poscit studia majora pars melior Excellently Epictetus a Stoick Philosopher it is a sign of a sottish blockish man to bee long about any thing which concerns his body to bee long in exercising in eating in drinking c. These are to bee done by the by but all the care is to bee imployed about the soul Euchirid c. 63. per totum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quis suror est viles a vobis animas vestras haberi quas etiam Dâ—abolus putat esse pretâ—osas quis furor est viles a vobis haberi quas etiamâ—lle charas vobis debere esse dicit qui viles facere conaâ—ur ac per hoc quicunque animas suas negligunt etiam infra judicium Diaboli se amant Vide Salvian lib. 3. ad Eccles Cath p. 431. In the eyes of God Angels Devils and men Christian and Pagan it is precious Let not us dishonour that by which wee are so much ennobled and advanced and which by the glorious Angels is so much admired and by the apostate spirits envyed 'T is dishonoured in a word when wee think to satisfie it with riches honours or terrene things with any thing God excepted It is as if wee should entertain a King at our Tables with chaffe dung or bare bones to pick when wee contaminate and pollute it it is worse than to cast dung in the face of a Prince when we suffer Satan to possesse our souls it is to lodge Wolves or Bears in royal palaces when wee make more provision for our bodies than for our souls it is as if a man should dandle his Dog and bid out with the child serve his Swine and starve his Son as if a man should prize the Cabinet above the Jewels or the Gold-smith weigh his drosse but throw away his gold or as if the Husbandman should gather the stubble into the Barn but leave the corn to bee devoured by the beasts of the field and fowls of the Air and when wee act not rationally religiously as if there were no more in us than sensitive souls when wee indeavour not to understand the wants of them and to have thoss wants supplyed Si recte quidem carnem famulam animam vero dominam esse dixerint non oportet posteriori loco nos dominam ponere ac famulam iniquo jure praeferre Euch. ubi supra It was Eucherius his sad complaint in an Epistle to Valerianus Multus corporum curationi impenditur usus multum huic opâ—rae in spem medelae datur nunquid medicinam anima non meretur c. and then do wee dishonour it When wee give no diligence to bee sure of the salvation of it Shall I present you with some perswasive considerations to close with that to give all diligence to secure and bee sure of the salvation of your souls It is a peece of choicest policy to secure that which is worth all the world Our souls are such things It is the greatest equity to do this for the soul since all wee do wee do with the soul the body is a livelesse lump it is the soul in the eye that inables the eye to see in the hand that inables the hand to work c. Nothing else can bee made sure but this may Chrisost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ergo riches cannot they are lying and flying vanities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. nothing more unfaithful they are as deceitful as delightful yea more the world like water the more wee graspe at it the lesse wee hold of it like sands in our hands the faster wee gripe the faster it will goe Honours cannot Psal 49.12 The Courts of Princes are paved with Ice a fall is soon catcht and proves fatal What are earthly honours and applauses but magnum nihil the lightest plumes of worldly honours said one are tossed up and down and down and up by the lighter puffes of popular humours the very aspects of the Moon her self are not so changeable and variable as the respects of most men Relations cannot Ezek. 24.16 Hos 9.11 Job 1.10 Ezekiel may lose the delight of his eyes Ephraim his glory Never was any surer of his posterity than holy Job not a child nor a chicken of his but was hedged about on every side yet hee lost all on a day Life it self cannot In Psal 29. Mihi pag. 189. Non est diu saith Augustine quod habet extremum that cannot bee counted long which shall have an end wee must all die and bee as water spilt upon the ground Paulin. Humanis opibus sperare salutem Nulla salus nec enim mortem mortalia pellunt But assurance of our salvation may bee obtained this may bee made sure and it is worthy the most solemn consideration There may bee a controversy about our souls Others may question our interest in Christ and that redemption purchased by Christ wee our selves may draw sad conclusions especially in the hour of temptations and day of desertion against our selves Satan certainly will challenge the greatest right to them if hee cannot cast our souls into Hell hee will cast an hell into our souls And at the last day there shall bee a final decision of the controversy to whom our souls belong God will determine it I say no more but that it is the very life of this present life to bee assured after this of a better life The denyal of the former Truth saith Luther were there no other errour in their Doctrin is cause sufficient why wee desert the Roman Church Luth. in Gen cap. 41. Christus meus omnia Fifthly Study Jesus Christ his preciousnesse and usefulness more precious hee is in respect of what hee is in himself or in relation whether to God the Father or to the true Beleevers in respect of what hee doth as Prophet Priest King Head Husband in respect of what hee hath and also in respect of what hee suffered Nihil mihi sapit in quo non sapit Iesus Christus By your apprehensions and appretiations of him your affections to him your desires and breathings after him your undertakings for him your unsatisfiedness without him your conversings with him and your delighting in him you may understand if hee bee so to you None ever felt the burthensomeness saw the dangerousness or tasted the bitterness of sin but they acknowledged his preciousness Cui Christus incipit dulcescere necessum est amarescere mundum peccatum omnia sublunaria Hee is useful to all ends and purposes no redemption no reconciliation no justification no sanctification no consolation no salvation no grace peace glory without him Augustine excellently asserteth this saying See Predeaux praelect Daven Dâ—term Acosta lib. 5. de procuranda Judorum salute cap 3. Dr. Tuckney in Act. 4 12. Maldon in Mat. 11.21 Gentiles poâ—etant c. He who teacheth that a man may be saved without Christ as some of the schoolmen do
they can live without them whether they do live above them how they will carry in the privation of them Many can live without God in the world who know not how to live without Gold and Silver and children in the world It is to humble them Pride is the shirt of the soul which it puts off last when it shifts The heart of man is the proudest little peece in the world Lest I should be exalted above measure there was given mee a thorn in the flesh An humble soul is Heavens delight It is worthy our observation Gen. 22.1 After these things God tempted Abraham After these things what things Solemn intercourses twixt God and him Expresse Assurances from Heaven that God was his God and would bee the God of his seed After these things Abraham is tempted and pride prevented To refine them waters are clearest when they are in motion Dan. 11.35 so are the Saints in affliction Isa 26.16 Hos 5.15 To awaken them to duty Grace ever acts like it self gracious men not so they have need of awakening Ordinances and providences In trouble they will visit him and morning him To subdue the stubbornnesse of their will children will not alwaies bee wrought on or brought to do their Fathers will with one lash as stubborn Oaks so stubborn hearts and wills must have many blows before they bee brought under To make them more modest in their demands desires of and prayers for temporals when men are low in condition they are low in petition A drop of water was all Dives desired in Hell Breach upon breach makes men more modest and moderate To work us more into love with more highly to estimate and think of his precious Ordinances Many of Pauls Epistles cannot bee understood well without the Crosse the sweetest Scriptures were penned in and are prized most in times of afflictions then is truth precious indeed To inlarge their comforts It is the Method of Heaven to bring his Saints first into the Wildernesse then to Canaan every child of God is not taken up into the third Heaven till they have been cast as it were into the third Hell the tree is more firmly rooted by shaking and the true Christian by suffering notable is that prayer 1 Pet. 5.10 To increase his own glory hee made all things at first and doâ—h all things to the last for his glory then shall his name which is above every name bee more exalted when hee shall make up those breaches in his Church or in your families Notable is that Psal 102.16 When the Lord shall build up Zion hee shall appear in his glory The Case is yours Right Worshipfull Hee hath broken you with breach upon breach Within the circuit of ten daies you have laid in dust the Head and Hope of your family The delights of your eyes are taken from you with a stroak from Heaven Ezek. 24.16 To help you to a right improvement of this great affliction I humbly crave leave to leave two or three words of Counsel with you First Patiently bear the indignation of the Lord acknowledge his Righteousnesse open not your mouth to murmure or repâ—ne against him Lâ—t these Considerations stay with you 1 There are no more breaches made than there was need of I dare not say with him in Theocritus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is enough that ones dead out of a family No There is not one dram more in the potion nor one twig in the Rod more than there was need of Notable is that 1 Pet. 1.6 Now for a season if need be yee are in Heaviness if need bee breaches are not made but as there is need and if there bee a need Were wee made Arbiters of our own afflictions it is more than probable wee should not award our selves the tenth of our corrections yet the most High whose wisdome is wonderful and understanding infinite knows he should wrong us much should hee whip us no more 2 The Lord hath done it and who shall gain-say it Psal 39.9 or bee displeased with it Righteous are all his doings in our hearts and in our houses His dealings with David Job and Heman were sharp but never chargable with injustice as the Word so the Work of the Lord is good 3 Have not you and wee deserved it hath hee not been highly provoked by us to take them from us wherefore shall a living a dying man complain since hee suffers for his siâ— This is mans sin and Gods wonders Nay hath hee not punished us lesse than our iniquities have deserved 4 They were none of yours whom hee hath taken from you they were his before yours more than yours his and none of yours 1 Cor. 6.19 when wee are not our own what can wee call our own may not the Lord do what hee will with his own and call them home at his pleasure 5 His End is good in all the Breaches made upon your comforts It is to break your heart more for sin and from sin from the pleasures profits and honours of the world to make you partaker of his holinesse Now finis dat amabilitatem facilitatem mediis Wee are content to lose some of our blood for the health of our bodies why not the best things in our houses for the health of our souls 6 You will by acknowledging his hand and submission to his Rod without grumbling advance the Lords honour and crosse Satans expectation It was the Devils design not to make Job a beggar but a blasphemer unlesse the way to make him a blasphemer was first to make him a beggar but Jobs blessing of God crossed and amus'd the Devil For Job not to miscarry after all those sad tidings This was a patience that honoured Heaven justified Gods testimony of him made hell ashamed the whole world to wonder and still to talk of the patience of Job Hee saith not Vide Chrys Hom. in locum the Devil hath taken this or that had hee said so the speech had been true enough though not good enough for so holy a man but the Lord hath taken away 7 It is a fruitlesse and bootlesse thing to contend with God nothing is got by murmuring it is no wrangling him out of his way besides this would argue much pride and sullennesse nothing of a self-denying humble spirit which you have a large share of 8 Your noble soul is not yet lost and your Redeemer yet lives There is no breach made twixt God and your soul and Christ is better to you than ten Husbands Sons c. Seneca checks the folly and vanity of murmurers under pressures Bee it supposed saith hee a man hath a princely pallace to lodge in with gallant Orchards pleasant Gardens surrounded with tallest Cedars or other Trees for Ornament or Muniment what an unreasonable thing were it for this man to whine repine and complain if a few leaves bee gone by the boysterous winde the fruits the trees the house remaining
would drink freely For his Humility and Affability I might say much hee was in honore sine tumore in elatione sine praelatione c. hee knew when to stoop and stand up and did both it is rare to see one so high so lowly so well descended so free from morosity and superciliousnesse and humble-hearted hee knew that pride was the badge of an ignoble spirit a stinking weed that 's wont to grow and thrive most in the worst soils and souls hee knew hee might easily bee too high but could never bee low enough hee would not passe by an excellency in others without observation For his disposition in relation to the poor and needy it was generous and liberal I seldome or never sound his ear or hand shut against charitable motions Hee knew that those that did good to the poor and needy for Christs sake God would do good to them for the poors sake sure for his Sons sake Hee knew that hee who promised they should have that asked had first commanded such to give unto them that asked I might call on you honorable and beloved and plead the causes and spread the cases of the distressed before you in the words of Augustin Tu contemnis egentem tui Deus non contemnit egentem sui c. why dost thou give them childish or churlish answers gives God such unto thee or as Nazianzen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why shouldest thou treasure up for Theeves or Moths or mutability of times Prov. 11.24 Look upon the necessities of others not as strangers but as members as you would have the Lord to look upon yours Bee good to all God is so especially to the houshold of Faith Vnmercifulnesse is a sin which least becomes and worst beseems one that hath tasted of the Lords graciousnesse Date obolum Bellisario may bee the cry of such as are now in pomp and Majesty For his Judgement It was not Episcopal nor Congregational but Presbyterial as conscience-bound hee freely submitted to examination the great Rock of offence His opinions such as might save him rather than raise him and therefore hee truly and duly observed the Lords day His diligent attendance upon divine Ordinances was very exemplary with what reverence and fear so far as man could judge would hee attend unto the word dispensed by the Lords Ministers when by reason of the weaknesse of his body hee could not come to the solemn publick assemblies wee saw the willingnesse of his mind that wee should come to him and therefore had his Invitation to us a command to come often to pray with him and preach to him every Lords day evening at least till the Lord had either restored him to health or removed him out of the Land of the living by death which was done not without testifications of his thankfulnesse And This was further memorable There was not that omission of that family-perfuming and preserving Ordinance of Prayer reading of the Word c. in his house as is I fear in many families of quality It is true His house was not so with God as was desired nor was holy Davids 2 Sam. 23.5 nor any of ours yet it was not without calling upon God nor without the special blessing of God Lib. 4. de Gub. Dei mihi pag. 114 Ubi fusius It was Salvians sad complaint Si honoratior quispiam religioni se applicuerit illico honoratus esse desist it Si fuerit sublimis fit despicabilis si splendissimus fit vilissimus si totus honoris fit totus injuriae c. Blessed bee our God our times are not such O that you would bee more frequent and fervent in your addresses to God! You may bid farewel to all good daies when you bid farewel to all good duties If you send up no prayers to God no desires to God sure you have no desires of God nor after God Are not the least of his blessings if there bee any little worth praying and staying for whence doth this omission arise From a principle of ignorance or negligence of carelesnesse or covetousnesse or from a principle of forgetfulnesse or fearfulnesse sure I am if you and your houses serve not God God will neither save you nor your houses Read and tremble Prov. 3.33 Jer. 10.25 Psal 9.17 In reference to his Relations I may give this character of him in short To his precious Consort hee was a loving Husband they liv'd some and might have many years together many more had the Lord spun out his thread as Rubenius Celer and his wife did without reconciliation they did never need it Erant duo in carne una Aug. duo in voce una they were not one in many things and two in some things but one in all There was no cause of crying Eia Johannes eia Maria. To his children a tender-hearted Father Not many if any more O that you and I could manifest more spiritual love to our little ones The love which wee bear unto their bodies is but the body of our love the soul of love is that love which we bear unto their souls Let us pray more for them Gods goodnesse their Ancestours prayers and their own lives every day growing better Were the three Advocates which Grotius saith the Israelites had Comeliness in children is riches if nothing else bee left them said a learned Knight It is more true of godlinesse Sir W. Rawleigh Si nil orarem nil curarem said Melancthon Should I not pray for my children I should not care for my children Your prayers may do them much more good than all the portions you can leave them Before the flood children died not before their Fathers unlesse by a violent death as some of the learned say they ground it on Gen. 11.28 Hanan say they is the first that 's noted to die before his Father Not much to build on this Pray wee for our children constantly and instantly and when-ever they bee taken from us wee shall resign them up more chearfully Vide Amam Hebr. Gram. pag. 164 A Laolde in Ephes 6.4 and though they die before us as wee see many do yet our consciences shall bee much quieter and our comfort greater To his Tenants hee was very respectful by them highly honoured and reverenced And his death is and will bee much lamented Though tears from such bee no commendation to a living yet they are credit to a dead Lord Such another in his room and of his name is I am confident the desire of their hearts and will bee the delight of their eyes To the Neighbour-hood very useful Causinus reports of one that whatsoever question was propounded to him his answer still was Love whence commest thou from Love and whither goest thou to Love and where wast thou with Love It was the design of this worthy in all matters as I have been informed to preserve Peace and Love To us of the Ministry hee was very dear and deservedly
pauciora Est lib. 4. Dist 1. Paragr 13. Biel. lib. 4. Dist 2. Quest 1. So great with them and of none with us Precious in the sight of the Lord is the blood and death of his Saints and truly precious in the sight of true Saints is the blood and death of their Lord Jesus Shall I transcribe the passages of two learned men an ancient and a modern writer Gabriel Albaspin Observat lib. 1. Observatio 17.20 p. 146. Quanti debet esse hominibus sanguis crux Domini nostri Iesu Christi cum Deus in hoc altero saeculo tantam mercedem reponat iis martyribus qui vel unius sanguinis guttam profuderint c. Etsi gratia Dei non est alligata Sacramentis ea tamen cum offeruntur non sunt respuenda negligenda sed inquirenda c. P. Martyr in Sam. p. 128. By this grace is increased comforts are inlarged experiences are acquired the Covenant is sealed the infinite love and free grace of God is discovered the sufferings of Christ manifested life eternal assured c. The damned spirits in Hell know now in great measure the preciousness of Christ whom they contemned the usefulness of this high and holy Ordinance which they sleighted and prophaned the nobleness and transcendent excellency of their souls which they have eternally damned this they know and the knowledge hereof increaseth their anguish and horror Let us now in this day of grace labour for this and improve all means of grace change but the word and I may say THEN shall wee not bee ashamed when wee are fitted for are partakers of have due respect unto and make good improvement of all his Sacraments Alluditur ad Psal 119.6 Estius in Sen. lib. 2. Distinct 16. 17. Fourthly Meditate frequently of the superlative excellency of your precious souls and diligently labour to secure and assure the salvation of them to your selves A rational soul is of more worth than all the world they are great losers who gain that with the losse of this It were easy to demonstrate the transcendent preciousness of our souls but to convince or to perswade men to walk up to this conviction especially persons of quality hic labor hoc opus est I hope and know better things of you though I thus speak I crave your consideration however that Heb. 12.9 Zach. 12.1 Vide Photii Epist 133. Tarasâ—o Patricio Aug. Steuch Eugub de perenni Philosophia lib. 9 cap. 10 11. Zenophon Memorab lib. 4. pag. 634. Plotin Enneâ— ad 4. lib. 7. c. 10 The most high challengeth a more peculiar relation to them and interest in them Therefore hee is stiled the Father of Spirits and hee is the Physitian of Spirits and hee accounts it a special part of his glory to form the spirit of man within him the soul it is the breath of God the beauty of man the wonder of Angels the envy of Devils It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plato calls it a coelestial plant and of a divine Off-spring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Zenophon speaking of the nobility of the soul I shall pass by what Plotinus hath in his Enneads all along besides the soul of the world at which hee once and again hints how excellently doth hee pourtray the Origen and discover the nature of mans immortal spirit It is a Deo though not de Deo as the Gnosticks thought and taught To this adde The soul is under the command of none but God alone In conscientiam dominari creaturae non est competibile this speaks out the excellency of it The soul is in a capacity to injoy communion with God and to receive the communications of those divine excellencies which hee hath to communicate Dan. Heins Exercit. Sacr. in cap. 4. ad Ephes It may bee said of man as Jerome doth of Pauls Epistle to the Ephesians It is Epistola media homo est creatura media As Jesus Christ stands 'twixt God and man so man stands twixt God and the creatures Fecisti nos Domine prote c. Again the soul cannot bee satisfied with any thing or saved by any thing God excepted there is in every gracious soul a holy pride most pleasing to the God of Heaven to scorn all the world in point of satisfaction or salvation or consider them in relation to the Angels souls are of an Angellick nature most true is that of Comineus In his Philosoph repurg Ange lus est homo nudatus homo Angelus vestitus An Angel is a man stripped a man is an Angel cloathed with clay Again weigh well the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the incomparable price which the Son of God payed for the redemption of the soul 't was not the spoil of richest Provinces not the price of Cleopatra's draught not silver or gold but the precious blood of Jesus Christ Vide Plot. ubi supra Vossium de anima separata The immortality and immateriality of it speaks forth the transcendent excellency of it as also the rich and rare endowments and noble operations of it The excellency of the case or cabinet viz. the body intimates a more than ordinary excellency of this watch or jewel though in some respects the body of man bee called a vile body as being subject to vile diseases to vile abuses in comparison of what it was in its primitive constitution and of what it shall bee at the great day of the resurrection yet is the body of all materials the most excellent as Pererius well observes Perer. in Gen. 2.7 pag. 128. Cal. lib. 12. de usu partium lib. 9. de plac Hip. Plat. When Galen saw the Anatomy of a body hee cryed out The God of Nature Abdala the Saracen and Phavorinus of whom wee read in A. Gellius admired at nothing in the world but man at nothing in man but only his soul This is said Augustine a greater miracle in man than all the miracles wrought amongst men the body is comparatively vile it is Jumentum animae sperma faetidum saccus stercorum esca vermium c. but the soul is a demi-semi-God dwelling in an house of clay Senec. Ep. 31. 41. Anima vero vicina est substantiae Dei c. Aug. in Psal 144. as Augustine excellently asserts the nobility of it from its operations But once more it is the measure of all other excellencies as thus every thing is accounted so far forth excellent as it is subservient to the soul and conduceth to the felicitating of it Now who will cast Pearls and Jewels as chips at his heels who dare consideratis considerandis curare cutem magis quam animam minde his bag his back his belly his body his house and horse neglecting his immortal soul which is by nature incomparably more noble of our cares fears prayers tears means and pains the greater part should bee for and about the better part Merito
an Ornament to a souldier Clemency is an Ornament to a Prince Senec. de Clem. lib. 1. cap. 3. 5. 16 17. but Justice is the Judges Ornament Dispute who will those questions in the Politicks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eurip. whether a wicked man may bee a good Magistrate and whether it bee better to have good Laws or good Magistrates In a word to the former When wicked men shall become good men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Rhet. l. 1. c. 3 then and not till then will they become good Magistrates and to the other though good laws bee the walls of our Cities the ligaments of our body politick the glory of our Nation the Rule of our lives the Pillars of our state and that to the Nation which the soul is to the body as Demosthenes speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are in a word so useful that no Commonwealth under what form of Government soever could never bee without them yet what good will they do if they bee not executed I cannot commend Draco's laws which are said to bee writ in bloud because as A. Gellius saith whatsoever the offence was they were to die who offended nor yet Theano's laws which were writ in sand I take the law to bee the line execution to bee the life Good laws without execution are like golden swords in withered hands Good laws are our glory Good Magistrates the glory of our glories Arise Arise then Justice and Judgement are not things to bee talked of but done My Text tells you so The work is glorious such as are more zealous for the glory of God most faithful and active in this work of God they are most honourable in the eyes of God and most high in the favour of God God will honour them that thus honour him Secondly Heb. 6.10 Job 8.6 It is a very advantagious and profitable act This is the way to prosper Your labour shall not bee in vain in the Lord See the last verse of this Chapter The Lord shall bee with the good Aderit Vatab. in locum bonis judicibus favebit eosque mercede donabit If God bee with you all good is with you 1 Chron. 11.9 every thing prospers where God is Behold I give unto Phineas my Covenant of peace hee shall have it and his seed after him here is a plot laid for the good of posterity because hee was zealous for his God Numb 25.11,12.13 and made an atonement for the children of Israel It is worthy your observation which the Lord said to Jehoiakim concerning his Father Josiah Jer. 22.15,16 Did not thy Father eat and drink and do judgement and justice and then it was well with him hee judged the cause of the poor and needy then it was well with him diu vixit pacifice regnavit nihilque illi defuit hee lived long and much in a little time Maldon in loc hee lived chearfully and comfortably free from carking cares distrustful fears distracting thoughts hee raigned peaceably the Land flourished Remarkable is that also 2 King 10.30 because thou Jehu hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes therefore thy children of the fourth Generation shall sit on the Throne of Israel i.e. as Kings they shall raign over Israel Mark it God will not bee behinde with Jehu if hee do any act of Justice for him Hieron Etiam Ethnici si quid boni fecerint non absque mercede praetereuntur It was a sad time when Israel was without Rain for three years and six months How great a mercy is it to have the Rain falling in its season it is so promised by God Levit. 26.4 Jer. 14.3,4 and so prized by men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sometimes God dries up the precious fruits and sometimes drowns the precious fruits of the earth and what tremblings are there then It it said in Ezra 10. Ezra 10.9 9. All the people sate in the street of the house of God trembling because of this matter and for the great Rain What would not the King of Israel have parted with for a shower of Rain and what course is taken for the porcuring of it it is not the Heavens of God but the God of Heaven that is the Father and giver of it they go to Elijah Elijah goes to God hee was a potent a prevalent man with God Prayer an appointed approved way and mean gracious hearts by this key open Heaven almost at pleasure hee praies as Daniel in the den Jonah in the Whales belly yet something else was done Baals Prophets must bee executed and then a sound of abundance of Rain is heard 1 King 18.40 41. The execution of Justice and Judgement brings down showres of blessings showres of blessings Thirdly Jer. 9.24 It is a very Pious and acceptable act Read at your leisure those pregnant passages 1 Sam. 15.22 Isa 1. The word in Prov. 21.3 is from Bachar Elegit Selegit 11. Micah 6.7,8 and that of Salomon Prov 21.3 To do Iustice and Judgement is more eligible more acceptable to the Lord than Sacrifice As that mercy may bee shewed so that Justice may bee administred the Lord is contented that the Acts of his immediate worship shall pro tempore bee intermittted and suspended Though the Lord delight himself in holy persons and in holy performances yet of Prayer as I remember it is only said It is the Lords delight O! it is prevalent with him and pleasant to him Let mee see thy face let mee hear thy voice yet when Joshua the Christian Hercules as some with the Elders of Israel were expostulating with God prostrating themselves before him deploring their misery and imploring his mercy rending their cloaths falling on their faces putting dust upon their heads and crying in prayer Lord what shall we say when Israel turns their back before their enemy Iosh 7.10 Lord what shall wee say or do Mark Gods reply Get thee up why lyest thou upon thy face something else is now to bee done Israel hath sinned I am highly provoked Achan must die Joshua is here called off his devotion to the execution of Justice Phineas executed Judgement and it was accounted to him for Righteousness though others censure him as a Murtherer his act as unjust his attempt as rash no matter if all the world snarle and frown so God smile hee approves it and accepts it but I shall not enlarge this unlesse I had lesse before mee in my meditations Fourthly This is a self-securing act See the close of this chapter The Lord shall bee with the good If the Lord bee with you who or what can harm you Esse Paulum cum Christo est magna faelicitas Bern. in Phil. 1.23 esse Christum cum Paulo magna securitas So may I say were you My Lords with Christ in Heaven this would be your bliss and faelicity if Christ bee with you on earth Otho
forced P. Mart. in loc I referre them to the learned Martyr who would know more of this for satisfaction 6 King Davids commendation of this deceased Prince Abner in my Text in which something is spoken to the living Know yee not c. Something is spoken of the Dead There is a Prince and a Great man fallen 7 Davids ingenuous confession I am this day weak though anointed King Of which now something more by way of explication no more by way of inquiry The Explication To the living King David directs his speech Know yee not i.e. as Carthusian rightly Ignorare non debetis c. you who are Chieftains in Israel cannot ought not to bee such strangers in Israel our breach is great like the Sea who can heal it Know yee not It highly concerns you to know it to bee much affected with it and afflicted for it and with tears of blood to deplore it Verba sensus connotant affectus There is a Prince The Scripture which speaks no Treason gives this title to many There is the eternal Prince our Lord Jesus Christ Isa 9.6 The Father of eternity the Prince of Peace Some of the Rabbines understand that of Hezekiah wee must of Christ hee is our peace Ephes 2.2 John 14 There is the infernal Prince Satan so stiled once and again in holy writ Princes have their Territories so Satan hath his they have their subjects and hee his Their Thrones and hee his they have their homage and peculiar honour done unto them Satan hath his Rev. 13.4 hee is indeed a Prince but a Captive Prince under pains and chains of darknesse hee can neither do what he would nor shall hee ever do what hee can potestas est sed sub potestate as the Father speaks There is some order even amongst the Devils the damned spirits in Hell There are spiritual Princes every childe of God is such a Prince In some Nations all the Kings children are called Princes the first born only in others in the Kingdome of grace and glory every Subject is a Soveraign Every one resembles the child of a King as Zeba and Zalmunna said to Gideon of his Brethren consider their original they are born of the blood royal his Sons who is King of Kings Or their possessions All is theirs Dan. 7.27 Rev. 21.7 all under Heaven and in Heaven 's theirs fidelibus totus mundus est divitiarum Aug Ep. 89 as Augustin speaks They have the power of Princes Are guarded as Princes are adorned as Princes entertained as Princes they feed on Christ cloathed as Princes with a Stole of Immortality and garments of praise There are saecular Princes such are the first masculine branches which spring from the stem of Majesty Abner was none such How then could hee promerit this honourable title of a Prince I answer Persons in great authority and of great quality The worthy the wealthy ones of a Nation in sacred story are stiled Kings and Princes Gen. 14.8 Isa 23.7 Gen 40.1.37 p. 36 It is said of Tyrus her Merchants were Princes and her Traffickers the honourable men of the earth Thus Abner was a Prince a Prince and a Great man A Great man prudentia strenuitate ac virtutibus ad bellatorem spectantibus saith Carthusian in four respects hee deserved the stile of Great man In respect of his great allyance In respect of his great influence In respect of his great attendance and in respect of his high promotion and office We have read and heard of Alexander the Great and Pompey the Great and Charles the Great and of Herod the Great and here of Abner the Great Know yee not that there is a Prince and a Great man fallen Fallen i.e. dead I shall not stand now to discourse of Death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plotin Ennâ—ad lib. 7 p. 62 lib. 4. c. 30 as Plotinus speaks To dye is for the soul to put off the body as doth the body put off its cloaths David the Oratour at Abners Funeral calls it a Fall which came by a fall Fallen this day Not without an Emphasis it deserves an hand in the Margent This day The design hee had now on foot the project upon the Anvile was the reduction of all Israel to David to yeeld subjection to his royal Scepter about this work hee was the man imployed but in ipso limine impingere is matter of saddest lamentation a noble work was now on Abners Loom Israel must bee reduced Abner is the instrument if his skill run parallel with his will or the event answer his intent twice happy Israel thrice happy Abner but in this nick of time and juncture of affairs This Prince and project too are fallen in Israel And I am this day weak Tenellus as Tirinus renders it Sicut ramusculus tener de Novo plantatus as Nichol. de Lyra like a tender plant that hath not yet taken root and therefore stand in much need of Abners help to establish mee in the Throne The Seventy read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cognatus so near allyed to Joab I cannot do justice and judgement on him Others read it and the original well bears it weak i.e. of small power to execute justice and Judgement on Joab and Abishai the sons of Zerviah who was the Kings Sister They were principal men had a mighty influence upon the tribe of Judah and the rest of the tribes were not at this time in confederacy It is disputed by Interpreters whether David did well in delaying the execution of Justice upon those wilful murtherers They who condemn this act say that wilful murtherers should bee taken from the very horns of the Altar if they flye to it for shelter and sanctuary and bee put to death and that the guilt of blood lay now upon the King and Kingdome during Joabs reprieve There was from God an absolute preremptory command Whoso sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood bee shed For demurs there is no warrant in the Word They who excuse this act and apologize for the King say To have punished Joab immediately might have been extreamly prejudicial to King and Kingdome It is said when Honorius the Emperour had cut off Stillico his General that hee had cut off his own hands hee never did worthy act after Joabs punishment was not remitted but respited The Law of Executing murtherers doth binde to take the fittest time not to all times Not to determine but without further explication of the termes I shall now pass to such instructions or conclusions as flow naturally from the Text and are most seasonable for this occasion they bee in number three Observ 1 Princes are not priviledged from falling nor Great men from dying Observ 2 It is every mans duty to take notice of deeply to bee affected with and bitterly to weep over and lament the falls of Princes and Great men especially if they bee good men Observ 3 It is a lawful
Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Velvet Slip-shooe is sometimes molested with the Gout the Diadem cures not an aching head nor the chain of gold the tooth-ach And are not these Symbola or singultus morientis naturae But I proceed to the Application of this momentous Truth mine eye is most on that but how to apply it to persons of quality I am yet to learn I may say of this subject Epist ad Francisc Sfort. as Bellarmin did of his book de Arte bene moriendi non allicit ad audiendum absterret potius praesertim viros magnos sive principatu politico sive sacro c. but as Augustin called on his so shall I on my godly hearers Enar. in Psal 39.4,5 orate pro nobis fratres ut quod videndum est bene videamus quod dicendum est bene dicamus I shall reduce what is in my thoughts to two heads Some practical Inferences and an use of comfort I begin with practical Inferences Are not Princes priviledged from falling Must they dye Then First Let this bee your greatest care and most earnest prayer that your souls may live Then life nothing is more desired Then the life of the soul nothing is lesse regarded It was Davids humble petition Psal 119 175. Let my soul live and it shall praise thee What if your bodies fall what though you dye If your souls live you shall do well O bee more solicitous about the lives of your souls with what Arguments shall I excite and quicken you Right Worshipful and Beloved hereunto bee pleased solemnly and seriously to consider That you never more indeavour the prolonging of the lives of your bodies than when you are most studious and solicitous about the lives of your souls Vide Photii Epist 133. de nobilitate animae E Coelo terra omnibusque thesauris suis pro ejusdem fabric◠quod molius ac praestantius desumit ex ipsa terra carnem oss◠ab aqua humorem ab aere anhelitum flatum ab igne temperamentum calorem a lunamotum c. d◠contemptu mundi lib. 1. pag. ◠That there is nothing below Heaven so precious and noble as your souls I confesse your bodies in some respects are very precious quid invenire potest majori magisterio erectum fabricatum quam corpus humanum Consumitur quasi natura in fabrica operis tam excellentis as Bartholdus excellently But speaking of the soul saith hee quid est Deus nisi anima increata quid est anima hominis nisi Deus creatus c. The preciousnesse of it will appear if you consider three things 1 Satan is most busy about your souls he hath an envious eye and aching Tooth at them Non nisi magnum bonum a Nerone damnatur 2 God principally requires the soul My Son give mee thy heart 3 Soul-murther is the greatest next to the blood of Christ the blood of souls is most precious 3 There is no life like to the life of the soul The life of grace is the grace of life it is the sweetest life it is the securest life it is the most honourable comfortable and durable life 4 The life or death of the body follows the fate and state of the soul to all eternity and therefore it concerns you much to look after the lives of your souls 5 Till your souls bee enlivened they cannot bee saved 6 Till your souls bee enlivened no duty shall be accepted they are all dumb and dead services 7 Till your souls bee enlivened the Lord cannot bee praised or glorified Psal 119.175 8 Till your souls live indeed you do not live the Father of the Prodigal dated his sons life from his return This my Son was dead and is alive If my words be of any weight with you if your own souls bee of any worth with you Honoured and Beloved then let this bee your care and prayer Your bodies shall fall I dare not undertake to tell you precisely where nor how nor when Utiliter Deus latere voluit illum diem ut semper sit paratum cor ad expectandum quod esse venturum scit quando venturum scit nescit saith Augustin Enar. in Psal 36 but this is certain fall you must Thrice happy are you if your souls bee transported into Heaven before your bodies bee laid in the bowels of the earth Secondly Learn hence the vastnesse of that distance and infinitenesse of that disproportion twixt God and you who can measure the disproportion twixt an ever-living God Isa 40.15 and an ever-dying creature The Nations are as a drop of a bucket and are counted when duly estimated as the small dust of the ballance All Nations before him are as nothing lesse than nothing and vanity Hee cannot dye nor lye Alas wee are all lying and dying creatures and cannot live When Moses desired to know what was his name Vide Aug. Enar in Psal 102 hee only receives this answer I am that I am i.e. I am a being of my self and truly wee cannot say so of any creature The Angels cannot say so nor men hee is an eternal being wee are all of yesterday hee is the Alpha and Omega wee are neither Before the world was hee was what now hee is and shall bee to eternity wee all fade as a leaf Isa 64.6 are shaken as a reed Matth. 11.7 wither as a Rush Job 8.11,12 Fade as a Rose which is blasted almost as soon as budded our lives like winds Job 7.7 or fomes Hos 10,7 Hee is an unchangeable being with him there is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no parallax no revolution no declination nor shadow of turning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How variable and changeable is frail man we dwell in houses of clay our foundation is in the dust no food no physick can keep us long from washing and wasting away Thirdly Whatever your hands finde to do do it with all your might Serve your Generation according to the will of God remembring that you must fall and that there is no knowledge nor wisdome nor working in the grave whither you are hastening Reges non creantur ut in otio vitam agant Kings and Princes are not created to live unprofitably It is not for you who are persons of quality to spend your lives your strength and estates in doing what is worse than nothing there are generous ingenuous liberal imployments sutable to your high births and educations Your noble Ancestors and renowned Progenitours rais'd their families to this pitch of Gentility not by tipling carding dicing hawking c. Delay not the doing of that which if once done all is done and if not done you are for ever undone Speedy indeavours are very necessary where delay is full of danger Some live as if this life should never have end the other no beginning I am now going to dye and yet have not begun to live was the doleful lamentation of Carolus King
and Trains what is truly vertuous and amiable in them for that love them Yet know it is not safe to love any thing very much but that which you can never love overmuch viz. Jesus Christ Notable is that of Seneca and Epictetus two grave Philosophers Senec. 〈…〉 Equum empturus solvi jubes stratum detrahis vestimenta venalibus ne quae vitia corporis lateant hominem involutum aestimas si perpendere te vel alium voles sepone dignitatem domum pecuniam intus te ipse aliosve considera When wee go to buy an Horse wee prize him not by his rich saddle Trappings and goodly furniture wee strip these off and then judge of his worth so should wee by men Boetius relates a passage of a Philosopher if a man saith hee had Linceus his eyes or could see into the body of Alcibiades though it bee very comely and his feature admirable yet how filthy and nasty would it appear And I remember Epictetus his counsel in his Enchiridion cap. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Remember what that is which thou settest thine affections on begin with the least and lowest things Is it a fine glasse an Horse or what is it a man a child or what Remember a glasse is brittle and may bee broken an Horse may bee pricked or stollen a man may dye certainly shall dye if so bee not troubled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who was greater than Alexander I shall not tell you how hee lived what hee had nor what hee did but rather how hee died his pomp and solemnity at Babylon was great to admiration within a few daies after hee could scarce obtain the honour of Burial but lay many daies above ground Vide Quint. Curt. lib. 10 at or before his Funeral some Philosophers meeting spoke thus of him as P. Alphonsus relates it Yesterday all the world would not suffice Alexander now a few yards will serve his turn and spare Yesterday said another Alexander commanded all men now any man may command him Yesterday Alexander could deliver thousands how hee cannot deliver himself from death Yesterday Alexander with his troops pressed the earth now it shall presse him Yesterday all Nations feared Alexander now all contemn him Yesterday Alexander had no superiour upon earth now every man of us is something above him Beloved Consider what you fix your hearts and your affections on Love not your Lords as if there were no other It is easier to love them into their graves than to bring them thence by all your doleful Lamentations But I shall proceed Twelfthly Envy not the prosperity the honour and majesty of these Princes and great men high seats to many are uneasy and the downfall's terrible All the Kings of the Nations even all of them lie in glory everyone in his own house Latemur ad ascensum timeamus lapsum non est tanti gaudii excelsa tenuisse quanti terroris est de excelsis cecidisse It is not a matter of so great joy to have been high and honourable as it is of grief anguish and vexation to bee afterwards despicable and contemptible Lazarus envyed not the Rich man for hee was much happier himself though hee was sine domo yet not sine Domino without food yet not without faith hee had not terrene goods laid up for many years but a stock of grace for an eternity Though hee had no Physicians for his body but Dogs to lick his sores yet dying hee had a guard of Angels to transport his precious and heaven-born soul into Abrahams bosome Let mee rather bee a beggar of bread with Lazarus on earth than a beggar of water with Dives in Hell Friends would you bee great men Know greatnesse without goodnesse is but like the greatnesse of a man with a dropsy which is his disease not his happinesse a crosse and not a comfort Know your greatnesse could not exempt you from falling and by how much you are the higher your fall by so much will bee the greater if not shortly yet surely perhaps signally and miserably you shall down to the house of rottennesse have not some wished when they have been breathing out their last that they had never been Kings nor Queens nor great ones where is there one of a thousand who are advanced and thereby any thing bettered Solus Imperatorum Vespasianus in melius mutatus you will not beleeve beloved what vexations lye under the Princes pillow Damocles highly extolled Dionysius his condition Dionysius to convince him of his mistake provides a royal Feast invites him to it commands his servants to attend him no meat no mirth no musick is wanting but withall hee caused a sharp sword to bee hung over his head by an horse-hair which made Damocles tremble and to forbear both meat and mirth such even such saith the Sicylian Tyrant is my life which thou deemest so pleasant and delicate It is true of Riches Honours and all what Euripides speaks of man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saint Pauls coat with his heavenly graces is infinitely better than the purple of Kings with their Kingdomes Argue your selves beloved out of this sinful distemper check your souls as David did his once and again Psal 37.1.7,8 compared with 73.21 Do not grudge them their grapes their honours and abundance they will cost some of them dear you would bee loath at last to have them at the rate which they must pay for them Thirteenthly Learn hence Not to fear these Princes and great men who art thou Christian Isa 51◠12 that thou shouldest bee afraid of a man that shall die and of the Son of man which shall bee made as grasse It is a notable saying of that Stoick Philosopher Kill mee thou mayest Epictet Enchirid p. ult hurt mee thou canst not Nihil magnum nisi magnus Deus Let the Lord bee your fear and your dread the fear of man works a snare it is extremely prejudicial Moses feared not the wrath of the King though hot nor the looks of the King though feirce nor the words of the King though terrible Wee are commanded to beware of man but in the same chapter Matth. 10 and thrice in the compass of six verses commanded not to fear man An Deus est in mundo pro nihilo is his heart full of love and is not his head as full of care Wee may lose much for Christ wee cannot lose any thing by Christ wee cannot lose so much for him but wee shall finde more in him is it life liberty are not these ensured us hath not hee promised to pay us an hundred-fold whether they fawn or frown resolve with him I will not fear what flesh can do unto mee Psal 56.4 Once more Fourteenthly Learn hence Not to bee afraid of death It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Philosopher hints yet another of them saith mors inter illa est Senec. Ep. 82 per totam quae mala quidem non
sunt c. If death bee evil to any man it is mans fault not deaths fault It is a peece of folly to fear what cannot bee avoided Nihil facit mortem malam nisi quod sequitur mortem nor evaded by any Prince or Peasant Good education may free you from absurdities grace may free you from Hell neither can exempt from the arrest of death Certainly there is not so much reason for you who have part in God peace with God and well-grounded hopes of fruition of God to tremble as Lewis the eleventh of France did at the naming of Death Death will do that for you in a moment which all the Ordinances of God the graces of his Spirit yet never did It will set you free from sin sufferings and sorrow At the death of your bodies you shall bee fully delivered from this body of death Why should men disgust their own felicity and cherish an antipathy against that which so much conduceth to their eternal blisse It was more difficult to perswade some of the Heathens to live out their daies than it is to perswade thousands of us Christians to die Were Death so great an evil as is imagined Vide Ambros de bono mortis cap. 2. 8 Ambrose amongst the Fathers had not writ so much de bono mortis nor Plotinus and Seneca amongst the Philosophers Take but the pomps of death away saith one the disguises and solemn bug-bears the Tinsel Plotin Ennead lib. 7. c. 3. per totum and the actings by Torch or Candle-light and then to die is easy and quitted from its troublesome circumstances The troublesomenesse of it is owing to our fears Enchir. cap. 10 as Epictetus speaks truly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Methodius mortem piorum definit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Death cures us of all our maladies determins all our miseries Good men gain this by it that their calamities are not eternal Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death yea the dust of a Saint Christ hath taken away the death that was in death whatsoever is an evil of punishment though not death from the Saints It is now but a sleeping in Jesus a putting off of the old raggs of frailty and mortality that they may bee decked with garlands and stoles of glory For Consolation Use 1 1 Though Princes and Great men fall and die yet solace your selves in this Their souls are immortal it is the body only that 's laid in the dust The Romans when their Emperours and great ones died and their bodies were burned they caused an Eagle to mount on high thereby to signifie the souls immortality and ascent Socrates told Chiton asking him how hee would bee interred or what should bee done with him when dead Vide Heinsium de contemptu mortis lib. 2 I think saith Socrates I shall escape from you and that you cannot catch mee so much as you feize and lay hold on use it as you see cause I could never yet bee moulded into their opinions who maintained the traduction Est in Sentent lib. 2. Dist 17. Parag. 11. ad 17. the propagation of the soul and consequently the mortality of it Aquinas and Gerson both call them Hereticks who deny the creation of it meethinks it is absolutely impossible for any simple and uncompounded viz. essentially nature to bee subject to death and corruption Non excluditur omnis compositio solius dei proprium est esse perfecte absolute simplex Contarenas argues thus to omit all others Nihil potest perdere esse quod non perdit actum per quem est Istae autem formae simplices non possunt perdere actum per quem sunt quia sibi ipsis sunt actus nihil autem potest seipsum perdere Ergo Cont. de immort animae lib. 1. Et Plotin Ennead lib. 7 per totum The Scripture also is clear in my opinion for its immortality Phil. 1.23 Matth. 10.28 Eccles 12.7 the Heathens had some glympses of its immortality as Plato Tully and most or all of their Philosophers In a word as Cato Major said so I If I do erre in this I erre willingly neither will I ever suffer this errour in which I delight to bee wrested from mee as long as I live 2 Again Solace and comfort your selves in this also Though Princes and great men fall yet they shall rise again If a man die saith Job shall hee live again yea as sure as death hee shall live again There is a double certainty of the resurrection of their bodies 1 Certitudo infallibilitatis ratione divinae praedictionis there is a certainty of infallability in respect of divine prediction Heaven and Earth shall passe away before one of his words fall to the ground 2 Certitudo immutabilitatis ratione divinae praedeterminationis a certainty of immutability in respect of Gods decree and eternal purpose and his counsel shall stand This staid up the drooping spirit of holy Job See his Creed Job 19.25,26 I know my Redeemer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my Kinseman liveth and that hee shall stand at the last day upon the Earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God Whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another How confident is this holy man of his resurrection in the same individual body It is disputed in the Schools Resurrectionem Philosophis notam ex Hebraeorum doctrina affirmant non-nulli whether the resurrection of the body bee quid cognoscibile lumine natura It is said Theopompus Zoroastres and Plato whom none of the Ancient Gentiles contradicted taught the resurrection of the body and Plato thought that after the revolution of some years hee should live again and teach his scholars in the same chair hee sate then in but resurrectio mortuorum est fides Christianorum as Augustin Tertullian and others more solidly Vide Aug. in Psal 101. Et D. Chytr de fine mundi Res Mort. ubi fufius Propria Ecclesiae dei sapientia est praedictio de fine mundi resurrectione mortuorum c. Those Eagle ey'd Philosophers mocked at the Doctrin of the Resurrection Act. 17.32 divine mysteries are above humane reason's shallow capacitie from that principle of nature and axiome amongst Philosophers A privatione ad habitum non datur regressus they argued against this fundamental truth but know it to your comfort that you and yours too shall rise again this Prince and Great man shall return from his grave again not by the power of nature nor by the help of the Creature but by the power of the Creator As for mee saith David I will behold his face in Righteousnesse I shall bee satisfied when I awake with thy likenesse it is meant of the awakening of his body from the sleep of death in the day of the resurrection Psal 17.15 the Jews call the grave Beth Chaiim the house
heavenly Throne O bee to mine an help a friend a Mother Now Christ takes mee God give to thee another My dissolution I could better bear A lass than tidings of thy Death to hear Remove Deaths stroke O God accept a price Yea rather take mee for a Sacrifice And I had rather die than live to see Thee taken hence then comes my Misery Heavens keep thy soul my head shall bee a grave Ever to hold thee whilst an heart I have Revive my Dear can neither Skill nor Art Take deaths sad symptomes from thy tender heart Of all the Woes that ever mee befel None like to this my Joy my Dear Farewel Erubuit Facultas Extorsit amor Lugens posuit Bradleius Hayhurst AN Elegy upon the never sufficiently deplored Death of my noble Friend John Atherton of Atherton Esq High-Sheriffe of Lancashire ENvious Death what 's thy design t' undo Our Gentry Clergy and our Country too Lancashire's poor in one year there are gone Three Pillars Holland Ashurst Atherton Could Paracelsus men as birds revive Great John within one hour should bee alive Or in his room shouldst thou dispense would I Prepare for my accounts and gladly dye Could tears or prayers thee from the dead regain Who would not sigh and pray and weep amain There were in Caesar many Marii 'T is true in thee more both did live and die I dare avouch it contradict who can Each part of thee could make a perfect man Envious Death summe up thy gains and tell What hast thou got This body in this cell His noble soul was pure etherial fire His heart and thoughts did far above aspire The Crowns and Scepters of most potent Kings Hee held their Diadems inferiour things Thou could'st not such a soul surprize 'T is fled From Earth to Heaven where not one tear is shed There is no pain but pleasure there 's no trouble Life is eternal there here but a bubble No moans no groans now no complaints can come From him There 's joy and triumph in their room Blest soul thou art in peace and well dost know One hour in Heaven's worth thousands here below Another Epitaph on the Right Worshipful JOHN ATHERTON Anagram Ah no other in AH there 's no other in thy place Great Prince who can it so much grace Heaven's fill it and give to thy seed Age Virtue Honour with all speed This will repair our breach and grief In part abate and yeeld relief Ah there 's no other Magistrate With us to serve the Church or State Hee 's fal'n and enshrin'd here lies One noble valiant just and wise Give us an age to tell the rest Which may All cannot bee exprest Posuit Richardus Jolly Schola Athertoniensis praf Ad tumulum Principis illustrissimi viri honoratissimi Domini Joannis Athertoni Armigeri totius Comit. Lancastriensis praefecti Epitaphium ISte Athertoni tumulus tegit ossa Joannis quis qualis fuerit scit scio Magnus erat In vivis talis qualem vix Zoilus unquam dente Theonino carpere possit erat Esset Apellis opus te pingere Clare Joannes languentis patriae fida calumna tuae Pastorum tutela tuae decus Inelyte stirpis gloria Magnatum religionis honos An generis splendor nil non illustria prosint stemmata nec virtus bellica chara phalanx Nil tua te pietas nil te veneranda potest as Juvit heu flecti mors truculenta nequit Occubuit magnus princeps florentibus annis lilia ceu saevo frigore verna cadunt Proh dolor hic jacet exanimis quis talia fando Temperet a lachrymis proh dolor ut cecidit Marte cadit non Morte cadit fatalia Parcae stamina ruperunt non reparanda manu Pulvis umbra sumus quassum vas somnus aura Ros spectrum ventus vita caduca vapor Te vivo suavis vita est moriente peracris Dulce mihi tecum vivere dulce mori Non longum praeclare vale vir fidus Achates Tu mihi pro multis millibus unus eras Tros Anchisiades amissum morte parentem flevit ut occisum Pergama maesta ducem Nos ita te miseros longa O dignissima vita sedulus extinctum flere coeget amor Flere jubet Pietas suadet Spes gaudia Nomen tua ad extremum stent monumenta diem Molliter ossa premat tellus clementia servet alma dei sobolem teque Maria tuam Macte tua virtute puer clarissime tandem Solamen nostrum est surculus arbor erit Vive Deo precor quod patri fata negarunt producant vitae tempora longa tuae Ita precatur lugens J. L. Vpon the much lamented Death of the honoured and truly honourable John Atherton of Atherton Esq High-Sheriff of Lancashire HAd'st thou grave Plutarch or Laertius Or Trajans Pliny or Hesychius Had'st thou Callisthenes to write thine acts As Alexander had his noble facts Had'st thou Achilles fate great Homers Pen To draw thy portraicture or Nazianzen To limne thee to the lire or Melchiors quill Or quaint Protogenes with his pencil Rare Phaenix of our age then might thy glory Remain on record in eternal story The Babes unborn should ask whose is this Herse And wee 'l our tribute pay in moanful verse But thy Renown is such thy Name more graceth The verse then they can it who ere thee praiseth Only Seraphick tongues due laud can give To thee great John too good with us to live If to admire were to commend then wee Thy worth could tell with more facility Thy vertues thee commend to after ages Without the help of Elegiack pages Each tongue could tell and every eye did see An impetus heroical in thee Thy Grave deportment on the Bench was such Though young that Myriads did admire it much Just Aristides like concord and peace Heavens legacy 't was thy design t' increase A parallel Husband Father Friend or Brother Justice or Sheriffe where can you discover Eyes to the blinde legs to the lame an Harbour To the afflicted and the poor mans succour Humble when Highest of Man-hood the Mirrour Noble to Friends to Foes a mighty terrour Each wrinkle in thy brow nay credit mee Earle Nevils-like a Princes Tombe might bee Thine eye like Luthers Leonine and fierce Or as the Basilisks so would it peirce When they beheld thee march they thought another Caesar was there or Alexanders Brother In war thy prowesse policy and skill Scanderbegs like ever appeared still True to thy trust none in our Memory Abhorred turn-coats more or treachery Such was thy temperance and sobriety Thy patience prudence and dexterity Great Atherton the style of Parasite I need not fear while in thy praise I write Thy care to curb prophanenesse and to keep The Wolves from preying on Christ's tender Sheep Thy pains about the Clergy Helicon Wee may exhaust in lamentation Better enough than All such rare perfections Center'd in thee as transcend my expressions As Croesus's son dumb and appal'd I 'd