Death's Knell: or, The sick man's Passing-Bell: Summoning all sick Consciences to pr●●pare themselves for the coming of the grea● Day of Doom, lest mercy's Gate be shut against them: Fit for all those that desire to arrive at the heavenly jerusalem. Whereunto are added Prayers fit for Householders.  
The ninth Edition.  
Written by W. Perkins.  
Printed at London for M. Trundle, and are to be at her Shop in Smithfield. 1628.   

Death's Knell.  
LEt the memory of Death (good Christian) be ever the Looking-glass of thy life, thy continual Companion, and inseparable Spouse: let thy solace be the sighs of a sorrowful soul; and those the more bitter, the better: whilst Wormlike, thou crawlest here below, fasten all thy faculties upon the Commandments of thy Creator; for those in thy final passage, must be the Pilot to steer thee into the Haven of Heaven; Think every moment thou art in the waning, that the date of thy Pilgrimage is well-nigh expired, and that the lamp of thy life lieth twinkling upon the snuff; and that now it stands thee upon to look toward thy Celestial home▪ thy forces are enfeebled, thy senses impaired, and on every side, the tottering and ruinous Cottage of thy faint flesh threateneth fall.  
And meeting so many Harbingers of death, how canst thou but prepare for so ghastly a guest? The young man may dye quickly, but the old cannot live long: the young man's life by casualty may be cut off, but the aged by Physic cannot be preserved: Green years must resolve to grow to the grave, and the meditations of old age must dwell in the same: be mindful of things past, careful of things present, and provident for things to come. Use the blessings of nature to the benefit of thy soul; be wise in well-doing, and watchful for thy end: Serve not the world; for that can possess thee of nothing but pride, envy, lust, anger, malice, and infinite follies: for it defileth a man with sin, disquieteth with troubles, oppresseth with labours, vexeth with temptations, vanquisheth with vain delights, and miserably wrappeth him up in woeful calamities. The world, it is an Ambassador of the evil, a scourge of the good, a tyrant of the truth, a breaker of peace, a worker of war, a sweet of vices, a gall of virtues, a friend of lies, an inventor of novelties, a travel to the ignorant, a table of Gluttons, a furnace of concupiscence, a sepulchre of the dead, a prison of the living, a pitfall to the rich, a burden to the poor, a Palace of Pilgrims, a Den of Deceivers, a slanderer of the good, a commender of the wicked, and a deluder of all. Thou hast no reason to dote upon the world; for at first it affords thee but a wrangling welcome, and at last turns thee off, with a fearful farewell: moreover, it doth torment thee, abuse thee, consume thee, and at length expel thee: whereas on the contrary: Heaven doth comfort thee, conserve thee, and exalt thee. On Earth, thou sowest but in a field of Flint, which bringeth forth nothing but a Crop of care, and languishing for thy labour: it is time therefore to leave so unthriving a husbandry, and to sow in God's ground the seed of repentant sorrow, and water it with the tears of humble contrition; so shalt thou reap a plentiful harvest, and gather the fruits of everlasting consolation. Imagine thou thy Spring to be spent, thy Summer overpassed, and that thou art arrived at the Fall of the Leaf, and though thy loving Lord do long forbear offenders, yet at last he will scourge them; and that his patience lends us but respite to repent, not leisure to sin. He that is tossed with sturdy storms, and cannot come to his desired Port, rids little way, but is much turmeiled: so he that passeth many years, and purchaseth but small profit to his soul, hath had a long being, but a short life; for life is to be measured by virtuous actions, not by number of days. Some men by many days, purchase many deaths, and others in a short space attain to life everlasting. What is the body without the soul, but a corrupted Carkeise? and what is the soul without God, but a Sepulchre of sin? Man was made, and sent hither, to no other purpose but only to serve God in this life, and to enjoy Heaven in that life hereafter. If our end be the Kingdom of Heaven, why are we so much enamoured on the Earth? If the end of our Creation, be eternal salvation, why hunt we after the vanities of this vain life? If our inheritance be to reign as Kings, why live we like servile slaves, in danger to be divided from God, from Christ our Saviour, from the Angels, from the Communion of Saints, and from the hope of our celestial portion? If God be the way, the truth and the life; then he that walketh without him, wandreth; that is not instructed by him, erreth; and that liveth without him, dyeth: to revolt from him, is falling; to return to him, is rising: to stay upon him, is sure standing: He it is, from whom to depart, is to dye; to whom to repair, is to revive: in whom to trust, is truly to live. O be not thou like those, that begin not to live, until they be ready to dye, and then (when they deserve an enemy's reward) come to crave of God a friend's entertainment. Some think to snatch Heaven in a moment, which the best can scarce attain in many years; and when they have glutted themselves with worldly delights, would jump from the Diet of Dives, to the joys of Lazarus; from the service of Satan, to the solace of a Saint. But be sure, that God is not so penurious, to make his Kingdom saleable for the refuse and reversion of their lives, who have sacrificed the principal and prime thereof to his enemies, and their own brutish appetites; then only ceasing to sin, when the ability of offending is taken from them. What thank is it to pardon our enemies, when we can not hurt them? to give away our goods, when we can keep them no longer? to shake hands with our pleasures, when we can use them no more? to forsake sin, when sin leaveth us? God may be merciful at the last gasp: but most miserable is that man, who casteth the Anchor of his eternal weal or woe, on so uncertain and sandy a point. The thief may be saved on the Cross, and mercy found at the last; yet it is not likely, that he should find favour at his death, whose life earned the wages of wrath; or that his penitence should be accepted, who more for fear of hell, and his own self-love, then for the love of God, or lothsomelesse of sin, cryeth out for mercy,  
Put not off repentance therefore to the last point: take David's early in the morning: stay not till to morrow; though thou suffered'st the Bud to be blasted, the Flowers to fade, the Fruit to perish, the Leaves to wither. the Boughs to dry up, and the body of the Tree to decay; yet still keep life in the Root, for fear lest the whole become fuel for Hell fire: for where the tree falleth there it lieth. Imagine that Time hath flied off the better part of thy natural forces, and left thee in the Lees of thy dying days: and that thou art onword in thy voyage, and not far from the period of thy last harbour: be not therefore disfurnished of necessaries required in so perilous a journey. O how men do carefully begin, industriously prosecute, and effectually end their labours, in attaining to this transitory trash upon earth! but of that great affair of winning Heaven, or falling into hell, there is had no respect: Nay, they do not so much as remember, that there is a Hell for sinners, a Heaven for good livers, a dreadful day of judgement, or a strict reckoning to be made. Death in its own property is sufficiently fearful, but far more terrible, in respect of the judgement whereto it summoneth.  
If ●hou wert now laid on thy departing Pillow, wearied with waiting, pinched with pain, drowned in dolour, oppressed with the heavy load of thy forepast committed sins, wounded with the sting of a guilty crying conscience: if thou feltst the force of death cracking thy heartstrings asunder, ready to make the sad divorce of thy soul and body: if thou layest panting for shortness of breath, sweeting a fatal sweat, and tired with struggling against deadly pangs; O, how much then wouldst thou give for a day's contrition, an hour's repentance, or a minute's amendment of life? Then worlds would be worthless in comparison of a little time, which now by whole months and years thou lavishly mis-spendest. How deeply would it wound thy soul, when looking back into thy life, thou shouldst espy many faults committed, but none amended; many good works omitted, but none recovered; thy duty to God promised, but not performed! How disconsolable would thy case be, thy friends being fled, thy senses affrighted, thy mind amazed, thy memory decayed, thy thoughts aghast, and every part disabled in its proper faculty▪ saving only thy guilty conscience crying out against thee? What wouldst thou do, when stripped and turned out of thy house of Clay, into the World of Worms, the Den of dust, and Cabin of corruption; from thence to be convented before a most severe judge, carrying in thy own bosom, thy Indictment ready written, and a perfect Register of all thy misdeeds; when thou shouldest behold the glorious Majesty of jesus Christ, (clothed in white linen, through which, his body shining like precious stones, his eyes like burning Lamps, his face like lightning, his Arms and Legs like flaming Brass, and his Uoice as the shout of a multitude) prepared to pass the sentence upon thee; when thou shouldest see the great judge offended above thee, hell open beneath thee; the Furnace flaming, the Devils waiting, the World burning, thy conscience accusing, and thyself standing as a forlorn wretch, to receive thy fearful and irrecoverable sentence of condemnation?  
Oh, bethink thyself, how these visions would affright thee: to behold the gnashing of teeth, the horror of the place, the rigour of the pain, the ugliness of the company, and the eternity of these punishments; where the fire is unquenchable; the torments insupportable, hopeless, helpless, easeless, and endless! For our fire may be endured; that intolerable; ours for comfort; that, for torment; ours, if not fed, extinguisheth; that, without feeding, never goeth out; ours giveth light; that, none: ours consumes the matter, and ends the pain; that torments, but never wasteth, to make the pain perpetual. In Hell, the lazy Loiterer must be pricked with flaming Forks; the Glutton fed with hunger and thirst; the Drunkard quaff bowls of burning Brimstone; the Covetous pine in penury; the lustful embrace ugly Su●●es; and the proud apparelled with shame and confusion▪ and further, to aggravate their grief, and up heap the measure of their unmeasurable misery, they shall turn up their affrighted eyes, and behold the meek triumphing, the Godly rejoicing: then shall they perceive base apparel to be glorious; gaudy attire ●●●amous; the humble Cottage commended; the guilded Palace despised; simple obedience show fairer than subtle policy; a clear conscience better accepted, then profound and abstruse Philosophy; zealous prayers far worthier than fine tales; good works preferred before sweet words. Is not he more than mad, that will play away his time allotted to prevent these intolerable calamities? Is it not a senseless security, to hug in thy bosom so many serpents as sins? or to foster in thy soul so many malicious accusers, as mortal faults? wouldst thou not then think one life too little, to repent for so many iniquities, the least whereof is strong enough to hurl thee irrecoverably into these unspeakable torments? Betimes then devote the residue of thy days, to make an atonement with jehovah, the general judge, and so endeavour to set free thy soul from such confusion, as by sin thou art sure to fall into. What canst thou purchase by being so long a customer to the World, but false ware, suitable to such a Merchant's Shop, where traffic is toil; wealth, woe; gain, loss? what interest canst thou recover, that can equal thy detriments in grace and goodness? or what canst thou find in this vale of vanities, that is comparable to the favour of God? Let not thy youthful affections oversway thee; for time will tell thee, they are but bubbling follies. Let not temporal fear mislead thee; for the force of reason will rather draw thee to fear God then man, and to stand more in awe of perpetual then temporal punishments. Who would fasten his eternal affairs upon the slipperiness of uncertain life? or who (but one of distempered wits) would offer to put tricks upon him, who is the strict searcher out of the closest secrets▪ with whom he may dissemble to his cost, but to deceive him, 'tis impossible? Wilt thou account it a craft to steal time from God, & to bestow it on his enemies▪ who keeps tale of the least minute of thy life, and at thy ending will call thee to question, how thou hast employed every moment? Is it not preposterous policy to fight against God, till our weapons be blunted, our forces enfeebled, our strength made impotent, our best spent; and at last when we are fall'n into fainting, and fought ourselves well-nigh dead; then so presume of his mercy, whom we have to much offended, so long opposed? Would it not be held an exorbitant course, that while the Ship is sound, the Pilot well, the Sailors strong▪ the Gale favourable, and the Seas calm, to lie carelessly idle at road, losing so seasonable weather, and then when the Ship leaks, the Pilot sick, the Mariners feeble, the winds aloft▪ the storms boisterous, and the waves outrageous, to launch forth, hoist sail, and set out for a far journey? Such are our evening-repenters, who in the soundness of health, and perfect use of reason, cannot abide to cut Cables, and weigh those Anchors that withhold them from GOD▪ but when their Senses are benumbed, their Reason distracted, their Understanding dulled, and both soul and Body tormented with pangs of pains, and sorrowful sickness, then will cast back their memory on these weighty affairs; then will they needs become sudden Saints, that are scarce reasonable creatures.  
How can a man, disanimated with inward Garboils of vnsettled conscience, maimed in all his faculties, and surrounded with such strange encumbrances, be fit to dispose of his choicest jewel, his soul, in so short a spurt? They that will loiter in Séed-time; and begin to sow, when others reap: They that will have their Weapons to provide, when their fellow-soldiers go forth to fight: They that will lavish in health, and cast their accounts when they cannot speak: They that will sleep out the day, and stumblingly travel in the night; O let them thank their own folly, if they die in debt, and finally fall headlong into the pit of perdition. Let the grief of the sore be then the measure of thy sorrow: let a wide wound have a careful cure: let thy contrition be agreeable to thy crime, and thy repentance equal to thy transgressions. Thou must spend the day in mourning, the night in watching and weeping, and thy whole time in praying, and practice of repentance. Not every short sigh will be a sufficient satisfaction; nor every little knock, a warrant to get in: for many cry, Lord, Lord, yet are not admitted. The foolish virgins knocked, yet stood without. judas conceived a sorrow for sin, yet died desperately. Linger not thy conversion, nor put off thy repentance from day to day, lest the Almighty come upon thee in a minute, and in his wrath suddenly destroy thee; neither sojourn thou long in sinful security, nor shift off thy repentance till fear enforce thee to it: for than it will be bootless for thee to strive to stand, when thou art already fall'n. Frame out thy beginning as thou meanest to end, and endeavour to live as thou desirest to dye. Wilt thou sacrifice the Fattling to the Fiend of darkness, and offer the carrion Karkeises to the Father of Light? Wilt thou present the main Crop to the Devil, and leave God the Glean? Wilt thou cram the Devil with thy fairest fruits, and turn God to feed upon thy windfalls and after-gatherings? If Hell was prepared for the Devil, and Heaven purchased for man, why should not he then provide for himself, but wilfully lose his inheritance by persisting in sin? While we draw healthful breath, hope strongly persuades us, that by tears ever-flowing from the Sea of a sorrowful soul, we may wash away our sin's pollution, how foul soever; but being once at death's door, notwithstanding our teeth gnash, our eyes cry out, our throats become hoarse with howling, our eyes gush Rivers of tears, and our hearts send out sighs as loud as Thunder, yet will it not avail us; for than none shall hear us, none assist us; no, nor so much as comfort us: Then, O then, shalt thou find, though (alas) too late, that thou hast lost thy labour, hast trifled away thy time, and let slip the opportunity of thine own gain. Thou shalt then perceive thine error irrecoverable, thy punishment insupportable, thy penitence unprofitable, thy grief, sorrow, and calamity irrecoverable: Let thy soul then enjoy her lawful Sovereignty, and thy body follow the footings of her directions: let not thy servile senses, and lawless appetites overcome her, and make her a Uassall in her own Dominions. Dost thou desire to have all good necessaries: as good house, good furniture, good fare, good apparel? and yet wilt thou suffer thy poor soul, thy principal charge, and above all these worthy the best respect, to lie cankering and custing in all kind of evils? O unspeakable blindness, that thou wilt be nice in wearing a bad shoe, yet carest not to carry an ugly & betattered soul! Alas, do not thou set so light by that jewel, which thy Maker sets at so high a price; nor rate thou thy soul at so base a pennyworth, being of so peerless worth. If the soul be so inestimable, that neither gold, nor treasure, nor any thing of less price, than the precious blood of that immaculate Lamb Christ jesus was able to buy it; if not all the Delicacies that Heaven and earth could afford, but only the glorious Body of our Saviour, were deemed a fit repast to feed it; If not all the Creatures of this, or millions of new worlds, if they were, but only the unlimitable goodness and Majesty of God, can satisfy the desire, or fill the compass● and capacity of it (for who is so unsensible, that finds not the insaciety of his soul?) Who then, but one of perverse will, incredulous mind, or pitiless spirit, would set more by the world than his soul's worthiness; or suffer so peerless a Paragon, so many hours, days, months and years, to lie enchannelled in the filthy mire of sin? Thou wilt trudge to a Physician for thy sick Servant, and look out for a Leech to cure thy diseased Horse, and be very busy to patch up thy worn garments, and yet wilt suffer thy soul to languish for want of looking to, and dye for want of cure; and seeing it mangled with millions of vices, never seekest to bind it up, and restore it to its primative integrity. Is thy Servant more near thy Horse more dear, and thy Coat to be more cared for then thine own soul? How long, O how long wilt thou hunt after vanities, and rush violently and wilfully into thine own ruin? Darest not thou suffer a Spider or a Toad to come near thee; & wilt thou nestle in thy bosom so many Uipers as Uices, so many Serpents as Sins; and permit thy silly soul to be gnawed upon with the poisonous tusks of Satan? Is thy soul so slight a substance, as to be held in so small esteem? Did Christ come down from Heaven, and become a wand'ring Pilgrim upon Earth, exiling himself from the comfort of his Godhead, and wearing out thirty years in pain and penury for our souls? Did he suffer the Tragedy of his Passion to be bloodily acted, and patiently accepted? Did he make his Body as a Cloud, to dissolve into shewres of unblemished blood, and yielded the dearest veins of his heart to be cut asunder, that from thence might issue the precious price of our soul's redemption? Why do we then sell our souls to the Devil for every delight and poor pittance of worldly pelf? O that a Creature of so incomparable a worth should be in the custody of so unnatural jailors; and that, which in itself is so gracious and amiable, that the Angels and Saints delight to behold it, should by sin be made a horror to heaven, and a fit play-féere for the foulest Fiends! Let us remember that our soul is not only a part of us, but also the Temple, the Paradise of Almighty God; by him in Baptism garnished, furnished, and endowed with most glorious Ornaments: How will he take it, to see his Temple profaned, and turned into a Den of Devils? His Paradise displanted, and made a Wilderness of Serpents? His Spouse deflowered, and become an Adultress to his Enemies? Durst we commit such outrage against our earthly Princes? Would not the terror of the Law, and popular shame curb us from it? and shall not the glorious Majesty of jehovah, and the unrebated kéennesse of his flaming double-edged Sword, deter us from offering the like to his dearest Spouse? Will he that keeps Register of every singular hair, suffer himself to be wronged, and overpass it unpunished? Remember that it is a thing full of horror, to fall into the hands of God, who is able to crush the proudest spirit, and to make his face his Footstool. O wrestle not against the cares and cries of thine own Conscience, but so keep and conserve it, as that at the last it may gladly go with thee, and be joyfully prepared before the Throne of God to answer for thee.  
There was a man had three friends; two whereof he loved entirely, the third he made no great reckoning of. This man being convented before the King, upon the accusation of some committed crime, solemnly came unto his best friend, and entreated him to go with him, but he would not, yet went he with him some part of his way: Bethinking himself better he returned to his second friend, and desired him to go with him; but he made him this flat answer, that by reason of his more important affairs he could not go with him; yet gave him a token of his remembrance. Being driven to this hard exigent▪ he trudged to his third friend, of whom he made slight account, and he at the first word went with him to the King, and there stuck to him in all his dangers. So fares it with a man being sent for by death, comes to his Wife Children or Friends, and entreats them to go along with him; but they slip their necks 〈◊〉 of the C●l●ar, and will not, only bear hi● company to his grave: then he persuades 〈◊〉 goods and gold to go along with him, but 〈◊〉 cannot; and so turns him off with a 〈◊〉 simple sheet leapt about him: then, when all these shrink back and fail him, at the last point, his bosom-friend, his Conscience, will not forsake him, but go along and make an answer for him. Labour then to keep a good Conscience: for in the utmost of extremities, That will never fail thee. There was a country, where the Commons used to elect their King, and again to banish him at their pleasure, into a far Country, almost naked: But one, (more provident than the rest) so soon as he was chosen King, he daily sent beforehand some provision into that far Country; so that when the people banished him from them, he was (having made a provident preparation of wealth before) most royally there entertained. So must every cantelous Christian provide upon Earth, as he may be joyfully received into Heaven.   

Prayers for private Household's at all times.  

O Lord prepare our hearts to pray.  
O Most mighty and eternal God, who art the Creator, Guider, Governor, and Preserver of all things, both in Heaven and Earth; vouchsafe, we humbly beseech thee, to look down with the eye of pity and compassion upon us miserable and wretched sinners; who at this time are prostrate here before thee, to offer up this our Sacrifice of Prayer and Thanksgiving unto thee. And although we be unworthy, by reason of our manifold transgressions, to present ourselves before thee: yet we humbly beseech thee, for thy Son. Christ jesus, our blessed Lord and Saviour's sake, to accept of us, and to grant these our prayers and petitions which we do make unto thee.  
O merciful Lord, and loving Father, remember the infirmities of thy frail servants, ●ssisting our weak souls with thy grace, ●hat in all things we may love, honour, and o●ey thy heavenly will and Majesty, waking ●nd walking in the paths of righteousness to ●he scope of perfect Holiness, contemning this witching world, with all her foolish illusions, for the true glorifying of thy Name, through Christ jesus our Lord, Amen.   

Another Prayer.  
O Merciful Lord, and loving Father, that of the incomprehensible riches of thy mercy toward the disobedient and lost children of Adam, (who serving Satan after the blind and unbridled lusts of the vile flesh, were carried away through sin and ignorance to damnation,) hast reconciled us to thy favour, through grace and adoption in Christ jesus the righteous by faith and holy conversation: in whom we are delivered from eternal death and destruction: Have mercy upon us, yea (Lord) have mercy upon us, and for love of thy sweet Son, our Redeemer, defend us against the power of the Destroyer, and with thy mighty hand lift us up out of the puddle, and deathful corruptions of this abominable world: purifying our hearts with thy grace, that we being wholly inclined to thy heavenly desires, may grow perfect in holiness, and abounding in the good works which thou hast prepared for thy Saints to walk in, for the glorifying of thy Name: we may grow an acceptable Temple, for thy continual dwelling in us, O Lord; to the unspeakable peace and comfort, and to the everlasting bliss and salvation of our souls: through Christ our Saviour, Amen.  
LOrd, let not the darkness of ignorance comprehend us.  
Lead us by the continual light of thy grace to work righteousness.  
Let us not sleep in sin, O God.  
Quicken our weak souls against earthly sluggishness.  
Give us the heavenly rest of thy unspeakable peace, O Lord:  
And nourish us with thy grace to salvation.  
Lord comfort the needy, the sick, the prisoned, the tormented, the distressed and helpless, with the presence of thy grace: and have mercy upon them, and us.  
Pitifully hear our complaints, O dear Father, and grant our requests, for thy sweet Son's sake, our Saviour.   
FINIS.