The Whole Duty of Divine Meditation, Part 2 · Meditation 25
MED. XXV. Upon Death.
Rom. vi. 21.
What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
SINCE Sin must be destroyed, who then would make choice of that for his Felicity, which shall perish with himself; whose End is not only Death, but Hell; and will be his Destruction, not only now, but hereafter? Indeed, were there no hopes that our Reliques should resuscitate again, or the Ruines of our Frame resurrect to a politer Shape, we might well plunge our selves in Enjoyments here, and fix our Felicity in delectable Pleasures: Every Person might then be tollerated, without Sin, to become an Epicure; and he that could project new Modes of Luxry, would not only pass for being Ingenious, but be esteem'd Fortunate.
II. GOOD Morality would appear all Vice; and yet Vice it self would be held no more a Crime, but our Happiness: not to be Lavish, then, were a Sin against Nature; and he that excelled in Brutality, would be render'd most Rational: Legal Proceedings would then be a grand Enemy to Humanity; there could be no Sociableness, but in Confusion: and were there no Heaven, nor Hell, we should pleasantly mingle to a Chaos, and obey no other discipline but Riot: every Person might then be Atheistical, without Scandal: To be without the Almighty, and his Grace in the World, would be render'd no Misfortune; for then every Man might depend upon his own Merits, without Blasphemy.
III. Could they which inhabit the Earth, die like Bruits and Animals, and revive no more; the Hopes of not being Damn'd, would be a greater Comfort than the Delights of Sin. But alas, he that enters the Grave now, must live▪ again, that his Life may be remember'd. Nor yet is it so much the Terror of Death, as the Horrors of a Guilty Conscience▪ the formidable Prognosticks of a Future Etetnity, that affrights the departing Soul: The Pangs and Anguish of expiring Nature are insignificant to those Stings that attend the Memory of our Crimes: The deep Sorrows of the Grave, and our being Extinct here for ever, are Joys, to the Miseries which remain behind, but will certainly come.
IV. INFORM me now, thou that art so indulgent to the World, and hunts for Paradise in a Park of Sins; thou that makest Terrestrial things thy Treasure, and foldest up the Riches of thy Hopes in the Bosom of Old Time, or the Compass of a Span; when those lucid and swift Guides of Life, thine Eyes, shall wax dim with Age, or tired with Pain; when every Member shall become Sorrow's Object, and those Parts which were so employ'd in the Operation of Sin, shall become Instruments of Despair; when that delectable Frame, that magnificent Darling Edifice, thy Body, shall, by its shivering Qualms, and trembling Convulsions, consternate its disconsolate Owner; how will the Fulgurations of a Future Justice, and the Terrours of thy Ultimate End, confound thee!
V. CAN those transitory Enjoyments that allured away thy Immortal Part, restore it in convenient time? Can those Pleasures which bereft thee of Heaven, recover it again before Death puts a period to thy Life? Can thy Pomps and Vanities asswage or allay thy deep Sorrows? or the Memento of thy Sins, the Destruction of thy End? Where's that soft Musick, whose select Airs, like David's Harp, might charm the Cries of a Guilty Conscience; and by its skilful Strains, drop a pleasant Harmony that might pacifie the Trouble of thy anguish'd Soul?
IV. WHERE are those expanded Trophies of empty Glories, thy Ambition has purchas'd at the easie Rate of only sinning for greedy Honour, for which thou hast traffiqu'd and sold Heaven? That Sovereignty for which thou enslavest thy self, and lost the perfect Freedom of thy Immortal Soul? Cannot all thy Grandeur excite thee up a little; and by a fumy Power, once so formidable and applauded, reprieve thee from the unsatisfy'd Grave, or a more Eternal Prison.
VII. Where are those Goods of Fortune thou hast forfeited thine Inheritance for, whose transporting Lustre deprived thee of thy Eye-sight, and render'd thee dimmer than themselves? Can they, by their utmost Skill, neither bribe nor purchase thy Pardon? Or will the silent Grave require no other Fee than so rich a Miser? Where are all those fine Diversions that divested thee of thy Piety, and the Thoughts of thy Creator? those pleasing deluding Vanities that swept away all sense of Heaven, and fore-sight of thy Future State? Are all shrunk into a Tomb, and an unwelcom Period? Are all thy Jocularities terminated in the Confines of a Sepulchral-Urn; and no other Objects left for thy Concomitants, but thy Crimes, and those Terrours thy Guilt presents?
VIII. BEHOLD now, and stand amaz'd, ye Adorers of the World more than of the Almighty! and view the Portraiture of your End, those Ruines you have so smoothly built on! Try if your imaginary Felicities are Proof against this Arrow; or can protect you from this Invader, the only Conqueror of the World, whose general Prison is but a Reserve for a worse, and its Execution here, but a Reprieve for a more durable and yet vital Mortality. He that reign'd in Pleasures, must expire in Flames; and having long revelled it in Sin, must expect to riot it in Torments; and the misery is, that wishing not to live, he can never die.
IX. AND yet, how foolish and vain are our Desires still after the World? How easie and alluringly, O Lord, are we led by the counterfeit and transitory Pleasures of this Life, from Thee? We cannot plead Ignorance, but fully attest, That the Wages of Sin is Death; and yet how absurdly do we preferr its Service before Thine, whose Recompence of Reward is Life and Immortality? But The Period of Profaneness is Eternal Destruction, and the Delights of Impiety end in Confusion; and yet we eagerly embrace the fawning Proffers of Sin, before the never-failing Promises of Everlasting Glory.
X. Have Pity, O Holy Jesu, upon the weak Frailties of our Humane and Corrupt Natures: And we humbly implore Thee to pardon and forgive the profuse Irregularities of our whole Lives. Grant unto us, O Lord, a perpetual Supply of noble and ardent Defires to run after Thee, that the Pomps, Vanities, and Tinselware of the World, may become Objects of our Scorn and Derision; and that the bright Splendour of Thy Eternal Glory, may create our Ambition to serve Thee all the Days we remain here; that we may not, for a present temporal Enjoyment in this transitory Life, lose the blessed Hopes, and future Inheritance of the Saints in Light, but at last, having finished our Course here, we may arrive with Joy and Gladness at Thy Heavenly Kingdom.