jolly Man O what shall be thought of him when he shall cease to be a Man when dust shall return to the Earth as it was for this dust shall return to the earth as it was and Body and Soul must part their fellowship The third Part. The Laws established by Parliament say where the order of State requires a difference and mortal Powers claim a priviledge Let no man presume to kill Patridges Pheasants c. at length except they be Earls Barons Knights or any other that can thus and thus dispend But the Great Lawgiver gives no sucâ— liberty his words are general All Men must die Though with Asa we run to the Physician 2 Chron 16. or with Saul we seek to Witches 1 Sam 28 or with Maximus his Father we beg for mercy at their hands who never knew what Mercy meant The story is recorded by St. Gregory Yet nor the Physician by his application and lawful means nor the Witches by stipulation and ungodly compact nor the Devil by his long experience and accommodation can lengthen mans life Let the Physician pardon me for his being knit up in this triplicity I honour his Skill and if he be a good Man I honour his Vertue ease me he can but lengthen my daies he cannot I have read Bevenovitius who hath left no stone unturned to maintain their Power and when all is done that in Job stands as a firm Maxime or Conclusion His daies are determined the number of his months is with thee thou hast appointed his bounds which he cannot pass Job 14. verse 5. In Noah's daies some went into the Ark and some were kept out In Joshua's daies some went into Canaan and other some remained beyond Jordan In the Circumcision Women were priviledged In the Wars Levites were excepted In Egypt only the First-born perished But here is a general Decree of Death an universal sentence is past upon all flesh All Men are Dust and all dust must return to the earth from whence it came The Sun did once stand still at the prayer of Joshuah and once went back in the Dial of Ahaz and Death did once depart again for fifteen years at the earnest Prayer of Hezechia's But the Sun returned to his course again and Hezechia's Plaister could not prevent a second sickness Once these things were to shew GOD is above Nature and these things were but once to shew Nature is the hand-maid of God Once these things were that we might acknowledge a God above and these things were but once that we might not forget our selves beneath The first Garments our first-Parents wore Fig-leaves excepted might read us a lesson of our frailty and mortality those exuviae mortuorum those Skins of Beasts taken from the Dead to cover those that could not live for ever But he is now worse then a Beast that needs a Beast to be his Teacher Adam and all Adams Posterity unto this day do speak as much Our Life is like Jonah's Gourd which a little Worm could smite and make it wither Our Life is a shadow which every cloud of Sickness can take away Our Life at best is but a Sun which if it can hold out till the Afternoon of Old-Age yet at length it doth decline and set and shrink away Said I a Sun or like the Sun No no Soles occidere redire possunt the Sun doth set and rise again and as he goes he comes again But Man if once he sets he sets for ever Dust doth return to the Earth as it was and all corrupts and all resolves into that Element from whence it came All that was Earth returns to the Earth What saith the Jewish Sadducee or the Seleucian Heretick is there therefore no resurrection of the Flesh Can these Bones live Ezekiel 37. and can dead Earth revive again Surely those Bones did come together and live and stand up And Aarons dry Rod did bud And a Virgin did bear a Child Why not as well a Resurrection of the Flesh Yea why not rather a Resurrection than a Creation facilius est restaurare quà m à novo nihilo facere Tertul. Apolog. cap. 48. Though to God it be all one it should seem in all Humane understanding a great deal easier to recollect what is then to Create what is not I might argue from the Justice of God and from the Resurrection of Christ and from the Renovation of the Phoenix and from the Resuscitation of Lazarus and the rest Or which our eyes daily behold from the Corn in the ground which is not quickened except it dies Or from those industrious subtilties of the Alchimist who by his Calcination dotb pulverize his Mettals and by his Congelation doth restore them much more perfect then before But we believe and therefore I return to Solomon The Spirit returns to God that gave it Returns to God and to God that gave it Why then the Soul of Man was not Created by Angels as the Enthusiasts and Seleucians have foolishly imagined Nor doth the Soul die together with the Body as the Albians and Trinitarians would fain perswade themselves Neither have we a Catabaptistical sleeping Soul neither have we a Papistical walking Soul Neither said the Pythagoreans true there was a transmigration into Beasts nor the Tertullianists how the Souls of wicked men are converted into Devils No The Spirit returns to God that gave it Those Spectrum's those Apparitions of Men departed how are they of the Body which returns to the Earth how of the Soul which returns to God But 't is not mine intent at this time to handle Questionâ— or compound Differences Only my desire is hereby to excite us to Repentance That seeiâ—g our Body must to the Earth we be not proud and seeing our Spirit must to GOD we be not careless that we acknowledge our weakness in that we must die here and by a good life labour to prevent all danger that we may live hereafter That since our Body and Soul are come as Friends together Friends meet and part and so must they Since life cannot be kept death cannot be avoided and since our Soul must needs appear before his Maker before his Judge to have its private Trial and particular Judgment according to the things it hath committed in this life good or evil O listen we not to those Syrens Songs that cry Peace Peace all is well Be we not like frozen and benummed ones that have no feeling Suffer we not our selves to be lulled asleep in that pernicious Cradle of Security as if one Sigh one Groan one Domine or Mercy LORD should by and by transport us into Paradice The Devils did believe and Judas followed Christ the Pharisee did good works and Ananias gave half of that he had unto the poor Balaam did pray and Cain repents and Judas restores O GOD help us we are not gone as far as these in the way to Heaven and how shall we escape their punishment who have matched them and I
with that Vetus parsimonia so much heretofore esteemed and still exercised by all wise and sober persons After he had taken enough for himself his Friends and his poor Neighbours he carefully laid up the remainder wherewith he hath made a competent provision for his Family which being so honestly gotten and so honourably saved will doubtless carry Gods blessing along with it as it had his Nor was his Religion towards God less than his Loyalty to his Prince or his Charity to his Neighbour it lay not so much in the tongue as in the heart He manifested his Faith the surest way by his Works He was no Pharisaical Christian he did not blow a Trumpet when he gave Alms not tell the People by his looks when he fasted nor call for a witness when he prayed He had got such an art in Giving that one hand know not what the other gave He had a way to conceal his Fasts by the chearfulness of his Countenance and he cared for no other eye to behold his Devotions but Gods and his holy Angels And as he had God for his Father so he had the Church for his Mother which next to God he still respected and reverenced sympathizing with her in what condition soever she was in If she wept then did his eyes gush out with water if she rejoyced then was his mouth filled with laughter and his tongue with joy How have I seen him droop at the news of Gods Ark being in danger to be shaken and how would his spirits revive again at any good tidings of its peace and settlement how did he hate all those that had evil will at Zion yea he hated them as David did with a perfect hatred And how did he delight in all such as did seek the peace of Jerusalem In a word they that were friends to the Church were his friends and he had no enemies but her Adversaries As to his dealings amongst men they were all square and above-board He was a perfect lover of Justice and hated falshood more than death His love where he profest it was without dissimulation He was a true Nathaniel in whom there was no guile And have you heard of the patience of Job why such was his I can compare it to no other As they were both upright men and such as feared God and eschewed evil so was God pleased to afflict them much alike Job was cast out of his own house and so was he Job was plunder'd of his Cattel by the Sabeans and so was he of all that he had by worse than the Sabeans if possible by the rebellious Sequestratours Job lost his Children so did he only in this his misery was not so great Jobs Children were taken away rioting in a Banquetting-house but his died honourably in the service of their Prince Job was afflicted in his Wife too and so was he but in a quite contrary manner Job in having the worst of Wives He in losing the best But the manner of his losing her could not but add much to his sorrow for she was snatcht out of the world in a tempest and swallowed up quick by the merciless waves having all the remainder of the treasure he had about her to a very considerable value and a far greater treasure in her arms then that even his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his young and darling Daughter who chose rather to embrace Death than leave the embraces of her tender Mother and so both sunk together with a Maid-servant that attended her into the depth of the Sea There are some as I think at this time present who were then with her who remain the Monuments of Gods mercy in their deliverance and faithful Witnesses of the truth of what I speak Whose Courage whose Constancy but Jobs or His would not have stagger'd at such a shock whiles he like Job having the Anchor of his Hope both sure and stedfast stood like the Center unmoved And in the midst of all these Crosses and sad events that befel him he lookt upon the Divine hand invisibly striking with those sensible scourges against which he durst not either Rebel or Murmur All those extremities did but exercise his Faith not weaken it which like a well wrought Vault grew the stronger for the many pressures which were laid upon him In all this he did not sin against God by his Impatience nor charge God foolishly but with holy Job resigned himself wholly up to Gods will saying with him The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the Name of the Lord. Nor were they more unlike in their Deaths than in their Lives The Lord blessed the latter end of them both more then their beginning Job died being Old and full of daies and so did he so full of Daies that he was satisfied if not weary with long life desiring rather to be dissolved and to be with Christ And so he died with Moses at the mouth of the Lord God gently drew out the breath which he had breathed into him quietly impinn'd his Tabernacle and so took him to himself in peace And now I find my self like to that bad Orator who could not desinere knew not how to make an end which I cannot but be the more unwilling to do because I know that as soon as I have finisht my discourse he will be carried from us into the silent retirement of the Grave and will be no more seen And methinks 't is some comfort to enjoy him even thus But we must part The Grave beckens him and methinks I see him beckning us to follow him O my Father my Father Nature would speak more but Religion commands me silence Could our Prayers have prevented his death we should have sighed out our Souls to God to have begg'd his life and could our tears yet restore him I see by those watery planets in your eyes we could command a deluge like to that in the floor of Atan or that of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddo But he cannot come to us and that 's his happiness but we shall go to him and that 's our comfort Let us not mourn for him therefore as men without hope 'T is but his Body that is dead his Soul is still alive as well as ours but far more happy being already free of the glorious Company of Saints and Angels And we shall meet again I trust in Glory both our Souls and our Bodies where all sorrow shall be wiped from our eyes where there shall be no more fear nor death nor sin but we shall be all as the Angels of God And so Lord thy Kingdom come so come O Lord Jesus come quickly In the hour of Death and in the day of Judgment good Lord deliver us Give us grace so to live in thy fear that we may die in thy favour that so after this mortal life ended we may be received by thee into those heavenly habitations where we trust the Soul of our Dear Father here departed together with the Souls of all them that sleep in the Lord JESVS enjoy perpetual rest and felicity Unto which GOD of his infinite mercy bring us all for Jesus Christ his sake Amen FINIS
thirst after Blood after his Blood There is a saying in Philosophy that violent motions slacken by degrees the longer the lesser the softer These men impugn the very principles of Nature and their violent motions grow more violent A malo ad pejus Betray him deny him and kill him too In the 19. of St. Luke the Parable goes no farther than Nolumus hunc Regnare Fare-him-well He might live but he must not be their King But these men cry Nolumus hunc vivere Cut him off he must not live Deprivation of a Crown is not enough unless it be of Life too No nor is it enough to kill him He must die of all Deaths the most disgraceful and ignominious Death For whereas the Jews had four kinds of Death appointed for Malefactors Stoning Burning Decollation and Suffocation None of these will serve the turn and therefore they deliver him over to Pontius Pilate that he might die that worst of Deaths that death the Romans inflicted upon the basest sort of People the bitterest and the basest Death Vt simul honor persona Christi Crucifigeretur as St. Augustine saith They would kill his good Name as well as his Body Constantine the Emperour did afterward forbid this kind of Death should be inflicted upon any Ne salutare signum serviret ad pernitiem so Sozomenus And this is all I shall say of the Fecistis the Did it VOS FECISTIS follows You Did it You as well as your Rulers You the Common sort of People You that cryed Crucifige Away with him Crucifie him You killed him in that you Cryed to have him Crucified to have him killed You are guilty of that blood the Souldiers shed And though they were loath to hear it Acts 5.28 God forbid this mans blood should be laid to their Charge Yet Vos primores Vestri Rulers and People all were involved in the same Sin Interficiebant quem interficiendum offerebant as St. Augustine said They who conducted him to Pilate and they who cryed for Justice at Pilates hands All Murtherers Guilty All. O wretched World They who flocked to him from all parts who followed him by thousands who climb Trees to see him Untile houses to come to him who say Never man did as this man did They who cut down Branches spread their Garments in the way for him to tread upon They who sang Hosanna's with a Benedictus to him Mark 11.9 These are that VOS the self-same Men who presently after within the compass of a week call for Justice at the hands of Pilate and nought but that Innocent Bloud can quench their thirst Constat de Facto They are All guilty You did it And yet I wot saith our Apostle that through Ignorance ye did it If one man sin against another the Judge shall Judge him but if a man sin against the LORD who shall intreat for him Ely's words 1 Sam. 2. Now these men sinned against the Lord of Life and who doth first plead for them but the Lord of Life Nesciunt quid faciant Father forgive them they know not what they do Luke 23.34 They did it through Ignorance so Christ And St. Peter after his Master I know that through Ignorance ye did it mitigating extenuating and directing them to a Resipiscite the only salve for that soar Let us see then First of Ignorance what it is Secondly of these Jews Ignorance Thirdly how far this Ignorance of theirs might excuse them Ye did it of Ignorance The Schools distinguish of Nescience and Ignorance Nescience is simplex scientiae Negatio or Negative Ignorance and this may be nay is in Saints in Angels A finite Nature cannot have an infinite power and therefore of necessity must be ignorant in many things Ignorance is the privation of Knowledge and 't is two-fold Lawful and Vnlawfull Of those things which we may know and of those things which we are bound to know We may know many things which we are not bound to know but may be ignorant of them without sin Aristodemus the Philosopher bestowed many years in searching out the Nature of the Bee which yet he could not compass so Augustine Another in Tertulllian Sexcentos execuit ut Naturam hominis inveniret Anatomized six hundred men to find the Nature of Man and he came short of his desire In the Day of Judgment men shall not be judged and condemned for their Ignorance in Logick Astronomy Musick and the like but for the neglect of that Duty they were bound to perform so the same Augustine Now in those things which we are bound to know there is a double Ignorance The one they call Simple the other Gross or Affected The first Quo simplicior eò tutior The more simple the more pardonable Of this St. Augustine Temeritas poenam habet Ignorantia promeretur veniam Resolved rash wilful undertakers must expect a plague when honest Ignorance will find favour And this I take to be St. Pauls Case A Blasphemer a Persecutor and Injurious but all through Ignorance 1 Tim. 1.13 And therefore saith he I obtained Mercy And being better informed you have him by and by a Better man and no way disobedient to the Heavenly Vision There is another which they call gross or affected Ignorance When he that is ignorant will be ignorant still He doth quench the motions of the Spirit Slights the dictates of his own Conscience Neglects to enquire or use the means whereby he may be better informed Thus the Sadduces They did erre not knowing the Scriptures Matth. 22.29 They would not know them But as the Psalmist saith of such like They know not neither will they understand but walk on still in darkness Psal 82. From these mens Ignorance The Lord Deliver us Now which of these was the Jews Ignorance Our Saviour tells us Matth. 13.14 15. The Heart of this people is waxed gross and their Ears are dull of hearing and their Eyes have they closed least they should see with their Eyes and hear with their Ears and understand with their Heart and should be converted and I should heal them Occaluerunt Rom. 11. stark stupid and sensless men They know not the voyce of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath day Acts 13. No excuse here And therefore they are not only said to kill our Saviour but Manibus sceleratis by wicked hands they killed and Crucified him Pilates or worse than Pilate He feared Caesar these men feared not GOD A Sin a monstrous malicious matchless Sin Most gross Ignorance but still Ignorance Scio quod per Ignorantiam and Ignorance Repented shall find favour Nay every pardonable Sin hath some Ignorance or other annexed to it Either they examine not the greatness of that Sin they do commit which divers Circumstances do aggravate and make greater As The Party against whom we offend The Example we give The Scandal we leave The small Reason we had to do it nay The strong Reasons vve had against it Or they do
entertain every broken Cause for his Fee If a Toby who if he hear the bleating of a Kid cryes redde away with it restore it no stollen Goods shall come within his Doors If a Timothy who will be sure to keep his Faith and a good Conscience If a Licurgus who contra Gentes will restore the Crown to the right owner and be a faithful Subject rather than a perfidious Usurper Mark such considerate Behold them thorowly such just such upright men for the end of such men is peace Which is the second General Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace Here 's the Reward of his Integrity and Holiness Here 's David's Beatus vir Psal 1. As for the ungodly it is not so with them but they are like the chaff which the wind scattereth away from the face of the Earth Psal 73. Ponuntur in Praecipitiis They are set in slippery places and in a moment brought to desolation Cut off from the Earth and rooted out of it for their transgressions Prov. 2. the last Verse Their memory all shall rot But finis hujus hominis pax He may encounter with many difficulties in the course of his life and many miseries may intervene But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pax His last end is Peace In the ninth of St. Matthew you have one twelve years diseased at length a Physician was found who could and did cure In the fifth of John one lies impotent thirty eight years at the Pool Bethesda at length comes one who with a Surge makes him sound Another blind from his Nativity with an easie remedy came seeing John 9. So as I said the good man meets with many difficulties in the course of his life But Finis pax All 's well at last his end is happy I see Abraham driven from place to place at one time ready to starve another time his wife in jeopardy to loose her honour crossed in his Children unhappy in his Friends Kinred every way and yet his Bosome now a receptacle for the Saints of God As much might I say of Moses Elias and many others Yea John the Baptist whose head was smitten from his Body yet was not that his last end But that which was said of him Multi in ejus Nativitate gaudebunt afterwards came to pass the day of his Birth was made sacred to all Posterity and was solemnized by the very Heathen themselves in St. Bernards dayes Take heed therefore what Conclusions you draw from the present condition or success of things Thus did Shimei deal by David Nunc ad calculos redactus est Come out thou bloudy man thou man of Belial now thou payâ—st for all the blood that hath been shed 2 Sam. 16. Yet shortly after you have him on his knees and begging pardon The King is restored the Rebels perish Thus did the Barbarians pass sentence on St. Paul Acts 28. A murderer whom Vengeance suffered not to live Yet shortly after their minds are changed and they take him for a God Thus do our Adversaries who puffed up with their success and our misfortunes conclude thence as the Turk may do as much the goodness of their Cause But stay our last end is not yet come no nor theirs neither Ante obitum nemo c. You know what Solon said And though I undertake not to Devine yet I dare say with him Num. 16.29 If these men die the common death of all men then the Lord hath not sent me However there 's an end and a last end and that Balaam saw when he would have his last end like the Israelites Numb 23. And Amalek might die in his bed but his last end was to perish everlastingly Numb 24. And therefore in Moses's words and Mose's wish God make us wise and that we may consider our last end 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am sure 't will go well with the perfect and upright man at the last his end or his last end will sure be Peace There is a fourfold peace First a Peace from War and that is the peace of the Common-wealth Secondly the Peace of the Body the Eucrasie and temperature of the Humours A peace from Sickness and Diseases Thirdly The peace of Conscience a peace from sin and sins deserved punishments Fourthly A Peace supra pacem such a peace as never shall be taken from us in the highest Heavens eternal peace First The Peace of our Country and Common-wealth were a Peace much to be desired Pax optima rerum Quas homini novisse datum est pax una triumphis Innumeris potior Silius 'T is bonum desiderabile as she said of the Tree Gen. 3. O those blessed dayes when men might sit down under their own Vine and Fig tree and might eat the labours of their own hands When they were not awaked with the Drum and Trumpet nor terrified with the clashing of Armour and the violence of Souldiers Veteres migrate Coloni was not heard in our Streets But the Mountains did bring peace Psal 72. The barren Mountain requited the cost bestowed on them plentifully A blessed peace and this by Gods grace we shall have in the end And yet secondly Behold a better Pax Corporis The peace of the Body Abraham was much disquieted for want of Children Gen. 15. Ahab for his Neighbours Vineyard Haman at the very sight of Mordecai Hoster 5. So much troubled that neither his Riches Children nor Honour nought could do him good as long as he saw Mordecai the Jew sitting at the Kings Gate And if he had his purpose in this too yet what would all avail him if he could not have his health The gouty Cardinal would give his Cardinals Cap a thousand times that he might be freed of his Disease Let him speak who hath the Stone or Strangury nay be it but the Tooth-ach his courage strength appetite all is gone The Valetudinary man is like St. Pauls widow Vivens mortua 1 Tim. 5.6 as good as dead while he is alive So that Pax corporis the health of the body is no small blessing and God hath blessed the most of us with this And yet is not this Pax illa Thirdly there is another and a better peace The Peace of Conscience and this may he have who with Lazarus sits at Dives gate or with distressed Job lies stinking on a Dung-hill He fears not though the Earth be moved and the Mountains carried into the middest of the Sea This Peace had the Saints and Martyrs in the height of their Torments Now begin I to be Corn for my Saviour saith one And verte aliud latus saith another rosting on the Gridiron There was Justitia causae justitia personae both the Cause was good the Sufferers perfect and upright and therefore all went well whiles the Mind and Conscience was at peace This made David say I will lay me down in peace and sleep yea even then when his Enemies compassed him round
volvi Aspicerent laetsque diu florere nocentes Vex arique pios c. Davids case Psal 73.17 vexed at the heart to see the ungodly in such prosperity But when he went into the Sanctuary of God then understood he the end of these men They do but treasure up wrath against the day of wrath And often times they perish and come to a fearful End in this life also The Righteous shall rejoyce when he seeth this Vengeance he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked so that a man shall say Verily there is a reward for the Righteous Doubtless there is a God that judgeth in Earth Psal 58. the last Verse Pompey after the Pharsalian Battel disputing with Cratippus of his overthrow did thence conclude against all Providence Because saith he his Cause was good and his Success naught But we have not thus learned God however he sometimes suffer us to be oppressed And we assure our selves he will deliver and refresh us But as God told Abram when the Iniquities of the Amorites is full and our sins fewer And that day we hope that day is coming In the mean time Spare me Vt recreer ut roborer against Infirmity that under the burden of Punishment I sink not Against the violence of Affliction that I despair not And against Desperation that I totally perish not But he cannot perish that cannot despair He cannot despair that sees a Door of Comfort open in the midst of Sorrows No man brought so low but he may rise again I am consumed saith he quite consumed verse 10. Yet no Disease but may find a Physician a Cure Ask that Woman in the Fifth of St. Mark that had an Issue of Blood twelve Years and had suffered many things of many Physicians and had spent all that she had and was nothing bettered but rather grew worse and worse Or another Luke 13. That had a spirit of Infirmity eighteen years and was bowed together and could by no means get help Or a third in the Fifth of St. John that had an Infirmity thirty eight years comfortless and friendless too Yet Insperatum auxilium as he said in his Embleme All of them found unhoped unthought of Comfort and were delivered Thus one in the Whale another in the Stockâ— a third in the Den yet refreshed and restored again Yea the Lord blesseth the â—â—ter end of many as well as of Job more than the begining And poor David after a general revolt of his Subjects after his miserable fear and flight finds a suddain and strange alteration in the affections of his People 2 Sam. 19. at the ninth Verse All the people of Israel were at strife the one laying the blame of this Rebellion on the other and all accusing themselves of slowness in making satisfaction for their fault and to make some part of amends striving who should do the King most Service And at the fourteenth Verse He bowed the hearts of all the men of Judah so that with an unanimous consent they all profess themselves the Kings Servants and desire his speedy return unto Jerusalem And is' t not possible Why may we not live to see our Israel and Judah after their so general a Rebellion do the like Why may not England and Scotland do as much Accuse each other of the sowing the seeds first of this unnatural Rebellion Strive who shall be the first with melted hearts to make amends for their Disloyalty And with a general consent bring up the so much so long injured King to his Jerusalem Amen Lord Jesus O spare us that we may recover strength that we may see those blessed dayes again Peace within our Walls and plenteousness within our Palaces The King glorious The Kingdoms flourishing Our Forces formidable to Forrain Nations But all at unity amongst our selves But stay The Ark must back again as well as the King Nay the King prefers the Arks safety before his own Carry back the Ark again 2 Sam. 15.25 And indeed Currus Auriga Israelis There lies our strength Till the Ark be brought back again Till Religion be restored And the Church re-beautified And her Revenews recovered out of the Haâ—pies Claws No hope or strength and full Recovery Peace without this is but a painted peace the Common-wealth a Corps which must be animated by true Religion And true Religion is that which maintains the Worship of God the peace of Conscience and the love of Christians one to another Or in other words That which gives most Glory to God most Alms to the Poor and most endeavours to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace Now the Lord spare us that we may recover this strength That the Lissomes of this three-twisted strong-twisted Cord may never be broken Vt recuperemus vires That we be not oppressed either with the burden of sin nor the punishment for sin neither smiting our knees together with Baltasar nor turning our face to the Wall with Hezekiah but with a cheerful confidence we may say Come life come death c. 'T is too true The best of men cannot so curb and conquer their Affections at all times but that sometimes their Passions will find vent And poor Clay dares adventure to expostulate with the Pâ—tter But here 's one teacheth us after such a slip to implore strength for a Recovery Neither to turn Stoicks and be insensible Neither to faint under the burden of our Afflictions and grow desperate Neither to rely upon our own Abilities and become insolent But to make our address to him who only can cure and comfort us And this was Job's Case Job 10.20 21. Are not my dayes few Cease then and let me alone that I may take comfort a little before I go whence I shall not return even to the Land of darkness and shadow of death And here make we our second Stop and Pause That I may recover my strength The third comes in Before I go hence Recover and recover speedily Before I go hence Mors Medicus a sure Physician he cures all Diseases all bodily ones But here 's one seeks a salve before he go hence for hence he must The Walls of Purgatory were not built in those dayes He must recover before he go hence or not at all He was a King and a rich King too He might have had Prayers enough and Doles enough after his Obit and Interrment but he dares not venture on that Cure And though he knew a locum refrigerii after this life yet he sees and shews us out the way thither by a recovery here before he go hence to get remission and refreshment afterwards Recover here to do well afterward The refreshment which he here craves is from the pain and trouble which he suffered for his sins Yet this good do his troubles work upon him They withdraw his mind from the Vanities of this World make him meditate upon the â—railty of this life and the certainty of aproaching
Death There was a time when 't was otherwise Dixi in prosperitate mea c. Psal 30.6 I said in my prosperity I shall never be moved I made all cock-sure I thought the World had been mine eternally But now in his Affliction he is better informed and he that thought he should live for ever doth tell you of his going hence The Wise mans counsel is Memorare novissima the thinking upon Death is the ready way to Life And here 's one takes that course meditating on another World before he be compelled to leave this Many cast of these thoughts as too dull sad and melancholly None so old as the Oratour said but he thinks he may live one year longer And that 's the Millstone that hath sunk so many souls into the Abyss of Hell Senex volo intermortuus volo I may repent in mine old Age and on my Death-bed A late Repentance will serve that God who hath promised to accept of any At what time soever c. Sure we are afraid to be too good or to be too great Saints in Heaven And I may so often say I will and I will till God say I shall not I who have had so long a time and do neglect it may chance hear the Angel swearing That there shall be no longer time Solomon tells us of Evil daâ—es that ae to come Old Age are those and Sickness are those and Casualties are those The Scriptures tell us of an Hodie a time and an appointed time when we should repent and when God will surely hear But if we let slip that opportunity we may call and knock too with the Foolish Virgins and yet the Doors of Mercy be shut against us But what doth this concern the young man He hath many fair years to tell And those young Saints are never good Such indeed they may be But young Devils are alwayes naught And truly they set not the right foot before whose Rhetorick is Lyes and Oaths Their Musick a Baudy Song in their lips and a Prayer-book in their Pocket The greatest Discord in the World Their Devotion I am sure their Gesture yea and in Loco Sancto too is Antick Baptick any thing but what they should Their knees without joynts they cannot bow Their hands indeed sometimes lifted up but 't is to whiffle their locks or advance their Mustachio's Their eyes are rowling and adulterous eyes as St. Peter calls them and the whole model of their Carriage such as St. Paul said of some Jews They please not God and are contrary to all men 1 Thess 2.15 And do such Gallants think of going hence Do they dream of that Dance they must shortly dance That loath to depart Do they believe their own eyes Youth hath no priviledge As soon the young sheep comes to the Shambles as doth the old as soon indeed and oft-times sooner too Nay for one old man dye twenty young Ego ludebam foris in platea intus in Conclavi ferebatur super me judicium mortis Then wallowing in the sink of sin when the dismal Sentence of Death is pronouncing against them Well Youth gives these men no protection No nor Greatness neither And therefore David thinks of going hence Reads to himself and others that Lecture of Mortality Mors aequo pede pulsat pauperum Tabernas Regumque Turres Many are the priviledges of a King But none against Death And therefore the Heathen gave it and their supposed Fate the same Epithites Ineluctabilis Inevitabilis No wrestling against that Enemy Canutus may as well forbid the Sea to flow as any man can stop or turn back Death I must go hence And man is alwayes going A fasciis ad ferela linteum From the Womb to the Grave he is alwayes keeping on his progress St Gregory compares him to a Passenger or Merchant at Sea Stet sedeat c. Let him eat drink wake or sleep whatsoever he do the Ship keeps on his Course unto the Harbour Et nos impulsu navis ferimur The Gale is strong the Passage short and what our Merchandises will be God knows I fear many of us shall come short in our accompts and bring home stubble and straw Apes and Peacocks instead of Gold of Ophir 1 Kings 10.22 And what must our hope be What to make a better Voyage next No no our Ships will prove like Jehoshaphats Ships they 'l all break at Ezion-Gebeâ— No hope for a second Voyage or another Return If once we go hence we shall be no more And here make we our third Pause which hath brought us to the end of the race the visible race Now follows the last which brings us to the land of Forgetfulness as the Psalmist calls it If once we go hence we shall be no more There is hope of a Tree saith Job if it be cut down that it may sprout again and by the scent of Water it may bud and bring forth Boughs like a Plant But man dieth and is cut off he giveth up the Ghost and where is he Jobs first Quaere was Quid est What is man A poor silly Creature of few dayes and full of trouble A flower a shadow a nothing His next Quaere is Vbi est What becomes of him Where is he The Widow of Tekoa said much when she compared man to water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered up again But Job likens him to a floud decayed and dryed up no moisture or vestigia left For man lieth down and riseth not till the Heavens be no more They shall not awake nor be raised out of their sleep Cap 14. v. 12. And this is Davids Be no more no more a Man of this world No more in esteem no more to repent and find Grace For as the Tree falleth there shall it be Eccles 11. And therefore lay no more upon me than I can bear For I am a man and man is nothing I must away and be no more I go from whence I shall never return again O would our sons of Anak think on this who have sold themselves to work wickedness and drink up iniquity as Beasts drink water Their eyes swell with fatness and they do even what they list or as our last Translation reads it they have more then heat can wish They murder the widow and the fatherless and put the innocent to death Those men have their Day but 't is a short one Adhuc pusillum and we shall see them no more No more till we see them dragged to a worse Judgment then they now hale others Well if they 'l not think on 't God grant we may Our Goods they were but lent us and the less we have the less we have to answer for we can but go out naked as we came in and so shall all Our Afflictions will not last for ever and be they never so many and sharp too yet are not our sufferings worthy that glory that shall be revealed And at most those Lions
Bored Servants for the time to come Exod. 21. Nor was there any hope of Freedom afterward No marvel then if the poor Woman cryed Clamavit mulier There is a saying Curae Leves loquuntur ingentes stupent Light Sorrows speak when greater silent are And it might seem then somewhat to lessen her Sorrow that she could and did Cry 'T is true In some sudden and unexpected Misery Vox faucibus haeret the unexpectedness and greatness of Sorrow doth stop the Floud-gates and there are found those who could neither weep nor speak for a while But violent Motions are not lasting and the thickest Cloud will be broken and the Rain will fall Tears and Words will find vent Tell me ye Mothers tell me what you would do if you should see the merciless Officer or Souldier seizing on your Child for his prey if but one Child But Vtrumque Filium Both All and All without hope of Redemption Not one left to comfort the poor Mother in her Calamity Me thinks I see Rebecka's swoln heart ready to break Gen. 27. when she counsels Jacob to fly from the fury of his Brother Esau who had sworn his Death O why should I be deprived of both of you in one day And that witty Complaint of the Woman of Tekoa did pierce Davids heart Thy Hand-maid had two Sons they strove they fought and one is slain The Kinred call for Justice and lo they 'l quench my Coal which is left O King without thy help and pardon I shall be deprived of them both Here 's a widow a poor widow deprived of her best Comfort and now like to be robbed of her Children also Well might she have borrowed Jerusalem's mournful Complaint out of Jeremy O ye that pass by behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow Let Fathers speak who exeunt hominem leave off to be men if they leave off natural affection Let Mothers speak if Schools distinguish right their Love is more fervent though the Fathers love be more constant Let all those speak who are so much troubled at every common Cross Loss or Affliction What would they say if Mephibosheth must loose all If they must go hand in hand with Job If with this poor widow Goods and Children and All must be lost and for ought they know without the hope of any Jubile or Restitution Here we may see the affection of Parents towards their Children How many years doth Jacob lament the supposed death of his beloved Joseph How bitterly doth David bewail the untimely death of his ungracious Absolon Anna calls young Toby sorrowing for his Departure the Staff of her old Age the Staff in her hand that she went by Stories will tell you of some Fathers that have given their own eyes to save their Sons of those who have resigned their Crowns their Loves their Lives and all to do their Children good I will add but one Example more though of many in that one in the third Punick War when the choicest young Noble-men were sent away Hostages into Sicily The Mothers accompany them to the Ship with all expressions of sorrow Thence they get up the top of the Rocks and at their going out of sight the Mothers many of them cast themselves head-long into the Sea A sad farewel Yet were their Sons sent away for Hostages and not taken away for Slaves And thus doth Love descend in a full carrier from the Parents to the Children But I fear the Motion is very slow in rising upward from the Children to the Parents Sure this Motion is against the Hill we pause too often The Poet said true Filius ante diem And many say in their hearts what Esau did Gen. 27.41 The dayes of mourning for my Father are at hand He cannot live long And then a sad Suit and a merry heart But beware of that Lex talionis As sure as a day they are paid again in their own Coyn Besides the sting of a guilty Conscience is sure to follow them as long as they live O that Children would but think upon the many Cares and Fears and Cost that Parents are put to for their Children and with what neglect contempt and disobedience 't is oft-times repayed But take heed remember that of the Apostle Eph. 6.1.2 Filii obedite c. Honour thy Father and Mother which is the first Commandement with promise The Promise is long life which all desire And our undutifulness to our Parents cuts of the thread of life and sends men headlong to the grave c. Now come we to those Horse-Leeches whose Teeth are spears as Solomon sayes And they devour the poor of the earth Prov. 30.14 Ecce Creditor The Father is dead The Mother almost distracted The Children in despair The whose little House nought but Tears and Terrour And in comes this Moth-of-men this Canker that hath eaten up many good Houses and their Masters to boot In comes the Vsurer one qui laetatur de lachrymis proximorum when all weep he laughs He hopes to gain wherever the loss fall and he riseth most while by the ruins of the poor Of all Vertues Mercy is the best It conforms us to our Maker and hath the promise of a reward both in this life and in the life to come Matth. 5.7 Blessed are the merciful for they shall be sure of mercy The object of Mercy is Misery To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed Job 6.14 So David Psal 41. Blessed is he that considereth the poor and needy And Solomon He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord and look what he giveth God will pay him again Prov. 19.17 Now of all People in misery God regardeth none so much as the Widow and the Fatherless And therefore one special Branch in Moses's Law was a Proviso for them Exod. 22.22 Ye shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child And when ye make a Feast call the fatherless and the widow Deut. 16. Nay thrice in that Chapter you are bid to rejoyce in your Feasts but call the fatherless and the widow No good feasting without them So likewise at Harvest-time at Olive gathering and Grape gathering still Remember the widow and fatherless Deut. 24. And one of the Charges which Asaph gave the Judges was to help the poor and fatherless Psal 82.3 4. When Eliphaz thought to load Job with Reproaches he tells him he had sent away the widows empty and he had not relieved the fatherless Chap. 9 And in Psal 94. one of their crying sins was They slay the widow and the stranger and put the fatherless to death Well then see here one that regardeth nor God nor Man nor Widow nor Fatherless All 's fish that comes to his Net Hee 'l have away the Children And let the Mother break her heart All 's one to him The Debt could not be great But the Forfeit was too great The Debtor was a good man and therefore would not borrow what in
did restore or Dispersit dedit pauperibus You know Zachaeus course in the next Chapter of Giving and of Giving back too And then shall Zachaeus be the heir of Salvation then shall he be the child of Abraham Take him as a Publican and I vvill not except as much as Sicily vvith the Oratour 2. In Verrem but all the World vvill hate him But take him as our Publican an humble penitent Publican and the God of all the World vvill love him vvill call him vvill dine vvith him He shall no sooner say vvith David I have sinned but he shall hear how God hath put away his sins He shall no sooner say God be merciful to me a Sinner but he shall obtain mercy This is to agree with thine Adversary quickly while thou art in the way with him This is not to post off Repentance from day to day and slip that opportunity vvhich can never be recovered Remember that of our blessed Saviour in the 9th of John Nox venit c. The night cometh when no Man can work any more I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day O my Christ While it is day Can the day fail thee that madest it What shall then become of us I am sure the day may the day vvill fail us if vve embrace not proferred Grace The time will come when there shall be no longer time believe him that hath sworn it in the 10th of the Revelat. No longer time to repent in no longer time for Reconciliation Heb. 12. But Esau shall be rejected though he beg the blessiâ—g with teaâ— And many shall strive to enter in at the straight gâ—te which shall not be able This is the juâ—t Judgment of God saith a father ut moriens obliviscatur sui qui vivens oblitus est Dei He that thinks not upon God in his life doth commonly forget God and himself at his death O therefore Hesiod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'T is no bad Counsel the Poet gives make your Nests build your Houses Sommer will not last for ever Set thy house in order set thy self in order this seasonable time and opportunity vvill not last for ever Thy cloaths wear thy buildings vvear Iron vvears Time vvears 2 Reg. 18. and dost thou stand at a stay No no I have read of Asahel 2. Sam. 2 that could run as fast as a wild Deer yet could he not run from Death Of Senacherib that overcame the God of Hamah and the God of Arpad and so forth God after God yet Diaboli conjux the Devils Wife so Chrysologus calls death could easily overcome him Ser. 118. I have read of one who dined with the King to day and ere night was hanged by the Kings command Est 7. And what should I speak of Sesostâ—is Chariot Of great Bajazet led about by Tamberlane in a Cage Of Valerianus the sometâ—me Emperour of Rome used as foot-stool for Sapor the Persian to get to horse by All proclaim the mutâ—bility of the Creature the inconstancy of the world the uncertainty of this life and the unavoidableness of Death so doth the tallest Cedar and the strongest Oak which though they were never so long in growing yet are oft times felled in an hour And now what followeth unless God be merciful to the sinner Let St. Gregory tell thee momentaneum est quod delectat aeternum quod cruciat Thy joys vanish as if they had never been Thy pleasures go before thee to the Grave Thy Executors triumph in the goods thou leavest behind thee Thy friends Si modo de multis unus alter erit Thy Friends can do thee no good And for thy Sin Non potes avelli simul hinc simul ibimus inquit O that Companion worse then Death 't will never depart from thee but hangs fast by that Hang-man of thine thy Conscience which together with the Fiends of Hell drag thy poor Soul before the Tribunal Seat where we must leave it and yet it cannot stay theâ—e for after this comes that Ite Hence depart into everlasting fire which that we may escape O merciful Saviour let us learn the Prayer of this Publican God be merciful to me as Sinner Let us learn the practise of the other Publican who willingly forsook all and underwent all difficulties to follow Christ O my God! We might learn of the Emmet the Crane the Swallow The Sea-man provides for his voyage The Husbandman layes up against Winter The Plowman commits his corn to the ground in hope we only we with the chaff make our nest in the Steeple and are not terrified with the Bells ring they never so many Knells We sit abrood on our Goods we fear no chang we forecast on nothing And yet we know Deus salva veritate miseretur Chrysol As God is merciful so is he just And Christ is a door but vve must come vvhile the door is open and Christ is a Bridg but a Draw-bridg passable in the day but lift up in the night and Christ is a way but a narrow way and few there be that find it O therefore vvhile the Door is open and the Bridg down and the way made plain before our face let us come let us come with the penitent Publican nor let it suffice us if we pray at home or in our Sickness but in our Health and in the Temple privately and publickly Let us praise our God and let our prayer ever be God be merciful to me a Sinner AND now I make no question but many in this great Assembly have brought vvith them itching Ears and are troubled vvith the Athenian Disease Act. 17.21 They came not so much to learn how themselves might live but how this Gentleman died whose Funerals we now celebrate And if I should say no more at the end then hath been spoken in the beginning This was the Text which himself gave and is indeed an Epitom of the frequent and fervent prayers vvhich he used in his sickness If I should say no more this vvere enough to give ample Testimony of his faith and satisfaction to the Hearer But I obey Custom and am ready to render a more full account of vvhat I have both heard and seen As for his Life He was a Man and I have no reason to justifie him who in all humble contrition did condemn himself yet Aliud requirit Dei justitia aâ—iud hominum charitas 't is one thing to judge our Neighbour according to the rule of Gods Justice another to examin him by the Law of Christian Charity For the first thou mayst not meddle with it vvithout dethroning thy Mâ—ker and for the second remember that of St Ambrose Judicet de alteriâ—s errore qui non habet quod in seipso condemnet vvho dares take up the first stone or vvho can forget that of the Apostle Gal. 6.1 Consider with thy self least thou also be tempted The Truth is vve pass rash Judgment
Lion Alas my Brother The Devil is called a Lion in the Scripture ever seeking for his prey He mist it here Death is another Lion and stronger then the Devil for resist the Devil and he will flie from you a good man will send him packing But Death will have no denial good and bad little and great all are fish for his Net and he pleads Law for it too Statute-Law Heb 9. The Time the Man the manner of his Death these all concur to make it the Innocents Christmass Let not the word offend I come not to chant a Mass or sing a Dirige at these Funerals A SERMON Preached at Brushford in Somerset-shire At the FUNERAL OF Colonel Edward Deyer 12th of MAY 1654. By Henry Byam D. D. and one of His MAJESTIES Chaplains in Ordinary ECCLES XII 7. And dust shall return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return to God who gave it IN the 9th Chapter of St. Matthew our Saviour telleth us that he came not to call the Righteous but Sinners to repentance Not that there are any Righteous amongst men for we have all sinned and all gone astray but thus we are given to understand that all those who do think themselves Righteous can have no benefit by Christ's Righteousness He came not to call the righteous those that are just in their own eye-sight but the sinner that hath a feeling of his sins and is sorry for them and doth repent him The whole need not the Physician but they that are sick All those therefore that do hope for benefit by Christ must confess their own unrighteousness and that they cannot be saved without Christs All those that hope to go to Heaven must acknowledge him righteous and him only that came down from Heaven The Angels fell in Heaven and Adam fell in Paradice and all Men cannot but fall that live upon the Earth but happy is he that offendeth least Now as touching Angels but some fell and some were punished but as for Men as graftâ— from the same stock we have all of us an inbred-Corruption derived from the loins of our Father Adam and should die for that And we have aâ—â—dded sin to sin actual to original and should die for that But Goâ— being Mercy as well as Justice hath granted unto miserable Man that which he â—enyed the Angels The opportunity of returning to his first estate a way to Salvation a means to come to Heaven And what is this but only our Repentance This did Christ preach Mark 1. This Christs fore-runner John the Bâ—ptâ—st did pâ—each Mat. 3. Repent And this Repentance is twofold by Aversion and Conversion by shunning evil and doing good This is that which Solomon presseth us to with a MEMENTO Remember thy Creatour remember thy Creatour Now now betime now in season But though there be never so many motives both Legal and Evangelical both Threats and Promises to rouze us up yet wretched Men that we are neither the hope of Heaven nor the horrour of Hell nor the love of God nor the fear of Devils can ought prevail with worldly-Men Like him who sets the greatest burthen on the weakest Horse we reserve all Reformation and Repentance till our old decrepit Age Till those daies those evil daies come in which we can take no pleasure And as those in Malachy The worst of the flock must serve for sacrifice That only do we allow for our deepest sighâ— and best Services of the Almighty that part only of our life which is distracted with Cares plunged with Distrusts rent with Maladies opprest with Miseries the vilest weakest worst of all And will the Almighty accept of this We that Grashopper-like have spent the Summer of our life in pleasure and wantonness shall we find relief in the Winter of our Old-age And will our late compelled Sacrifice be accepted of that impartial Judge that weighs the words and works of Malefactours in Baltasher's Ballance and is as Bernard saith Too Great to be terrified too Wise to be deceived too Just to be corrupted May we serve the Flesh the World and the Devil and having all our life time been most unworthy of the Earth shall we expect an Hodie mecum and with the repenting Thief to be by and by transported into Paradice O therefore Remember thy Creatour in the daies of thy Youth ere sickness approach and thy sences fail and thy sins oppress There is a time coming yet scarce two of a thousand live till that time when the keepers of the house shall tremble and the strong men shall bow themselves When the legs shall grow weak and the eyes hollow and the Almond-tree shall flourish our white-heads will tell the winter of our life is come The dust must return to the earth as it was and the spirit return to God who gave it Here 's a praeterit and a sic praeterit à moritur and sic moritur Here 's that we wish for and would fly it pray for it and loath it and after many windings and turnings in the wilderness of this wretched life we are like the Reubenites and Gadites that will not venture over Jordan But dust must return to the earth as it was and the spirit must return to God who gave it Wilt thou know what thou art Dust saith the Text. Wilt thou know what thou shalt be why Dust too Thy Body must to the Earth O be not proud Thy Spirit must to GOD O be not careless That must be dissolved This must be judged Both must return Here 's the Vnde or what thou wert Earth Here 's thy present condition what thou now art Earth Here 's thy future state what thou shalt be Earth Why then as the Prophet said O Earth Earth Earth hear the word of the Lord for when that which was made of Earth and is now no better then Earth shall return to the Earth The Spirit returns to GOD that gave it Here 's Man in his Mould and Man in his Majesty and Man in his Mortality Man what he was Man what he is and Man what he shall be And how the Body must be dissolved and how the Soul must be convented And within these bounds I shall confine my Meditations And for the first 1. Man in his Mould or what he was Let us make Man Gen. 1. God that framed and fashioned all other Creatures with a bare Fiat let this or that be so and it was so yet when he comes to make Man the whole Trinity seems to make a consultation and that indivisible God-head seems to divide his work in parts Let us make him thus and thus His Body is framed of the dust of the Ground and God breathed in his face the breath of Life and out of both results a living Creature made ad Imaginem similitudinem Dei in our Image according to our likeness saith the Almighty Which whether it was meant by way of excellency or for his Soveraignty or because the Soul