tost hither and thither with waves and billows It is no time to begin to sue out a pardon when the pains of death arrest you To get sin pardoned and a soul trimmed for glory is too great a work to bee done ex tempore and in an hour of death when the thoughts of dying will and no wonder to unpardoned wretches more affrighr than that clap of thunder did Pyrander King of Egypt Ninthly Learn then not overmuch to love your lives Man is a life-loving creature Enar. in Psal 35.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 David propounds the question what man is hee that desireth life Augustin returns this answer Interroga nonne omnis in vobis respondet Ego an quisquam est in vobis qui non diligit vitam Thou and I and every one but as that Father further Vide August fusius hac de â—e De Tempore Serm. 113 Hee that desireth life bonam rem desiderat sed non in regione illam quaerit c. desires a good thing but seeks it not in the right place This life is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is life in name but death in deed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quid est aliud diu vivere nisi diu torqueri saith Augustin Consider this life in its Best and Worst and you 'l say with Job in the Paroxysm of his sufferings I loathe it I would not live alwaies Chap. 7.16 it is as much to bee loathed as to bee loved It is as detestable as desirable Were you called to give your judgement of an horse you would enquire concerning his breed and speed his age in whose hands how used with many things more Quantum amanda est aeterna vita quum sic amatur misera haec finienda vita amasne istam vitam ubi tantum laboras curris satâ—gis anhelas non c. Aug. ubi supra but the case is altered when wee speak of life the vanity uncertainties of it the sins and sorrows the calamities that do attend it are not ballanced Till you bee without sin you cannot be free from sorrow When all sins are washed from your souls then shall all tears bee wiped from your eyes Eternal life is the only true life and eternal death the only true death no other life but that or which is in order to that is much to bee desired nor other death feared non est diu quod habet extremum that is not said Augustin to bee deemed long which shall have an end this shall that life cannot Tenthly And what follows chiefly concerns us of lower sphears and orbs Learn wee hence Not to confide in these Princes and Great men they are not immortal though they bee stiled Gods Miserable is that man whose God is mortal These Great men cannot support themselves nor succour you when death comes like Absoloms Mule they run from us when they should relieve us Herod the great for all his pride and Royalty could not shun the silly worms Two things commonly curtail the lives of our great ones their slighting and contemning their despising and abusing of the Lords Prophets I could make this out would time permit 2 Chron. 16.10,12 2 Chron. 24.21 25. 2 Chron. 26.19.20,21 Our overmuch dependence upon them and trust in them Gustavus A dolphus told his souldiers no lesse a little before his death These both are of malignant influences See Psal 146.3 Excellent is that counsel of a great Prince Trust yee not in Princes why so because they are the Sons of men suppose they bee may we not trust in the Sons of men No because there is no help in them Is it possible how can that bee alas when their breath goeth forth they return again to their earth Suppose all this bee true shall not their counsels stand No in that very day their projects perish with them Si dicendum est aliquid mirabile said one of the Ancients If I might speak a word which all the world may justly wonder at then I would say Trust yee not in Princes because they are Princes Notable is Augustins glosse upon that Text Divina vox est de super nobis sonat nescio qua infirmitate humana anima quando tribulata hic desperat de Domino vult praesumere de hominibus c. and a little after vere misera magna mors est in magnis Rara est in Nobilitate senectus Old age and healthful bodies are seldome made the appendages to great Honours and Houses Study my beloved that soul-humbling Text Psal 39.5 Verily Every man at his best estate is altogether vanity Selah Verily lets that in and Selah shuts that up Verily every man Man Gods master peece Miraculum magnum animal adorandum honorandum spectaculum admirandum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Trismegist and Plato call him Col. Adam Col. Hebel every man is every vanity and wee may not let passe that which is not least considerable in the text Every man at his best estate In the original it is every man standing standing as some improve it upon his Tiptoe in his beauty and bravery in his pomp and Majesty is but vanity is hee a thing then to bee trusted in No No To do so is both irrational and irreligious O say with that man of God My soul wait thou only upon God Psal 62.5 for mine expectation is from him and my trust is in him Give us help from trouble for the help of man is a lye Whom have wee in Heaven but thee to call upon or to relye upon or to trust in but thee Thou art our best friend when it is at best with us and our only friend when it is at worst with us Let our trust bee only in him for in the Lord Jehovah is strength Strength Trust in him at all times yee people God is a refuge for us Surely men of low degree are vanity Vide Aug. in Psal 62.9,10 and men of high degree are a lye to bee laid in the ballance they are alike lighter than vanity Eleventhly Learn hence Not to fix overmuch of your affections upon Princes and Great men There is a vanity upon all the whole Creation upon them especially Cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils for whereof is hee to bee accounted Isa 2. ult bee they never so potent so prudent so politick their pomp shall bee brought down unto the grave the worms shall feed on them and the clods of the valley shall cover them Love them but as ever about to leave them or as if they were ever about to leave you Do not make your Lords your Gods Let God bee your Lord Ep. ad Zomobium Cosmum It is good that Machiavel hints Non ex statu fortune metienda virtus hominum sed ex animi dotibus qualitate strip your great ones of all their titles of honour their noble Parentage their rich and royal Vestments their Troops
the German wars Vide Luth. in Isa 57.1 I can do nothing saith God till thou bee come thither Gen. 19.22 non posse se dixit quod sine dubio poterat per potentiam non poterat per justitiam saith one of the Ancients Aug. Sence Non posse praetenditur non velle in causa est No sooner was Lot in Zoar but the Lord rained down fire and brimstone upon Sodome Such stand in the gap to turn away the Lords wrath but when they are removed what remains to stop the current of divine vengeance when the precious fruits of the earth are gathered into the barn the hedges are broken down the beasts over-run all When the Jewels are taken out of the Trunk the courser things are thrown over-board when Noah is housed in the Ark his Pella the fountains of the deep are broken open Woe is mee saith the Prophet Micah The Good man the Great man is perished out of the Earth Psal 12.1 De contemptu mortis and David cries and praies Help Lord as if the Heavens had been falling on him Heinsius reports that the Sun with-drew its shine and was eclypsed when Joseph Scaliger dyed Darkness seizeth upon us in these parts wee have had many of quality lately taken from us it is well if the Lords wrath bee not comming upon us Secondly Because when they fall the persons with whom they conversed Jer. 48.25 Zech. 10.4 the places in which they lived are exceedingly weakened As in the Text And I am this day weak And are not wee this day weak Behold the Family is it not a weak Family a disconsolate Widdow tender sickly children A weak Town hee was under the most high our strength and munition our defence and protection Should wee unite our hearts and hands our power and policy Alas what can wee do Our strength is weaknesse our wisdome foolishnesse As Jehosaphat said so wee say O Lord wee know not what to do but our eyes are towards thee In uno Caesare multi insunt Marii There are many men in one Great man One Josiah in a Kingdome one Lot in a City one Paul in a Ship is of more value and vertue than many thousands Labans family fared the better for Jacobs sake Pharaohs Court and Kingdome fared better for Josephs sake and hath not this Town these parts of the Country fared much better for this great mans sake Every great man if hee bee a good man is a great blessing and strengthening to the place in which hee lives a blessing by his presence a blessing by his prayers a blessing by his example which is as a Looking-glasse for others to dress themselves by a blessing by his counsels The death of faithful Ministers weakens wonderfully the weapons of their warfare are mighty with God 2 King 2.12 and mighty through God The death of zealous Magistrates weakens infinitely but I must not expatiate See that notable Text Judges 18 7. when there was no Magistrate in Laish â—…n increased and ruine approached Thirdly Because when such fall sin commonly increaseth exceedingly Not only the Laws but the lives of great men it truly godly give a shrewd check to daring impieties and prophanesse many whose hands only were chained but their hearts not changed may break our and fall off returning with the dog to his vomit and the Sow to wallow in the mire again It is not unknown to hundreds of us within these walls that this great mans countenance had special influence upon all the vile wretches that came nigh unto him Hee could do very much with a look I could not in that compare him to any other but Luther De vita Lutheri p. 168 Melchior Adams reports of him that hee had such a Leonine aspect ut oculorum suorum intentionem rectâ aspiciendo non omnes ferre possunt How was the prophanation of the Lords day prevented Travellers according to Law punished drunkennesse subdued c. Tremble godly souls to think how the eye of Gods glory is like to bee provoked let rivers of waters run down your eyes Is there not matter of lamentation when the winds are rising the Sea swelling the Heavens lowring and the enemy approaching to behold the souldiers gasping the Pilots and Steers-men dead upon the deck How shall the little flock bee kept out of the jaws and paws of the wild boar and Beasts of prey O pray Lord remember thy Lilly amongst the Thorns thy Lambs amongst the Wolves thy love amongst the daughters The Saints are as speckled birds Jer. 12.9 Jerem. 12.9 All about them are enemies to them Fourthly Because otherwise they cannot make a right use and improvement of their death and dissolution It is the Lords will that wee should make a right good use of his rod upon others and of the fall of others Quest What use should wee that survive now make of this Princes dissolution Answer A threefold Use An Honourable Use An Charitable Use An Profitable Use An Honourable Vse in relation to God acknowledging his power and supremacy his soveraignty and authority over man to kill or make alive to deliver from death or to death A Charitable Vse in relation to them who are afflicted or taken away by death not concluding them the greatest sinners because they are the greatest sufferers or that it is for some notorious impiety that they are cut off in the midst of their daies Their death may bee in mercy to them in judgement to us A Profitable Vse in reference unto our selves wee should learn thence to walk humbly to put our hearts in order to see what the bitter fruit of sin is c. Though the occasion of our comming together this evening bee very sad yet the opportunity is sweet if wee can learn rightly to improve this great mans fall I remember Plotinus hath this passage Men should so live and so die that others might learn some good from them both living and dying Anatomists and Physitians advantage themselves by dissecting dead bodies and prying into the inward parts wee may spiritually profit our selves by a serious consideration and observation of his dispensations in the Fall of Princes and Great men Fifthly Not to take notice of not to lay to heart the death of such men is a God-provoking sin a fruit of sin and the cause of many horrid iniquities and grievous transgressions This inconsideratenesse is that which the Prophet checked and much lamented Isa 57.1 None considereth that they are taken away from the evil to come none pondered it in their hearts they did not search into it what should bee the minde and end of God in it God laies it to mens charge that they lay not those things unto their hearts as if personal mortality were not sometimes a presage of publick misery This is a direct violation of a divine injunction Eccles 7.3 The living shall lay it upon their hearts Is not the hand of God in this sad
If the Lord take houses from us estates and friends from us dearest relations from us yet if not himself nor his Son Senec. ad Polyb Plut. nor his Spirit from us Fas non est de fortuna conqueri c. 9 As many children are remaining with you Ep. 234. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as are removed from you I may say to you as Anythus did of Alcibiades 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee that took one had power to have taken all Photius on this account comforts his Brother Patricius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Three are left though three bee lost nay they are not lost non amisimus sed praemisimus only the number of Jobs children remained the same when all things else restored double to him of which some give this reason his other possessions were quite gone but his children remained alive and were in peace with God 10 Their times as ours were in Gods hand not in the hands of their friends Psal 31.15 then they should have stayed here much longer not in the hands of their enemies then their stay had been shorter It is best to do what God would have us and to die when God would have us Prepare for future Breaches who can say when the storm is over hee shall not see another you are yet on the Ocean not in the Haven Dis-ingage your affections take off your heart from those which are left behinde your injoyment of them shall bee nothing the shorter and it shall bee infinitely sweeter they are certain cares but uncertain comforts In sorrow they are brought forth and up yea and out unto the grave On them wee often fix too much of our affections from them wee often have many of our afflictions When you think on them whom you have interred withal bee it your indeavour to meditate on death more by which you were so suddenly parted To love Heaven better where wee hope they are arrived To minde this world lesse whence they are and you shortly shall bee translated Hold on in the service of the Lord notwithstanding the breaches in your family Of what stock or lineage Job was I am not able to determine Tost Super caput 22. Gen. R. Salomon as Tostatus reports confidently asserts that hee was a Chananean and dyed but a while before the Jews entred into Chanaan and this hee builds on Numb 14.9 others as boldly say Aug. Amb. Vide Peter in Gen. 36.33 Cajet in cap. primum Jobi hee was that Jobab of whom wee read in Gen. 36.33 Pererius disputes the question whether Job was of Esau's Lineage and concludes hee was Cajetan thinks none can tell It is certain hee was a gracious person and this hee did notwithstanding All his losses chap. 1.20 Then Job arose and rent his robe and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshipped There are some duties of great difficulty As to love God when hee runneth upon us like a Gyant and shews himself as an enemy Credere invisibilia sperare dilata c. To have our spirits lowest when our imployments are highest And to name no more to have our obedience then at the highest when our comforts are at the lowest yet it is no pleading difficulty against a known duty though hee kills us yet wee should trust in him and worship before him they who are not faithlesse cannot bee fatherlesse nor friendlesse they are never at a loss When afflictions put us to it then by a lively faith wee put God to it and wee know God can do every thing Job 42.2 Record the gracious dealings of God with you in your saddest losses and breaches Keep a book of Remembrance for every passage of his Providence and improve former and present experiences in this hour of tryal When Moses went up to the Mount to pray hee took the Rod of God in his hand and why that Rod by that Rod the Lord had done wonderful things for his people Exod. 17.9 and against his and his Churches enemies by it hee turned water into blood brought Froggs and Lice upon the Land divided the waters of the Red Sea c. the sight of that Rod did incourage Moses to pray to God to confide in God for future deliverances you can apply it Weep not immoderately for the death of your dear Relations They shall rise again and you shall see them again their bodies now laid in the dust are mellowing for immortality and glory the businesse of a wise man said a wise man is not to bee without but above passions Flagrantior aequo Non debet dolor esse tuus nec vulnere major Juvenal Sat. 13 Poverty made Fabritius famous Rutilius was made excellent by his banishment Scevola by fire Cato by his death Socrates by prison and you by patience It were easy to say more but enough is better than all One thing yet remains which I humbly crave I have half promised to my self viz. your candid acceptance of this short and plain discourse it is below others envy and observation so is its Author and therefore craves no protection Hortensius was weak in writing but powerful in speaking Albeticus was weak in speech but notable with his pen. I am in both very weak you will however take it in good part for HIS sake whose death gave life to these unpolished line◠the mantle of your charity will cover most of its infirmities Bradwardin once took small pleasure in reading Pauls golden Epistle◠hee thought hee had not ingenium metaphysicum the like is said of Augustin and hee ingenuously confesseth Dedignabar esse parvulus c. It is not your humour to censure but your practice is to practise If these lines which bee in your hands finde a room in your heart if they work you out of Love with life to a serious and seasonable preparation for death I have my design I could say very much of you but I am writing to you and therefore shall say no more but pray for you that if the Lord will not shew you what hee will do with you and yours yet that hee would shew you what hee would have you and yours to do and inable you thereunto The good Lord make up this sad breach to your afflicted Family and this distressed Country Fit you for and fill you with those divine comforts which in the multitude of your perplexed thoughts will rejoyce your soul This is and shall bee his prayer who humbly desires a room still in your memory under the title of Your Faithful Servant J. Livesey February 14. 1655. THE Princes Fall and Funeral In a Sermon on 2 SAMUEL 3.38,39 And the King said unto his Servants know yee not that there is a Prince and a great Man faln this day in Israel And I am this day weak WHen Harraldus King of Denmark made war upon Harquinus and both Armies were prepared to ingage a dart was seen flying in the Air hovering this way
of the living as they return from funerals it is said they pluck up the grass and cast it into the air repeating those words of the Psalmist They shall flourish and put forth as the grasse of the Earth Amongst the Romans it is said it was an usual saying of a dead friend abiit reversurus est Hee is gone but will come again Beloved Aug. Ep. 6. Melch. Ad. in Luth. p. 154 This Great man shall rise again comfort your selves in this you shall see him again and know and love him better than ever As Augustin spoke to the Lady Italica and Luther at his last supper Thirdly To conclude this The Lord hath a special care of your dead relations Keeps their very bones Psal 34.20 Hee leaves not his in the dust Rizpah watched over the bodies of the sons of Saul and guarded them against the fowles of the air 2 Sam. 21.10 but the Lord hath greater care of his children living dying and dead Observ 2. It is every mans duty to take notice of and to lay to heart the death of great men especially if they bee good men Know yee not How was Sauls death lamented Saul P. Mart. 2 Sam. 1.19 Sq. for whose salvation wee have nothing to say Nullum uspiam extat vestigium verae paenitentiae yet David and all with him rent their cloaths and wept hearing of his and Jonathans death The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places how are the mighty fallen Jonathan was a chief Patient in this woful tragedy but not the only subject of this doleful elegy Vide Perer. de laude Mosis Moses was a gallant man an excellent Philosopher more ancient than Socrates or Trismegist A notable Poet the Pen-man of eleven Psalms as Hierom thinks from the eighty eight to the hundreth though De Dieu saith some think Adam penned and sang the ninety second the morning after his creation how was Moses his death lamented in the Plains of Moab Vide Lud. de Dieu in Psal 92 Deut. 34,8 was not a book of Lamentation writ upon the occasion of Josiahs Death It is thought that that sad Poem or doleful ditty which Nazianzen could never read without tears lamentation was composed by the Prophet Jeremiah Orat. 12. mihi pag. 202 upon the fall of that most incomparable and unparalleld Prince whereof mention is made in the sacred Annales Jeremiah lamented for Josiah and all the singing men and singing women speak of Josiah in their Lamentations to this day and made them an Ordinance in Israel c. 2 Chron. 35.25 During the Captivity sundry Fasts were observed on set daies and on sad occasions The Fast of the fourth month the Fast of the fifth Zechar. 8.9 the Fast of the seventh and of the tenth Gedaliah the Protectour of the remnant of the Jews after their King was carried away captive was slain on the seventh month therefore they fasted and mourned Wee may write down this day this very day and mourn for the Death and Fall of this Prince and Great man the children yet unborn may also observe it when wee shall bee laid in dust Notable to this in hand is that of King Joash 2 King 13.14 Mark his pathetical exclamation and his plausible acclamation O my Father My Father the Chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof observe what lamentation hee makes though a wicked King And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him the Syriack reads it Act. 8.2 Gibre Mehemene Faithful men carried Stephen to his bed they wept for him bitterly or vehemently The Priests and sometimes Prophets too were not allowed upon special considerations in the Old Testament to mourn Ezek. 24.16 Thou shalt not weep nor mourn nor shall thy tears run down make no mourning for the dead forbear to cry c. but if wee bound our sorrows within the precinct of that Apostolical precept not mourning as men without hope Junius Brutus Valerius Poplicola Augustus c. viri optime de Rep. meriti annuo luctu fuerunt defleti wee may bee afflicted wee ought to weep and mourn our laughter should bee turned into mourning and our joy into heaviness Christ himself wept over dead Lazarus wee may over this Prince and Great man who was so useful an instrument both to Church and State grandis in eum est pietas as Jerom speaks of another Quae ratio Why are wee to take notice of and to lay to heart the Falls of Princes and Great men First Because when such men are taken away by death then Judgements hasten and post on apace Their dissolution is an evident demonstration of the Lords indignation upon the death of Crassus such miseries befel the Roman State saith the Oratour that life was not so much taken from him as a punishment as death bestowed on him as a reward In 2 Chron. 34.24 I will bring evil upon this place saith the Lord who owns all paenal evils and upon the Inhabitants thereof even all the curses that are written in this book why so see verse 25. Because they have forsaken mee and have burned incense unto other Gods Psal 39.11 Jer. 25.6 Lam. 3.39 Sin is the foundation of punishment God doth not punish nor afflict ordinarily but in case of sin Read on But as for Josiah the King of Judah say you unto him because thy heart was tender and thou didst humble thy self before God when thou heardest his words against this place and against the Inhabitants thereof and humblest thy self before mee Behold I will gather Thee to thy Fathers thou shalt bee gathered to thy grave in peace neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place and upon the Inhabitants thereof The Philosopher speaking of the Stars hath this passage when they shoot it is a sign of high winds following When zealous Magistrates Chytr de morte p. 75 and faithful Ministers shoot and slide into the earth such as survive may sadly conclude They are taken away from the evil to come Isa 57.1 Methusalem that great and godly Patriarch died Eo anno quo caepit diluvium Cartw. Electa Targumico-rabbinica in Gen. 5. 25 7. 4 Vide Philon. â— lib. 2. de Vita Mosis Senec. lib. 3. Qu. Nat cap. 27. Sq. Perer. in Gen. p. 338 the very year the flood came I know some have asserted that hee lived fourteen years after it and others say hee died seven daies before it His very name signified a messenger of death his death presaged that fearful Inundation the causes whereof I shall not now so muâ—h as hint at Augustin that great Ornament and Muniment of Hippo was taken away by death immediately before the barbarous Goths and Vandals sacked that City in which hee lived Ambrose his death was afore-runner of Italies ruine as Chytraeus reports and Luthers death according to his prediction was a fore-runner of
providence It is hee that helps us into the world and it is hee that helps us again out of the world the key of the womb and the key of the grave are in his hand alone The actions of Princes and Great ones in the world every eye almost observes and shall wee slight the operations of his hand the Lord complains of this and severely punisheth it Isa 5.12 Isa 4◠25 Jer. 5.3 c. Once more Sixthly This argues our due Phil. 2.29 and true estimation of them according to the charge Hold such in reputation It is otherwise a clear demonstration wee neither loved them nor prized them if they dye unlamented it is strongly presumed they lived undesired how can wee say wee love them when their lives are not worth our prayers nor their deaths our tears A good man is a common good a common treasure wherein every soul hath a share that man hath a hard heart that can hear of such mens deaths with a drie eye In the eleventh of John you have Christ weeping at Lazarus his funeral it is observed that hee wept thrice but never laught Ter flevisse legimus risisse nunquam legimus why wept hee now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Andreas Cretensis gives this for the reason hee thinks Christ lamented not over Lazarus but over the Jews because of their infidelity that although they should see the miracle Lazarus raised from the dead yet they would not beleeve in him The tears of others as others who were by-standers did draw tears even from Christ himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall passe by the reasons given by Cyril Rupertus and others and only acquaint you with Augustins and Maldonats Christ therefore wept saith the Father that by his example hee might teach us to weep at the funerals of religious and useful persons Christ therefore wept saith the Jesuit as the Jews interpreted it non pessimi in hac re authores because hee loved him you can apply it I passe it The Application of this Observation In two Uses Use 1 For Correction This checks such if there bee any such amongst us as take no notice of and lay not to heart the falls of great ones eminently useful in their Generations I hope there are none such with us in this throng Assembly of whom it any bee said as was of those Widdows of the Priests Psal 78.64 Their Priests fell by the sword and their Widdows made no lamentation Yet if there bee such elsewhere that are glad in their hearts that they can see with their eyes such Great men laid in their graves let such tremble Now they may drink and bee drunk stagger and fall quarrel and braul now they may prophane the Lords day without controule or contradiction they are as good as the best who now survive they may swear and swill and swagger and fill themselves with Wine and strong drink and sin securely O miserable vain man Nullum pejus malum libertate peccandi Thou hast the most reason to lament the death of such if thou didst but apprehend thine own condition It is a fearful character of a gracelesse man to rejoyce on this account in the death of great good useful men Paulinus reports of Ambrose that hee would weep bitterly when hee heard of any godly Ministers death Are not good Magistrates Gods Ministers Heirs of restraint The better they bee to us in their lives Rom. 13. the more bitter to us should bee their deaths as while they live they are much to bee honoured so when they dye they deserve much to bee lamented There is no strong rod to bee a scepter to rule us Ezek. 19. ult This is a lamentation and shall bee for a lamentation Use 2 For Exhortation Weep yea weep bitterly yee persons of quality Yee Noble Collonels yee valiant Captains of his acquaintance and allyance Your number is lessened your hands are weakened There is a Prince and a Great man fallen who adventured himself in the high places of the field a man of an Heroick undaunted spirit Weep yea weep bitterly Reverend Fathers and Brethren in the Ministry Know yee not that there is a Prince and a Great man fal'n this day in Israel whose paternal care was manifested in his provision for you and protection of you O Leigh O Lancashire lament thy losse with trembling hands and bleeding hearts may wee remember the year 1655. Three Suns set Three Stars of the first magnitude shot Three great men in one year two of them in one month Holland Ashurst and Atherton That thrice worthy and deservedly honoured Gentlemen Mr. Edward Holland a man admired by all who knew him the Phaenix of Lancashire of whom I may say having had more special occasions and opportunities to know him intus in cute For depth of learning especially in Philosophy and the Mathematicks for solidity of judgement strength of memory quicknesse and acutenesse of conception and which is the Ornament of all Holinesse of life fervency in prayer for Humilitie and Affability his fellow is not easily if at all found in the North of England Mr. Cases 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ep. to the Reader if any suspect my partiality let him read his praise in print by Reverend Mr. Case if learning make a man as it doth not naturally but morally not essentially but accidentally it is the beauty the lustre the Ornament of a man then I may say hee was one If grace make a good man as it doth without dispute no man can have it but hee shall bee like it then hee was one of him I may say and I shall say no more as Nazianzen did of Athanasius Hollandum laudare est idem ac virtutem ipsam laudare The second I mentioned is Mr. William Ashurst of whom all that knew him and hee was known by the most knowing and worthy men in England Scotland and Ireland may say as Nehemiah did of Hananiah Nehem. 7.2 hee was a faithful man and feared God above many hee was the glory of his Country it is Scripture language they that are truly godly and noble they are the blessings of a Kingdome Eccl. 10.7 the glory of a Kingdome Isa 5.13 Their honourable men or their glory are men of famine an incomparable man did you ever know so good a head so well hearted or so good a heart so well headed I shall say no more of him but as one did of Hercules Quis Ashurstum unquam vituperavit And before our teares were wiped from our eyes another of Jobs Messengers as it were brings us tidings of sorrow and bitter lamentation of this Prince and Great mans fall this day in Israel Wee are the men who have seen affliction and still do see and I am fearful shall see more the dart of death I doubt is not removed from this afflicted shattered family Joseph is not and Simeon is not and must Benjamin go too Holland is not and Ashurst is not and Atherton
Rev. 14.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from henceforth expect not blessednesse if you rest from your labours Job 3.17 before ye die in the Lord There viz. in the grave the weary are at rest That sentence is entailed on all Mortalls In the sweat of thy brow or brain shalt thou eat thy bread till thou return unto the ground Gen. 3.19 By Mahomets law the Grand Turk himself was to bee of some trade The Athenians hated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By Solons Law idle persons were to suffer death Non solum negotii sed otit redenda est ratio said Tully truly The Lacedaemonians called men to account for their idle hours an idle Magistrate or an idle Minister or an idle Gentleman the Lord abhorres it is not enough for you venerable Gentlemen Vide p. Mart. in 2 Sam. 11. Fusius agit contra otium not to do evil It is required that you as well as others nay that you more than others should bee doing good A Negative Magistrate is no Magistrate Nic Machiaveli disput de Republica lib. 1. cap. 1 Machiavels counsel is good Otium prohibeatur perpetua quaedam honestorum exercitiorum necessitas imperetur vitanda est maxime sterilitas c. Idlenesse exposeth to the Devils malice Idleness disposeth to the Devils service Vide Doctissimi Saunder soni concionem quartam ad populum Res age tutus eâ—is when hee findes you about nothing that is good he will imploy you about something that is evil otium animi mors est vivi hominis sepultura saith Seneca it is the death of the soul the interring of a man alive An idle hour is the hour of temptation a flying Lark who makes his mark Hispani bellum quam otium malunt Justin Hist .. lib. 44. p. 349. The Spaniards had rather bee warring than idleing if the Historian may bee credited and in my judgement it is more eligible Legitima authoritas justa causa intentio recta moderamen debitum requiruntur secundum Bielem lib. 4. Sent. Distinct 15. Qu. 4. Illicit a non sunt Christianis bella sive defensiva sive invasiva modo adsint haec tria justitia causae potestas publica intentio recta Estius in Sent. lib. 3. Distinct 37. Parag. 20. If there bee a good cause a good call a good end and if managed in a right way and manner for Warre though a necessary evil is the solemn instrument of Justice the restraint of vice and publick insolencies the support of a body politick against forraign invasions and Domestick rebellions Up then and bee doing Honourable Lords and worthy Gentlemen account your selves happy in that God accounts you worthy to do any thing for him especially to bee so honourably imployed under him your time is short with us your work is great though the Sun stand still or go backwards yet still time goes forward five or six dayes beyond which you cannot sit will soon expire Reverend Fathers and Brethren Remember you and I that Motto of famous Mr. Perkins Minister verbi es Vide Bezam in vita Calvini 2 Per. 1.12,14 Hoc age And that worthy saying of judicious Calvin Quid si Christus cum venerit me otiosum invenerit what if Christ when hee comes to summon mee to death shall finde mee idle It was holy Augustins wish that Christ might finde him aut precantem Possid de vita moribus Aug p. penult Vel inveniendis rebus â—… de jam inventis c. aut praedicantem praying or preaching Possidonius relates this of him that hee was ever imployed either inventing or dictating transcribing perusing or preaching praying or visiting the Fatherlesse and the Widdows Et hoc agebat in die laborans in nocte lucubrans Minima portio temporis dabatur somno minor cibâ— nulla otio ita Adriâ—om de Hieron And memorable is that which Augustine himself spake to Eudoxius and the brethren with him in his eighty first Epistle As Fire and Water so Pride and Sloathfulnesse are by Ministers to bee shunned It is certain a whet is no let Recreation may bee used but in its due season Amice quisquis huc venis aut Agito paucis aut abi aut me laborantem adjuva haec erat inscriptio musaei Urfmian Vide Melâ—…i Adam Vide P. Mart. in 2 Sam. 12 and with a right intention to fit us for our work but never as our work not to procure wealth but to preserve health which such as live sedentary lives seldome have and also with choice persons The two witnesses of whom you read Rev. 11. end their lives and their labours together Nullus est in Anglica diligentior Episcopus quam Diabolus said Latimer There is not a more busy Bishop in all England than is the Devil shall wee learn some good of him To bestirre our selves the more because our time is short Rev. 12.12 The Levites in the Law were discharged at fifty in part Numbers 8.25 Let not us pretend more weaknesse of body or decay of memory of natural abilities and faculties more than is to gain a dispensation Augustin preached till his last sicknesse aged seventy six And Ambrose dyed commenting on the Psalm Usque ad suam ipsam extremam aegritudinem Possid ubi supra on that 47. Psalm if A Lapide mistake not Oportet Episcopum conscionantem mori soul-work is sweet work though wee sweat Paul did not say I converted more than they yet hee could say I laboured more than they and herein may wee solace our selves if Israel bee not gathered wee have discharged our duty in some measure sincerely though slenderly non curatio sed cura Ovium a pastore requiritur as A Lapide well observed A Lapid in 1 Tim. 4 Christians this is of concernment to you also you must bee doing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our Religion consists not in wording Justin Mar. Aq. 1. p. qu. 1. Art 4. Estii praefat in Sent. Tenendum est Lev. 25 but in working not in speaking but in living great things The Jews usually called the seventh year the idle year because then there was no plowing no sowing no reaping or mowing with many Christians every year is the idle year Should wee bee examined what wee have done for God what naked backs wee have cloathed what hunger-starved bellies wee have refreshed what duties wee have discharged should conscience speak and all tongues bee silent shame might cover our faces Seneca jeered the Jews because they lost one day in seven Vide Aug. de C. D. lib. 6. cap. 11 To observe the Sabbath day was with him to lose a day well might hee deride the Christians of this lazy drousy age were hee now alive who lose Lords dayes Exercise dayes and other precious seasons for soul advantages too many dividing their lives one half they are idle and the other they do nothing Pauci hoc agunt said the Heathen Philosopher It
and that way as though it were seeking and singling out a man upon whom to fall whilst both parties stood gazing on it admiring at it and wondring what should bee the cause and what would be the product of this strange prodigy every man dis-spirited and fearing hee should bee the man at last it fell upon Harquinus his head and slew him Right Worshipful and thrice worthy Gentlemen Honoured and beloved Brethren The fatal dismal dart of Death hath long been flying over our heads and hovering over our houses but now it is fallen and wee who survive do see on whom on an eminent and noble Gentleman whose Funeral wee are met to solemnize and celebrate this evening Well may I sigh and say as David did of Abner Know yee not that there is a Prince and a great man fallen this day in our English Israel And I am this day weak It is an excellent passage of holy Augustin Funeral discourses and panegyrical Orations are magis vivorum solatia quam mortuorum subsidia rather for the profit and instruction of the living than for the praise and commendation of the dead Bellarm. de Purg. lib. 1. cap. 3. These solemnities are not done ad juvandas animas as the Cardinal would have it nor are they mortuorum adjutoria as Lombard asserted These expressions are but civil indexes of unfained sorrows Pet. Lomb. in 2 Thes mihi fol. 201. They who are taken out of this valley of Baca and carried up by troops of glorious Angels into the highest Heaven stand in no need of the praise of men having the fruition of the eternal God as Chrisostome speaks in that learned oration compil'd upon the death of Phylogonius but wee who remain on earth have need to hear of their holy lives and happy deaths with some seasonable exhortations to excite and quicken us to an imitation of them For this purpose I have chosen this portion of Scripture left upon record for all our instruction it is without dispute very seasonable the Lord make it and my distracted meditations on it as searching and profitable Know yee not c. For the logical resolution of the Text wee shall answer five Queries 1 Who was that Prince and great man who fell that day in Israel 2 By whom and how did that Prince and great man fall that day in Israel 3 Whereabouts fell that Prince and great man that day in Israel 4 What was the cause and what might the occasion be of that Prince and great mans fall that day in Israel 5 What was the sequel the consequent of that Prince and great mans fall in Israel First Who was that Prince and great man who fell that day in Israel It was Abner the Son of Ner Cousin germane to King Saul a man of great quality not a meer stranger to the blood Royal A man of great Authority Princeps vir in Israel ipse flos rei militaris as P. Martyr notes upon the Text a principal man the very quintessence and cream of the Militia a Peer and Pillar of the Land Captain of the guard a kinde of Generalissimo to three Princes viz. Saul Ishbosheth and David not to wander far or squander away time the Text tells you hee was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sar a Prince hence is the word in common use with us Sir and hee was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magnus a great man a man of great reputation and estimation of a noble resolute heroick spirit for prowesse policy valour and magnanimity not second to any Art not thou a valiant man and who is like to thee in Israel saith King David to him 1 Sam. 26.15 This is that Prince and great man who fell that day in Israel Secondly By whom and how did this Prince and great man fall in Israel I answer Not as Lepidus and Ausidius who stumbled at the very threshold of the Senate and dyed the blow came in a cloud from Heaven Not by accessive joy as Sophocles did nor by immoderate grief as Homer and the Scripture tells us old Eli did whose heart was burst before his neck was broak hee sate upon a seat by the way side not like an Athenian of whom Demosthenes thus writes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But solicitous about the Ark of God inquiring what became of it and upon the sad report hee was a dead man Nor yet as Julian by an invisible stroke from Heaven nor fell this Prince as Nero did but as Agag by the hand of Samuel and as Asahel by the hand of Abner so fell Abner by the hand of Joab vers 27. Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him Beshelâ— quietly peaceably or craftily Abner little suspected his death so nigh at hand it is probable hee thought that Joab had Arcana imperii some secrets of state to impart and communicate unto him which none but themselves men of high command and trust might take cognizance of there most basely and cowardly hee stabs him I confess in the 30. verse it is said Joab and Abishai his Brother slew Abner but Abulensis and Sanctius on it say illi non procul aderat Abishai ut si res exigeret illi subsidio esset Antigonus a King was wont to pray to God that he would protect him from his friends when one of his counsel asked him why hee prayed so hee returned this answer Vide Strigel in locum Tuta frequensque via est per amici fallere nomen Tuta frequensque licet sit via crimen habeâ— every man will shun or defend himself against his professed enemies but from our professed or pretended friends of whom few are faithful none can safeguard himself but hath need of protection from Heaven pregnant and pertinent is that of Basil in one of his Epistles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Fools will take heed of their Foes but wise men will take heed of their friends For as Theognis said truly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thirdly Whereabouts fell this Prince and great man I answer Both as to the place of the City and part of his body from the 27th verse It was in the gate the place of Judicature of publick concourse and solemn meetings It is probable this bloody barbarous wretch thought hee should not bee suspected to bee the man a man of so much impudence and imprudence there to murther so great a man well might the King and Courtiers conjecture it was some other man The wound was given under the fifth rib the short ribs are in number five under the lowest a little beneath the Armour is Abner wounded it is a ridiculous conceit of some Jews which Tostatus speaks of Dicunt Hebraei quod Joab petivit ab Abner de modo discalciandi soluâ—arem illum cum se inclinaret se percussit cum Joab Tostat in 2 Reg cap. 3. â— 23 As Abner before had smitten Asahel a man of a noble heart and nimble foot So Joah smites him
and needful thing to speak honourably of Great men at their Falls and Funerals King Davids expression affords this position Of these in their order And first and most of the first Doct. 1 Princes are not priviledged from falling nor Great men from dying Indeed Riches are not for every man Honours are not for every man Learning is not for every man but death is for every man This is the end of all men so saith the wise man Eccles 7.3 Death like the Duke of Parma's sword Mista senum ac juvenum densantur funera nullum saeva caput Proserpina fugit Horat. l. 1. od 28 knows no difference twixt robes and raggs twixt Prince and Peasant In the common bagge of mortality the Rook is check-mate with the King The mortal Sythe saith one is Master of the Royal Scepter it mows down the Lillyes of the Crown as well as the Grass of the Field Though Machiavels policy Catalin's activity Hectors valour with the Martial prowesse of Menelaus and Agamemnon should concenter in one man yet could hee not escape the jaws of death Notable is that Text Eccles 8.8 of which I may say As Chrisostome doth of that John 5. It is locus multi auri plenus John 5.21 non tamen omnibus in promptu est There is no man that hath power over the Spirit to retain the Spirit neither hath hee power in the day of Death There is no discharge in that war in this war the presse is so strict that no one is exempted no dispensation can bee procured If the Tenant would go for his Lord Hee shall not bee accepted the Lord must serve for himself it the Father would go for his child as David would for his Son Would God I had dyed for thee O Absalom my son my son Hee will not passe nor please the child must go himself no bribes will here prevail no protection from the Prince can here bee read Aug. Ennar in Psal 121 Memorable is that of Augustin Fratres intendat charitas vestra resistitur ignibus undis ferro resistitur potestatibus regibus venit una mors quis ei resistit If your houses bee fired by good help they may bee quenched if the Sea break out by art and industry it may bee the breach will bee repaired It Princes invade by power and policy they may bee repulsed if Devils from Hell shall tempt by assistance from Heaven they may bee resisted but death comes into the royal Pallaces into our meaner Cottages and none resists that King of Terrours I read of one and besides him of none in Scripture Isa 38 who had a lease of his life for fifteen years but as that expired hee died Of those worthy Patriarcks before the flood they who lived longest dyed at last Of every one it is said And hee dyed Enoch is only excepted Gen. 5.24 of whom I may say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee lived like an Angel and died not like a man but privilegia non sunt amplianda his translation was equivalent to our dissolution moritur qui demutatus est saith Drusius Aben-Ezra R. Salomon mortuum Henochuni asserunt Vide A Lapide Camer in Heb. 7.3 Melchizedeck was not Shem For his Genealogy is recorded in Scripture not so Melchizedecks Lib. 3. Dist 1◠Death conquered him who was the great Conquerour of the Jews and though hee querulously accused Heaven that hee must dye not having deserved it yet hee escapes not upon that score and plea. In Scripture you read of one who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without Father and without Mother having neither beginning of dayes nor end of life yet this man dyed how is it possible that wee should ever live when such as hee doth dye What shall I cry said the Seraphick Prophet Cry All Flesh is Grasse Cry Most are deaf on this ear they will not hear nor heed All Flesh the flesh of Kings and Counsellors the flesh of Princes and Potentates the flesh of Martyrs and Confessors All Flesh is Grasse It is disputed in the Schools whether Jesus Christ so soon as ever hee was born into the world lay under a necessity of dying Scotus boldly asserts it Si homo non peccasset Christum fuisse incarnatum inter homines habitaturum moriturum c. and Estius hath this passage in answer to it Si Christus violenta morte occisus non fuisset tandem tamen senectute defecturus ac moriturus fuisset c. I shall wave this and only acquaint you with that other by them discussed whether Adam in Innocency was subject to mortality Aqu. 1. 1. qu. 97. Art 1 Vossius excellently handleth this Voss disput Theol. de peccato primi hom qu. 3. p. 43. and will give satisfaction to his reader There is a threefold Immortality as some A simple independent primitive essential Immortality This is proper to God alone 1 Tim. 6.16 Carthusian Enarrat in Gen. Art 19. pag. 42 A Lapide in Rom. 8.16 A dependent derivative Immortality this is peculiar to Angels and rational souls An Immortality by the power or gift by the mercy or Justice of God This is proper to the bodies of the just and unjust after their resurrection As for mans body in the state of Innocency it had a conditional not an absolute Immortality Quicunque dicit Adamum primum hominem mortalem factum ita ut sive peccaret sive non peccaret moreretur in corpore hoc est de corpore exiret non peccati merito sed necessitate naturae Anathema sit Concil Melevitan Canon 1. His life should last as long as his obedience hee had a possibility not to dye not an impossibility to dye as the Schoolmen speak Si Adam non peccasset mortem non gustasset I say with Augustin It is out of doubt Adams ingagements to God were great his communion with God was sweet his knowledge of God was clear but his injoyment of God was not sure Hee might fall and being fallen must die but had hee never sinned hee had never dyed How ever it was or would have been with him It is sure wee must all dye and bee as water spilt upon the ground Notable is that of Gregory Thaumaturg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 none can bee found of that strength and policy as to divert the Messenger of death and Photius in an Epistle to Taracius Patricius his Brother comforting him mourning for his deceased Daughter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and a little after speaking of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thaumat Metaphr in Eccles cap. 8. mihi pag. 91 It is no new thing no paradox to tell of mens mortality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It is one of Solomons sacred Aphorism's The rich and the poor meet together sometimes in the same bed Prov. 22.1 and at the same board ever on the same earth and in the same world Kings
of Sicely as hee lay upon his death bed Alas your lives like shuttle-cocks are kept up a while twixt two Battle-doors at last they fall to the earth for all your skill Let not this dis-spirit or dis-animate you but excite and quicken you to fall on with double diligence to dispatch the work cut out for you by your Lord and Master It is a great truth which Seneca writing to Paulinus hints at It is the complaint of all mortals saith hee and that because of natures malignity that gives to man so short a life but the truth is satis longa est vita in maximarum rerum consummationem large data est De brevitate vitae cap. 2 si tota bene collocaretur and vita si scias uti longa est non accepimus brevem vitam sed fecimus O squander not away your Haleyon seasons your golden opportunities as if you were not to bee responsible for time what rich and rare opportunities have you of doing good if the Lord gave you inlarged hearts The Persian King had one about him whose office it was to minde him every morning of his charge Arise O King and have an eye to those affairs for which the great God hath made you King and dispatch them Work O work out your salvation with fear and trembling with much accuratenesse and carefulness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Hom. 8. in cap. 2. ad Phil. Seek yee the Lord while hee may bee found Now you have tenders and offers of Christ and grace If you neglect the day of grace Know it may expire before your lives expire it cannot possibly last longer then you may weep with Esau and not bee pittied and pray with Dives and not bee heard It was Chrysostomes wish Tom 3. de praem Sanctorum mihi p. 830. that while men are supping and dyning eating and drinking washing and playing mention were made of Hell and Death and Judgement this would awaken idle wretches this would rouse and raise them Let no day pass without a line Know God will bring you to death and to the house appointed for all the living thence you cannot return to dispatch undone work to amend or reform your selves nor to advise and councel others Fourthly Learn hence to put your hearts and houses too in order Though Princes and Great men yet you must fall Distraction and confusion follows when persons die and have not put their houses and estates in order but infinite and unspeakable is the Terrour confusion and horrour which seizeth upon the soul at death which was not prepared for Heaven and glory Logicians that regard not their premises infer wild conclusions so Christians too Lord teach mee to know mine end and the measure of my dayes what it is was the Prayer of a Prince and great man exactly calculated for our Meridian The measure of my Daies not the measure of my months or years No No The life of man is not measured by the Yard of years nor by the Ell of Months but by the Inch of dayes This is a main end of your lives to make a good end of your lives which can never bee without preparation for it Unhappy man whose life is like the lake of which Plutarch speaks which runs pure in the morning but muddy in the evening sweet at first bitter at last If we prepare to dye before wee come to dye then when wee come to dye surely wee shall not dye Let not that deceiving and soul-destroying hope of living long make you secure and carelesse of living well I have read of one who deferring repentance till his old age and then going about it heard a voice from Heaven saying Des illi furfurem cui dedisti farinam It is your wisdome now to learn this Art of dying well this saith Bellarmin truly is the Art of Arts Ep. 82. in it all are comprized Mors interea est quae facile negligi non possunt said Seneca I shall close this with that of Augustin Quid in hac terra certum est nisi mors Considerate omnia omnino quid hic certum est nisi mors Speras pecuniam incertum est an proveniat Speras uxorem incertum est an accipias vel qualem accipias Ena◠ration in Psal 39. pauper es incertum est an ditescas imbecilis es incertum est an convalescas Natus es Certum est morieris or that of Bartholdus Omnes res hominis in dubium vocantur Barthold lib. 2. de morte p. 201 concipitur homo an nasciturus oportet ut responde as forte sic Forte non is a child conceived shall it bee born into the world it is answered perhaps it may Now it is born shall it come to manhood or dye in infancy perhaps it may Shall hee be famous in his Country a grave Senatour a great Scholar perhaps hee may But shall hee dye sic sic sic morietur nullum hic forte nullum hic dubium reperitur There is no peradventure to bee used here It is certain hee shall dye O then prepare for it Never did any repent themselves when they came to dye that they began so early to seek God to serve fear or love God or to prepare for death thousands have repented that they began no sooner Augustin did so sero te cognovi lumen verum sero te cognovi Solileq cap. 33 Job never cursed the day of his new birth that proverb was hatched in Hell a young Saint an old Devil if thou beest a young Devil thou wilt in time become an old Beelzebub O remember your Creatour in the dayes of your youth I speak chiefly unto the young gallants In diebus electionum tuarum Pagnin renders it so In the day of your chusings your younger daies are your golden daies your choice and chusing daies Quo semel 〈◊〉 c. You read of a young man Matth. 19.16.20 It is said Christ began to love him why or for what hee was but a young man and a great man Vide Herodian lib. 1. p. 5 hee was now in his youth inquisitive after the salvation of his precious soul and eternal life O it is a lovely thing in young gentlemen in any to minde the one thing necessary in their juvenility The Devil is very hardly cast out of such whom hee hath possessed in their youth Mark 9.20 But I proceed Fifthly Bee much in the praemeditation of your frailty mortality and dissolution It was Seneca's complaint of some in his time tanquam semper victuri vivitis De brev vitae cap. 4 nunquam vobis fragilitas vestra succurrit c. Moses is to ascend then hee should die would you so die that your souls may ascend then meditate much on death It is a strange saying in Lipsius Lips de Constantia lib. 2. cap. 25 the names of all good Princes may easily bee ingraven or written in a small ring A serious meditation of Death
if any thing would work in you an holy fear of offending God in any thing an holy care to please God in every thing Hee is a sinner in grain that will sin and look death in the face It was saith one a wild meditation of one but proved well in the conclusion Suppose said hee I should thus say with my self I le drink and bee drunk I le swear and roar I le cheat and do what I list and what then I le quarrel and kill and care for no man and what then Ah! Could I say I le go to Heaven then and bee saved too Vide Carthus de 4. Nov. I le have bliss and happiness after all this This were something but then I must die I must come to Judgement and hold up my hand at the bar of Gods Tribunal and afterwards pay dear for all my short and momentany pleasures such a meditation by the blessing of God might in the conclusion free you from confusion The Text is Apocryphal but the Truth is Canonical Remember thy latter end and thou shalt never do amiss Let every Tombe bee your Teacher and every Monument your Monitour Let not the thoughts of your latter end bee put off to the latter end of your thoughts Thus Jerusalem sinned for this shee suffered Nauta nec in frontispicio nec in medio sed in fine navim dirigit Barthold Lam. 1.9 They who guide or steer the ship stand in the hinder part of it They who would order their conversation aright should think of the up-shot and heel of it viz. Death I remember Jerome reports of Plato hee left that famous City of Athens and chose to live in a little ancient village almost overturned with Tempests and Earthquakes Hieronym contra Jovinian lib. 2 that by being often minded therein of his approaching dissolution hee might get more power over his strong lusts and learn to live more vertuously When you sit down at your boards think on death let the creatures provided for you which even now were living but now dead put you in minde that you shall dye anon Ante senectutem curavi bene vivere in Senectute bene mori Senec. though now alive This will not hasten but sweeten your dissolution This may procure an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an easier nay it will procure an happier passage and egresse out of this world Augustin dictates and pens his Enarrations on the 39. Psalm at St. Cyprians Table in Carthage and it is an excellent Psalm For Items of our Mortality and Vanity I shall not stay to tell you how Severus the Emperour caused a Marble Urne to bee set at the gates of his Palace Quod saepe fieri non potest fiat diu Senec to remember him of his mortality nor of Philips boy with his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on certain daies and at certain times there was one appointed to salute Ferdinandus Caesar a Roman Emperour with a vive memor lethi Ferdinande When Pausanias asked Simonides to deliver some grave Apophthegm by which he might apprehend his great wisdome for which hee was so famed and renowned Simonides smiling at him Esse te hominem ne exciderit tibi delivered this do not forget thy self to bee a man Pausanius puffs at this but suddenly after being almost pined to death with famine begun to think of Simonides his saying and cryes out Haec vita est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 schola mortis O Cee hospes magnum quiddam erat oratio tua sed prae amentia esse nihil opinabar Death is like a Dial on which Sun never shines few look on that or this as if it were not best of all to bee with Christ who is all in all I could tell you of Philostrates who lived seven years in his Tombe before hee dyed that his bones might bee the better acquainted with the grave at his dissolution Dye daily and you shall not die eternally Sixthly Bee contented with what the Lord shall bestow on you It is better to bee poor by Gods appointment than to bee rich by the Devils advancement or cut out for you In the grave it is all one who hath had all and who had none you may make a good use of that expression of a vile wretch Behold I dye and what good will my birth-right do mee Were you Masters of all the Indian Mines and the gold of Ophir it could nothing advantage or avail you in the day of Gods wrath nor in the hour of your death What folly is it to lay up goods for many years when wee cannot lay up one day for the injoyment of our goods Christ who never mis-called any calls him fool who talked of enlarging his barns and building more when the building within was crazy and about to bee demolished Worthy Gentlemen Do not minde this earth as if there were no Heaven nor these things below as if they were more durable and profitable than those good things which God hath laid up for them that fear him Miser est emnis animus vinctus amicitia rerum mortalium Wee may seek the things below but in the least place and in the last place not more nor before the things of Jesus Christ Had you as much of the world in your hands as you could desire in your hearts one dram or grain of grace will afford you more comfort when you come to dye Aug Confes lib. 4 cap. 6 It is true wee may not trust in the strength of our graces nor rest on the worth of our graces for acceptance with God yet grace gotten in life will afford comfort at death when riches cannot Had you all the world never was any man so rich as to have all things and where is one so poor as hath nothing yet had you all the world Know this God that gives it to you can with-hold the comfort of it from you hee can suspend the vertue of the creatures and make that to bee a drie breast a barren womb to you which is full to others if hee lay his restraint upon the fire it shall not warm you on your food it shall not refresh you on your treasures they shall not enrich you Creatures beleeve it are better or worser to us according to the nature and vertue of Gods Warrant and Commission to them Had you the whole universe at your dispose if the Lord let one drop of his wrath fall or set the guilt of sin upon the conscience what good will the whole world do you I remember a speech of Augustins up on that speech of Dives desiring Abraham to let Lazarus give him a drop of water Tanta est duâ—cedo coelestis gaudii ut si una gutâ—ula deflueret in infernum Aug. totam amaritudinem inferni absorberet If one drop of Heavens joyes should be let fall into Hell it would swallow up all the bitterness and misery that is in Hell should one drop
sunt c. If death bee evil to any man it is mans fault not deaths fault It is a peece of folly to fear what cannot bee avoided Nihil facit mortem malam nisi quod sequitur mortem nor evaded by any Prince or Peasant Good education may free you from absurdities grace may free you from Hell neither can exempt from the arrest of death Certainly there is not so much reason for you who have part in God peace with God and well-grounded hopes of fruition of God to tremble as Lewis the eleventh of France did at the naming of Death Death will do that for you in a moment which all the Ordinances of God the graces of his Spirit yet never did It will set you free from sin sufferings and sorrow At the death of your bodies you shall bee fully delivered from this body of death Why should men disgust their own felicity and cherish an antipathy against that which so much conduceth to their eternal blisse It was more difficult to perswade some of the Heathens to live out their daies than it is to perswade thousands of us Christians to die Were Death so great an evil as is imagined Vide Ambros de bono mortis cap. 2. 8 Ambrose amongst the Fathers had not writ so much de bono mortis nor Plotinus and Seneca amongst the Philosophers Take but the pomps of death away saith one the disguises and solemn bug-bears the Tinsel Plotin Ennead lib. 7. c. 3. per totum and the actings by Torch or Candle-light and then to die is easy and quitted from its troublesome circumstances The troublesomenesse of it is owing to our fears Enchir. cap. 10 as Epictetus speaks truly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Methodius mortem piorum definit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Death cures us of all our maladies determins all our miseries Good men gain this by it that their calamities are not eternal Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death yea the dust of a Saint Christ hath taken away the death that was in death whatsoever is an evil of punishment though not death from the Saints It is now but a sleeping in Jesus a putting off of the old raggs of frailty and mortality that they may bee decked with garlands and stoles of glory For Consolation Use 1 1 Though Princes and Great men fall and die yet solace your selves in this Their souls are immortal it is the body only that 's laid in the dust The Romans when their Emperours and great ones died and their bodies were burned they caused an Eagle to mount on high thereby to signifie the souls immortality and ascent Socrates told Chiton asking him how hee would bee interred or what should bee done with him when dead Vide Heinsium de contemptu mortis lib. 2 I think saith Socrates I shall escape from you and that you cannot catch mee so much as you feize and lay hold on use it as you see cause I could never yet bee moulded into their opinions who maintained the traduction Est in Sentent lib. 2. Dist 17. Parag. 11. ad 17. the propagation of the soul and consequently the mortality of it Aquinas and Gerson both call them Hereticks who deny the creation of it meethinks it is absolutely impossible for any simple and uncompounded viz. essentially nature to bee subject to death and corruption Non excluditur omnis compositio solius dei proprium est esse perfecte absolute simplex Contarenas argues thus to omit all others Nihil potest perdere esse quod non perdit actum per quem est Istae autem formae simplices non possunt perdere actum per quem sunt quia sibi ipsis sunt actus nihil autem potest seipsum perdere Ergo Cont. de immort animae lib. 1. Et Plotin Ennead lib. 7 per totum The Scripture also is clear in my opinion for its immortality Phil. 1.23 Matth. 10.28 Eccles 12.7 the Heathens had some glympses of its immortality as Plato Tully and most or all of their Philosophers In a word as Cato Major said so I If I do erre in this I erre willingly neither will I ever suffer this errour in which I delight to bee wrested from mee as long as I live 2 Again Solace and comfort your selves in this also Though Princes and great men fall yet they shall rise again If a man die saith Job shall hee live again yea as sure as death hee shall live again There is a double certainty of the resurrection of their bodies 1 Certitudo infallibilitatis ratione divinae praedictionis there is a certainty of infallability in respect of divine prediction Heaven and Earth shall passe away before one of his words fall to the ground 2 Certitudo immutabilitatis ratione divinae praedeterminationis a certainty of immutability in respect of Gods decree and eternal purpose and his counsel shall stand This staid up the drooping spirit of holy Job See his Creed Job 19.25,26 I know my Redeemer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my Kinseman liveth and that hee shall stand at the last day upon the Earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God Whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another How confident is this holy man of his resurrection in the same individual body It is disputed in the Schools Resurrectionem Philosophis notam ex Hebraeorum doctrina affirmant non-nulli whether the resurrection of the body bee quid cognoscibile lumine natura It is said Theopompus Zoroastres and Plato whom none of the Ancient Gentiles contradicted taught the resurrection of the body and Plato thought that after the revolution of some years hee should live again and teach his scholars in the same chair hee sate then in but resurrectio mortuorum est fides Christianorum as Augustin Tertullian and others more solidly Vide Aug. in Psal 101. Et D. Chytr de fine mundi Res Mort. ubi fufius Propria Ecclesiae dei sapientia est praedictio de fine mundi resurrectione mortuorum c. Those Eagle ey'd Philosophers mocked at the Doctrin of the Resurrection Act. 17.32 divine mysteries are above humane reason's shallow capacitie from that principle of nature and axiome amongst Philosophers A privatione ad habitum non datur regressus they argued against this fundamental truth but know it to your comfort that you and yours too shall rise again this Prince and Great man shall return from his grave again not by the power of nature nor by the help of the Creature but by the power of the Creator As for mee saith David I will behold his face in Righteousnesse I shall bee satisfied when I awake with thy likenesse it is meant of the awakening of his body from the sleep of death in the day of the resurrection Psal 17.15 the Jews call the grave Beth Chaiim the house
is not and shall the hopes of these worthy Families go too all these things are against us Shall I call on you Worthy Gentlemen of his dear Relations to take notice of this sad providence this invaluable and almost irreparable losse it is your wisdome to study these dispensations and to bee sensible of the Lords displeasure weigh your losse in the ballance of the sanctuary Vide Pos in vita Aug. Weep O Weep yee Inhabitants of Atherton As Augustin did by Davids penitential Psalms even so do you by the words of my Text Hee caused them to bee drawn upon the walls of his chamber that hee might read them as hee lay in bed hee read and wept and wept and read it may bee our iniquities have provoked the most high in much displeasure to take him from us and put a period to his daies that so hee may bring upon us the judgements long since deserved and now much feared He was a Star of the most benigne influence that hath risen in our Horizon within the memory of any now alive the more therefore by us to bee lamented let not that bee our sin which was their Judgement Jer. 16.5 Ezek. 24.23 I remember Seneca reports of Senecio Cornelius that hee was a tenacious Ep. 10 covetous man care who would for their souls hee was only solicitous about his body and his mony when hee had all the day long waited on his dying friend and his friend was dead hee returns to his house sups merrily comforts himself quickly goes to bed chearfully his sorrows ended and time of mourning expired before his friend was interred Let none of us follow his example and practise Let us lay this Great mans Death close to and keep it long on our hearts let us lament over him saying Ah Lord Ah his glory let us fall down upon our faces as Ezekiel did when Pelatiah the son of Benajah died and deprecate the processe of his Judgements that no more breaches bee made upon us In wrath O Lord remember mercy 3 Observation It is a lawful and needful thing to speak honourably of Great men at their Falls and Funerals We may say good of when dead whose constant work and practise it was to do good while they lived It is lawful thus to do the practise of the Spirit of God is warrant enough it was the Holy Ghost who writ Jehoiadaies Epitaph They buried him in the City of David 2 Chron. 24.16 among the Kings because hee had done good in Israel both towards God and towards his house It is said of Josiah in his commendation like unto him there was no King 2 King 23.25 Moses and Mordecai Hezekiah Saul and Jonathan with Abner in the Text after their deaths have their due praises In Fest om Sanct. Serm. 5 It is useful thus to do plane quod eorum memoriam veneramur nostra interest non ipsorum as Bernard speaks Eâ— sanctorum commemoratione gestorum ad omnes provenit utilitas Use Cave ne lingua tua feriat collum tuum Scalig. Arab. Proverb Let this silence the detractours of our times and territories no sooner is dust cast upon the heads but they throw dirt in the faces of our Worthies Augustin fitly compares such to Dives his Dogs they lay licking and sucking Lazarus his sores his sounder parts they never medled with It was one of Solons Laws that none should dare to speak evil of the dead and Plutarch tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch in Poplic p. 102 it was highly commended and duly observed It is not so with us in this censorious age veterum mos fuit saith one neminem sepelire nisi prius laudatum c. The Tongues of many are like the Duke of Medina Sidonia's sword it knew no difference between a Catholick and an Heretick but that hee came to make way for his Master Qui regit signum est in quod Satan omnia jacula dirigit Luth. It was the custome of old to lay none in their graves till some Oratour had given the by standers a full account of the deceaseds virtues but tempora mutantur nos It is recorded to Vespatians honour that hee was more ready to conceal the vices than the virtues of his friends such commonly are best acquainted with others infirmities who are least observant of their own iniquities and irregularities To trample upon the reputation and stain the glory of the dead argues thee to bee a kin to Fleas who bite most when men are asleep or as the Poet speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rectus ordo requirit saith Bernard in his Epistle to Bruâ—o ut prius propriam deinde alienas curare studeas conscientias The charge is Levit. 19.17 Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy heart thou shalt in any wise reprove him by no means reproach him Observable is that of our blessed Saviour Luk. 7.37 Vide Maldâ—naâ— in Luk. 7.37 Constans omnium vererum authorum opinio est fuisse meretricem si non vulgo prostitutam parum certe caste viventem There was a woman in the City which was a sinner no wonder what woman is not wee may guess both who the woman was and what the sin was and which City it was but hee neither names the City nor the sin nor the sinner seeing her reformation hee consults her reputation Go and do likewise Omit no opportunity of speaking well of others do not ever speak evil of others when you have opportunity and just occasion it is a greater commendation of your goodnesse that you might and would not Posse nolle nobile est For us to bee ill spoken of and not deservedly is neither our fault nor our case alone A pimpled face discovers a distempered Liver a stinking breath corrupted Lungs and a back-biting tongue a base rotten heart it is a comfort that ill tongues cannot make ill men Nemo est tantae faelicitatis qui dentes semper evadet malignitatis It was said Christ was a wine-bibber and Paul mad It is an ill property never to requite any courtesy ever to revenge an injury upon men living it is basest when dead but to conclude this Use let the Motto which was fixed upon the door of a certain Senate-house Drex Orbis Phaeton bee in every detractours eye Si quem laudare non potes ne vitupera It was matter of sharpest censure to the Grammarians that they were better acquainted with the evils of Ulysses than with their own Use 2 Let mee exhort you all high and low to know and do your duty Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars Render to all their dues honour to whom honour belongs To practise my self what I presse on you is your expectation I shall do in this what I can though I cannot do what I would And not only at this time but when ever just occasion is offered I shall do it of others Foolish and sottish
would drink freely For his Humility and Affability I might say much hee was in honore sine tumore in elatione sine praelatione c. hee knew when to stoop and stand up and did both it is rare to see one so high so lowly so well descended so free from morosity and superciliousnesse and humble-hearted hee knew that pride was the badge of an ignoble spirit a stinking weed that 's wont to grow and thrive most in the worst soils and souls hee knew hee might easily bee too high but could never bee low enough hee would not passe by an excellency in others without observation For his disposition in relation to the poor and needy it was generous and liberal I seldome or never sound his ear or hand shut against charitable motions Hee knew that those that did good to the poor and needy for Christs sake God would do good to them for the poors sake sure for his Sons sake Hee knew that hee who promised they should have that asked had first commanded such to give unto them that asked I might call on you honorable and beloved and plead the causes and spread the cases of the distressed before you in the words of Augustin Tu contemnis egentem tui Deus non contemnit egentem sui c. why dost thou give them childish or churlish answers gives God such unto thee or as Nazianzen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why shouldest thou treasure up for Theeves or Moths or mutability of times Prov. 11.24 Look upon the necessities of others not as strangers but as members as you would have the Lord to look upon yours Bee good to all God is so especially to the houshold of Faith Vnmercifulnesse is a sin which least becomes and worst beseems one that hath tasted of the Lords graciousnesse Date obolum Bellisario may bee the cry of such as are now in pomp and Majesty For his Judgement It was not Episcopal nor Congregational but Presbyterial as conscience-bound hee freely submitted to examination the great Rock of offence His opinions such as might save him rather than raise him and therefore hee truly and duly observed the Lords day His diligent attendance upon divine Ordinances was very exemplary with what reverence and fear so far as man could judge would hee attend unto the word dispensed by the Lords Ministers when by reason of the weaknesse of his body hee could not come to the solemn publick assemblies wee saw the willingnesse of his mind that wee should come to him and therefore had his Invitation to us a command to come often to pray with him and preach to him every Lords day evening at least till the Lord had either restored him to health or removed him out of the Land of the living by death which was done not without testifications of his thankfulnesse And This was further memorable There was not that omission of that family-perfuming and preserving Ordinance of Prayer reading of the Word c. in his house as is I fear in many families of quality It is true His house was not so with God as was desired nor was holy Davids 2 Sam. 23.5 nor any of ours yet it was not without calling upon God nor without the special blessing of God Lib. 4. de Gub. Dei mihi pag. 114 Ubi fusius It was Salvians sad complaint Si honoratior quispiam religioni se applicuerit illico honoratus esse desist it Si fuerit sublimis fit despicabilis si splendissimus fit vilissimus si totus honoris fit totus injuriae c. Blessed bee our God our times are not such O that you would bee more frequent and fervent in your addresses to God! You may bid farewel to all good daies when you bid farewel to all good duties If you send up no prayers to God no desires to God sure you have no desires of God nor after God Are not the least of his blessings if there bee any little worth praying and staying for whence doth this omission arise From a principle of ignorance or negligence of carelesnesse or covetousnesse or from a principle of forgetfulnesse or fearfulnesse sure I am if you and your houses serve not God God will neither save you nor your houses Read and tremble Prov. 3.33 Jer. 10.25 Psal 9.17 In reference to his Relations I may give this character of him in short To his precious Consort hee was a loving Husband they liv'd some and might have many years together many more had the Lord spun out his thread as Rubenius Celer and his wife did without reconciliation they did never need it Erant duo in carne una Aug. duo in voce una they were not one in many things and two in some things but one in all There was no cause of crying Eia Johannes eia Maria. To his children a tender-hearted Father Not many if any more O that you and I could manifest more spiritual love to our little ones The love which wee bear unto their bodies is but the body of our love the soul of love is that love which we bear unto their souls Let us pray more for them Gods goodnesse their Ancestours prayers and their own lives every day growing better Were the three Advocates which Grotius saith the Israelites had Comeliness in children is riches if nothing else bee left them said a learned Knight It is more true of godlinesse Sir W. Rawleigh Si nil orarem nil curarem said Melancthon Should I not pray for my children I should not care for my children Your prayers may do them much more good than all the portions you can leave them Before the flood children died not before their Fathers unlesse by a violent death as some of the learned say they ground it on Gen. 11.28 Hanan say they is the first that 's noted to die before his Father Not much to build on this Pray wee for our children constantly and instantly and when-ever they bee taken from us wee shall resign them up more chearfully Vide Amam Hebr. Gram. pag. 164 A Laolde in Ephes 6.4 and though they die before us as wee see many do yet our consciences shall bee much quieter and our comfort greater To his Tenants hee was very respectful by them highly honoured and reverenced And his death is and will bee much lamented Though tears from such bee no commendation to a living yet they are credit to a dead Lord Such another in his room and of his name is I am confident the desire of their hearts and will bee the delight of their eyes To the Neighbour-hood very useful Causinus reports of one that whatsoever question was propounded to him his answer still was Love whence commest thou from Love and whither goest thou to Love and where wast thou with Love It was the design of this worthy in all matters as I have been informed to preserve Peace and Love To us of the Ministry hee was very dear and deservedly
dangerous than a bad one and that of Quintilian Nemo eodem tempore asse qui potest magnam famam magnam quietem No mortal wight can inâ—oy a great fame quietly I must say of him that hee was a man subject to like passions as other men and not without his infirmities The present tense in Grammer is accompanied with the imperfect the future with the praeterpluperfect tense such is the condition of our present and future sanctity Our future is more than perfect our present is really imperfect yet real the frailties of others are to bee observed as well as their excellencies but not with a partial envious malicious curious censorious wanton eye I drew his picture as Amelius and Carterus did Plotinuses without his command or consent they did it as hee was disputing in the Schools I did it as hee lay dead and at a distance David drew no line in Abners portraicture with a black coal why should I in HIS Davids service is noted and for that hee is praised his sin is not mentioned Act. 13.38 Jobs patience recorded his murmuring and impatience not remembred James 5.11 Rahabs Faith is mentioned not her lye Heb. 11.31 Thou art all fair my Love there is no spot in thee saith Christ of his Spouse yet shee had her blots spots infirmities and deformities Too much is said by way of Apology The best answer to words of reproach and petulancy is silence and patience It is thy best course Good Reader to let Bucers and Fagius his bones lie where they are interred if digged up they shall bee more solemnly honoured Cato was and this Worthy shall bee as often cleared as accused No more Ne duplo te oneret minus suavis oratio si longa fuerit In obitum Joannis Athertoni Armigeri illustrissimi Lancanstriae Vicecomitis Elegia PLangite doctiloqui lectores fata Magistri Atherton sacro cujus inerme jacet Pulvere seclusum corpus miserabile visu qui fossus lethi vi violentis obit Intulit heu quantum patriae jactura dolorem Iuctisonis obitum dicere jamque modis Presserat ora dolor stirpem meminisseque vitam invictum pugilem succubuisse neci Aequa falce secas justos humiles venerandos Atropos aut votis tela reversa piis Illustres patriae proceres peperere parentes illum praelustris pignora chara domus Undique praeclarem sobolem proavitaque jura expandunt cunctis crustaque picta viris Stemmate materno patrioque exortus equestri sanguine virtutes inclyta gesta probant Quae a teneris animo fidoque exercuit annis in Parochos primum caetera rura deum Constituunt haec signa fidem reverentia honoris quam fovet alit amor parturit atque fides Belliger arma capit natus bis circiter annos denos dux validus Caesaris instar erat Quod fugat ense suo divini numinis hostes non sontis mores perfida facta ferens Bellerophon ut fortis eques superare malignos Angligeni potuit sternere monstra soli Post quam diffudit scurras velut ense Cimaeras justitiam tribuit pacis amicus erat Et jam Pegeseis vectus petit aethera pennis auxiliis animi monstrae superba domans Dulcius ut moriens modulatur carmina Cygnus sic fuit ad finem casta tenaxque fides Acriter in pravos tantum curverat arcum donec victrices conticuere tubae Fidus erat legum ruris defensor inermis pauperis viduae vota libenter agit Complorant humiles Proceres Respublica casum Herois tanti proluit unda genas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dulciloqui nati O 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 patrona jure petat lachrymas mortuus ille preces Dum vivus meruit post fatum fama manebit decus in terris singula gesta patent Quam generosus erat Comitatus posse notavit positis armis munia pacis obit Ergo illi tumulum tanti moâ—umenta doloris astruis querulis vocibus astra feris Languida mors rapuit nulli mage flendus Oresti quam tibi cui puero junctus amore fuit Nec periisse putes rapuerunt Numina mentem sorbet humus carnem caetera mundus habet Aspice quam tenui terrestris gloria filo pendeat vit am fac meditare aliam Adjavet ille deus tandem ut sua chara propago auxilii nostrae spesque salutis adest Per Joannem Battersbie Scholae Leighensis Praefectum compacta Idâ—bus Januarii 1655. Vpon the much lamented Death of John Atherton Esq High Sheriffe of the County Palatine of Lancaster MEn women children you that pass this way Divert your eyes to this sad Hearse and stay The ground is holy that your feet stand on Do not prophane it with oblivion Here lies the famous Atherton my Rhime Doubts not to call him Phaenix of his time Justice and mercy and true courtesie Meeknesse uprightnesse and humility With other noble vertues met in thee As in a Centre all the world may see Soon ripe soon rot the proverb true doth say Else hadst thou been alive not laid in clay If Birth if Name if Place if Children dear If that fair Spouse of thine whose vertues rare Make her to bee admir'd if house or lands Or Skill or Art or Love of dearest friends If Prayers or Tears which sometimes Heaven move If Youth or Strength if good mens Sighs or Love If any or if all these had been able Th'ad'st liv'd as yet but Deaths inexorable It 's said the day whereon thou wast inter'd Heaven did weep as though it had abhor'd So sad a sight and men pour'd out their tears Abundantly as Symptomes of their fears Of some sad fates approach as when doth fall A Comet from above which warneth all When good men so lament ones Death sure then Hee that is dead was not the worst of men By all this mourning this my thoughts have scan'd Hee went by water tho hee went by land Death should not now bee lean me thinks but fat And hide his ugly bones from sight for that Hee feeds on such sweet flesh of late as on Brave Holland Ashurst and our Atherton I am told thy lingring visitation Brought thee to heavenly meditation O blessed soul that thou could'st learn to kisse The Rod that brought thee to celestial blisse Grow fast young Babe and let thy Fathers grace Advance thee to his high renown and place Preserve his Name and when thou' rt dead hee 'l bee An everlasting monument to thee J must now leave thee grisly Death doth call O do not weep my Dear I hope I shall Heavens blisse injoy this sanctifi'd affliction Now brings mee to a state of true perfection Amongst the many joyes that God hath given T hou'st been my greatest comfort under Heaven Heavens bless thee Dear with these our tender Babes Ere long I hope you 'l wear Christs glorious Robes Renounce the world love God make Christ your own T is th' only way to injoy an
heavenly Throne O bee to mine an help a friend a Mother Now Christ takes mee God give to thee another My dissolution I could better bear A lass than tidings of thy Death to hear Remove Deaths stroke O God accept a price Yea rather take mee for a Sacrifice And I had rather die than live to see Thee taken hence then comes my Misery Heavens keep thy soul my head shall bee a grave Ever to hold thee whilst an heart I have Revive my Dear can neither Skill nor Art Take deaths sad symptomes from thy tender heart Of all the Woes that ever mee befel None like to this my Joy my Dear Farewel Erubuit Facultas Extorsit amor Lugens posuit Bradleius Hayhurst AN Elegy upon the never sufficiently deplored Death of my noble Friend John Atherton of Atherton Esq High-Sheriffe of Lancashire ENvious Death what 's thy design t' undo Our Gentry Clergy and our Country too Lancashire's poor in one year there are gone Three Pillars Holland Ashurst Atherton Could Paracelsus men as birds revive Great John within one hour should bee alive Or in his room shouldst thou dispense would I Prepare for my accounts and gladly dye Could tears or prayers thee from the dead regain Who would not sigh and pray and weep amain There were in Caesar many Marii 'T is true in thee more both did live and die I dare avouch it contradict who can Each part of thee could make a perfect man Envious Death summe up thy gains and tell What hast thou got This body in this cell His noble soul was pure etherial fire His heart and thoughts did far above aspire The Crowns and Scepters of most potent Kings Hee held their Diadems inferiour things Thou could'st not such a soul surprize 'T is fled From Earth to Heaven where not one tear is shed There is no pain but pleasure there 's no trouble Life is eternal there here but a bubble No moans no groans now no complaints can come From him There 's joy and triumph in their room Blest soul thou art in peace and well dost know One hour in Heaven's worth thousands here below Another Epitaph on the Right Worshipful JOHN ATHERTON Anagram Ah no other in AH there 's no other in thy place Great Prince who can it so much grace Heaven's fill it and give to thy seed Age Virtue Honour with all speed This will repair our breach and grief In part abate and yeeld relief Ah there 's no other Magistrate With us to serve the Church or State Hee 's fal'n and enshrin'd here lies One noble valiant just and wise Give us an age to tell the rest Which may All cannot bee exprest Posuit Richardus Jolly Schola Athertoniensis praf Ad tumulum Principis illustrissimi viri honoratissimi Domini Joannis Athertoni Armigeri totius Comit. Lancastriensis praefecti Epitaphium ISte Athertoni tumulus tegit ossa Joannis quis qualis fuerit scit scio Magnus erat In vivis talis qualem vix Zoilus unquam dente Theonino carpere possit erat Esset Apellis opus te pingere Clare Joannes languentis patriae fida calumna tuae Pastorum tutela tuae decus Inelyte stirpis gloria Magnatum religionis honos An generis splendor nil non illustria prosint stemmata nec virtus bellica chara phalanx Nil tua te pietas nil te veneranda potest as Juvit heu flecti mors truculenta nequit Occubuit magnus princeps florentibus annis lilia ceu saevo frigore verna cadunt Proh dolor hic jacet exanimis quis talia fando Temperet a lachrymis proh dolor ut cecidit Marte cadit non Morte cadit fatalia Parcae stamina ruperunt non reparanda manu Pulvis umbra sumus quassum vas somnus aura Ros spectrum ventus vita caduca vapor Te vivo suavis vita est moriente peracris Dulce mihi tecum vivere dulce mori Non longum praeclare vale vir fidus Achates Tu mihi pro multis millibus unus eras Tros Anchisiades amissum morte parentem flevit ut occisum Pergama maesta ducem Nos ita te miseros longa O dignissima vita sedulus extinctum flere coeget amor Flere jubet Pietas suadet Spes gaudia Nomen tua ad extremum stent monumenta diem Molliter ossa premat tellus clementia servet alma dei sobolem teque Maria tuam Macte tua virtute puer clarissime tandem Solamen nostrum est surculus arbor erit Vive Deo precor quod patri fata negarunt producant vitae tempora longa tuae Ita precatur lugens J. L. Vpon the much lamented Death of the honoured and truly honourable John Atherton of Atherton Esq High-Sheriff of Lancashire HAd'st thou grave Plutarch or Laertius Or Trajans Pliny or Hesychius Had'st thou Callisthenes to write thine acts As Alexander had his noble facts Had'st thou Achilles fate great Homers Pen To draw thy portraicture or Nazianzen To limne thee to the lire or Melchiors quill Or quaint Protogenes with his pencil Rare Phaenix of our age then might thy glory Remain on record in eternal story The Babes unborn should ask whose is this Herse And wee 'l our tribute pay in moanful verse But thy Renown is such thy Name more graceth The verse then they can it who ere thee praiseth Only Seraphick tongues due laud can give To thee great John too good with us to live If to admire were to commend then wee Thy worth could tell with more facility Thy vertues thee commend to after ages Without the help of Elegiack pages Each tongue could tell and every eye did see An impetus heroical in thee Thy Grave deportment on the Bench was such Though young that Myriads did admire it much Just Aristides like concord and peace Heavens legacy 't was thy design t' increase A parallel Husband Father Friend or Brother Justice or Sheriffe where can you discover Eyes to the blinde legs to the lame an Harbour To the afflicted and the poor mans succour Humble when Highest of Man-hood the Mirrour Noble to Friends to Foes a mighty terrour Each wrinkle in thy brow nay credit mee Earle Nevils-like a Princes Tombe might bee Thine eye like Luthers Leonine and fierce Or as the Basilisks so would it peirce When they beheld thee march they thought another Caesar was there or Alexanders Brother In war thy prowesse policy and skill Scanderbegs like ever appeared still True to thy trust none in our Memory Abhorred turn-coats more or treachery Such was thy temperance and sobriety Thy patience prudence and dexterity Great Atherton the style of Parasite I need not fear while in thy praise I write Thy care to curb prophanenesse and to keep The Wolves from preying on Christ's tender Sheep Thy pains about the Clergy Helicon Wee may exhaust in lamentation Better enough than All such rare perfections Center'd in thee as transcend my expressions As Croesus's son dumb and appal'd I 'd
rested Had not this fatal dart my muse molested But Death like to the Duke of Parma's sword Spares not the noblest Lady no nor Lord. In Rome men dy'd Hormisda marks but wee Gods with us dying and interred see They die like men whom wee count Gods and lye In dust without distinctive Heraldrie Long live Heavens grant T' inherit lands and fame That other in thy room and of thy Name Another Epitaph Augustin retracts what hee had writ before In praise of learned Manlius Theodore Wee need not nor half-faced may wee draw Thee as Antigonus to hide a flaw Thou was 't give us more time and wee 'l say what Summe up most Excellencies thou wast that 'T is an Herculean task him to commend Whose worth knows no beginning no nor end Wee 'l weep the rest cease Muse let him who can Sail further into that vast Ocean Who so doth live and do and die like thee His Fame shall last to all eternity To the Mourners Happie Nepotian now thine eye sees None of our eminent calamities Old Hierom so thee judg'd and Zenophon Thought Gryllus blest and wee thee noble John Weep nor as without hope cry not Alas Hee 's better where hee is than where hee was Heark is not that His voice doth not Hee say Heavens meanest mansion's worth this Globe of Clay Posuit Jac. Livesey Series Decretorum DEI CAUSARUM QUE ET Mediorum Salutis nostrae Cognitio Dei ejusque decret orum studium Theologiae nostrum in hâc vitâ verè alphabeticum infantile est donec in caelestem Academiam ad ipsum Deum fontem sapientiae translati non tantùm titulo tenus doctores sed verè solidè a deo docti perfecti Theologi fiamus D. Chytr de vitâ aeterna pag. 179. LONDON Printed by R. Ibbitson for Thomas Parkhurst at the three Crowns over against the great Conduit at the lower end of Cheapside 1657. Clarissimis nec non in Christo Charissimis viris Dom. Joanni Tilsleio Ecclesiae Deanensis ET Dom. Leonardo Claytono Ecclesiae Blackburniensis In agro Lancastriensi Rectoribus vigilantissimis concionatoribus politissimis Theologis eximiis Vitam faelicitatem QUatenùs nobis denegatur diu vivere relinquamus aliquid quo nos vixisse testemur inquit C. Plinius secundus in Epistolâ quâ Silii Italici mortem deflet ut satius est unum aliquid insignitèr Plin. Ep. Libro 9. Rustico suo quà m plurima mediocritèr ita plurima mediocritèr si non possimus unum aliquid facere insignitèr Ori tamen meo digitum apponere proposueram sub silentio delitescens propter ingenioli mei obtusitatem scientiae pauperiem insanabile illud scribendi cacoethes quod nonnullos hodierno die nollem me tenet Seriem verò praerosam hanc qualem qualem decretorum dei Causarumque Mediorum salutis ad implendas vacantes quasdam pagellas bonâ doctorum cum veniâ in lucem edere celeberrimis nominibus vestris quae volitant docta per ora virûm inscribere dicare ausus sum munusculum tantis patronis penitùs indignum fateor memoris tamèn gratique animi publicum sit testimonium pro multiplici vestrâ in me benevolentià quam singulari cum gaudio indiès magìs magisquè sum expertus Brevis est inest autem sua gratia parvis suadae delicias fastidit quid refert ut Lipsii verbis utar quo velo aut veste eam texerit author comptu philologico series hujusmodi non est exornanda placent deo non solùm qui coccinum dihaphum ad usum tabernaculi proferunt sed qui pro modulo quod possunt caprarum pilos arietumve pelles afferunt acerrimi criticorum judicii vestrum moderabitur suffragium si misello tenello huicce faetui arriseritis aspiraveritis hoc ipsum ut Salvianus ad Salonium infructuosum saltem non erit quod prodesse tentavi mens boni studii piique voti etiamsi affectum non invenerit caepti operis habet tamen praemium voluntatis Valetote viri Ornatissimi diuque Ecclesiae Christi praesitis prositis omnigenis dotibus animas vestras locupletet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conatibus vestris verè piis benedicat faxitque ut studia vestra adultiora prelo mandentur non tineis blattisve comittantur cedantque in dei gloriam piorum emolumentum Ita precatur vestrum observantissimus Jacobus Livesey Scripsi Idibus Februarii Anno 1655. Sententia rigida Calvinianorum extrema Praedestinatio cujus partes Electio quorundam absoluta Reprobatio reliquorum absoluta Creatio hominis Faedus legale sive operum Lapsus in Adamo Mors Christi pro electis Faedus novum seu Evangelii Vocatio externa per verbum Sacramenta Defectus vocationis externa per verbum Sacramenta Vocatio efficax interna per gratiam spiritus Defectus gratiae efficacis Gratiae habituales fidei c. Gratiae umbratiles Perseverantia Apostasia Obduratio Infidelitas Calus aterua Mors aeterna Sententia vel primo aspectu dura quaeque urgetur duabus maxime difficultatibus 1 Altera quod qui lapsui reprobationem praeficiunt sive illi hominem ut creabilem sive ut jam creatum objectum praedestinationis statuant videntur in dei justitiam simùl bonitatem impingere quibus utrisque nihil potest esse pugnantius quà m hominem nondum aliquid mali suâ culpâ promeritum ad exitium destinare 2 Altera quòd ex istâ sententiâ sequi videatur deum in praedicatione verbi fide agere haud satis integrâ quin imo serio illudere humano generi dum vocat ad fidem in Christum ad promissiones novi faederis paritèr cum electis reprobos ad quos tamèn ex praecedaneâ suâ intentione mors Christi faedus Evangelii nullo modo pertinent aut pertenire etiam possunt Secunda Sententia Arminianorum extrema altera Creatio hominis Faedus operum Lapsus in Adamo Mors Christi Faedus Evangelii Electio conditionata indefinita omnium viz. sub conditione fidei c. Vocatio universalis ad fidem per media externa sufficientia Auxilium generale seu gratia universalis sufficiens ad conversionem Fides gratiam oblatam liberè apprehendens Infidelitas gratiam oblatam liberè respuens Perseverantia finalis Apostasia finalis totalis a fide gratiâ Electio peremptoria Reprobatio peremptoria Salus aeterna Mors aeterna Qui sunt partium Arminianorum quid intùs ac seriò sentiant nondum illis libuit explicatò profiteri ne eos juxta cum Pelagio sentire nimis palà m constaret liquidò cujus olim damnatas haereses ab orco revocatas distinctiuncularum duntaxat subtiliori limâ politas de novo instaurârunt non saniùs sed cautiùs locuti in istorum dogmate cùm alia debent esse meritò suspecta tum illud imprimis ad suum authorem Pelagium est relegandum quo statuitur divinae