and that of our Saviour's coming to Judgment, that we may be equally prepar'd, and difpos'd for the one as well as for the other. As we fhall be found at the time of our Death, fo fhall we be judged at the great Day,when Chrift fhall come down from Heaven with the Angels of his Power, and from that Judgment there fhall be no Appeal. Let us therefore put off the Sin that doth fo eafily befet us,and break all the Chains of our filthy Lufts. Let us difarm Death, and take from it its Venomous Darts, and its piercing Stings. Let us pluck off the Claws, and the Teeth of this furious Beaft, and extinguifh all its Fires, and it fhall never be able to terrifie us. Let us live the Life of Saints, and God will give us Grace to die the Death of the Righteous, and to end like them. Let us live as we wou'd at the inftant when Death is upon our Lips. Let us live as if at every moment we were to die, and as if God were calling to us, Come and appear to Judgment. And when Satan, the World, and our own Flesh solicite and draw us to Evil, let us fay within our felves, is it thus that thou wilt reward the Lord thy God, and acknowledge all the Bleffings and Favours that thou haft received from his bountiful Hands? O Fool, doft thou conceive that thou canft go to Heaven by marching the Road to Hell. If thou doft wilfully caft thy felf away into the Depths of Sin, what affarance haft thou of rifing again by Repentance? If thou forfakeft God, art not thou afraid God will forfake thee? Is it thus that thou prepareft thy felf to die? Are thefe Lufts the Arms with which thou must encounter Death? Art thou ready to draw near to the Sacred Majefty of thy God, and to appear before his great Tribunal. The Night is far spent, the Day is at hand. Let us therefore caft.off the Works of Darkness, and let us put on the Armour of Light, Rom. 16. Let us live as Children of God, and Heirs of his Kingdom, Phil. 3. Let us be blameless, and fhine as Lights in the World. Let our Converfation be as Citizens of Heaven, from from whence we expect the Lord Jefus, Eph. 2. Let us go to the Holy and Heavenly Jerufalem,by the way of good Works which God hath prepared, that we might walk in them, Zech. 13. In all our Actions, Words and Thoughts, let there be engraven Holiness to the Lord. Let us discover by our Deeds, that we really believe, without doubting, whatfoever the Holy Scripture declares of the eternal Pains of Hell, and of the unspeakable Joys of Heaven, Gal. 6. Whilft we have time, let us do good to all, but chiefly to the Houfhold of Faith, Eph. 5. Let us redeem the time, for the Days are evil. Follow not Adam's Example, who to eat of the Fruit, fo pleafing to his Tafte, loft the Paradife which God had given him. Let us not lofe the eternal Delights that God hath prepared for us from the beginning of the World, for a Moment of Carnal Pleafure. Let us imitate the Holy and Wife Virgins, put Oil in our Lamps betimes; let us enrich our Hearts with Faith, Hope, and Charity, and put on the Robes of Righteousness and Holinefs. As God's Faithful Servants, let us labour to accomplish our Task. Let us be ftedfaft, unmoveable, always abounding in the Work of the Lord, that when Death fhall appear, or rather when the Prince of Life fhall call us to himself, we may be ready to give him an exact account of our Talents, with which he had entrusted us, and that we may fay unto him in Sincerity and Truth, I have done the Work that thou haft given me, I have fought the good fight, I have finished my Courfe, I have kept the Faith. O most Excellent Lord, I have nothing elfe to do, but to receive from thy Hand the Crown of Righteousness, which thou haft promised to all that love thine Appearance. I have nothing else to do, but to enter into thy glorious Reft, where thou doft embrace in thine infinite Mercies, all fuch as overcome Sin and Death, and keep thy Works unto the end. A Prayer A Prayer and Meditation for One who prepares for Death, by Repentance and an Holy Life. S vine Vertue, to difarm it of all its Fiery Darts, and Mortal Poyfon. In regard thou haft prepared for me thine Heavenly Kingdom, from the Creation of the World: Grant me Grace to employ the refidue of this Life in purging my Confcience from dead Works, in studying the great business of Sanctification, that I may be in a readiness to enter into that Abode of Holiness, into which no impure thing can be admitted. O Heavenly Father, difcover to my Soul, by the light of thine Holy Spirit, the foulness and deformity of Sin, and its dreadful Confequences; that I may abhor it as an Infernal Monster, Satan's Image, and a grievous Pollution, that bath defaced in our Souls the blessed Features of thy felf. Let me look upon it as a curfed Burning, that hath kindled thy Wrath, and will at last fet on fire and confume this Frame of the World. Let me look upon it as an intolerable Burden, under which Nature it felf Groans; and Heaven complains of it as a publick Murderer of our firft Parents, of all Mankind, and of the Lord of Life. O that I may treat it as mine Enemy, that hath provokd thy Vengeance, and ftrives yet to caft me into eternal Torments. Make me fenfible of the Beauty of Holiness, and of the Glory that fhall Crown it; that mine Affections may embrace it as an unvaluable Jewel, taken from me by Satan, as an Image and Beam of thy Perfections, and as that which shall make the principal part of our Happiness in thy Kingdom. O God of my Salvation! bou feeft my Grief and inward Trouble, to have so long af fifted this Tyrant Sin, to destroy my Soul, and to have negTected my chief Business in the World, to ferve and glorifie thee. What fhall I pretend as an Excufe for my felf? O my Sovereign Lord! I have finned against thee, and committed abominable Acts. But I repent in dust and ashes, and cannot but look back upon my evil Deeds with horror. O God, wha Search ; Searcheft the Heart! thou knowest that my greatest Grief proceeds from my not grieving fufficiently, and as mine Iniquities have deferv'd. The number and greatneß of my Crimes are not hid from thee, and thou ander ftandeft what I ought to do and to be, to obtain Pardon. O Lord, I feek not the Motive of it in my felf, but in thine infinite Mercy, that defireth not the Death of a Sinner, but rather that he should turn and live. Turn me, O God, and grant me the Grace of Repentance. Thou art able to change this ftony Heart, and cause it to yield penitent Tears; but rather give me, instead of this hard Heart, another fashioned after thine own Image an Heart that may be enflam'd with Love and Zeal for thee. O my Redeemer! thou hast compleated the Work of my Salvation, by pilling thy own Blood to atone for us. Continue that good Work in us. Sanctifie my Soul and Body; and make me a new Creature. Mortifie this wicked Flesh, with all its Lufts, that the Life I fhall lead may be in imitation of the Holy Jefus. Take poffeffion of me by the Directions and Government of thy Bleffed Spirit, that I may deteft and shun all Appearances of Evil, and the Garments defiled with Sin, Olet the thoughts of Death, thy holy Fear, the Mifery of departing Sinners, and the Happiness of fuch as die in thy Favour, be entertain'd continually in my Mind, that I may renounce all Impiety, and Worldly Lufts, and finish my latter Courfe in Sobriety, Justice and Religious Duties. But chiefly, let Charity influence my Affections and Actions; for Juch Sacrifices are acceptable to thee. O merciful God, the great Bufinefs of Life is not quickly finished; my Days are but fhort, and I know not how foon thou wilt fetch me away. Affift me therefore in the performance of what thou requireft from me, and accomplish in me thy good Work; that at thy coming I may not be surprized or troubled, being diligently employed in thy Service. O my gracious and heavenly Fa ther! vouchsafe unto me all thofe Divine Qualifications needful to difpofe me for thy Eternal Communion, and for the fociety of thy bleffed Saints, that are gone before me; that at my Departure,my Saviour may receive and welcome my Soul, with a Come, good and faithful Servant, enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord. Amen. CHAP. CHAP. XII, The Sixth Remedy against the Fears of Death, is to repose our felves upon God's Good Providence. Some Ome Perfons there are fo brutish and ftupid, that they never think upon the great End and Defign of their Creation, and are not able to give a juft Ac-. count wherefore God hath put them into the World; Carnal and earthly Minds, who imagine that they were created for themselves, as brute Beafts, only to eat and drink. Such are mention'd by St. Paul, their God is their Belly, and their End is eternal Mifery. But there are also fome Wife and Virtuous Souls, that are continually meditating upon the Favours that they received from Heaven, which they employ to their right and proper Ufe. Such Celestial Understandings being enlightned from above, confider very well that they are not born for themfelves, but for their Countrey, for their Parents, for their Friends, and chiefly to ferve God and his Church on Earth. Therefore they defire to live only to glorify their Creator, and adyance his Kingdom. When this good Defire is well govern'd, 'tis acceptable to God, as a fweet fmelling Sacrifice. This was David's earneft Defire in the 119th Pfalm, Let my Soul live; that it may praife thee. This Holy Zeal forced fo many bitter Tears from King Hezekiah in his Sickness, and caufed him to intreat moft earnestly to live yet longer in the World. This Wife and Religiqus Prince well forefaw the fearful Evils, the grievous Confufion, and the abominable Idolatry that was likely to fucceed after his Death, in the Kingdom of Judab. He was therefore very defirous to glorify God on Earth, and to accomplish the Reformation which he had begun. He defired to have Children whom he |