great good Men had fmall Regard to the Pleasures of Senfe, and glittering Gayeties of this World, but kept their Eyes and Hearts intent upon Eternal Joys: Thofe were their Hope, their Delight, the earneft and only Longing of their Souls: And therefore the Only one, left if their Affections were at all divided, the Love of the Things that are feen, fhould faften down their Hearts to mean and earthly Objects, and hinder them from foaring up on high to the infinitely more precious Things that are not seen.

This is indeed a Work of Pains and Time; but let not that Confideration drive you to defpair of attaining an Heavenly Temper of Mind. The Undertaking is great, 'tis true; and the Time allowed for it but fhort; but ftill this fhort Space is enough, if you will take care to make the best of it. Up then, and be doing; do not purpose well to Day, and put off the Execution to a farther Day, but rather argue your felf into Action by fuch Reflections as thefe. This very Inftant is the proper Time, This the Seafon of Amendment, and fighting the good Fight. It is by Hardfhip and Suffering, that Men recommend themfelves to the Acceptance and Favour of God. He hath ordained, that Fire and Water, Diftrefs and Tribulation fhould be the Way that leads to Refreshment and true Blifs. Without fome Violence upon thy felf, Sin cannot be fubdued, nor evil Customs broken. Without fome Uneafinefs and Pain we cannot live; And, while we carry this Body of Flesh about us, thefe will make an infeparable Part of the Burthen. We wish indeed for Eafe and untroubled Satisfaction; but, as the Condition of Mankind ftands at prefent, we wish in vain. For, in lofing the Innocence of our Nature, we loft our Happinefs too; and as both left us, fo both must be reftored, together. Patience is now become a neceffary Virtue, and we must be content to wait the Season of God's Mercy; when he fhall

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fully repair our Breaches, heal our Infirmities, put a Period to our Unrighteousness, abfolve the Guilt, blot out the Remembrance of them, and cause Mortality to be fwallowed up of Life.

In the mean time, it cannot methinks but be a mighty Mortification, to confider how exceeding prone this frail Nature of ours is to Sin. To day you confefs your Sins to God, and to morrow you act thofe very Sins over again, which you lamented but the Day before. This Hour you refolve to be watchful, and take good heed to all your Ways; and the very next Hour you run on as giddily and rafhly as ever, forget your Refolutions, and stand more Selfcondemned than if you had never refolved at all. So great Reafon is there for Thinking very meanly of our felves, and difclaiming all vain Confidences in any Thing we are, or do. But these so fudden and frequent Relapfes are not our Misfortunes, but our Faults. They are indeed the Confequents of our Frailty; but that Frailty would not affect us to that degree, did not we contribute to it by our own Negligence and Inconftancy. And a fmall Neglect will foon undo, what coft much Time and Labour to effect; nay, what could not have been effected even fo neither, had not Almighty God feconded our Endeavours with his Divine Assistance.

But if we cool fo very quickly, and cannot Watch one Hour, what will become of us at laft, and how shall we perfevere in Faithfulness unto the End? Wretched are we indeed, if we faint and grow weary, if we give out and feek Refreshment, as if we were already fafe and in abfolute Peace; when we have scarce begun the Battel, and gained but little Ground in Holinefs and Reformation of Manners. Alas! we are as yet but raw Beginners; fo far from compleat Masters in our Bufinefs, that we have ftill need to learn and practise the very first Rules of Living over again; be

fore we can be fo perfect as we wish and ought to be. Nor fhould we difdain to do fo, if thofe Condefcentions can prove of use to us.

CHA P. XXIII.

Meditations concerning Death.

Ince Life is of short and uncertain Continuance, it highly concerns you look about you, and take good heed how you employ it. To Day the Man is vigorous, and gay, and flourishing, and to Morrow he is cut down, withered and gone. A very little Time carries him out of our Sight, and a very little more out of our Remembrance. O the Hardness of Men's Hearts! O the wretched Stupidity! that fixes their whole Thoughts and Care upon the prefent; and will not be prevailed with to look before them, or bear any Regard to That which must come hereafter. Whereas in truth, every Work, and Word, and Thought, ought to be so ordered, as if it were to be our Last ; and we instantly to Die, and render an Account of it. Would we entertain our felves more with the Thoughts of Death, it would be lefs a Terror to us: For, in proportion as our Lives amend, our Fears will abate, and a clear Confcience will enable us to meet Death with undaunted Courage. However Flesh and Frailty may impofe upon us, yet, be affured, 'tis greater Wisdom to be afraid of Sinning, than to be afraid of Dying; a greater Bleffing to preferve our Innocence, than to prolong our Lives. And whence is all this Fear and Anxiety? Is it because we are not fit to Die? But if you are not fit to Day, how do you propofe to be fo to Morrow? Alas! to Morrow is uncertain; neither You, nor I, nor any Man can depend

S to

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upon it. Or if we could, yet what does it avail to Live, tho' it were much longer, when we by longer Living grow fo little better? Affure your felf, long Life is far from being always a Bleffing. Too many (God knows) are fo far from growing holier, as they grow older, that the Number of their Days only adds to the Number of their Sins, and renders their Account more heavy hereafter.

Happy is that Man who can comfort himself with having employed any one Day of his Life fo perfectly well, as he might, and ought to have done. Many reckon up the Years of their Conversion with great Satisfaction, and think it a mighty Matter that they have! fo long abandoned the World and a vicious Course, And yet, when the Time they boast of comes to be compared with the Improvements they have made, how fhamefully little is the Good they have done? If Dying now be terrible, yet remember that Living longer may be dangerous; and many, many a Man finds too great Occafion to wifh, that it had pleased God to take him away fooner. Happy therefore is He who keeps the Hour of Death conftantly in View? and from this profpect of what must come, takes care to reconcile himself to it, and to put his Soul into a proper Temper for it, when it does come.

If you attend at any Time upon a Death-Bed, and fee another in his Parting Agonies; confider that this Friend is gone the fame Way where you must fhortly follow him. In the Morning, queftion whether you may live till Night; and when Night comes, do not too confidently promife your felf another Morning. Thus fhall you be in a conftant Expectation, and in a good Difpofition to die. And be fure fo to live always, that Death may never overtake you unprovided, nor its fuddeneft Approach be fudden and furprizing, in refpect of You. Many are snatched away in an Instant, and die when they were not in the leaft

aware

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aware of it, for in fuch an Hour as we think not, the Son of Man cometh. Let not the Preparation I am advising, be neglected, as a melancholy unpleasantThing; fuch as embitters Life, and damps Mens prefent Enjoyment; for be affured, whatever Satisfaction you may take now, when that last Hour draws on, it will give you quite other Notions of the Matter. And the Reflections upon your paft Improvidence and Neglect will be more bitter and afflicting then, than any the most follicitous Forecast for Dying well, can poffibly be in the mean time.

O how wife, how happy is that Man, who makes it his daily Care to be fuch while he liveth, as he defires to be found when he comes to Die! We may cherish a good Hope and great Affurance of leaving the World to our Comfort and infinite Advantage, if, while we continue in it, we can bring our felves to neglect and defpife it: If we be zealous to improve in Virtue; in love with Difcipline and Mortification, if we attend to the Exercise of Repentance; if we be of an humble and obedient Difpofition; content to deny our felves, and ready to undergo any Hardship for Christ's fake. But if thefe Qualifications be neceffary, they are neceffary to be attained in Health. For then a Man is in a Condition to strive, and to exert himfelf; but when Sickness is upon him, it is a great Queftion what he will be able to do, or whether any thing at all. Whatever the generality of the World may imagine, who put off their great Work till fuch improper Seafons; yet fure it is, that few, but very few, are reformed by a Sick Bed. And they who defer their Repentance and Amendment till then, feldom, alas! repent as they ought, or are amended in good earnest. Depend not upon the Affiftance of your Relations and Acquaintance: Nor cherish an Imagination fo vain, as that their Prayers hereafter can effect, what you ne

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