Book 11. of it be too excdli•e now? or if in hell, the world will leave thee for its pleafure then, only rhyfinful care and minding of it, will vex and torment ~hee.everlafiing· ly : 0 realize this, as if now thou wert entring into that other world of fouls! Cer– tainly thou fiandefi at the door, thou art daily dying, and even fiepping in, there is but a thin vail offtefh betwixt thee and that amazeing fight, that eterual gulf, and !hall not this wean thee from thy worldlinefs. 11. Think ov<r thy beginning, ond thy ending. r. For thy beginning, it wa• of nod1ing: Me thinks I am confidering what and where thou wafi fome tew years ago, what and where thou wall when thy father was born, or when he was a child; if I lay afide an odd trifle of daies, ifl take away a fhort cour{e of running time, no man or woman now living was •alive, and then creeping things though they could but creep, did ljve, and rejoyce in a comfortable being ; and other little creatures had wings, and were able to fly readily here, there, and here again, upwards and downwards; and thou ( who now godt with fucb a grace, and Iookcfi [o full eyed , and buildell fuch !>•belt in thy imagination ) badll then 1•0.kind of being; thefe Churches, tbcfe Towns, tbefe King~omes, this heap of Kingdomes, the world, were as now we fee them, but thou for thy part wall not fo much as heard of, and all becaufe thou waft not ; the very fame Sun that rifes and fets did !hine, now red, now pale upon the wcrld, •it ran its qaies journey, and conllantly kept its time; fuch birds of the fame coloms did fing , and hop from branch to branch, and fly from tree to tree, as now they do ; bealls and lifhes in the fame diverfity of fhapes, followed tbeirfeveral inllinCl:s ofnature, the winds blew cold and warm, and warm and cold again; men and women, fuch as thou art, did as rho~ doll, and all this while thou W>ll not : 0 wonderful ! a little while bdore ycfterday thou knewell not that there was a world, thl! there were Angels, that there was a God; thou hadtt no knowledge, no being, which is the foundation and ground of knowledge : d think cf this beginning! 2· For thy ending, it will be worCe than nothing, ifthotl continuefi a worldling Hill: Methinks i lee thee lying on thy fick b,d,or on thy deaths bed : Oh how pale and wan thou art! thou hadll a frefh and youthful colour the other day : Alas, how much art thou changed from the gallant man thou walH how thy breath laboms, how every joynt !hakes tor exccfs of pain, how every vein trem, bks, thy eyes hx conllantly upon one thing, as if there thou fawdt the dreadful fe~tence ofE.tcrnity: Ob how little now do all thy profits, and incomes of the world p!eafure thee! fuch rich purchafe, the favour of fuch a Noble man, fueh and fuch a merry meeting, what do thC)' help thee in this agony? thy friends are prcfent, yet of thcmfdves they are miferable comforters, humane power !lands amazed, and can• not help thee, and for thy felf, thou art fo d u\l'd and overclouded with the pangs of death, that thou canll not raiCe from rhe fog ofthy body one clean thought to, wards God, or heaven: Sec, fee_, thou art going, thou !\ands upon the threihold, death looksm at yonder corner, and aims at thy heart, thcre ' f\ewthearrow, and 110w here's a change iRdced thy foul is gone, but it <ou!d not be feen. Verily, verily, here is the mind that bath wifdome, to improve this meditation, fo as to avoid the devils tetn(ltarion to worldlinefs, or worldly-mindednefs, sEc i'. vnr. Of Sawu tcmpiatims to wantomzejj, orjlejhly luj/J. $7 I r is SataJ~ v;hiclJ tempu men for their incontinency, and incontinency is in the AI C?r~' ,;, pollles lhle, a tzmtiJZg a fide after S•un, a neer corrcfpondency and communion 1 Tun.r.•S· tncre IS bttwtxt thefc two, the devil and f\efhly lulls; and hence as he is called, the unclean [pmt, lo arc they called zmclea11 leefh or uncleannefs it fdf in the abllracr Mat.ro.r. l~om.' · 24· Ephej:4 .z o. 2 Pet.2oJ o. Some call th~[e lulls the devils Captain, that fmit~ Ephcf. S·s· at the foul elpcCially, Dearly beloved, I bcfcechya11, as ~rangers and Pilgrims abfl•infrom 1 Pet 2.1 r; f/ejhly lufls wlncb rcoragaz;lji thefoul; But how cloth Satan liir up thefe lul(s in men) I anfwer.- ' -- ~elf. 1: He.obfcrves the temperature and complexion of li1eh and iizch a man, and if it Aujw; be fangume, he takes the advantage thereof; and accordingly tempt• him to lull, in– cont!llcncy, and all voluptuous pleafures of the flefh. Hence the Apo!lle was much atmd of Ius bcdy, as prublbly beint; offuch a temperature,! k,rep under mybody,andbrinj!. I i:
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