Book I. of J E S U S C H R I S T. 6l

Does any Confidence of long Life encourage you to defer putting this good Advice in Execution fpeedi- ly ? Nay, but refi«d:, fond Man, how little you can promife your felf one poor fingle Day. How many Inftances have you before your Eyes, or frefh in your Remembrance, of Perfons miferably deluded and dif- appointed in this Hope, and hurried out of the Body without any warning at all? How often have you been furprized with theNews of thisFriendbeingrun thro', another drowned in croffing the Water, a Third break- ing his Neck by a Fall, a Fourth fallen down dead at Table, or choaked with his Meat, a Fifth feized with an Appoplex at Play, a Sixth burnt in his Bed, a Se- venth murthered, anEighch killed byThieves, a Ninth ftruck with Lightning, or Blafting, or Peftilence, a Tenth fwallow'd up in an Earthquake. Such vaft va- riety of Deaths furround us, and fo fleeting a Shadow is the Life of a Man,
And if any of thefe happens to be Your cafe, Who fliall help ? Who can fave you, when the precious Op- portunity is fled and loft ? Be doing then betimes j for, though you cannot fo much as guefs at the Hour and manner of your own Death, yet fafe you are, or may be, if you will provide againft; it. Ufe Time then while you have it ; make haft to be rich toward God, and let Religion and your own Salvation be yourChief, yourOnlyConcern. M.^ke your felf Friends while you may, who ivhen you fail may re- ■^^•^^^^^- 9- cei^e you into e-varlaflivg Habitations.
Behave your felf as a Stranger and Pilgrim upon Earth, and entangle not your Thoughts in Matters which do not belong to you. For Sojourners are not Proprietors, and therefore fuch fhould keep their Minds loofe and free, and not fettle their Affedions upon things, which they are leaving very fhortly ; Raife your Soul to God j and let it not dwell there,where you have no continumg ^^^^' ^"^-H*
City,
6z jgPf ti)z imitation Book i.
City. Look up to that which is fo , and fend your Prayers^ and Tears^ and earneft Defires before you thither ; that when God calls^ you may readily follow in Perfon, and make a happy Exchange of this Mife- rable World for a better.
C H A P. XXIV.
Of the Lajl Judgment ^ and the Eternal Tumfhment of Ungodly Men,
WHatfoe'ver thou takefi in hand , rememher the Endy and thoufimlt never do amlfs, lays the Wife Son of Sirach. And certainly this would prove EccIf^yil^S. a j^oil: ufeful Diredion, if we by the End underftanu that laft great Account , which will one Day be required of all our Adions. For how power- ful, how happy a Reftraint fhould we live under^ did we but ferioufly refled:^ and conftantly ask our felves, how we fliaii dare to (land before that ftrid and righ- teous Judge , to whom all Hearts are open^all Defires known, and from whom noSecrets are hid ? One, who can- not, like other Judges , be diverted from the fteady Courfe of Juftice ,• blinded by Bribes and Prefents, or fofrned by fubtle Extenuations, or impofed upon by feigned Excufes, and lludied Evasions ; but who weighs all Perfons and Caufes by the Eternal Standard of E- quity and Truth. Ah , wretched Guilty Creature ! Ah, ftupid Unthinking Sinner ! that trembleft at the Frown of a Man like thy felf, and canft not fear that Bar , where nothing can turn to thy Prejudice but open and notorious Faults ! How wile thou appear at this Tribunal,- or what Plea canft thou urge in Bar of Sentence , to Him who needs no Evidence, but is himfelf privy to thy moft concealed Impieties } Doil
thou