the hot Summer of thy Youth, the Autumn of thy Maturity, and fad countenanced Winter of thy cold and decrepit Age, fhall fucceed one another in the fame Order.

Let him who travels by Land, think upon Job's Complaint, My Days have been fwifter than a Post, they flee away, they fee no Good, Job ix. Let him call to mind the Apoftle's excellent Saying, This one thing I do forgetting thofe things which are behind, and reaching forth unto thofe things which are before; I prefs forward toward the Mark, for the Prize of the high Calling of God, through Christ Jefus, Phil. iii. 13.

Let him who fails upon the Sea, fancy the whole World as a great Sea, fwelling with Waves, our Life as a dangerous Voyage, and our Days as Ships that pass away in a Moment; and let him confider that the laft Wind of Death will drive him into the Haven of eternal Felicity, to the Enjoyments of immortal Glory, Job ix.

Doth God bless us with Children; Let us understand that we are minded by them of our Mortality, for they come to take our Room, and to fucceed in our Eftate: Doth God take them away to his Reft, and of whom we are moft fond? Let this advertise us, That God intends thereby to cut off all the lower Roots that tie us to this Earth, to unloofe our Hearts and Affections, that we may offer them up to him alone, instead of spending our Lives in Tears, and indulging our foolish Humours in needlefs Difpleafures; let us comfort ourselves with this Confideration, That by this Means a Part of ourselves is entered into Heaven, and that the other Part will follow apace. Let us fay, with David, We hall go to them, but they shall not return to us.

Let the Magiftrate, whenever he delivers his Vote, or pronounces a Sentence, be provided with this Confideration; That he who fits in the Judgment-Seat here below, shall stand at the Bar, and be judged himself above: That one Day he shall appear as a poor Pri

F

foner

foner at the Tribunal of his Great God.

That the Books will be opened, and that the univerfal Judge of the World will purfue every Particular of his Accufation: That he muft render an Account not only of his Words and Actions, but also of his most secret Thoughts; and that without Examination at the Rack, God will discover the very Secrets of his Heart.

Let the Gentleman, whenever he receives his Rents and his Revenues, call to mind the Tribute that he muft needs pay to Death. Let the Prince and the Lord, when he handles,his Royal Patents, and his ancient Charters or when he examines the Homage and Duties to be paid to his House and Family, take Notice that he must go in Perfon to Heaven's Gates, and pay his Homage to the Divinity. Let the King, who fits in his Seat of Justice, or Chair of State, think upon the Throne of the King of Kings, before which he muft appear, as well as the most wretched Slave, and the meaneft of his Subjects; and that he must be accountable to a Juft God, who is no Refpecter of Perfons.

Let the Minifter never be employed about the Duties of his Function, but let him long and wish for that happy Day, in which the Lamb fhall inftruct and feed him in Perfon, and lead him to the Fountain of Living Water.

Let the Chriftian Soldier engrave upon his Sword this Sentence of Job, Is there not, as it were a Warfare appointed for all Mortals upon Earth? Job vii. And, instead of thirsting after human Blood, let him prepare to encounter Death itself.

Let the Husbandman, whenever he fows his Seed, or when he reaps the Corn of his Fields, be mindful of the Season that comes on apace, in which his Body must rot in the Earth, that it may grow up to Eternity. Let him meditate upon what St. Paul faith, O Fool, that which thou foweft is not quickened, except it die, 1 Cor. xv. And let him meditate upon David's comfortable Perfuafion, They who fow in Tears, fall reap with Songs of Triumph.

Let

Let any Handycrafts Man that works in his Shop, imprint in his Mind this excellent Sentence, Our Days are like the Days of an Hireling; and when he hath ended his Tafk, and is departing to his Reft,. let him comfort himself with this Affurance, that as soon as he fhall have ended that Work that God hath given him to do, he fhall reft from all his Labours, Job vii.

Whenever the Physician visits the Patient, or when the Surgeon dreffes the Wounds, let them confider that they have no Secret or Art able to protect them from Death, or to cure the Breaches that it makes in our corruptible Nature.

Let the most cunning Lawyers the most advised Counsellors, and the most eloquent Orators, remember that all their Rhetorick and Subtilty will never obtain for them their Suit against Death, nor procure a Moment of Refpite or Delay.

And let the most learned Philofophers learn, That the foundest Philofophy is the Meditation of Death.

In fhort, whatever be our Imployment, Condition or Age, let us lift up our Minds and Hands unto God to speak to him in the Language of the Prophet David; Lord, let me know my End, and the Number of my Days, that I may know how long I am to live; or of Mofes, So teach us to number our Days, that we may apply our Hearts unto Wisdom.

A Prayer and Meditation on our Mortality.

My God and heavenly Father, fince it is thy Plea

fure that I fhould be mortal, and that my Body fhould return to the Duft; Grant me Grace to be always mindful of my frail Condition, and feriously to reflect upon the feveral Changes of Times, the Variety of Seafons, the Unconftancy of the World, and Alterations I meet with, as Memento's of my last Change and Departure. Let my Infirmities, and frequent Diftempers be looked upon as

So many Meffengers fent to fummon and warn me that I must shortly leave this Tabernacle. Let the Bed 1 reft on call to my Mind, that when all the Business of my Life fhall be finished, I must lie down and rest in a Bed of Duft. Let the Garments that I caft off at Night, the Sleep that benumbs my Senfes, the Tombs of my Predeceffors, Forefathers and Friends, refresh in me the Thoughts of my Departure to my last Home. Gracious God, give me Grace fo often to look upon Death and the Grave, that I may be acquainted with them, and that they may not fright or terrify, but comfort me; for though I know that I am born to die, I know alfo this, that Death fhall introduce me into the Prefence of my God, the only Author of Life and Happiness, to live for ever with him in Blifs. Amen.

СНАР. VIII.

The fecond Remedy against the Fears of Death, is, to expect it every Moment.

T is not fufficient to think often upon Death, and to difcourfe of it in a pathetick manner; and there be fome that frequently mention Death with many pious Reflections; yet nevertheless they cannot boaft of being free from all Apprehenfions of it. Their Tongue is always ready to speak of Death, but their Hart cannot yield to expect it. They know that Death-will feize upon them, but they entertain this dangerous, Opinion, that the Time is not yet come; they acknowledge that they are indebted to God and Nature, but they delay the Payment of the Debt from Day to Day, as if they were able to corrupt the Sergeants of Death, and obtain a Reprieve at their Pleasure. There is no Man fo old and decrepit, but flatters himfelf with the Fancy of having as yet at leaft a Year to live in the World. In fnort, we imagine always, that we perceive Death at a vaft Distance from us, and

that

that we shall at our Leifure prepare ourselves to receive it as we ought. Therefore whenever, or whereever it comes to drag us out of the World, it surprizeth and astonisheth us.

To prevent this Mischief, we must not only confider that we are mortal, but that our Life is fhort and of no long Continuance; we must continually fay with Job, Are not my Days few? Job x. And imprint in our Minds this Sentence of David's, The Lord hath made my Days as an Hand's breadıb, mine Age is as nothing before him, Pfal. xxxix. Or that of Mofes, The best of our Days are but Labour and Sorrow; for they are foon cut off, and we fly away, Pfal. xc.

The Ancients painted Time with Wings, to exprefs its unavoidable Swiftnefs. The Holy Spirit compares our Life to a Weaver's Shuttle, to an hired Servant, to a Post that runs apace, to a Packet-boat, or toan Eagle that flies after its Prey. The facred Writers fpeak of our Life as of a Torrent of Waters, of a Cloud, a Vapour, a Wind, or a Breath. They tell us, that our Days are gone as a Dream, they fly away as a Shadow, they vanish as a Word in the Air, and that they perifh as a Thought. In a Word, all the lighteft and the most unconftant Things in the World, whereof the Motion is very fudden and quick, are employed in holy Scripture to exprefs the Vanity of our Life, and Shortnefs of our Days.

Befides that our Life is of a fhort Continuance, it flides away infenfibly, like a Clock, the Wheels move without ceafing, altho' the Hand appears to us to be steady; or to a Plant that grows continually, altho' the Increase and Growth is not to be difcerned by our Eye-fight; or like to a Man who ftands in a Ship under Sail, he goes forward whether he will or no. Thus whether we fleep or wake, whether we go or lie down, whether we eat or faft, whether we work or reft, we proceed on continually forward towards our Grave. Our Body is like a Tree eaten continually by Worms; for Day and Night they feed