eyes said Cast me not off O Lord now in my old Age when strength faileth me A while after he said He hath afflicted me sore but he will never never cast me off Being desired to arm himself with faith and a stedfast hope in God's Mercies against the Temptations of Satan He said I am wholly Christ's and the Devil has nothing to do with me and God forbid that I should not now have experience of the sweet Consolation in Christ. Then with a smiling Countenance gave up the Ghost and was interred nobly by the King's Commandment But in Q. Mary's time his Bowels being taken up they were burnt with Fagius's He died Anno Christi 1550. The Death of Gasper Hedio HE preached vigorously against Masses Indulgences and Auricular Confession and wrote many Books against them What time he could spare from his Ministerial Function he employed in writing Commentaries and Histories until the year of his Death which was Anno 1552. The Death of Oswald Myconius AFter the Death of Oecolampadius he was made chief Pastor in Basil where voluntarily laying down his Divinity Lectures upon some grudges the University had against him he inclining to Luther's Opinion about the real presence in the Sacrament he wholly applied himself to his Pastoral Office He died Anno 1552. aged 64. The Death of George Prince of Anhalt HE was a great Divine Learned in the Law and skilful in Physick he conserred with Camerarius about the mutation of Empires their Period and Causes about Heavenly Motions and the effects of the Stars The last Act of this Prince his Life expressed his Piety using frequent Prayer for himself and all the Princes of that â—…amily he often pondered upon these Texts God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son c. No Man shall take my Sheep out of my Hands Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest He died Anno 1557. aged 47. The Death of Justus Jonas HE employed himself much in Disputations about Religion in defence of the Truth and in School Divinity Several Churches were reformed by him and committed to his charge He was a Man of an excellent Wit great Industry and Integrity of Life joined with Piety and one whom Luther and most of the famous Men of that Age highly esteemed He died Anno 1555. aged 63. The Death of John Rogers HE was hurried to Newgate On the fourth of Febraary the Keeper told him he must prepare for Execution at which not being at all concerned said Then if it be so I need not tie my points Before he went to the Flames he was carried before Bonner Bishop of London who earnestly persuaded him to recant and live but he utterly refused life upon such conditions exhorting such as stood about him to repent and cleave fast to Christ. As he came out his Wife with Nine small Children about her and one sucking at her Breast waited to see him of which he took his leave bidding them trust in the Lord and he would plentifully provide for them After which he went couragiously to the Stake and with admirable patience embraced the Flames being the first that sealed his Testimony with his Blood during the Reign of that bloody Queen suffering Martyrdom Anno Christi 1555. The Death of Laurence Saunders DUring his Imprisonment he wrote to his Wife and Friends in this manner I am merry and I trust I shall be so maugre the Teeth of all the Devils in Hell Riches I have none to bestow amongst you but that Treasure of tasting how sweet Christ is to hungry Consciences whereof I thank my Saviour I do feel part that I bequeath to you and to the rest of my Beloved in the Lord. They offered to release him if he would Recant to which he replied That he did confess Life and Liberty were things desirable but that he would not murther his Conscience to save his life but by God's Grace said he I will abide the worst Extremity that Man can do against me rather than do any thing against my Conscience And when Gardiner threatned him with Death he said Welcom be it whatsoever the Will of the Lord be either life or death and I tell you truly I have learned to die but I exhort you to be ware of shedding innocent blood for truly it will cry aloud against you After a Year and three Months Imprisonment he was brought to the Stake which he embraced and afterwards kissing said Welcom Cross of Christ welcom everlasting life The Fire by the malice of his Enemies being made of green wood put him to exquisite Torments but he endured them with a Christian patience as being well assured when his fiery Tryal was at an end he should receive a Crown of Life that fadeth not away One thing I shall not think amiss to insert When the Nation was in fear of Queen Mary's bringing in Popery Mr. Saunder's being in company with Doctor Pedleton and seeming to be much dejected Pedleton said What man there is much more cause for me to fear than for you for asmuch as I have a big and fat Body yet will I see the utmost drop of this Grease of mine melted away and this Flesh consumed with Fire before I will forsake Jesus Christ and his Truth which I have professed Yet when Queen Mary came to the Crown he turned Apostate The Death of John Hooper BEing come to the County of Gloucester where he suffered he was received by the Sheriff who with a strong Guard conveyed him to the place of Execution being met by thousands of people who bewailed his Condition and sent up their Prayers to Heaven that he might be enabled to bear his Sufferings patiently many of them weeping to see so Reverend a Person fall into such misery but he comforted them and told them That he was unworthy who refused to suffer reproach or death for the sake of the Lord Jesus who refused not for our sakes to suffer a shameful and ignominious death upon the Cross. And hereupon he began to exhort them to be stedfast in their Faith but the Popish Varlets would not suffer him to proceed Then he addressed himself to the Sheriff saying Sir my request to you is that I may have a quick Fire which may soon dispatch me and I will be as obedient as you would wish I might have had my life with grrat advancement as to temporal things but I am willing to offer my life for the Testimony of the Truth and trust to die a faithful Servant to God and a true Subject to the Queen Then kneeling down he continued in servent Prayer for the space of half an Hour with an exalted and chearful Countenance and then rising up suffered them to fasten him to the Stake where such was the malice of his Enemies that they had prepared green Wood yet beâ—…re the Fire was kindled a Pardon was offered if he would Reâ—…ant but he cried out
are visited with Sickness they ought to sympathize condole and have a fellow-feeling of their Maladies ever providing to your power all good means for their Health and Recovery and for good looking to them in the time of their weakness yea you must pray for them and use all lawful and good means possible for their ease and succour so long as it shall please God to continue them with you in that sorrowful condition but then as soon as it shall please Almighty God to call any of your Relations from you although never so near and dear unto you yea although he be the staff of your Life and your only Joy and Comfort you ought to refrain from teaâ—…s and immoderate mourning cheering up your selves and resolving fully in your mind as holy David did here lest that you displease the Creator and Preserver both of our Souls and Bodies saying Now he is dead c. for there is a time to Mourn and a time to Rejoice I took on saith he most sadly in the former verse so long as he was alive because I thought still that God would restore him to his Health again and grant him a longer time to stay with me his loving Father but now seeing that it cannot be obtained I 'll 〈◊〉 my self no more for now he is dead dead dead now he is dead and gone now he is past calling back again wherefore or to what end should I fast can I bring him back again And thus much concerning the manner of David's Mourning for his Son wherefore that which shall have the next place in my discourse is concerning the reason this Princely Prophet and good King gave why he would not continue any longer in his sorrowful condition and that is Can I bring him back again can I revive him can I put life into him No it is beyond my Skill to add one Moment to any mans life I can neither call him back nor go to him my self now he is dead and gone all the world cannot save him alive I must follow him but he shall not return to me Here you may see an acknowledgment of his own imbecillity weakness in recovering his dead Child can I bring him back again It hath been experienced and found possible for a man from the ashes of a Plant to revive the Plant and from its cinder to recall it to its stalk and leaves again but to call those that are ascended up to Heaven or descended into the world of Damned Souls is far beyond the power of Man Abraham being full of faith as it is Evident Heb. 11. 19. having commanded that his son Isaac should be offered thought that God would raise him up again from the dead therefore why did not David hope the same the reason as Peter observes upon this place in my Text is diverse Abraham had the promise concerning his Son Isaac he knew that God would do whatsoever he desired rather than his promise should not be fulfilled therefore he came with a willing mind unto that offering but David had not such promises concerning this his dearly beloved Son but rather a threatning seeing he was ready to die or just newly dead wherefore being not encouraged in the least his own Conscience telling him how it was Impossible unless God the efficient cause of our Life by whom we live move and have our being would restore him to Life again fully â—…esolved with himself to leave off sorrowing and to prepare himself to go to him seeing he was not to return But now c. and this brings me unto the last thing considered and that was his confidence how he should follow c. Here you may see how that David did not doubt in the least but that his sweet Babe was ascended up to Heaven which is far beyond thought and glorious beyond report and that he himself should follow quickly after some are of opinion and will not stick to maintain their damnable doctrine with devilish Arguments that Infants dying unbaptiz'd are not capable of salvation which is as false as God is true else what became of those Children of Bethlehem and in the coasts thereof from two years old and under among whom questionless some were uncircumsized or not baptized when Murthered by bloody Herod who would not suffer the King of Heaven and Earth and the whole World to Reign in Jury certainly their condition is very good for although he had power to hurt their innocent Bodies yet he had not power to hurt their poor harmless Souls being hid with Christ Jesus that sinless Babe in God Our Saviour seems to have a special love for Children above all other which made him say in his holy Gospel suffer the little Children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 10. 14. Now David knowing no less might well believe that his Child was received into Heaven O blessed Babe which came to the wished Haven without any Tempest enjoying the comforts of another Life before thou knew the cruel miseries of this Life having thy head crowned with happiness before thou wert covered with hair thy dear Father although a King could never have pleasur'd thee in this vail of misery as thou art now in the Kingdom of Heaven where Likewise now the Father is But now he is dead so that you may see David's shall go came at last to is gone The life and spirit of all our actions is the Resurrection and stable apprehension that our ashes shall enjoy the fruit of our pious Endeavours without this all Religion is a fallacy how shall the dead arise is no question of a true Christians Faith Job was ever confident that our estranged and divided Ashes should unite again that our separated dust after so many pilgrimages and transformations into the parts of Minerals Plants Animals Elements should at the voice of God return into their Primitive shapes and joyn again to make up their primary and predestinate forms as it is evident by his own words for saith he I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and thoâ—…gh 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 Job 19 25 26 27. â—…hat is made to be Immortal nature cannot nor will the voice of God â—…stroy As at the Creation of the World all that distinct species that we behold lay involved in one Mass till the fruitful voice of God separated this united multitude into its several species so at the last day when those corrupted relicks shall be scattered in the wilderness of forms and seem to have forgot their proper habits God by a powerful voice shall command them back into their proper shapes and call them out by their single and individuals then shall appear the fertility of Adam and the Magick of that sperm that hath
dilated into so Many millions seeing our Souls are Immortal nature cannot nor will Almighty God destroy wherefore David that Princely Prophet and good King knowing this and being fully perswaded that his Child was gone to Heaven and that he should follow left off his Doleful mourning rised from his law and lamentable lodging chang'd his cloaths washed his hands went to prayer and brake his long fast ever cheering up himself knowing that he should quickly follow as you may see here by his own words read unto you But now he is dead wherefore should I fast can I bring him back again I shall go to him but he shall not return to me The EJACULATION GOod Loâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so 〈◊〉 â—…re is no returning from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assist us by thy divine Grace to improve every 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Time before we go down 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 aâ—…d â—…e seen no more Is it true thaâ—… our Dear and Piâ—…s Relations that are dead and goâ—… wiâ—… never return to us again Then let us prepare to folloâ—… them to an happy Eternity Good Lord now seeing all this is reaâ—…ytrue let us live as men and women thâ—…t have already one fooâ—… in the Grave Oh let the death of others shew the 〈◊〉 of our own Bodies and the many Grey-hairs that are here and there upon our head put us in mind of our winding-sheet and of the day of judgment which is approaching very swiftly towards every one of us Let the daily instances of our dying Relations take such a living Impression upon our hearts as may deaden them towards all objects on this side Heaven Good Lord let us all be all for Heaven let all our thoughts be Heavenly thoughts let all our speeches be Heavenly speeches and let all our Actions be Heavenly Actions and let all thine ordinances prove Heavenly ordinances to us ever drawing up our Hearts from Earth to Heaven seeing we must quickly return to Dust Good Lord ' it is a vain Imagination for any Man to think that he can be happy without God who is the Author of all happiness or to think that finite and sensual objects can satisfie infinite and spirtual desires or to think that Temporal uncertainties are more valuable and more desirable than an interest in Jesus Christ and Eternal Glory What Joy what inexpressible Joy will a good Conscience afford us when we come to be arrested by the cold hands of Death when we come to make our beds in the silent Grave We must needs confess it is contrary to Reason and much more inconsistent with Grace that we should prefer Earth before Heaven Yea there is as little Reason for it that we should endeavour to grasp so much of the Creature into our handâ—… when as one Death-Gripe will soon cause us to let go our fastest hold of Created Injoyments Oh! therefore why should we go about to build a nest for our selves among the Stars when we have seen so many of our dearest Aâ—…quaintance and nearest Relations carried to the Grave before us and there made a Feast for the Worms to feed upon Good Lord therefore do thou make us to know our End and the measure of our Days what it is that so we may be throughly convinced how frail we are let us remember that we have no continuing City here and therefore it will be necessary for us to seek one that is to come Let us not spend our flying Daies in meer Impertinences but let us look after that Eternal Inheritance which will never fade away O! let us all improve our Time and Talents for God that when our Bodies return to the Grave from whence there is no coming back our Souls may go to God that gave them Bury my Dead out of my sight SERMON V. GEN. xxiij 4. Give me a possession of a Burying place with you that I may bury my Dead out of my sight THis is the conclusion of all Flesh they were never so dear before but they come to be as loathsom and intollerable now When once the Lines and Picture of Death is drawn over the Fabrick of Man or Woman's Body as it is said here of Sarah all their Glory ceaseth all their good Respect vanisheth away their best Friends would be fainest rid of them even Sarah that was so goodly and amiable in Abraham's sight must now out of his sight he must bury his dead out of his sight But Abraham as the Father of faithful men and a Pattern to all loving Husbands in all Ages ensuing doth not this till such time as the dead Sarah groweth noysom to all that look upon her As long as he could by his Mourning and Lamentation prosecute her without offence to his Eyes and danger to his Health he did it but now the time is come when Earth must be put to Earth and Dust must return to Dust. There is no place for the fairest Beauty above Ground when once God hath taken Life and Breath from it it must go to its own Elements and to the Rock and Pit from whence it was hewen thither it must return After he had performed this perhaps he mourned three or four Days for his Wife he knew this Mourning must have an end he knew that he must commit her to the Ground Therefore when he had thus moderated himself as first to shew by his Sorrow that he was a loving Husband and then to shew in the ceasing of his Sorrow that he was a wise man and a faithful Christian He cometh to desire a possession of burial Give me What A possession of burial First A possession He would have it so conveyed as no man might make claim of it but that it should be for him and his for ever Therefore it was as it were a Church-yard that he begged such a one as was capable and had sufficient scope and room for his whole Posterity in the time to come Give me a possession a burying-place Here is the end why he would have this Possession A strange kind of Possession Behold Abraham see how he beginneth to possess the World by no Land Pasture or carable Lordship The first thing is a Grave So every Christian must make his Resolution The first Houshold-stuff that ever Seleucus bought in Babylon was a Sepulchre-stone a Stone to lay upon him when he was dead that he kept in his Garden Give me a Burying Place to Bury my Dead Behold he calleth here Sarah his Dead he calleth her not Wife though it is said after in the Text that Abraham buried Sarah his Wife yet that is in repesct of the time of her life when they lived together and in respect of the former Society and Converse they had but now he speaks to the point she is no more his Wife but his Dead My Dead Yet notwithstanding though she was not Abraham's Wife yet she was Abraham's Dead This must teach a Man after he is freed by remaining for the Dead A Man is bound to lament and sorrow for
more fit nor more ordinarily Preached on than two And they are both of them Voices from Heaven One was to Isaiah the Prophet He was commanded to cry The Voice said Cry And he said What shall I cry All Flesh is Grass and all the goodliness thereof is as the Flower of the Field You will say That is a fit Text indeed so is this here A Voice from Heaven too But St. John is not commanded to cry it as Isaiah was he is commanded to write it That that is written is for the more assurance It seemeth good to me saith St. Luke in his Preface to his Gospel Most excellent Theophilus To write to thee of those things in order that thou mightest know the certainty Philosophers who saw no further than the Clouds of Humane Reason could say A wise Mans Life should be a continual Meditation of Death Joseph of Arimathea had his Sepulchre in his Garden and Jesus Christ at the Publicans Feast falls into a serious discourse of his Passion and Ascension to teach us that in times and places of greatest Pleasure we should put our selves upon Theams of Mortality Heathens indeed had their Burying-places without their Cities but Christians in and about their Churches as signifie that in our Devotions we should think upon our dissolutions which was one reason why Alphonsus King of Arragon used to confess that dead Men were his best Friends they gave him sound and seasonable Counsel to remember Mortality here and provide for Eternity hereafter To this end St. John in his Book of the Revelation is sometimes advising us to make Preparation for Death And sometimes encouraging us against the approaches of Death by describing the glorious Reward of the Saints departed as in this Text Blessed are the dead c. From whence we may observe that they that die in a state of Grace live in a state of Glory This Observation I take to be the Scope and Quintessence of the Text and therefore shall make it the proper Subject of my present Discourse First by way of Explication to shew what it is to die in the Lord. That implies two things especially 1. To die in the Lord is to die for the Confession of the Faith 2. To die in the Profession of the Faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. 3. And lastly To die in the Lord is to die in the peace of a good Conscience A Conscientious Man dies Blessedly howsoever or whensoever or wheresoever he dies therefore when St. Paul had received the Summons of Death he fled to the Castle of his good Conscience there he sat like Noah in his Cabbin in an Ark pitch'd within and without I am ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand and here is my Comfort I shall go to my Grave with a Conscience as clean as my Winding-sheet it follows I have fought a good Fight finished my Course kept the Faith henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness This Truth is confirmed by a double Reason They Rest from their Labours and their Works follow them Their Blessedness consists in two things 1. In a cessation from all Sin and Misery They Rest c. 2. In a possession of all Glory and Felicity Their Works follow them First They Rest c. The Kingdom of Heaven is often in Scripture termed a Rest a place of Rest. The World indeed is a troubled Sea but Heaven is the Haven of Rest the World is an Egypt a place of Burden and Bondage but Heaven is a Canaan that resembled by the Bosom of Abraham a place of sweet Refreshment and Soul-satisfying Rest. The Saints departed Rest from the Labours of their Corruptions Afflictions Temptations And lastly They Rest from the Labour of their particular Calling and Vocation which is toilsome and troublesome ever since God past this Doom upon Man for his offence in Paradise In the Sweat of thy Brows shalt thou eat Bread Indeed Man in the state of Innocency was not excused from Labour Paradise which was Adams Store-house was his Work-house too God put him into the Garden not to sleep in those sweet Bowers not to spend his time idly in those pleasant Walks but to dress and keep it ut operaretur that he might work and labour in it only here is the difference Labour then was a Recreation to the Mind and now it is an Affliction to the Body The second Reason is laid down in the last words of the Text Their Works follow them therefore they are Blessed Their Happiness is not only privative consisting in a freedom from Sin and Misery but positive also in a possession of all Peace and Glory in a consummation of Grace in a perfect Fruition of God and a Blessed Communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. Their Works follow them not their Works in kind but their Works in Issue and Effect the Fruits and Reward of their Works the Blessings of God which lye in the Promises to Works of Piety and Charity These follow them to Heaven Indeed Faith leads the way that must be our Harbinger to take up our Lodging in the New Jerusalem that like the Star in the East leads us to Bethlehem where Christ is but then good Works follow after they are our Attendants to the Court and Kingdom of Glory The Use If the Saints departed rest from their Labours here is then comfort in the general against all Crosses and Calamities in the World and in particular against the fear of our own Death or the Death of Friends Blessed are the Dead they rest c. Death like Lot's Angels plucks us out of the Sodom of Sin and Misery and placeth us in Zâ—…ar a City of Rest and Tranquility Like Peter's Angel it shakes off the Chain of Mortality and opens the Iron-gate the Gate of Pearl into the New Jerusalem like Lazarus his Angel it conducts the Soul from Earth to Abraham's Bosom from this Vail of Tears to the Kingdom of Glory Moreover as Death helps us to our Rest so it is our Rest Why should we fear it The Scripture terms it but a taking away of the Soul to Peace a sweet Sleep of the Body Our friend Lazarus sleepeth and the Patriarchs are fallen asleep St. Stephen fell asleep Our Burying-places are but Dormitories Sleeping-places The Righteous is taken away from the Evil to come and he shall enter into Peace they shall rest in their Beds Such a Blessed Rest have the Righteous in Death as our Saviour wept because his Friend Lazarus was to be deprived of it it is both the Observation of an Ancient Father and the Resolution of an Ancient Council concerning Christs weeping over Lazarus John 11. 35. Doluit Lazarum non dormientem sed resurgentem Christ did not weep because Lazarus was dead and taken out of the World but because he was to return from the Grave into a Troublesome World after he was gone to his Rest. It may be for the same Reason the Thracians
sooner felt his hand but he put forth his sting and stung the young Man to Death Are Stones thus endued with anger Where then is not Death if Lions of Stone can kill In the same manner died the young Hylas who was kill'd by a Viper that lay hid in the Mouth of a Bears resemblance in Stone What shall I mention the Child kill'd by an Isicle dropping upon his Head from the Penthouse Of whom Martial laments in the following Verses Where next the Vipsan Pillars stands the Gate From whence the falling Rain wets Cloak and Hat A Child was passing by when strange to tell Upon his Throat a frozen drop there fell Where while the Boy his cruel Fate bemoan'd The tender point straight melted in the wound Would Chance have us adore her lawless will Or tell where Death is not if drops can kill Thus has Death infinite Accesses then nearest when it is least thought of Sect. 20. An Antidote against sudden Death HEre Reader though out of order I will give thee three Prayers as Examples made against sudden Death It is at thy choice every day to make use of one or all cordially and sincerely They are designed so many it being but reason that we should fall three times at the Feet of Christ when we beg so great a Boon For this we must know that in this respect there can be no Man too cautious or too provident The first Prayer MOst Merciful Lord Jesu by thy Tears by thy Agony and Bloody Sweat by thy Death I beseech thee deliver me from sudden and from unexpected Death The second Prayer O Most Gracious Lord Jesu by thy most sharp and ignominious Stripes and Coronation by most hitter Cross and Passion by all thy Tender Goodness most humbly I beseech thee that thou wouldst be pleased not to permit me to depart out of this Life by a sudden death without receiving my viaticum for Heaven The third Prayer O My most Loving Jesu O my Lord and God by all thy Labours and thy Pains by thy precious Blood by those Sacred Wounds of thine by those thy last Exclamation upon the Cross O my sweetest Jesu my God my God why hast thou forsaken me by that loud cry of thine Father into thy hands I recommend my Spirit most earnestly I beseech thee that thou wilt not take me hence in haste Thy Hands O my Redeemer made me and formed me throughout O do not suddenly cast me headlong Grant me I beseech thee time of Repentance grant me an Exit happy and in thy favour that I may love thee with my whole Mind that I may praise and bless thee to all Eternity Nevertheless O merciful Jesu all things are in thy power nor is there any one who can resist thy will My Life depends upon thy nod that must end when it is thy pleasure Neither do I desire my most gracious God but that my will should be conformable to thine In whatever place at whatever time by whatever Disease thou art pleased to call me home thy will be done All these things I commit to thy Goodness and to thy Divine Providence I except no place or time no sort of Death though never so ignominious This only one thing I beg of thee O Christ my God that I may not die an unexpected and sudden Death Nevertheless not mine but thy will be done If it so pleases thee that I must die a sudden Death I do not repine Let thy will be done in all things O God For I hope and trust through thy great Mercy for the sake of which I make this only Prayer that I shall die in thy favour and grace wherein if I'depart not sudden death can separate me from thee For the Just Man though prevented by Death shall be happy There is no Death can be unexpected to him whose Life has been always provident Wherefore if I have not space and time which is only known to thee O God wherein to commend my self to thee behold I do that now and as submissively and as ardently as I am able I send up my Prayer to Heaven to thee Have mercy on me O God according to thy tender loving kindness thy will be done O Lord in Heaven and in Earth into thy hands I commend my Spirit Thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of Truth Let all Created Beings bless and praise thee O God In thee O Lord have I put my trust let me not be confounded for ever Sect. 21. The Days of Mans Life are few and evil HOW old art thou Threescore And how many art thou Seventy And how many art thou Fourscore Ah! my good friends where are your years Where are thy Sixty Where hast thou left thy Seventy Where wilt thou find thy Fourscore Wherefore dost thou number thy lost years Elegantly answered Laelius that Wise Man to a certain person saying I am Sixty years of Age. Thou callest these Sixty answered he which thou hast not Neither what is past nor what is to come is thine We depend upon a point of flying Time and it is the part of a great Man to have been moderate The Egyptian Pharaoh asking the Patriarch Jacob how many are the years of thy Age the old man answered The days of the years of my Pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years few and evil Hear ye O Tantalus's that thirst after extent of fading Life and know that ye are but Pilgrims not Inhabitants nor are ye Pilgrims for a long Journey neither Your Life is both short and evil Short because perhaps to be ended before this very Hour that we divide with Death No man but must know it to be evil that enjoys it It affords us Brambles sooner than Roses to be trod upon And yet still will ye loyter and delay in these Bushy and Thorny places So forgetful of your Countrey Famous is the Sentence of St. Gregory This Life is the way to Heaven But most of the Travellers are so taken with the pleasantness of the way that they had rather walk slowly than come quick to their Journeys end Oh most miserable Franticks We are taken with Flowers and pick up little glittering Stones but neglect immense and unbounded Treasures We scrape together the filth of the Earth and the froth of Caverns forgettful what great and real Treasures we lose while we labour after such as are false Miserable and vain Creatures What has a Pilgrim to do with Flowers and Pibbles if he return not to his Countrey What matter is it if he leave those behind if he come to his Countrey To labour in this way to be wearied to swear to endure all inconveniences is to be looked upon as the chiefest point of Gain For thy Countrey will please thee so much the more by how much the more ungrateful thy Exile was Sect. 22. How a Young Man may Die an Old Man AS we may meet with old Men not old Men but Children so we may meet with young Men not
is their Life and Trade All as a sleep and like the grass whose beauty soon doth fade verse 6 Which in the Morning shines full bright but fadeth by and by And is cut down ere it be night all withered dead and dry verse 10 Our time is threescore years and ten that we do live on mold If one see fourscore surely then we count him wondrous old verse 11 Yet of this time the strength and chief the which we count upon Is nothing else but painful grief and we as blasts are gone 1 Cor. 15. Ver. 19 20 21 22 26 50 51 52 53 54 55. IF in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all Men most miserable But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first-fruits of them that slept For since by man came death by man came also the resurrection of the dead For as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death Now this I say brethren that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God neither doth corruption inherit incorruption Behold I shew you a mystery We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed In a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written Death is swallowed up in Victory O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy Victory THE HOUSE OF Weeping Sermon I. John 11. 35. Jesus Wept WE may learn from the Example of Our blessed Saviour how we are to behave our selves what we are to do in the Sickness and Death of Friends In this World we are all Bennonies the Sons of Sorrow The way to Heaven is by Weeping Cross The Kalender tells us we come not to Ascention Day till the Passion Week be past It is the great work of a Preacher to consider the state of the people to whom he preaches so to prepare his work before hand as that he may hit the mark The Preacher sought out acceptable words now generally those words are most acceptable to and best received by the hearers that are suited to their present condition I considering therefore the secret hand of God upon this Congregation in taking away an eminent Servant of Christ thought it incumbent upon me to speak something at this time that might be suitable to the present dispensation of of God towards you and in meditations this Scripture was cast in Jesus Wept The occasion of this text is known unto you in the beginning of this Chapter you read that Lazarus was sick and the news thereof immediatly sent to Jesus who notwithstanding he dearly loved him yet as the sequel of the story acquaints you he doth not presently go up to Bethany to visit sick Lazarus but maketh a stay for several days the reason wherof is at hand viz. That a sentence of death might pass upon beloved Lazarus and he be laid in the grave and a stone rouled upon him and all this in order to the manifestation of the glory and power of Christ in his resurrection After Lazarus had been in the grave four days Christ he comes up to Bethany and the sisters of Lazarus viz Martha and Mary they come out to meet Jesus first Martha she cometh ver 20. and she saith Lord If thou hadst been here my brother had not died ver 21. After this comes Mary vers 32 and she falls down at Christs feet saying Lord If thou hadst been here my brother had not died When Jesus therefore saw her weeping and the Jews also weeping which came with her he groaned in the Spirit and was troubled and said Where have ye laid him They say unto him Lord come and see Jesus wept There is very much wrapt up in the bowels of this little Text Here we may take notice of the humanity of Christ it appears by Christs weeping that he is perfect man as well as perfect God That Christ wept is to be referred not to his Divinity but to his Humanity and so we shall find that Christ was subject as to this so to all natural infirmities as hunger thirst weariness c. which may comfort the Saints that groan under natural as well as sinful infirmities and that from the reason why Christ was made in all things like unto his brethren namely That he might be a merciful High-priest Hebr. 2. 17 18. And though Christ be now in glory yet he is touched with the feeling of the infirmities of his people here on earth Hebr. 4. 15. so touched as that he cannot but have compassion on them under all their pressures and grievances whatsoever Do'st thou then groan under natural weaknesses and infirmities Go boldly to the Throne of grace and Christ will enable thee to bear up under these weaknesses until mortality shall have put on immortality The Subject Matter of this Chapter is Lazarus redivivus it is a Relation of the miraculous raising up of Lazarus from the Dead From vers 1 3. we may observe thus much that a Believers interest in the distinguishing love of Christ doth not exempt him from outward Troubles or bodily Distempers He whom thou lovest is sick From vers 4. We may observe thus much that the darkest Dispensations of Providence they oftentimes usher in the brightest manifestations of God to the Soul or Gods Glory is most manifested in the Creatures Weakness From Vers. 6. We may take notice it was ever in Christ's intention to manifest his Love and Goodness to Lazarus and yet he comes not near him for the present but rather goes away and leaves him upon his sick Bed and suffers him at last to give up the Ghost From Vers. 14. We may observe that Christ his absence or the suspension of divine Grace and Love they are in infinite Wisdom ordered for the further advancing of Soul Comfort Had not Lazarus been sick had he not been dead and buryed the Wisdom Power and Goodness of Christ had never been so eminently discovered as it was towards him Martha and Mary cry out v. 21 32. Lord if thou hadst been here our Brother had not died It is true Christ might have recovered Lazarus upon his sick-bed but to fetch him out of the Grave after he had lain stinking four days was a higher demonstration of his Love Wisdom and Power There is not the like ground that Christ should shew forth his miraculous Power in raising up our dead Friends from the Grave as was then yet this special and useful conclusion may by way of Analogy be deduced from this instance namely That such Comforts and Mercies as are fetched out of the Grave as
Erasmus also saith that it is but a Parable whereby Rich Men may learn to be merciful to their poor Brethren that they may speak for them in the day of Vengeance and Wrath. Many Writers there are also that rather aiming at the Arguments and Observations herein have not set down their Judgments whether it be a Parable or History Therefore it might seem Wisdom in me to suspend my judgment also herein especially since Marlorat saith Parum refert ut tam sit Parabola an Historia modo summam doctrinam teneant lectores It greatly skilleth not whether it be a Parable or History so that we duly consider the Doctrine herein But because it is requisite that I also shew my Opinion I will return my Verdict according to my Evidence And therefore in naked truth I find and hold that it is a Parable And my Reasons are these two First because our Saviour in the beginning of this Chapter doth relate a Parable of the Rich Man that had a Steward c. therefore he continueth in this Chapter to open his mouth in Parables according to the Prophet I will open my mouth in Parables and shew dark sentences of old time Secondly because the Rich Man cryed out of Hell unto Abraham and Abraham answered the Rich man which needs must be understood Parabolically For the Damned in Hell cannot see nor hear the Saints that are in Heaven neither by reason of the distance of place and also because of many Sphears and Orbs that are betwixt Heaven and Hell neither shall they see nor know what is done there And again Abraham's throat is dry and cleaveth to the Roof of his Mouth Therefore he cannot speak so loud as to be heard out of Heaven into Hell Therefore it is but a Parable Secondly let us consider what his Apparel was Purple and fine white as some will have But we read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 although some take it for fine Flax yet let it here be understood of Silk There was a very great difference betwixt the Apparel of John the Baptist and this Man John's Rayment was Camels Hair with a Leathern Girdle about his Loins which did Argue Repentance and Mortification in him but this Rich Mans Apparel was Purple and fine Silk whose outward Apparel did argue the Pride at his Heart The outward Habit for the most part resembles the inward Habit and condition of the Mind Pride as saith one is grounded in the Heart of Man a Vice most loathsom to God hateful to Men and hurtful to the Soul But let us consider the third Circumstance in the Life of the Rich Man to wit what his Dyet was Deliciously every day And here we see what the Children of this World delight in namely in fulness of Meat who neglecting the serving of God have given themselves to serve Bacchus and Venus Hence one noteth A gluttonous Person eateth more for Pleasure than Necessity So did the Rich Man so did our first Parents it was not through need or necessity that they did eat of the forbidden Tree but through Wantonness Pleasure and Idleness Gluttony is a flattering Devil and a pleasant sin and a sweet Poyson which whoso useth hath not the use of himself which who so hath not hath no sin for he is all sin it self Besides it hath an especial effect for it doth as Gregory saith generate Lust. To be short it was Gluttony that caused our Parents to transgress It was Gluttony that caused Lot to commit Incest It was Gluttony that made Esau to sell his Birth-right It was Gluttony and Drunkenness that caused Nabal's Death It was Gluttony that lost Belshasars Kingdom Be not thou desirous of dainty meats saith Solomon For he that loveth Banqueting shall be Poor and he that delighteth in Wine shall not be Rich. But let us a while leave this Rich Man and consider the second that which is the Life of the Beggar There was also a certain Beggar named Lazarus c. And here observe these things 1. That the Saints of God are a poor contemptible People There was a certain Beggar If you understand the word Beggar to hold forth outward Poverty or scarcity in outward things such are Saints of the Lord for they are for the most part a poor despised contemptible People but if you Allegorize and Interpret it thus they are such as beg earnestly for Heavenly food this is also the spirit of the Children of God and it may be and is a truth in this sense though not so Naturally gathered from this Scripture 2. That he was laid at his Gate full of Sores These words hold forth the Distempers of Believers saying he was full of Sores which may signifie the many Troubles Temptations Persecutions and afflictions in Body and Spirit which they meet withal while they are in the World And also the Entertainments they find at the hands of those ungodly ones who Live upon the Earth Whereas it is said he was laid at his Gate full of Sores Mark he was laid at his Gate not in his House that was thought too good for him but he was laid at his Gate full of Sores From whence Observe that the Ungodly World do not desire to entertain and receive the poor Saints of God into their Houses If they must needs be somewhere near unto them yet they shall not come into their Houses Shut them out of Doors if they will needs be near us let them be at the Gate And he was laid at the Gate full of Sores 2. Observe that the World are not at all touched with the afflictions of God's Children for all they are full of Sores a despised afflicted tempted persecuted people the World doth not pity no but rather labour to aggravate their Trouble by shutting them out of Doors sink or swim what cares the World they are resolved to disown them they will give them no Entertaiment if the lying in the streets will do them any good if hard Usage will do them any good if to be disowned shut out of Doors rejected of the World will do them any good they shall have enough of that but otherwise no Refreshment no Comfort from the World And he was laid at his Gate full of Sores Poor Lazarus What lying at a Gate and full of Sores too Would not this Rich Man afford thee some out-house to lie in to shroud thee from Storms and Tempests no would not his servants pity thee no would not his Children speak for thee no Would not his Wife intreat her Husband for thee no Hadst thou ever done them any wrong no But Lazarus it may be thou art stout and often-times Beggars will be chusers thou perhaps wouldest have some great Alms or Copy-hold some Farm of this Rich Man no Or thou wouldest have some delicate Meat no. Many Dishes no Or thou wouldest sit at the Table with his Sons and Servants no no What is it then that thou dost desire
from their bodies are in Hell Torments But to conclude all in one word and to apply all that hath been spoken to this present time and place let us all in our vocations and places follow the advice of a late Eminent Pen viz. to learn to have mercy on Lazarus that is on our poor Brethren that we may find mercy and that mercy may rejoyce in Judgment and you that are Magistrates of this City think upon Lazarus that lyeth in your Streets that pineth at your gates that starveth in your Prisons for want of Crumbs Heark how they cry Bread bread a loaf of bread for Jesus sake Who would not hear them who would not pity them who would not comfort them Also see that you chuse good and merciful Officers in your Spittles and Hospitals that may feed Lazarus and not fill their own Purses and Bellies as the rich man did And you that sit in the seat of Judgment and are Gods here on earth let the matter be rightly judged between the rich man and poor Lazarus let equity be in your right hand and justice in your left consider that Lazarus is poor and that he is not able to wage Law against the rich man yet defend him and let him have right Defend the Fatherless and Widdow See that such as be in need and necessity have their right then shall the righteous God of Heaven bless you and bless the Land for your sake then shall we be with Lazarus in the blessed place of rest whilst wretched Dives is tormented in Hell flames even in that burning prison where angry and enraged Devils shall be his Tormentors to Eternity where he will be for ever crying and groaning out in this kind of doleful manner following viz. Oh! cursed cursed most accursed Soul Where am I now what Friends are those that howl They seize upon me they torment me sore I Shreik with anguish they in fury roar In Earths deep center dark and dreadful Cell Where only angry damned Spirits dwell In grossest darkness yet my sight so clear Most hideous Visious to the same appear In Hell indeed where I endure that curse Which shall not cease but be hereafter worse In fire infernal out of measure hot Which ever burns and yet consumeth not I rave I curse and I accuse my fate As if such torments were unjust too great But Conscience nips me with not so I try To kill that worâ—… but oh it will not die Most wretched I besides the Woes I have Methinks I hear my bones within my Gâ—…ave As troubled with some fatal Trumpets sound Begin to shake and shiver in the ground Alas alas what shall of me become When wretched go ye cuâ—…sed is my doom How shall my Soul and Body both 〈◊〉 Then curse the hour they were again united How shall the Devils then with fury driven Sieze me for Hell when entenc'd out of Heaven And on me with much insultation rage As if my torments might their own asswage Then with â—…e bideous howling heard of Hell I shall be thrown down to that dreadful Cell Where we in flames which never fail shall burn From whence we never never shall return The Winding-Sheet NOw where am I If I look behind me I see Death hastning after me nay that Death is at my Back If I look forward I see Heaven and Hell before me my selfstanding on the very brink of Time and my next step for ought I know may be into Eternity of joy or sorrow where I did but now by Faith see others were there I my self must quickly really be there I shall rejoyce with them If I look a little before me I may see my self cast down upon a Bed of sickness my Friends weeping and fearing I shall die the Physicians are puzled and at a loss giving me over for the Grave and my self gasping for Life and breathing out my last If I look but a little before me I can as it were hear my Friends saying He is dead he is dead he is gone he is departed and then as it were I might see them haling me out of my Bed and wrapping me in My Winding Sheet and nailing me up in my Coffin I might see my Grave a digging and men hired to carry me on their shoulders from my house to my Long Home Relations and Neighbours following after to see me lodged in the Dust to lye and rot among the Dead But before all this can be done to my Body my Soul hath taken it's flight into Eternity where it is without change or alteration for ever to be with God or Devils Oh that I could then work it on my heart that I must quickly be either in Heaven or Hell that I have a long Race to run by a short breath if I enter Heaven a great way to go in a few hours The Sun who goes so many miles in a minute the stars of the firmament which go so very many more go not so fast as my body to the Earth In the same instant that I feel the first attempt of the disease I feel the victory In the twinkling of an eye I can scarce see instantly the tast is insipid and fatuous instantly the appetite is dull and desireless instantly the knees are sinking and strengthless and in an instant sleep which is the Picture the copy of Death is taken away that the original Death it self may succeed and that so I might have death to the life To return from the dead is impossible all my life then I will prepare for death They call death Charons boat I am sure it wafts the Soul from a material to an immaterial World I have but one step to Eternity it is from life to death I will be preparing this body of mine to win the garland of a blessed Immortality O the serious thoughts while I live How I must die these do so make me run that I may obtain a Crown of glory The sound of the Passing Bell assures me there is some to day likely to die it is so nigh Night it is high time then to work out my Salvation lest the Night of death put in and none can work I have a task set will take up all my time viz. to die well while I live then I will learn to die lest being found unprepared it be said Thou fool this night thy Soul shall be required of thee Maximilian the Emperor made his Coffin always to be carried along with him to this end that his high Dignity might not make him forget his Mortality What was long since decreed in Heaven God hath sent Warrants to execute on Earth semel mori for us once to die Kings Xerxes standing on a Mountain and having many hundred thousand of his Souldiers standing in the plain fell a weeping to think upon it how in a few years and all those gallant valiant men must die Adam he lived 930 years and he died Enoch he lived 965 years and he died Methusalem
that the sad sorrowful news was told him of his dearly beloved Sons death then in a rage he put all out of the Room where he was and fell upon his knees with wet-shod Eyes still wringing his hands and wishing heartily that God had been pleased to take him instead of his son Absalom that precious Jewel of his I say that Abraham the Father of the Faithful could not have taken it out worse he could not have been more sorrowful if that his dear Son Isaac had been offered nor our old Grandsire Adam the Father of the Living for his slain Son Abel than holy David that good King of Israel did here for these two Sons of his but especially for Absalom 'T is true so long as the sweet Babe was alive still striving and strugling in his sight daily and hourly for Death which like that Serpent Regulus by no Charms can be charmed he took on most grievously but when he had yielded up the Ghost when Death Gods special Bailiff had arrested him with a Habeas Corpus then he could leave off sorrowing and resolve fully with himself to fast no longer So long as it was alive saith he in the former Verse I had hopes that God would hear my Prayer be gracious unto me and prolong his days here with me in this habitable Orb but now it hath pleased almighty God to take unto himself my dear Child out of this miserable world wherefore should I fast wherefore should I take on thus sadly being all is in vain No I will not do it I will not be guilty of such a great Offence for now he is dead wherefore should c. Daniel that holy Prophet was of such a tender disposition that he wept and mourned full three weeks together not suffering himself to eat any pleasant thing Dan. 10. 2. Esau wept for the loss of his Blessing and Joash for Elisha being ready to die Job wept and mourn'd for such as were in sorrow trouble or any other adversity and for his own afflictions and so did Isaiah with the good Prophet Jeremiah for the misery of the Israelites to come Jer. 13. Naomi wept and mourn'd most dolefully departing from her Country and so did Nehemiah for Jerusalem's misery Elisha did mourn and weep bitterly seeing the evil which Hazael should do to the Israelites Children and so did the Women for their harmless Children slain by Herod Luk. 23. 28. Insomuch that their cry penetrating the clouds and knocking at Heavens gate did enter into the ears of the Lord of Hosts And to preceed Abraham mourned and wept bitterly for his Wife being deceased Abigail for Uriah her loving husband David for Saul Abner and Jonathan the Egyptians for Jacob seven days Jacob for Joseph supposing him dead Joseph for Jacob being dead Jeremiah for Josiah with great Lementation and the Israelites for Moses and Aaron thirty days But holy David here in my Text took a better course who as soon as his child was departed left off sorrowing saying Now he is dead wherefore should I mourn c. St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans bids us weep with them that weep Rom. 12. 15. And for the dead 1 Thess. 4. 13. but not as others sorrow which have no hope We must not weep and mourn immoderately lest with Samuel we be reproved when he lamented overmuch for Saul but moderately as St. Paul that blessed Apostle did for Epaphroditus Phil. 2. 27. They mourn moderately do nothing contrary to the Word of God For Almighty God by whom Death is inflicted would have the nature thereof to be such that it should bring Tears and sorrow not only unto them which die but unto those also of whom they that die are beloved Who but a man of a stony heart in the mourning Troop accompanying his loving Neighbours deceased Son unto his Grave dying in the Spring of his Youth even at that Age when he was most able to comfort his dearest Friends even her that brought him into the World or in the Winter of her Widowhood when she did most want him could refrain from mourning and weeping Children are walking Images of their tender Parents even Flesh of their Flesh and Bone of their Bone the Wealth of the poor man and the Honour of the Rich it must then be one step unto Weeping Cross when any Parents lose their Children St. Ambrose in his book concerning Naboth ch 5. makes mention of a Tragical Accident How that in his time there was a poor man in extream necessity constrained to sell one of his Sons in perpetual Bondage that he might hereby save the rest from a present Famine who calling all his dear Children unto him and beholding them as Olive Branches round about his Table could not resolve which he might best spare his eldest Son was the strength of his Youth even he that called him first Father and therefore not willing to part with him his youngest Boy was the Nest-chick the dearly beloved of his mother and therefore not willing to part with him a third most resembled his Progenitors having his Fathers Bill and his mothers eye therefore not willing by any means to part with him one was more loving than the rest and another more Diligent so that the good Father in conclusion among so many could not afford to part with any Nay it is almost Death to some to part with any of their Children but for a Year or two although that they go but a little way and may return when they will Therefore could David be thought blame-worthy to mourn for his Child whom he could not see till he went to him but now he is dead c. And this brings me now unto the second thing considerable in my Text which is the Person whom David that good King wept and mourned for thus dolefully and that was for his Son an innocent Babe who was no sooner born into this miserable World but visited with a mortal Disease and so cut off for the Life of Urias in his Infancy The Life of his Son Ammon was not satisfaction sufficient nor of his dearly beloved Son Absalom nor yet the Life of his Son Adonijah but also this poor harmless Creature must suffer together with them now he is dead It is enacted by Almighty God in the high Court of Parliament in the Kingdom of Heaven unto all men that they shall once Die and therefore says David Psalm 89. 48. What man is he that liveth and shall not see death Shall he deliver his Soul from the Hand of the Grave There are two sorts of Deaths Corporal which is either natural or violent or Eternal Death which is called a Spiritual Death or the second Death The first being only a Separation of the Soul from the Body with all the evils that attend thereon this sweet Child suffered Death is like an Archer making man his Butt who when he shooteth pierceth in this manner following In shooting over us he wounds our Ancestors
behind us our Servants on our right hand our Wives and Children on our left hand our Friends and in the midst our selves so that as St. Paul says Heb. 9. 27. No one can escape him So that you may see as Job saith man's time is appointed his months determined and his days which are but few upon Earth numbered yea and as our Saviour Christ says his very last hour is limited He was made of the mould of the Earth and therefore thither shall he return and as all have one entrance into Life the like going out shall they have to death Naked came we into this most miserable World and naked shall we return again If Adam had not eaten of the forbidden Fruit we had never known what Sin had been and so by consequence Death which is a thing that now cannot by any means be avoided before that we knew what sin was we had strong Houses But ever since God let 's us dwell in thatch'd Cottages and clay Walls every Disease like a storm is ready to totter us down In old time men us'd to live long but now many are thrust out of house and harbour at less than an hours warning yea and even in their infancy at their first coming into the world as this poor innocent Child was and not only for their own faults for their own transgressions but for their Parents In the Third of Gen. you may find mans Exodus and that is thou shalt die Ever since Old Adam our great great great Grandfather neglected his Duty towards God Death the lodge of all mens lives comes with insensible degrees upon the sons of men it 's impartial hand is always destroying no Wisdom can appease no Policy can prevent nor any earthly Riches redeem us from the Grave semel aut bis morimur omnes some once some twice we must all die we have an old Statute for it that this earthly Tabernacle must suffer corruption and therefore the Poet sings sweetly Post hominem vermis post vermen foetor horror Sic in non hominem vertitur omnis homo As man came from the Earth so thither shall he return and become a habitation and food for Worms If any had been exempted from the fatal and general sentence of Death then without all question our most blessed Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ had been who for our Sins and for our insufferable Iniquities suffer'd the sharpest death imaginable even to die upon the Cross who was equal to the Father touching his God-head Now seeing that this ever blessed Virgins Son Lion of the Tribe of Judah and harmless Lamb of God did suffer an ignominious Death to redeem us from Eternal Death let not us be unwilling for our own good to lay down our lives and to part without sorrow and grief with our dearest Friend or Relation but rather let us take up a full resolution when any of our Friends although never so near and dear unto us be departed and say with David now he is dead now he ceaseth to breath and now he hath taken a farewell of the Elements wherefore should I fast Can I bring him back again Good Christians can with patience embrace this Life yet in their best meditations they do commonly wish for Death they honour all that contemns it but cannot endure or heartily love any that is afraid of it this makes many naturally love a Souldier and honour those tattered and contemptible Regiments that will die at the command of a Sergeant For a Pagan there may be some motives to be in love with Life for a Christian to be amazed at Death I see not how he can escape this dilemma that is too sensible of this Life or careless of the Life to come If a Wife put forth her Child to Nurse and the Nurse having kept it long enough she taketh it home again can the Nurse or any other have any cause to complain so the cause stands between God and our Souls If God having inspired into these mortal Bodies of ours that which is immortal come and take it to himself lest it should come to harm can any one have any reason to Complain As seed unless sown in the Ground cannot bring forth so we until that Death come and we be laid in the Ground cannot expect our consummation and bliss with Gods Saints in his Kingdom of Glory Death freeth the godly from the Tyranny of Satan from Sin from the World from the Flesh and from eternal Damnation placing them with Christ for evermore in Heaven the Center of all good wishes where instead of Earthly Bodies they shall be cloathed with unspeakable Glory and all this holy David was not Ignorant of which made him as soon as his dearly beloved Son had taken his Farewell of this inferior Orb say Wherefore should I fast seeing my Child yea my precious Jewel has changed his Life out of a miserable world into a Kingdom where pleasures ineffable are to be had for evermore but now c. And this brings me now unto the Third thing considered in my Text which is the manner of his mourning and that was how he spun away his time in weeping fasting and praying for his dear child so long as he was alive he did not as Priamus did for his Son Hector Fast Weep and Pray after his Death or as many do now adays only in outward shew altering their Garments No his was far otherwise it was real true and hearty sorrow not countenanced in the least with a heavy look or with a solemn sigh blown from deceitful lungs No his was a Weeping Watching Mourning and Fasting Grief he was sequestered from all Worldly contentment imprisoning his Body from all the pleasures of this mortal Life ever making his bed to swim and watering his couch with tears He mourned as one for his only Son eating ashes like Bread and mingling his Drink with weeping still weeping wailing and crying as one that had parted with his dear Mother Psalm 35. 14. or as a virgin girded with sack-cloath for the husband of her youth Joel 11. 8. Nature being we are Members of one Body thinking the mishap of other men to be our own through the mutual compassion of Christ's Body makes us desirous to live together so long as is possible therefore was it possible for David to refrain from tears when he took his farewel of one Child part of his own Body No he could not forbear crying until he began to consider with himself that he was dead and that the Death of the Saints is precious in the sight of the Lord and the day thereof better to them than the day of their birth being then and not before as Saint John Says Revel 14. 13. they rest from their labour then yea then and not before he could rise change his cloaths wash his hands and break his fast Now such I say if they will mourn ought to be your manner that is so long as your friends
of ours In Ezekiel the King of Tyre said I am a God but he was answered that he was but a man that is base vile and miserable So holy David said Let the Nations know that they are but men that is base and vile and St. Paul said Are ye not men 1 Cor. 3. When we see a man swallowed up sometimes in the misery of the Body and sometimes of the Soul we say in the conclusion he is a Man Now if instead of the Gold of the Angels there was found Rust and that so fine Cloath as that was not without its Moths and that incorrupted Wood without its Worm what will become of those that are but Dust who dwell in Houses of Clay Verily they must as fearful of their own harm repeat this Lesson Dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return One asking the question Why God having Created the Soul for Heaven did knit it with so straight a Knot to a Body of Earth so frail and so lumpish Whose answer was That the Angels being overthrown by their Pride He was willing to repair and to help this Presumption in Man a Creature in his superiour part as it were Angelical but having a heavy and miserable Body which might serve as a Stay unto him that if the nimbleness of his Understanding should puff him up yet that Earth which Clogged his Body should humble and keep him down Those that entred Triumphantly into Rome had a thousand occasions given them to incite them to Pride Arrogancy and Vanity As their great number of Captives their Troops of Horse their Chariots drawn with Elephants or Lions and their Ladies looking upon them from their Windows and the like But the Senate considering the great danger of the Triumpher ordered one to sit by his Side to whisper this still in his Ear Remember thy self to be a Man The Princes of the Earth have many Motives to make them forget themselves not regarding the Complaints of the Poor and Needy yet as the Wise Man saith Wisdom 7. 5. No King had ever any other beginning of Birth they are as other Men the Off-spring of the Earth and the Children of Men and to them it is also said Dust thou art c. But to proceed As Man is Dust and Earth by Procreation so likewise he is Dust and Earth by Sustentation and that in two respects In regard of Aliment and Indument Meat and Apparel It is truly said That of which we consist we are nourished with Elements are Aliments where we begin we do receive all Meats for our Bodies in Health and all Medicines for the same being Sick are Earth and Earthy even Dust and Ashes as we our selves are we feed on the Things of the Earth and walk and sleep thereon As for Apparel and Ornaments we borrow Wooll of the Sheep Hair of the Camel Silk of the Worm Furies of the Beasts and Feathers of the Fowls of the Air like unto Aesop's Crow having some Plume from every Bird something from every Creature Flowers are richly decked Plants with an infinite variety of coloured Leaves adorned and other Animals as well Vegetative as Sensitive comely covered only Man that unhappy and base Creature is born to nothing but Beggery and Misery So that we may justly exclaim and cry out with the good Prophet David saying What is Man c. Nay what are we If that the good Prophet Jeremy who was Sanctified in his Mothers Womb did bewail his Condition what may we do who are Born in Sin and Conceived in Iniquity being Formed of most base and unclean Matter God Created Stars and Planets out of Fire Birds out of Air Fish out of Water but Man with other Animals out of the Slime of the Earth therefore remember and consider O Mrn what thou art and thou shalt find thy self much worse than any other Creature whatsoever besides even Dust and Ashes Now from this Principle I will infer three or four Conclusions of very great Fruit and Consequence The First is this If thou art Dust and Ashes wherefore art thou proud thou Dust and Ashes Of thy Beginning No of thy End No Of what then If thou shouldest see thy self Seated between the Horns of the Moon think on the baseness of thy beginning and thou shalt then see clearly that Pride was not born for Man nor Anger and Pettishness appointed for Woman's Condition Pride cannot sute with Dirt nor Curstness with Woman's Softness Lord cleanse me from my secret sins and spare thy Servant from those that are strangers By Aliens you may understand those of Pride for it is a Stranger as it were and another kind of thing differing much from Man's base and vile Condition There is not any Sin more alien and strange to Man's Condition than Pride or that doth carry with it less excuse Those Fools that are Painted forth going about to build a Tower that should overtop the Clouds and reach to Heaven Gen. 11. 4. did in their very first word say Come let us make us Bricks Bewraying their Foolishness What go about upon Earth to rear a Foundation that should emulate Heaven which is far beyond Thought and glorious beyond Report God Almighty said unto Ezekiel Take thou a Tile and pourtray upon it the City of Jerusalem the Walls the Ditches the Towers the Temple and a great Army of Men Ezek. 4. 1. Strange yet true we see it is that the Strength of Cities the Power of Armies is contained in a poor brittle Tile-stone The good Prophet Isaiah threatned those of Moab with Whips and Scourges Isa. 16. because they insulted and proudly triumphed upon the Walls and Towers of his City Speak Punishment unto those that rejoyce in Walls that are made of Brick What can earthen Walls raise up such Pride in Men Samuel being to Anoint Saul God gave him for a Sign that he would have him Prince over his People That he should find two Men as soon as he was gone from 〈◊〉 near unto Rachels Sepulchre God mighâ—… have given unto him some other Sign but he chose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to give him to quell the Pride and Haughâ—…ess of this new Honour as if he should admonish and put you in mind that the Ashes of so fair a Creature as Rachel should read a Lecture unto you what you must be And this is the reason why the Church though she might use other Metaphors to express the Misery and shortness of Mans Life as is often made mention of in the Ornament of Grace as by a Leaf a Flower and a Shadow yet it makes more particular choice of Dust and Ashes because the other are Metaphorical these Literal for nothing more properly appertaineth unto Man than Dust and therefore the Scripture termeth Death a Mans returning again unto the Earth from whence he came The Flower the Leaf and the Fruit have some good in them though of short continuance as Colour Odour Beauty Vertue and Shade and albeit not good in themselves yet
the Judgment-Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in the Body according to that he hath doae whether it be good or bad ISAIAH xxxviii Set thy House in Order for thou shalt Die and not Live MANS Body before that dismal Conquest we all deplore as well as the Poor Soul was conditionally Immortal and so to this very day had ever continued if it had not been for the damnable Sin of Disobedience committed by Adam and Eve our First Parents But this was no sooner Gained than Lost and the time of Mans Life ever since hath been as a Point the Substance of it ever flowing the Sense obscure and the Whole Composition of the Body tending to Corruption If that you should live three hundred years or as many thousand of years yet with all remember this that at the last you shall be compelled by Death Gods all-resting Bailiff to lay down these rotten ruinous and clay-decaying Tabernacles of yours for Dust you are and unto Dust you shall return and peradventure you shall not have a good warning before hand as the good King Hezekiah had here but be thrust out of House and Harbour in less than an hours warning For Death which will put a period to every Mans days 2 Tim. 4. 7. is like a Sergeant sent from above upon Action of Debt at the Suit of Nature mounted upon his Pale Horse will come on unawares rap at your Doors Alight Arrest you all and carry you bound Hand and Foot into a Land as dark as Darkness it self from whence you shall be summoned at the last dreadful Audit to the Bar of Justice in the high Court of Heaven when your Bill shall be brought in how that you have ever Rebelled and most notoriously transgressed against the Lord of Hosts both in Thought Word and Deed and have ever spun away our time as tho' that Death which is the end of all flesh would never follow wherefore to the intent that Hezekiah that good King might be made more certain of his fatal Destiny occasioned by our first Parents and have the less account to make at the great and terrible day of Doom when Christ Jesus the Worlds Saviour shall descend from Heaven which is the center of all good wishes with his Heavenly Host of blessed Angels riding in Pomp and great Majesty upon the Wings of the Wind with the loud sounding Trumpet of God and the all tearing Voice of the Arch-Angel to judge both the quick and Dead God sent unto him the good Prophet Isaiah to incounter with him and to put him in mind of his mortal Song The whole verse runs thus In those days was King Hezekiah sick unto Death and Isaiah the Prophet the Son of Amoz came unto him and said unto him thus saith the Lord. Set thy House in order for thou shalt die and not live These words as they distribute themselves do consist of 〈◊〉 Principal and Essential Parts First of an Admonition or earnest Exhortation Set thy House in Order And then secondly of a sound and undeniable Reason which is threefold Affirmative and Negative First Affirmative for thou shalt Die and the Negative and not Live Set thy House c. Now of these in their due order severally and first of the Admonition or earnest Exhortation Set thy House in Order in which you have these three things regardable First the Reason warning which was Almighty â—…od by the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah as is made manifest in express termes in the former part of the Verse And Isaiah the Prophet the Son of Amoz came unto him and said unto him thus saith the Lord. Secondly the Person warned or exhorted which was none other but even good King Hezekiah and by him all other And then thirdly and lastly the matter of the Exhortation and that was to Set thy House in Order Now of these which shall have the first place in my Discourse shall be of the Person exhorting and that was God Adam who had attained unto the state of Perfection in his Life and Conversation relying wholly upon Natures first intentions never so much as once dream'd of Death which is a Separation of Soul and Body or any Alteration until Almighty God unto whom all hearts are open no secrets hid seeing his corrupt and base nature came unto him and told him plainly and roundly to his face how that he was but Dust and Ashes and thither should return again Gen. 3. 19. Thus Almighty God by the mouth of Moses the Faithful was ever warning the Israelites being ever a most stiff-necked and rebellious Generation of their Mortality Deut. 32. 21. saving They have moved me to Jealousie with that which is not God they have provoked me to Anger with their Vanities And I will move them to Jealousie with those which are not a People I will provoke them to Anger with a foolish Nation for a fire is kindled in my anger and shall burn unto the lowest Hell and shall consume the Earth with her encrease and set on fire the Foundation of the Mountains I will heap mischief upon them I will spend my Arrows upon them they shall be burnt with hunger and devour'd with burning heat and with bitter Destruction I will also send the Teeth of Beasts upon them with the poyson of Serpents of the Dust and to raise this Blister the higher the Sword without and Terrour within shall destroy both the Young Man and the Virgin the suckling also with the Mâ—…n of Gray Hairs vers 25. Thus Almighty God did threaten them if that they would not set their House in Order and repent that he would bring them to the Dust again wherefore Moses being a true Mirror of pity out of his most tender Love and boundless Affection towards them all in general lest that Almighty God should send forth his sharp piercing Arrows and give them mortal Wounds in his heavy Wrath and cruel Anger cries out most bitterly by way of Exclamation saying O that they were wise then would they understand this and consider their latter end Thus the Father of Spirits and Lives having out of a Chaos or nothing created all and fashioned Man after his own Image seeing his corrupt and base Nature too inclinable unto all sorts of Wickedness by a sudden Metamorphosis transforms him into what he was again just like the Cat in the Fable which when she would not change her manners having all her members made after the form of a Woman according to hearts desire was turned into a Cat again Thus fâ—… concerning the first particular Circumstance the Son warning even Almighty God by the mouth of Isaiah the Prophet wherefore now to breviate my Discourse in fewer Words lest that I should be too prolix in the prosecution I shall proceed unto the second thing subservient to this Explication and that is the person warned or here to set his House in Order which was none other but even Hezekiah that good King
with all alacrity and chearfulness of Heart you may endure all things for Christs sake Fourthly you must get your selves furnished with Humility Virtue which when the Lord of Heaven beholds it in you which caused him to sink into your Hearts Fifthly you must get your selves furnished with Hope of Everlasting Faith and Salvation And then sixthly and lastly with Faith which is an evidence of things not seen thus you must get your selves set in order c. And thus far of the matter of this Admonition and earnest Exhortation Now I should come to the Reason which is twofold affirmative and negative Affirmative thou shalt die and Negative and not live Set thy House in order for thou shalt die and not live Now of these severally and first of the reason affirmative thou shalt die Now there are three kinds of Death First the Death of the Body which is a natural Death Secondly the Death of the Soul which is a Spiritual Death And then thirdly and lastly the Death both of Body and Soul which is Eternal Death But that which good King Hezekiah was warned of was but only the Death of the Body which according to the Statute Law Decreed in that High Court of Parliament of Heaven all Men shall once taste of no Man can escape it for so saith St. Paul it is appointed unto all Men that they shall once die to all once to many twsce for there is a second Death and that is truly a Death because it is Mors Vitae the Death of Life the other rather a Life because it is Mors Mortis the Death of the Death after which there shall be no more Death Now as Job saith Mans time is appointed his Month determined and his day numbered yea and as Christ Jesus the Worlds Saviour saith his very last hour is limited he was made of the Mould of the Earth he shall return again to the Earth And as all have one Entrance into Life the like going out shall they have to Death Nothing we brought in nothing we shall carry out Naked come I out of my Mothers Womb and naked shall I return A Change then shall come which of the wicked is to be feared of the godly to be desired and of all people to be daily and hourly expected Remember them that have been before you and that shall come after you that this is the Judgment of the Lord over all Flesh to taste of Death All Men shall once die for as much as all have sinned and been disobedient unto the Laws of God This Death of the Body is not a dying but a departing a transmigration and Exodus of our Earthly Pilgrimage unto our Heavenly Home yea a passage from the Valley of Death unto the Land of the Living Although our Souls and Bodies are separated for a while yet shall they meet again in the receptacle of Blessed Saints and Angels with much joy and receive an incorruptible Crown The Body is a Prison to the Soul and Death a Goal-delivery that frees the poor harmless Soul of those Grievances which formerly it did endure Length of days is nothing unto us but much grief and Age the duance of long Imprisonment wherefore if that you would but seriously consider this you might find Death to be rather a Friend than an Enemy and by consequence rather to be desited than shun'd as Simeon did as it is evident Luke 2. 29. saying Now Lord lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace according to thy Word which by some is used thus Now Lord I hope that thou wilt suffer me to depart in peace and keep my poor Immortal Soul no longer within the small circumference of this Mortal Body The Thief upon the Cross laid down his Life most joyfully because he saw Christ and did stedfastly believe that he should pass from a place of pain and misery unto a Paradise of Pleasure and so did St. Stephen Acts 7. 56. The Royal Preacher King Solomon lest that his Son should be deprived of such Happiness doth by an Emphatical Irony disswade his Son from those youthful Lusts and sensual Pleasures whereunto he feared that he should naturally be addicted and that by the consideration of that dreadful account he was to give unto God at the great and terrible day of the Lord desiring him most earnestly not to let his House stand out of order but ever to remember his Creator in the days of his youth for old Age will come saith he and then thou shalt not be so fit by reason of much weakness and infirmities Or else Death may seize upon thee For Dust shall return unto the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it Eccles. 12. 7. In a moment yea at the twinkling of an Eye when once this Tyrant Death comes it will sweep us all away It is the Custom among us here to let Leases one two or three Lives but God lets none for more than one and this once expired there is no hopes of getting the Lease renewed he suffers Man sometimes to dwell in his Tenement threescore Years and ten Psal. 90. 10. Sometimes to fourscore but secures none far from home and that for several Reasons First to bridle our curiosity left that we should search after things too high for quae supranos nihil ad nos those things that are above us are nothing to us Secondly to try out patience whether that we will put our whole trust and confidence in him although we know not the time of our departure and dissolution and then thirdly to keep us in continual watchfulness for if that we should know when Death would come with a Habeas Corpus to remove us it would make many more careless than they are though indeed the best of us are careless enough Here Men do know the date of their Leases and the expiration of the Years but Man is meerly a Tenant at will is put out of Possession at less than an Hours warning Wherefore now while it is said to day set your Houses in order seeing that you must die and not live It is not sufficient at the last Hour of Death to say Lord have mercy on me or Lord into thy hands I commend my Soul But even in all our Life-time yea and especially in our youth we must strive ever to set our Houses in order for we shall die and not live Samson was very strong Solomon very wise and Methusalem lived many years yet at last they with many more were brought to Mother Earth If it seem pleasant unto you at the present to let your rotten and ruinous Houses stand out of order yet with all remember what the Prophet saith The day of Destruction is at hand and the times of perdition make haste to come on Art thou a young Man in the April of thine Age and hast thou thy Breasts full of Milk and doth thy Bones run full of Marrow as Job speaks and thereupon dost
my present hope is my only help for indeed such an one hath only help in this Life â—…but a Christians common Expression is this Dum Exspiro Spero Expiration is my Expectation for such an one hath hope in the Life to come when a wicked Man dies he thinks he shall live worse but a Christian when he dies he knows he shall live better he cries with the holy Apostle for one to live is Christ and to die is gain Job 19. 25. I know that my Redeemer liveth and he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth and though after my Skin Worms destroy this Body yet in my flesh shall I see God Thirdly Death was never intended to be as a privation of good but as a priviledge for good to the Believer and it is attended with these several Priviledges First Corporal and Temporal Death it serves to set out the Beauty and Excellency of eternal Life It is Gods usual method to set out one contrary by another Contraria juxta se posita magis eluâ—…escunt In War God commends Peace to us In Adversity Prosperity in Sickness Health and in Death he commends eternal Life to us As the Limner lays the Foundation of a curious Picture in a Dark Ground-work so God doth oftentimes lay the foundation of our sweetest Mercies in the greatest miseries and this he doth that his Mercies may appear more lovely in our eyes and thus he sets off the joys of Heaven by the troubles we meet with on the Earth It is said of Zeno that he was wont to eat bitter things that he might the better taste sweet and he would say sweet things were nothing worth if they were not so commended to us And so bitter Death it is but an Engine devised by infinite Wisdom and for to set out the Unspeakable sweetness of Everlasting Joys God could as easily have received all his redeemed ones into the immediate imbraces of Divine Love and Glory without letting them know what it was to be tempted to be afflicted or to die but only for the better sweetning and endearing fulness of Glory to them Secondly Deaths mortal Wound it is but preparatory to an immortal weight of Glory Death it is the midnight of all troubles and sorrows which is in Travel with a morning of everlasting Joy and Comfort Death it is the Saturday or last day of our Weekly labours which ushers in a Sabbath of eternal rest Rev. 14. 13. And I heard a Voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord for they rest from their Labours and their VVorks follow after them Here the Believer hath labour without rest but in Heaven he shall have rest without Labour Death tends indeed to a Believers perfect everlasting reign and rest The Believers Afflictions upon Earth they are fore-runners of Deliverances they are as throws to the Birth of future Comforts The Whale which swallowed up Jonah God appointed as the means of bringing himself to the Shore And so the trouble which we often times think may swallow us up it brings us to our harbour Death it lands us safely upon Glory One excellency sets out the state of a dying Christian in these Words Per Augusta ad Augusta per Spinas ad rosas per Procellas ad Portum per Mortem ad Vitam migramus Lastly Death it is as a Bridge that all Saints must walk over to the everlasting Hill of endless Peace to the perfection of Grace to the participation oâ—… Glory to the full possession of Christ. 1. Death it leads us to the perfection of Grace the believer would live that he might be more perfect but when he dies he is perfect indeed a dying life that is a dying to sin it frees us from a living Death well doing fits us for dying Holiness frames us for Happiness 2. Death it leads us to a participation of Glory the consummation of Grace is the inceation of Glory Grace that puts the Soul into a capacity of enjoying glimps of God as in a Glass darkly but glory brings the Soul ad visionem beatificam into an immediate converse with God face to face 1 Cor. 13. 12. For now we see through a Glass darkly but then face to face now I know in part but then I shall know even as I am known 3. Death it leads us into a full possession of Christ Luke 23 43. This day shalt thou be with met in Paradise so saith Paul Then shall we be ever with the Lord comfort comfort ye one another with these words to be always with Christ will be very comfortable indeed Death that deprives us of commerce with men yet it delivers us up into an immediate communion with God and Christ and the blessed Angels Saints in Heaven shall be as the Angels nay saith John now are we the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Death speaks the sad disjunction of the Soul from the Body and the sure and sweet Conjunction of the Soul with Christ and therefore saith Paul and every Christian when he is in a right temper I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is best of all And thus I have endeavoured to lay open before you those Soul supporting and Soul encouraging Arguments the consideration of which makes the believing Soul so willingly and so boldly to look Death in the Face to invade Death in its own Quarters which is indeed but as a Passage or Bridg whereby the Soul is carried over unto the Mountains of Mirrh and unto the Hill of Frankincense where it shall lie down with Christ on his Green Bed of Love which is perfumed all over with the fulness of increated Glory And thus having shewed you many Arguments the Consideration of which doth much facilitate a Believers passage through Death into Glory I shall in the next place for a further Illustration of this truth present unto you the admirable carriage and department of some famous Christians since Christ his time as in Relation to their contempt of Death and earnest desiring to be with Christ in Glory and in this Relation I shall begin with Ignatius who lived while Christ was upon the Earth and so proceed to several other remarkable Instances in successive Generations Ignatius when he was sent by Trajan the Emperour to Rome there to be devoured of Lyons for his free reproving of Idolatry instead of fearing Death he thus couragiously expressed himself I wish says he that I could see those wild Beasts that must tear me in piâ—…ces I would speak them fair to dispatch me quickly and if that would not do I would incite them to it Hierom of Prague the renowned Bohemian Martyr he uttered these words with much chearfulness at his very giving up the Ghost Hanc animam in flammis affero Christe tibi freely do
blessed and glorious Redeemer where there will be no more sinning nor sighing nor more weeping for dead and dying Friends Let us long long to be there where time will be no more but all will be swallowed up in an endless Eternity of joy and delight Lord let us often ponder upon the blessed state above for certainly one deep and serious consideration of the never fading Glory of the other world is enough to wing our hearts with earnest desires as we have heard it did thy Holy Saints and Martyrs to depart and leave this vain world to be with Christ. And good Lord let us when we leave a weeping House and the many instances of our dearest Friends going so often to the Grave before us shew that we must quickly follow be received into that Celestial Mantion above which will prove an eternal House of Joy The Eye that hath seen him shall see him no more SERMON XI Upon ACTS 20. 38. Sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake That they should see his Face no more IN the latter part of this Chapter you have the Declaration of two things First You have declared the Carriage of the Apostle Paul that was he Preach'd while he was at the Church of Ephesus Secondly You have declared the Character of the Church of Ephesus when they were parting with this Blessed Preacher in the words that I have read and the verse before or the two last verses and it was full of Love and manifested in three things 1. They fell upon his Neck and kissed him that 's the close of the 37. verse 2. They accompanied him unto the Ship when he was to launch into the Ocean They went with him as far as they could as some of them it may be will to the very edge of Eternity 3. They shew'd to him their Love by their â—…ping and Sorrowing at parting They cannot part with dry Eyes They sorrowed most of all especially for this that they should see his Face no more It was not so much that Paul was to go from them but that they should see his Face no more From this practice of this Church I would lay down this Doctrine That it is the property and practice of the Saints and People of God to be sorrowful and affected at the final parting with their Pastors and Teachers This was that that most of all cut their Hearts That they should see his Face no more That Patriarch Jacob that wrestled and prevailed when he came to die as you read in Gen 49. and the last verse That he pull'd up his Feet into the Bed and he 's goone Now see what a Mourning there was for him in Gen. 50. 1. Joseph fell upon his Fathers Face and kissed him and verse 3. And the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days here was a mourning for Jacob and verse 10. They came to the Threshing floor of Atad which is beyond Jordan and there they Mourned with a great and very sore Lamentation And made a Mourning for his Father seven daies The young Prophet in the 1 Kings 13. who without doubt in the main was Faithful to God though seduced out of his way and out of his Life by an old Prophet whereby a Lion was appointed by God to destroy him but see now how the old Prophet was affected with it as soon as he hears it causeth the Ass to be Sadled and goes and brings the Carcase home to the City to Mourn and to Bury him and laid him in his own Grave in the 30. versâ—… and brings all to Mourn over him and charges his Sons that when he was dead that they Bury him in the same Sepulchre where the Man of God was and lay his Bones besides his Bones I shall now instance in the New Testament it was so with them of Ephesus when they parted with Paul They should see his Face no more He had been such a Preacher that they could not part with him without Tears or with dry Eyes Devout Men also carried Stephen to his Burial and made great Lamentation over him When Christ was carrying to be put to Death there followed him a great multitude of People and Women which also bewailed and lamented him There was great lamentation Oh they could not part with Jesus Christ without lamenting That they should see his Face no more But it will be here obiected in the next verse that Jesus Christ in Luke 23. 28. turn'd to those Women that wailed and wept and said Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but for your selves That therefore there ought not to be weeping or lamenting for the departure of any Eminent Saint seeing he forbids it for himself it argues indeed we should not weep for them but for the want of them which is ours Why should those that are Hearers be deeply affected at the final departure of Holy Ministers I answer This arises from the love that is between them There is a mutual Love between a Faithful Preacher and a Sincere Hearer Where there is Love there is Mourning in the absence of it It 's said that Israel loved Joseph more than all his Children and therefore when News came to Jacob that Joseph was not Oh! saith Jacob ver 35. I will go down into the Grave unto my Son mourning So David lamented for Absolon Ob Absolon my Son my Son Absolon and David lamented exceedingly for Jonathan in that 1 Kings I am distressed for thee my Brother Jonathan if you love your Preachers so as it s said of them that could pull out their Eyes for them while living you will even weep out your Eyes for them now dead I could tell you of a thing that I have lookt upon as a Piece of Prophesie it was Printed and Writ Ten Years before the Fire of London and it was this London look to it what Heaven 's a doing Thy Flames are coming when thy Lots are going When I consider who is gone and who are going I dread What became of Prague when Jerom was dead What became of Germany when Luther was dead And what will become of England when such as these are dead Let me call upon this Congregation this Evening that we would be in the Ephesians Practice they Mourned when Paul was going and they should see his Face no more Your Preacher is gone And you shall see his Face no more I would I could raise you to their height of Mourning He begat you in Christ Jesus though none of his own but Christs and you may get one to succeed him but not to exceed him but I desire that Man to tell me where The Good Mans Epitaph SERMON XII REV. 14. 13. And I heard a Voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord from henceforth so saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them THE Scripture will afford us many Texts for Funerals Methinks there is none
of old used to lament at the Birth of their Children but rejoice at their Funeral The time will come that we must part with our Isaac's our Benjamin's nearest Friends and dearest Comforts Then remember my Text if they die in the Lord take no care for them they are Blessed they are at their Rest. But some will say Shall we meet with our Friends again departed in the Faith Yes without peradventure if we walk in ways of Obedience to the end It was David's Comfort upon the death of his Child While the Child was living he fasted and wept and lay upon the Ground but when it was dead he arose and anointed himself aad eat Bread His Reason is very strong and convincing 1. An impossibility of Recovery He shall not come to me 2. An assured Hope of meeting again in Heaven But I shall go to him He shall not come to me that would be for his loss to part with his Rest in Heaven for a restless condition on Earth but I shall go to him I have not lost him for ever we shall meet again as comfortably as Jacob and Joseph met in Egypt meet again in Heaven and never part Now you know it never troubles us to see the Sun set because we know it will rise again in the Morning it never troubles us to part with a Friend when he goes to Bed because we hope to see him again in the Morning Beloved the Death of a Friend is but like the setting of the Sun or the uncloathing of a Man when he goes to Bed there will be a glorious appearing in the Morning of the Resurrection and therefore St. Paul condemns immoderate sorrow for the dead I would not have you sorrow as those that have no hope Nature will be sorrowful but let Grace moderate the sorrow and keep it within the bounds of hope and the ground of hope is set down If ye believe that Jesus died and is risen again even so also them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 'T is true the Scripture mention some that shall not die as they that shall be found alive at the Coming of Christ to Judgment St. Paul tells us in plain terms we shall not all sleep but we shall be changed The meaning is they shall not so sleep as to continue in the state of the dead but be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an Eye yet such a change as they shall have a dissolution and in the same moment a redintegration a real Death and a real Resurrection though no sleeping in the Grave of Corruption You see one Generation passing and another Generation coming one Friend and Neighbour drops into the Grave after another and when your turn shall be you know not This you may be assured of Death will come certainly and it may be speedily it may be suddenly What Man is he that liveth and shall not see Death Psal. 89. 48. Now I beseech you embrace and improve these few directions in order to a Pious Life and a Peaceable Death First if you would live to the Lord and die in the Lord labour for exemplary purity of Life Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom but he that doth the Will of the Father Secondly If you would live to the Lord and die in the Lord give the World a Bill of Divorcement otherwise it will clip your Wings and clog your Souls and hinder your pursuit of Heaven there is nothing in all the World that is worthy of your Affections nothing but what is transitory and unsatisfactory and therefore look on it and pass away Gregory Nazianzen speaks of a Land which had abundance of Curious Flowers in it but no Corn for Bread to satisfie the Peoples Hunger the World is very like that Land here are many Flowers which may please our Sences and our Phantasies but here is no Corn for Bread no substantial satisfying Comforts As Death should be the Subject of your Meditatâ—…on so Heaven the Center of your Affections Richarâ—… the First sometimes King of England gave charge that his Bowels should be Buried at Charron but his Heart at Roan the Faithful City the City of his Love Truely the World deserves but our waste parts we may Bury our Bowels in the Earth but our Hearts should be laid up in Heaven the Royal City the New Jerusalem That so after a troublesome Life we may have a peaceable Death and after Death a glorious Reward of Everlasting Rest in Heaven according to this voice from Heaven in the Text. Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord for they rest from their Labâ—…urs and their Works follow them I have now done with the Text and now come to address my self unto that sad occasion which hath given my present Discourse this Mourning Suit The occasion of our present meeting is to Solemnize the Funeral of our deceased Neighbour and Friend to do our last office to her Body by aâ—…ording it the benefit of a Christian and Comely Burial Concerning whom I might upon very good and warrantable Grounds enlarge my Discourse in the description of the blessedness both of her Life and Death but as the Orator said Quid opus est verbis What need is there of words when her deeds are so manifest She died the death of Moses he died leisurely God gave him notice of his Journey before-hand for his better preparation Go up to the Mount and die So departed she from the World not before she expected Death not before she provided for Death God was pleased in Mercy to give her warning before she flitted to ring her Passing-bell in her Soul many days before she died and whereas many are flattered with hopes of Life till the very Hour of Death yet she was upon a meditation of Death from the first beginning of her sickness Death was not sudden to her either in respect of Expectation or Preparation she had her Wedding-garment on and her Lamp trimmed with Faith and a good Conscience she was ready for Death and ripe for Eternity behold she is coming to the Grave and she comes as a shock of Corn from the Field in due Season Hopes of a joyful Resurrection SERMON XIII JOB 19. v. 25 26 27. For I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth And though after my Skin Worms destroy shis Body yet in my flesh shall I see God Then I shall see for my self and mine Eyes shall behold and not another though my Reins be consumed in me AS if he had thus argued He that waites by Faith in the Redeemer of the Resurrection of his Body to eternal Life after Death hath done its worst is not a wicked man or an Hypocrite as you have charged me But such is my Faith I believe in the Redeemer and I look to rise after this body is consumed and eaten of Worms to an eternal happy Life therefore
to come into the presence of the great and glorious God yet it shall be even this flesh and these Eyes in which I shall come into the Presence of God and and behold my Redeemer I shall be altered from what I was but I shall not be another than I was I shall be changed into a better condition but I shall not be changed into another person My qualities shall have a perfective alteration but I shall retain the same matter and be the same man A man raised glorious and immotal is what he was except his Morality and hath no more than he had except his Glory The Philosopher acknowledgeth there may be a specificial but not a numerical Restauration of that which is corrupted But Joâ—…'s Faith was clearer than Aristotle's reason He believed a Personal Resurrection Mine Eye shall behold and not another I shall not be changed into another Person whatever changes I undergo I shall be Job still the same Job Hence observe Every Man at the Resurrection shall receive the same Body that now he hath and beâ—… the same Mâ—… which now he is One of the Antients hath a large Discourse upon this subject wherein he discovers some who tho they granted the Soul immortal yet denied the Resurrection of the same Body Such were the Marcionites Basilidians and Và lentinians These â—…aith he went halves with the Sadduces in their opinion The Sadduces denied Spirits Hence Acts 23. 6. Paul perceiving that the Assembly was mixed of Sadduces and Pharisees and wisely considering that if he did but mind them of their differences between themselves they would not so strongly agree and combine against him he made his advantage of it by professing openly that he was a Pharisee And the sacred Historian tells us what the peculiar tenents of the Sadduces were v. 8. The Sadduces say there is no Resurrection neither Angel nor Spirit they denied both but the Pharisees confess both They held that there were immortal Spirits or Souls united to the bodies of Men that those bodies should arise and be reunited to the Soul They also confessed that there were Angels who are Spirits subsisting properly without Bodies Now as the Sadduces denied the Resurrection of the Body so others denied the Resurrection of the same Body These he calleth sharers or halvers in the Sadduces Opinion though not so grosly as they yet too too grosly departing from the Faith And indeed they who deny the Resurrection of the same body do by implication altogether deny the Resurrection of the body For if the same numerical Body should not rise it could not be called a Resurrection Resurrection is the rising of that which fell and the taking up of that which was before laid down So that it would be the Creation of a new Body not the Resurrection of the old if it were not the same Body And it conduceth much to the comfort of Saints and may be the terrour of wicked Men to keep close to the Faith of this Article The Apostle seems to touch it 2 Cor. 5. 10. We shall all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things he hath done in his Body according to what he hath done whether it be good or bad That hand which hath been doing for Christ that very Tongue which hath been speaking for Christ that whole Body which hath been moved and acted for Jesus Christ as an instrument of his Glory that shall receive the Reward As also that Hand that Eye that Tongue that Foot which hath moved and stirred against Christ that also shall be punished and receive according to the evil committed in the Body Judgment would not be exact unless as there hath been a copartnership between Soul and Body in their works so also they should be co-Partners both in reward and punishment If it be objected how can the same numerical Body rise again especially in such cases when thousands of Carcasses are mingled and their Dust promiscuously heapead together or scattered abroad When the Bodies of Men are devoured by wild Beasts and digested into the substance of Fowls and Fishes especially when the Bodies of Men are eaten and concocted into the Bodies of other Men How can these numerical Bodies rise I answer first if we will not rest in matters of Faith till we have a clear rational account of them our Faith may quickly be at a stand I answer secondly that as it is easie to make Objections against Faith so Faith hath one answer as easie as these Objections The Apostle gives it and into that all such doubts must be resolved Phil. 3. 20. For having shewed the present condition or disposition of the Spirit of Saints in the former Verse Our Conversation is in Heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ. He presently shewes what the future condition of the Saints Bodies shall be Who shall change our vile Bodies that they may be fashioned like unto his glorious Body How is this Who puts this vile Body into such a Glorioui fashion Trouble not your selves for that there is power enough to do it it is done according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself This is an answer to the hardest Objections Christ can subdue all things therefore those which are hardest There is no difficulty to Omnipotency You ask how the same Body can be restored I ask how the first body was Created Tell me how God Created Heaven and Earth out of nothing So that as the Apostle speaks Heb 11. 3. Things which are seen were not made of things which do appear How were these things done If you argue by reason you will be pos'd and gravel'd in these as wall as in that other yea you will be at a Wall and notable to answer above that which is ordinary and every day done and shall continue to be done in all the Generations of Men Solomon puts the question Eccles. 11. 5. Tell me how the Bones grow in the Womb of her that is with Child Can you tell how the Child is framed Thou canst not give an account of thy own Production nor find out the Work of God in forming the Body Therefore as to the manner how such things are done we must have recourse only to the Almighty power of God to the All-powerful God who is able to subdue all things to himself Mine Eye shall behold and not another Though my Reigns be consumed within me I touch upon the Interpretation of this Clause before as it suits with that passage vers 26. Though after my Skin Worms destroy this Body and though my Reins be consumed within me Though I be totally consumed Skin without and Reins within yet notwithstanding I believe that I shall rise and see God Thus it was joined with the first Words of the 26th Verse to shew the triumph of Faith over all Difficulties that lie in the way of the Resurrection The Yearly Mourner
Divine Love nor will I any more let thee go Now to the World and all worldly things I bid adieu Now rejoicing I come to thee O God Nothing O sweet Jesu nothing shall separate me from thee For I am united with thee O Christ In thee will I live in thee will I die and in thee if it be thy pleasure will I remain to all Eternity No more do I live now but Christ liveth in me My Soul is weary of this Life I desire to be dissolved and be with Christ and to die a Gainer Now will I fear no evil walking in the shadow of Life because thou O Lord art with me As the Hart panteth after the Rivers of Water so panteth my Soul after thee O God My Soul hath thirsted after God the Fountain of Life when shall I come and appear before the Face of my God Bless me O Loving Jesu and dismiss me in peace because I am now truely thine and to all Eternity will I not forsake thee What have I now more to do with the World O my sweet Jesu Into thy Hands Lord Jesu I commend my Spirit Receive me O Celetial Love that I may be happy in thy Embraces to all Eternity and may for ever rest in thee A Conclusion of the Second Chapter To the Reader THese things I have therefore said for the comfort of the Healthy and the Sick that they may not be altogether without Comfort partly to stir them up to vigilancy partly to strengthen them that they may overcome prepared against all Assaults of Death An ill death is not only the worst but the most indeliable and inexpiable of all Errours in the Word Now I come to give some Precepts to the Dying not â—…o see them read but to be read in health to profit them in that dreadful Hour CHAP. III. The Remembrance of Death is represented to Dying People Sect. 1. The Art of Dying well is briefly Taught NOT to know how to die is the most miserable piece of Ignorance in the World Therefore that we may learn that which we ought to learn all our Lives there are five things that conduce to good Death First A free and undaunted Mind This is that which is of chiefest moment and upon which the rest depend It is a great satisfaction for our offences so willingly to abandon'd what is most dear to us Therefore saith David an Offering of a Free-heart-will I give unto thee There is nothing so acceptable to God nor so profitable to Man as a free and ready Mind and a generous Trust in God Secondly A Will made and Debts discharged 'T is an Errour never to think of a Will till Death is at the Door Dispose of thy Goods while thou art well in thy Sences Moreover as to the giving away of such things as are at our disposal Sect. 2. Nine causes why we are to Die with a contented Mind BEfore all things consider the death of thy Saviour and thou wilt fear thy own with a most contented Mind Compare I beseech thee thy Bed to his Cross thy Pillows to his Thorny Diadem thy Food with his Gall thy Drink with his Vinegar thy Pains with his Torments Thou didst die in the midst of thy Friends and Comforters he in the midst of his Enemies and Revilers Thou among thy Helpers and Assistants he expir'd deserted by all For thy health so many Medicines are still prepar'd His extream thirst wanted the refreshment of cold Water Yet he the Lord and chief of all Thou a Servant most vile and mean Him all these Miseries befel both Innocent and Undeserving thee for thy Deserts and Impiety And therefore thou hast no reason to complain 2. The chiefest Grace of the Supream King is a Good Death To die well is to avoid the danger of Living ill But he dies well who dies willingly Who does not readily rise from a hard Bed They only desire to lye long who cherish'd by the heat are loth to leave a warm Nest. If it be ill with thee in this Life wherefore shouldst thou not willingly pass to a better If well 't is time for thee to make an end lest Prosperity cast thee as it does many into a late but fatal Ruin 'T is a hard thing for the Fortunate to die How many Men are Condemned to perpetual Torments who had they dy'd Children or young had gone to Heaven 3. The Saints and all our dearest Friends invite us to them But saist thou we must leave our Friends and Companions Unadvisedly spoken thou art going to them Where are thy Parents Dost not thou hope in Heaven And that thou shalt also go thither But these are things uncertain and only hoped for Very right there is no Man hopes for what he sees or is certain of And therefore God affords thee an occasion for that Vertue He commanded thee to hope for Heaven he would never promise it thee certainly And yet thou art carried thither still with a certain hope though to a thing to thee uncertain A Creditor has no reason to mistrust a Faithful Debtor God is become thy Debtor Consider thou to whom thou art a Creditor Doth not St. Paul cry out with joy I know whom I have believed 4. Consider O Man of little Soul the extraordinary alacrity of Mind and the ardent desire to die of many Martyrs who contemn'd all the preparations of Death and suffered the severest Torments with a smiling Countenance Certainly neither Death nor Labour is terrible but the fear of Death or Labour Therefore let us applaud the saying of him who said Death is no evil but to die shamefully Children are frighted with Hobgoblins for want of knowledge What is Death A Hobgoblin Turn the Argument and thou shalt find it so Yet neither Children nor Infants nor Madmen fear Death and therefore 't is a most shameful thing that reason should not afford us that security which reason produces Death is a Tribute and a Duty to be paid by all why then art thou troubled Why dost thou not pay the Debt thou owest for Death allows no priviledges No Man was ever exempted or shall be The World saith St. Basil is Mortal and the Region of them that die 5. What is a long fear of Death but a long Torment Dost thou live long Thou art long in Torment Well said Tertullian That is not to be fear'd that frees us from all fear But thou wilt say 'T is a terrible thing in Sickness to foresee Death creeping on by degrees Worm of a Man what wouldst thou have Did not thy Saviour Christ foresee his Death and that a most sharp one for thirty years and more Art thou better than he But because thou dost not so much fear Death as the previous Inconveniences of Death hear Epictetus And shalt not thou saith he depart with a firm and constant mind but trembling and cowardly because of thy fine Cloaths or thy gaudy Silver Plate Unhappy Man Was it thus that hitherto
he should be drawn through the Streets of London to the Gallows in St. Giles in the Fields and there hanged and afterwards burnt upon the Gallows as he hung The Death of Thomas Cromwell Earl of Essex HIS Enemies durst not bring him to a Tryal but procured an Act of Attainder whereby he was Condemned before he was Heard yet the King after his death repented this Haste and wished he had his Cromwell alive again Being mounted the Scaffold he made an humble Confession and begged the Prayers of all those which were present then in a pious Prayer he recommended himself into the Hands of the Almighty and at one Blow his Head was severed from his Body Anno 1541. The Death of the Lady Jane Grey THE Morning before her Exit from this World her Husband the Lord Guilford Dudley was conveyed to a Scaffold on Tower-Hill where he penitently ended his Life his Head and Body being laid in a Cart all bloody was brought to the Chappel and exposed to the Sight of this sorrowful Lady a Spectacle more dismal than the kneenest Axe of her Death And now her own part is to be acted upon a Scaffold erected upon the Green within the Tower where being mounted with a chearful Countenance she looked upon the People and with great Constancy directed her self after this manner That she was come thither to die for an Offence which was committed by a Device not of her own seeking then wringing her Hands and protesting her Innocency she desired them to take notice that she died a good Christian and requested their Prayers Then kneeling down she repeated in English the 51 Psalm after which her Gentlewoman helped her off with her Gown and the Hangman on his Knees asked her forgiveness which she forgave him freely and prayed him to dispatch her quickly Looking upon the Block and kneeling she said Will you take it off before I lay it down No Madam replied the Executioner then she tied a Handkerchief before her Eyes and feeling for the Block said What shall I do Where is it Where is it Being guided she laid her Head upon the Block and giving the Sign she said Lord into thy Hands I commend my Spirit Then receiving the Fatal Blow she ended this Life Anno 1554. Aged 16. Her Death was much lamented but did not go unpunished for the Judge which passed her Sentence shortly after fell distracted crying out continually Take away the Lady Jane from me The Lady Jane Grey had a curious Vein in Poetry In her Troubles she composed these Lines Think nothing strange which Man cannot decline My Lot's to Day to Morrow it may be thine If God protect me Malice cannot end me If not all I can do will not defend me After dark Night I hope for Light This Epitaph was also made on her My Race was Royal sad was my short Raign Now in a better Kingdom I remain The Death of Sir Philip Sidney SIR Philip lay for the space of 25 Days enduring his Pains with admirable Patience and at length resign'd up his Spirit into the hands of his Redeemer October 16. Anno 1586. Upon him was made this Epitaph Apollo made him wise Mars made him stout Death made him leave the World Before his Youth was out The Death of Galeacius Carracciolus SIckness the Harbinger of Death seizing upon him which proceeded from abundance of Rheum this was produced by his long and wearisome Journeys which he had formerly taken by Land and Sea for his Conscience sake His Physicians despairing of his Cure he wholly sequestred himself from all Worldly Cogitations and taking his Farewell of his Wife and Friends saving He would lead them the way to Heaven Then he desired God to receive him and acknowledge him for his own and so quieâ—…ly departed 1592. Aged 74. The Death of Katherine Bretterg ONce she took the Bible in her hand and joyfully kissing it said O Lord 't is good for me to be afflicted that I may learn thy Statutes The law of thy mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and sâ—…ver Then she desired her Husband to be ware of Popery and to let her little Girl be brought up in the Fear of God saying So shall I meet her in Heaven whom I must now leave behind me on Earth Once she was very dull in Prayer and when she came to Lead us not into Temptation she said I may not pray I may not pray for Satan interrupts me yet her Friends left her not till she had gained the Conquest She repeated often We have not received the Spirit of Bondage to fear again but the Spirit of Adâ—…tion whereby we cry Abba Father The Verse of Psalm 13. ult she often repeated chearfully Many Pious Meditations she used but the last was this My Flesh and my Heart faileth but God is the Strength of my Heart and my Portion for ever He that preserveth Jacob and defendeth his Israel he is my God and will guide me unto Death Then she departed this life without any motion of Body May ult Anno 1601. Aged 22. The Death of John Lord Harrington Baron of Exton FRom the First-Day of his last Sickness he apprehended the approach of Death and so readily prepared himself for it he made Confession of his Sins and oft confessed his Faith and undoubted hope of Salvation in Christ and when Death approached he breathed out O my God when shall I be with thee And in the midst of these longing Desires he departed Anno 1613. Aged 22. The Death of Phillip de Mornay Lord of Plessis Marley BEing displaced from his Government of Samur he betook himself to a Private Life and made his Will for the peace and good of his Family being seiz'd upon by a continual Fever and no hopes of Recovery he would often say I fly I fly to Heaven and the Angels are carrying me into the bosome of my Saviour then would he repeat the words of Job I know that my Redeemer liveth I shall see him with mine eyes and I feel I fell what I now speak He dyed in the 74th Year of his Age. The Death of John Bruen of Bruen-Stapleford in the County of Chester Esquire FAlling Sick the morning before his Death divers Friends took their leaves of him and hearing some make motion of Blacks he said I will have no Blacks I love no Proud nor Pompous Funeral neither is there any cause of Mourning but of rejâ—…icing rather in my particular Immediately before his Death lifting up his hands he said The Lord is my portion my help and my trust his blessed Son Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Redeemer Amen Even so saith the Spirit unto my Spirit therefore come Lord Jesus and kiss me with the kisses of thy mouth and embrace me with the Arms of thy Love into thy hands do I commend my Spirit O come now and take me to thy own self O come Lord Jesus come quickly O come O come O come So his
the Living but the Apophthegms of a Dying Eliot must have had in them a Grace and a Strain truly extraordinary and indeed the vulgar Error of the signal sweetness in the Song of a Dying Swan was a very Truth in our expiring Eliot his last Breath sâ—…elt strong of Heaven and was Articled into none but very gracious Notes one of the last whereof was Welcome Joy And at last it went away calling upon the standers by to Pray pray pray which was the thing in which so vast a portion of it had been before Employ'd This was the peace in the end of this Perfect and Upright Man thus was there another Star fetched away to be placed among the rest that the third Heaven is now enriched with He had once I think a pleasant Fear that the old Saints of his Acquaintance especially those two dearest Neighbours of his Cotton of Boston and Mather of Dorchester who were got safe to Heaven before him would suspect him to be gone the wrong way because he staid so long behind them But they are now together with a Blessed Jesus beholding of his Glory and celebrating the High Praises of Him that has called them into his marvellous light Whether Heaven was any more Heaven to him because of his finding there so many Saints with whom he once had his Delicious and Coelestial Intimacies yea and so many Saints which had been the Seals of his own Ministry in this lower World I cannot say but it would be Heaven enough unto him to go unto that Jesus whom he had lov'd preach'd serv'd and in whom he had been long assured there does All Fulness dwell In that Heaven I now leave him but not without Grynaeus's pathetical Exclamations O beatum illum diem Blessed will be the Day O blessed the Day of our Arrival to the glorious Assembly of Spirits which this great Saint is now reioicing with Bereaved New-England where are thy Tears at this Ill-boding Funeral We had a Tradition among us That the Countrey could never perish as long as Eliot was alive But into whose hands must this Hippo fall now the Austin of it is taken away Our Elisha is gone and now who must next year invade the Land The Jews have a saying Quando Luminaria paetiuntur Eclipsm malum signum est mundo but I am sure 't is a dismal Eclipse that has now befallen our New-English World I confess many of the Ancients fell into the vanity of esteeming the Reliques of the Dead Saints to be the Towers and Ramparts of the place that enjoy'd them and the dead Bodies of two Apostles in the City made the Poet cry out A Facie Hostili duo propugnacula praesunt If the Dust of dead Saints could give us any protection we are not without it here is a Spot of American Soyl that will afford a rich Crop of it at the Resurrection of the Just. Poor New-England has been as Glastenbury of old was called A Burying-place of Saints But we cannot see a more terrible Prognostick than Tombs filling apace with such Bones as those of the Renowned Eliot's the whole Building of this Countrey trembles at the fall of such a Pillar For many Months before he dyed he would often chearfully tell us That he was shortly going to Heaven and that he would carry a deal of good News thither with him he said He would carry Tidings to the Old Founders of New-England which were now in Glory that Church work was yet carried on among us That the number of our Churches was continually encreasing And that the Churches were still kept as big as they were by the daily additions of those that shall be saved But the going of such as he from us will apace diminish the occasions of such happy tydings What shall we now say Our Eliot himself used most affectionately to bewall the Death of all useful Men yet if one brought him the notice of such a thing with any Despondencies or said O Sir such a one is dead what shall we do he would answer Well but God lives Christ lives the Old Saviour of New-England yet lives and he will Reign till all his Enemies are made his Footstool This and only this consideration have we to relieve us and let it be accompanied with our addresses to the God of the Spirits of all Flesh That there may be Timothies raised up in the room of our Departed Pauls and that when our Moses's are gone the Spirit which was in those brave Men may be put upon the surviving Elders of our Israel Thus died the first Preacher of the Gospel to the Indians in New-England Aged 86. FINIS Vivere sibi Vacare Deo Nil prosunt lecta nec intellecta nisi teipsum legas intelligas Artem bene vivendi Artem bene moriendi Fortunam ut tegam appeto non longam sed Concinnam * Beverley's great Soul of Man p. 292. Ciâ—… primâ—… tusâ—… Cupressuâ—… funeria Psal. 76. ver 5. John Damascen Hist. c. 23. Gal. c. 6. v. 9 10. Job 7. v. 1. 〈◊〉 John 9. v. 4. Mark c. 13. v. 33 35. Mat. 24. v. 24. 2 Cor. 4. v. 16. 2 Cor. 12. v. 9 10. Luke 22. v. 44. Cor. 5. v. 5. Psal. 145. Isa. 50. v. 2. 2 Tim. 1. 12. c. 34. v. 14 c. Psal. 4. v. 9. Psal. 61. v. 3 4. Psal. 61. v. 4. Psal. 119 Jer. 17. v. 16 17. 31. 16. Job 13. 15. C. 12. 6. 1 Mac. 2 61. Lam. 3. 25 26. 1 John 3. 2. Ps. 116. v. 9. Psal. 31. 1 Job 6. 10. Lam. 1. C. 12. Luke 21. 19. Prov. ch 3. v. 11 12. Tob. c. 12. v. 13. Micah 7. v. 9. Ch. 14. v. 5. 1 Thess. c. 5. v. 8. Psal. 31. 1. Heb. 12. 1. 2.