is that the Apostle rings such a challenge in the ears of death O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Vide Mr. Herberts temple-dialogue between the Christian and death p. 164. Lenietur mortis damnum non enim est invicta ut antea cum Christus illam superavit ac in suo certamine crucis faelicissime vicit Pet. Martyr loc comm de Luct pro mort Gen. 46.30 The sting of death is sin But thanks be to God which hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ The Apostle speaketh as alluding to a souldier that having fought with and disarmed his adversary triumpheth O Sir where is your sword wherewith you threatned so bitterly where is your pistol with which you would wound me mortally O death where is thy sting with which thou threatnedst to make me smart eternally O grave where is that victory of which thou boastest so exceedingly Thanks be to God that hath given us the victory through Christ Christ died not only in bonum fidelium sed in loco eorum not only for their good but in their stead now death like a Bee left its sting and lost its sting in Christ that now it may make a noise but cannot sting the believer Surely If Jacob could say when he had seen Joseph Now let me die since I have seen thy face The soul that with the eye of faith hath seen this son of Joseph may with greater boldness dare death and encounter the grave How sweetly doth old Simeon sing out his souls requiem having saith one laid in his heart that holy Child Jesus Luke 2.29 30. The soules solace whom he lapt in his armes sings his Nunc dimittas I fear no sin I dread no death I have lived enough I have my life I have longed enough I have my love I have seen enough I have my light I have served enough I have my saint I have sorrowed enough I have my joy Sweet babe let this Psalm serve for a lullaby to thee and for a Funeral to me Oh do thou sleep in my armes and let me sleep in thy peace Valde protest atus sum me nolle sic a Deo satiari Luther Melch. Adam in vit Luth. Be not contented with any gift from God beneath his son Say as Abraham Lord what wilt thou give me if I go Christlesse Lord thou hast given a plentiful estate comfortable kinred a goodly dwelling lovely children much honour from men many lawful pleasures and delights But Ah Lord what are these to a Christ Give me Christ or I die yea Lord give me Christ or I die eternally View thy Saviour on the Crosse fighting with this last enemy for thy sins for thy soul See his arms stretched out to embrace thee his head hanging down to kisse thee his feet nailed that he cannot run from thee his side opened to shew thee how nigh thou liest to his heart and take him down with the arms of faith and lay him in the sepulchre of thy soul O be not faithlesse but believing Cry out My Lord and my God I tell thee couldst thou heap up mountains of prayers couldst thou pray so frequently that thy heart even bled within thee and so frequently that thy knees were as hard as Camels knees as is reported of James the brother of our Lord couldst thou weep as some speak of Mary Magdalen in Balba thirty years together couldst thou fast as many Millions of years as there have been moments since the Creation yet without an interest in this death of Christ it would all be of no worth of no value to no purpose at all Motives I shall in the next place annex some motives that the former particulars may have the deeper impression on your affections 1. Other things are unprofitable Honour is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An opinion Matth. 4.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A fancy 1. Consider how vain and unprofitable all other things wil be to you when ye fall Do but ponder that word fall when ye die 1. Ye fall from the highest pinacle of honour and reputation The place of Magistracy which knoweth you now will know you no more One of the Ancients standing by Cesar's tomb cryeth out Vbi nunc pulchritudo Cesars quo abiit magnificentia ejus Where is now the beauty Acts 25.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A mathematical figure a meer notion 1 Cor. 7.31 One was appointed at the Popes inthronization to burn a wad of Straw and running before the Pope to cry out Sic transit gloria mundi Gen. 25.32 what is become of the magnificence where are the Armies now where the Honours the Triumphs the Trophies of Cesar All was gone when Cesar was gone Your honours and your worships your power and your places all die with you if not before you Titles of honour glister like Glow-worms in the dark night of this life but in the day of death they all vanish and disappear It s probable some of you may be nobly born finely bred highly advanced but when ye come to die ye may say of all these as Esau of his birthright Behold I am at the point to die and what profit shall this birthright do to me What good will my honour my credit do me Christ will do me good when I come to die so will the power of godliness but none of my places or preferments will 2. Ye fall from your greatest treasures and possessions 1 Tim. 6.7 All the Cains of Adam are Abel's all the possessions of man are vanity Mr. Broughton As ye brought nothing into the world so it 's certain ye shall carry nothing out of the world Saladin the mighty Monarch of the East is gone and hath carried no more along with him then ye see i. e. a shirt hung up for that purpose said the Priest that went before the Bier The holy Ghost observeth well that rich men are by their wealth a 1 Tim. 6.17 rich only in this world and they are b 1 John 3.17 this worlds goods For as the Martyr said I am going to the place where money beareth no mastery In another world Gold and Silver are not currant coyn Holy Mr. Burroughs A Divine now with Christ giveth me two stories of dying rich men The one is of a Miser that being to die called for his bags and hugging them crieth out Must I leave you Must I leave you The other is of one that being on his death-bed called for some pieces of Gold and layed them to his heart but presently said I find them cold Take them away They will not do They will not do The unsearchable riches that are in Christ will do His warm blood applied by faith will not be cold to thy heart 3. Ye fall from all your friends and relations when ye die they that were neer and dear to you will leave you Ye may when ye lie on your death beds
all have sinned A worthy Divine of our own doth solidly though briefly state that question viz. Whether man had not died if he had not sinned Or whether death be natural or accidental and doth evidently prove that mans life should have lasted as long as his obedience that man had never fallen into his grave if he had never fallen into transgression Hâ— died not because his nature was subject to corruption but because sin had corrupted his nature If he had not turned from God he had not returned to dust Man was wholly a stranger to death till acquainted with sin If he had continued in a state of innocency he had continued in a state of immortality Though Adam died not actually assoon as he fell yet he presently became mortal and liable to death for immediately upon his fall sentence was passed upon q Gen. 3.19 him Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return according to that r Gen. 2.17 Some say the Pope hath a book called Taxa camerae Apostolicae shewing the rate of every sin At what rate one may be drunk or swear or keepe an Whore law In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die As the Malefactour is a dead man in Law when the sentence is pronounced upon him though there be some time between his Condemnation and Execution so was man dead both in the decree and threatning of God when the sentence of death was denounced against him This word death alone implyeth at what rate man may sâ—n Death temporal which is the separation of body and soul death spirituall which is the separation of God and the soul in part and for a time eternal which is everlasting and total perdition from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power are the rate of sin and the sad fruits that grow on this root of bitterness Sin is the father of death but death like Senacherib's issue will at last destroy its Parent Sin in the body is like the Leprosie in the house which will not out till it be pulled down but when the body of the Saint shall be dissolved that body of death shall be wholly destroyed though there was some respite between it and his actual dissolution Now Magistrates sin therefore must die If you perform but that duty of much difficulty yet of absolute necessity of communing with your own hearts looking somtimes back upon your lives without question you will find beside your original depravation a numberless number of actual provocations I believe the best of you are too like the Egyptian Temple without fair and beautiful but within full of Serpents and Crocodiles Your lives possibly may be unblameable as to the eye of man but are there not seven abominations in your hearts 2 Cause is Physical the corruptibility of mans body Contraria inter se pugnant mutuo se destruunt Gen. 3.19 The second Cause of death is the corruptibility of Magistrates bodies this is the natural cause your bodies are corruptible It s now common to all Creatures mixt of Elements to be resolved into that out of which they were made Contrary qualities will for a time contend and at last destroy each other In the third of Genesis we read mans exodus viz. that he was dust in regard of his original production and shall be dust in regard of his ultimate resolution As the finest garment breedeth a moth and that moth eateth up the garment Physitians have a rule Vltimus sanitatis gradus est morbo proximus As the strongest tree breedeth a Worm and that Worm devoureth the tree So the fairest and strongest bodies breed such diseases as will at last consume them Eliphaz speaking of the highest men assureth us that their foundation is in the dust Now the stability of a building dependeth on the strength of its foundation Job 4.19 The Church is therefore immoveable because Christ her foundation is invincible Matth. 16.18 but our natural foundation being in the dust we cannot hold out long The house of mans body is walled and roofed with Earth and founded upon no better then dust The bodies of Magistrates have the same foundation The Psalmist speaking of a Prince saith Psal 146.4 that he returneth to his Earth As if his body could challenge no alliance to or propriety in any thing but Earth L. Cur. and Plut. in vit It is His earth Alexander the Great being wounded at the siedge of an Indian City said I have been told I am the Son of God but I see now I am liable to wounds and death as well as others 3. The supernatural cause of death is the appointment of Heaven It is appointed for all men once to die Heb. 9 27. 3 The Metaphysical cause is God's decree Some men yea most in the World die twice the second death hath power over them but all must die once The exception of one or two that were translated and of them that shall be found alive at the comming of Christ The greatest Landlords are but Tenants at God's will in these houses of clay will not make void this general rule Magistrates that Execute the Statute-law of men die by a standing Law of God When God is pleased to give sickness a warrant under the great Seal of Heaven it quickly executeth its Office and turneth men into Earth It is thus ordered in God's high Court that Judges and Justices who now sit on the Bench shall die and appear at his Bar. The Turkish Historian observeth that when the great Bassaes are feasting oftentimes there commeth a Messenger by order from the great Sultan and casteth a black Mantle over them and they are presently forced to submit to strangling So the proudest Potentates in the midst of their mirth are often surprized by a sudden distemper commissionated by God and sent to their long homes Vse by way of Inference that nothing can free from death I shall now draw some Inferences from the Doctrine First If Magistrates are mortal observe hence deaths prevalency and power above all the Priviledges and Prerogatives of nature Lib. 5. in conclusion of cap. ult It is a memorable Speech of Sir Walter Rawleigh Though God who loveth men is not regarded yet death which hateth men is quickly obeyed O mighty death O eloquent death whom no man could advise or perswade thou canst prevail with Take notice from hence that nothing in this World can priviledge a man against the arrest of death 1. Strength cannot First strength cannot all the strength and power which the gods have cannot free them from death Magistrates have civil strength as they are Magistrates the Command of whole Counties Kingdoms yea Empires in this respect it is that Magistrates are called Å¿ Tiâ—us 3.1 Principalities and Powers yet death hath power over them that hath power over others Alexander and Cesar that Conquered Countries and Kingdomes were conquered by
stewardship It behoveth you when you sit on the Bench of men to act faithfully that when ye shall appear at the Bar of God ye may answer comfortably Remember when ye are passing sentence of life or death on others that Christ ere long will passe a sentence far more weighty even of eternal life or death on you Isid It s reported concerning the Emperours of Constantinople that on their Coronation day a Mason is appointed to present unto them certain Marble stones saying these Verses Elege ab his saxis ex quo invictissime Cesar Choose Mighty Sir under which of these stones your pleasure is ere long to lay your bones Ipse tibi tumulum me fabricare velis If ye that now are in robes would consider death will levell you with them that are in rags if ye would with the eye of your meditation behold your Coffins standing before you on the table in the place of judicature it might be an excellent curb to iniquity and spur to fidelity 4 Requisites in a good Magistrate 1. Magnanimity Now there are four things requisite in a Magistrate that would discharge his trust faithfully First courage and magnamity Every magistrate should be a man of mettle not daunted with dangers nor frighted with frowns He should so carry himself that others should fear him as a terror to evil doers but he should fear nothing but sin Like Chrysostom who when a threatning Message was sent him from the Empresse Eudoxia go tell her said he to the Messenger Nill timeo nisi peccatum Ye are called the shields of the people Psal 47. ult and shields ye know are ventrous weapons they are made to bear many blows Be thou strong and very couragious Josh 1.7 saith God to the chief Magistrate of Israel 2 Chron. 9.18 Durescito Durescito O infelix Lantgravie said the poor Smith to the Lantgrave of Thuringia who was more mild then stood with his peoples profit The sword of justice saith one ought to be furbished with the oyl of mercy But there are cases wherein severity should cast the scale The throne of Solomon was underpropped with Lions and a Lion is part of the Royal arms both speaking that a Lion-like spirit is becomming him that is in a publike place Deut. 1.17 Secondly uprightness and integrity 2. Integrity It s reported of a King of Persia that he would come of from his horse upon the way to doe justice to a poor man A Magistrate as he should not be frighted with fear so not swayd by favour Ye should be like a Boul without a byas running on fairly and evenly not leaning on this side or on that side like the Sun which affordeth as gracious influences to the low violets as to the tall cedar to the poorest beggar as to the most potent Emperour like a publike Conduit in a City whence justice should run down like water as freely and as fully to the meanest as to the greatest But it was a bad speech of Cesar Causa Cassii melior sed Bruto nil denegare possum Plut. in vit Ces Laws were never made to be Nets only to catch the little Fish and to let the great ones break through The great Judge of Heaven is no respecter of persons neither should Justices on Earth Deut. 1.17 That Edict of Constantine was worthy to be written in letters of gold If any of my Friends Courtiers or Servants have wronged any let them come to me I wil not only right them but reward them Plut. in vit Public And that act of Brutus memorable who commanded his two sons to be executed and saw it done for conspiring with Tarquin's Ambassadors against the Commonwealth Thirdly bounty and liberality 3. Liberality Exod. 18.21 Exod. 23.8 A Justice should not only not be covetous but hate covetousness It s the dust of money that is blown up into the Judges eyes that hindreth their sight into causes It was a witty speech of a pious * Vines on 1 Pet. 2.13 14. p. 25. person He is the best Magistrate that is good for nothing Ye must neither take bribes your selves nor by your servants for Optimus maximus venderetur imperator There is not a gift ye take but will be as a dagger at your hearts another day like Achans wedge of Gold it will cleave your souls in sunder It will in this particular be happy for him that when he commeth to die 1 Sam. 12.2 3. can say as dying Samuel Behold here I am witnesse against me before the Lord and before his Anointed Whose Oxe have I taken or whose Asse have I taken or whom have I defrauded whom have I oppressed or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes And they said Thou hast not defrauded nor oppressed nor taken ought of any mans hands 4. Ability The fourth Thing requisite in a Magistrate is ability A Magistrate must be not only a man of piety but a man of parts quick-sighted uf a deep apprehension knowing the laws exactly because if he be not he will sometime or other condemn the innocent and justifie the wicked And the rather every Judge ought to be able There are they that can make Candida de nigris de candentibus alba in regard he hath to deal with men that can draw a fair Glove over a foul hand blanch over a bad cause with specious pretences as Ziba against Mephibosheth I honour the Profession of the law and I wish that some men did not dishonour their profession who indeed value their substance above their Consciences not believing that of the father In die judicii plus valebit conscientia pura quam marsupia plena Beza telleth us that he once saw on a table the Pictures of four sorts of Persons and their several Posies 1. The Courtier with this Posie By my sword I defend you all 2. The Clergy man with this Posie By my prayers I preserve you all 3. The Countrey-man with this I feed you all 4. The Lawyer with this I devour you all I request Lawyers to consider that of God to Moses Exod. 23.2 Thou shalt not speak in a cause to wrest judgement and that speech of the Apostle I can do nothing against the truth 2 Cor. 13.8 but for the truth But I have digrest too far already Secondly If ye would fit your selves for death live among men exemplarily You that must die shortly Live among men exemplarily August had need to live strictly Must you ere long fall then whilst you stand be holy to admiration to imitation Nihil sic revocat à peccatis sicut frequens meditatio mortis Some say the stroaking of the belly with the hand of a dead man will cure the Tympany I am sure the thoughts of death seriously laid to the heart are a good Medicine for an evil heart Nothing in the War will so much dead the Cannon as
look on your left hands and there is none to help you on your right hands and there is none to pity you on the one side of the bed thy neighbours may be sighing and sobbing on the other side thy wife and children may be wringing their hands and renting their hearts c Psal 142.4 5. but if thou canst not then with David look up and say Lord thou art my refuge O what a sighing sobbing weeping condition art thou in indeed O what a comforting cordial will it be to a dying person to be able in uprightnesse of heart to say with d Psal 73.26 It was an excellent saying of a worthy person to a great Peer of this Realm that shewed him his houses goods lands honours pleasures and the like My Lord you had need to make sure of Heaven otherwise your Lordship will be a very great loser when you die Asaph My flesh and my heart fail me but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever When news cometh that ye must die can the ablest Physitian in the world prescribe or provide such a cordial as good Hezekiah had He turned to the wall and weepeth saying Lord thou knowest I have walked before thee with a perfect heart Believe me Sirs your honours treasures and relations will shake hands with you at death like leaves in Autumn fall from you like Absalom's Mule fail you even in your greatest extremity Then Dives and his dishes Herod and his Harlot e Isa 38.2 3. Baltasar and his bowls Achan and his wedges Balaam and his wages the ambitious man and his honours voluptuous man and his pleasures covetous man and treasures must part and that for ever ever Doth it not concern you then to choose that part that shall never be parted with 2. Hereby your names will be highly honorable Prov. 3.13 15. Salvian complained that in his time men thought Religion made Noble men vile when indeed saith he it maketh vile men Noble Job 1.8 Car. in loc which shall never be taken from you 2. By this means you names may be highly honoured true glory is entailed on piety The Heathen would go through the Temple of Vertue to the Temple of Honour Happy is the man that findeth wisedom length of dayes is in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honour I do not say that wicked men shall commend you for godlinesse no their good word were a blot to your names What evill have I done said the Philosopher that this vicious wretch speaketh well of me Yet godlinesse will make you like statues of Gold which the polluted breath of ungodly ones cannot stain the more the dirty feet of men rub on a figure graven in brasse the more lustre they give it But God and godly men will honour you for holinesse What doth God say of a living Saint Hast thou not considered my servant Job i. e. I am sure in thy travels and wandrings about the world thou couldst not choose but take notice of Job he is my jewel my darling Job was a godly magistrate Godlinesse doth truly ennoble a person the four Monarchs without it are resembled to four beasts King Herod to a fox Nero to a lyon the Princes of Israel to the kine of Bashan Nam genus proavos quae non fecimus ipsi Vix ea nostra vocâ— Ovid. a special man among all the sons of men He is such a spectacle as may justly draw all eyes and hearts after him When thou walkedst to and fro didst thou not make a stand at Job's door I cannot but look upon him my self and consider him therefore surely thou hast considered him And how honourably doth God speak not only of a godly Magistrate living but when he is dead also f Josh 1.2 Moses my servant is dead g Isa 41.8 The seed of Abraham my friend So godly men will honour you if ye fear God When your eyes are shut mens mouthes will be open And what will good men say of a pious judge There was a Judge that would not swerve a tittle from the Law but executed it couragiously without fear impartially without favour who made the Malefactor to tremble with his frowns and cheered the innocent with his smiles He was one that did justly loved mercy and walked humbly with his God of whom the world was not worthy for he is now enjoying a weight of glory And of a good Justice when dead what a character will good men living give There was a Justice that would secure his conscience whatever became of his credit that would please God how much soever he displeased men that was not only strict to punish but active to find out swearers drunkards and Sabbath breakers Pious Master Vines at Essex Fu. p. 15. He was one that ever counted the toleration of men in such sins an intolerable sin Or if you will have it in the language of a learned Divine now in Heaven He was a Justice that would scatter drunkards from their Ale-bench and never understood the language of a Bottle or a Basket O how gallantly if ye act nobly for God will these trumpets sound your praises when ye are in the place of silence When of a wicked Magistrate they will speak when he is dead as Nazianzen of Julian Caligula could say of his father in law Marcus Silanus that he was but a golden brute when he was smitten and wounded It was to him indeed vulnus lethale but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sickness whereby he died was possibly damnation to him but it was salvation to us we are thereby freed from his wicked pattern and ungodly practises Or as the Romans of Pompey by a witty sollecisme Misera nostra magnus est The more he was advanced the more our misery encreased The very * Heathen can tell us of a long lived vicious man Diu fuit non diu vixit Multum jactatu est Senec. ad Paulin. cap. 8. non multum navigavit Believe me the highest ungodly Magistrate when he dyeth goeth out like a Candle that leaves a stinking sent a noysome smell behind him 3. If ye mind godliness your deaths will be truly peaceable 3. Hereby your deaths will be truly peaceable An ungodly man can never die with true peace though he may die in much security He may die by his own hands and yet not with his own will h Luke 12.20 Job 27.8 Such a mans soul is taken from him and snatch'd away by foâ—ce Were I not by experience too too much acquainted how hard and desperately wicked the heart of man is I should much wonder how any man should die in his wits that dyeth not in the faith of Christ that their souls go not out of their bodies as the Divels out of them that were possessed renting raging foaming and teaâ—ing I am confident were the conscience awakened no graceless wretch alive can look death in