Preparatory Meditations, upon THE DAY OF JUDGMENT.

S. 1. THE Great Apostle PAUL, according unto the Wis­dom given unto him [...] Writing unto the Hebreroes, hath with Good Reason erected Those as the Two Pillars, even the Jachin and Bo [...], [...] all Religion, GOD IS, and HE IS [...] REWARDER; Nor are the [...]oun­tainous, Pillars of Heaven, [...] [...] or more lasting, than these [...], most Glorious Principles. That these is, [...] GOD, or a JEHOVAH, is [...] more Engr [...]ven in the whole [...] of the World, than the [...] [...] Artificer was of old into the [...] [...] of his M [...]erva. Even the [...] [...] M [...] Creatures do [...] [...] [...]lame the Being of a [...] [...] ­te [...], [...]ocet quaelibes, [...] [...] [Page 4] that I may say with Job, Ask now the Beasts, and they shall Teach thee; and the Fowls of the Air, and they shall Tell thee; Or speak to the Earth, and it shall Teach thee, and the Fishes of the Sea, shall [...] unto thee. The World must necessarily have a Beginning; & that it could not have its Beginning from it self, is evident, inasmuch as Nothing would have then been the cause of Something. Nor do [...] any thing l [...]ss: than the Power of a GOD, the [...] of a GOD, and the Good­ness of a GOD, appear in the Consti­tution of the Universe. And as all the Creatures are so many Letters in the Book of Creation, from which we may [...] Existence of a GOD, so do's th [...] [...]ook of Providence give us a Continuation of the Demonstration, which proves a Deity. For therein, besides the Extraordinary Occurrents, in Prophecies, and Miracles, and Ret [...]li­ [...]tions, upon the sight which every one c [...]yes out, The [...]inger of God [...] the Excellent Order, wherein all things are preserved, abundantly argues a GOD, whose Kingdom Ruleth all. But indeed; [Page 5] I may say, What need we any further Witnesses? Or what Need of any Coming from the Dead unto us, with such Advice as the Spectre of Major Sydenham gave to Captain Dyke, a while ago, I a [...] come to tell you, that there is a GOD, and that He is a Just & a Terrible God! The Notion of a GOD is imprinted so deeply in the Spirit of man it self, that it can be ascribed unto none but such an Author, and therefore such an Author there is, as a GOD, who Forms the Spirit of man within [...] Had this Idea, in the Soul of man, been a Meer Tradition of our Ancestors, why is it not all this while detected like other Vulgar Errors of much less im­portance? Or, Had it been a meer Policy of our Governours, whence is [...] that Rulers themselves, as much as any o [...]her Mortals, are smitten with the Terrors of it? The Notion is a Na­tural, as tis Powerful; man is [...] with an Inclination to acknowledge [...] GOD, and he will have Many rather than have None; Atheism ha's not been so agreeable to mankind, as [...]. The Notion also is as General as tis [Page 6] Natural; tis not peculiar to any one Kingdom or Kindred; they which Dif­fer in all other things, yet Unite in their sense of a GOD; and the Salvage Indians themselves in the most hideous and Barbarous Thickets of America, own a Koutantow [...], as the First Cause of all. Yea, I do confidently affirm, That of all the Few Professed Atheists, which have been known among the Brutify'd part of mankind, there has been hardly so much as O [...]e, which hath [...] Believed, That there is no God, [...] Vehement Suspicions of the Contrary. Tis by some Remarkable [...] from our Injured and Provoked GOD, upon the more Atheistical sort of the [...] things which would be called, [...] that [...]one use the Name of GOD, in the prefa [...]e. Abuses of Swearing and Cursing, so much as those Monsters do: and Calvin, as I Remember, mentions one of them, that upon a Blow given [...], Cry'd out, O God help me! though he had just before been Vehemently disputing, that there was no God at all. But besides, those Undesigned Confessions of a GOD, from the Mouths of those [Page 7] Miscreants, there are at some times usually before they Dy, such Flashes of Lightening from Heaven, darted into their Souls, as force 'em Delibe­rately to Recant, the Po [...] which acted them, when they said, that is, w [...]sh'd, rather than Thought, in their Hearts,—No GOD. Some that have in their Lives pretended unto the more than D [...]villish Bravery, of Renouncing the Belief of a GOD, yet have decla­red at last that their Minds inwardly and frequently twitch'd 'em with dire­ful Remo [...]strances against their Impiety, and Read 'em Lectures upon the Rea­lity of a GOD, which made 'em al­wayes Live uneasily. And if some Wretches, by the Constant Practice & Lerry of their Vices, have laid the sense of a GOD, in their Souls a s [...]m; yet our great GOD, ha's Commonly rows'd them into some waking Minutes, wherein they might have said. When I Consi [...], I am afraid of GOD; GOD in [...] Heart Soft, and the Almighty [...] me. Wicked men, that For­ [...]g God; would sain also Destroy him; I d, that they may go as far as they [Page 8] can, they Labour to Shake Off, and Root Out that Remembrance of GOD, in their Souls, which gives 'em so many Vexations in their Courses of Ungodliness; but it will not Off, it will not Out, the Almighty GOD makes the most haughty Criminals to stoop under this Instance of His Empire over them. A Certain Spark a while since in Company begun to brag, Well, I'll prove, for I am now able to prove, There is no God. A Gentleman (if a Beast may be called So!) then pre­sent, reply'd, Prethee Do! and I [...]l give thee a thousand Guinnies for thy Pains! But all the Guinnies in the World, will not rescue a man from the force of this perswasion, That there is a GOD; and such are the Circumstances of the perswasion, as that it must be From the, GOD, OF whom it is. Now from the Faith of a GOD, we are led presently to Conceive of a JUDGE; JEHOVAH will be ELOHIM; tis to be Concluded, that He ha's given Lawes, according whereunto Mankind is under His Moral Government; and in the Execution of this Government [Page 9] He will dispence Rewards unto the Children of men, according to the Rules for the Distribution thereof, by Himself Prescribed.

S. 2. There are Various Dispensa­tions of Providence, wherein the God of Heaven, discovers Himself a REWAR­DER, unto that People, which He has formed for Himself, that they may show forth His Praise. And were there more Collections, with fit Res [...]ctions, made of Dispensations this way Re­markable, it would be a Work full of Service and Honour unto our God; They that were so Wise, as to Observe these things, would certainly Understand the Loving kindness of the Lord, even in the Remarkable Things, that could be done for themselves. But is [...] not in this World, that our God ha [...] the glory of His being, A REWARDER, so fully and so clearly display'd, as it ought to be; We dayly see Godli­ness Oppressed and Wickedness Advan­ced, in this Present evil World; and neither the Appeals of Afflicted Inno­cence, nor the Affronts of Outrageous [Page 10] Vallany, have a Sufficiently Sensible Notice taken of them. There is there­fore an Eternal State of Blessedness and Misery, whereinto the Righteous God will bring every one of us, according to our Behaviours here. Our Short. Con­dition in this World, is but a Condition of Probation or of Stewardship; and ac­cording to our Carriage in this Condi­tion, we shall in the issue, as the mouth of our faithful Saviour Himself, has long since assured us, Go away into E­verlasting Punishment, Or, else, Into Life Everlasting. But at the Threshold of that Eternal State, it is but proper that a Distinct Account should be taken of what every man ha's done the Body, that so the Lustre of that Justice, which Dooms them to their Interminable Bles­sedness or Misery may strike the very Consciences of all Beholders. Hence tis, that the Oracles of Truth have told us, Gos ha's appointed a Day, in which He will Judge the World, by that man whom He hath Ordained: Whereof, He hath given Assurance unto all men, in that He ha's Raised Him from the Dead. There is indeed a Particular Disposal [Page 11] of Immortal Souls, by the Lord Jesus Christ, before whom they Appear when their Bodies here are by Death made Untenantable; and from whom they then Receive Order, Either to be Ad­mitted among the Spirits of Just men made perfect, or to be Reserved in Darkness unto the Judgment of the Great Day.That Separate Souls thus Exist in an Invisible World, is a thing where­of I know some, who have such pal­pable Evidences, that were the Scrip­tures wholly Silent, which Blessed by God, they are not, about it, yet they could no more Qustion it, than they Question their own Existence in the World. But there is a more General Work of this kind, shortly to be done, in a Vast Assembly of all mankind, unto that end Summoned by the Mighty God, and called from the Rising of the Sun unto the Setting thereof. The Souls of men shall reassume a fit Portion of the Dust, whereunto they were for­merly United, by the Almighty God fetch'd out of the Various matter whereinto it has been Dissolved and Dispersed, but now become as were [Page 12] the Keel, where upon shall be Built Incorruptible Bodies: and some that shall then be found alive shall by a Translation, have their Bodies made in a like manner Spiritual. In their Bo­dies thus Raised, and Changed, they shall stand before a Tribunal of our Lord Jesus, descended from the Heavens in­to our Atmosphere; and after an Exact Examination of their Behaviours While God was upon Earth Trying of them, they shall have One of these two Sentences pronounced upon them; Either, Come, ye Blessed, Inherit the Kingdom; Or, Depart, ye Cursed, into Everlasting Fire, Which will be ac­cordingly Executed on them. Such a Day of Judgment is there to come upon the World! Amen! Come, Lord Je­sus, come quickly. Indeed, about the Circumstances of this most Illustrious Day, tis more easy than lawful for us to Enquire into such things as we are not yet Able to Answer; nor ha's the Lord Indulged any Curious and Critical Enquiries after Particularities, which He ha's not Revealed. It seems Revealed, That this Last Day, will be [Page 13] a Long Day; It will be a Day, of Publick Hearing, and all D oings of all People must be called out;

So that things will not be Hastily Huddled, and Suddenly Shuffled over Yea, It seems, Revealed, That the Morning of This famous Day, will take up at least a Thousand Years, wherein our Lord will be managing His Davidical Kingdom, with a New Hea­ven and a New Earth wherein shall dwell Righteousness, and Reigning before His Ancient People Gloriously; at the Close whereof it seems to some that. The Rest of the Dead Live again, & all the Dead Small & Great stand before God The Hour, when it shall be Commended, and the Spot, where it shall be Cheefly mana­ged, seem not Revealed; nor a thousand things more, that concern the procee­dings of the Day. But whatever may be yet Unrevealed, it is abundantly. Plain and Sure unto us, That the Son of man shall come in the Glory of [...] [...] [Page 14] ther, with His Angels, and then, He shall Reward every man According to his Works. This is Revealed, and it is a Damnable Things to Cherish any D oubt of This, That we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of the Lord Je­sus Christ.

S. 3. The Judgment of the Great Day, Or, a Day, wherein all men shall be Raised and Changed into a State of Immortality, and appear before the Son of Man within the Bounds of our Air, to be Judged according unto what they Did, before they Dy'd; This is a thing which the People of God in all Ages, have given their Assent unto. Even in Old Times, long, before the Flood, the Church of God, made this an Article of their Creed. We have some short Notes of what was deli­vered by the venerable Enoch about it, so long ago, in Jude 14. Behold, the Lord comes, to Execute Judgment [...] [...] Yea, This war was a main Con­troversy, between the Antediluvian Saints, and the Impious, impure Ge­neration of Atheists, then upon the [Page 15] Stage. The Godly did Assert, There shall be a Day of Judgment, but the pro­fane did with Hard Speeches, Deride & Explode the Belief of that awful Truth. We read in Gen. 4. 8. Cain Spake to Abel his Brother; the Hebrew Bibles usually leave a Blank at the end of this clause; and the ancient Jewish Targums, presume to put in the Dis­course which they had; they say, that the Quarrel between Cain and Abel was upon this point; Abel said, There is to be a Day of Judgment, and there is a Judge, and there shall be another World, and the Godly shall be Rewarded, and the Wicked Punished. But Cain said, There is no such Thing; and as the Targum of I. Ben Uzz [...]el adds, Et Prop [...]er [...]a­rum Re [...]um Causant Contendebant Super Facies Agri. and methinks, the A­postle in the Beginning of his Eleventh Chapter to the Hebrews, may seem to Countenance this Tradition. It seem as if Abraham also, saw this Day a­far off; inasmuch as there are those who put his Plea for Sodom, into this English in Gen. 1825. Will not the Judge of all the Earth, Execute Judgment [...] [Page 16] q d. Lord, Thou dost intend hereaf­ter, to appear for a Judgment upon all the World, in such Flames of Devour­ing Fire as thou art now going to de­stroy this miserable Place withal; be Entreated therefore to spare these Towns, until that Revolution come. Indeed all Christians have alwayes A­greed in this Acknowledgment, long before, as well as ever since the Dayes of Job, I know that my Redeemer Lives, and that He shall stand at the Latter Day upon the Earth; and though Worms Destroy this Body, yet in my Flesh I shall see God. And even in that Confession of Faith, which the Jews themselves at this Day embrace, their Eleventh Fundamental Article is, the Eternal Judgment.

To what the People of God, have thus Received as the Faith delivered unto the Saints, they have had the Scriptures of God, most abundantly given their In­fallible Testimony. There is hardly any one part of the Old Testament, which has not Considerable Glances at the Day of Judgment; But in the New Testament, it is yet more plentifully [Page 17] insisted on. Very many of the Sermons Preached by our Lord Jesus Christ, and all the Letters written by His A­postles, do set the Day of Judgment before our Eyes. Yea, not only the Approach, but also the Process of this wonderful Day, is diverse times Ex­pressed in these Lively Oracles. The Holy Spirit of God, hath Chosen to make one of the Last Clauses in the Bible, an Admonition unto us here­about; the very last Lines of the last Advice we have had from Heaven, are to this purpose, The Lord Jesus Christ will shortly come to Judge the World. And with the Assertions of Scripture, concerning this matter, the Apostle in a certain place tells us, the Accusings and the Excusings of Conscience, do join their Testimony thereunto. The Ver­dict of Conscience upon the Sinner is, as Tertullian calls it; Futuri Judic Prejudicium; a presage of a future Judgment. It is true, the Dim Rush C [...]e, which the Heathen had in their Notions about the Burning and the Judging of the World, might be much lighted, at the Lamp of the Israeli [...]sh [Page 18] Sanctuary. But yet meer Natural Conscience, did use to warn the Rudest Pagans, of a Judgment, which God will at Last bring mankind into. Hence Felix the Governour, before Paul the Prisoner, Trembles at the Tidings of a Iudgment to come; he had a Preacher in his Bosome, that gave him a terri­ble Premonition of it. The very pro­ceedings of the Lact Iudgment are antedated in our Consciences; and the Triumphs of Conscience upon our Well-doing, the Horrours of Conscience upon our Wickedness, the Inferences of Conscience from the Intricate Things every Day happening in the World, are so many most penetrating Intimations of that Judgment, wherein we are to stand before the Lord. Now the cer­tainty of that Notable Day, being a thing as clear and sure as Day it self, it becomes us to silence all the Ca­ [...]ils of Carnal Reason, against any of its Unfathomable Circumstances, [...] a Faith acquiescing in this Assurance of it, Thus saith the Lord. Indeed; what Paul says, about the first of the Tran­sactions belonging to this Day of the [Page 19] Lord, may I say about the whole As­sayr of the Day, Why should it be Thought a thing Incredible with you? All the Cavils which our Unbelief can make against this Word of God, are Suffici­ently and Eternally taken off, with Demanding, Is any thing too hard for the Lord? But some of the Cavils, that have seem'd Speclous, will upon Second Thoughts be found so A [...]urd, that even Common sense it self would his [...] at them. Such is that Objection, Where will their be-room for such a Vast Multitude as Adam, with all his Chil­dren? The whole surface of the Earth could not hold them all? Ridiculous Ex­ception! Allow that this World should Last no less than Ten-Thousand [...]oars, which it will not; Allow that there are at once alive a Thousand Millions of men, which there are not; Allow all these to march off every Fifty years, with a New Generation rising up in their stead; and allow each of these Individuals a place Five so [...]t Square to stand upon. I think these are Fair Al­lowances. I would now pray the Ob­jector, If he have any skill at A [...] is home­ [...]ick, [Page 20] to Compute, Whether a Spot of Ground, much less than England, which contains perhaps about Thirty Milli­ons of Acres, but about a Thousandth Part of the Terraqueous Glob, and a­bout the Three Hundred thirty third part of the Habitable Earth, would not hold them all. I say then, we have something else to do, than to Cavil, the unexceptionable Doctrine of the [...]ast Judgment; it is our Interest and business to Improve, it, with deep Im­ [...]ons thereof upon our Souls.

[...] Of such an Aspect are all things in the Day of Judgment, as [...] the Apostle might well call it, The Terror of the Lord. But methinks, there is nothing that-gives more Dread unto a Soul awakened out of Sinful Slumbers, than that ETERNITY, wherein this Day Expires; that Eter­nal issue, that Eternal Event, which depends upon the Day. The last Judgment sixes the Children of men, like so many Rocks, in the Ocean of Eternity. Men will then be Immorta­lized; and their State of Weal or W [...], [Page 21] will be so inwrought into the very Beings of them, that Immortal Things may as easily cease to Be, as for a Righteous or Wicked man to pass into another State, than what he is then Confirmed in. Tis a Passage in that Memorable and Perhaps Historical Parable, which decribes the State of men, in the other World, that after this Day, men have, A Great Guilf fixed, unto them; there is by the De­cree of God, such a Vast Pit, about the Children of men, that they cannot pass out of the State wherein they are: The Nature of things will then [...] that they be Unalterable; the Children of men, will then be most Immediately Siezed, either by the Goodness or by the Justice of God; and because [...] God Himself Changes not, there [...] state of men becomes then [...]; nor will it stand with the Wisdom of the most High, to alter the Sentence then Pronounced about the State of Weal or Wo, which will then belong unto us. At the Day of Judgment, all Righteous men shall be adjudg'd unto a State of Eternal Happiness. Tis [...] [Page 22] Life Eternal, us an Eternal Salvation, tis an Eternal Inheritance, tis an Ever­lasting Habitation, and they are Plea­sures for ever more, of which the Be­liever shall be made Partaker. After he ha's been in the mansions of the Blessed, as many Millions of Ages as there are Sun-beams in the Universe, he will-still continue there. The stately Pillars in SolomonsTemple, were thence removed; but the Believer shall now become a Pillar in the Tem­ple of his God; from whence he shall no sooner go out, than the Temple it self [...] all Tumble down. A Devout Person at a Feast, said well, In Hea­ven there is Good Cheer, and Good Company; and so there is here: but in [...] there is no Taking away. The [...] [...] [...]soctions of the Believer, will [...] disquieted with such a Thought as this, At the Lo [...] [...], these things will have an end. God will not Repent of the Love which He has freely set upon him; nor will Christ ever Suffer one of His own Members to be Pluck'd away. But at the Day of Judgment, all Wicked men shall be [Page 23] adjudg'd unto a State of Eternal Mi­sery. Tis a Worm which Dyeth not, and a Fire which is not Quenched, where­withal the Sinner shall be Cr [...]ciated; It is an Eternal Damnation, and it is an Everlasting Destruction. Suppose an leap of as many Little Poppey-seeds, as according to the old Ptolemaick System, would fill the whole Machin of the World, and no more than one of them in a Thousand years fetch'd away, but the sinner in Anguish till the heap were all wasted so; behold, and be amazed! All this Long while would be but as a Drop to the Ocean, compar'd with that, Forever! that horrible Forever! whereto the T [...] ­ments of the Damned shall be [...] ­ened. Fifty two Cyphers, and One [...] ­gure at the Head of them, would Com­prehend, as the Learned and Noble, Otto de Gu [...]rick affirms it, the Num­ber of the Little Poppey-seeds [...] in the prodigious Heap, newly mentioned. But I say then, suppose a Scroll as large as the Starry Heaven it self, all filled with Figures of Nine; and yet so many Myriads of Ages, as would be [Page 24] therein deciphered, are Nothing to that Endless Duration, which the Tor­ments of the Damned shall be made Exquisite withal. It may be said unto the sinner, Are not thine Iniquities In­finite? A Sin Committed against an Infinite God, Exposes, a man unto an Infinite Wrath. The sinner makes him­self a prey to an Infinite Vengeance; and the Exercises of that Vengeance must be Infinite, or they bear no Pro­portion to the Desert of the sinner; now, they cannot be Infinite for the Degree of them: of such the sinner would be Incapable; so then, they must be Infinite for the Durance of them; they must abide World with­out End. Lord, what Rocks are our [...], that they do no more Tremble a [...] tho [...] of such an ETERNAL JUDGMENT.

[...]. [...]. To be Seriously, constant­ly, Vigorously Preparing for the Day of Judgment, is indeed, The thing which our Hand finds to Do; and, O that [...] may do it with our Might! Now tis our Cordial Closure with the Lord [Page 25] Jesus Christ, and the Consent of our Souls to the Gospel-way of Salvation, by Him, in the New Covenant Exhibi­ted, which is the Preparation, whereby alone, we may be Ready for the Ter­rible Day. It was the study and the Desire of the Apostle, O that I may be found in Him! We are to give our selves unto the Lord Jesus Christ, as unto our Prophet, and our Priest, and our King for ever; and now before Him, Judge our selves, for all our Sins, from which we would have Him to save us. Our Judge will then become our Friend; and we shall be safe in the Day, that shall Burn like an Oven, and Consume all the Wicked of the Earth. When the Watery Blood, overwhelmed the old World, O how many Wishes had people then, for, An [...] [...] A [...]k! to Shelter them? At the Day of Judgment there will be, what the Ancients called, a Diluvium Ignis, or, Fiery Blood, upon the World; and O what a rate, will, A Christ! A Christ! be then Esteemed at? May we Now make sure of Him, by Faith in Him! If once that were done, we might, [...]f [Page 26] before the Lord, for He comes, He comes to Judge the Earth. Suppose that before to Morrow Morning, the Lord Jesus Christ should set the World on a Light Fire, and Melt the Pillars of Heaven, with the Brightness of His Ap­pearing; Suppose that we should, a­waking at the next Midnight, hear such fearful and rattling Thunder claps, & see such hideous flashes of Lightning, as made Mount Sinai shake at the Gi­ving of the Law; yet our Hearts might even Leap with Joy within us, at it, as John did within his Mother, when Jesus came into the room. Only, when I hat is done, we are to Remember, that our Faith will have this Happy Symptom, to Justify it, That it will cause us to Abound in the Wo [...]ks of the Lord. May [...] then by a Spirit of Fore-sight Consi­der, how Comfortable in the Day of Judgment it will be unto us, to Look back and say, I once made it my Care, to be every Day, all the Day long at Work for God; And, When the Lord put His Talents into my Hands, I husbanded them unto the best Advantage that I could; And, Here can I in this Great Assembly, [Page 27] point at Multitudes of Persons, to whom I was not Unserviceable, when I had my Opportunities! And may we Do Accor­dingly. There will be a Day of Judg­ment; and the Plain Deduction from it is, What manner of Persons, ought we to be, in all Holy Conversation, and Godli­ness!

S. 6. Tis to be added, That some of the most hopeful Preparations for the Day of Judgment, would be attain'd in our Solemn Anticipations of that most Great and Notable Day of the Lord. Let us afore hand Act over the Day of Judgment; not in a Play, Like those Germans, who turned the parable of the Virgins into a Comedy, whereat a Prints then present, fell into an Astonishment that immediately ended his Dayes, but by Seriously bringing our selves Now to such Trials as will then be pass'd upon us. Tis among the Gracles of God, in I Cor. 11. 31. If we would Judge our selves, we should not be Judged; and surely, if we would now proceed Against our selves, with a most Exact, and Humble Judgment upon our own Miscarriages, it would be the way for [Page 28] us to stand, in the Day when the Lord shall Mark Iniquities. If we are nor Christians, of Lean Souls within us, we sometimes do set a part our Dayes, for Fasting with Prayer before the Lord; & thus we do sometimes more particular­ly, when we are Perfuming of our selves for our Approches to the Supper of the Great King; now, let such Dayes, be so many little Dayes of Judgment with us all. On such a Day, let us Examine out selves, by all the Ten Command­ments of our God, and among other Things; Let us be Inquisitive,

I. Have I not Grievously Forgotten the God that made me? And given un­to the Flesh, the World, and the Divel, the Homage, which is due to Him alone? Or let Creatures have the Affection, the Obedience, and the Dependance, which He alone may lay claim unto?

II. Have I not shamefully Neglected the Institutions wherein the Lord Jesus Christ ha's taught me to mentain Com­munion with Him? And Humoured the Superstitions of a Vain Conversation?

III. Have I not Irreverently Treat­ed the Names, Attributes, Words; Works, and Ordinances, whereby the Almighty [Page 29] God makes Himself known unto us? And been without awful Apprehensions of His Majesty, under His Various Dis­consations?

IV. Have I not been Carnal, Careloss. Weary, in the Ordinary Sabbaths of God? and been Indisposed unto the Extraordinary ones?

V. Have I not been Perverse and Haughty towards my Superiours; Un­kind & Foolish towards my Inferiours? Envious towards my Equals? and mi­serably Solfish in my Conduct of my­self?

VI. Have I not impaired my own Health by Intemperancies? or been towards others, Passionate, Revengeful, and Contentious?

VII. Have I not been Unchast, in my Acts, my Thoughts, my Words; [...] or been a Companion of the Fools, that are so?

VIII. Have I not by Frand or Fore wronged my Neighbour? nor been too Prodigal when I should not have spent; but when I should have spent, then too Niggardly?

IX. Have I not uttered, or somen [...] ­ed, [Page 30] what ha's been Contrary unto Truth's nor given Countenance to a False Re­port?

X. Have I not been Discontent with my own Condition? or, harboured in my Heart a Roving and a C [...]aving Lust, after an undue Alteration of it?

XI. Have not I despised the Offers of the Lord Jesus in the New Covenant, and the Wonderful Provision therein made for Unhappy Sinners? And per­mitted my [...] Affayrs to keep me at a Distance from the Lord Redeemer, who ha's been Waiting to give me, Repentance and Remission of Sins?

XII. Is not the Fountain of all these Bitter and Cursed Streams, the Corrupt Nature which I have derived from my first Parents; a Nature, filled with a depraved Prejudice against what is, Ho­ly, and just, and Good?

Upon the Discovery of our Guilt in These, and such Articles, Let us now Judge our selves as Worthy of Everlast­ing Destr [...]otion from the Presence of the Lord. And if the Iudgment, which we now pass upon our selves, be attended with the Self Ab [...]orrencies, and Self­Condemnations, and New-Resolutions, [Page 31] of a true Repentance, it will Prevent our coming under the like Iudgment on the Day of our Appearance before the most High Tribunal. But indeed, the Even­ing of Every Day is also [...] be reckoned a fit Opportunity for us, to call our selves unto an Account about our whole Behaviours in the Day; it becomes us with Self-Judging Hearts, every Night before we Sleep, to make a Process, like what would be in the Day of Judgment; and this as not knowing, but that before we Wake out of that Sleep, a [...] away to Judgment! may Surprize, [...] Nightly Recollections have been Com­mended by Sob [...]r Pagans, and should not be Omitted by Pious Christians, but, when we have Considered, What ha's been Gods Providence towards any self in the foregoing Day! We may do well also to Consider, if What ha's been thy Be­haviour towards God, in the Day? We may now particularly take an Account.

Q. 1. Have I Loved this Day, under a Dec [...] sense of Mortality and Eternity?

Q. 2. Have I Devoutly head the [...] God this Day; and Seriously souls so [...] Face of God, both in my Retir­ement, [Page 32] and with my Family?

Q. 3. Have I had many Ejaculations this Day, both in a way of Petition, and in a way of Thanksgiving unto God?

Q. 4. Have I had most affectionate Meditations upon Heavenly Things this Day; & have I made Earthly Things to occasion some of my Profitable Reflections?

Q. 5. Have I been careful of my Dis­course this Day, & Spoken with a Tongue B [...]died by the Fear of the Lord?

Q. 6. Have I been Diligent in my Calling this Day, and avoided all Need­less Expence of my Precious and Golden Minutes, in Diversions?

Q. 7. Have I this Day Endeavoured all Usefulness unto those to whom I am Re­ [...]ted, or with whom I have been Concerned?

Q. 8. Have I this Day Controll'd and Conquer'd my Master Sin? and ha's my Watchfulness issued in my Victory over my own Iniquity?

Q. 9. Am I in a sit State and Frame to appear before the Judgment-Seat of God, if I should before To Morrow Morn­ning be Sum [...]mned thereunto? And there­fore, Do I still choose the Great God a [...] my best Good, and my last End: and the Lord Jusus Christ, as my Prophet, my [Page 33] Priest, my King? And is it my Desire to be Employ'd as a Witness for His Truths and Wayes for ever?

Did we not let any Day pass us with­out such Representations of the Last Day unto our minds, we should be Al­wayes Ready. Reader, let us Aspire af­ter such a Continual Readiness!

S. 7. But none of the least Exerci­ses in our Preparation for the Day of Judgment, would be our Meditation of it; Or, Our Looking for the Glorious Ap­pearance of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was an Holy man, among the Ancient [...] who could say, Wherever I am, and What­ever I do, Methinks I have the Sound of the Last Trumpet in my Ears, ARISE YE DEAD, AND COME TO JUDG­MENT. We should Labour to get a Proper & a Lively Character of the Day, when God shall Judge the Secrets of men; and often Raise it in our minds. It was said, Wo to them that put far away the Evil Day. Truly, The Day of Judg­ment will be an Evil day indeed, unto them that put it far away. Thoughts upon the Day of Judgment, should con­tinually Lodge in our Hearts; and how­ever we are imploy'd we should think, [Page 34] What shall I do, when God rises up? and when He Visits, what shall I answer Him?

Now for the Assistence and Nourish­ment of our Private Meditations upon, The Day of God, we are happily Supply'd with the Published Meditations of many Worthy Pious Learned Writers, upon that Important Subject; and I pray, that we may not be Unthankful, or Unfruitful under such Advantages. The Carnal Jewes, when they Read the Book of Ecclesiast [...]es, have the [...]st Verse but one [which has in it, Fear God and keep His Commandments.] Printed over again, it the Close of all, because they would not have the Remembrance & Impres­sion of the Last Verse [which has in it, God shall bring every Work into Judgment] to be too strong upon them; whereas if men would Think more of the Latter, they would probably Do more of the former. God forbid, that we should any of us have any Indisposition to such Meditations on the Day of Judgment, as are Laid before us, in the Books of some that are Longing for the Day. Dear New-England! Thy Little Presses too, do now afford more than two or three Savoury Treatises upon the Day, which [Page 35] will not bundle such Books for the [...] that shall then Burn up the Hay & Stub­ble, of Innumerable Volumns; No, Such are some of the Books that shall be Opened for a Witness against Impenitents I In thee, is Reprinted the Zealous Thomas Vincents Discourse, On our Lords certain & sudden Appearance to Judgment. In thee, is Printed, a Sermon on, The Day of J udgment, whose Author is the Father of him that now addresses thee. In thee, is now Printed, the Reverend [...] ­muel Lee's, Assize-Sermon, of [...] to the Great D ay of J udgment; [...] a­mong us, as his Mantle, by that [...] when he went away for Europe. Th [...] besides other Books, h [...] New-England had, for the Loudenine of that [...] night Cry among us, Behold, the [...] gr [...]m comes. And indeed if upon, [...] passing away of the second Wo, the Third comes quickly, which brings on, The Time of the D ead, that they should be J udged, we that now see the Second Wo coming a pace unto its Period, should co [...]nt no Awakenings too many, to rowse us out of that profound Sleep, wherein the World shall be fast, When the Son of man [Page 36] comes. I am verily perswaded, The J udge is at the D oor; I do without any hesitation venture to say, The Great D ay of the Lord is Near, it is Near, and it hastens Greatly. O That our Minds may be as deeply Engaged in Thinking on the Second coming of our Lord, as the Saints of old were in Thinking of His First; and that the Books by which we may Understand, much of what concerns that matter, may have a due Entertain­ment and Efficacy with us. A Person of some Quality having Wasted much Time, at Unlawful Games, could not [...] the Night following, & mentioned [...]to an Inquisitive Friend, the Ground [...] it; Yesterday casting my Eye into a [...] that I saw open, I read the Word ETERNITY, and this Word ha's broke [...] very Heart within me. Truly, we that have so many Books about, ETERNAL JUDGMENT, have our Hearts harder than the Nether Milstone, if at the sight of that Word, ETERNAL JUDGMENT they do not break. But it is unto the God of Grace, that we are now to bow our Knees, with Petitions for, Mercy in the Day of the Lord.