Works

SECT. III.

SEcondly, Spend the greatest part of the day in thy particular calling ; He that mindeth not his Closet before his Shop, is an Atheist ; and he that mindeth not his Shop after his Closet, is an Hypocrite ; The world is God's great Family, and he will allow none in it to be idle. Though he distinguisheth some from the common Mass, and maketh them vessels of honor, as Superiors and Officers in his house, yet to everyone he committeth some Talent or other, and commandeth them to trade till he come. The ancient Massilians would admit no man into their City, who had not a good trade, knowing what pests and plagues such are to the people among whom they dwell. He that is void of, or negligent in his calling, is at best as a snail ( 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 according to the Septuag. Domiporta according to the Latins ) keeping house, and unprofitable; But usually such a one is mischievous, and may not unfitly be compared to Kites that fly lazing up and down, scarce moving their wings, making a querulous complaining noise, filching their food out of the shambles or warrens, or out of Children's hands by force. Idleness is usher to murmuring and the • ving. He quickly learns to do ill, by doing that which is next to ill, nothing. The Air when still, corrupts and putrifieth. Wheat if not stirred, groweth musty and unwholesome for man's body. The earth if not tilled, breeds thorns; Milstones if there be no grist, wast and wear out themselves. The soul needeth exercise as well as the body, to preserve it in health. Action keeps the soul sweet and clean. It is no wonder that persons are almost choacked with the flegm of corruption, that deny themselves the benefit and advantage of Motion, that they do not thrive who refuse to trade. Its a worthy speech of holy Master Boultons, He is a cursed drone, a child of idleness, the very Tennis ball of temptation, most unworthy the blessings and benefits of human society, who doth not one way or other cooperate and contribute to the common good, with his best endeavors, in some honest particular calling. Job saith, Man is born to labor ; but how many Gentlemen sing the rich fools requiem to their souls; Soul, take thine ease, thou hast goods laid up for many years, till at last they come to his end, and that place where there is no ease day nor night forever and ever; but as a bone out of joint, so is a good man out of his calling.

The Sons of the Husbandman in the Fable, being told by their Father on his Death-bed, that he had left much gold buried in his Vineyard, fell presently a digging and delving with diligence, whereby they obtained, though not the gold they sought for, yet a rich Harvest, by stirring the mold about the roots of the Trees. In all labor there is profit, Eccles. 5. Though the Christian doth not ever by diligence in his calling, reap that gold of outward profit (which is promised conditionally so far as God seeth fit for him) in this world, yet he reaps peace and comfort in the discharge of his duty, and prevents temptations, by being employed about other things.

Its in vain for any to pretend that they are so busy in praying, and reading, and hearing, and holy duties, that they cannot attend their particular callings; for the same God that calls them to spiritual traffic, commands them their temporal trades, and hath allotted them sufficient time for both. He doth the Devil too great a courtesy, who makes the Commands of God to quarrel and clash one against another; If Satan can prevail with men to neglect their callings whole days together, and leave their families declining, and almost starving through their idleness, for private fasting and praying, he never fears the good such a man shall get by all that devotion, which is (as Paul speaks of himself) born out of due time ; He knoweth God doth not usually send in blessings at such backdoors, and that he is provoked as truly by leaving our Shops, when our callings require our company, as by passing by our Closets, when he calls us in to speak with us there. The best food may prove unwholesome and burdensome to the stomach, if a fit season for taking it, be not observed; Our best duties, like some Children, are utterly lost by being brought forth before their time. The Roman General said, Non amo nimium diligentem, I love not them that are too diligent ; meaning them that leave their own callings, and are busy-bodies in others. God loves not such over-diligent, nor any negligent ones. As he commandeth our dependence on him for a blessing, so he commandeth our diligence in our several places.

But having also treated largely of the Christians carriage in his particular calling, in the first part, how he should undertake it in obedience to the divine command, follow it with an heavenly heart, depend upon God for a blessing, I shall say no more here.

Thirdly, Be watchful all the day long ; If thou wouldst walk safely, walk as one that hath his eyes in his head; Ponder the paths of thy feet ; Every man walketh every day in the midst of traps and gins, and rubs and blocks; now the secure person is as a blind man, stumbling at every stone. When a man goeth upon cords, straitened and fastened on high, it concerns him to look well to his footing, lest he totter and fall, and break his neck; There is no Christian but walks as dangerously as he that danceth on the ropes, it behooves him therefore to walk Watchfully. The Children of God are called to be Soldiers, to fight a good sight of faith under Christ, the Captain of their salvation ; but Soldiers must be upon their guard, especially such as are encompassed on all sides, at all times, with enemies of all sorts. Should they who are the mark at which the world and Hell are continually shooting their fiery darts to destroy them, give themselves to sleep? Watch ye, stand fast in the faith; Quit yourselves like men, 1 Cor. 16. 3. The Devil watcheth to devour us, and he is politique to ensnare us, and shall we slumber? Machiavel saith, A Prince ought to know the tempers of men, that he may fit them with baits, and wind them to his own ends ; Satan hath not waited on men, and observed them so long, but he knoweth the length of their feet, and can fit them to their will and woe; as Agrippina the wife of Claudius, gave her Husband poison in that dish which he loved best; so he can give them that meat which they love, with poison for its sance ; He is a Serpent for his subtlety, and can bait his hooks answerable to the love and liking of poor silly • ish ; We read of his wiles, of his devices ; As the Chameleon that lieth on the ground to catch Flies and Grashoppers, changeth himself into the color of the grass, whereby they are deceived and caught; So Satan can transform himself into any shape, even into an Angel of light, for a shift, that he may deceive and destroy. Though he appeared in the form of a Serpent to Eve, he appeared in the form of a Saint to the second Adam ; If he should be quiet, yet our own flesh is free and forward to pollute and pervert us. Were he at any time absent (though I fear he never is, but watcheth us night and day more narrowly then ever Keeper did his Prisoner, for whose escape he was to die) our own wicked hearts are his Deputy to supply his place, and dispatch his business effectually for him. Occasion, and our own corrupt natures seldom meet, but like two inordinate lovers, they sin and defile themselves together. The flesh is instead of a thousand traitors within the Garrison, conspiring to deliver it up into the enemies hands, who is resolved to give no quarter; and is it not time for the Soldiers to be upon the guard, and to keep strict watch? Though both Satan and the flesh should grant a truce or cessation for a few hours (which they never did nor ever will) yet the world like an Harlot is always watching, with her fair breasts of pleasure and profit, to allure us to folly. Like the Whore the wise man mentions, She is subtle of heart, and lieth in wait at every corner; She catcheth the careless sinner and kisseth him, and with an impudent face, saith unto him, I have decked my bed with coverings of Tapestry, with carved work, with fine linen of Egypt; I have perfumed my bed with Myrrh, Aloes, and Cinnamon; Come let us take our fill of love until the morning, let us solace ourselves with loves; With much fair speech she causeth him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she enticeth him. He goeth after her straight way, as an Ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a Fool to the correction of the stocks; Till a dart strike through his liver, as a Bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. O what reason hast thou, Reader, to watch, who hast so many and such crafty and mighty adversaries, every moment to encounter with! Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. Believe it, if thou sleepest, the enemy will sow tares.

Watch thyself in thy Closet, good duties must not be done between sleeping and waking. Praying and Reading are not works that can be done nodding ; Therefore Christ saith, Watch and Pray ; and the Apostle, Continue in prayer, and watch in the same, Col. 4. 2. The Nightingale, that delights herself in h • r night songs, knowing if she should fall asleep, she should be a prey to night-birds, she keeps a thorn at her breast to keep her waking. Watch in thy family among thy Relations; Thy Wife and Children may be Satan's instruments to wound thee; Abraham caused Sarah to dissemble; Eve brought Adam to undo himself and all his posterity; The nearer the person is to us, that dischargeth a piece at us, the likelier to hit, and the more dangerous the Bullet. Watch in thy shop, Satan lieth in ambush in every corner, sin in every counter, to defile and destroy thee. When thou art in company, when thou art alone, at bed, at board, when thou goest out, when thou comest in, keep thy heart with all diligence, for under every pile of grass there is a Snail, under every fig-leaf (as Cleopatra found to her cost) there is a poisonous Asp, in every place there is a snare.

Watch against the Occasions of Sin ; They who have a brand or a candle flaming in their hands, had need to beware of thatch and straw. If the flesh and opportunity, like Shechem and Dinah, meet together, they will not part (unless there be the greater watchfulness) before they are polluted. Its ill to parle with the wicked one. The French have a good Proverb, When the Spaniards talk of peace, then double bolt the door. The greatest wounds that were ever made in conscience, had at first but weak beginnings; David's horrid Murder and Adultery had their rise only from a glance of his eye; keep thee far from an evil matter, Exod. 23. 7. The Crocodile, say Naturalists, is no bigger at first then a Goose egg, and yet groweth to thirty Cubits ; An occasion of sin, embraced but a little, like a Thief in the Candle, insensibly makes sad work and waste.

Watch especially against thy own sin ; This is, as the Phil • stines said of Sampson, The great destroyer of the Country; The great destroyer of thy Conscience. Wise Governors of a Garrison besieged, will take care of every part of the wall, and repair the least decays thereof; but if one gate be more likely to be entered then another, or if one part of the wall be weaker then another, they will be sure to set the strongest watch in that weakest place. Our Soul is our Garrison, committed to our trust by the Lord of Hosts, to be kept for his use and service; Satan is our enemy that besiegeth it, to surprise it; Sin is the Wall or Gate, by which alone he hopes to enter and destroy us. Our beloved sins, the sins of our Callings, or Conditions, or Constitutions, (which we hug and cocker most, which none must touch or reprove, these) are the weakest part of the Wall or Gate, and so require a stronger Watch and Guard; Take heed and keep thy soul diligently, Deut. 4. 9.

SECT. IV.

FOurthly, Be careful to redeem time ; Look upon time as one of the most precious talents which thy God hath entrusted thee with, and which he will reckon with thee for, and therefore not to be vainly spent, or needlessly squandred away. They are worthy to be punished, that spend their gold and silver lavishly, and waste their estates prodigally; but of how much sorer punishment are they worthy of, that are prodigal and lavish of time, that is far more precious then gold and silver ! Time is of inestimable value, in regard of its present use, and because when once lost it is irrecoverable. Friends lost may be reconciled, an estate lost may be regained, but time lost can never be recalled. He is the best workman, that can cut his stuff to the least waste ; and he is the best Christian who can contrive his affairs, and cut out his time to the least loss. Remember that time is given thee, not to squander away in needless visits, or idle talking, or long meals, or unnecessary sleeping, but to get thy person justified, thy nature sanctified, to secure thine interest in Christ, and the Covenant of grace and heaven; and surely things of such infinite weight, deserve all thy time, if thy life were lengthened to the age of Methuselah. Sleep robs us of much time; Friends, saith one, are the greatest thieves of time ; Vain discourse, foolish sports and pastimes, idle company, sitting long at table, must all like luxuriant branches, be pared off, because they suck the sap and juice away from the good boughs; Walk not as fools, but as wise men, Redeeming the time, saith the Apostle, Col. 4. 5. Eph. 5. 16. Its an allusion to wise Merchants, or Tradesmen, who dealing for most precious commodities, make the most of their Markets, and buy their wares while a fit time of buying them serves; and having possibly had great losses formerly, or spent their time idly, do by their diligence seek to redeem, and (as it were) to buy back again the time that is past. The Lacedemonians were penurious of their time, and spent it all about necessary business, not suffering any Citizen either to play or be idle; When their Ephori heard that some used to walk in the afternoons for their recreation, they forbad it, as savouring too much of pleasure, and commanded them to recreate their bodies by some manly exercise, which might breed them to be serviceable to the Commonwealth.

Reader, the time of thy life goeth post, thou art hastening to thy last stage; whether thou art eating or drinking, walking or sitting, buying or selling, waking or sleeping, death is always making speed towards thee; the time of thy departure hence is concluded and resolved, beyond which it is impossible for thee, whether thy work be done or undone, to stay one day, no not one hour, nay, not one moment, and shouldst thou waste thy time upon toys and trifles, as if thou hadst nothing to do, no God to make peace with, no Redeemer to lay hold on, no soul to take care of! He that hath a great way to go, or much work to do, and that upon pain of death, and but a little time for it, hath little reason to laze or loiter. When we have but a little paper, and much to write, we write small and thick. O how much work hath every Christian to do in this world, which if he neglect he is lost forever, how many head-strong lusts to subdue, how many duties towards God and men to perform, how many graces to exercise, providences and ordinances to improve, and can all this be done in a little time! The Candle of our lives burns low; if like foolish Children we play it out, we may thank ourselves if we go to bed in the dark, without the light of comfort to our graves.

It is one of the most irrational, yet ordinary action of the children of men, especially persons of estates and quality, to waste time in Dicing, or Carding, or hawking, or Hunting, or Chambering, or Revelling, and yet to murmur that they want time, and tell us; Its pity man's life is so short • that it is not spun out to a longer thread. I must tell such, that they complain of God, when they should of themselves ; He is not penurious, but they are prodigal in misspending it. I must ask them, Why would they have more time? Is it to be more riotous, and profane, and vicious? The shortest moment is too much for the service of sin; He that sinneth but once, sinneth too much by once; If it be that they might honor God, and get grace; and lay hold on eternal life; why do they not set about it, and make it their business? Everyone would accuse him of folly, that were condemned one Assize to be hanged, but was reprieved till the next, and had that time allotted to sue out his pardon, if he should in the interim give himself wholly to gaming and drinking, and take no care about his pardon, yet complain to all that came to him, that his time was short, and he had not enough to get his pardon in, or prevent his Execution.

Our days are sufficient for our duties, had we grace to number them, and to apply our hearts to wisdom; but there is no overplus of time to be abused to fleshly or worldly lusts, or to be lavished away in idle and unnecessary things. A good man that liveth all the day long in the fear of his God, and husbands his time to the best advantage of his soul, finds it so sufficient for his work, that he is always ready to be called to an account, and when ever he dieth, he dieth full of days, and hath had his fill of living; but men waste their time in vanity and folly, sacrifice their youth to frowardness, and unprofitableness, their manhood to pleasure and passion, their old age (if they live so long) to earthly-mindedness and Atheism, nay, they will set down and contrive sports, or send for, or go into idle company, to pass away the time, and then complain that time is little, and life is short, and they have not enough to provide for death and eternity in. The Moralist observeth truly; Non exiguum temporis habemus, sed multum perdimus; It is not a little time that we have, but it is much which we waste. God i • bountiful in allotting us time, but we are lavi • h of it, and then grumble that it is no more. The largest possessions in a Country, though worth thousands per annum, are nothing in the hands of a Prodigal Heir, who useth to throw away thousands at a cast, and must pay the Bills which Pride, and luxury, and gluttony, send him in daily; but a twentieth part of those revenues were a large estate in the hands of a frugal person. The vast incomes of Egypt, and all the Eastern Provinces, were but a small sum, when they were gathered to maintain the pomp and ambition of Antony ; and the riot and fleshly lusts of Cleopatra ; when some prudent provident Emperors have lived freely and nobly a whole year, with less then they consumed in a day. Foolish men that are riotous and prodigal of their time, as if it were given them only to sport, and play, and roar, and revel in, pine and whine at last that they are lost, because their time is so short; but wise and gracious persons that deny themselves, and crucify the flesh, that can redeem time from toys and idle talk, and foolish sports, and unnecessary diversions, to pray, and hear, and read, and examine their souls, and bemoan their sins, and provide for heaven, these grow rich in good works, and find the days of their pilgrimage sufficient for them.

SECT. V.

FIfthly, Call thyself to an accauut at evening. Take a review of thy carriage the whole day, how thou didst behave thyself. Begin with the morning, consider whether thou didst awake with God, what was the frame of thy Spirit in; closet and family duties in company, and solitude; Reflect upon thy actions, thy passions, thy speech, thy silence, thy behavior at table, in thy shop, whether thy affections were heavenly above the world, when thy actions were earthly about the world, whether thou wast righteous in thy particular calling, and didst set upon it out of conscience to God's precept, and with an eye to his glory; whether thou didst not lose an opportunity of advantaging thy brothers soul, and doing thy God service; whether thou hast not failed in thy thoughts, or words, or deeds, in thy demeanour towards thy relations, or neighbors, or strangers; whether thou didst in all walk according to that rule which thy God hath prescribed thee. This is the way to make the day more pious, and the night more pleasant. Conscience will be the more faithful all day, when it knoweth beforehand that it shall be called to an account at night; and the more conscientious we are in the day, the more cheerful we shall be at night. Seneca reports of Sextius the Roman Philosopher, that every night before he took his rest, he would examine his soul; Quod hodie malum sanasti? Cui vitio obstitisti? In qua parte melior es? What evil hast thou this day healed? what vice hast thou resisted? in what part art thou bettered? and then he addeth, how sweet is the sleep which ensueth upon such a review !

As the Shop-keeper hath his day-book, wherein he writes down what he buyeth, what he selleth, which he looks over in the evening; so must the Christian that would thrive in his general calling, at night reflect upon his well-doing, his ill-doings, his gains, his losses, left his books cast him up (as some find by experience) because he will not take the pains to cast them up.

The Merchant findeth it a ready way to make his Factours and Cash-keepers faithful, to reckon with them frequently. When great persons neglect to account with their Stewards, they tempt them to be dishonest. Our consciences are corrupted, as well as other faculties, and will be false, if not timely examined. Seneca acquaints us with his own practice, which may shame many Christians;

Pythagoras taught his Scholars to talk thus with themselves, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ; What evil have I committed, what good have I omitted? Reader, let not them who knew not God, rise up in judgment against thee. Put every night some brief Q • eries to thy conscience, upon these few heads; How did I behave myself in Religious Duties, in Natural Actions, in my Particular Calling, in Recreations (if any were used) in Company, and in Solitude ; Compare the carriage of thy heart and life, herein to the word and law of God, bring all to the touchstone. Hereby,

• 1. Sin will be prevented ; The Child will be the more dutiful and diligent all day, who expecteth to be examined (by them that have power to punish or reward) for every part of it at night. The Christian will keep his heart as clean as the neat maid her house, who is ever in fear of a severe mistress.
• 2. Hereby, if sin be committed, it will speedily be repented of ; The wound will be healed before it be festered ; A disease is much more easily cured at the beginning, then when it is habituated in the body; Had David called his conscience to a serious account, at the close of that day wherein he defiled Bathsheba, he had prevented both much sin, and much sorrow.
• 3. Our hearts will hereby be the better prepared for evening duties. The reflection upon the sins committed in the day past, will make the streams of our sorrow to run the more freely; Wounds when fresh, bleed most. Our Petitions also will be the more fervent for divine strength, when we are newly affected with the sad consequence of our own weakness; The more we feel our pain, the more urgent are our cries for a Physician ; A review of the mercies newly received, will likewise enlarge our hearts the more in thank • fullness. Divine favors, like flowers, affect us most when fresh and green. Old courtesies, as old clothes, are too often cast by, and thought little worth.
• 4. Hereby our souls will be always ready for our great accounts, whenever God shall summon us to give it up. The keeping a diary of Receipts and disbursements, facilitates the Stewards annual reckoning with his Lord. They who make all even between God and their souls every day, need not fear calling to account any day. None will give up their accounts with such comfort at the great day, as they that cast up their accounts with conscience every day; Often reckoning will make long friends. He that will not hear the warnings of conscience, must look to feel the worm of conscience.

Sixthly, Close the day with God, in Praying, and Reading his word, both in thy Closet and Family. Our bed is resembled to our graves, sleep to death ; its of worse consequence to go to bed before we have made our prayers, then to our Graves before we have made our Wills ; God is the first and the last, and ought to be the beginning and ending of every day; Thou causest the out-goings of the morning and evening to rejoice. Some understand the inhabitants of East and West, others the vicissitudes of day and night, for which men rejoice in God. David was mindful of the Word at night, I have remembered thy law O Lord in the night ; and also of prayer, Evening and morning will I pray and cry aloud, Psal. 119. 55. Psal. 55. 17.

The sins of the day call for our mournful confession. The mercies of the day call for our sincere thanksgiving. The perils of the night call for fervent petitions, so that none can want matter for a nights prayer. Our wanderings and aberrations in the day may wellengage us to confession and contrition every night. They who do not paddle in every gutter, or thrust their hands into every ditch, though they washed clean in the morning, find them dirty at night. We cannot meddle with money, but we foul our fingers; nor about earthly affairs, but we defile our soul. Infirmity bewrayeth itself in all the actions of fallen man. We are steady in nothing but wantonness and wickedness. The feet of men limp at best, and are too slow to follow the Word of God close at the heels. If we intend well in any action (like arrows that are shot in mighty winds • ) we wander from the bow that sent it, and miss the mark. Now whilst the Ship leaketh, the Pump must go. Whilst we sin daily, we must sorrow daily. He is unworthy of the least favor from his Creditor, who thinks much to acknowledge his debt. Austin had David's penitential Psalms written by his Bedside, which at night he used to weep and read, to read and weep.

Our daily infirmities and imperfections must not be passed over. Some have died of very slight wounds in their fingers or toes. Small sands may sink a great ship. Small drops of rain make the earth mi • y and dirty. Vain thoughts, spending time idly, omission of doing good when a price hath been in our hands, are counted by us small sin • , but such small drops will pollute our consciences to purpose, if not bewailed timely.

The mercies and good providences of the day, deserve our acknowledgement at night. If God command his loving kindness in the day time ; his loving kindness may well command our thanksgiving in the night season. As David had his soliloquies in the day, so he had his songs in the night, Psa. 77. 6. All our success in our callings, and undertakings is the fruit of God's providence; We may work, but God only can prosper. Human gains are from divine grace. The Tables that are spread for us like Peters sheet, wherein were all sorts of four footed Beasts, and Fowls, come down from Heaven. How many perils are we protected in? how many dangers are we delivered from? How many evils are prevented, good things bestowed every day, and shall not our Sun and Shield be adorned! We may well every night speak in the words of the Psalmist, Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with his benefits, even the God of our salvation ; Selah, Psa. 78. 19.

The perils of the night, call for our prayers at night; If there were no fear of visible Thieves and Robbers, yet there is of invisible Devils; We cannot bolt our doors so fast, but they will find the way in. We never lie down to sleep, but those roaring Lions are waking and waiting by our bed side to devour us. If God were not our guard, we could not sleep a moment in quiet. He that goeth to bed, before he hath gone to God, by humble and hearty supplication, lieth down before his bed is made, and may well expect to find it uneasy all night; nay, like a foolish Governor of a Fort beleagured with cruel and crafty enemies, he takes his rest, before he hath set his watch, and is liable to be called up at midnight, or to be killed in his bed every moment.

Cyril speaks of a certain people, that chose to worship the Sun, because he was a day God, for believing that he was quenched every night in the Sea, or that he had no influence on them that lighted up candles, they were confident they might be Atheists all night. I fear, many who worship not the Sun, are too much of the minds of that people, in their night Atheism. Though they know not, but when they close their eyes, they may sleep their last, and never open them more, yet they will rather die intestate, then take the pains, by fervent prayers to bequeath their souls into the hands of their dearest Redeemer. Reader, take heed of going prayerless to bed, lest Satan take thee napping. How unworthy art thou of God's protection, if thou dost not esteem it worthy a petition? I have read of a Prince, that would walk abroad every evening in a disguise, and stand harkening and listening under his Subjects windows, to understand what they said; Its true enough, that the great God looketh down from heaven every evening; he is under thy window, and in thy chamber, to observe whether thou hast the manners or grace to bid him good night before thou goest to rest; Believe it, if thou forgettest him, thou wilt find sooner or later, that he will remember thee to thy cost.

A Good Wish about the Christians carriage on a Weekday from Morning to Night; Wherein the former heads are applied.

THe Rock of Ages, and everlasting Father, to whom a thousand years are but as one day, having out of his rich mercy afforded me a short time in this world, not to play or toy with temporal things, but to prepare my soul for my blessed eternity; I Wish that I may never waste that pecious season (which is given me for the working out my own salvation ) about needless affairs, but mind the one thing necessary, and pass the whole time of my sojourning here in the fear of my God ; Every day that I live, and do not improve for my eternal good, is lost ; If I live to eat, and drink, and sleep, the beast liveth in me, not the man ; I do but act a brutish part in an human shape. If I live to buy and sell, and increase my heaps, the Heathen liveth in me, not the Christian ; What do I more then an Infidel ? Time is a silver stream, gliding into the Ocean; Eternity depends upon this poor pittance of time; As I use time well or ill, so eternity will use me; The everlasting harvest will be suitable to the seed that is sown in time, whether Wheat or Tares. Its irrational to expect a crop of Barley, if I sow Thistles ; or a crop of bliss forever, if I now sow to the flesh ; My life is given me, to dress my soul in for the coming of my Bride-groom at death. Whatsoever I do, if it hath not relation and subserviency to my last end, and chiefest good, it is lost time, and waste strength; and though I may be so busy as to sweat about it, yet Christ may say • to me, as to him that stood in the Market-place; Why standest thou all the day idle ? Lord, my time is not mine own, but thine; The day is thine, the night also is thine. It is thine by creation, and why not thine by a religious observation? It was thy favor that I was not turned out of the womb, into the unquenchable fire; I could Wish, that as soon as ever the Sun of my life arose, I had gone forth to my spiritual labor till the evening of my death, that my childhood and youth had been employed in remembering my Creator; but since its impossible to recall those days and years which I have spent in folly and vanity; O teach me so to number my (remaining) days, that I may apply my heart unto wisdom, and live (every day of my life) in the fear of the Lord all the day long.

I Wish that the uncertainty of my life, and certainty of my death, may quicken me to be religious every hour of every day. Every day may be my last, therefore every day should be my best. There is no part of my time, in which I am privileged from an arrest, by the King of terrors. Am I young ? yet I am old enough to die. Death observeth no order; Some drop out of the arms of their earthly Mothers, into the embraces of their Mother Earth, and do no sooner speak, but they are sent to the place of silence. My Sun may set in the morning of my age, and death may tread upon the heels of life; Some have experienced those words of the wise man; There is a time to be born (so little to live that it is not mentioned) and a time to die. Am I strong ? This Sampson of death can fetch meat out of the eater, and out of the strong, sweetness. Deaths harbinger, sickness, which prepareth its way before it, will make me melt like Wax before the Sun, though my strength were the strength of stones, and my flesh as brass. Fresh Flowers are cropped in their pride and greatest beauty; The Autumn of death comes ordinarily before the winter of old age. Besides, I am liable every day to many sudden accidents, and unexpected surprises. How many die in their Shops or Fields, or in the Church or Streets, as well as others in their beds! All men do not go out of the world at the fore door of sickness, many at the back-door of a violent death. When my blood frisketh merrily in my veins, and light sparkleth gloriously in mine eyes, when my countenance is most fresh and lovely, and my senses are most quick and lively, even then, a • my best estate I am altogether vanity. I may draw a long line of life, because nature may afford radical moisture enough for it, when death lieth in ambush like a thief in the candle, and wasteth all on a sudden; Should I as the rich fool, reckon falsely to a million, when I cannot count truly to one, and promise myself many days, when my soul may be required of me this night, how gross is my delusion! Ah, how sad, how fatal is that error that can never be mended!

The time past is gone, and never, never, to be called back. All my prayers and tears, all the revenues of the world, cannot regain the last moment; The time to come is God's, not mine own. It is not in my hands, therefore I have no reason to reckon upon it; I am both foolish and dishonest, if I dispose of another's goods. Reversions are uncertain, and he may well be poor that hath no estate but what he hath in hope, or rather presumption. Lord, thou reckonest my life, not by ages, no, not by years, but by days ; thou hast told me that my days are few, my time is little, though my work be great; I acknowledge my proneness to put far from me my dying day, whereby I gratify my grand enemy, in drawing nigh to the seat of iniquity. O help thy servant to live every day, as if it were his last day; Grant that I may live well and much, though my life be little and short, because there is no day of my life in which I can promise myself security from the arrest of Death; let me expect it every day, and every hour of every day, that when ever my Lord shall come, I may be found well-doing.

I Wish that since the eye of my God is ever on me, my eye may be ever on him, and I may be so pious as to carry myself all the day long as in his presence. What ever I do my God observeth, whatever I speak my God heareth, whatever I think he knoweth; I may call every place I come into Mizpah, The Lord watcheth and observeth ; Ah how holy should he be, who hath always to do with so pure and jealous a Majesty! The Jews were to dig and cover the natural excrements of their bodies, because the Lord their God walked in the midst of their camp. Sin is the spiritual excrement of my soul, and infinitely more odious and loathsome to my God; O how watchful should I be against it, who walk ever in his company! The Sun is said by some to be all eye, because it hath a thousand beams in every place, it filleth the largest windows, and peepeth in at the smallest key-hole, it shineth on the Princes Palace, and the Poor man's Cottage; the Heavens above, the Earth beneath, and Air between, it looks on every person with so direct a countenance, as if it beheld none beside. The natural Sun is darkness to the Sun of righteousness ; the whole world to him is a sea of glass, he seeth it thorough and thorough; The Watch-maker knoweth all the wheels and pins and motions in the Watch; He that made me, cannot be ignorant of me, nor of anything in me, or done by me. Whether I be in my Shop, or Closet, Abroad, or at Home, in Company, or Alone, the Hand of my God is with me, and the Eye of my God upon me; O that I could set him ever before me, and set myself ever before him; that I could always see him, who always seeth me, and like a Sun-dyal so receive this Sun in the morning, as to go along with him all the day; Lord, thou searchest and knowest me, thou knowest my down-sitting, and uprising, thou understandest my thoughs afar off; Thou compassest my paths and lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways; For there is not a word in my tongue, but O Lord thou knowest it altogether; Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, and whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up to Heaven, though • art there; If I make my bed in Hell, behold thou art there; If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the utmost parts of the Sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me; If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me; Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day; The darkness and the light, are both alike to thee; O teach me to walk before thee, and to be upright.

I Wish that the end of all my days, may be the beginning of every day, that my first thoughts in the morning may be of him, by whom alone I think. The Firstling under the Law, was to be the Lord's, and why not the first fruits of every day under the Gospel? Surely, the worthiness of the person, deserves precedency of dispatch. It is no mean incivility to let an honorable man wait our leisure; what impiety is it then to let the great God stay till the dreggy flesh or world be served? Ah, how unworthy (as well as wicked) is it, to put that God off, who deserves all I am, and have, with the leavings of his slaves! Besides the soul usually walks up and down all day in the same habit, in which it is dressed in the morning. The day is usually spent well or ill, according to the morning employment. If Satan get possession in the morning, twill be many to one but he keeps his hold all day. What youth is to age, that is the morning to the day; if youth be not tainted with vice, age is employed in virtue ; He that loves chastity, will not marry her that spent her youth in whoredom. A man may give a shrewd guess in the morning, when second causes are in working, what weather will be most part of the day. If I set out early in my heavenly journey, I am the more likely to persevere in it all the day. As some sweet Oyls poured into a Vessel first, will cause whatsoever is put into it afterwards to taste and savor of it; So if godliness and the immediate worship of God do first in the morning possess my soul, my natural and civil affairs will probably relish of it. Again, Men's hearts are generally upon that in the morning, which they esteem their happiness and portion. The covetous Muck-worm no sooner openeth his eyes, but his • eart is tumbling in his heaps; The voluptuous beast, no sooner wakes, but he is sporting in sensual waters; The ambitious Peacock, no sooner is able to think, but his gay Feathers, and gaudy dress for that day come into his mind; and why should not my heart send its first thoughts into Heaven? Whom have I in Heaven but thee, and there is none upon Earth that I desire in comparison of thee ? The Birds early in the morning, salute the rising Sun with their sweet notes, and shall not I the Sun of righteousness ? Further, My wants, my mercies, call for morning duties; I walk in the midst of deaths, of dangers every day, and shall I dare to travail without my defense? Men clothe their bodies against the sharpness of the weather, and why not their souls against the assaults of the flesh, the world, and the wicked one? There is no safety without this breast-work ; If Satan take me out of my trenches and strong holds, as Joshua did the men of Ai, it will be no wonder if he ro • t and ruin me. If I do not bless God in the morning, how can I expect that he should bless me in the day! Is any earthly Prince so prodigal of his favors, as to throw them away upon those that esteem them unworthy to be desired? If I do not serve the Precepts of God, I am presumptuous to look that his providence should serve me • Should I undertake my affairs on earth, before I have dispatched my business with heaven, I am a notorious Cheat and Thief. I am a Thief to God, by robbing him of his glory, and that natural allegiance which I owe to my Maker. I am a Thief to myself, in robbing myself of that blessing which I might have on my callings and undertakings. O that prayer might be the girdle to compass in the whole body of my natural and civil dealings, and concernments. And that I could every day of my life forestal the worlds market, by setting early about closet and family duties. Suitors find it fittest to wait upon, and dispatch their business with great persons betimes in the morning. Lord, freedom of access to thy throne of grace, is an unspeakable favor; Access is hard to earthly Princes; No worldly Court is so open as to admit all comers. Those that with much difficulty present their Petitions, are often, against all reason denied. Thy gates are open night and day, all that will may come and be welcome. Thou invitest souls to come into thy presence, and delightest to hear and grant their prayers. Thine ears are more open and ready to hear, then their mouths to ask. Thou pressest upon many undesired blessings, but deniest none who ask not stones instead of bread. Importunity never angers thee, the more fervent and frequent my soul is with thee, the more prevalent. Thou fillest the hungry with good things, and dost not send any that desire thy grace empty away from thy gate. What care I how little notice or knowledge the Nobles of the earth will take of me, when I can speak so freely to their better, their Sovereign, and not fear a repulse. O teach me the right art of begging, and then I need not be afraid of poverty. If I be but skillful to follow that trade, my returns will be both •• re and large. Thy mercies are renewed upon me every morning, so are my necessities. O let my praises and prayers be as frequent and early. I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise • hall be continually in my mouth; O God my God, early will I seek thee, my soul thirsteth for thee in a dry and barren Wilderness, where no water is; My voice shalt thou hear in the morning; O Lord in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up.

I Wi • h that having done with the more immedia • e service of my God in Praying, and Reading, both in my Closet and Family, I may proceed to serve him in my Shop and Particular Calling. When God saith, Man is born to labor, I must not sing with the fool, Soul take thine ease. An idle person is like. Caterpillars and Mice, that devour God's creatures, and do no good to others. Its pity he ever lived, the book of whose life is filled up with nothing but Cyphers ; Nature never intended men to be drones, to feed on others labors; nor bats, to spend their lives in the company of sleep, the brother of death. My God, my soul, my family, my country, do all call upon me to be diligent in that calling whereto he hath called me. My God is a pure act himself, and hath capacitated all his creatures for action ; He created all men, but never made a sluggard ; The idle person wholly degenerates from the end of his being, and receiveth his faculties in vain. The command for civil labor hath the same divine stamp, as that for sacred rest. I have also his pattern for my encouragement, as well as his precept for my warrant; Hitherto my father worketh, and I work. My soul also stands in as much need of exercise as my body; Idleness is the door at which diseases enter into both. Rust eats up vessels that are laid by and unused. The mind is never more bright then when it is in employment; from doing nothing, we proceed to do evil. Idleness is not only a vice itself, but also hath this unhappiness, to usher in all other. This is the least advantage of industry, that it gives the soul no leisure to play with sin, or to entertain the wicked one. Standing waters do not sooner putrefy then lazy souls; It is action that preserves the • oul in health; As G • ats dance up and down in the Sun, and then sit down and sting the next hand they seize upon; So they who have no time to work, have much to employ in slandering and backbiting others; One sin never goeth alone. Again, my Family may well rouse me out of the bed of laziness; If I expect supply of their wants, it must come in with God's blessing at the door of diligence. I am stealing from my wife and children, all the while I am loitering; The Heavens may cause seed sown, to ripen into a joyful Harvest, but untilled land will afford no crop, save of weeds or stones. Once more, My Country commands me to my calling; I am but an ill member in the body Politique, if as a diseased part I take of its nourishment, but rather hinder its growth, then contribute to its health. A jarring string is not more prejudicial to the rarest Viol in the hands of a skillful artist, then an idle person to the music and composure of the universe. The most venomous creatures that nature produceth, are some way serviceable to their fellow creatures; O that I might never by filling up my life with laziness, be a Wen in the face of nature, serving no way to profit, only to disfigure it. Yet I desire that my diligence in my particular, may be regulated by my duty towards my General calling. Oil moderately poured in, feeds the Lamp, excessively drowns it; Alexanders Soldier run so lightly upon the sand, that he made no impression with his feet; My duty is to give earthly things my hands, but my heart only to the things of heaven; Lord, Its as well thy pleasure that I should work here, as thy promise, that I shall rest hereafter; Let t • y grace be so operative in me, that I may never give Satan advantage against me, by being negligent, or over-diligent in my particular calling. Suffer not the interposition of the earth, ever to cause an eclipse of holiness in my soul; But let thy word so limit me, and thy spirit guide me, that as one diligent in his business, I may come at last to stand before the King of Kings, to my eternal comfort.

I Wish that I may no part of the day, be so overcharged with the cares of this life, by my particular calling, as to expose myself to wickedness, by neglecting my spiritual watch. If my heart be full of earthly vapors, they will fume up into my head, and make me drowsy ; A drunken man is no sooner set in his chair, but he is fast asleep; Sober and Vigilant are sisters in Scripture, 1 Thes. 5. Let us watch and be sober, 1 Pet. 5. 8. Be sober and vigilant. The immoderate love of the world will incline me as effectually to spiritual slumbers, as immoderate drinking of Wine to bodily; If Satan can get me to take this Opium, he doubts not but to lock me fast to my bed, and to have me at what advantage be pleaseth.

O how easy is it to destroy a sleeping body, to defile a sleepy soul! Noah, Lot, David, Solomon, walked in their sleep and dreams, in strange and sensual paths. When the eye of the souls watchfulness is • hut, the soul is open to all dangers and assaults. Whilst the Husbandmen sleep, the enemy soweth Tares. Sisera's head was nailed to the earth, whilst he l • y snoring on the ground. Epaminondas was not more severe then exemplary, when he ran the Soldier through with his sword, whom he found sleeping upon the Guard, as if he intended to bring the two Brothers, Sleep and Death, to a meeting. The Hare therefore (say some • ) being liable to many enemies, sleepeth with her eyes open, to see danger before it surprise her. I walk continually in the midst of powerful and politick adversaries. The Canaanite is yet in the Land (though not Master of the Field, yet) skulking in Holes and Ambushments, watching an opportunity to set upon and destroy me; There is not only an Army of Temptations besieging me without, but also many Traitors conspiring within to open the gate of my heart to them, that they may enter and undo me. My own heart is like Jacob, a Supplanter, and conspireth to rob me both of the birth-right and the blessing. Let me go where I will, I tread upon Lime-twigs, which the Arch-fowler layeth to entangle and ensnare me. Saul sent messengers to David's house, to watch him, and to slay him. Satan sendeth messengers after me in all places where I • ome, to watch me, and to s • ay me ; The whole world is as the val • of Siddim • full of slime-pits, and without watchfulness; the anointed of the Lord are taken in those pits, Gen. 14. 10. Lam. 4. 10. Sin is a sly thief, that steals upon the soul to rob it when tis asleep. O what need have I of the greatest watchfulness and circumspection imaginable! As the eye-lids guard the tender eyes from harm, so doth watchfulness preserve the soul from wickedness; O my soul, canst thou not watch with thy Redeemer one hour, when he ever liveth to make intercession for thee ? It is but the short night of this life, that thou art commanded to stand • entinel; ere long thou shalt be called off the guard, and freed from that trouble. Lord, thou art ever watchful over me for good, thou never slumberest nor sleepest, but thy seven eyes are ever upon me. Thou mayst say to me, as to thy Vineyard; I the Lord do keep it, I water it every moment, lest any hurt it I; keep it night and day. O since thou watchest to preserve me, let me watch to serve thee; Set a watch O Lord before my lips. Be thou the Governor of my heart; Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. Let mine enemies never find me nodding, lest they leave me dying. Thou hast told me, Behold I come as a Thief; Bles • ed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame ; Give me so to wake and watch now, that death may bring me a Writ of ease, and call me to my endless rest.

I Wish that I may all the day long be even covetous of my time, as knowing it is allowed me not for the service of the flesh, but for the service of my God, and to dress my soul for Heaven. If I be lavish of my time, I am the greatest Prodigal in the World. If he be a spendthrift, that throweth away an hundred pound every day, he is a far greater that wasteth half an hour in one day ; Time is more worth then the revenues of the whole world. He that can command millions of treasure, cannot command one moment of time ; The Father of eternity hath the sole disposition of time; The value of this commodity, is not known to this beggarly world in a day of life. Now men study sports and pleasures, and company, and plays, to waste time; It lieth as a drug upon their hands, and they think themselves beholden to any that will help them to put it off; But when the King of terrors with his gastly countenance approacheth them, and summons them to a speedy appearance b • fore the King of nations, to receive their eternal dooms, O then their judgments will be quite altered, and time will be precious indeed. Then they who play away their time, and give all to the world or flesh, will tell me that time was good for something else then to eat, and drink, and sleep, and trade; that it was good to feed an immortal soul in, and provide for an eternal estate. Then the Rich and Covetous, as well as they loved their wealth, though it be now dearer to them then their God and Christ, and Souls, and Heaven, will part with all they have for a little time. Then the Swaggerers and Gallants of the world, who spend twenty hour • in Taverns, to one hour in the Temple, and if it were not for Play-houses, and Ale-houses, and Whore-houses, and Hawks, and Hounds, and Cards, and Dice, could not tell what to do with their time; who mark all the days in the Calendar of their lives, for Festivals, and make them all Play-days, as if there were never a working day among them, that are as busy and tedious in dressing their worm-eaten bodies, as Children in dressing Babies, and are more troubled at the smallest disorder in their hairs, then the greatest disorder in Church and State, would give up all, and much more if they had it, for a little time; Then the Nobles, and Kings, and Emperors of the world, will disesteem their honors and height, and trample upon their Robes, and Scepters, and • rowns, for a little time. Then they who dally with their days of grace, and delay the preparation of their souls for death and judgment, as if time were at their command, and they could force it to attend their leisure, that live as if Death were their servant, and must wait on them till they thought fit to come to their graves, will find that time was time indeed; O my soul, of what worth will time be at that day, and wilt thou wa • te it at this day! Alas, how little is that time which thou hast to improve for thine unchangeable estate! My life is but a shadow, that is gone when the Sun hides his head; A Bubble that vanisheth when a small breath of wind appeareth; A day that is soon overtaken by a night, a span, nothing. Thou hast made my days as an hand-breadth, mine age is nothing unto thee. Wert thou able to secure a long life, though thou h • s • work enough of infinite weight to employ it all, yet thou mightest have more color of reason for being lavish; but when thy time is little, and thy business of such consequence, what unspeakable madness is it to be wasteful of it! He that hath thousands of acres of Land, will spare some for a Park, some for a bowling-green, some for a court-yard, some for pleasure and pastimes ; but he that hath but a little land, upon which himself and his family must live, and by which they must be maintained, can spare none at all for vain pleasures, but must improve all to real profit. Man that is born of a woman, is but of few days; He comes up as a Flower, fleeth as a shadow, and continueth not ; and wilt thou, O my soul, revel and riot away this poor pittance in which thou shouldst work out thy salvation! O that I could value this jewel in some measure answerable to its worth, and do the work of the day, in the day allotted me for work! Time rightly husbanded is acceptable time ; a day well employed is a day of salvation. Lord, though my journey be great, my time is little; Nay, how much of that little time have I lost? A considerable part of it hath been taken up with my Infancy and Child-hood, wherein I did little above a Beast. My youth hath been squandred away in trifles and vanity, and too much of it in lust and iniquity. Much of what remains, if thou shouldst add a few more days to my life, must be spent in eating, and drinking, and sleeping, and necessary natural actions; and shall I not redeem it to my power, for the service of my Savior? O affect my soul thoroughly, how Eternity rides, upon the back of time, that I may prize time highly, redeem it carefully, and improve it so faithfully, that eternity may be my friend, and when time shall have an end, I may enjoy that joy which hath no end.

I Wish that I may every day so cast up my accounts, that I maybe always ready for the great Audit-day. Wise Stewards do not write down great sums in gross, which they have disbursed for their Lord's at several times, but set down the particulars, whereby they are prepared for a general reckonning, and enabled to justify their accounts: My trust is more weighty then of any Princes Steward on earth, my Master will be more exact then the severest human Lord; and am I not then concerned so to number my days, as to reckon every day what I recei • e from my Lord, what I disburse for my Lord, and at the foot of every day to write the total sum ! How foolish is he that rejects his books, till his book • reject him? 〈◊〉 is it not better for me to look over the book of my conscience, and observe what blots and errors are there, whilst I have license and liberty to correct them, then to neglect them, till those eyes which are purer then to behold iniquity, come to look it over and leave be denied of ever amending what he finds amiss! O my soul, this evening now I am writing this page, I must send to thee Amaziah's challenge of Joash; Come let us see one another in the face ? Why should we that are so near together, be such strangers to each other? I must ask thee, as Elisha did Gehazi, Whence comest thou? Where hast thou been? What hast thou done this day for God and thyself ? Hast thou lived, or only been : in the world this day? Doth thy soul work, thine eternity work go forward or backward? Hast thou lived as if thou w • rt going to die, and walked in the fear of the Lord all the day long? Hath the awe and dread of the divine Majesty all along possessed thee? Dost thou consider that thou hast one day less to live, and one day more to account for? Suppose God should come to thee this night, as he did to Belshazer, with a Mene, Mene, It is numbered, It is numbered ; Thy days are told, God hath counted them up, and finished them, thou shalt not live to see a morrow. Thy days are extinct, the grave is ready for thee; Art thou ready for thy grave? If God should say to thee, as that Lord to his Servant, Give an account of thy Stewardship, for thou shalt be no longer Steward ? Are thy accounts and God's even? Dost thou reckon as he doth? What do all the actions of this day stand for in thine account, Figures or Ciphers, something or nothing ? What were thy first thoughts in the morning? Was he who came first to thee with his morning mercies, first served by thee? How didst thou pray in thy Closet, and Family? What sorrow accompanied thy confessions? Was thy heart broken that thou hast broken his holy laws? What faith and fervency did accompany thy requests? Was the heat of thy affections answerable to the weight of thy petitions? Didst thou present thy petition to the Master of Requests, the Lord Jesus Christ, by him to be delivered to the Father? What spiritual joy and delight didst thou find in Thankesgiving? Didst thou wonder at that infinite cost which the glorious. God is at, with such an unworthy wretch? How didst thou r • ad the word this day? Did it come with power and authority to thy conscience? was it mingled with faith? Didst thou hide it in thy heart? Hadst thou any resolution to make it thy rule and Counselor, and Comforter, and to order thy conversation according to it? How didst thou eat and drink this day? Didst thou feed with fear? Didst thou receive thy meat as in God's presence, and hadst thou an eye therein at his praise? How didst thou behave thyself in thy Particular calling ? Did it no way encroach upon thy general? Was thy conversation in heaven, whilst thy dealings were about earth? Wast thou diligent in the exercise of it, righteous in thy dealings in it, depending on God for a blessing on it? What was thy carriage in company? was thy life holy, spotless, exemplary, profitable to others? Mightest thou not in such a place have done thy God more service, and thy Brothers soul more good? May I not say to thee as God to Jonah? Didst thou well to be angry at such a time upon no cause? what were thy thoughts in solitude? how wast thou employed? Had God any true share in thy thoughts? hast thou watched thyself this day, and kept thy heart with all diligence? Hath none of thy precious time been lavisht away on unnecessary things? Answer me faithfully to all these particulars, that I may be able to return an answer to him that sent me. O that I could but employ one half hour every day, with seriousness and uprightness, in such soliloquies. Lord, thou didst create the world in six days, and thou wast pleased to lo • k back on every days work, and behold it was very good, and then ensued thy Sabbath. Cause thy • ervant to be a follower of thee, as a dear child, in minding every day the work thou hast given me to do, that I may every night review it with comfort, finding it good in thy Christ, at the end of all my days, looking back upon all my works, I may see them very good, through the acceptation of thy grace, and with joy enter into my eternal Sabbath.

I Wish that I may end every day, with him who is the beginning and first born from the dead ; That I may every night go to bed, as if I were going to my grave, knowing that sleep is the shadow of death ; and when the shadow is so near, the substance cannot be far off; Though lovers cannot meet all day, yet they will make hard shift but they will find an opportunity to meet at night ; Should my devotion set with the natural Sun, I may fear a dreadful night of darkness to follow. That bed may well be as uneasy as one stuffed with thorns, that is not made by prayer. If the soul lie down under an heavy load of sin, the body can have no true rest. Jacob could sleep sweetly upon an hard stone, having made his peace with God; when Ahasuerus could not, though on a bed of down ; I cannot sleep unless God wake for me, and I cannot rationally expect his watchfulness over me, unless I request it. My corruptions in the day, call for contrition in the night; How many omissions, commissions, personal, relative sins, heart, life wickedness am I daily guilty of! and • hold I lie down under their weight, for ought I know they may sink me before morning into endless woe. Whilst blood is in my veins, sin will be in my soul. The weed of sin may be cut, broken, pulled up, yet it will spring again. I shall as soon cease to live, as cease to sin. Though I should be free all the day long from presumptuous enormities, and only defiled with ordinary human infirmities, yet these, if not bewailed, are damning. The smallest letters are most hurtful to the eyes, and far worse then a large Character. Those sins which are comparatively little, if not lamented, are far more dangerous then David's Murder and Adultery, which were repented of. When the soul like Tamar, hath notwithstanding its utmost endeavors to preserve its chastity been ravished, and by force defiled, it must with her lift up the voice and weep. If the Sun may not go down upon my wrath against man, much-less may I presume to lie down under the wrath of God. Besides, how can sin be mortified, if it be not confessed and bewailed? Arraignment and Conviction, must go before Execution.

The favors of the day past, are not to be forgotten, but to be acknowledged with thankfulness. I receive every day more considerable mercies then there are moments in the day; and when I borrow such large sums, the principal of which I am unable ever to satisfy, shall I be so unworthy as to deny the payment of this small interest, which is all my Creditor requireth? Whatsoever gain I have got in my calling, whatsoever strength I have received by my food, whatsoever comfort I have had in my Relations or Friends, whatsoever peace, liberty, protection, I have enjoyed all the day long, I must say of all, 〈◊〉 Jacob of his Venison; The Lord hath brought it to me. Surely the hearer of my morning prayers, may well be the object of my evening praises ; A • how unreasonable is it that I like a whirl-pool, should suck in every good thing that comes near me, and not so much as acknowledge it! Should any one be the thousandth part so much indebted to me, as I am to God, how ill should I take it, if he should not confess it? If a Beggar at my door receive a small alms from God, by my hands, I look for his thanks; How often have I complained of the baseness and unworthiness of some that are engaged to me? O what tongue can express, what heart can conceive how much I am indebted to my God every moment, though I am less then the least of all his mercies; and doth not all his goodness merit sincere thankfulness! Lord, I confess there is not a day of my life, wherein I do not break thy Laws in thought, word and deed; Sin is too much the element in which I live, and the trade that I drive; I find continually a law in my members, warring against the Law of my mind, and captivating me to the Law of sin and death; Ah wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death! Since I am no day innocent, make me every night penitent. As my sins abound, let my sorrow abound, and thy grace much more abound. Though I can never requite thy favors, help me to admire and bless the fountain of them. Suffer me never to go to bed, till I have first asked thee my heavenly Father blessing. Let the eyes of my soul be always open to thee in prayer and praise, before the eyes of my body be shut. And, O be thou always pleased so to accept my confessions, petitions, thanksgivings, my person and performances in thy dear son, that I may lay me down in peace and sleep, because thou Lord makest me to dwell in safety.

Finally, I Wish that every day of my life may be spent as if it were the day of my death, and all my time employed in adorning my soul, in trimming my lamp, and in a serious preparation for eternity. Whilst I am living I am dying, every moment my sand is running, and my Sun is declining; I am as Stubble before the Wind, and as Chaff that the Storm carrieth away; I fly away as a dream, and shall not be found; my life is chased away as a vision of the night; The eyes which have seen me, shall see me no more, neither shall my place anymore behold me. I must live now or never; If I die, I shall not live again; O that all the days of my appointed time, I could wait till my change cometh! Were I to take my leave of the world this night, and were my life to end with the day ; how then would I spend every hour, every moment of it? Should I lavish away my time about this or that vanity? Would I play it away in vain company? Would I neglect my spiritual watch? or waste my talents upon trifles? should I dally about secret or private duties, or be careless of my carriage in my calling? would I starve my immortal soul, or cast off all care of eternity? No, but I should all the day long act by the square and rule of the word. How serious should I be in praying, in reading, in working for my soul, for my salvation? how diligent to do all the good I could, to receive all the good I might? how watchful to catch at, and embrace all opportunities of honoring and serving my Maker and Redeemer? because my time is short, and I must pray, and read, and work for eternity, now or no more, no more forever. And why should I not be as holy, though I do not know that I shall die this night, when I know not but I may die this night? How foolish is he who neglects doing his work, till his work is past doing! Besides, Other creatures are constant, and unwearied in serving their maker, they are every day all the day long in their stations obedient to his commands. If I look to Heaven, to Earth, to inanimate, to irrational creatures, I behold them all as so many Soldiers, in their several ranks, exactly and continually subject to the orders which they receive from the Lord of hosts; and shall I be shamed by them? I am at present more indebted, more entrusted by God; I have a reward hereafter of joy to encourage me, of pain to provoke me to unweariedness in well doing, which they neither hope nor fear. Lord, I live every moment upon thee, why should I not live every moment to thee? My life is by thy providence, O that it were according to thy precepts! I would not be thine hireling to serve thee merely for wages (thou thyself art my exceeding great reward ) but I would be thy days-man, to work for thee by the day, every day, all the day long; O help me to live well in time, that I may live well eternally; Let every day be so devoted to thy praise, and every part of it so employed in thy service, that I may be the more fitted to please and woe ••• ip thee in that place where there is no night, yet all rest, no Sun, yet all day, all light, all joy, where I shall have no meat, or drink, or sleep, or shop, or flocks, or family, and which is best of all, no unbelieving, selfish, carnal heart, to call me from, or hinder me in thy work; but I shall worship and enjoy thee without diversion, without distraction, without interruption, without intermission, both perfectly and perpetually,

SECT. I.

FIrst, It is a duty commanded thee by God. Men are apt to think the visitation of the sick to be only an act of Courtesie and Civility, which they may omit or perform at their pleasure; when it is an act of Charity and Christianity, which every Christian is bound to by a divine Precept. The Ministers of Christ are especially enjoined this task; but every member of Christ also, when God gives him opportunity, oweth this debt to his Neighbor, I am. 5. 14, 15. If any be sick, let him send for the Elders of the Church, and let them pray over him. The same word which commandeth the sick man to send, commandeth the Elder to go. Indeed its a gross fault in many sick persons (and therein they are exceedingly their own enemies) that they either send not at all for the Minister, or if they do, not till they have done with the Physician ; when their bodies are past all hope, then they look after some hope for their souls. But without question it is a duty for the Elder sometimes to go uncalled; Its good manners to be an unbidden guest at a house of mourning. Our Master was found of them that asked not for him, and so should his servants. There are those that can invite themselves to their Neighbors Tables, who withdraw themselves from their Chambers. Some are drunk so often with their Parishioners whilst they are in health, that they are afraid or ashamed to discourse seriously with them when they are sick. God may speak to many, as to the Shepherds of Israel; Woe be to the Shepherds of England that do feed themselves; should not the Shepherds feed the Flock? ye eat the fat, and ye cloth you with the Wool, ye kill them that are fed, but ye feed not the Flock; The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them, Ezek. 34. 3, 4. None are more cruel to the Flock, then those that are most covetous of the Fleece.

Oleaster on Lev. 14. 44. ( Then the Priest shall come and look, and behold if the Plague be spread, &c. that being the third time the Priest was to visit the infected house) hath this useful observation; Si Saecerdos toties invisat leprosam domum, cur tu non aegrum? If the Priest were commanded so often to visit the leprous house, why dost not thou visit the sick person ? The Plague in the heart, calls for more pity and help then the Plague in the House.

This duty also belongs to private members, as well as to public Officers. Every Christian should love his Neighbor as himself, which he cannot do, unless he have a sense of his sickness, and endeavor to improve such an opportunity for his Neighbors Salvation. True love, like fire, burns hottest when the weather is coldest. Histories make mention of one Vr • i • us a Physician, that being to die for the Gospel, and beginning to waver, Vitalis a godly man stepped to him, and though he knew it would cost him his life, encouraged him, saying, What, have you been so industrious heretofore, to preserve men's bodies, and will you now shrink at the saving your own soul! Be courageous ; For which faithful counsel he was condemned and suffered accordingly. Its our duty to assist them that die natural, as well as those that die violent deaths. To visit persons in their affliction, is one testimony of the truth of our Religion at this day. Holiness and Charity are like Father and Child. Pure Religion, and undefiled before God and the Father, is this, to visit the Fatherless and the Widows in their afflictions, &c. Jam. 1. ult. The fatherless and widows are expressed (but the sick, and strangers, and captives are included) because these are usually most afflicted and most neglected; Those that have received mercy, cannot but show mercy. As visiting the distressed is a sign of it now, so it will be the test of Christianity at the great day, Mat. 25. 34, 35, 36. Come ye blessed, &c. I was hungry, and ye fed me; naked, and ye clothed me; sick, and ye visited me, &c. Works of mercy fill up the whole bill, as the evidence of the Saints right to heaven. Whereof Luther gives this reason; because the consciences of the wicked shall justify Christ as well in the absolution of the godly, as in their own condemnation. Though Christians do not give their alms, or visit the sick, to be seen of men, yet in doing many offices of love, and acts of charity, they are seen of men. So they who can witness the truth of Christians mercy, will be forced to acknowledge the equity of Christ's sentence.

SECT. II.

SEcondly, It is a special opportunity of doing and receiving good.

1. Of doing good ; I think it the more necessary to speak to this Motive, because many are apt to judge all pains with sick persons to be to no purpose. They are discouraged from endeavoring the conversion of profane men upon sick beds, supposing that such men's repentance will be as unsound as their bodies, even when they are sick unto death. Though I would not give the least encouragement to any men to defer their turning to God, believing him worse then mad, who puts off the weighty business of his soul, because peradventure God may grant him repentance hereafter ; yet I must obviate this suggestion of the Devil, which hinders men from doing their duty; God may show mercy to a soul at last; There is one example in Scripture, that none might despair. Sickness is with some men the tide-time of devotion. They who scorned godly men, and made a mock of godliness in their health, will prize the Saint, and desire his sanctity above all the world, when they lie upon sick beds, and consider what an holy God they are going to appear before. Sickness, as one saith, is, Officina virtutis, morum disciplina, The shop of virtue, and the school of manners ; Therefore King Alfred was wont to say, I ever find myself best, when worst; best in soul, when worst in body; the sickness of my body, is physic to my soul ; Experience daily informeth us that the Swaggerers and Gallants of the world (whose consciences are not seared with an hot Iron) though they gave themselves up to Drunkenness, and Gluttony, and Gaming, and Whoredom, and all manner of wickedness in their youth and strength, yet when they are weakened much with a disease, and have no hopes of continuing longer on earth, begin to wish that they had spent their time to more purpose, and are sensible of their neglect of God, and Christ, and their Souls, and Eternity ; then many of them will desire the company of those that fear God, and beg their prayers, and hearken to their counsels, and would give all they are worth for a little of their grace and holiness. Even Benhadad the King of Syria, an enemy to the Prophets and People of God in his health, will send a Prince to Elisha with a large present, and most submissive expressions (thy Son Benhadad ) in his sickness, 2 King. 7.9. Sickness gives men a double advantage for holiness.

1. It takes off their hearts from creatures, by teaching them experimentally what a poor weak cordial the whole creation is to sick or dying men. When men are strong and lusty, they can taste and savor earthly things; carnal comforts hinder their endeavors after spiritual; They take up with creatures as Esau, and say, they have enough ; but sickness makes them know the emptiness of all sublunary things. When men are sick, they cannot relish the worlds dainties and delicates; The preferments, and riches, and pleasures of the earth, are all unsavory and uncomfortable to them. They now see the vanity of those things which heretofore they so much idolized, how unable they are to revive their fainting spirits, or to allay their pain, or purchase them the least ease, or procure them the least acceptance in the other world; and hence the price of the worlds market falls abundantly in their judgments. Bernard tells us of a Brother of his, that when he gave him many good instructions, and he being a Soldier, regarded them not, he put his finger to his side, and told his Brother; One day a Spear shall make way to this heart of thine, for admonition and instruction to enter.

2. In sickness conscience is usually allowed more liberty to speak its mind, and men are then more at leisure to hear it. In health their callings, or friends, or lusts, or sports, or some carnal comfort or other, take up their hearts and time, that conscience must be silenced (as too bold a Preacher) for offering to disturb them in their pleasures, or if it will use its authority, and continue to speak in God's name, and forbid their foolishness, and Atheism, and sensuality and profaneness, they are deaf to its calls and commands, and drown its voice with the noise of their brutish delights; But in sickness they are taken off from their trades, and pastimes, and merry meetings, and jovial companions, when their bodies are weak, their fleshly lusts are not so strong as formerly, whereby conscience hath a greater opportunity to tell them of their miscarriages and wickedness, and they themselves are more attentive to its words and warning.

Reader, Its a special piece of wisdom to improve such a season for the good of thy Neighbors soul. When the Wax is softened, then we clap the Seal upon it, lest it harden again, and be incapable of any impression. When the hand of God hath by sickness made the heart of thy wicked friend or brother soft and tender, then do thy utmost to stamp the Image of God upon it; Paul would preach whilst a door was opened, and there was likelihood of doing good. Its a great encouragement to work, when the subject upon which we bestow our pains, seems capable of what we prosecute, and probable to answer our labor. We have some heart to strike a nail into a b • ard, because there is hope it will enter, but no list to drive a nail into a flint, because we despair of effecting it. The Smith strikes when the Iron is hot, he knoweth if he should stay till it is cold, his labor would be in vain; Friend, take the advantage of others bodily sickness, to further their spiritual health, lest they either die in their sins, or harden upon their recovery. Opportunity is like a joint in some part of a fowl, which if we hit upon, we may easily carve and divide the fowl, but if the Knife fall on this side, or that side of the joint, we do but mangle the meat, and take pains to no purpose. It is the speech of Master Richard Rogers in his seven Treatises, I have visited some persons that have been condemned to die, in whom (through the blessing of God upon his endeavors) I have found as good signs of saved persons, as of any that died in their beds, not having tasted of repentance before.

2. Its a special opportunity of Receiving good ; We are taught more effectually by the eye then by the ear. The sight of a sick or dying person hath often a strange and a strong operation upon the beholder. When the Father heard of one that sinned notoriously, he cried out, I may be as bad as this man is ; When thou seest one dangerously sick, thou mayst think with thyself, I must • e as this man is, sick unto death, when none of my Relations or Possessions can afford me the least comfort, and O how much doth it concern me to prepare beforehand for such an hour! If this man's work be now to do, when his life is ending, how sad is the condition of his precious soul? O that I were wise to consider timely, and to provide seasonably for my latter end. The sight of a dead man, was instrumental to the spiritual life of Waldus. The sight of others sickness may well quicken me to the greater industry and diligence after spiritual health. Do I behold my Neighbor, whose Sail formerly sweld with a full gale of worldly enjoyments, now wind-bound, chained to his chamber, or fettered to his bed, unable to relish his food, or take any comfort in his friends? Do I see him full of Aches, and Pains, Tossings, and Tumblings, crying out in the evening, Would God it were morning, and in the morning, Would God it were evening, because of the anguish of his Spirit ? Do I behold his cheeks pale, his eyes sunk, his lips quivering, his loins trembling, his heart panting, and nature striving and struggling with the disease to keep its ground, and yet at last forced to quit the field, and leave the victory to its adversary, how many excellent observations may I draw from such a Text? What a fool am I, to trust the world, which leaves this man in his greatest want? How mad am I in loving sin, which is the cause of all these crosses and miseries, and which makes death so mortal to poor souls? Of how much worth and value is the blessed Redeemer, who will comfort a Christian in such a time of need, and carry him through his last conflict with joy and conquest? How careful should I be to get and keep a good conscience, which in such a day of extremity will yield me true courage and confidence ? The wise man doth not without cause tell us, It is better to go into the house of mourning (to the terming or charnel-house) then to the house of feasting, for that is is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to heart, Eccles. 7. 2. Men in a house of feasting, are apt to be forgetful of their duty to God, themselves, and their Neighbors, Isa. 22. 13, 14. Amos 6. 3, 6. Isa. 5. 11, 12. When the body is filled, the soul is often neglected. Job was afraid of this in his Sons, Job 1. 5, 6. It may be my Sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts, i. e. when they had been feasting at their elder Brothers house, God gives Israel a special caution against this, Deut. 8. 12, 14. Men in an house of mourning, are put in mind both of God's Sovereignty, who draweth away their breath and they perish, Psa. 104. 29. and their own frailty, how soon they are gathered and withered, even in their prime and pride, Psa. 39. 5. I am blind if I do not see mine own end, in the end of another; and distracted if I do not provide for my last enemy, which I must necessarily encounter. Thus its a mercy to ourselves, to be merciful unto others; and whilst we visit the sick, we visit our own souls. Who would not do his Neighbor good, when he may be confident it will tend to his own gain ! I have but hopes by my visit, of advantaging a sinner ; but I may be sure, if I be faithful therein, of profiting my self.

SECT. III.

THirdly, It may be the last opportunity thou mayst ever have of advantaging thy sick neighbors soul. His sick-bed may be his death-bed, and then twill be too late to counsel or advise him. There is no Purgatory in the other world. Diseases both bodily and spiritual, must be purged away before death or never. He that is filthy at death, must be filthy still, even to all eternity; All the tears in hell will not wash out the least spot in the soul; All the fire of hell, will not purge out the least dross; Therefore Christ took the opportunity of dropping good counsel into the heart of the Thief on the Cross, knowing that if he had omitted it a very few hours longer, the soul of the poor Thief had been lost forever. Hadst thou a friend going to Sea, and never to return again, waiting at a Port for a Wind and then to be gone, and hadst busine • s with him of as great concernment to him as his life, thou couldst tell him of a quicksand which he must beware of, or he will be cast away; wouldst thou not be quick and speedy to acquaint him with it, lest he should be under Sail before thou didst see him? would it not cut thee to the heart, if he should miscarry through thy negligence? The Application is easy; The soul of every Neighbor is, or ought to be dearer to thee then the body of thy nearest friend or relation. When thy wicked Neighbor is sick, his soul is launching for ought thou knowest, into the Ocean of eternity, whence he shall never, • ever, return more. He waits only for a wind, a word from God, and he is gone. The sick bed is the passage or path-way to the grave. Thou hast work to do with him, that is more worth to him then his life, that i • of as great value as his immortal soul, and eternal salvation. Now thou mayst acquaint him while he is on the shore, with his danger, and the way of his delivery; but if once he launch into the Main ; thou mayst call loud and long enough after him in vain; O will it not pierce thee to the quick, if his soul should be swallowed up in the boundless and bottomless Sea of divine wrath, through thy laziness or unfaithfulness! When the day drew near for the destruction of the Jews, the heart of Haman swelled with hopes, and Hester had then an opportunity to step in and preserve the lives of her Countrymen; Mordecai tells her, Who knoweth whether thou art come to the Kingdom for such a time as this ? She made use of the season, and saved their lives with the hazard of her own; Had she delayed a little longer it had been too late, they had all been sacrificed upon the Altar of Haman's ambition. When the hour of a wicked man's death approacheth, the heart of the roaring Lyon is big with expectation of his prey, and a Christian friend hath then possibly an opportunity to save the poor creatures soul; Now or never, there is no knowledge nor wisdom in the grave, whether the sick person is going. If he make use of the price God puts now into his hands, by serious, prudent, faithful and affectionate counsel, he may help the • inner to heaven; Who knoweth whether he be come by the Providence of God, into the sick man's Chamber for such a thing as this?

I have but one thing more to commend to thee, and then I shall speak to the work itself.

Before thou goest to thy sick Neighbor, go to God by prayer; entreat him to direct thee what to speak, and to succeed what shall be spoken. It is his own Ordinance, and therefore thou mayst the more comfortably beg and expect his assistance. Nehemiah would speak to God, before he spake to the King for the afflicted Jews; Hester prefers her Petition, first to her Maker, that her prayer might prosper, and then her Petition to her Husband, for the lives of her Countrymen. God is the Principal Agent, and if he be left out, all thy labor will be lost.

Wherein the exercising thyself to Godliness in visiting the sick consisteth.

• 1. In endeavoring to benefit the soul of thy Neighbor.
• 2. In getting some spiritual profit to thyself.

First, In endeavoring the spiritual good of thy Neighbor. We are enjoined in the eighth Command, to mind and further our Neighbors temporal wealth, but much more his spiritual welfare. Twas true which Bucer's Physician told him, when he expressed his eagerness to die, Non sibi sed multorum utilitati se esse natum, That he was not born for himself, but for the good of many others ; Every Saint is to be as it were a common stock for the profit of many. He is born, and new born, not only for himself, but for others benefit. The Lynx is a spotted unclean beast, that knowing how his urine will congeal into a precious stone, and be profitable to men, maketh an hole in the ground when he pisseth, to hide it from them. Job who knew the advantage that might acrue to others thereby, would not conceal either the word or works of God from them, Job 6. 10. and 27. 11. To this end;

1. Labor to be acquainted with the state of the sick persons soul. Its dangerous to give either Purges or Cordials ignorantly, or at peradventure. The souls of men are of inconceivable value, and therefore not to be tampered or trifled with. Its a good step to the cure, to understand fully the disease, and the constitution of the Patient; therefore Physicians feel the pulse, view the urine, inquire of the sick person, or his friends, concerning his former course of life, diet, present digestion of his food, place of his trouble or pain, &c. that they may proceed upon good grounds, and give suitable and effectual advice. So shouldst thou Reader, in visiting the sick, inform thyself either by conference with some serious Christians of their acquaintance beforehand, or by some searching prudent questions to the sick, concerning the condition of their souls. The ignorance of a Physician, may occasion the death of the Patient. Some practitioners in Physic, who intend much good, do much hurt, for want of judgment to find out the tempers and distempers of the sick. A mistake in soul-cases, is of more hazard then in body-sickness. If I undertake to humble a person who is already cast down sufficiently, and wants a Cordial, or to comfort one who is full of presumption already, and needs a Corrosive, how good soever my meaning may be, my acting is evil, and instead of relieving, I may destroy my Brother. The Eastern Churches did not without cause enjoin the Minister, or such as were appointed to visit the sick, to continue with them seven days together, that in that space they might discover the man, before they applied themselves to him, either in a way of Admonition, or Counsel, or Consolation. Job's friends when they came to visit him, spake not a word, either reproving or advising him, till they heard him open his mouth and curse the tongue that told the news of his birth. The knowledge of the sick man's spiritual condition, is as it were, the foundation upon which we must build all our discourse with him, and prayers to God for him; or at least it is the rule by which we must build, and therefore its very dangerous to mistake in it. If the Foundation be laid ill, the superstructure will never stand well; If the rule be crooked, the building cannot be strait. A blind Archer may as soon hit the Mark, as one ignorant of his Neighbors state, advantage his soul.

SECT. IV.

2. APply thyself to him suitably to his condition ; As the conditions of men are several, so must the Application be; that which cures one, may kill another; One medicine will as soon cure all diseased bodies, as one way all sick souls; Indeed the Physic to be prescribed every Patient, is the same for substance; The blood of Christ; By his stripes we are healed ; but there are several ways of tendering this to sinners, that they may be prepared for it, and give it all acceptation; that Physic which is given to one in a Potion, is given to another in a powder, to a third in an electuary, to a fourth in a pill, according as it will be most prositable and most acceptable to them. Its not easy so to write the bill, that the sick may receive, what is prescribed to his greatest content and advantage; For as many perish error medici as vi morbi, by the error of the Physician, as by the power of the disease. Though I judge it next to impossible, for me to set down exactly and fully, directions answerable to the difference of sick persons condition, disposition, education, calling, guilt, &c. yet I shall speak to the most ordinary cases, and be careful not to omit the main work, namely, that which concerneth the conversion of graceless and Christless persons, if on a sick bed, God peradventure will give them repentance.

If the sick person be judged carnal and unregenerate (for the Tree is known by its Fruits; Besides, its no breach of charity, to fear the worst of them, whose lives do not speak a positive holiness, especially whilst we are endeavoring their good) then in general I would advise thee to speak.

1. To the depravation of man's nature, and the transgressions of life, with the sad aggravations thereof. How holy man was by creation, how universally and desperately vicious he is by his fall from God, and what horrid unthankfulness he is guilty of in continuing in sin, notwithstanding the grace that is offered to him in the Gospel. Its fit to speak to the purity and equity of the Law of God, and to the difference and contrariety of his heart and life to it; to the sinfulness of sin, in its offensiveness and opposition, to the nature and word of an infinitely Holy, Glorious, and Gracious Majesty, in its destructiveness to the present peace and future perfection of his own precious and immortal soul, and in that the stain of it is so deep, and the venom of it so great, that nothing beneath the blood of God could wash out its spots, or be a sufficient Antidote for its poison. Tell him of the folly of sinners in refusing Heaven for Earth, Angelical Delights for brutish Pleasures, the blessed God for a base lust; and of his own madness likewise in running on so eagerly upon his own ruin against the counsels of men, the commands, threatenings, and entreaties of God, the convictions of his conscience, the calls and invitations of a loving Redeemer, and the motions of the holy Spirit.

2. Speak to the merit of sin, how it being committed against an infinite Majesty, deserveth infinite wrath and severity; Tell him that the Wages of Sin is death, temporal, spiritual, eternal; Acquaint him with the justice, holiness, and jealousy of God, how he will by no means clear the guilty, but hath threatened all manner of plagues and judgments on the workers of iniquity, and cannot fail in the least of accomplishing his word; how he is resolved to make all the Children of Men feel sin to be an evil and bitter thing, either in broken bones on earth, or, broken backs, and endless torments in hell. Let him know his own obnoxiousness, by reason of his many and grievous sins, to the curse of the Law, the wrath of the Lord, and the vengeance of the eternal fire. Tell him that he is by nature a Child of Wrath, an Enemy to God, and an Heir of Hell; that it had been just to have cast him out of the Womb into Hell; that God's patience in bearing with him thus long, will but increase his condemnation and endless misery, unless he prevent it by sincere conversion.

This is the first thing requisite in order to the recovery of his soul. Till sin be discovered in its heinous nature, and bloody colors, it will never be lamented, nor the Savior esteemed according to the duty of the Sinner. The first thing usually, which the Spirit doth in the change of a sinner, is to convince him of sin, Joh. 16. 8. And this is also first in the Ministers commission, Acts 26. 18. The great neglect of this in Ministers and others, is one reason that so few Sinners are awakened, the needful work of humiliation is so dangerously slighted, that poor souls go sleeping and dreaming all is well, till they come to be undeceived in Hell.

3. Speak to his own inability to help himself, that no less then infinite power can recover him out of his miserable condition; Men are prone to act like Brutes, when they are wounded to undertake the licking themselves whole ; as if it were an easy thing to renew a carnal creature, and heal vitiated nature, but alas the work is not so soon done. Its another manner of work to open the blind eyes, and •• liven the dead soul, then the secure careless worldling doth imagine. Its called a Resurrection from the dead, a new Creation, the Work of God, because nothing less then a Divine Almighty power can effect it, Revel. 20. 6. Ephes. 2. 10. John. 6. 29. Ephes. 2. 6.

4. Speak to the necessity of a change in him, both of his disposition by Repentance, and of his condition by faith in Jesus Christ ; That these are not works which may be done or left undone, but such as must be done, or he is undone forever. Tell him the necessity of a change.

1. Of his Nature by Repentance, how God himself hath said; Except he repent he shall perish, and that it is not possible for the whole creation to make void God's Word. That as he is a corrupted depraved creature, he is no way capable of Heaven, for God hath shut him out, and bard the gate of bliss against him; Into it (i. e. Heaven) can in no wise enter anything that defileth, or is unclean, Rev. 21. ult. And he hath shut himself out by his vicious nature; for spiritual pleasures are not suitable, neither can be enjoyed by depraved and ungodly creatures. Let him know that swinish dispositions cannot relish heavenly delights, and therefore if it were possible for him to get to Heaven in a carnal estate, Heaven would be no Heaven, that is, no place of joy or pleasure to him. Acquaint him especially wherein the nature of repentance consisteth, not in a few sighs or sobs for sin, or in crying God mercy, or saying, I am sorry I ever sinned, but in a real change of the heart and nature, that his mind must be changed to see the ugliness and deformity of sin, his will to refuse it as the greatest evil, his affections to loath it, and hate it above all things whatsoever, that he must abhor himself, and loath himself, and bemoan himself for all his abominations, if ever he would fi • d mercy; that he must in his whole man be altered, turned upside down, be contrary to what he is by nature, be converted and born again, or he can nevrr see the Kingdom of God, Mat. 18. 3. John. 3. 3. Forget not also to discover the necessity of a change.

2. Of his state by faith in Jesus Christ, how the Son of God can alone deliver him from the wrath of God; that there is no name under heaven, by which he can be saved, but the name of Christ ; that all his prayers, and tears, and duties, cannot satisfy the divine justice for the least of his sins, or deserve the least favor on the behalf of his soul; that he must of necessity be united by faith to Christ, and submit to his guidance, and give up himself to his Government, or perish eternally; that though Christ died for him without his will, yet he will not save him against or without his will, but he must be heartily willing to accept Christ as his Savior and Sovereign, as ever he looks for salvation by him. Here it may not be amiss to acquaint him with the fullness of Christ's merits, and the freeness of God's mercy to them that do sincerely repent and believe; How God commands, intreats, threatens, promiseth, and all to draw men to mind the things of their peace.

5. Speak to the shortness of his time, to do this weighty and necessary work in; that now there is no dallying, no delaying ; for within a few hours it may be too late; that grace must be got now or never ; that Christ and pardon, and life must be obtained now or never ; that no sin shall be forgiven, no person shall be justified, no soul renewed or cleansed in the other world, that is not pardoned and sanctified in this ; that Heaven and Hell are before him, and within a short time the matter will be determined which of the two he shall be in forever ; that he must now get a title to bliss, or miss it forever; now prevent the unquenchable fire, or burn in it forever; that he is now upon the shore, just stepping into the Ocean, either of Honey or Wormwood, Joy or Horror, and therefore it concerns him nearly to consider what he doth, and to be diligent to the utmost, if he would escape the endless company and torments of Devils and damned Spirits. Take heed of giving him hopes of recovery, which many do to please the sick or their friends; for hereby thou mayst exceedingly injure his soul, frustrating all the means used for his spiritual health. Think not much to be often with the sick person, in case thou hast opportunity. Let his misery move thee, and the love of Christ draw thee. When we fell an Oak, thirty or forty of the first strokes seem to be lost, because the Tree stirs not, yet if we continue, it comes at last down, and showeth the effects of the first, as well as the last strokes; If he be converted thou wilt be satisfied; however thy reward is with God. If this unconverted person be scandalous, then it may be sometimes convenient to hint at the horrid nature of such sins, being committed against common light, and abhorred by many of the very Heathen, and marked particularly for vengeance by the jealous God, 1 Cor. 6. 9, 10. Gal. 5. 19, 20, 21. Ephes. 5. 5, 6. Thou mayst have the more hopes of success in visiting such a one, because conscience in this sinner, will probably prove thy friend, and join with thee in terrifying him for those sins, from which it could not (though it frequently attempted) dissuade him.

If the unconverted person be one that liyed civilly and orderly in his outward conversation, paying every man his own, keeping his Church, forbearing enormous crimes, &c. It will be then needful to commend his civility, Jesus looked on such a man and loved him ; but also to discover its defects and insufficiency, that there is one thing lacking ; how his nature is universally polluted, and it must be thoroughly purified, or he is a lost man; that its one thing to have a wound hid, and another thing to have it healed ; that many In • idels have been unblameable in their outward carriages, who yet perished, being without Christ; that the Scribes and Pharisees went farther then most civil men, for they had not only a negative holiness in denying gross sins, but a Positive holiness (in show at least) they prayed, fasted, &c. yet he, to whom it is impossible to lie, tells us, Mat. 5. 20. Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. It will be good also in dealing with such a person, to insist much upon the latitude and purity of the Law of God, how it forbiddeth (and condemneth for) the least sinful thought, and how nothing less then perfect obedience can answer its demands, or satisfy the Law-giver, because such men are apt to judge themselves righteous, comparing themselves with those that are notoriously vicious. They think all is well, their minds being darkened and unable to discern and discover the secret lusts which are hugd in their hearts; Besides, their consciences being defiled as well as other faculties, are not so true to them as to convince them powerfully of that pride, hypocrisy, unbelief, impenitency, atheism, and ungodliness, which they are guilty of. And Satan hath a strict watch over them, to keep them asleep in sin, not caring, so men go to hell, whether they go thither in the dirty road of scandalous and crying crimes, or in the cleanly path, and through the fair Meadows of Civility. Whether the person be scandalous or civil, it will be needful to let in light at some crevice, and not to leave the sinner wholly in the darkness of despair; The good Samaritan poured Oil as well as Wine, into the wounds of him that fell among Thieves. A little hope may melt that heart which despair would harden. Sturdy Thieves have wept at the news of a Reprieve, that have stormed and raged at the sentence of Condemnation ; But this is wisely to be done, lest the sinner be encouraged to presume. Lenity is to be joined with Severity ; Let there be love, but not emboldening them to sloth; let there be terror, but not driving them into a fury, saith Gregory.

If the sick person be one that is judged a true member of Christ, then speak to the excellency of Grace, and Christ, and Heaven, to the certainty and worth of those promises that are entailed on believers, to make his passage into the other world as comfortable as thou canst. It will be fit also to speak to those graces of Faith, Patience, Love, Heavenly-mindedness, and Joy in God, which should be minded and exercised in a time of sickness, how the time of affliction is the spring, the special time wherein those graces should shoot up and show themselves, that God expecteth some service from him under his fickness, and that his last works should be better then his first. If he be under doubts and fears (for Satan will take the advantage of his sickness, to assault him with his fiery darts, and Saints are too apt to Question God's love when they feel his hand; the weakness of the body, discomposing the mind, and denying it the free exercise of spiritual judgment) then advise him to review his former experiences of divine goodness, and trials of divine grace within him, to hold fast on Jesus Christ, and to consider that sickness is common to men, good as well as bad; that though they differ vastly in the other world, yet not at all in their passage thither; Singular Saints have been afflicted with the sorest sickness; Job was a none-such for sanctity, yet full of sores ; Its a question whether he were more eminent for corporal distempers, or spiritual health; Hezekiah, David, Asah, Paul, Epaphroditus, were all thus chastened of the Lord, but not condemned with the world.

Whatsoever the sick person be, whether gracious, or graceless, it will not be amiss to mention the three great lessons which God would teach everyone by affliction.

• 1. The emptiness of the world, appearing in its inability to afford the least ease to the body, or comfort to the soul of the sick; how little worth is that which fails a man in his greatest need!
• 2. The preciousness of Christ, and Grace, and the Promises of the Gospel, which can enliven and encourage a dying person; that can cause light in darkness, joy in sorrow, and life in death; that can enable a Christian to rejoice in tribulation, and to welcome pain and sickness, nay, and the very King of terrors; and to look into the other world with comfort and confidence.
• 3. The sinfulness of sin, which is the original of all diseases, and aches, and grief, and separation of friends, and losses, and miseries whatsoever. The Rabbies say, that when Adam tasted the forbidden fruit, his head aked ; It is clear, sin is the original of sickness ; The body is the instrument of unrighteousness, therefore the subject of diseases; For this cause many are weak and sick, 1 Cor. 11. 30. All the evil in this and the other world, are the issue and offspring of sin; Ah! what a root of bitterness is that, which brings forth such bitter fruit! Be sure to take the thoughts of the sick off from resting in Physicians, or any means used for their cure; Th • s was the fault of good Asah, 2 Chron. 16. 12. Let them know that it is God that wounds, and he only that can heal, and therefore he must not be tempted, either by despi • ing those helps which his providence giveth, or by relying on them. Hippocrates gave this counsel to all Physicians, that when they went upon any occ • sion to visit their Patients, they should consider first of all, whether there was not, divinum aliquod in morbo, something of God in the disease ; if so, he held the Patient to be desperate, and his recovery impossible; Cujus contrarium verum est ; If it were the hand of God that smote them, the same hand can help them; for with him nothing is impossible. Let them understand that sickness hath a supernatural as well as a natural cause. That all diseases are like the Centurions Servants, at the command of God; He saith to one, Go, and it goeth ; to another, Come, and it cometh ; to a third, Do this, and it doeth it. God would have the Israelites know, that not only Sword, and Famine, and Captivity, but also Pestilence, Consumptions, Fevers, and Burning Agues are sent from Heaven, Deut. 28. 21, 22. He causeth those storms, and tempests, and quarrels, and contentions that are between the humors in our bodies, to their disturbance and destruction; therefore Moses beholding the whole body of the Jews (except two renowned members) corrupted, for he lived to see all that came out of Egypt besides to die, cried out; Thou turnest man to destruction, and • ayst, Return ye children of men.

SECT. V.

3. DEal closely and faithfully with him ; Let not fear of giving distaste or hope of some advantage to thyself, make thee false to the soul of the sick. Do not play the part of a Mountebank in using palliating medicines to allay the distemper, or Anodynes to stupefy the patient, and neglect the root of the malady. Alas, carnal wretches are prone enough of themselves to deceive and flatter their own souls, till it be too late for second thoughts, and the wicked one will be at their beds side, to hinder if it be possible, all means from awakening and undeceiving them; be careful therefore lest thou shouldst be any way accessory to Satan's design; Sin is like the little Serpent Aspis, which stings men, whereby they fall into a pleasant sleep, and in that sleep die; sinners need all the rousing and affrighting considerations that may be; He that gives a potion, which instead of furthering health, procureth death, is a Murderer. The Flatterer is like the worm Terendo, mentioned by Pliny (in Nat. Hist. ) as soft as Silk, in the feeling of the hand, but it biteth so hard with the teeth, that it eateth out the heart of the strongest timber. Flattery is to sin, what Oil to Fire, it makes it flame the more. O tis dangerous to speak peace, where God speaks war ; shouldst thou do so, the blood of such a soul would be required at thy hands, Ezek. 33.8. Jer. 23. Faithful dealing will bring thee in most comfort at present, and most credit hereafter, as also be most advantageous to the sick person. When the great day comes, the man that hated flattery, and scorned for a little profit or favor to disown his duty, or prove false to the soul of his Neighbor, will hold up his head with courage, but the cowardly and fearful will hang down their heads with shame, Rev. 21. 8.

4. Pray with him, and for him. Sick persons are often full of pain and grief, and are more then usually assaulted by Satan, whereby they are the less able to pray for themselves, and have the more need of the prayers of others. Its observable that though the Holy Ghost commandeth men in other afflictions to pray themselves; Is any afflicted? let him Pray ; yet when he mentioneth sickness, he saith not; Is any sick? let him Pray ; But, Is any sick? let him send for the Elders of the Church, and let them pray over him ; Jam. 5. 13, 14. i. e. A sick man is not so fit to pray himself, he wanteth others to pray for him, and with him. The soul sympathizeth in the sufferings of the body, and the inner man is seldom at rest, if the outward man be distempered and disquieted. The mind is unfitted for duties, by the diseases of the flesh. Paul calls his bodily weaknesses a temptation, Gal. 4. 13, 14. Afflictions on the flesh, are temptations to the spirit, and sickness is a piercing Arrow in Satan's Quiver of temptations.

If the person be carnal, what Motives hast thou from his misery to quicken thee to the duty! The poor creature is going to Hell, and knoweth it not. His destruction is near, and he is not aware. How should the thoughts of that extremity and eternity of torments which he is every moment liable to, stir thee up to be earnest and instant with God on his behalf? It may be thou wouldst sit up a whole night to watch with him for the comfort of his body; Dost thou not know that the soul is infinitely more worth? O watch and pray, that he enter not into eternal condemnation. Thou art not ignorant that God hath made promises of grace, as well as promises to grace, and canst not tell but that grace waiteth in heaven for the • ick person; only thy prayer must be the messenger to fetch it thence. God hath shewn mercy at the last, he can do it to this man, therefore thou mayst have the more hopes; Besides, it may be his sickness shall not be unto death, but only to heal his diseased soul, and so to give him a new life, both natural and spiritual. The Question before thee, is, whether that poor sick creatures soul shall be Christ's or the Devils forever, and wilt thou not plead hard with God that it may be thrown in to Christ, whose title is unquestionable, and that the Grand and Arch-enemy of Christ and Men may be frustrated and disappointed in his expectation? Zeal to the advancement of thy Redeemers interest, and love to the soul of thy Neighbor, should actuate and animate thy requests, and put life and fervency into thy Petitions.

If the sick man be godly, thou hast the more encouragement to pray. God hath promised as much to him, as thou canst rationally desire for him. He hath hopes to speed, that goeth to an honest able man, and showeth him his Bond for what he demands. God is infinite both in righteousness and power, so that there is no fear of a repulse, if you can show his hand for your request. He delights to hear his promises pleaded in prayer, and to see his Children so full of affection, as to be fervent in their petitions for each other. Thou mayst send the same message by prayer to Jesus, that the Sister of Lazarus did; Lord, behold he whom thou lovest is sick, and mayst be confident of the like gracious answer; This sickness is not unto death (eternal) but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.

Next to thy endeavors for the good of thy sick Neighbors spiritual estate, it will be fit to advise him about his temporal estate, that he may dispose of his worldly affairs, and his wealth (if God have given him any) with wisdom, and settle things so firmly, that his Relations may not be wrangling for his goods, when his body is at rest in his grave.

Secondly, The exercising ourselves to Godliness in visiting the sick, consisteth in getting good to our own souls by it. Though it be forbidden us to inquire of the dead, and ask their counsel, yet its commanded us to inquire of the dying, and to learn of them. Sick men may teach them that are in health many excellent lessons. Some say, that ground covered with Ashes, is made thereby the more fruitful. The Dust of the dead, falling upon a right soil, an honest heart, will make it the more abundant in holiness. A Christian findeth walking in Hospitals or Church-yards among the sick or dying, much conducing to the health and life of his soul. He that was cast dead into his Grave, by touching the bones of dead Elisha, he was ravished to life; That which Elias said to Elisha, when he begged a double portion of his spirit; If thou seest me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee, may fitly be alluded to in this place. The sight of others sickness and death, and their departures from us, is a great means to increase the spirit in us, and to double our care and diligence in preparing for such an hour.

1. In laying to heart thine own frailty. He is but a cold clod of clay, and dead already, who doth not see his own death in the death of others. Sickness is but one remove from death; the sick bed is the way to the coffin; therefore when thou visitest the sick or dying, reflect upon thyself and consider; This will be my case, or a worse, a violent stroke; The same enemy that encountered my Neighbor, is upon his march towards me, and will certainly overtake me; The feet of them that carry my friend to his grave, are ready to carry me also; what need have I to be always in a dying frame, and ready for death. The very next arrow that death shoots, may be levelled at me; and shall not I stand always upon my guard in expectation of it, and armed for it? O how deep will the head of that Arrow pierce me, if it find me naked!

2. In considering God's mercy to thee, and blessing him for the health thou enjoyest. The pain of others, will tell thee that ease is a mercy; the racking sickness, and restless nights of others, do speak aloud in thine ears, that health and rest are mercies. O how shouldst thou adore that God who distinguisheth thee thus graciously from others! Mayst thou not think with thyself, Here is a person full of pain, the day is full of darkness to him, and wearisome nights are appointed to him; Lo his Wife and Children, and Friends are weeping about him, but cannot relieve or redress him; all the comforts of this life are un • avoury to him; His aches and grief, and diseases, hinder him much in spiritual performances, and in the prosecution of a better life; how much a • I bound to the Lord, that it is not so with me? I can relli • h outward mercies, and am refreshed with bodily comforts; I have no such distemper or pain to take me off from prayer or Scripture, but I may be as frequent and as urgent as I will about my soul and eternal concernments; Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all within me praise his holy name. Surely health is the Prince, the first-born of outward blessings. Though foolish men deprive themselves frequently of it, for the satisfaction of a sensual wanton appetite, yet its more worth then a thousand of those brutish transitory delights. A Stomach is of more value then meat, and a good digestion then raiment; Men think not much to part with much of their wealth in their sickness for a little health. O it deserves thy prayers to God for it with submission to his will when thou wantest it, and thy praising of God for it with enlarged affections when thou hast it.

3. In observing the necessity of a timely repentance, and its difficulty on a dying bed. How unfit is a man to begin to live, when he is wracked with pain, and going to die! The dolour and trouble of his body are great impediments to the good of his soul. When the outward man is in great distress, and the inner man sympathizing with it, the best words are often wasted and thrown away, and the mind is unfit either to receive counsel or comfort. Further, How irrational is it to give Satan our prime, our health, or strength, and God our weak and consumptionate, and dying parts; to present our enemy with our quick, and nimble, and active faculties and members, and to put off our best friend with a body full of sores, and a soul full of sin! Besides, the longer men continue in sin, the more difficult their conversion will be. He that hath wandered or travelled out of the right way all day, will hardly be persuaded to go back all the way, and set out again at night. Where Satan hath dwelt long, he will hardly be removed. A Ship, the longer it leaketh, the harder it is to be emptied. The f • rther a nail is driven in, the more trouble to get it out; The longer my soul continueth in disobedience, the harder it will be to bring it to repentance. The more sin is riveted and habituated in me, the more pains, and toil, and grief, it will cost to get it subdued and slain.

4. In learning more the excellency of grace, and an interest in Christ, and God, which will do a man good in a day of • ickness, and an hour of death ; He is a friend indeed, that is a friend in a day of adversity. The sinners folly in neglecting durable riches, teacheth the Christian wherein true wisdom consisteth, and the worth of it; That it consisteth not in heaping up such treasures, or getting such friends as will be useless and unprofitable in a time of need, but in laying up a treasure in Heaven, and ensuring eternal comforts. Cold • harp weather, showeth the value of an healthy constitution. A storm will speak the worth of a sure Anchor, and a skillful Pilot. The excellency of grace, and holiness, and Christ, and God, are not fully known till we come into the other world, where all sublunary comforts are wanting; But the more any condition in this world resembleth that, and the nearer we approach that, the more visible is the value of divine and lasting blessings. A Cordial is not esteemed till we come to fainting fits. A soul that in time of health, and wealth, and outward prosperity, made the fear and ways of God, and the estate of the godly, the object of his scorn and contempt, when he comes to be awakened by the alarm of death, and to look into the other world, will make them the object of his choice, and give a world (if he had it) for them.

A Good Wish about the visitation of the sick, wherein the former heads are applied.

THe righteous Lord, and God of all grace, who for sin afflicteth man with sickness, yet in the midst of judgment remembereth mercy, intending his instruction, not his destruction by it; having designed such afflictions, as rods to whip men to himself, to make them out of love with sin, the spring of all their sufferings and sorrows, and to wean them from the earth, who otherwise would make it their Heaven; and hath also appointed men to be the means through which these mercies shall be conveyed, and sicknesses sanctified to them. I Wish in general, that I may never omit to visit those Neighbors with pity, whom God hath visited in fury; muchless insult as the Edomites over the afflicted Israelites, and persecute them whom God hath smitten, drawing blood from those wounds which are already blew with the blows of the Almighty; but may be faithful to the precept and purpose of my God in this particular, and adopt my second table duties into the Family of the first table, by visiting the sick, not out of common civility, but out of charity, and in obedience to the God of my health. It is my privilege, that my Alms may become Sacrifice, my Courtesies worship, and in paying that debt of love which I owe to my Neighbor, I may pay that duty which I owe to my Maker. O that in all my common transactions, I might move upon principles of reason, and especially in works that have a tendency Godward, act upon grounds of Religion. Lord, thou hast an eye to my good, in all thy providences and dealings; why should not I have an eye to thy glory, in all my practices and actings? Cause thy fear so to possess my heart, that I may visit the sick out of conscience, and let thy grace so assist and accompany my endeavors, that thou mayst visit them to their eternal comfort.

I Wish that the Command of my God, may be a sufficient Motive and warrant to make me set about the practice of this work. It is my duty to visit them that are sick, as I am the Lord's Servant; I disown his authority, I deny his Image, if I do not sympathize with others in misery. Nature itself commandeth me to be affected with the conditions of such as are afflicted. All creatures will commiserate those of their rank and order, that are in misery; Bees will rather stay and starve with those of their kind, that are unable to fly to their Hives, by reason of the weakness of their wings, then stir from them, or forsake them. The Swine are so sensible of their fellows sufferings, that if one of the Company be lugd, all the rest will after their manner condole it. If a Beast be slain, and its blood spilled, others of that sort will • hew their love and pity, by scraping earth on the blood, burying their fellow, and solemnizing his funeral with a kind of lamentation. Grace doth much more enjoin me to be sick in others sickness, poor in others poverty, and to remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them, and them that suffer adversity, as being myself also in the body ; David, speaking of his enemies that sought his destruction, saith, But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sack-cloth, I humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer returned into mine own bosom; I behaved myself as though he had been my friend, or brother, I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his Mother, Psa. 35. 11, to 15. My God hath said, To him that is afflicted, pity should be shewn; Sickness is one of the greatest outward afflictions, it renders all the comforts of this life uncomfortable ; The largest Houses, Revenues, Honors, the most loving Acquaintants, Friends, Relations; are all unsavory to them that are under great sickness. To visit the prosperous and healthy is courtesy, but to visit the distressed and sick is charity. The sweetest showers should fall on the lower grounds. Lord, thou art the Father of mercies, and art afflicted in all the afflictions of thy Children ; thy soul is grieved for the miseries of Israel ; How suitable is it for them who expect mercy another day, to show mercy at this day! Make me a follower of thee, as a dear child, to put on bowels of compassion, and to be merciful in heart, tongue, and hand, as thou my Father in Heaven art merciful.

I Wish that as a wise Merchant I may make the use of this price, which is put into my hand, for the furtherance of my own and my neighbors peace. Sickness is a special opportunity, wherein I may advantage others souls; The most poisonous Viper is at such a season benumbed with cold, and so may be handled without much danger. The strength of the body of sin, is much abated (at least in regard of act and exercise) by the weakness of the natural body. They who counted holiness a fancy, and holy ones Fanatics, in their health and power, will beg hard for purity, and desire the Saints prayers in their sickness. The waters of those passions which in a Summer of prosperity did overflow their bounds, and threatened to over-whelm and over-throw all that was near, are frozen up in a Winter of adversity, and kept within their banks ; There are many nicks in time, as we see in a Clock, which if they hit, the work goeth on well. The hardened hearts of sinners are often melted, when their persons are confined to their warm Chambers; As Tinder when dry easily takes fire, by the least spark that falls on it; so when the souls of ungodly men are made soft by sickness, and their thoughts of the evil of sin in the pain it brings on their bodies, makes their affections combustible, it will be much the easier to kindle the fire of repentance in them; Affliction boareth or openeth the ear, and then its seasonable to drop some wholesome counsel into it. Though a load on the ground be hard to be stirred, yet a load on the wheels is easy to be drawn. The illness, and aches, and distempers of sinners bodies, do as it were set the work of conversion, and minding the good of their souls, upon the wheel, and therefore such opportunities ought to be diligently improved; Sickness is a good time when charity is in season. It is a grace to have an opportunity for the service of my God, but a greater to improve it. The Eastern people do Plow and sow their grounds, when the former Rain hath softened it; and why should not I endeavor to Plow up the fallow ground of my Neighbors heart, and to sow in it the seeds of savoury instructions, when it is made tender by sickness? Lord, thou layest hold of every opportunity, to bless me with mercy answerable to my necessities; make me both wise to discern time and judgment, and faithful to make use of all such seasons to do thee service.

I Wish that the opportunity I have thereby of doing good to my own soul, may move me to be the more careful and conscientious in visiting the sick. It is the wise man's speech, It is better to go into the house of mourning, then to go to the house of feasting; for that is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to heart. It is better, as it is most suitable to my present state. It is not proper for Pilgrims to spend their time in Pleasure. Sorrow is becoming in a valley of tears. An house of mourning agrees well with the mourners in Zion. This world is a Sea, I am a Mariner, and Mariners rejoice in the Haven, not in the Tempestuous Ocean. This life is a warfare, I am a Soldier; It is too soon to be joyful whilst I am fighting; it will be time enough when all my Enemies are foyld. O how harsh is it for a child to be jocond, when he is far from home! Weeping is good language for them that sit down by the River of Babylon; How can I sing the Lord's songs in a strange Land ? Again, It is better to go into the house of mourning, as it is most profitable to my precious soul. Grace thrives best in a wet soil; By the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. The inner man is best when clad in mourning. Trees planted by the water-side, hang with clusters, and bring forth fruit in due season. The sick bed is a Pulpit, and though there be a wicked man in it, he may teach me rare instructions; If he be wholly silent, his condition Preacheth to me, that sin is the greatest evil, that the world is a cheat and impostour, and that grace is the most desirable created good. His dark chamber, weeping friends, watered couch, aking head, trembling heart, pale lips, quivering loins, all call aloud to me to consider of, and prepare for such an hour. Abel, being dead, yet speaketh; My sick, my dead Neighbor speaketh; Prepared be, to follow me. Some have been raised to life by beholding the dead. O that I were wise to observe and improve the opportunities which free grace affordeth me, for my own and others welfare! If I lose a good Market for the furtherance of my outward estate, I befool and bewail myself. Ah, why should I not be as much affected with the loss of opportunities for my inner man. Sinners observe their seasons for the gratifying their Loves, and the satisfying their lusts. The Thief waiteth for the full Purse, till the Market is over, and commodities be sold. The Adulterer makes use of the dark night for his deeds of darkness. Satan watcheth every opportunity to ensnare and destroy me; if I give him the least advantage by idleness or carnal security or running into occasions of sin, he doth presently lay hold on it to pollute me. All men indeed may shame • me. The Mariner doth spread his Sails when the Winds blow. The Merchant observes his Exchange hours, when he may meet with many friends, and dispatch much business in a little time. The Lawyer minds his Terms. There is a time when Kings go out to Battle, 2 Sam. 11. 1. which Soldiers will not neglect. The Husbandman makes Hay whilst the Sun shines ; Yet, Ah how foolish am I to let slip those golden seasons which my God giveth me, for working out my own salvation! Lord, thou hast made everything beautiful in its season; But poor silly man knoweth not his time. Grant me so much prudence, that is the men of Issacar, I may have understanding of the times, and so much piety as to serve the times, not as Worldlings, in altering my course according to the fashions and customs of men, but in embracing what is tendered in due time, for my own and others good, always adhering to the Commands of thee my God.

I Wish that the uncertainty of my sick Neighbors outward recovery, may make me the more careful and solicitous about his spiritual health. If he die, he is stated and fixed for ever and ever, and I am forever deprived of all opportunities of profiting or advantaging his soul. Now he is sick, he is nigh death, but one step from it. The sick stand upon the borders of the grave, upon the brink of the pit, nay, of eternity. Those that are in most perfect health, are inclining towards death; but they that are sick, are approaching the Chambers of darkness. Such a man may speak in the language of Haman, My life draweth nigh unto the grave, Psa. 88. 3. Should he depart this life in a natural estate, he falleth into the jaws of eternal death. All prayers for him will then be fruitless, and there is no giving counsel to him after death. I must now advise, exhort, persuade, beseech him to mind faith and repentance, or never do it; I must now put up hearty cries and groans to God on his behalf, or never do it. The loving kindness of God cannot be declared in the grave, nor his faithfulness in destruction. When he is wailing in Hell for the ungodliness of his heart and life, I may be weeping on earth for my neglect of him, or unfaithfulness to him, but both our tears will be ineffectual, and our cries comfortless. O that the love of my Savior, the command of my God, the worth of a soul, the weight of an eternal estate, the fear of losing such a season, and the impossibility of recalling or recovering it, may all provoke me to be instant with the sick, to turn to God, and abhor and bewail their sins, and to be fervent with God, that he would crown my endeavors with success! Lord, I may speak thy Mind and Will to Men, but thou alone, who didst make the ear, canst enable them to hear, let it please thy Majesty so to affect my heart with a due sense of others misery, so to direct my tongue what to speak in order to their recovery, and so to prosper the undertakings of thy servant, that as often as I visit any unconverted person in his sickness, I may turn a sinner from the error of his ways, save a soul alive, and hide a multitude of sins.

I Wish that I may be solicitous to understand the spiritual conditions of the sick, that my prescriptions may be profitable, being suitable to their several sores. The knowledge of the disease, must necessarily precede directions for its cure. Its folly to undertake their recovery, whose estates I am ignorant of. He works at the labor-in-vain, who goeth about to heal a wounded Patient, when he knoweth not the place or nature of his pain. The mistake of the Physician may be as mortal and dangerous as the disease itself. It will be no wonder if a blind man shoot awry and miss the mark. This was the cause that Jobs friends, though holy men, and designing a good end, wandered exceedingly; and instead of administering comfort by their visitation, wounded him to the quick, and proved his greatest cross ; The Sabaeans and Chaldeans robbed him of his Cattle ; Satan wronged him in his body, but his three friends vexed his soul, and did break him in pieces with words. Their ignorance was the ground of the hurt they offered, instead of the help they intended, Job 19. 2. A Friend may do that mischief upon a false supposition, which an Enemy doth out of malice. Though the Doctrine be true and right, if the Application of it be wrong, I may kill sooner then cure the person to whom I apply it. The Husbandman must know the nature of his ground, before he casteth in his seed, or otherwise he will miss of his expected crop. Lord, thou knowest the conditions and dispositions of all men, by immediate intuition, and needest not that any should testify of man ; thou knowest how needful it is for me to understand by rational discourse, who and what those sick persons are, how things stand betwixt thy Majesty and their souls, whose recovery I go about; O help me to find out their sickness, and to give such advice out of thy word, that thou mayst work their cure.

I Wish that when the condition of the sick person is found out, neither fear nor flattery may make me unfaithful to his soul. Those prescriptions cannot be profitable, that are not answerable to his estate. I am unfaithful to God, my Neighbor, and myself, if my Application be not suitable to his condition. My God commandeth me to proclaim War against the presumptuous, to preach Peace to the penitent; and if I act otherwise out of fear, or affection, I act contrary to my commission; I am false to my trust, if I keep not close to the will of my Lord. He that takes not his Masters Precepts for his rule, will at last be counted and punished as an unfaithful servant. I hinder also my Neighbors good, whilst I give him counsel unsuitable to his case. I may pretend love and respect, but its real hatred to flatter him who is hastening to the unquenchable fire. How dreadful will his fall be, from the high Turret of presumption, into the infernal pit of perdition, and how little thanks will he give me in the other world, for cozening his soul, by telling him all was well, till he came to see his own and my mistake in hell! Again, the guilt of such a crime would make a deep gash in my own conscience. Its ill slighting, or tampering with inestimable souls; His blood will be required at my hands ; and if the blood of a slain body cry so loud for vengeance, what will the blood of a murdered soul do ? Why should I to humor any man's lust, injure his soul, hinder my own peace, and incur the anger of the Lord. O that no foolish pretences whatsoever, may keep me off from acquainting sinners with th • ••• il and end, the nature and danger of their sins. Its God's order, first to cast the soul down, and then to lift it up. The ground must feel the Plow, before it receive the Seed. Sorrow must precede comfort, and they must sow in tears, who would reap in joy. God must shake all Nations, before the desired of all Nations will come to him. We come to Sinai, the Mount that burneth with fire, and to blackness and darkness, and a tempest which makes even a Moses to fear and quake exceedingly, before we come to Mount Zion, the City of the living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things then the blood of Abel. The Law is a School-Master to drive us to Christ. Austere John, with his Ax laid to the root of the Tree, threatening the fire to those that bring not forth fruit, prepareth the way for the sweet alluring Jesus; Mourning and Grief, is the Midwife of true mirth; Penitential tears are the streams that lead to the Rivers of Pleasures ; Even the doleful sound of the Trumpet attendeth the Judge, when he is going to acquit a Prisoner by public Proclamation. Violence must be offered to corruption, or there will be no acceptance of the Lord Christ. The building of holiness is the more strong, for having its foundation of humiliation laid deep: The safety of the soul doth depend like Jonahs, upon his being cast over-board, and utterly lost in his own apprehension.

The blessed Jesus himself is brought into a desolate Wilderness, before Angels are sent from Heaven to comfort him. O that I might follow my God in his usual way, and never prophesy smooth things to rugged and •••• ed men, but endeavor to break their hearts on •• th, who have persisted in the breach of his holy Laws, that their backs may not be broken in Hell; Yet I would not instead of beating down the rotten Paper walls of presumption, drive any into the Dungeon of desperation ; but as the good Nurse, have the breast of consolation, as well as the rod of correction in readiness for such Children. Moses and Christ met together upon Mount Tabor. The Gospel must be Preached to heal those wounds which are opened and discovered by the Law. The Lord sendeth me to proclaim liberty to the Captives, and the opening of the Prison to them that are bound. Lord, thou killest and makest alive, bringest down to the grave, and bringest up. Its easy and ordinary with thee to break those bones which thou intendest to rejoice, and to perplex those Rams in Briars and Thorns, which thou intendest to accept of as a sacrifice. Teach thy Servant to know how to speak a word in season, both to the wicked and to the godly, how to divide thy word aright, both in its minatory, and consolatory parts, that as occasion shall • e, I may awaken the wicked out of their deadly slumbers, and quicken the godly to their spiritual watchfulness, and help to sweeten that bitter cup which thou hast put into their hands. O that thy blessing might water my labors for both their welfares! Alas poor sick unregenerate ones, are dropping into boundless and endless sorrows, and yet are without sense. Though they are dying they know not what they are doing, nor whither they are going ; Their eyes are shut by the god of this World, that they see not that unspeakable misery to which they are liable every moment; their hearts are hardened through custom in sin, that neith •• •• reatnings nor promises prevail with them to feel their wounds and sores. O thou great Physician, thou Lord of life, thou God of health, open their eyes, send some Ananias to them, that they may receive their sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost ; enable them so to mourn now, that they may be comforted when the time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and help thy servant to deal so faithfully with those whom thou callest me to visit, that I may never give thy Majesty cause to say of me as once of the Prophets of Israel, They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, Peace, when there is no peace.

I Wish that I may be close and home in my Applications to sick persons, and speak what is proper to their estates with ardency and affection, to their very hearts; Its ill dallying with edged tools ; O how sad is it to toy and trifle, to be formal or customary in counsel or reproof, or comfort to immortal souls, that are launching into the Ocean of eternity. Death is a serious thing, and that which they never did before, nor shall ever do again. Sin is a serious thing, as the damned find in Hell by woeful experience. Though there they are in blackness of darkness, yet they have light enough to see sin to be the evil of evils, and altogether sinful. Christ was serious when he took upon him my nature, and therein did offer up himself • a sacrifice for sin. God is serious in commanding faith and repentance, and in promising Heaven to the faithful and holy, and Hell to unbelievers and atheists; And shall not I be serious and in earnest, when I am dealing about matters of eternal life and death, and about the concernments of God and Christ, and souls, and eternity! O with what earnestness should I persuade the wicked, to turn from their wickedness and live ! If ever their souls would draw near to the Lord of life, it concerns them to do it, when their bodies are drawing nigh to the Chambers of death ; It is but a very few hours, and their condition will be past all amendment, all alteration. In this poor pittance of time, all must be done, upon which the Scales must turn, for their salvation or damnation. They are going to make that change which will admit them into endless joy or torment, and render their estates unchangeable. Their time is hastening, that they must struggle with dreadful pains, and strong distempers, and death, the King of terrors, and must review that life which is ending, and look back upon all that they have done, and judge their persons and actions impartially, whether they will or no, that they must take their leave of all their friends, and food, and sleep, and lands, and houses, and honors, and pleasures, and riches, and step into eternity, and appear before God without their Relations, or Possessions, or any worldly comforts, to help or encourage them; that they must be tried by an holy Law, and an holy Judge, for their everlasting lives or deaths; and can my expressions be too full of weight and reason, or my affections too full of bowels and pity, in my dealing and discourse with such men? Lord, thou knowest the poor silly children of men, are unable to judge of eternal affairs according to their weight; they are quickly lost, when in their thoughts they begin to launch into that boundless Sea ; The ponderousness of the subject, is ready to affright and press them down, being so much beyond and above their shallow understandings; But wouldst thou please to enable them, though it were but to peep into the other world, and to behold, through some Crevice, what is doing and enjoyed there, both by thy friends and thine enemies, they would soon have other thoughts of thee and thy service, and other carriages when they are about thy work; the greatest seriousness would then be too little, the greatest ardour would not be thought enough for thy worship; they would then indeed, be fervent in spirit when they are serving the Lord. O teach thy servant, though he cannot see into the other world with the eye of sense, yet so to look into it with an eye of faith, that he may transact the concerns thereof with that diligence, faithfulness, and fervency, which thou acceptest, and whilst he liveth, be zealous of good works.

I Wish that my heart may be so affected with pity towards sick and afflicted persons, that I may often and earnestly remember them in my prayers. A little Captive, considering the Leprosy of her Master, was instrumental for his cure, by crying out, Would God my Lord were with the Prophet that is in Samaria, for he would recover him of his Leprosy. I have more reason when I behold a Leprous soul, near its last gasp, to look up to Heaven with, Would to God that poor creature were with Jesus Christ, that great prophet of his Church, who is able and willing to enliven, and pardon, and sanctify, and save; Would to God he would be persuaded to come to Christ, to cling to Christ, to close with Christ, for he would recover him ; And what do I know but my prayers may be prevalent on his behalf; Christ when dying, prayed for his enemies, for them that imbrued their hands in his blood; and shall not I pray for my friends when they are dying, and possibly ignorant whether they are going? My Prayers are a cheap courtesy, and diminish nothing of my estate, either spiritual or temporal. Their misery is an awakening motive to the duty. Never did they stand in such need of help from others, and wrestling with God on their behalves, as now that they are taking their journey into a far Country, and entering upon an unchangeable condition. They may say to me, as Nehemiah to Geshem; I am doing a great work, &c. I am going to die, to bid adieu to all the folly and vanity, and comforts of this world, to take possession of my long home, of the place wherein I must abide for ever; O pray for us, that we may be pardoned, and saved, that we may repent and believe, that we may die in the faith, and obtain the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto life eternal. They have many distractions upon their own spirits, by reason of pains and bodily distempers, and the loss and lamentation of their Kindred and Relations, that they cannot pour out their hearts to God with that freeness and seriousness, and earnestness, which (probably) they desire. Their enemies, and assaults, and temptations, at such a time are more quick, and strong, and violent, and full of rage, having but a short time. I must now pray for them, or never pray for them; Now beg mercy for them, or never beg mercy for them. When their life is gone, all tears, and cries, and groans for them are in vain. David's greatest passions for dead Absalom were to no purpose. They are then gone the way they shall not return, and fixed in that place whence they shall never remove. Lord, I confess that my narrow heart hath not pity enough for afflicted, and sick, and dying souls, and my weak hands have not power enough to supply or support them in their sad estates, but thou hast both. O be pleased to look down from Heaven, the habitation where thine holiness dwelleth ; Behold their miseries, hide thy face from all their iniquities; out of thine infinite fullness, relieve their necessities. Let the eyes of their souls be opened to see their sins and their Savior, before the eyes of their bodies be closed. Give them patience and strength answerable to the burden thou layest on their backs; Enable them to do their last works well, and let them be better then their first; Open thou their lips, and let their mouths show forth thy praise, before they go to the place of silence. Stand by them in their last conflict with their enemies, Death and Devils, that they may over come both, be more then conquerors through him that loves them, and pass through the jaws of death, to the joys of a blessed eternal life.

I Wish that my soul may be the more sound for every visit I bestow on sick bodies. There is not so much danger of catching their outward diseases, as there is hope of increasing my spiritual health, if I am not wanting to myself. The sick and dying bed is a Pulpit, out of which I may be instructed more fully in many serious truths, though the sick or dying man be speechless. King Joash obtained three famous victories over the Syrians, by visiting sick Elisha, and might have gotten a complete conquest over them, if it had not been his own fault. The sight of sick and dying men, may assist me in my conflicts with the three great enemies of my present purity, and future comfort and bliss. It teacheth • e how vain it is to make provision for that flesh which will itself ere long, be provision for worms; Ah how foolish am I to pamper and please that which instead of relieving or refreshing, will in my extremity pierce and pain me! It teacheth me that the world itself is the greatest Cheat and Impostor in the world. That though it laughs and smiles on men, dandling them on her knees, and hugging them in her arms, whilst they are in health, and promising all sorts of comforts and pleasures; yet in their sickness and misery she turns them off, and leaves them, as Absalom's Mule did him, to be • hot through with the heart-cutting arrows of eternal death; By discovering the emptiness and falseness of these two seeming ends, the flesh and the world, it helpeth me to overcome my third enemy, and to repel the fiery darts of the Devil. The cup of temptation, which hath so often bewitched me to drink down his deadly poison, had its prevalency from the worldly profit with which the outside was guilded, or the fleshly pleasure with which the in-side was sweetened. Ah! could I but bid an hearty defiance to the World and the Flesh, and conquer them, I need not fear the wicked one ; They are the powerful Advocates, by which Satan pleads, and too often prevails with the soul; By these Hand-maids he wooeth the Mistress. But the sick bed is a Book in which I may read their deceitfulness and treachery, their perfidiousness and fallacies, and thereby learn to avoid them.

Further, I may read the sinfulness of sin in others sickness. That Parent must needs be a deformed monster, that begets such uncomely and ill-favored children. In the dreadful effects I may behold the poisonous cause. Man had never known sickness in his body, if he had not known sin experimentally in his soul; It is the plague and stone of the heart, that causeth those in the flesh. When I behold the sick man laboring under his distemper, how he is chastened with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain, so that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat; How his flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seen, and his bones stick out; he is filled with tossings too and fro, unto the dawning of the day : When I behold his eyes sinking, his heart panting, hi • Wife and Children wailing and wringing their hands, his friends weeping, his tongue faltering, his throat rattling, his breath failing, his strength languishing, his whole body in a cold clammy sweat, wrestling with his pain and disease; may I not well cry out, O what an evil is sin, which bringeth all this upon the poor Children of men ! My Redeemer is therefore said to bear our sicknesses, because he bare our sins in his body on the tree, 1 Pet. 2. 24. Mat. 8. 17. And in all his applications for the cure of the diseased, he had an eye to the root of the malady; To one that was diseased, he said, Be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee ; To another, Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. When the Angel was smiting Israel with a Pestilence, holy David's thoughts ran upon the procuring cause, I have sinned, I have done very wickedly ; My God teacheth Israel the grievous nature of their defilement, in the greatness of those judgments which they brought upon them. Speaking of his severity towards them, he tells them, Thy way and thy doings have procured those things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart, Ier. 4. 18. Our bodies are full of natural corruption, because our souls are full of moral corruption. O how fitly may I therefore, when I behold the evil of affliction on others, abhor and bewail the evil of sin in myself!

Once more, I may be instructed in the necessity of a timely preparation for such an hour of affliction ; Can I think a • ick bed a fit place, an hour of pain and grief a meet season to begin that great business of turning from sin, of loathing myself for all my abominations, and working out my own salvation? Is it rationally to be imagined that trembling joints, dazelled eyes, a fainting heart, failing limbs, a body full of aches and diseases, a soul sympathizing with it, and full of vexation and grief, should be fit instruments about such a work, which an angelical strength, and agility, and freedom, is little enough for? Ah, What wise man would build his eternal making and welfare, upon such a tottering and sandy foundation? The greatest strength, and longest time, and most vigorous health, is not in the least degree, too much for this needful and weighty business; and shall I put it off till my strength fails, my health is gone, and my time near its last sand? Lord, Beside all these, I may learn the excellency of thine Image, and thy favor; Sickness cannot waste them, nor death itself destroy them. Where the Curtains are drawn, and the windows close, in the darkest chamber of the dying man, the comeliness of thy likeness, and the sweetness of thy love, are most sparkling and glorious. The want of outward comforts, doth convince the unbelieving world of the worth of eternal blessings. When the flesh and world that made show of such love to their deluded favorites, turn them off in their extremity, as the Jews did Judas (complaining to them of his-folly and wickedness) What is that to us, see thou to that ; Thou standest by and ownest thy servants, thou knowest their souls in their days of adversity; and how-ever thou dealest with them in their health, wilt be sure to tend and look to, to be both Nurse and Physician to thy sick children. Thy grace is a reviving Cordial, and thy love will make even death itself a sweet and desirable dish. O help thy poor servant to gain much spiritual good by those natural evils which others suffer. As others sickness speaketh these things to mine ears, and their conditions make them visible to mine eyes, do thou write them in my heart, that all such providences of thine towards others, may make sin more ugly, the world more empty, thy graces and favor more comely and desirable, and that furthering my purity at present, they may further my eternal peace hereafter.

Finally, I Wish that the sickness of others, may cause me to be the more industrious in a faithful improvement of my health, and take me wholly off from priding, and pampering, and making provision for that flesh, which is so apt to breed diseases, and in its greatest beauty and strength is so near to death. The goodliest structure of body is but earth a little better wrought, or more curiously then usually molded up, and with an ordinary disease is mard and defaced, and so calleth on me to be humble rather then lifted up. The Flesh that I provide for my flesh, is not more subject to corruption, or more perishing then the flesh for which it is provided. Within a few days I shall have an end both of food and feeding ; O that I might waste that body in God's service, which will ere long waste with sickness! spend and he spent in his work, who gives me my health, and strength, and hath promised a bountiful reward! Sure I am, I can never bring them to a better Market, nor put them off at an higher price. Is it not better to consume my flesh in doing good, in glorifying my God, then with idleness and ease, or with distempers and diseases? Satan's servants do not grudge to give their prime and chief, their heal • h and strength to their lusts, and shall not I give mine to my Lord? Ah Lord, an unthankeful selfish unbelieving heart, hath too much • indered me from, and disturbed me in those excellent duties which thou callest me to; O deliver me from it for thy mercies sake! Strengthen me by thy good spirit, both to do good to, and receive good by such as thou chastenest with sickness; so to consider the poor and afflicted, and to visit others in my heath, that thou mayst visit me with thy saving health; strengthen me upon my bed of languishing, and make all my bed in my sickness, that my most mortal sickness may not be unto death (eternal) but for thy glory, and my passage into endless bliss; yea, that in the other world, I may stand among thy Sheep on thy right hand, and hear that blessed heart-cheering voice, Come thou blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for thee before the foundation of the World; For I was hungry and thou gavest me meat, I was thirsty and thou gavest me drink, I was a stranger and thou didst take me in, I was sick and thou visitedst me ; when my soul shall be above all sin, and my body above all sickness, and both blessed in thy favor and fruition, forever, and ever.