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 Lazaras 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 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 laâ— 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 Red 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 Meditation so Heaven the Center of your Affections Richard 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 affording 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
fault ought not to have lessened my Love to which both Nature and Religion did strongly oblige me Had he loved me but coldly and faintly as divers do yet I ought to have warmed his affection with the fervency of mine But oh he dearly loved he cordially affected me and yet his love and his affection could not prolong his life Had my Brother and I been Idolaters together I might have believed that that sin had slain my Brother But as our Love was constant so our Religion was undefiled yea the strength of our Love was founded on the purity of our Religion and yet he hath payed his debt to Nature The Lord did threaten to set the Egyptians against the Egyptians and that they should fight every one against his Brother Is 19. 2. Those Egyptians were heathens and Enemies to the Church but my Brother and I were united both in the Profession and the Love of Christianity and yet through our sins I fear that even we destroy each other My sins are partly punished in his death and his death hath given me so deep a wound that peradventure I shall not long survive him Our love was so entire that methink's I could willingly sleep with him in his Grave for while I live my breast is but his walking monument Such love as ours did not always possess the hearts of some as nearly allyed which maketh me sigh to think that ever there were any which had layen successively in the self same womb and yet did not joyn in the unity of affection Methinks the complaint of the Church may be part of an Elegy upon my deceased brother for with her I may cry out and that justly too The good man is perished out of the earth But neither can I say that he was a Jew in supplanting or an enemy to the Church lying in wait for blood What secret Devil did guide both the tongue and the hand of Joab when under the colour of friendship he asked Amasa Art thou in health my brother And took him by the beard with the right hand to kiss him 2. Sam. 20. 9. and yet even at that time smote him with his sword in the fifth ribb and shed out his bowels to the ground that he died v. 10. What cursed fiend did guide the tongue of that wicked miscreant whom the Psalmist chargeth thus and saith Thou sittest and speaketh against thy brother thou slanderest thine own mothers son Psal 50. 20. Had my brother either supplanted me or hunted me with a net or sought to slay me or slandered me with his tongue then I might peradventure have saved this great expence of my Tears But he was always so good a Brother that I could never justly charge him with the least discourtesie O no we took sweet Counsel together and walked unto the House of God in company Psal 55. 14. I may say of him as Nehemiah spake of Hanani the Ruler of the Pallace He was a faithful man and feared God above many Neh. 7. 2. His blood was near to me but his Soul was nearer His person I loved as I was prompted to it by Nature But his inner man I more zealously affected to which I was allured by his gracious endowments yet neither his Counsel nor his society nor his fidelity nor his Religion could preserve him from the sentence of a temporal death O what would I not do to call him back again What would I not give to have him restored to life again But all that I can either do or give cannot perswade his Soul to return back to its Prison Well then seeing that I cannot fetch him from the Grave I will yet send up my sighs towards the place where he is blessed This I may do without any check either of reason or religion It was a curse which God did inflict upon Jehojakim for his sins That they should not lament for him saying Aâ— my Brother Jer. 22. 17 18. But on the contrary when Deborah though she was but Rebekah's Nurse was buried beneath Bethel under an Oak the name of it was called Allon-Bachuth the Oak of weeping Gen. 35. 8. When the enemies of David were visited by sickness he behaved himself as though they had been his Friends or his Brethren Yea he bowed down heavily as one that mourneth for his Mother Ps 35. 14. But he who now is dead was not my enemy but my friend yea and no common friend but a Brother yea and not a Brother in the flesh so much as in affection even as dear as a Mother Why then should I not sorrow for the loss of such a Brother I will grieve I will lament when I remember the Love and the courtesies which he shewed unto me and I will speak in the language of the Church to Christ and say O thou that wert my Brother that sucked the breasts of my Mother when I should find thee without I would kiss thee yet I should not be despised Cant. 8. 1. I will lament him as David did Saul and Jonathan and say the Beauty of Israel is dead 2 Sam. 1 19. he was lovely and pleasant in his life ver 23. I am distressed for thee my Brother very pleasant hast thou been unto me thy love to me was wonderful passing the love of Women v. 26. But what advantage to the dead are the tears of the living Can my sighs inspire life into his bosom Can a draught of my tears fetch him back again to life O no 't is this 't is this therefore that doth heighten and increase my sorrows even that my tears cannot recover him whom I lament But cease fond woman cease thy sobbs and cryes of discontent By the extremity of thy passion thou mayest hasten to his Grave yet if thou murderest thy self with excessive sorrow thy soul may be deprived of the society of his 'T is true indeed 't is most true Little can I expect to come to heaven if I violently force my self from the earth Why then do I take on as if I either suspected his happiness or doubted of following him What comfort can it bring to his body of earth to have it cabined in the Grave with his dispersing ashes The dust of both of us may mix in the vault and yet no joy arise to our sensless ashes If his earth was that which drew mine affection I see my fondness in the corruption of that Earth but if his gracious soul was the object of my love I must strive to come where that surviveth To heaven he 's gone and to heaven I 'll hasten and because I will go the surest way I will walk in those paths which faith and patience shall direct me in I will no more disturb the peace of my mind since that cannot help me to the company of him Weep indeed I do I am enforced unto it 't is the law of nature 't is an act of necessity I cannot avoid it Yet though I weep I will labour for content
her Life in wanton Ayres and Charms of Lust the treacherous Inticements to Destruction but when she dies she breathes out her Soul in Howlings Sighs and Sobs in Pangs and Horror The Swan who spends her days in Innocence as white as her Livery in pensive Notes of Sadness mournful and black as her Feet when she dies she expires in joyful Anthems the voice of joy and gladness So when Death calls the Aged Swan from Streams She dying sings her own glad Requiems Good People had you the Reversion of a Rich Living or Office would you weep because it is faln into your Possession Invidi non amantis 't were more of Envy than Love to bewail an Earthly Happiness I close as Jesus to the Daughters of Jerusalem Weep not for me â—ut weep for your selves not for me that am dying but for your selves that are living for your selves that have refused my Doctrine despised your Saviour condemned your Innocent and Righteous Prince For the Sins and Sufferings of the Living I confess there is weeping work enough for him who hath Jeremy's wish His Head a Fountain of Tears to weep day and night But for the dead that die in the Lord weep not Weep not she is not dead but sleepeth The Application Since the Faâ—e of Rest in the state of Separation and Happiness at meeting again of Soul and Body depends upon the Holiness at parting Let us be composed in both that neither the disorder of the Body nor multitude of Business either ill done or undone may disturb the quiet of the Soul Before Men go to Bed they put off their Cloaths or else they sleep both unhandsomely and uneasily So let your Souls divest those Habits which Sin and Custom hath too long made fashionable Lastly Good Men before they go to Bed they always pray St. Paul adviseth Pray always though not with the Lip yet with the Life When Survivors see a Soul that hath lived long in this Region of Holy Duty to ascend to Heaven as the Angel Judg. 13. 20. In the Flames of the Altar their Charity and Hopes are sufficiently instructed to say Nolite flere Weep not she is not dead but sleepeth The Character I have done with the Text that I brought hither to you and now apply my self and discourse to that Text that brought you hither to me from that I presented to your Ears to that presented to your Eyes I close the Book of Life and now open the Book of Death So St. Ambrose Interr'd Theodosius Nazianzen the Immortal Athanasius and St. Hierome the excellent Lady Marcella Nay St. John hath taken short Notes of a Sermon made by Christ at the Funeral of Lazarus John 11. 12 13 c. wherein are Discourses of Faith Resurrection and Glory raised from the Dead and applyed to the Living I need no other because I can follow no better precedent Therefore hear me or rather hear her speak for the Dead can speak Heb. 11. 4. Our dead Sister speaks first in the dignity of her Extraction fairly proclaim'd to you by the Herauldry of her Hearse but fairer far in the suitable Character of her Life the worthiness of her Birth had no other influence on her but to engage her to worthiness of Action which she so nobly improved that the Vertue of her Life dignified the Honour of her Descent so the Glory she received from her Father on Earth by the Acts of Humility and Charity she enhansed to the glorifying her Father which is in Heaven Her Beauty which was a depository from Heaven she beautified with so much Piety and adorned with so much Religion as if she had been intrusted to preserve both the Lustre and the Vertues of the Celestial Bodies in her Epiâ—ome But the Beauty of her Soul was a Sun to this Taper from whence her starry Actions received a mighty Splendor When she spake Wisdom dictated and Wit delivered she hung her Language at your Ears as Jewels much of worth in a small bulk and as Jewels her Speech was Rich both in Lustre and in Medicine the Conceits of her Mirth would raise a Smile but the Gravity of her Conveyance commanded Reverence Her Reproofs like Lightning quick but short such as would melt the Blade yet not singe the Scabbard kill the Sin but preserve the Sinner Her Promises were made in her Head but bept in her Hand as a Nail fastned in a sure place driven by Understanding and clenched by Affection Her Attire neither fordid nor curious nor too early in nor too late out of Fashion not like those Mushroom Gentry who declare their late rise from Peasantry and Poverty by the Herauldry of the Dirt and Rags on their Back Her Table was both wholesome and handsome enough to satisfie the Stomach of the hungry and well enough to fancy the Palate of the Curious yea when the Sword had Carved her Meat to the fifth part her good Chear was as much as ever Her Visits were like the Sun 's beneficial where-e're she came and treading in her Saviours steps She went up and down doing good Her Access was free but not loose her Door as her Heart was open to all Friends so that without much shifting the Scene she would easily make her House a Court an Almes-house a School and an Hospital all in a day She had Treatments for the Greatest who came as Agrippa and Bernice with great Pomp. She had Relief for the Poorest who as Lazarus lay at the Gateâ— Instructions for the Ignorant and Charitable Remedies for the Sick Christian Applications for all feeding the Hungry cooling the Thirsty cloathing the Naked visiting the Sick and harbouring the Traveller what God requires in acts of Neighbourhood here and Reward hereafter the whole Voyzenage can witness with me and for her that she was a great parallel to Dorcas Acts 9. 36. This Woman was full of good Works and Almes-deeds which she did Finally Brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report she did them therefore if there be any vertue or any praise let her have it Her Relation as a Wife shews her without disparagement a rare example and standard to her Sex Society is the most precious Comfort in Nature the richest Jewel in her Cabinet Adam not in perfect Paradise not happy without it of all Societies with Man that of a Wife is nearest being made of his own Rib and dearest lying in his own Bosom Her Affection was great as Jonathan's wonderful and passing the love of Women 2 Sam. 2. 26. Marriage made her Husband and her one Flesh but Love made them one Soul She Married not only his Person but his Interests and Concernments loved his Loves wished his Desire as inseparable as Ruth and her Mother-in-law Ruth 1. 16 17. not to be parted but by Death She owed him an Affection equal to her Life being often ready to lay
these costly Piles of VVood. The Custom of burning the dead Bodies continued among the Romans but until the time of the Antonine Emperors An. Dom. 200. or thereabouts then they began to Bury again in the Earth Manutius de leg Rom Fol. 125 126. They had at these Burials suborned counterseit hired Mourners which were VVomen of the loudest Voices who betimes in the Morning did meet at appointed places and then cried out mainly beating of their Breasts tearing their Hair their Faces and Garments joining therewith the Prayers of the defunct from the Hour of his Nativity unto the Hour of his Dissolution still keeping time with the Melancholick Musick This is a Custom observed at this day in some parts of Ireland but above all Nations the Jews are best skilled in these Lamentations being Fruitful in Tears Tears that still ready stand To sally forth and but expect command Amongst these VVomen there was ever an old aged Beldam called Praefica superintendent above all the rest of the Mourners who with a loud Voice did pronounce these words Ire licet as much to say He must needs depart and when the dead Corps were laid in the Grave and all Ceremonies finished she deliver'd the last Adieu in this manner Adieu Adieu Adieu we must follow thee according as the course of Nature shall permit us The manner of these lamentings saith George Sandys in his Journal may of old appear by this Ironical personating of a Father following the Exequies of his Son introducted by Lucian in these words O my sweet Son thou art lost thou art dead Dead before thy day and hast left me behind of Men the most miserable To Mourn after the Interment of our Friends is a Manifest Token of true Love by it we express that Natural Affection we had to the departed with a Christian-like Moderation of our Grief whereby our Faith to God-ward is demonstrated For as God has made us living so hath he made us loving Creatures to the end we should not be as Stocks and Stones void of all kind and natural Affection but that living and loving together the love of the one should not end with the life of the other Our all Perfect and Almighty Saviour Christ Jesus wept over the Grave of dead Lazarus whom he revived whereupon the standers by said among themselves Behold how he loved him The Ancient Romans before they were Christians mourned nine Months but being Christians they used mourning a whole year clothed in black for the most part for Women were clothed partly in white and partly in black according to the diversity of Nations These Examples considered I observe that we in these days do not weep and mourn at the departure of the dead so much nor so long as in Christian duty we ought For Husbands can buy their Wives and Wives their Husbands with a few counterfeit Tears and a soure Visage masked and painted over with dissimulation contracting second Marriages before they have worn out their Mourning Garments and sometimes before their Copemates be cold in their Graves AN ACCOUNT Of the Death and last Sayings Of the most Eminent Persons from the Crucifixion of our Blessed Saviour down to this present time FVneral Orations have been anciently used both within and without the Church without among the Heathens within among both Jews and Christians David 2 Sam. 1. 19. sets forth the Praise of Saul and Jonathan his Son The Beauty of Israel is slain upon his high places And memorable is that Funeral Oration of Saint Jerom for his Paula and her Daughter Eustâ—chium And good reason since not only Life but the Death of Saints is precious in God's sight let it be so in ours if both the one and the other be spoken of we ought not nor can without Injury to the Pious Souls deceased bury in silence those Verâ—ues and Graces of God which were Eminently visible in their last Exit not only for God's Glory who was Author but also for Example and Comâ—ort of the Survivers And how can we doubt â—hat the Sound of the Praises of the Godly will â—ause the most Dissolute one time or another to â—ish Oh that I might die the death of the righteous â—nd that my latter end may be like his For these holy Purposes I design here to give you an account of the Death and last Sayings of the most Eminent Persons from the Crucifixion of our Blessed Saviour down to this present time It was a Custom in the Primitive Times to Transmit to Posterity what would be most Remarkabe and Exemplary to present as well as to future Ages And I hope such Precedents will not appear unnecessary since Divine Authority informs our weak Judgment that St. Luke made one Treatise of all that Jesus began to do and to teach Acts 1. 1. Which blessed Pattern was fully delineated by that holy Apostle for our Imitation and whose Holy Example we must endeavour to follow if we expect to be his Disciples It was the Wish and earnest Desire even of Dives when in Flames That Abraham would send Lazarus to his Brethren to warn them of coming to that dismal place of Torment as we find it Luke 16. for he conceived a Message from the Dead would operate more powerfully than the Arguments or Perswasions of the Living And in this following Account we may be said to allow you that which was denied to this Man while we Treat you with a seasonable Banquet Served up by Repentance through the Grace and Mercy of God even upon the Brink of the Grave THE Death of Christ and his Apostles c. The Death of our Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST NO sooner had our First Parents by eating the Forbidden Fruit forfeited their State of Happiness but the All-wise Creator out of the Abundance of his Mercy and Goodness found a means to rescue them and their Posterity from the Power and Malice of Satan and gave them a Promise That the Seed of the Woman should break the Serpent's head Gen. 3. 15 All which was fulfilled by our blessed Lord and Saviour The Son of God and Second Person in the Trinity was born of the Virgin Mary and made Man whose Birth and Glorious Triumph over Death the Grave and Hell the Patriarchs and Prophets â—ll along had foreseen After our Blessed Saviour that Glorious Son of â—ighteousness had run his Course he undertook â—o satisfie his Father's Justice by making a Proâ—itiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of lost and undone â—an and suffered himself to be Tempted Beâ—â—ayed Scourged Spit upon Reviled Crowned â—ith Thorns and lastly submitting even unto the â—eath of the Cross all which had been exactly â—â—etold by the Prophets Though it happened not after the common manner but was attended with such dismal Darkness and terrible Earthquakes Insomuch that a Heathen Philosopher at that Instant declared That either the God of Nature suffered or the World was at an end But he could not long rest under the power of the
he sendeth you ye cannot chuse but thank him daily for his Blessings Let it be your care to ground your actions upon his written Law Undertake nothing which is not warranted by his Word and go forward in nothing by unlawful means or to a bad intent Begin all in him and continue in him and end in him and he himself will be your Reward If ye always preserve Religion in your hearts ye will always have quietness and content in your minds First make him your God and then distrust not his Providence no nor his love and compassion while ye remain his Children In whatsoever vocations ye shall lead your lives be sure that ye be conscionably industrious and laborious in them and then leave the event and the blessing to his good pleasure I would sain have you be his Children much more than ye are mine for ye have nothing from me but your sin and corruption but from him you must expect both grace and glory If therefore ye strive to bless and magnifie your God ye may be sure that your God will both bless and glorifie you his Children Remember that the blessing of the Lord maketh rich and he addeth no Sorrow with it Prov. 10. 22. Take heed therefore to your selves and let him be in all your thoughts for even for them ye must account at his great Tribunal Take heed unto your Words that they give none offence either to God or Man There is a sort of people who bless with their mouths but they curse in their inward parts Psal 62. 4. I would not have you be of the number of them for as they love cursing so it shall happen unto them they delight not in blessing therefore shall it be far from them Psal 109. 17. As they cloath themselves with cursing like as with a Garment so it shall come into their Bowels like Water and like Oyl into their Bones vers 18. Take heed also unto your Actions that there be not wickedness in the intent nor sin in the prosecution of them for howsoever they shall appear in the Fye of the World they will be strictly and justly examined by the righteous judge First be ye sure that ye bless your God and then ye may expect a blessing from him When ye have eaten and are full then ye shall bless the Lord your God Deut. 8. 10. Remember the Congregation of Israel how they blessed the Lord God of their Fathers and bowed down their heads and worshiped the Lord 1 Chr. 29. 20. Remember how the Levites encouraged the People unto it and said unto them Stand up and bless the Lord your God for ever and ever and blessed be thy glorious Name which is exalted above all blessing and praise Neh. 9. 5. Remember how the Psalmist moved them unto it when he cryed O bless our God ye people and make the voice of his praise to be heard Psal 66. 8. Be thankful unto him and bless his Naâ—â— Psalm 100. 4. Remember how David resolved â—â—ying I will bless the Lord which hath given me counsel Psal 16. 7. Remember how he decreed saying I will bless thee while I live I will lift up my hands in thy Name Psal 63. 4. Remember how he encouraged his Soul to this Duty saying Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his holy Name Psal 103. 1. Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his benefits vers 2. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy disease vers 3. Remember how he practised it when he blessed the Lord before all the Congregation and said Blessed be thou Lord God of Israel our Father for ever and ever 1 Chr. 29. 10. Thine O Lord is the greatness and the Power and the Glory and the Victory and the Majesty for all that is in the Heaven and in the Earth is thine Thine is the Kingdom O Lord amd thou art exalted as head above all vers 11. Both Riches and Honour come from thee and thou reignest over all and in thine hand is power and might and in thine hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all vers 12. Now therefore our God we thank thee and praise thy glorious Name vers â—3 And remember how Ezra blessed the Lord the great God and all the people answered Amen Amen with lifting up their hands and they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their Faces to the ground Neh. 8. 6. Thus if ye bless him if ye love him if ye honour him if ye obey him he will so bless you that ye shall delight in his Service and be filled with his Goodness Carry in your minds those words of the Psalmist Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord that walketh in his ways For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands happy shalt thou be and it shall be well with thee Psal 128. 1 2. Blessed is the Man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is Jer. 17. 7. Remember how after the Death of Abraham God blessed his Son Isaac Gen. 25. 11. So he may you and so he will you when I your poor feeble Mother am stretched forth and returned to the Earth iâ— ye will hear his voice and observe his statutes If so you will do then the Lord your God will bless you in all the works of your hands which ye shall do Deut. 14. 29. He who created man in his own Image both Male and Female and blessâ—d them Gen. 1. 27 28. Even the same Lord will bless you if ye be Righteous Psal 5. 12. And with favour be will compass you as with a Shield Psalm 115. 13. He will bless them that fear him both small and great 2 Tim. 4. 6. And now my Children I have not much more to say to you for the time of my departure is at hand If you do heartily love your God I know that ye will affectionately love each other Ye will be observant to your Guardians and Instructors Ye will be courteous unto all Be not dismayed at any Cross or Affliction at any loss or poverty which may fall upon you Mat. 6. 33. but seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and then all other things shall be added unto you Deut. 28. 8. Then the Lord shall command the blessing upon you both in your store-Houses and in all that ye set your hands unto Exod. 23. 25. He shall bless your Bread and your Water and take away sickness from the midst of you Deut. 28. 3. Blessed shall ye be in the City and blessed shall ye be in the field vers 4. Blessed shall be the fruits of your bodies and the fruits of your grounds and the fruits of your Cattel and the increase of your kine and the flocks of your sheep vers 5. Blessed shall be your basket and your store vers 6. Blessed shall ye be when ye come in and blessed shall ye be when ye go forth c.
7. 13. The Lord will love you and will bless you and multiply you He will also bless the fruit of the Womb unto you and the fruit of your Land and your Corn and your Wine and your Oyl and the increase of your kine and the flocks of your sheep in the places where ye shall live c. 28. 12. He will open unto you his good treasure the Heaven to give the rain unto your land in his season and to bless all the work of your hands and ye shall lend unto many and ye shall not borrow Gen. 49. 25. He shall help you and bless you with the blessings of heaven above blessings of the deep that lyeth under and blessings of the breasts and of the Womb. And that he may thus bless you the same Lord direct your hearts and preserve you in his Blessing All that I can do now is to pray for you and my weakness will hardly permit me to do that Yet so long as I can speak I trust I shall pray and in my petitions remember both my self and you While I am yet alive it is my duty to pray for you and it is your duty also to pray for me The Lord grant that we may all do what he requireth at our hands Do not ye grieve too much that I am so near my rest For it is the Decree of my God and the longing expectation of my wearied self The Lord give you patience to endure this Affliction and the Lord give me patience and perseverance unto the end 1 King 2. 2 3. Now I go the way of all the Earth Keep ye the charge of the Lord your God to walk in his ways to keep his statutes and his Commandments and his judgments and his testimonies as it is written in the Scriptures that ye may prosper in all that ye do and whithersoever ye turn your hands Deut. 33. 7. The Lord give you the blessing of Judah and hear your voices and let your hands be sufficient for you and let him be an helper to you from your Enemies And the Lord give you the blessing of Benjamin vers 12. The Lord cover you all the day long and dwell between your shoulders And the Lord give you the blessing of Joseph v. 13. Blessed of the Lord be your Land for the precious things of Heaven for the dew and for the deep that coucheth beneath v. 14. and for the precious Fruits brought forth by the Sun v. 16. and for the precious things put forth by the Moon and for the precious things of the Earth and fulness thereof and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush v. 27. The eternal God be your Refuge and underneath you the everlasting Arms. 2 Sam. 7. 26 29. And now O Lord God let it please thee to bless the House of thy Servant and with thy blessing let the Family of thy Servant be blessed for ever Deut. 26. 15. Look down from thine holy Habitation from Heaven and bless them Psal 67. 1. O my God be merciful unto them and bless them and cause thy face to shine upon them And now with Jacob I have made an end of commanding you and ready I am to gather up my Feet into the Bed and to yield up the Ghost and to be gathered unto my Fathers Gen. 49. 33. Only come ye near my dear ones that I may kiss you and that my cold and clammy hands may be laid upon your heads that I may once more bless you and die Fare well my pretty ones farewell the children of my dear affection I must leave you and I hope I shall leave my God with you who will be unto you a Father of mercies and a God of all consolation 2 Cor. 13. 11. Once more farewell Love as brethren and the God oâ—… and peace be with you 1 Pet. 3. 8. The Lord Jesus Christ be with your Spirits Grace be with you all Amen 2 Tim. 4. 23. Man giveth up the Ghost and where is he AMong the many serious and weighty Questions which a sober considering Person may propound unto himself that is of none of the least concernment which is mentioned by the Holy Man Job Chap. 14. verse 10. Yea Man giveth up the Ghost and where is he We may take the words asunder and consider them apart Yea and as much as to say it is a Truth past all doubt there is no nay to be said to it it is sealed with Yea and Amen for it shall certainly come to pass at some time or other that Man must give up the Ghost and as much as to say his Soul shall be separated from his Body Those two loving twins being at the point of Death to go several ways they must part at last And for as much as it is evident to sense that the body returns to the dust what way the Soul taketh is the great Question as followeth Man giveth up the Ghost and where is he Or what becometh of his Soul when it hath once taken its leave of the body This Question may more easily than comfortably be answered by most thus every separated Soul goes either to Heaven or Hell But alas those two places are not more distant than different in their Natures Heaven is a place of eternal happiness Hell is a place of everlasting Misery And therefore O my Soul it is both good and necessary that thou shouldst think before hand what will be the place of thy future abode The Body which is the Souls present habitation it is not as Job speaketh a body of Brass but a body of Clay and therefore when the stroke of death shall knock that earthen Vessel in pieces where then Oh my Soul will be thy next lodging Either thou must lye down in everlasting burnings or else rest upon the Mountain of Myâ—rh and the Hill of Frankincense with sweet Jesus Man when he hath as an â—hireling accomplished his day ought seriously to consider of the approaching Night And seeing it may be said as of Ephraim thou hast here and there a gray hair upon thy head and the shadows of the Evening are lengthened out it is neither safe nor prudent Oh my Soul to be serious about trifles or to trifle about serious things Before the great and terrible day of account therefore Oh my Soul do thou call thy self to account and ask these questions of thy self Canst thou think of going to Hell with comfort Or can the thoughts of Heaven be any otherwise comfortable than as thou believest it to be thy Heaven Canst thou rejoice when thou thinkest how many shall put on Crowns of Glory and yet thy self have no part or lot in that matter Art thou deeply convinced Oh Man what â— glittering and a glorious Divine Ray doth quicken actuate and ennoble that Lump of Atoms which thy Body is composed of And when that Body of thine shall be crumbled into Ashes by one touch of the Almighty hast thou forethought what shall become of
are Surely I come quickly Our answer is Amen Even so come Lord Jesus c. I have but small acquaintance with the future State but this I 'm sure there will be no change that will be so surprizing to me as that By Death It is a thing of which I know but little and none of the millions of Souls that have past into the invisible World have come again to tell me how it is I. It must be done my Soul but 't is a strange A dismal and Mysterious change When thou shalt leave this Tenement of Clay And to an unknown somewhere wing away When Time shall be Eternity and thou Shalt be thou know'st not what and live thou know'st not how II. Amazing State no wonder that we dread To think of Death or view the Dead Thou' rt all wrapt up in the Clouds as if to thee Our very knowledge had Antipathy Death could not a more sad retinue find Sickness and pain before and darkness all behind III. Some courteous Ghost tell this great Secrecy What 't is you are and we must be You warn us of approaching Death and why May we not know from you what 't is to dye But you having shot the Gulph delight to see Succeeding Souls plunge in with like uncertainty IV. When Life 's close knot by writ from Destiny Disease shall cut or age unty When after some delays some dying strife The Soul stands shivering on the ridge of Life With what a dreadful Curiosity Does she launch out into the Sea of vast Eternity V. So when the spacious Globe was delug'd o're And lower holds could save no more On th' utmost Bough th' astonish'd Sinners stood And view'd th' Advances of th' encroaching Flood O're topp'd at length by th' Elements encrease With horror they resign'd to the untry`d Abyss It is very desirable to know in what condition our Souls will be when they leave the Body and what is the Nature of that abode into which we must go but which we never saw into and through what Regions we must then take our flight and after what manner this will be done 'T is certain my Soul will then preserve the faculties that are natural to it viz. to understand to will to remember as 't is represented to us under the Parable of Dives and Lazarus But alas we little know how the People of the disembodied Societies act and will and understand and communicate their thoughts to one another and therefore I long to know it What conception can I have of a separated Soul says a late Writer but that 't is all Thought I firmly think when a mans body is taken from him hy Death he is turned into all Thought and Spirit How great will be his Thought when it is without any hinderance from these material Organs that now obstruct its Operations In that Eternity as one expresses it the whole power of the Soul runs together one and the same way In Eternity the Soul is united in its Motions which way one faculty goes all go and the Thoughts are all concentred as in one whole Thought of Joy or Torment These things have occasioned great variety of Thoughts in me and my Soul when it looks towards the other World and thinks it self near it can no more cease to be inquisitive about it than it can cease to be a Soul Tears FOR A Dead Husband WHen Mary came where Jesus was and saw him she fell down at his feet saying unto him Lord if thou hadst been here my Brother had not died Jo. 11. 32. She wept indeed yet it was but for a Brother and the Jews also wept vers 33. yet it was but for a common Friend But what was all that to the death of a Husband O my Husband my Husband That very name of Husband methinks would flatter me with comfort as if I might imagin that he could hear me But oh he is dead he is dead He cannot hear me he cannot behold me he cannot answer me His Ears are locked up his Eyes are closed his mouth is sealed his Soul is gone O what shall I do for my head my guide my heart my Husband Were my Saviour upon Earth again I could send one to him as Mary did who should say Lord behold he whom thou lovest is dead Dead say Iâ— O dead dead he is gone he is departed and can never be recalled But why Why can he not be called back again Did not my Jesus cause Lazarus to arise when he had been four days dead ver 39. Yes he did But what then I neither love my Saviour so well as Mary did nor I fear doth he love me so well as he did Mary or if both were so yet since Miracles are ceased I cannot so much as hope that he will call back the Spirit of my Lord my Husband Oh could he be wooed by the Tears of a sinful Woman never did any mourn so much as I would But nothing will perswade I seek but the disturbance of him whom I mourn for if I desire to call him from his eternal rest When Sarah died in Kirjath-Arba Abraham stood up from before his deceased Wife and spake unto the Sons of Heth saying I am a stranger and a Sojourner with you Give me a Possession and a burying place with you that I may bury my dead out of my sight Gen. 23. 3 4. Though he so tenderly affected her whilst she was living yet he would not look too long on her when she was dead It is a duty as full of humanity to interr with decency the Bodies of the dead as it is of Religion to love the Persons when they are alive Yet vain is man in this affection if he fixeth his love only on the beauty of the body This flesh which is so tender this skin which I strive to preserve both smooth and white must one day be a banquet for the loathed Worms No greater priviledge belongeth to me than did to my Husband for the time will come when I shall follow him to the Earth Had I loved only his outward form my love should now either be quite forgotten or else I should fondly desire to deny it interment But it was his body enlivened with a rich and excellent Soul which drew mine affection and commanded my desires Had that Soul and body continued their Society I had been freed from my laments but they have bid farewell till the general Resurrection and hence am I enforced to utter my complaints I weep for my loss because we are divorced But oh what conflicts then can I imagin that he had when he was not only to part from his indeared Wife but likewise his Soul was to leave this chillowed Earth Oh for him for him for my loss of him do I pay the tribute of these watering Eyes Yet these tears must not flow in too great abundance lest by them I should seem to envy his happiness Even when his body shall be
Brother 1 Kings 13. 29 30. The Children of Israel wept for Moses in the Plain of Moab thirty days Deut. 34. 8. Though Samuel took his leave and departed from Saul and came no more to see him until the day of his death nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul 1 Sam. 15. 35. Though Jephthah's Daughter had been dead and buried long before yet it was a custom in Israel that the Daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the Daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year Jud. 11. 39 40. When Stephen was stoned devout Men carried him to his burial and made great lamentation over him Acts 8. 2. When Hezekiah slept with his Fathers he was buried in the chiefest of the Sepulchres of the Sons of David and all Judah and the Inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honour at his Death 2 Chr. 32. 33. When Mary Magdalen stood weeping at the feet of my Saviour and did wash his Feet with Tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head and brought an Alabaster Box of Ointment and anointed him with the Ointment Luke 7. 37 38. He was so far from disliking it in her that he checked his Disciples who had indignation at the Act and therefore said To what purpose is this waste Yea he reproved them and said unto them Why trouble ye the Woman For she hath wrought a good work upon me For in that she hath poured this Ointment on my Body she did it for my Burial Mat. 26. 8 10 12. She hath done what she could she is come aforehand to anoint my Body to the burying Mar. 14. 8. Here I find was Ointment to embalm him and here were also Tears at his Funeral And yet so far was Christ from blaming her for her Tears that he not only decreed the publishing of this Act through the World where the Gospel should be preached and that for a Memorial of her Mat. 26. 13. but he likewise upbraided Simon with the tears of the sinner and said unto him I entred into thine house and thou gavest me no water for my feet but she hath washed my feet with Tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head c. Wherefore her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much Luke 7. 44 47. Weep then I may upon this sad occasion yea and weep may my Friends too Tears are as proper at a Funeral as Smiles at a Wedding We have two Marriages the first whereof is to living Dust the last to the cold and silent Earth At the former we rejoyce for it was an institution of God before Man had sinned Gen. 2. 24. At the latter we weep for it is the effect of sin We cloath our selves in delightful Colours when we celebrate the former But our Blacks at the latter are our Wedding Garments The Rosemary is served about at each The Gloves and the Favours attend at each The Wine and the other accustomed Entertainments are given at each We go to the Church for the consummation of each Only here is the difference that at the one we rejoice but at the other we mourn Every Guest that is willing to comply with the present occasion must as well be sad at this as be merry at the other Weep we may and weep we must especially my self who have lost my self But yet let me take heed that I offend not in my Tears lest that which is my Duty be turned into a Crime I must especially take heed that I err not in the cause of these Laments for if I grieve at the happiness of him that is departed I discover an Envy rather than Affection If I grieve for the loss which my self sustaineth I must take heed that I wrong not my confidence in God I may not offend in the number of my Tears for if I weep too much I may forfeit my hope or at least I may occasion those that behold me to think that I doubt of the salvation of the Dead Weep I may and weep I must but for fear lest I offend in these my Tears in my earnest Prayers I will beg that they may be sanctified To my God will I go for his Direction and Assistance And in this storm of my Tears I will shelter my self under his Protection The Dying Knell Or Tears for the Death of a beloved Brother and may likewise serve at the Decease of any other faithful Friend A Friend saith King Solomon loveth at all times and a Brother is born for adversity Prov. 17. 17. Friendship which is begotten by the outward form or any other sinister and by-respect liveth no longer than that ground of affection but nature is stronger than our election can be and Religion obligeth far more than both O how great then is my loss of my dearest Brother in whom both excellency of Feature nearness of blood and a gracious conversation conspired together to render him matchless To me he was a Friend but now to the Grave and what loss can be greater than the loss of a Friend To me he was a Brother but now to the Worms And what loss can be more deplorable than the loss of a Brother But to me he was yet more he was a Friend in his Love and courtesies a Brother by his blood yea and an instructer a teacher of Religion and goodness And yet nor love nor blood nor Religion could preserve him mine O what Sorrows do accompany all things transitory His love could not die but his body could And so I am deprived of the Society of my Brother because my Brother was subject to Corruption But is this the adversity for which he was born according to King Solomon Did the Wise Man intend that a Brother is born to bring Adversity Or rather to comfort us in the time of Adversity Had he been a cause of my least disturbance while he was living he would have eased my grief by grieving himself He would have comforted me in the time of trouble had he lived to see my grievous mourning But now alas I am left to lament alone and so much the more for the want of his comfort I now must grieve for him who was my joy and my laments and my griefs increase the higher because for his sake they arise who cannot allay them Had we lived in hatred his death peradventure might have been my Comfort Had we loved but slightly a tear or two I might have thought enough to pay at his Funeral But our Love was firm it was strong yea strong as death and who then can blame me if my sorrows in some measure keep pace with my love O what tie can be so great as that of affection What love so great as of a Brother and Sister And yet so vain is Man so frail are Mortals that either our affection or our persons must have a divorce Had my deceased Brother forgotten the tie and bond of nature and in his life had he turned his love into hatred yet his
a body separated from the soul and yet not his soul separated from God nor himself from Christ Who shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Neither life nor death nor principalities nor powers c. Rom. 8 38. This point also is of use to us in the death of others First to moderate the mourning of Christians for the Death of others Why It is the end of all men it is that that is the common condition of all men it should not be too grievous nor too doleful to any man We would not have our friends to be in another condition in their birth than others we would not have them have more fingers or more members than a man and would we have them have more days Let this serve as a brief touch upon that Secondly it teacheth us to make good use of our fellowship while we are together Not only we may die but those that are useful to us may die also let us make good use of one another while we live therefore It did smite the heart of those Ephesians that they should see the face of Paul no more specially above the rest it grieved them that they should see him no more how would it have grieved them think you if they had always hardned themselves against his ministry before Think with your selves seriously here is such a Minister such a Christian friend that husband and wife that parent and child a time of â—arting will come let us make it easie now â—y making good use of one another while we â—e that when friends are took away we may â—â—ve cause to thank God that we have had comâ—nion and comfort of their fellowship and â—â—ciety the benefit of their graces the fruit of â—â—eir lives and not sorrow for the want of them â— death Death separates a Man from his Friends For alas Death doth not only part a mans body and soul a mans self and his wealth but it parteth a man from his friends from all his worldly acquaintance from all those that he took delight in upon earth Death makes a separation between husband and wife see it in Abraham and Sarah though Abraham loved Sarah dearly yet Death parted them Let me have a place to bury my Dead out of my sight Gen. 23. It parteth Father and Child how unwilling soever they be see it in David and Absolom Oh Absolom my son would God I had died for thee and Rachel mourned for her Children and would not be comforted because they were not It parteth the Minister and the people see it in the case of the people of Israels lamenting the death of Samuel in the case of the Ephesians at the parting of S. Paul sorrowing especially when they heard they should see his face no more It parteth those friends who were so united together in love as if they had but one soul in two bodies see it in the separation that was made by death between David and Jonathan that were so knit together in their love that he bewaileth him Woe is me for my brother Jonathan 2 Sam. 1. 9. This is necessary consideration for us that live that we may learn to know how to carry our selve towards our worldly friends and how to moderate our selves in our enjoyment of these worldlâ— comforts Look upon every worldly thing as mortal as a dying comfort Look upon Childreâ— and friends as dying comforts Look upon yoâ— estates as that that hath wings and will be gone Look upon your bodies that now you make so much of as a thing that must be parted from the soul by death and that ere long See what advice the Apostle giveth 1 Cor. 7. 19. the time is short saith he therefore let those that marry be as if they married not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they pâ—ssessed not and they that use this world as not abusing it for the fashion of this world passeth away When thou accompaniest another to the grave dost thou conclude thus with thy self the very next time that any death is spoken of it may be mine or as Saint Peter speaks to Saphira after the death of Ananias The feet of those that have buried thy husband are at the door and shall carry thee out also Again this Doctrine serves to reprove that sinful laying to heart of the death of others that is too frequent and common in the world That is first when men with too much fondness and with too great excess and distemper of affection look upon their dead friends as if God could never repair the loss nor make amends for that he hath done in taking of them away Rachel mourneth and will not be comforted David mourneth and will scarce be comforted Oh Absolom my son my son would God I had and for thee What is all this but to look on friends â—ather as Gods than men as if all sufficiency â—ere included in them only Men look on their â—riends as Micah did upon his Idol when â—hey had bereaved him of it they took away â—ll his comfort and quiet You have taken away â—y Gods saith he and what have I more Judg. 8. â—4 This now is an ill taking to heart the death â—f friends to mourn as men without hope Secondly there is taking to heart and considering of the death of men but it is an unrighteous considering and unrighteous judging of the death of others If men see one die it may be a violent death then they conclude certainly there is some appearent token of Gods judgment on such a one If they see another die with some extremity of torment and vehement pains certainly there is some apparent evidence of Gods wrath upon this man If they see another in some great and violent tentation strugling against many tentations they conclude presently certainly such are in a worser case than others I may say to all these as Christ said once to those that told him of the eighteen men upon whom the Tower in Siloe fell think you that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Hierusalem Luke 13. 4. Or rather as Solomon saith All things come alike unto all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked Eccles 9. 2. Learn to judge righteous judgment to judge wisely of the death of others take heed of condemning the generation of the just But rather in the last place Make this use of the death of every one Doth such a maâ— die by an ordinary sickness having his understanding and memory continued to the end Doth such a man die in inward peace anâ— comfort with clear and evident apprehension of Gods love so that he can with Simeon say Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace Luke 2. 29. What use shouldest thou that liveâ—â— make of this now Certainly let the sweetneâ— of their death make thee in love with the goodness of their lives That is the only way to a
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 Vrias 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 aâ—t 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 vermem foetor horror Sic in non hominem vertitur omnis hoâ—o 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 touch with tears He mourned as one
it down for his Preservation as appears by her Swouning at any News might threaten ill to him as if her Soul conceived it but Duty to be Bail for her Husband The Head of the Woman is the Man 1 Cor. 11. 3. so her Husband wore the principality she received influence from him and gave conformity to him But a Vertuous Woman is a Crown to that Head Prov. 12. 14. so she gave safety plenty and honour to her head as Crown may signifie The Heart of her Husband did fasely trust in her she did do him good and not ill all the days of her life Longer she is not obliged Till death us depart was their agreement Death ends her natural Relation and enters her into a Divine which she began here by her Religion Her Religion was not as her Sex Female that is all Face and Tongue but pure and solid not despising the Form but delighting in the Power of Godliness She attired not her Devotion as the Lacedemonians did their Gods according to the several Fashions of each City so to gain Reputation from Man but she persevered in the constant substantials of Religion so to gain Grace and Favour from God To whom with the Father and Holy Ghost be Glory and Honour now and for ever Good Night NOW art thou drawing near thy home Heaven is within sight and its Melody almost within hearing thy Lord hath the Curtain in his hand ready to draw it to shew thee all that glory that hitherto he hath been but telling thee of and give thee a Possession of all that which hitherto thou hast enjoyed only in Hopes and Title What dost thou fear and shrug and tremble at Oh my Soul thou peevish froward Creature Shall his Angels stand waiting to convey thy departed Soul home with Songs of Triumph And shall nothing of all this abate thy Fears silence thy Complaints and bring thee to a Chearful Submission Fear not then my Soul but â—oldly throw thy self into his Arms who will certainly keep that safe which thou committest to him But what if I was willing to bid adieu to my Fathers House and leave this World and all its Enjoyments behind me as being sufficiently tired with the Frustrations of a pursued Happiness therein Yet methinks the change I shall pass at Death will be so very great and amazing I fear I shall not bear it To go hence from them I know to a Place and Company I never knew or saw in all my Life to leave my Friends Relations Neighbours with whom I have a long time lived and with whom I have familiarly conversed to go into a Country where I may not meet with one face I know how strangely shall we look on one another What little content do I take in any company on Earth where I meet with shâ—â—ess Will it not be so in Heaven Answ Art thou truly Godly said the pious Wadsworth in his Answer to the Fear of Death and dost thou say thou knowest none in Heaven that is strange Who is he whom you call Father every time you pray what are you born of God united to God by faith and love and hold communion with him and yet not know him Well sayst thou but if I know him it is bâ— very little I never saw him in all my Life 〈…〉 what if thou hast not seen him with thy 〈…〉 eyes yet hast thou not believed in him whom thou hast not seen and rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory Though thou hast not known him after the Flesh yet thou hast after the Spirit But comfort thy self though thou hast known him but little and that through a vail darkly yet he knoweth thee most perfectly He knows thee by name and separated thee to himself from the Womb and effectually called and justified thee he knows thee by thy name and knows thy dwelling and visiteth thee every morning and is with thee living and will not leave thee dying and when he hath taken thee to himself in the Heavens thou shalt know him as he knows thee that is intimately perfectly But sayst thou if I know in some measure God and his Son the Lord of that City I know no more There are ten thousands of Angels there and I know not one of them and as many Spirits of just men some little acquaintance I had with some of the latter on earth but since arrived thither they are so transfigured so wonderfully changed I shall not know one of them when I see them What if thou knowest not one Angel in all the Heavens is it not enough that many of them may know thee But how do I know that How thou hast been their special Charge ever since thou wast born to Jesus Christ Are they not all ministring Spirits to them that are Heirs of Glory How kindly did an Angel comfort Mary Magdalene and the other Mary when they early came to visit the holy Sepulchre of our Lord How well did he know their Persons and their Business when he said Mat. 28. 5. Fear not I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified he is not here for he is risen as he said Come see the place where the Lord lay and go quickly and tell his Disciples that he is risen from the Dead and behold he goeth before you into Galilee â—here shall ye see him so as I have told you What Discourse could be more kind friendly and famiâ—iar than this But that thou shouldst think thy self an utter stranger to all the Spirits of the Just is more strange when there may be some of thy near Relations â—here and many of those that thou hast had for many years such sweet Eellowship in the Ordinanâ—es of the Gospel If I shall sit down with Abraâ—am Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom surely I â—hall know them to be such Besides their Natures in Heaven are all perfectâ—y gracious and holy and I shall be like them and â—e shall all know each other to be so and what â—iness can there possible be among such who are â—â—tisfied in each others sincere love and affection â—hou mayst be acquainted with a thousand Saints â— Angels in an hours time as if thou hadst known â—â—em a thousand years And if this be so be not poor Soul amazed at this great change of Company at Death For it is but as dying Doctor Preston said I shall change my Place but not my Company Return therefore to thy Rest Oh my Soul for God will assuredly deal bountifully with thee So that Death will bring a Good-Night to thee here and a good Morrow hereafter The End of The House of Weeping The House of Weeping SERMON I. The certainty of a Dying Hour HEB. 9. v. 27. It is appointed unto Men once to Dye but after this the Judgment Dearly Beloved I Am now about to speak of that which will shortly render me unable to speak and you are now about to hear of that which will also shortly make you uncapable
be perswaded that it is impossible that the Earth should hold down man God commanding it to cast up and therefore though the ship and the ship-master the Wagganer and the Waggan I mean the Soul the governour of the body and the body the receptable of the Soul may be severed and parted for a time by death yet they shall one day meet the one shall return to the other these whom the Almighty hath put assunder these can he joyn again at his pleasure For if he hath done the greater then need we not doubt but that he is able so do the less He which hath made the body of nothing doubtless is of power sufficient to raise it out of the dust at the last day To come then to some use Here then first of all is matrer of great consolation to the Children of God in that the Love will raise them up again to Glory at the last day The consideration whereof may comfort us exceedingly under the Cross For so many are the troubles and afflictions that the Children of God are subject unto in this life that if they did not call to mind and remember that there shall be a Resurrection that a time of refreshing shall come when they shall be freed of these miseries and these tears shall be wiped from their eyes they would never be able to hold out For if the Children of God had hope only in this Life they were of all men most miserable but here is there comfort that though they have their Hell in this life they shall have their Heaven hereafter all which is most lively set forth in this Text. When Rachel had born six sons to Jacob she said God hath endowed me now with an exccllent Dowry now will my husband dwell with me because I have born him six sons Beloved could we not be content to live yea to dye with this sentence which hath born and brought unto us these six places of consolation suerly it is a sentence much to be embraced for it offers exceedingly great comfort unto us Wherefore let us often meditate of it let us often have recourse unto it yea let it be as a Sanctuary or place of refuge for our troubled Souls to fly and resort unto when as we shall be pressed with any miserie or affliction whatsoever The EJACULATION Good Lord if it be true that at the last day the Earth shall Cast up all that ever it received into her cold imbraces and if it be likewise true that all the wicked shall then be doom'd down to Eternal Torment let us then be preparing our selves for that day that we may be able to receive it with joy when it comes and that we may hold up our heads with comfort to think that our Redemption draweth nigh Let not Death find us out of our way because such a surprize would be attended at last with a miserable Resurrection Let our conversation be in Heaven from whence we expect that our Saviour should come that he may change our vile Bodies into the likeness of his own most Glorious Body Good Lord let our hearts and souls be there now where we hope our Bodys and Souls shall be for ever hereafter and let our choicest Affection and chiefest Meditations be set early set and earnestly set upon that state which will be our Eternal State that so we may be everlastingly happy both in body and soul when our bodies shall arise to Judgment at the last day SERMON VII A Glorious Resurrection for them that sleep in Jesus ROM viii xi He that raised up Christ from the Dead shall also quicken your mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you THese words Beloved are a most comfortable Conclusion shewing and declaring the certainty of the Resurrection of the Bodies of the Saints to an Immortal glorious happy life at the last day wherin we may more particularly note First The Action Quicken Secondly the Object or rather if ye will the Subject that shall be Quickned your mortal Bodis Thirthly the Author or Efficient Cause God deled by an effect the raising up of Christ Fourthly the means whereby God shall quicken them by his Spirit Lastly the Condition of the Persons whose mortal Bodies shall be quickened And they are such as have the Spirit of God dwelling in them as appear by the last words By his Spirit that dwelleth in you The Text thus opened and the sense thereof being made clear and manifest the main Point that offers it self to our considerations is this Doct. That there shall be a Resurrection of the Bodies of the Saints at the last day This for the general And this is a matter very comfortable to the people of God that there shall be a Resurrection Nulla consolatio tanta est quanta mortuorum Resurrectio saith Mr. Gualter There is no consolation of a Christian so great in this life as is the Resurrection of the Dead and therefore Tertullian calls it the Christian's hope and so it is indeed For if in this life only the Christian had hope he were of all Men most miserable 1 Cor. 15. 19. Tolle spem Resurrectionis c. resoluta erat observantia nimis pietatis Take away the hope of the Resurrection saith Chrysostome and you take away all care of Piety and Godliness out of the World And indeed what makes the Husbandman to take such pains in tilling manuring and sowing of his ground but the Hope of a joyfull harvest wherein he shall reap the fruits of his labours What makes the Labourer to subject himself to so much pains and labour all the day long but that he hopes for a time of rest wherein he may be refreshed What makes the liberal and charitable Man disperse his wealth unto the Poor but that he looks for a day of payment wherein he shall be sure that what he hath laid out shall be payed him again Prov. 19. 17. But all this is the Resurrection unto the Sants of God For first it is as the Christians Harvest For though he have Sowen in tears all his life time by reason of the continual afflictions thereof yet he shall be sure to reap in joy at the Resurrection And this did animate and encourage them to undergo any torture of the Body rather than they would be subject to the rack of an evil Conscience And this may serve as a strong ground of Comfort unto us if God at any time should call us to suffer for his Name for as yet we have not resisted unto bloud This is an honour that God doth not vouchsafe to all his Saints say this may serve as a notable means to support us in our sufferings that though Tyrants may rage never so much and Persecuters may wrack their malice upon the Bodies of the Saints as they did in the Primitive Church for they cast the Bodies of the Christians to be devoured of wild bests nay they threw them into Rodanus thinking thereby to hinder
the Comfort to his soul that one day he should rise again in which he should enjoy the glorious presence of his Redeemer See Job 19. 26. Secondly it may Comfort the Saints of God against the persecutions of the body yea and death it self We read of the Saints of God in the days of Antiochus that they were racked and would not be delivered and why so because they looked for a better Resurrection Heb. 11. 35. No doubt but they counted the Redemption from the rack a thing much to be desired yet they knew that the Redemption from Hell and the Resurrection to eternal life was much more to be sought for without which condition they would not be delivered and no marvel for what though the rack might rend their flesh and disjoint their Lims yet they knew well enough and were fully assured that at the Resurrection all should be conjoined and perfected again The EJACULATION GOod Lord let us when we die sleep in Jesus that we may obtain a Glorious Resurrection when this World shall have an end for though we are as we have heard but enlivened Dust gilded peices of Clay sinking Bubbles and dying shadows yet these dying Bodies of outs shall at the last day when the Trumpet shall sound arise ye Dead enter into Eternal Glory or Everlasting Peace Oh let us consider how glorious a Creature man was when he first came cut of his Creators hand for thou didst make him but a little lower than the Angels thou didst crown him with Glory and Honour thou didst make him the very Summons and Epitomy of the whole World he was made the very Master-peice of all thy works the very Flower and Miracle of Nature he was even then a small draught of the divine Nature and a bright Beam of the increated light But how Glorious indeed will he be when he shall be raised at the Resurrection and shall shine as a resplendent Sun in the Firmament of Glory Good Lord therefore let us not be strangers to the relish of Heavenly things but let us live as those who hope to be Heirs of Eternal Joys when this World shall have an end Let us look up to God and let us look out to Eternity let us consider that our hastening Time will soon have an end and we shall never more be trusted with another space of Time to prepare us for Heavens Glory Oh let us not therefore set our affections upon any things which we can carry no further with us then the Grave but let us live in a daily serious beleif and in a joyfull expectation of that endlest Glory and that Glorious Resurrection which will be the Portion of all those who live in the Love and die in the Faith of our Lord Jesus for thou hast promised a Glorious Resurrection to them that sleep in Jesus AN ELEGY Upon the Reverend Mr. John Dunton Author of the House of Weeping LIKE a bright Lamp whose mounting Flame aspires To its Original those Heavenly Fires Till the fomenting Oyl consume it turns Twinckling to Ashes and no longer burns So his Divineâ— Soul though clos'd within An interwoven case of flesh and sin Mounts to its pure Original and strives By lighting others to amend their lives 'Till nature quite extinct with fixt desires Of Heavens Enjoyments his blest Soul expires Farewel dear Sir had powerful art a Charm To snatch your Life from Deaths surprising Arm We would not fail to re-imbarque your Spirit Gon to possess what Glorious Souls Inherit In highest bliss that sweet Christaline Iste Where God and Saints for ever ever Smile T is lovely to be Humble Faithful Kind This was the Emblem of the Authors mind Who 's soar'd aloft leaving Earths dusty Round Where sweetest Joys in one ill hap are drown'd To those Harmonious Orbs where now he sings Melodious Anthems to the King of Kings Where in the glit'ring Rank of Angels bright He took his place with radiant Sons of light His race was long and nimbly he did run To reach Heavens Glory by that Setting Sun Which guilds the Spheres which garnisheth and braves The lower World which scores us out our Graves And being gon to th'place his heart design'd He here hath left a Weeping House behind Which dolefully like a loud Passing-bell Rings out to th' World the Authors last Farewel O. O. An EPITAPH upon the Author of this Book Mr. John Dunton who was Interred in the Chancel at Aston-Clinton Novemb. 9th 1676. IN spight o' th' Grave bright Saint thou shalt survive Our grateful Age will keep thy name alive Heav'ns great Ambassador on Earth thou 'st lain The League being struck Heav'n call'd thee home again Yet Death hath left of thee Great Soul behind So much that we our loss shan't quickly find Nor can thy Name a dull Oblivion know Thy Works will an Eternity bestow O're Time and Fate thou l't an Ovation have And now dost Triumph over Death and Grave S. A. FINIS Death-Bed THOUGHTS The PROEMIUM BVT Oh my Soul What ails thee to be thus suddenly backward and fearful no Friend hath more freely discours'd of Death in speculation no Tongue hath more extolled it in absence And now that it is come to thy Bed-side and hath drawn thy Curtains and takes thee by the hand and offers thee service thou shrinkest inward and by the paleness of thy Face and wildness of thine Eye bewrayest an amazement at the presence of such a Guest That Face which was so familiar to thy Thoughts is now unwelcome to thine Eye I am ashamed of this weak irresalution Whitherto have tended all thy serious Meditations What hath Christianity done to thee if thy fears be still Heathenish Is this thy Imitation of so many worthy Saints of God whom thou hast seen entertain the violentest Death with Smiles and Songs Is this the fruit of thy long and frequent Instruction Didâ—â— thou think Death would have been content with words Didst thou hope it would suffer thee to talk while all others suffer Where is thy Fath Shall Hereticks and Pagans give Death a better welcome than thee Hath God with this Serjeant of his sent his Angels to fetch thee and art thou loath to go Rouse up thy self for shame O my Soul and if ever thou hast truly believed shoke off this Vnchristian diffidence and address thy self joyfully for thy glory All motions tend to rest Return then to thy rest O my Soul for God hath dealt bountifully with thee But Lord spare me a little before I go hence and be seen no more that my DEATH-BED THOUGHTS may be all imployed in the Contemplating of that Eternity into which I am now a launching Sect. 1. The Daily Remembrance of Death HAppy is he who always and in every place so lives as to spend his every last moment of Light as if day were never to return Epictetur most wisely teaching this Death saith he and Banishment and all that we look upon as Evils let them be daily set before
Send me thy Head Whoever thou art King or Caesar when the Emperor of Heaven sends thee his black Letters there 's no resisting no excuse no deprecation will serve ` T is in vain to fly or delay the Sentence is decreed Therefore do this and trample upon necessity What thou shouldst be compelled to do against thy will that do of thy own accord Send thy Head not to a Tyrant but to a Father not to a Man but to God Make no delay but be willing to die For why should not the Will prevent Necessity ` T is the part of Necessity to submit but of Vertue to be willing Sect. 27. Every Day is to be observed PLatonius in Stobelas ` T is not enough saith he to spend the present day well unless thou spendest it so as if it were to be thy last The last day lyes hid that all days may be observed alike But thou wilt say these Contemplations upon Death are sâ—d things and do but hasten Death Thou art deceived the Wise Man calmly meditates upon it no otherwise than he beholds the Winds and rhe Sails of a Ship as the Instruments that bring him into the Haven This is our Folly and Error altogether We are willing to be tossed by the Waves and Billows yet fear the place whither Nature and reason carries us From Nature we know We are all carried to the same place The Glass of all Men runs But if we look at reason who that enjoys it can deny the Argument What is here but tumbling and tossing Cares Miseries Griefs of Body and Mind What dost thou fear Behold the Port. But indeed as they who are Imprisoned would escape and often might unless the Keeper kept the Door lockt so here that Jailor hinders us call Love of Life He is to be repelled and that he may be so we are to think full often upon that which is but once to be suffered And because the last Day is uncertain and unknown let every day be suspected Hereby thy Mind will be the more Couragious thy Life the more Correct more Gladfom and free from Care for what can terrifie or disturb him Whom of all fears that fear most Terrible The fear of instant Death can never quell The Dart foreseen does less harm Death frequently meditated upon strikes with less force Sect. 28. The Coffin the last Comfort of our Pride ABraham that great Person when he by the command of God had been forced as a Pilgrim to war der from place to place minded nothing more than the Purchase of a Burying-place That he would have to be so surely his own that he might possess it by all the Right and Law imaginable For this reason he paid down the Money demanded of the Seller Currant Money among the Merchants Nor was it enough for him that the Purchase should be publickly made he required that all the Inhabitants of the Countrey should be witnesses of the Bargain Whereby that person of high Credit intimated that nothing is more a Mans Property than his Sepulchre which he may truely above any thing else call his own according to the Example of Abraham the best of Men always reckoning it among their chiefest Cares to take care of their Sepulchers The Emperor Maximilian the First three years before he died caused his Coffin made of Oak to be put up in a great Chest and carried along with him where-ever he went and provided by his VVill that his Body should be put into it without Embalming wrapt in Linnen without any Embalming or Disembowelling his Nose Mouth and Ears only being filled with Quick-lime VVhat meant that great Personage Only to have his Monument always in his sight to give him this continual Document Think upon Death that it should also farther say where dost thou amplifie and extol thy self wherefore dost thou possess so much and covet more Thee whom so many Provinces and Kingdoms will not contain a little Chest must hold But why did he put the Lime into those hollow parts Behold the Spices that Embalmed him Maximilian that thou wert great thy actions declare but this more especially before thy Death What need I call to mind the Bier of Ablavius who being Captain of the Pretorian Bands a Prince among the Courtiers of Constantine the Great an insatiable Devourer of Gold which he thought upon more than his Tomb. This Person Constantine taking by the Hand How long said he Friend shall we heap up Treasure and speaking those words with the Spear that he held in his Hand he drew out the form of a Coffin in the Dust and then proceeding though thou hadst all the Riches in the World yet after thou art dead a place or Chest no bigger than this which I have here marked out must contain thee if so large a piece of Ground do come to thy Lot Constantine was a Prophet For Ablavius being cut into Biâ—s had not a piece left big enough to be Buried The Emperor Charles the Fifth of Famous Memory most piously imitating that Maximilian whom I have mentioned long before his Death withdrew himself of his own accord from publick Affairs and having resigned his Cares to his Young and Vigorous Son shut himself up in the Monastery of St. Justus in Spain only with twelve of his Domesticks applying himself to Religious Duties He forbid himself to be called by any other Name than Charles and disclaiming with Business the Names of Caesar and Augustus contemned whatever savoured of Honourable Title This also is farther reported that long before the resignation of his Empire he caused a Sepulcher to be made him with all its Funeral Furniture which was privately carried about with him where-ever he went This he had five years by him in all places even when he Marched against the French to Millaine causing it every Night to be placed in his Chamber Some that waited on him imagine the Chest had been full of Treasure others full of Ancient Histories some thought one thing some another But Caesar well knowing what it contained and wherefore he carried it about smiling said that he carried it with him for the use of a thing which was most dear to him in the World Thus Charles continually thought upon Death and every day could say I have lived rising every day to Heavenly Gain Many others have happily imitated Charles the Emperor who have been used twice every day to contemplate their Coffins the Monument of their Death Genâ—bald Bishop of Laudanum lay in a Bed made like a Coffin for seven years together all which time he lived a most severe Life Ida a Woman of applauded Sanctity long before her Death caused her Coffin to be made which twice a day she filled full of Bread and Meat which she twice a day gave liberally to the Poor The Study of Vertue is the best preparation for Death No Death can defile Vertue He easily contemns all things who always meditates upon this that he is to die Sect. 29. What
sleep well relish my Meat and Drink well Fool that thou art Death minds none of these things We are in the way see where the Gibbet threatens thee But a little while and thou shalt expire and with thee all thy Pomp and Luxury dies All our Life is the way to Death Sect. 41. A most Compendious and the best Permeditation upon Death Happy to be in Death first learn to live That thou mayst happy live to dye first strive THis is the Sum of all this is the Art of Arts. To live well we must learn as long as we live and which some perhaps may more admire all our life long we must learn to dye So many great Men leaving all their lumber behind when they had renounced their Riches their Pleasures and their Offices have employed themselves in this one thing to the last that they might know how to live But many of these confessing they had not learnt their Lesson have departed this Life But how shall they know this that never endeavouted to learn Most Mortals care not for living well but for living long Some then begin to live when they are ready to leave the World Hence it is that we are empty of all those Comforts which we desire at the end of our Lives fearful of death and ignorant of living VVhoever then desires to learn the Art of living let him first learn the Art of dying Perhaps some may think that needless to be learnt which is but once to be made use of Therefore it is that we are with all diligence to apply our selves to this Study For that is always to be learnt of which whither we know it or no we can never make the Experiment The great matter is not to live the great matter is to dye Sect. 42. To day for me to morrow for thee FRancis the First King of France being tak'n by Charles the Fifth when he had read at Madrid Charles's Impress upon the Wall Plus ultra Farther yet added thereto To day for me to morrow for thee The Victor took it not ill but to shew that he understood it wrote underneath I am a Man there is no humane accident but may befal me Elegantly Gregory Nazianzene The Head quoth he grows gray the Summer of Life is at Hand The Sickle is sharpn'd against us and I fear least while we are asleep and lull'd in hopes the terrible Reaper come But thou wilt say old Men fear I am young Be not deceived Death is not perfixed to any Age. The same Bier to day carries an old Man to morrow beautiful Youth to day a strong lusty Man to morrow a Virgin or an old Woman Seneca speaks to the purpose Death saith he ought to be â—et before the Eyes of young as well as old Men For we are not summoned by the Censers Books wherein the Ages of every one are set down Such a Partial Citation might serve for War but not for Death The last Farewel and Admonishment of all dying Men is this To day I to morrow Thou But the Dead alter the Sentence and they crie I yesterday Thou to day Be mindful of Death be mindful of Eternity which I yesterday thou to day or to morrow shalt begin never to end with either Sect. 43. Therefore Live while thou hast NOT for thy Wit not for thy Body not for thy Pleasure not for thy Vertues sake but for Heaven and for Gods sake Live and Act as well suffering for God as acting and labouring For thou knowest not how long thou shalt subsist nor how soon thy maker will take thee away Most wisely admonishes the wisest of Preachers Whatever thou takest in Hand to do that do with all thy power for in the Grave that thou goest unto there iâ— neither Work Counsel Knowledg nor Wisdom Therefore as the Apostles exhorts us Let us not be weary in well doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not While we have therefore time let us do good unto all Men. Thou hast begun to Labour prosecute thy labour begun with a continual Industry Never cease nor intermit that Labour which may bring to Heaven For there is no moment of thy Life wherein thou mayst not gain and increase thy Heavenly Treasure In this manner therefore labour without ceasing The time of rest shall come which no labour shall ever interrupt The Life of Man is a Warfare upon Earth and like the days of a Bond-Servant are his Days A Hireling saith St. Gregory asswages the Pains of his Labour with the thoughts of his wages A Hireling is sollicitous least any day should pass him without work for he knows that the Night is for rest and that the Day is appointed for Labour Do thou therefore Labour while it is day while thou hast an opportunity to Work The Night cometh says the voice of Truth when no Man can work Therefore work while the Sun favours thee There is one that will pay thee for thy Labour Thou hast a perpetual and most accurate Overseer of thy work who is God who keeps the number of the Haires of thy Head so doth he keep an account of thy least Failings and of the smallest of thy Actions done in Honour of Him Never question it he numbers all thy steps With one leap yea with one step thou hast finished thy whole Journey to Eternity but take heed that thou fixest thy Feet right For such shalt thou be to Eternity as thou weâ—t at thy Death Sect. 43. If to Morrow why not to Day THere is but one and that a most ponderous Chain that holds us fast the Love of Life which as it is not always to be contemned so there is an allay to be allowed it so that nothing may hinder us but that we may be always prepared to do that presently which is at some time to be done Life is not imperfect so it be upright VVhere-ever thy end happen if thy Life be good thy end is safe St. Austin Bishop of Hippo went to visit another Bishop of his Familiar Acquaintance lying in Extremity to whom as he was lifting up his Hands to Heaven to signifie his Departure St. Austin replyed That he was a great support of the Church and worthy of a longer Life to whom the sick Person made this answer If never 't were another thing but if at any time why not now Death calls upon all Men alike Thither we must all come sooner or later of that we are certain we doubt not of that thing but of the time VVhat then Does not he seem to be the most fearful and imprudent Creature of all who with so much earnestness desires the delay of Death Would not he be the Laughing-stock of others who being Condemned among many should beg to be the last Executed Yet this is the Folly we are guilty of We think it a great happiness to die last The Capital Punishment is destined to all and by a most just determination Now
may know how long I have to life Psal 39. v. 4 5. Shew some good token upon me for good that they which hate me may see it and be ashamed because thou Lord hast holpen me and comforted me Psal 86. v. 17. Thou hast broken my Bands in sunder I will offer to thee the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving and will call upâ—n the Name of the Lord Psâ—l 116. v. 14 15. I had no place to fly to and no Man car'd for my Soul I cry'd unto thee O Lord and said Thou art my Hope and my Portion in the Land of the Living Psal 142. v. 5 6. Omnipotent Sempiternal God who didst prolong the Life of Hezekiah miserably imploring thee grant me thy unworthy Servant before the day of my Death so much time to live that I may be able to deplore all my Sins and may obtain from thy Compassion Pardon and Favour Omnipotent Gracious and Merciful God I most humbly beseech thee by the Death of thy Son grant me a happy and a blessed Hour when my Soul shall depart out of my Body Lord Jesu Crucified Christ by the Bitterness of the Death which thou didst suffer for me upon the Cross chiefly when thy Soul departed from thy Body have Mercy on my Soul at the last Hour who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost for ever and for ever Amen The Second Prayer For a Happy Departure MOST Merciful Lord Jesu if this be the Condition of a Dying Man if in such Dangers and Extremities my Spirit must depart out of this Life whither shall I fly but unto thee Oh my God Do thou take care of my Soul that it may not perish in that dreadful Hour Grant me I beseech thee according to the multitude of thy Mercies and by that servent Love and Grief wherewith thou who art Life it self didst die for me that I may have the Combat of Corporal Death always before my Eyes and that living I may so do as dying I would desire to have done and that I may expend my time and study in nothing more than that I may Spiritually die to my self and may mortifie all the Passions of my Sences that so after this Life I may live with thee Happy and Blessed to all Eternity The Conclusion of the first Chapter To the Reader DO this meditate upon this O Man and while thou art well learn to be sick learn to die To do both is a rare piece of Art which whether thou knowest or no it is not lawful for thee to try but when thou canst not err without the loss of Eternal Felicity We err but once in dying but that Error is never to be amended to all Eternity Therefore to abide as being still to depart But for the most part abide within thy self and search every cranny of thy Conscience Whatever thou enjoyest look upon it as the Lumber of a place where there is no Habitation Thou art not suffered to carry out any more than thou broughtest in with thee Therefore act and bestir thy self Approve thy self right in the sight of God Thou art to go hence Believe that thou standest always at the Gate of Eternity Eternity is that we must look after Pleasure is short Punishment Eternal The labour is Easie the reward Everlasting Therefore we have given wholesom Instruction we have taught that Death is to be contemn'd but the thoughts of it never to be laid aside Now we will give the same Admonitions to the Sick CHAP. II. The Remembrance of Death is Recommended to the Sick Sect. 1. The Introduction and whether Sickness be an Evil CAnnus is a Town in Caria in a Pestilent Air and unwholesom for the Inhabitant These People when Stratonious the Musician and wiâ—ty Man beheld he recited the Verse in Homer to them Like as the Leaves just so the People are Thereby he taunted their Icterical Yellowish and Wan Complexions But when the Caunians had given him a very rugged Entertainment for defaming their City as sickly and unwholesom Stratonicus return'd upon them again Must I not dare said he to call that a sickly place where the dead walk More wittily and more smartly than before But why do we deny and lift up our Noses We are most like to Leaves Very plainly Job Wilt thou break a Leaf saith he driven to and fro As if he had said When I am but a Leaf liable to all the Inconveniences of Life afraid of every Gust wilt thou hasten me with the wind of thy indignation I shall fall of my self without any constraint of thine Are not Men Leaves whom Sickness like dry Leaves and juiceless Flowers tosles to and fro and variously sports with Clement of Alexandria being of the same Opinion Go to said he Men of an obscure Life like the Generation of Leaves infirm Creatures Images of Waâ— things like shadows frail unfledg'd living but the Life of one day Certainly we are Leaves shaken by every puff of wind Sometimes a little Fever what do I say Nay a little Cough a little drop falling upon the little wicket of the Throat mortifies this Leaf and throws it into the Grave But whether or no is Sickness a Benefit and Death an Evil No Mortal no it is not saith Epictetus Health well us'd is a good thing ill us'd a mischief And therefore we may reap Benefit by Sickness What dost thou say of Sickness I wil shew thee its Nature then I shall be quiet I shall think my self well dealt with I shall not flatter the Physician I shall not wish for Death What wouldst thou more Whatever thou shalt give me that will I make happy prosperous honourable to be desir'd But there are some that deny this and say Take heed of being sick 't is an ill thing To them Epictetus again That is as much as to say saith he Take heed that thou dost not feign three to be four 't is an ill thing How evil If we so think of it as we ought What harm will it do me Rather will it not do me good If therefore I so think of Poverty Sick or Troubles of Church or State as I ought is not that enough to me will it not be profitable Truth Love thee O Epictetus How agreeable are all these things to Christian Doctrine This Foundation being laid we shall here teâ—ch ye to be mindful of Death in Sickness and not to be afraid of his coming Sect. 2. The sick Person to his Friends To Sickness To the beginning of a Mortal Disease To Death To Christ our Lord. To his Friends Hence with your unseasonable mourning This is not a place for Wailing but for Prayer But I depart early from you Early take heed ye mistake not I was ripe for death as soon as I was born yea before I was born What I was when born I know a weak frail body liable to all Reproach the Food of Sickness the Victim of Death Behold who e're thou art take Hope or Substance to
most Evils of Life This is the general choice of most Men rather to suffer quickly what we ought than to continue long in fear and pain There is little difference saith the second Pliny between suffering and expecting Misfortunes Only that there is a Measure of Fear and not of Grief For thou mayst bewail and grieve for what thou knowest has happened thou fearest what may happen Therefore come Death I am thy Debtor I will pay what I owe when ever God requires me Therefore freely willingly Will I the number of my days compleat And straight surrender up my soul to fate Hoping to ascend from the dark Grave to everlasting Light Death is not an Evil but Punishment after Death is an Evil. Sect. 8. They fear Death who foresee it not MOST certain it is that nothing terrifies somuch as an unexpected necessity of dying Behold how they who are subject to the power of another being commanded a long Journey pack up their things in haste sollicitous and sad how they murmur because they had no longer warning As they are upon their departure they often look back pretending this and t'other Obstacle Now there is no longer Journey than to Die no way more crabbed more dark more hard to find none more suspitious and infested with Robbers Besides there is no return again Therefore we must the more heedfully take care that we leave nothing behind There is a necessity of going thither fellow Souldiers said the Roman Captain from whence there is no necessity of returning There is only one remedy to answer being called and to obey being commanded Alas How improvident are they who never take care to provide for thy Journey They take care to fare well the rest they commit to Fortune Smyndirides that debauched young Man was wont to brag that in Twenty Years he had not seen the Sun rising or setting being contiaually either a Bed or at his Rioâ— I fear one of you may find many like him among the Christians who make Gluttony Playing and Drinking their greatest Business To these will happen that which Cicero in his Epistles foretold to Brutus Believe me saith he you will be ruined unless you provide well Thus it will happen to all unwary People that want fore-sight Foresight is necessary in all things especially in those things that are never to be done but once where one mistake draws a thousand along with it This is the Condition of Death one Error causes a thousand Mistakes To err once there is to perish eternally O blind Mortals it will happen to you as it happens to them that shut their Eyes against their Enemies Swords in a Battle as if they were not to feel the danger which they see not Ye shall be smitten ye shall die ye shall be sensible and feel the stroke but whether blind or seeing that is at your choice You refuse to think upon Death which you must shortly think upon and seel The sufferance would soon follow when the Consideration precedes Sect. 9. They fear Death who are negligent of Life NEither is there any Question to be made of this They chiefly fear to die who know not how to live who believe no other Happiness but that of the Body Who only know how to eat well drink well and sleep well and place all their Heaven in pleasure persons certainly most obedient but to their Bellies not to the Divine Will Of whom St. Gregory truly said They know not what the Celestial Souls desire who set their Hearts upon Earthly Delights A prudent Christian that takes no more care of the Body than of a mean and abject Slave looks upon Death no otherwise than a Morning departure out of a dark unpleasant and incommodious Inn. Whoever thou art thou canst not fear thy Exit as of this Life if thou hopest to enter into the other Thy fear arises from hence For though there are many causes vulgarly given of this fear yet they all vanish upon the hopes of a more blessed Life He who seriously aspires to Heaven fears not these Baubles To such a Man Labour Sadness Grief Contempt Ignominy Loss Servitude Poverty Old Age are nothing else but the School of Experience the Time of Patience and the Honour of Victory Sect. 10. Three Things hardly supportable in Sickness IN almost all Sickness three things are hardly supportable Fear of Death Pain of the Body Discontinuance from Pleasure But as hot Diseases are Cur'd by cold cold by hot Medicines so are they Cur'd by their own Antidotes Therefore the fear of Death is to be Cur'd by Love but by Divine Love a little Dose of Divine Love will dispel the fumes of vain fear He that loves Christ will the less love Life and shall perceive the love of Christ to him By words alone this is not prov'd Love Marcus love if thou wouldst be belov'd Pain of the Body is to be asswag'd by tranquility of Conscience A guiltless Mind is a wonderful Consolation to the Sick And indeed a pure Conscience is a potent remedy against all Torments That also asswages pain as St. Gregory intimates in these words More easily will the Sick Person endure pain if he bear but this in his mind The most Just God will have me suffer this But Discontinuance from Pleasure will nothing at all afflict him who thinks upon Eternal Joys Those which leave are vain short and filthy and before they are forsaken frequently leave their admirers those which we promise our selves Immense Stable and Eternal He easily contemns Fading Delights who sincerely hopes for Eternal Sect. 11. Sickness the Sport of Vertue THou art well smitten if thy Conscience be smitten Sickness is the School of Vertue it is also called a kind of Slaughter-house of Vice whoever is sick is a Scholar in this School On the other side Sickness is the Slaughter-house of Vertue to some and the School of Vice while they are well they are mad While they are well they have a hundred Businesses the Business of God is their last care How many are Chaste while they are Sick when they recover they return to their former filthy Lusts Such people would do better Sick to whom health is so dangerous These therefore God tyes them to the Bed of Sickness that they may be at leisure to themselves and may mind their Salvation Forsake Vanity and look after Heaven Sickness intangles the Body in a thousand Miseries but frees the Soul from as many 'T is the saying of St. Paul Though our outward Man perish yet the inward Man is renewed day by day Hence though Sickness seem evil nay the worst of Sufferings it then becomes the best when it renders the Sick Person more holy Many when they feel the pain correct the crime A sick Soul seldom inhabits but in a healthy Body Sect. 12. The Sickness of the Body is the Salvation of the Soul SIckness exhorts to Parcimony disswades from Lust and is the Mistress of Modesty Do thou lay
while he is putting on his Arms looks pale and the fiercest Souldiers knees tremble a little at first Charles the Fifth in all Warlike Expeditions most Couragious in all Dangers most undaunted yet when he put on his Armour before a Battel was always wont to look pale and quiver for fear but after his Arms were on like an Armed Giant breathing nothing but a Lion-like Valour like an Iron Giant he flew upon the Enemy Thus the best of Men desires and fears Death But it is better to die with Cats than to live with Antony He overcomes death who dextrously suffers himself to be overcome by Death Sect. 5. An Ill Death follows an Ill Life AS the Tree when it is cut falls which way it bends So which way we bend when we live that way we fall when we die It would be a strange thing that a commendable death should conclude an ill-spent Life A Courtier of King Kenâ—ed who studied more to please his Lord than his Saviour Christ when he came to die he did not so much seem to neglect as to delay the care of his Soul But at length seeing the Devils triumphing about him with a List of his wicked Actions in despair he expir'd When the Impious Chrysaurius desir'd respite respite but till Morning he expir'd with a denial Thus Jezabel and Athaliah thus Benhadad and Belshazzar thus Antiochus and thousands of others as they liv'd so they ended their days Sect. 6. A good Death follows a good Life MOST truly said St. Austin That is not to be thought an ill death which St. Ambrose gives us this Rule A sincere fidelity and a discerning foresight Or Charity with Prudence and Prudence with Charity Thirdly Sole care of Salvation This is the one thing necessary St. Austin ten days before he died admitted no body to see him but the Physician and the person that brought him sustenance and that at set Hours All the while employing himself in Prayers Groans and Tears leaving this Rule behind him That no Man ought to depart hence without a worthy and competent Repentance Fourthly To Receive the Sacrament In this Affair delay is always dangerous Fifthly An Entire Resignation of thy self to the Divine Will All Men perhaps cannot shew an undaunted Spirit but all Men can shew a willing Mind Therefore let the sick Patient often repeat those words of the Lord Christ Even so O Father for so was it thy good pleasure He cannot well miscarry that so effectually reconciles himself to his Judge Sect. 7. How to recover Time lost WHoever he be that desires to recover his lost time let him remove himself from all time and place and betake himself to that Now of Eternity where God lives In God all things lost are to be found Let Man plunge himself into God in this manner Most Eternal God O that I had liv'd as purely as obediently as holily from the beginning to the end of the World as all those Men did who best pleas'd thee in the practice of all manner of Vertues in continual Miseries and Afflictions Oh that I might be able to bear thee that Love wherewith all the Blessed and all thy Holy Angels bear thee For all that I can do and more is due to thy Mercy and Love But now O Lord have Mercy upon me according to thy Knowledge and thy good Pleasure He recovers his lost Hours who sincerely grieves for having lost them Sect. 8. A short Life how to be prolong'd A Man of an upright Mind is to live not as long as is convenient but as long as it behoves him Wisdom cries out though he was soon dead yet fulfilled he much time For how has he not fulfill'd all times who passes to Eternity For as much time as he has spent not in Series of Years or Number of Days but in Devotion and an unquenchable desire of profiting in Piety so much does he deservedly claim of true Life For he retains in Vertue what he lost in time And therefore an unwearied study of profiting and a continual going forward to perfection is reputed for perfection Sect. 9. There is an End of all Things but of Eternity 'T IS the Sence of St. Gregory all the length of the time of this present Life is known to be a point and has its end Which the same Gregory confirming 'T is but little all that has an end For whatever tends to a Non-Entity by the course of time ought not to seem long to us Those very moments that seem to delay it drive it on St. Austin is more plain All this time saith he I do not mean from to day till the end of the World but from Adam to the end of the World is but a drop compar'd to Eternity All things else have an end but Eternity has none There is nothing in the World but has an end Banquets Balls Pleasure Laughter have all an end but Eternity has none Wherefore then do we set our Minds upon vain things Nothing but what is durable will delight a great Mind Whatever had a beginning shall have an end only Eternity has no end Why boasts the fond vain-glorious World Whose Joys are transitory Like to the Potters brittle Ware Is all her Pomp and Glory Ah! where is Solomon the Wise Or Sampson strong in Fight Where is the lovely Absalom Or David's dear Delight What is become of Caesar now VVith all his Trophies around VVhere 's Aristole Tully where In Learning so profound So many Men of Might and Fame VVith all their Honour won In the short twinkling of an Ese Are vanish`d all and gon The fleeting Banquet of our Joys Swift as our shadows run In the short twinkling of an Eye Th` are vanish`d all aud gone Sect. 10. The Consideration of a Dying Man SAith the Master of Patience Job The waters pierce through the very stones by little and little and the Floods wash away the Gravel and Earth so shalt thou destroy the hope of Man Thou prevailest still against him so that he passes away Thou changest his Countenance and puttest him from thee Job c. 14. v. 19 20. How few Ceremonies God uses when he would send a Man out of this into another World He changes his Countenance and commands him to be gon VVhen death is at hand the whole Face is changed The Nose becomes sharp the Eyes sunk and hollow the Skin of the Forehead hard and wrinkled the Colour of the Face grows pale with several other Mortal Symptoms that make such a strange and dismal alteration in the Countenance that it seems to be quite another thing So that when God changes the Countenance of Man he sends him â—orth Go now saith he go Man into thy House of Eternity Upon so small a point of Death depend so many Ages not to be numbered by Ages Sect. 11. Of Dying in a standing Posture IT was a saying of Vespasian That an Emperor ought to die standing I also say that it becomes a Christian