and righteousness of our lives: that going from strength to strength we may appear before the Lord in Sion.
For one day in thy Courts amongst the Quires of Heaven, 10 where the day is but one, as knowing no morrow day, is better than a thousand of the flitting transitory days of this mortal life.
I had rather be a door-keeper, 11 lie at the Threshhold, submit to the lowest Condition in the house of my God, the place where his Honour dwelleth who is the God of my Worship and Joy, than to dwell in the tents of ungodliness, be conversant amongst the Ungodly of this World, in the most splendid Condition with all the Delights of the Sons of Men: for 'tis not all the Pomp and Glory, all the Pleasures and Treasures of this Life can give any solid Satisfaction to the vast Desires of my immortal Soul.
For the Lord is a light and defence, 12 a light for direction in the way of peace, and a defence for protection, against all whomsoever or whatsoever might disturb the innocence and peace of my Soul. He will give grace and worship, Grace to serve him truly here, and Worship or Glory to crown our services hereafter: and no good thing will he withhold from them that lead a godly life: who truly love and fear God, and wait for his promises in the obedience of his precepts, shall enjoy all that is truly good, or conducible to their Eternal happiness in Heaven: And therefore,
O Lord God of Hosts, 13 blessed is the man that putteth his trust in thee: not roving in his hopes and desires after the exterior, empty, transitory Consolations of the Creature, but among the sundry and manifold Changes of the World hath his heart surely fixed there, where true joys are to be found, which is alone in the Presence of the God [Page 124]of Heaven: where all do rejoyce together and sing for ever.
Glory be to the Father, &c.
As it was in the beginning, &c.
THE CONTENTS.
- OF the Four last things in general. 1
- Of the shortness and frailty of this present Life. 5
- S. Augustine's Meditation on this subject. 6
- Of the frequent remembrance of Death. 9
- Of the Horror of Death. 15
- Of the uncertainty of Death, and preparation for it. 19
- The 39 Psalm illustrated with notes. 29
- The 90 Psalm illustrated with notes. 33
- OF Judgment.
- Of particular Judgment. 38
- Of the general Judgment. 44
- The 26 Psalm paraphrased. 55
- The 43 Psalm paraphrased. 58
- OF the pains of Hell. 61
- Of the pain of Loss. 62
- Of the darkness of Hell. 65
- Of the fire of Hell. 67
- [Page]Of the extent of Hell-pains. 71
- Of the bonds and chains of Hell. 75
- Of the Laments of Hell. 78
- Of the perpetuity of Hell-torments. 80
- The 86 Psalm paraphrased. 83
- The 88 Psalm paraphrased. 88
- OF Heaven. 93
- Of the place call'd Heaven, 1. Its greatness, 97 2. Its brightness and splendor, 98 3. Its tranquility and peace, ibid.
- Of the good things of Heaven, 1. Honour, 100 2. Power, 101 3. Riches, 102 4. Pleasure, 103
- Of the Company of Heaven, 1. God's presence there, 105 2. Of the Angels of Heaven, 106 3. Of the Saints in Heaven. 107
- Of the perpetuity of heavenly Joys. 112
- The 24 Psalm paraphrased. 116
- The 84 Psalm paraphrased. 120
BOOKS Printed for and Sold by Luke Meredith, at the Star in St. Paul's Church-yard.
Books written by Jer. Taylor, D. D. and late Lord Bishop of Down and Connor.
DƲctor Dubitantium: or, The Rule of Conscience, in Five Books in Folio.
The Great Exemplar; or, The Life and Death of the Holy Jesus, in Folio, with Figures suitable to every Story, ingrav'd in Copper: whereunto are added the Lives and Martyrdoms of the Apostle. By W. Cave, D. D.
[...]; or, A Collection of Polemical Discourses addressed against the Enemies of the Church of England, both Papists and Phanaticks, in large Folio, the Third Edition.
The Rules and Exercises of Holy Living and Dying The Fifteenth Edition, newly Printed, in Octavo.
A Collection of Sermons, Folio.
The Golden Grove; A Choice Manual, containing what is to be believed, practised, and desired or prayed for: the Prayers being fitted to the several Days of the Week; also Festival Hymns according to the manner of the Ancient Church.
The Psalter of David, with Titles and Collects according to the Matter of each Psalm; whereunto are added Devotions for the Help and Assistance of all Christian People in all Occasions and Necessities. The Tenth Edition: in Twelves.
A Collection of Offices, or Forms of Prayers in Cases Ordinary and Extraordinary; taken out of the Scriptures and the ancient Liturgies of several Churches, especially the Greek: Together with a large Preface in Vindication of the Liturgy of the Church of England. The Second Edition, in Twelves.
Books written by the Reverend Dr. Patrick, Lord Bishop of Ely.
THE Christian's Sacrifice: A Treatise, shewing the Necessity, End, and Manner of receiving the Holy Communion; together with suitable Prayers and Meditations for every Month in the Year; and the principal Festivals in Memory of our Blessed Saviour. In Four Parts. The Third Edition corrected.
The Devout Christian instructed how to pray and give Thanks to God: Or, A Book of Devotions for Families, and particular Persons, in most of the Concerns of Humane Life. The Eighth Edition, in Twelves.
An Advice to a Friend. The Fourth Edition, in Twelves.
The whole Book of Psalms Paraphrased, in Octavo. Newly printed in one Volume.
The Proverbs of Solomon Paraphras'd, with Arguments to each Chapter, which supply the place of Commenting.
A Paraphrase upon the Book of Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon, with Arguments to each other Chapter, and Annotations thereupon: in Octavo.
The Truth of Christian Religion, in Six Books: written in Latin by Hugo Grotius, and now Translated into English, with the Addition of a Seventh Book against the present Roman Church, in Octavo.