Household Prayers, Prayer 18
The eighteenth Prayer, VponUpon temporall death.
Our life is but a vapour which appeareth but for a while, and then vaniſheth away. For the reward of ſinne is death, and the ſting thereof is ſinne. But thanks be to God, who hath giuen vsus victory, through our Lord Ieſus Christ.
Rom. 6 1. Cor. 15.
O eternal god, with whom a thouſand yeares are as one day, & one day as a thouſand yeres, and whoſe iudgements ſo diuerſe, are holy, iuſt, and incomprehenſible. Where is the man ſo gallant or prowd, who thinking vponupon the vanitie and ſhortneſſe of his life, doeth not eaſily aſſwage his pride and preſumption, euen to the end that hee extend not his temporall cogitations too farre, but keepe them bounded within the limits of thy law, and referre the euent to the good pleaſure of thy will?
The vertue of our faireſt daies is but affliction of minde, and miſerie of our fleſh, we fall as by a guſhing of waters, wee paſſe away as a dreame, or a ſmoake, our eares doe conſume like graſſe, that withereth from night vntounto morning, and the longeſt time of our courſe, (whereof ſleepe nibleth awaie a good part) is but threeſcore and tenne yeares, or foure-ſcore for the ſtrongeſt bodies, whileſt in euerie moment of life, the neareſt and ſinalleſt daunger that threatneth vsus, ſeemeth to be death, which as our ſhadow, followeth vsus at the heeles, and laugheth at our goodly deuiſes, vntill ſhe hath ſcattered them in the winde, & brought vsus into aſhes. But which is worſe, where is the man, ſo holy and perfect, that doth not tremble and quake, if there bee repreſented vntounto him, (O Lord) the tribunall ſeate of thy ſoueraigne iuſtice, where we all, after death, muſt appeare? Thy indignation againſt ſinners is manifeſt (and there is none righteous) thy vengeance is readie againſt rebellion (whereof wee bee all guiltie) which doth alſo cauſe, that death is vntounto vsus, not only as a temporall ending as concerning the fleſh, (whereat nature is mooued and abaſhed,) but alſo an interior feeling of the curſe fallen vppon ſinne, yea euen an entry into eternall death, vnleſſe there be for vsus with thee our Father, Redemption in our Lorde Ieſus Chriſt. I beſeech thee therfore, my God, to giuegive mee grace to knowe, how to meditate euerie day of my life vponupon this ſentence of the holy ghoſt. (That it is decreed that al men ſhal die once, and after that ſhall the iudgement followe,) to the ende that while I creepe vppe and downe in this earthlie myre, I ſuffer not my ſelfe to be deceiued with the deceiptfull baites of the pleaſures of this worlde, neyther with the allurements of the diuell, who ſtill ſeeketh by his ſuttleties to race out of our hearts the remembrance of death, ſo for to detaine vsus in the thoughts of vanitie, and to entangle vsus in the ſnares of our Iuſts. Grant me rather (O Lord) to knowe the vileneſſe and bitterneſſe of this miſerable life, to the end that withdrawing my affection from mortall things, I may bee able to direct and ſtay my ſelfe in things ſtedfaſt and eternall. And alſo that therby the remembrance of death, may daily be vntounto mee, as a trumpet to waken and call mee, to the purſuite of my life, in the path of thy truth, & to kindle in mee a holie deſire, ſoone to departe out of the world, wherin, the longer a man ſoiournes, the more is hee loaden with infernall Marchandize (which is the filthines of ſinne) and the more he cutteth him ſelfe off from that portion of ſoueraign felicitie which is in the life to come. Truely he that hath moſt yeares hath moſt iniquitie, and hee that croucheth moſt in the mire of the world, rotteth moſt. And therfore to the Children of darkeneſſe, the vncleannes of the fleſh is a pleaſant habitation: But to the children of light, to the immortall ſpirites, to the regenerate heartes, heauen is much more deſiderable. Grant therfore, my God, that as I dayly grow towards my end, ſo I may liue the more cheerefully, learning in thy ſchoole, to preferre thy eternal life, before the light of the Sunne, the glory of heauen, before the vanitie of the earth, the glorious habitation in paradice, before the painefull tumults of the worlde, the ſocietie of Angells, before the fellowſhippe of mortall men, the onelie bleſſed and permanent life, before the paſſing ſhaddowe of this life, which is fruitfull in anguiſhes, ryotes, and labours, the triumph before the combat, the preſent poſſeſſion of ſoueraigne good, before the hope of enioying: and that attending this hauen of health, I may know how to prepare my ſelfe by continuall meditation in theſe excellent Chriſtian conſolations, that happy are they that die in the Lord for they reſt from their labors: That death is to them no death, but a ſleepe, in regard of their bodies, then freed from the miſeries of life: and that, as for the ſoule, which findeth it ſelfe deliuered from the tyrannie of ſinne, it is to her a change to a better life: That this death is to all faithfull, the time of receiuing the garlands for their race, & the crowns of their labours. That to them ſhee is an acceptable iſſue of a laborious trauell, their deliuerie from all terror and feare, and the ſtedfaſt accompliſhment of their vocation to felicitie: which made the Apoſtle to ſay, (Alas! wretched man that I am, who ſhall deliuer me from this bodie of death? I deſire to bee diſſolued, and to be with Chriſt) howbeit if notwithſtanding in the infirmitie of my fleſh, the fearefull Image of death trouble me in the ſtraites of my departure, If the world that doth alwayes too much bewitch vsus, maketh my thoughts then bowe to his will: If Sathan pitcheth his aſſaults, and ſnares, and vponupon the remembrance of my ſinnes, ſetteth hell before my face: moreouer, if my owne perturbations keepe me from apprehending thy eternall conſolations, in ſuch moſt neceſſarie extremities, vouchſafe (my good God and father) in theſe anguiſhes, to approach vntounto me, to ſaue me from the running and ſwift ſtreame of ſuch brookes, that they may not carrie meaway to perdition, illuminate my thoughts with thy ſpirite, waken my ſoule out of the ſleep of death, renew my hart by the vertue of thy ſpirit, and put into my hands, the ſtaffe of thy aſſured conduct, to bring mee out from the laborinth of this ſorrowful paſſage, cauſing me, with the eyes of my faith, to behold my righteouſnes vponupon the croſſe of my Sauiour, the diſcharge of my debts in his ſacrifice, my victorie in his combats, my life in his death, my glorie and ioy in his reſurrection; that ſo repleniſhed with peace, I may cheerfully reſigne my bodie to the earth, as aſſured that it ſhall riſe againe, and my ſoule to heauen, with theſe laſt words of Chriſt, [Into thy hands, O Father, I commit my ſpirit.] So be it.