The mourning-ring, in memory of your departed friend ...

THE HOUSE OF Weeping.

Sermon I.

John 11. 35.

Jesus Wept.

WE may learn from the Example of Our blessed Saviour how we are to behave our selves; what we are to do in the Sickness and Death of Friends.

In this World we are all Bennonies, the Sons of Sorrow: The way to Heaven is by Weeping Cross: The Kalender tells us, we come not to Ascen∣tion Day, till the Passion Week be past.

It is the great work of a Preacher to con∣sider the state of the people to whom he preaches, so to prepare his work before hand, as that he may hit the mark, The Preacher sought out acceptable words; now generally those words are most acceptable to, and best received by

the hearers that are suited to their present con∣dition. I considering therefore the secret hand of God upon this Congregation, in taking away an eminent Servant of Christ, thought it incum∣bent upon me to speak something at this time that might be suitable to the present dispensation of of God towards you, and in meditations this Scripture was cast in.

Jesus Wept.

The occasion of this text is known unto you; in the beginning of this Chapter you read that La∣zarus was sick, and the news thereof immediatly sent to Jesus; who notwithstanding he dearly loved him, yet (as the sequel of the story acquaints you) he doth not presently go up to Bethany to visit sick Lazarus. but maketh a stay for several days; the reason wherof is at hand, viz. That a sentence of death might pass upon beloved Laza∣rus, and he be laid in the grave, and a stone rouled upon him; and all this in order to the manifestation of the glory and power of Christ in his resurrection.

After Lazarus had been in the grave four days, Christ he comes up to Bethany, and the sisters of Lazarus, viz, Martha and Mary, they come out to meet Jesus; first Martha she cometh, ver. 20. and she saith, Lord If thou hadst been here, my brother had not died, ver. 21. After this comes Mary, vers. 32 and she falls down at Christs feet, saying, Lord If thou hadst been here, my brother, had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the Spirit. and was troubled, and said, Where have ye laid him? They say unto him, Lord, come and see.

Jesus wept.

There is very much wrapt up in the bowels of this little Text: Here we may take notice

of the humanity of Christ; it appears by Christs weeping that he is perfect man, as well as per∣fect God: That Christ wept, is to be referred, not to his Divinity, but to his Humanity; and so we shall find that Christ was subject as to this, so to all natural infirmities; as hunger, thirst weariness, &c. which may comfort the Saints that groan under natural, as well as sinful in∣firmities; and that from the reason why Christ was made in all things like unto his brethren; namely, That he might be a merciful High-priest, Hebr. 2. 17, 18. And though Christ be now in glory, yet he is touched with the feeling of the in∣firmities of his people here on earth, Hebr. 4. 15. so touched, as that he cannot but have com∣passion on them under all their pressures and grievances whatsoever.

Do'st thou then groan under natural weaknesses and infirmities? Go boldly to the Throne of grace, and Christ will enable thee to bear up under these weaknesses, until mortality shall have put on immortality.

The Subject Matter of this Chapter is La∣zarus redivivus; it is a Relation of the miracu∣lous raising up of Lazarus from the Dead.

From vers. 1, 3. we may observe thus much, that a Believers interest in the distinguishing love of Christ, doth not exempt him from outward Troubles or bodily Distempers: He whom thou lovest is sick.

From vers. 4. We may observe thus much, that the darkest Dispensations of Providence, they oftentimes usher in the brightest manifesta∣tions of God to the Soul, or Gods Glory is most manifested in the Creatures Weakness.

From Vers. 6. We may take notice, it was ever in Christ's intention to manifest his Love and Goodness to Lazarus, and yet he comes not near him for the present, but rather goes away and leaves him upon his sick Bed, and suffers him at last to give up the Ghost.

From Vers. 14. We may observe, that Christ his absence or the suspension of divine Grace and Love, they are in infinite Wisdom ordered for the further advancing of Soul Comfort. Had not Lazarus been sick, had he not been dead and buryed, the Wisdom, Power and Goodness of Christ had never been so eminently discovered as it was towards him.

Martha and Mary cry out, v. 21, 32. Lord, if thou hadst been here our Brother had not died; It is true, Christ might have recovered Lazarus upon his sick-bed; but to fetch him out of the Grave after he had lain stinking four days, was a higher demonstration of his Love, Wisdom, and Power. There is not the like ground that Christ should shew forth his miraculous Power, in raising up our dead Friends from the Grave, as was then; yet this special and useful conclu∣sion may by way of Analogy, be deduced from this instance; namely,

That such Comforts and Mercies as are fetch∣ed out of the Grave, as have had a sentence of Death pass'd upon them, they are ever sweetest, and tend most to Gods Glory. Isaac had never been so precious to his Father Abra∣ham, had he not been so miraculously restored from dying, as he was once.

But we shall hasten to see what is the cause of Christ his weeping, and what the cause was, you may see, ver. 32, 33, 34, 35, 36. when Christ saw Mary come weeping towards him, having her

heart running over with Grief, for the depar∣ture of her Brother, Christ groaned in Spirit, and was troubled; when they told him where dead Lazarus lay, he wept (as my Text expres∣seth.)

Jesus Wept.

Oh Men and Angels, stand and wonder to all E∣ternity! When you read these two words, Je∣sus wept. What, doth Mary's weeping set Je∣sus Christ a weeping? Doth Mary and Mar∣tha shed Tears for the Death of Lazarus, and doth Christ his Heart even bleed within him to see them troubled and mourning upon the same account; so the word in the Greek seems to import, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, he troubled him∣self; his own heart stirred up his Affections to be troubled. Doth Christ weep upon the con∣sideration of Lazarus Death? Then hence we may learn, that a moderate sorrowing for Friends departed is lawful, tho excessive Sorrow is ve∣ry unsuitable to a Gospel Frame of Spirit. Solo∣mon tells us, There is a time for Weeping, and Paul tells us, We should weep as though we wept not.

But to come to the thing I chiefly intend, and that is the occasion of Christs weeping, which was the death of Lazarus, a good man: whence I shall observe and prosecute this Doctrine:

That it is a Christ-like temper of mind, to be deeply affected with, and to weep over the death of such as are truly pious.

Here's Lazarus a good man in his grave, and Christ he weeps over him: you have a weeping Christ over a dead Lazarus.

When old Jacob an eminent person was bu∣ried, it's said Gen. 50. 10. That they mourned with a great and sore lamentation, and that for 7 days

together. And so when Moses died, and was buried by a secret hand, it's said the Children of Israel mourned for him 30 days, Deut. 34. 8.

My dearly beloved, you have lost a Moses, one that was valiant for God in former times, when the people of God in England were coming out of Egypt, and he hath been an eminent lea∣der to the saints in their wilderness state, and God did often take him to the top of Pisgah, and gave him there glorious visions, and that not onely of heavenly Canaan, but also of that glorious land of rest and righteousness that the Saints shall injoy in this world. Now that such a Moses should be taken off in the Wilderness, while the people of God are yet short of this good Land, is matter of great humiliation.

Likewise you find the same spirit in those Christians, Acts 20. that Paul (the great A∣postle of the Gentiles) did there take his fare∣wel of, saying, ver. 25. And now behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preach∣ing the Kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. It's said, 37, 38 verses, And they all wept sore, and fell on Pauls neck, and kissed him: Sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake [that they should see his face no more.]

Now by all this it appears, that it is both the duty and property of a Christian (such an one as hath been baptized into the spirit of Jesus) to be deeply affected with, and weep over, the death of such as are truly pious, especially when they are eminent for use and service to Christ, and his people.

We shall now give you the reasons why it is so, and cannot be otherwise, but that gracious

persons must needs weep over the death of good men.

First, Because every stroke in this kind, puts a serious heart in mind of its own mortality, tells us that we are dying creatures, and that's a very serious consideration to every awakened soul. The living, the living will lay it to heart, saith Solomon, Eccl. 7. 2. Alas my Brethren 'tis a serious thing to dye. And the stroke of death upon others, tells us that die we must, and how soon we know not: This Evening sun may see us dead, it went out Early this morning to score us out this lodging of a Tomb. And oh happy, thrice happy is that person that can die well. Now such strokes as these put a se∣rious soul in mind of dying. There's none present knows who may go to the grave next. That's the First; but then,

2. It Springs from that Sympathy that is both in nature, and grace: first in nature, when God takes away a husband, a Father, a Child, &c. this cuts deep, and affects much. Abraham he mourns over beloved Sarah; David over Absolon, though a rebellious son. To be stupid, and not to mind the hand of God when he smites our near and dear relations, doth declare, that we do not onely want grace, but natural affection; And then in Grace there is also a great sympa∣thy: if God smites one member of the Church, the rest are affected with it: If a Paul, a Mi∣nister of Christ, a pastor, a spiritual Father, comes to take his farewell of his people, and tell them that they shall never see his face more; Oh what weeping, and mourning, and lamenting is there at his departure.

3. The perishing of good men is a just cause of weeping, and that because they are a great blessing to the nations, cities, families, &c. where they are cast. It fares either the better, or the worse with such places for their sake. When God destroyed the old world, the family of Noah was saved for Noahs sake, Gen. 7.

Profane wretches are ready to wish the people of God all out of the world; but alas! what would then these wretches do? they are beholding to the saints for their very beings, and for the continuance of all their mercies.

When God hath but once gathered in his e∣lect, and done his work in Zion, he will soon pull the world about these mens ears: If the righteous be taken away, he is taken away from the evill to come, (Isa 57. 1.) Wo to Sodom, if Lot depart; and so I may say, Wo to Eng∣land, if the righteous should be taken away; Wo to Graffham whenever thou ceasest to be a refuge to the saints, whenever thy gates shall be shut against the ministers and people of the Lord Jesus.

The Children of Israel, though they slight∣ed and despised the Prophets, would in time of distress come to them for Prayer, 1 Sam. 7. 8, 9. and 12, 19. Yea, Pharaoh, as proud, and as high as he was, yet when the Plague was upon him, Moses he must be sent for, and be entreated to pray for him, and his people.

And thus much for the Reasons of the Doct∣rine, shewing why the People of God must needs be affected with, and Weep over the Death of Religious Persons.

We shall now proceed to Application.

And first it affords matter of information; as First, if it be a Christ-like Frame to Weep

over the Death of such as are truly pious, it informs us, how unlike to Christ such are, who though they plead for Christian Burial, yet do attend Funeral Solemnities with a vain, wicked, ungodly Spirit, and Carriage, making the house of Weeping a House of Laughter, and filling them∣selves with Wine (wherein is excess) until they become more like beasts than men, which is a practice too common at Funerals.

You may soon judge how fit such persons are to attend upon a Funeral Sermon; but in∣deed I am apt to think, Funeral Sermons have generally been rather for Ostentation, and Vain Glory, than for Profit.

Hereby is likewise condemned that heathenish practice of Ringing of Bells, so soon as ever Fu∣neral Solemnities are performed.

How unsuitable is it, that so soon as ever the Husband, or Wife, or a godly Friend is laid in the Earth, to set the Bells a Ringing, which im∣ports matter of joy rather than of sorrow?

2. If it be a Christ-like-Frame of Spirit, to weep over the Deaths of good men,. it informs us how unlike to Christ that Spirit is, whereby men do censure, and reproach good men when taken away by Death.

And I do the rather mention this, because some have taken the boldness to judge and cen∣sure this Eminent Servant of Christ now in Glo∣ry, and to speak very unworthily concerning him, since his Death.

How unlike to Christ is this Spirit? Thou that shouldst be judging and condemning thy self for Non-improvement of so great a mercy, art judging this Eminent servant of Christ now dead. The Liturgy of the Church of England will teach thee better; for let persons be never so vile

in their lives, yet when they come to be laid in the Grave, then they are dear Brethren and Sisters.

Therefore away with this Spirit, to Hell with it; for from thence it came. Let it suffice, That this glorified Saint suffered much in this kind while he was living: I am apt to think the Heats and Passions, and rash Censures of Professors, hath made him oft go home with a sad Heart, and cost him many a Tear in pri∣vate: Suffer him to be quiet in his Grave; let this his suffering suffice, let not his name suffer now he is dead; suffer him to be quiet in his Grave; leave his judgment to the Lord, and let it be your Work to improve those many Sermons that he hath in the fear of his God preach'd unto you.

2. Who made thee Lord over thy Brothers Conscience? Must all professors be condemned by thee, be∣cause they cannot see with thy eyes, and tread in thy steps? By what authority doest thou im∣pose thy particular light and perswasion upon thy brother; & that so, as almost to un-saint him? This imposing spirit is an Antichristian spirit evermore.

The next use may be of Exhortation. Is it so, that it is a Christ-like Frame of Spirit to be deeply affected with, and to weep over the death of such as are truly pious? Then it concerns us seriously to consider the Providences of God this way, and that more generally and more par∣ticularly. First, more generally, God hath late∣ly made sad breaches upon many of the Fami∣lies of his precious Servants; many a flourishing Family hath mouldred away in a little time: And God hath lately taken away many very famous Instruments, both Ministers and others; so that we have cause to cry out with the Psalmist,

Psal. 12 1. Help Lord, for the Godly Man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the Children of Men.

But Secondly, and more particularly, I would beg you of this Congregation to consider the present stroke of God upon you, in taking a∣way your worthy Pastor; his Death justly calls for weeping and Tears; if you consider,

First, That he was one that had love for all Saints: he had room in his heart for every soul that he did judge to be received into the heart of Christ: he held communion with the Saints, not upon the account of this or that form, or name, but upon the account of union with the Lord Jesus: he loved no man upon the account of opinion, but upon the account of union with Christ, and this he hath declared many a time in this Congregation. There was hardly a mem∣ber that he did in the name of Christ and the Church give the right hand of fellowship unto, but he did acquaint them with this his princi∣ple; told them that Union with Christ was the ground of Communion among the Saints; and the reason of their admission was not their being of this or that opinion, but for that they were judged persons interested in Christ, and such who (by virtue of Christs purchase) were heirs of that glory above that must receive all Saints (not as Church of England men, Presbyterians, Indepen∣dants, or Anabaptists, &c. but as Saints, into its e∣verlasting habitations.

Secondly, His Death justly calls for your Weep∣ing and Tears, for that you have lost a Pastor, who had great light in the Covenant of Grace, he preacht that Doctrine with the greatest alacrity, and raisedness of spirit imaginable. In the handling of other subjects he was more streight∣ned

and discomposed; but when he came to speak of the unsearchable riches of the Grace of Christ, he was as an Angel of God, lifted up above him∣self: he had a flood of words, and yet seemed to want words to express what he did know, and what he did enjoy of divine grace and fa∣vour. This being true must needs be great.

To lose a pure Gospel Preacher is a great loss: Eternity depends upon a right understanding of the great Doctrine of Justification by Christ. Eternity depends not upon being baptized once or twice, upon this or the other Form; we may be guilty of mistakes about the circumstances of worship, and yet be happy; but if we mistake about the great mat∣ter of our Justification by Christ, we are lost for ever.

Thirdly, His Death justly calls for Weeping, for as much as we have all lost the Conversation of one who was an Experimental Christian, one that had much communion with God, and much expe∣rience of his goodness, as you have heard him often express: Many a Preacher dishes out largely to others, of that which he tastes but little himself. I am apt to think, many a faithful Minister of Christ lives but low, in comparison to what this blessed Saint enjoyed. By this his Experience, he was enabled to speak a word in due season to the weary Soul.

He walked close with God in his Family; he was not a Saint abroad, and a Devil at home; but made it appear that he was really good, by this, that he was relatively good, good in his Re∣lations; a good Husband, a good Father, &c.

He sate loose from this World; he made not gain his godliness; he did not design to make Mer∣chandize of Christ and the Gospel.

His discourse was mostly heavenly, and Spiritu∣al:

If other discourse was in hand, he was but dull Company, he had little to say: but if the Conference were Heavenly, he was as upon the Wing, as a fish in the Water, and a Bird in the Air, &c. He would often say, with pious Dod, come, enough of the World, now let us talk of Heaven.

If it be here objected, that he was in his younger years of a vain and slight conversati∣on; I answer,

First, Divine Love rideth in greatest triumph, when it hath the greatest sinners following it as it's Captives.

Secondly, Some in the Church of Corinth that did heartily close with Christ, were before their Con∣version very Vile and Wicked, see 1 Cor. 6. 9, 10, 11. Such were some of you, but ye are wash∣ed, &c. But,

Thirdly, This blessed Saint would to his dying day, acknowledge his former vanity, to his own shame, and the lifting up of the Riches of free grace; and mind what the Apostle saith, 1 John 1. 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to for∣give our sins, and to cleanse us from all un∣righteousness.

I shall now close up all with a word or two by way of Caution; and that

First, Though this stroke of God be just matter of weeping and sorrow, yet you must take heed of a murmuring Spirit: You have cause to be displeased with your selves, and your sins, but not with God, because God takes away nothing but what he first gave. The Person and gifts of this Saint, were given unto you by the Lord; he hath taken nothing but his own. Learn there∣fore to say with Job Chap. 1. 21. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

Secondly, Though you are to weep under this stroke, yet take heed of mourning as those with∣out hope; without hope, I say, 1. With respect to him; his happiness is unquestionable: Your loss is his gain. He is taken up into glory, and hath there communion with God. He is now where God is served, adored and glorified with one heart, and with one consent.

Secondly, Weep not without Hope with respect to your selves, as if God were not able to make up this loss. I remember a Relation of a Lady, from whom it pleased God to take an only Son, that some∣time after a Friend coming to visit her, and bemoan∣ing this her sad loss, she breaks forth into these ex∣pressions, [I profess (saith she) God can never make me amends for the taking away of that Son] A dreadful speech it was; take heed (my friends) of this Spirit. It's true, your loss is great, but God is able to supply it; and that either,

First, By causing the Spirit of Elijah to fall upon Elisha, by anointing and raising up of some other to head and feed you in the room of this his Servant. Or 2dly. He can feed you himself with∣out a Minister: God can fill up the room of Ministry and Ordinances. Indeed let God be absent, and there's nothing can fill up his Room: It's not Husband, Wife, Children, Estate, Liberty, Pastors, Ordinances, &c. can supply the want of God: But now let God be present, and that is above, and more than all.

Lastly, Such strokes should teach us all to provide for death. God takes away our Leaders, and we must follow them: Those that would not follow the Counsel and advice of this pious Di∣vine, while living, must follow him to the Grave now dead; to the Grave we must all go, and

the Lord knows how soon: Of what import therefore is it, that we all manage matters so while we live, as that when we come to die we may die in peace, and in full assurance of E∣ternal Life? Our present Time, is but a dressing Room for Eternity; let us therefore perform every thing with this Proviso, That I may die well. I am so to buy, sell, and converse with Creatures, that I may die well. I am so to hear, pray, read, receive the Sacrament, have Communion with the Saints, as that I may die well, die in peace; all is to be done in order to dying well.

Such, Death may wound, but never can destroy, Their House of weeping proves an House of joy.

Death parts the dearest Friends.

WHen a man goes to his Long Home, all the pleasure in his Society is dead with him; nothing remains of it, but the remembrance, which serves only to aggravate, and heighten the Grief of the Surviver. 'Twas a true saying of one—Aura secunda bonus socius: A good companion is as a prosperous Gale, carrying a Man pleasantly, and with comfort, through the Tempestuous Sea of this World. And again—Bonum sodalitium op∣timum solatium. Good Company is the best solace: Indeed, suitable Society is the comfort of Life, the improvement of Parts, the joy of the Intellect, the only distinguishing Priviledge that gives the Preference to Men above Beasts. Take away this, and what happiness is it to be a Man, or what is humane Life any thing to be accounted of. But when Man is dead, there can be no more delight in him, or comfort received by Society with him. There is no converse in the shades below, no in∣terlocution in those gloomy Regions. The Grave is a silent Ho•…•…se, where the Eyes of all the Inha∣bitants are closed in the Dust, and their Mouths filled with cold Clay. And therefore this should cause Mourning in the Streets, when we see a man going to his Long Home, especially if he was a Friend or Relation, because we shall never have the opportunity of enjoying any pleasant hours with him more. We must then bid farewel to all discoursing upon any Subject, to all advising a∣bout

any difficulties, to all profiting by any Pole∣mick Notions started and improved in an amica∣ble way. In a word, we must bid an eternal Adieu to any pleasure or satisfaction we received in com∣muning with him, for we shall enjoy no more of it for ever. Oh! surely this cannot but cut deep in a generous Soul; this cannot but greatly wound a spirit, whose thoughts are drained from the dross of Plebeian Conversation, that has any esteem at all for the advantages of a rational Life. Upon this account it was, that the old Prophet in Bethel, lamented over the man of God which came from Judab, who was slain by a Lion, as he rode upon an Ass in the High-way. He bitterly bewailed, and mourned for his Death, crying out,—Alas my Brother! As if he had said, I have been ex∣treamly refreshed by thy company, in hearing the Word of the Lord from thy mouth, concerning the destruction of the Priests that burn Incense upon the Altar, and the pulling down the House of Jeroboam. Oh! How have I been strengthned in my Courage, confirmed in my Faith, and the more re∣solved in the Ways of God, by this thy Prophecy. But now thou art gone, I shall never have any more of this profitable and spiritual Discourse with thee. This made him weep over his torn Carcass, and bitter∣ly lament his untimely Fall, and to give a solemn Charge to his Sons, that when he was dead, they should bury him in the Sepulchre wherein this man of God was buryed, and lay his Bones close by the Bones of this Prophet.

When Death parts us from a Friend, we shall never see him more: he vanishes (as it were) out of our sight, and we are never more to behold him, or cast our Eyes upon him. He is both actively and passively in an invisible State. So Job mournfully speaks of himself, chap. 7. ver. 7, 8. Oh! remem∣ber

that my life is wind, my eyes shall no more see good. The Eye of him that hath seen me, shall see me no more; thy Eyes are upon me, and I am not. What more cut∣ting Expression, what more sadning Inculcation, what more provoking Incitation to Mourning, can there be, than the Sense of this; that we shall behold the Face of our beloved Friend (after his departure from us) no more! Were Man to Return, though after never so many Years absence from his home, or continuance in the Grave: Were he to visit his habitation again, and become the objective delight of his poor Mourning Friends and Relations, it might be some alleviation to their Grief, when he takes his journey to his Long home. But Oh! What a prick to the heart, what a stab to the Soul, what a deadning to the Spirits, what an inundation of Sorrow (like the opening of Pandora's Box) is this lamenta∣ble Thought to an ingenuous Man, that he must never, never, never more behold the Face of this or that Relation in this Region of Mor∣tality; nor have any converse with him on this side the Bank of Eternity! What Husband can think so of his Wife, and not melt? what Wife can have such a thought of her Husband, and not faint? what Parent can consider this, with respect to his Child, and not mourn? what Child can reflect upon the impossibility of ever seeing his Father or Mother more, and not be overwhelmed with grief? In a word, What Friend or Relation can ponder on such an eternal Farewel, as is then given, and not be dis∣solved into Tears. It is the opinion of Divines, That the chiefest of Saints happiness, consists in Vi∣sion, or in the use of the visive faculty, which will then be enlarged and made glorious to perfection; for they shall see the Face of God

in Righteousness, and be satisfied with his likeness; they shall be for ever with open Face, beholding (as in a Glass) the Glory of the Lord, and be changed into the same Image, from Glory to Glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Sure I am, the Saints greatest comfort in this World, consists in Vision, or beholding God's Image in his People; and that not only the work of his Power in their comly Features, but the work of his Grace in the divine Characters of Wisdom, engraven in their Souls and immediatly reflect∣ed upon in all their Actions. Therefore it can∣not but cause Mourning, when such delightful Objects are removed out of sight, and never more to be beheld.

And so much the more still, if consider the great change and alteration Death makes in the place of the Deceased; the great Vacuum there is, when Man is removed, and carried away to his Long home: Concerning which, Job ex∣cellently speaks, chap. 7. v. 9, 10, 11. As the cloud is consumed, and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the Grave, shall come up no more. He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more. Therefore I will not re∣frain my Mouth, I Will speak in the anguish of my Spirit I will complain in the bitterness of my Soul. Oh! It is very sad to consider what a great change one stroke of Death may make. A Wife Husbandless, poor Children Fatherless, Servants Masterless, and many Friends Comfortless: And so great is the alteration in the Family, that the whole House resents it; and seems si∣lently to Mourn for it. There is (as it were) a Face of sadness in every place he was wont to be conversant in: Look in his Parlour, where he used to sit with his Wife, and Children

about him, and there is nothing but a profound silence; his voice is not to be heard: Look at his Table, where he used to sit with chearfulness, eating his Bread with joy among his Relations, and the dull demeanor, and sorrowful posture of all the assessors, do plainly, yet dolefully speak, Behold, he is not here: Look in his Shop, where he used to be about his occasions; and the disorder and confusion there proclaims aloud his being gone, and not to be heard of: In a word, Look in every place where he us'd to be, and you will find one mourning circumstance or other, a legible Historian of his departure, and being no more among them. So that, if you seek him, you will not find him; if you ask for him, you will hear no news. Now sure∣ly, methinks, the very miss of a Man in his Family, the want of him in his place, the great change immediately following his Depar∣ture in his Relations and in all his affairs and Concerns, should be cause enough to enforce a Mourning from his Survivors, if there were no other consideration, and cause 'em to prepare for their own Deaths. For,

How many have we known that were of as healthful and vigorous a Constitution as we are, that by a Surfeit, or an acute Feaver, have in a few days been snatch'd away? How many that were travelling on the same Road with us a while ago, are now at their long Home, lying in the Grave; and should not we by their early depar∣ture, learn to die? It would not be tedious to us in this sense, to live in Golgotha, or to dwell among the Tombs, when we have in them seen the End of all Men, Eccles. 7. 2. We should not any more love the World, nor its Enjoyments and Plea∣sures, seeing they will vanish in the twinkling of an

Eye; and after all the poor satisfaction they have given us, fall into the dead Sea. The Passing-Bells of others loudly tell us, that Man in his best Estate is altogether Vanity, Psal. 39. 5. And what they have undergone, will in a few days or hours more, be our own Lot. Though they are gone before, we must tread in their steps, and go the same way. When that hour is come, all our Friends and Acquaintance cannot hold us; for we that now hear, and move, and speak, shall fly away into a vast Expanse, and not behold Man with the Inhabitants of this World any more, Isa. 38. 11. As we have seen the pale Looks, and have heard the last Voice of others, so shall we our selves in the like manner be made Spectacles of Mortality to those that remain after us. We, and all our Com∣panions, must take along Farewel of each other, and not meet again till the day of the general Re∣surrection. And is it too soon to remember our Creator, when we have seen many as Young as we are, breathe their last? And we that now mourn for others, know not how soon our Friends may do the same for us, and celebrate our Fu∣nerals. When God took away many others, that we knew he might at the same time, or before, have taken away you or me; and why do we survive their Death, but that we may set our House in Order? The time is coming, when Riches and Honour, Health and Beauty, Credit and Re∣putation among men, will be of no value, nor will Gold and Silver, the Idols of this, be currant in the next World. We should not therefore be like those young people that are only serious in the House of Mourning, or when they see their Friends carried to the Grave, but in the next vain Compa∣ny suffer the Impressions of their Mortality to wear off again. We must be always sober in our

Conversation, as not knowing when we our selves shall be gone; only this we may know, that as the Years we have already lived are soon past, so will those that are to come with the same swist motion pass away. The long∣est Life here on Earth is but as a moment, if compar'd with the future Eternity: 'Tis as a flash of Lightning to the whole Element of Fire, just seen, and then vanish'd.

The Last Sigh.

MY dearest Children, ye whom I love in the tender and yerning Bowels of Affection; draw near, and attend to the words of your dy∣ing Mother, who am now sighing out my last breath: A weak Woman ye see I am; but yet sinful I am, which peradventure ye see not. O weep not, my pretty ones: do not pierce and break my troubled heart with your sad laments. I must die, my little ones, and go to a better place, whither ye I hope shall one day follow me. We came not together into the World; nor shall we go together out of it. In vain do ye shed those Tears of Sorrow: for al∣though Nature teacheth you to bewail my depar∣ture, yet Grace will teach you to moderate your Mourning. My Heart even bleeds to leave you be∣hind me, fearing lest ye will forget the Command∣ments of your God. I should be sorry to have just cause to say unto you as Moses did to the Le∣vites; yet I will put you in mind of his words. Behold (said he) while I am yet alive with you this

day, ye have been rebellious against the Lord; and how much more after my death? Deut. 31. 27. I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt your selves, and turn aside from the way which I commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days, because ye will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands, vers. 29. But I am persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though I thus speak, Heb. 6. 9. O my dear ones, hearken unto the words which I shall say: They must be my Legacy unto you: Hear me with pa∣tience; and treasure up in your memories the last Speech of your Fainting, your dying Mother.

How dear ye cost me before ye had life, and what Pangs and Torments I suffered for you before ye were heard or seen in the World, ye cannot imagine, nor I express. Yet all was forgotten for joy that ye w•…•…re born, Joh. 16. 21. and hoping that ye would add unto the Q•…•…ire of Saints. To this purpose, I have laboured and taken care for the nourishment both of your Souls and Bodies; and for your sustentation (so much as in me lay) from the Breast to this instant. O what sad and perplexed thoughts have I had for you in the day times; and how many hours have I borrowed from my sleep in the nights, to think what would be∣come of you, if ye should not be obedient to the Commandments of my God! To the same God they are best known. O how often upon my knees have I prayed for your happiness; and wept, and mourned, when ye have done what ye ought not! To him is it best known to whom I now am going. Sometimes when ye have offended, I was enforced to correct you: but each stripe which ye received did cut me into the heart. In many things ye failed, because ye were young: and in many

things I failed too, because I am a weak and a sinful Woman. If at any time ye thought that I did not my Duty, take heed that hereafter ye remem∣ber it not to my dishonour. Ponder in your minds that curse which wretched Ham the Father of Canaan received from Noah, when he saw his Na∣kedness, and told his Brethren. Cursed (said Noah) be Canaan: a servant of servants shall he be to his Brethren, Gen. 9. 25. But because Shem and Japhet, took a Garment, and laid it upon their Shoulders, and went backward, and covered the na∣kedness of their Father, and their faces were back∣ward, and they saw not their Fathers nakedness, vers. 23. Therefore he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant, vers. 26. God shall enlarge Japhet, and he shall dwell in the Tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be his Servant, v. 27. Consider with your selves that I am your mother. Whatsoever imperfections ye have discovered in me, do in some kind reflect even upon your selves: for as your Bodies were mine, so my Credit and good Name you must account to be yours. But I cannot think that ye will need more Advice for this, which even Nature it self should teach you to practise.

My time is but short; my Speech beginneth to fail me. I will not trouble you with much, although something more I must say unto you, which I hope ye will remember when I shall sleep in the Dust. Your first and chiefest Duty must always be for the service of your God. If ye will daily observe the benefits which 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 warrant∣ed 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 pre∣serve Religion in your hearts, ye will always have quietness and content in your minds. First make him your God, and then distrust not his Provi∣dence; no, nor his love and compassion while ye remain his Children. In whatsoever vocations ye shall lead your lives, be sure that ye be conscio∣nably industrious and laborious in them; and then leave the event and the blessing to his good plea∣sure. I would fain 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 there∣fore ye strive to bless and magnifie your God, ye may be sure that your God will both bless and glo∣rifie 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 Tribu∣nal. 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 them∣selves 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 Eye 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 Name, Psalm 100. 4. Remember how David resolved, saying, I will bless the Lord, which hath given me coun∣sel, Psal. 16. 7. Remember how he decreed, say∣ing, 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 practi∣sed 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, a•…•…d thou art exalted as head above all, vers. 11. Both Riches and Ho∣nour 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 un∣to all, vers. 12. Now therefore our God we thank

thee, and praise thy glorious Name, vers. 13. And remember how Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God; and all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with listing 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. Bles∣sed 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 stretch∣ed forth, and returned to the Earth; if 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 blessed them, Gen. 1. 27, 28. Even the same Lord will bless you, if ye be Righteous, Psal. 5. 12. And with favour he 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 o∣ther: 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 com∣mand the blessing upon you, both in your store-Hou∣ses, 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 tl•…•… 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 in∣crease 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 fort•…•…. c. 7. 13. The Lord will love you, and will bless you, and mul∣tiply 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 flo•…•…ks 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 yoù 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 du∣ty 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 your hands. Do not ye grieve too much, that I am so near my rest: For it is the Decree of my God, and the long∣ing 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 S•…•…riptures, that ye may prosper •…•…n all that ye do, and whitherso∣ever 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 bles∣sing 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 〈◊〉〈◊〉 there∣of; and for the good will of him that dwelt in 〈◊〉〈◊〉 bush. v. 27. The eternal God be your Refuge, and under∣neath you the everlasting Arms. 2 Sam. 7 •…•…6. 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. •…•…ook down from thine holy Habitation from Heaven, and b•…•…ss 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 I•…•…ob) 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 chil∣dren 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 fare∣well. Love as brethren; and the God of love 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 Questi∣ons, 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 ta∣keth,

is the great Question; as followeth, Man giveth up the Ghost; and where is he? Or what be∣cometh 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 Hea∣ven 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 •…•…oul •…•…il be thy next lodging? Either thou must lye down in everlasting burnings, or else rest upon the Mountain of My•…•…rh, and the Hill of Frankin•…•…nse, with sweet Jesus. Man when he hath, (a an hireling) accomplished his day, ought seriously to consider of the ap∣proaching 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 Even∣ing are lengthened out; it is neither safe nor prudent, Oh my Soul, to be serious about tri•…•…es, 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 com∣fortable, 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 mat∣ter? Art thou deeply convinced, Oh Man, what a glittering and a glorious Divine Ray, doth quicken, actuate, and ennoble that Lump of A∣toms, which thy Body is composed of? And when that Body of thine shall be crumbled in∣to Ashes, by one touch of the Almighty, hast thou forethought what shall become of that im∣mortal In-mate, which for a little season hath been cloystered up in thy clay Breast? And dost thou soundly believe, that there is a future state of Infinite joy, and eternal Sorrow? And hast thou throughly pondered the certain un∣certainty of all temporal Enjoyments? And art thou heartily perswaded, that Heaven is only worth the looking after? What sayest thou to these things, Oh my Soul? Let the matter be urged home, is everlasting damnation by all means possible, to be prevented? Or may Hell be supposed to be a tolerable Habitation? Or can a poor guilty Worm endure with ease, the burden of infinite Wrath? Or is endless glory no whit desirable? Or will it not repent thee, Oh my Soul, hereafter, when it is too late, if thou now neglect so great Salvation, as is free∣ly offered to thee in Christ Jesus? Dost thou know, Oh Man, that thou must shortly give up the Ghost? And yet hast thou not had one se∣rious deep thought, what place of entertain∣ment thy naked Soul shall find in another world, when it is stript of its present fleshly case and cloathing? Oh press thy Soul hard with these thoughts, how it is like to go with thee, when thou first steppest into Eternity? What sayest thou. Oh my Soul, are the things of time only or chiefly to be minded? And are the precious things of Eternity utterly to be forgotten, or

disregarded? Hath the infinitely wise and gra∣cious God, only given thee opportunities and abilities to desire, and hasten thy eternal ruin? And hast thou no time, capacity, understand∣ing, or will, to work out thy Salvation, with fear and trembling? Canst thou once suppose, thou shalt ever be an Inhabitant upon the Earth? Or is the Earth, with the sensual delights there∣of, which thou must certainly forego, more va∣luable than Heaven, with its fulness of joy, and pleasures for evermore? Or if thy judgment be clear in this case, why doest thou no more think upon, love, and long to be dissolved, and to be cloathed upon with that house, which comes down from Heaven? Will the enjoying of sinful pleasures, or empty lying vanities, for a few minutes, recompence the loss of Heaven it self? Can any thing be counted an advan∣tage, when the Soul loseth God, and it self, in the getting of it? Or can any thing be had upon Earth, that will hold ever? Awake, Oh my drowsie Soul, and let thy Conscience and Conversation, no longer contradict one the other. If thou judgest Heaven to be Heaven indeed, and one moments Communion with God, more worth than ten thousand Worlds; then let thy Conversation be new in Heaven, that thy Con∣science may not hereafter witness against thee. Or tell me plainly, Oh my Soul, Dost thou pretend that thou art really willing to go to Heaven, and yet art unwilling for the pre∣sent, through thy weakness of Faith, to leave this Earth, with all the sensible comforts of it? Or doth thy natural timorousness, or unpreparedness, put a check to the vehemency of thy Desires? Or, what is it, that thou so much stickest at? Is there a Lion in the way? Wouldst thou not be detain∣ed,

one day, one minute, or moment longer from drinking thy fill at the Fountain of Living Wa∣ters, and yet art afraid to pass over that narrow darksome Bridge of Death which leadeth there∣unto? Indeed, Death is the King of Fears; but yet a Serpent without a Sting, may safely be put into thy Bosom. Thou art then willing to be with thy glorious Redeemer upon the Throne, on∣ly the sad Thoughts of giving up thy tender Flesh to be meat for the Worms, that something startles thee. But weigh the matter well; canst thou be for ever happy, and not be with Christ? Or canst thou be whereChrist is, and not die? Well then, welcom death, tho' not for thine own sake, yet for his sake whose Messenger thou art, and who hath sent thee to fetch me home to himself; with whom I shall be, as soon as ever I am but parted from thee. Then I shall with joy look back upon thee, O sad Mes∣senger, and triumph over thee, saying, Oh Death, where is thy •…•…ing? Oh Grave, where is thy Victo∣ry? But thanks be unto God, who hath given me the Victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh Death, though thy looks be terrible, and thy last gripe painful, yet is thy Message comfor∣table; and I was more afraid than hurt: For I see, though thou leadest me through a dark Entry, yet it is my Fathers House. And as soon as I had passed from thee, or ever I was a∣ware, my Soul made me like to the Chariots of Aminadib. So come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.

He's carry'd by Angels into A∣braham's Bosom. Sermon II.

Luke XVI. 32.

And it came to pass that the Beggar died, and was carryed by the Angels into Abraham's Bosom.

The whole Parable runs thus:

THere was a certain Rich Man, which was cloa•…•…∣ed in purple and sine Linnen, and fared sumptu∣ously every day. And there was a certain Beggar nam∣ed Lazarus, which was laid at his Gate full of sores, and desiring to be sed with the crumbs which fell from the Rich Man's Table; moreover, the Dogs came and licked his Sores. And it came to pass that the Beggar died, and was carried by the Angels into Abraham's Bosom: The Rich Man also died, and was buryed. And in Hell he lift up his Eyes being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his Bosom, &c.

Dearly Beloved, In my Discourse upon these words, I will not be over tedious, but with as much brevi∣ty as I can I will unfold some of the weighty Truths contained therein. And the Lord grant that they may be of general use to all persons that shall either read or hear them.

These words have Relation unto the precedent Verses in this Chapter, wherein our Saviour Christ, from the thirteenth to the seventeenth verse, reproveth the Covetousness of the Pha∣risees, by shewing unto them, that no man can serve two Masters, that is, God and Riches. All these things heard the Pharisees, which were covetous, and they mocked him: Whereupon he aptly and fitly taketh occasion to relate this Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.

Hearken therefore now, and I will speak of a great Rich Man, that flourished here on Earth (as a learned Divine observes,) In all pomp and abundance, that shined in courtly purple Robes, that was cloathed in Byssus and fine Silk, and fared deliciously, that was lodged softly, that lived plea∣santly. But understand what became of this Rich Man; his years being expired, and his days numb∣red, and his time determined, he was invited to the fatal Banquet of black ugly Death, that mak∣eth all men subject to the rigour of his Law; his Body was honourably buried, in respect of his much Wealth: but what became of his Soul? That was carried from his Body to dwell with the Devils; from his purple Robes to burning Flames, from his soft Silk and white Byssus to cruel pains in black Abyssus, from his Palace here on Earth, to the Palace of Devils in Hell; from Paradise to a Dungeon, from Pleasures to Pains, from Joy to Tor∣ment,

and that by hellish means, damned Spirits, into the infernal Laks of bottomless Barathrum, where is wo, wo, wo! And where is weeping and wailing, and gnashing of Teeth, Mat. 25. The wicked shall be turned into Hell, and all the peo∣ple that forget God, Psalm 6.

Hearken also of a certain poor Beggar clothed in rags, with miseries pained, pained with griefs, grieved with sores, sorely tormented, unmercifully condemned, ly∣ing at this Rich Mans Gate, desiring to be refreshed but with the Crumbs that fell from the rich Man's table, the dogs had more pity than this rich man, on this distressed creature, for they came to visit him, they came to com∣fort him, they came and licked his sores.

Well, his time being also determined, he went the way of all flesh, and death was the finisher of all his mise∣ries and griefs; Vita assumpsit mortem, ut mors vi∣tam acciperet; He died once, to live for ever. And what became of his soul? it was carried from his bo∣dy to his Master, from a House of Clay, to a house not made with hands, from a wilderness to a Paradise, from an earthly prison, to a heavenly Palace, from the richmans gate, to the City of the great God, from pains to pleasures, from miseries to joys, from Adams corruption, to Abrahams bosom. It was carried by Angels into the Quires of Angels, to have his being and moving in the very mov∣ing Heavens with God himself. Where is life, food and abundance, and glory, and Health and peace, and eternity, and all good things: all above all that either can be wished or desired: And this is the subject that I shall now speak of. And here let it please you to con∣sider the argument of this Scripture, which is twofold:

First, Our Saviour Christ hereby adviseth all rich men to be merciful to their poor Brethren in this Life, lest they find no mercy in the life to come.

Secondly, He doth comfort all poor men, that although they are afflicted in this life with great miseries and calamities, yet they shall be comfort∣ed in the life to come, and rest in Abraham's bosom.

And here observe what one formerly Notes, viz. That if Jesus Christ had said only thus much, There was a certain Rich man that fared sumptuously daily, and a certain Beggar laid at his Gate full of sores: The wicked would have straightway inferr'd that the rich man was the happy man, for at the first view it seems to be so; But take all together and you'l quickly see that there is no man in a worse condition than this miserable wretch.

(2.) That if a man would judge of persons according to outward appearance, he shall very often take his mark amiss. Here is a man to outward appearance, appears the only blessed man; better by half than the Beggar, in as much as he is rich, the Beggar poor: he is well clothed, but peradventure the Beggar is naked; he hath good food, but the Beggar would be glad of Dogs meat (and he desired to be fed with the Crumbs of the Rich Man's Table,) the Rich man fares well every day, but the Beggar must be glad of a bit when and where he can get it. O! who would not be in the Rich man's state? A wealthy man, sorts of new Suits, dainty Dishes every day: enough to make one, who minds nothing but his belly and his back, and his lusts, to say, O that I were in that mans condition! Oh that I had about me, as that man hath! then I should live a life indeed; then should I have hearts ease good store; then should I live pleasantly, and might say to my Soul, Soul, be of good chear, eat, drink, and be merry, Luke 12. 19. thou hast every thing plenty,

and art in a most blessed condition. But if the whole Parable be well considered, you will see Luke 26. 15. that that which is had in high estimation with men, is an abomination to God. And again, John 16. 20, 21, 22. that condition that is the saddest condition, according to out∣ward appearance is oft-times the most excellent; for the Beggar had ten thousand times the best of it, though to outward appearance his state was the saddest.

Methinks, to see how the tearing Gallants of the World will go strutting up and down the Streets: Sometimes it strikes me with amaze∣ment; surely they look upon themselves to be the only happy men, but it is because they judge according to outward appearance; they look upon themselves to be the only blessed men, when the Lord knows the generality are left out of that blessed condition; Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, 1 Cor. 1. 26. Ah! did they that do now so brag that no body dare scarce look on them; but believe this, it would make them hang down their heads and cry, Oh! give me a Lazarus's portion.

But I'll proceed to the division of my Text and in this Scripture observe these following parts, (formerly taken notice of) viz.

The parts of the Text are four.

1. The life of the rich man, in these words, There was a certain rich man, cloathed in purple and fine linnen, and fared sumptuously every day.

2. The life of the Beggar, in these words: Also there was a certain Beggar, named Lazarus, which was laid at his Gate full of sores, &c.

3. The death of the Beggar, in these words; And it was so that the Beggar died and was carried, &c.

4. The death of the rich man; The rich man also died and was buried.

In the first part, I note these three circum∣stances.

1. What this Rich Man was, and whether there were any such man or no.

2. What his Apparel was; not mean or or∣dinary, but Purple and fine Linnen.

3. That his Diet was not base, nor homely, but delicious, and not once, nor twice, but e∣very day.

In the Life of the Beggar, I find four Circum∣stances.

1. Where he lived: in no Palace or House, but at the Rich mans Gate.

2. How he lived: neither in Health nor Wealth, but miserable, full of Sores.

3. That he desired in this life, not Lordships, or Houses, or Land, or Gold, or Silver, but Crumbs to save his Life.

4. Who shewed the Beggar kindness in his Life? Not the Rich man, but the Rich mans Dogs, The Dogs came also and licked his Sores.

In the death of the Beggar, I note these three Circumstances.

1. What became of his Body being dead? No men∣tion hereof is made in Holy Scriptures; it may be it was Buried with little or no respect, because he was a poor man, or else cast into some Ditch, by reason of his Sores.

2. What became of his Soul? It went not out to Purgatory (for there is no such place) but it was carried into Abraham's Bosom.

3. By whom? By Angels. It was carried by An∣gels into Abraham's Bosom.

In the Death of the Rich man, I note these two Circumstances.

1. What became of his Body being dead? It was Honourably Buried because of his great Sub∣stance.

2. What became of his Soul? It went to Hell. He being in torments, lift up his Eyes, and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his Bosom.

Of these successively.

And first, in the life of the Rich man, we noted what this Rich Man was, whether there was in∣deed any such man or no: Wherefore here may a Question arise, whether this be a Parable or Hi∣story: The Writers hereof do not agree.

Marlorat saith, Quanquam quibusquam haec simplex Parabola esse videtur, tamen quia his Lazari nomen expri∣mitur, rem gestam narrari probabile; Some are of that mind, that this is a Parable, yet because (saith he) Christ twice expresseth the name of Lazarus, it argueth, that he spake of a thing that was so done indeed.

Likewise saith Franciscus Lambertus, Credendum ma∣gis esse historiam & exemplum verum quàm Parabo∣lam; It must be believed that this is rather a Hi∣story, and a true Example than a Parable.

But Theophilactus is of a contrary opinion, who saith, Parabola haec est & non vera historia; This is a Parable and no History.

Erasmus also saith, that it is but a Parable, whereby Rich Men may learn to be merciful to their poor Brethren, that they may speak for them in the day of Vengeance and Wrath.

Many Writers there are also, that rather aim∣ing at the Arguments and Observations herein, have not set down their Judgments, whether it

be a Parable or History: Therefore it might seem Wisdom in me to suspend my judgment also herein, especially, since Marlorat saith, Parum refert, ut tam sit Parabola, an Historia, modo sum∣mam doctrinam teneant lectores. It greatly skil∣leth not whether it be a Parable or History, so that we duly consider the Doctrine herein.

But because it is requisite that I also shew my Opinion, I will return my Verdict, according to my Evidence: And therefore in naked truth I find and hold that it is a Parable: And my Rea∣sons are these two: First, because our Saviour in the beginning of this Chapter, doth relate a Parable of the Rich Man that had a Steward, &c. therefore he continueth in this Chapter to open his mouth in Parables, according to the Prophet, I will open my mouth in Parables, and shew dark sentences of old time. Secondly, because the Rich Man cryed out of Hell unto Abraham, and Abraham answered the Rich man; which needs must be understood Parabolically: For the Damned in Hell cannot see nor hear the Saints that are in Heaven, neither by reason of the distance of place, and also because of many Sphears and Orbs that are betwixt Heaven and Hell, neither shall they see nor know what is done there. And again, Abraham's throat is dry, and cleaveth to the Roof of his Mouth: Therefore he cannot speak so loud as to be heard out of Heaven into Hell. Therefore it is but a Parable.

Secondly, let us consider what his Apparel was, Purple and fine white, as some will have: But we read, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, which word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, although some take it for fine Flax, yet let it here be understood of Silk. There was a very great difference be∣twixt the Apparel of John the Baptist, and this

Man; John's Rayment was Camels Hair, with a Lea∣thern Girdle about his Loins, which did Argue Repentance and Mortification in him; but this Rich Mans Apparel was Purple and fine Silk; whose outward Apparel did argue the Pride at his Heart: The outward Habit for the most part resembles the inward Habit and condition of the Mind. Pride, as saith one, is grounded in the Heart of Man, a Vice most loathsom to God, hateful to Men, and hurtful to the Soul.

But let us consider the third Circumstance in the Life of the Rich Man, to wit, what his Dyet was, Deliciously every day: And here we see what the Children of this World delight in, namely, in fulness of Meat, who neglecting the serving of God, have given themselves to serve Bacchus and Venus. Hence one noteth, A gluttonous Person eateth more for Pleasure than Necessity: So did the Rich Man, so did our first Parents, it was not through need or necessity, that they did eat of the forbidden Tree, but through Wantonness, Pleasure, and Idleness. Gluttony is a flattering Devil, and a pleasant sin, and a sweet Poyson, which whoso useth, hath not the use of himself, which who so hath not, hath no sin, for he is all sin it self. Besides, it hath an especial effect, for it doth, as Gregory saith, generate Lust.

To be short, it was Gluttony that caused our Parents to transgress. It was Gluttony that caused Lot to commit Incest. It was Gluttony that made Esau to sell his Birth-right. It was Gluttony and Drunkenness that caused Nabal's Death. It was Gluttony that lost Belshasars Kingdom.

Be not thou desirous of dainty meats, saith Solomon, For he that loveth Banqueting, shall be Poor, and he that delighteth in Wine, shall not be Rich.

But let us a while leave this Rich Man, and consider the second, that which is the Life of the Beggar.

There was also a certain Beggar, named Lazarus, &c.

And here observe these things: 1. That the Saints of God are a poor contemptible People. There was a certain Beggar: If you understand the word Beggar, to hold forth outward Pover∣ty, or scarcity in outward things, such are Saints of the Lord, for they are for the most part a poor, despised, contemptible People; but if you Allegorize and Interpret it thus, they are such as beg earnestly for Heavenly food; this is also the spirit of the Children of God, and it may be, and is a truth in this sense, though not so Naturally gathered from this Scripture. 2. That he was laid at his Gate full of Sores: These words hold forth the Distempers of Believers, saying, he was full of Sores; which may signifie the many Troubles, Temptations, Persecutions and afflic∣tions in Body and Spirit, which they meet withal while they are in the World; And also the En∣tertainments they find at the hands of those un∣godly ones, who Live upon the Earth. Where∣as it is said, he was laid at his Gate full of Sores. Mark, he was laid at his Gate; not in his House, that was thought too good for him, but he was laid at his Gate full of Sores: From whence Observe, that the Ungodly World do not desire to entertain and receive the poor Saints of God into their Houses; If they must needs be somewhere near unto them, yet they shall not come into their Houses: Shut them out of Doors! if they will needs be near us, let them be at the Gate. And he was laid at the Gate full of Sores. 2. Ob∣serve, that the World are not at all touched with the afflictions of God's Children, for all they are full of Sores, a despised, afflicted, tempted, persecuted people, the World doth not pity; no, but rather

labour to aggravate their Trouble by shutting them out of Doors, sink or swim, what cares the World? they are resolved to disown them, they will give them no Entertaiment; if the lying in the streets will do them any good, if hard Usage will do them any good, if to be disowned, shut out of Doors, rejected of the World will do them any good, they shall have enough of that, but otherwise, no Refresh∣ment, no Comfort from the World: And he was laid at his Gate full of Sores.

Poor Lazarus! What, lying at a Gate. and full of Sores too? Would not this Rich Man afford thee some out-house to lie in, to shroud thee from Storms and Tempests? no: would not his ser∣vants pity thee? no: would not his Children speak for thee? no: Would not his Wife in∣treat her Husband for thee? no: Hadst thou ever done them any wrong; no: But, Lazarus, it may be thou art stout, and often-times Beggars will be chusers; thou perhaps wouldest have some great Alms, or Copy-hold, some Farm of this Rich Man? no: Or thou wouldest have some delicate Meat? no. Many Dishes? no: Or thou wouldest sit at the Table with his Sons and Servants? no, no: What is it then that thou dost desire? Nothing but Crumbs to refresh my Soul; nothing but Crumbs to save my Life: Nothing but Crumbs, Crumbs, that fall from the Rich Man's Table: I know that he fared Plen∣tifully, and that he may well spare them.

What shall I say of the hardness of this screwing Rich Mans Heart? Let me speak for Lazarus unto the Rich Man; yet I shall but asinam comere, (as one well observes) get nothing of this hard Fellow. I have a Message unto thee, O thou Rich Man, from the great God of Heaven, and he doth desire thee that thou respect the Beggar that lyeth at thy Gate pained with sores, pained with grief, and even

arved through Hunger: And I beseech thee in Gods stead, that thou have pity on this Beggar, as God shall have pity, mercy, and Compassion on thee, and look what thou layest out, it shall be paid thee again. But he answered I warant you he is some Runnagate Rogue, and so long as he can be mantained by such easie means, he will never take any other Trade upon him: Nay, but good Sir, let please you only to behold this Poor Creature; which suppose it were granted: and he coming to the Gate where this wrerched Object lay, seeing him bewrayed with sores, be∣tattered with Rags, and the Dogs licking him, stopping his Nose, with a squeamish Face, and disdainful look, began to say unto him: I see thou art some lewd Fellow, that such Miseries hap∣pen unto thee, and such Plagues come upon thee; it is not for thy goodness, or Righteousness, that these Afflicti∣ons light on thee. But he reply'd, O good Master, some Comfort, good Master, some Relief; good Master, some Crumbs to save my Life, I shall die else, and starve at your Gate; good Master, I beseech you for Gods sake, I beseech you for Christs sake, take some Pity, some Compassi∣on, some Mercy on me. But he with an Angry look, dis∣daining Lazarus, said: Away hence thou Idle Rogue, not a penny, not a Morsel, not a crumb of Bread; and so stopping his Nose from the scent, and his Ears from the Cry of Lazarus, returned unto his stately Palace: And this Poor mans Throat being dry with Crying, his Heart fainting for want of Com∣fort, his tongue cleaving to the roof of his mouth, being worn out with Fastings and miseries, starved at the Rich Mans Gate. Now, must I speak for dead Lazarus against this Rich Man. Nam si hi tacuissent, nonne lapides clamabunt; if I should hold my peace, the very stones would cry. O thou Rich Mi∣ser, and more than cruel wretch, Lazarus is dead,

he is dead at thy Gate, and his Blood shall be upon thee, thou shewedst no Mercy unto him, no Mercy shall be shewed to thee, thou stoppedst thy Ears unto his cry, thou shalt cry and not be heard. It is inhumane Wicked∣ness to have no Compassion on distressed Lazarus, but most of all, to let him starve at thy Gate for want of Food. What did be desire of thee but only Crumbs to save his Life? Is it not a small thing, I pray thee, that thou having abundance of Meat, shouldst see him starve for Bread? That thou flourishing in Purple and Silk, would see Lazarus lye in Rags? That thou seeing even thy Dogs have pity on him, thou wouldst have no pity upon him thy self? What Eyes hadst thou that wouldest not see his Sores? What Ears hadst thou, that wouldest not hear his cry? What Hands hadst thou that would not be stretched out to give, What Heart hadst thou that would not melt in thy Body? What Soul hadst thou, that would not pity his silly Soul, this wretched Body, poor Lazarus? If the stones could speak, they would cry, sie upon thee: If thy Dogs could speak, they would condemn thee of unmercifulness: If dead Lazarus were here, his Sores would bleed afresh before thy face, and cry in thine Ears, that thou art guilty, guilty of his Blood, and that thy sin is more than can be pardoned.

Why should not I tell thee the Portion that is prepared for thee? This shall be thy Portion to drink: Let thy days be few, and let another take thine Office: Let thy Children be Fatherless, and thy Wife a Widow: Let thy Children be Vagabonds and beg their bread, let them seek it also out of desolate places; let the Ex•…•…ortioner consume all that thou hast and let the stranger spoil thy Labour: Let there be no Man to pity thee, nor to have compassion on thy Fa∣therless Children: Let thy Memorial be clean forgot∣ten, and in the next Generation let thy Name be clean put out: Let him be an accursed Example to all the World: Let him be cursed in the City, and cursed in the Field; let him be cursed when he goeth out, and

when he cometh in; let him be cursed when he lyeth down, and when he riseth up: Let all Creatures, and the Creator himself forsake him, Angels reject him, Heavens frown at him, Earth open thy Mouth, Hell receive him, Spirits tear him, Devils torment him, let no mercy be shewed unto him that shewed no mer∣cy; Thus shall the miseries of Lazarus be re∣venged by the just plagues that shall justly fall upon the Rich man's head.

Secondly, In the Life of Lazarus I noted how he lived, to wit, miserably and full of Sores, and yet this rich Man would not pity him. Christ could not of his mercy but cure the Leper, when he saw him full of Sores and Leprosie; and Elisha could not but out of Humanity teach Naaman the Assy•…•…ian to wash himself in Jordan, that he might be whole, but this rich Man would not help the poor Beggar, neither by his counsel, Purse, Table, or Crumbs, but let him alone to pining Misery at his Gate.

Here we note in the person of Lazarus, the great miseries and Afflictions that the Church of God doth endure in this World.

Great are the troubles of the Righteous, saith David; not small or few, but great and many, Psalm 34. Again, He will throughly purge his floor, not slight∣ly, nor by halves; thorowly, Mat. 3. And he will search Jerusalem with Candle-light, lest he should over-slip any wickedness therein.

And further to prove this, we have many ex∣amples in the Scripture, but that well known out of Job, may not be omitted, whose mise∣ries were more than many, and intolerable: As first, he being a just man, and one that feared God, to be thus plagued: For when one Messenger was relating tragical News to him, there came another on the neck of him, like the waves

on the Sea. While he was yet speaking, there came another; While the other was yet speaking, there came another; yet this good Man had not so much as an hours respite to breath, or to receive comfort and consolation by any means: His goods were lost, his Body plagued, his Servants slain, his Sons were dead, and no Creature left alive to comfort him, but only a froward Wise to grieve and vex his heart. Miseria est copia tribulati∣onis, & inopia consolationis, quando multifariè quis pa∣titur: & a nemine relevatur; Misery is then a Sea of tribulation, and scarce a drop of consolation, when a Man is oppressed many ways, and relieved by no means.

Thirdly, In the Life of the Beggar we noted what he desired in this life, Crumbs, desired to be refreshed with the Crumbs that fell from the rich man's Table.

By these words our Lord Jesus doth shew us the frame of a Christians heart, and also the heart and carriage of worldly men towards the Saints of the Lord. The Christian's heart is held forth by this, that any thing will content him while he is on this side Glory; And he desired to be fed with the Crumbs, the Dogs meat, any thing; I say a Chri∣stian will be content with any thing, if he have but to keep life and soul together (as we use to say) he is content, he is satisfied; he hath learned, if he hath learned to be a Christian, to be content with any thing? as Paul saith, I have learned in whatsoevir state I am, therewith to be content. He learns in all conditions to study to love God, to walk with God, to give up himself to God; and if the Crumbs that fall from the Rich mans Table will but satisfie nature, and give him bodily strength, that thereby he may be the more able to walk in the way of God, he is contented, and he desired to be fed with the Crumbs that fell

from the Rich man's Table. But mark he had them not; you do not find that he had so much as a Crumb or scrap allowed unto him. No, then the Dogs will be beguiled, that must be pre∣served for the Dogs. From whence observe, that the ungodly world do love their Dogs better than the Children of God; you'll say that is strange: It is so indeed, yet it is true, as will be clearly manifested; as for instance, how many pounds do some men spend a year on their Dogs, when in the mean while, the poor Saints of God may starve for hunger? they will build Houses for their Dogs, when the Saints must be glad to wander, and lodge in Dens and Caves of the Earth, Heb. 11. 38. and if they be in any of their Houses, for the hire thereof, they will warn them out, or Eject them, or pull down the House over their heads, rather than not rid themselves of such Tenants. Again, some men cannot go half a mile from home, but they must have Dogs at their heels, but they can very willingly go half a score miles without the society of a Christian. Nay, if when they are busie with their Dogs, they should chance to meet a Christian, they would willingly shift him if they could: they will go on the other side the Hedge or the way, rather than they will have any society with him; and if at any time a Child of God should come into a House where there are but two or three ungodly wretches, they do commonly wish either themselves or the Saints out of doors; and why so? because they cannot down with the society of a Christian: though if there come in at the same time a Dog, or a Drunken swearing wretch, which is worse than a Dog, they will make him welcom, he shall sit down with them, and partake of their Dainties. And now tell me, you that love your sins and your pleasures, had you not

rather keep company with a Drunkard, a Swear∣er, a Strumpet, a Thief, nay a Dog, than with an honest-hearted Christian? If you say no, what means your four carriage to the People of God? Why do you look on them as if you would eat them up? yet at the very same time, if you can but meet with your Dog, or a drunken com∣panion, you can fawn upon them, take acquain∣tance with them, if it be two or three times in a Week: But if the Saints of God meet together, pray together, and labour to Edify one another, you will stay till Doomsday before you will look into the House where they are. Ah•…•… Friends, when all comes to all, you will be found to love Drunkards, Strumpets, Dogs, any thing; nay to serve the Devil, rather than to have loving and friendly Society with the Saints of God.

The Dogs came and licked his sores. The Rich Man's Dogs by licking Lazarus, taught their Master to have mercy on him, but he would not, there∣fore he had worse than a doggish Nature, and cruel Heart. But here first we note God's Provi∣dence toward his Children, he will have them com∣forted and fed, though by dumb and only sensible Creatures; so the Dogs here came and licked Lazarus's sores. So Elias was fed by Ravens to save his life, 1 Kings 19. 4. And thou shalt drink of the River: and I have commanded the Ravens to feed thee there.

But again, Secondly, In that, Dogs came and licked Lazarus's Sores, when the Rich Man him∣self forsook him, we observe that sensible dumb Creatures of the Earth (are in their kinds) better▪ than many men. Therefore it is that God com∣plaineth by the mouth of the Prophet; The Ox knoweth his owner, and the Ass his Masters Crib, but my People will not know me, saith the Lord.

So the Dogs here knew Lazarus to be pained, but the Rich man would not vouchsafe to know him: Therefore his own Dogs condemned him of merciless Cruelty.

Here Beloved, you may see not only the af∣flicted state of the Saints of God in this World, but also, that even Dogs themselves, according to their kind, are more favourable to the Saints than the sinful World; though the ungodly will have no mercy on the Saints, yet it is ordered so that these Creatures, Dogs, Lions, &c. will. Though the Rich Man would not entertain him into his House, yet his Dogs will come and do him the best good they can, even to lick his running Sores. It was thus with Daniel, when the World was against him, and would have thrown him to the Lions to be devoured: the Lions shut their mouths at him; so that there was not that hurt befel to him as was desired by the Adversaries, Dan. 6.

But now let us consider the Third Part, which is the Death of the Beggar.

It was so that the Beggar died. Here is the a∣dage fulfilled, Mors optima rapit, deterrima relin∣quit. Now must I speak of Tragical matters, of Funerals and Obsequies, of Dissolution and Death.

This Beggar died, that represents the Godly; and the Rich Man died, that represents the Un∣godly: From whence Observe, neither Godly nor Ungodly must live always without a change either by Death or Judgment: The good man died, and the bad man died; that Scripture doth also back this Truth, that good and bad must die, marvellous well, where it is said, And it is appoint∣ed to men once to die, and after that the Judg∣ment, Heb. 9. 27.

Now, when it is said, the Beggar died, and the Rich man died, part of the meaning is, they ceas∣ed

to be any more in this World I say, part∣ly the meaning is so, but not altogether, though it be altogether the meaning, when some of the Creatures die, yet it is but in part the meaning, when it is said, that Men, Women, or Children die; for there is to them something else to be said more than a barely going out of the World; for if when unregenerate Men and Wo∣men die, there were an end of them, not only in this World, but also in the World to come, they would be more happy than now; for when un∣godly men and women die, there is that to come after Death, that will be very terrible to them, namely, to be carryed by the Angels of Darkness from their Death beds to Hell, there to be reser∣ved to the Judgment of the great day, when both Body and Soul shall meet and be united together again, and made capable to undergo the uttermost vengeance of the Almighty to all Eter∣nity. Ah, Beloved, if this great Truth, that men must die, and depart this World, and either enter into Joy, or else into Prison, to be reserved to the Day of Judgment, were believed, we should not have so many Wantons walk up and down the streets as there do; at least, it would put a mighty check to their filthy Carriages, so that they would not, could not walk so basely and sinfully as they do. Belshazzar, notwithstanding he was so far from the fear of God as he was, yet when he did but see that God was but offended, and threatned him for his Wickedness, it made him hang down his head, and knock his knees together, Dan. 5. 5, 6. If you read the Verses before, you will find, he was careless, and satisfying his Lusts in Drinking, and playing the Wanton with his Concubines: But so soon as he did perceive the Finger of an hand writing, Then (saith the Scripture) the King's

countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joynts of his Loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. And when Paul told Felix of Righteousness, Temperance, and Judgment to come, it made him tremble. Further, this is a certain truth, that not only the Wicked, but the Godly also must have a time to depart this Life. And the Beggar died; the Saints of the Lord they must be deprived of this Life also, they must yield up the Ghost in∣to the hands of the Lord their God; they must also be separated from their Wives, Children, Hus∣bands, Friends, Goods, and all that they have in the World, for God hath decreed it: It is appointed, namely, by the Lord, for Men once to die, and we must appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, as it is, 2 Cor. 5. 10, 11.

But again, in the Death of the Beggar: First we noted what became of his Soul, It was carried by Angels into Abrahams Bosom. Whereby we learn the Immortality of the Soul. Pythagoras was the first among the Grecians, that taught the Soul was Immortal. The Philosophers also, and Heathen Poets do prove the Immortality of the Soul.

Cedit enim retro de terra quod fuit ante In terram, sed quod missum est ex aetheris oris Id rursum coeli fulgentia templa receptant.

The part of Man that was made of Earth, went to Earth, and that part as came from Heaven, went to Heaven again.

But leaving these, we prove by Scripture the Immortality of the Soul, Man was made a living Soul. Therefore the Soul is Immortal. And here in the Text, Lazarus being dead, his Soul was carried into Abraham's Bosom.

Here therefore is the damnable Opinion of the Atheists overthrown: For if they deny God, they must also deny that they have Souls, and so conse∣quently that they are not men. But St. John teach∣eth them, that all things were made by the Word of God, and without it nothing was made; there∣fore if they are made, they are made by the Word of God, and of a reasonable Soul, which do ac∣knowledge and believe in the Creator. Anima est primum principium vitae per se subsistens, incorporea ac incorruptibilis: The Soul is the first beginning of Life, subsisting of it self, incorporeal and incor∣ruptible. St. Austin, Anima est spiritus, est substantia incorporea, corporis sui vita sensibilis, invisibilis, ra∣tionalis, immortalis. The Soul of man is a spiritu∣al, or incorporeal substance, sensible, invisible, reason∣able, immortal: For as he also saith, Solum homo habet animam rationalem: Only Man with an Immor∣tal Soul. Lazarus Soul was carried into Abraham's Bosom, which is a quiet Haven, which the faith∣ful have gotten by the troublesom Navigation of this Life, that is, the Kingdom of Heaven.

Here therefore we note that the Souls of the Elect being separated from their Bodies, are pre∣sently in Joys, and are carried into Abraham's Bo∣som; so called, because it belongeth only to the Faithful. Well then, Lazarus Soul went to Hea∣ven; and Christ said to the Thief on the Cross, This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise. Not to morrow or next Year, but this day. There∣fore the Souls of the Elect being separated from their Bodies, are in Joy and Rest. As also on the other side, the soul of the Rich man and the Dam∣ned, after they be separated from their Bodies, are in Hell Torments.

And thus much concerning the place whi∣ther Lazarus soul was carried, being dead; name∣ly, into Abraham's Bosom.

Lastly, We noted by whom, by Angels: It was carried by Angels into Abraham's Bosom.

And here an Objection ariseth, viz. If this be so, that the Godly die as well as the Wicked, and if the Saints must appear before the Judg∣ment-seat, as well as the sinners, then what Advantage have the Godly more than the Un∣godly, and how can the Saints be in a better condition than the Wicked.

Answ. Read the 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Verse over again, and you shall find a 〈◊〉〈◊〉 difference between them, as much as is between Heaven and Hell, e∣verlasting Joy, and everlasting Torment; for you find, when the Beggar died, which represents the Godl•…•…, he was carried by the Angels into Abra∣ham's Bosom, or into everlasting Joy, Psal. 1. But the Ungodly are not so, but are hurried by the Devils into the Bottomless Pit, drawn away in their Wickedness, Prov. 14. 32. for he saith, And in Hell he lift up his Eyes; when the Un∣godly do die, their misery beginneth, for then appear the Devils like so many Lions, waiting every moment till the soul depart from the Body; sometimes they are very visible to the dying Party, but sometimes more invisible: But always this is certain, they never miss of the soul, if it do die out of the Lord Jesus Christ, but do hale it away to their Prison, as I said before, there to be tormented and reserved until the great and dreadful day of Judgment, at which day they must, Body and Soul, receive a final Sentence from the Righteous Judge, and from that time be shut out from the Presence of God into everlasting woe and distress. But the Godly, when the time of their departure is at hand, then are also the Angels of the Lord at hand; yea, they are ready waiting on the

Soul, to conduct it safely into Abraham's Bosom. I do not say, but the Devils oft-times are very bu∣s•…•…e doubtless, and attending the Saints in their Sickness; yes, and no question, but they would willingly deprive the soul of Glory. But here is the comfort, as the Devils come from Hell to devour the soul (if it be possible, at it's de∣parture) so the Angels of the Lord come from Heaven, to watch over and conduct the soul (in spight of the Devil) safe into Abraham's bo∣som.

David had the comfort of this, and speaks it forth for the comfort of his Brethren, Psal. 34. 7. saying, The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. Mark, the Angel of the Lord encampeth round about his Children, to deliver them: From what? From their Enemies, of which the Devil is not the least: This is an excellent comfort at any time, to have the holy Angels of God to attend a Poor Man or Woman, but especially it is comfortable in the time of distress, at the time of Death, when the Devils beset the Soul with all the Power that Hell can afford them, but now it may be, that the glorious Angels of God do not appear at the first, to the view of the Soul; nay, rather Hell stands before it, and the Devils ready, as if they would carry it thither, but this is the comfort, the Angels do always appear at the last, and will not fail the soul, but will carry it safe into Abraham's bosom. Ah! Friends, consider, here is an ungod∣ly man upon his Death-bed, and he hath none to speak for him, none to speak comfort unto him, but it is not so with the Children of God, for they have the spirit to comfort them. Here is the ungodly, and they have no Christ to pray

for their safe Conduct to Glory, but the Saints have an Intercessor, John 17. 9. Here is the World, when they die, they have none of the An∣gels of God to attend upon them, but the Saints have their Company. In a word, the unconvert∣ed person when he dieth, he sinks into the bet∣tomless Pit; but the Saints when they die, do as∣cend with and by the Angels into Abraham's Bosom, or into unspeakable Glory, Luke 23. 34.

And so let us consider the fourth and last part, which is the Death of the Rich Man.

The Rich Man died also, &c. Here we may a∣gain see, that Death is the way of all flesh. Death shaketh Cedar and Shrub, Death calleth away the Rich man from his pleasure, and Laza∣rus from his Pain, and all must obey when Death calleth. It is not the Majesty of a Prince nor Ho∣liness of a Priest, strength of Body, feature of Face, Wisdom, Beauty, Riches, Honour, nor any such secular regard can plead against Death, or priviledge a man from the Grave, Statutum est omnibus semel mori: The Decree is out, all must die once; all must taste of this distasteful cup of death. Let us know then that the Pale Horse, and he that sitteth thereon, whose name is Death, comes run∣ning on towards us, fall that is within us, and without us, are Remembrancers of Death. The Sun rising in the East, and setting in the West, sheweth our rising and alling, our coming in and going out of this World. All cry unto us we must away, we must away, we must hence, as Christ said, My Kingdom is not of this World. Death is a separation of the Soul from the Body; the Husband separated from the Wife of his youth; the Father separated from his Children whom he dearly loved; the Children from their Pa∣rents, the Master from his Servant, and the Ser∣vant

from his Master, thus Parents and Friends' and all must part.

The first circumstance of the Rich man is, to know what became of his Body? It was honoura∣bly buried. But here we see that honourable Bu∣rial doth not profit the damned soul. Tares are sown as well as Wheat in all times; if the one grow up for the fire, the other for the barn; Gather the Tares in bundles, and burn them, but gather the Wheat into my barn, Matth. 1. 30.

But let us lastly consider what became of his Soul.

And being in Hell Torments, &c. But because none can so well relate miseries, and none can de∣scribe the torments of Hell so well as he that hath felt the same, let the Rich man himself speak, and let us hear him what he saith, he being in Hell tor∣ments, he thus beginneth: O wretch that I am, why did I suffer Lazarus to starve at my Gate? for which I am shut in the Gates of Hell. Why did I not give Lazarus a •…•…rumb of Bread? for which I cannot have here now one drop of Water to cool my tongue. Why did I shew Lazarus no mercy on Earth? for which no mercy is shewed to me in Hell. What shall I do? for I a•…•… tormented in this flame, I will cry unto Abraham, Abraham have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, to cool my tongue. I am tormented here; Abraham, I am torn in pieces here; Abraham, I am plagued and continually pained here; Abraham, here my purple Rayment is flames of fire, my light is darkness, my day night, my com∣panions are Devils! O how they hale me! O how they pull me! O how they vex and torment me! Here my feet are scorched, my hands are seared, my heart is wounded, my eyes are blinded, my ears are dulled, my senses conf•…•…unded, my tongue is hot, it is

very hot: send Lazarus there•…•…ore, Abraham, with a drop of Water to comfort me; one drop, good Abra∣ham, one drop of Water.

But Abraham answered him: Thou damned wretch, once thou didst disdain Lazarus, once thou didst re•…•…se Lazarus, once thou didst scorn Lazarus, now Lazarus shall disdain, refuse, and scorn thee: once thou stoppedst thine ears from the cry of Lazarus, now he stops his ears from thy cry: once thou turnedst away thy face from Lazarus; now he turneth away his face from thee: once thou deniedst crumbs to Lazarus, now he denieth water to thee, not a spoonful, not a drop of water.

Oh Abraham, but now if I had my goods, I would give Lazarus all for a drop of Water: Now if I had a million of Gold, I would give it all for a drop of wa∣ter: now if I had a world of wealth, I would give it all to Lazarus; therefore, good Abraham, one drop. But he answered, No not a drop.

Not a drop? Then cursed be the day wherein I was born, and cursed be the night wherein I was co•…•…ceived▪ cursed be my Father that begot me, and cursed be my Mother that bare me; cursed be the place that kept me; cursed be the delicate Robes that cloathed m•…•…, cursed be the delicate Meat that fed me; let me be most acc•…•…r∣sed of all creatures both in Heaven and Earth. And so leave we him cursing, who indeed was most accur∣sed; and learn that the souls of the damned be∣ing separated from their bodies, are in Hell Torments.

But to conclude all in one word, and to apply all that hath been spoken to this present time and place, let us all in our vocations and places follow the advice of a late Eminent Pen, viz. to learn to have mercy on Lazarus, that is, on our poor Brethren, that we may find mercy, and that mercy may rejoyce in Judgment: and you that are Magistrates of this City, think upon

Lazarus that lyeth in your Streets, that pineth at your gates, that starveth in your Prisons for want of Crumbs: Heark, how they cry Bread, bread, a loaf of bread for Jesus sake. Who would not hear them? who would not pity them? who would not comfort them? Also see that you chuse good and merciful Officers in your Spittles and Hospitals, that may feed Lazarus, and not fill their own Purses and Bellies, as the rich man did. And you that sit in the seat of Judgment, and are Gods here on earth, let the matter be rightly judged between the rich man and poor Lazarus; let equi∣ty be in your right hand, and justice in your left; consider that Lazarus is poor, and that he is not a∣ble to wage Law against the rich man, yet defend him and let him have right. Defend the Father∣less and Widdow. See that such as be in need and necessity have their right: then shall the righteous God of Heaven bless you, and bless the Land for your sake; then shall we be with Lazarus in the blessed place of rest, whilst wretched Dives is tormented in Hell flames, (even in that burn∣ing prison where angry and enraged Devils shall be his Tormentors to Eternity) where he will be for ever crying and groaning out in this kind of doleful manner following, viz.

Oh! cursed, cursed, most accursed Soul, Where am I now? what Friends are those that howl? They seize upon me, they torment me sore, I Shreik with anguish, they in fury roar.

In Earths deep center; dark and dreadful Cell, Where only angry damned Spirits dwell In grossest darkness, yet my sight so clear, Most hideous Visious to the same appear.

In Hell, indeed, where I endure that curse Which shall not cease, but be hereafter worse In fire infernal; out of measure hot, Which ever burns, and yet consumeth not.

I rave, I curse, and I accuse my fate, As if such torments were unjust, too great; But Conscience nips me with, not so: I try To kill that wor•…•…, but oh! it will not die.

Most wretched I, besides the Woes I have, Methinks I hear my bones within my G•…•…ave, (As troubled with some fatal Trumpets sound) Begin to shake and shiver in the ground.

Alas, alas, what shall of me become When wretched, go, ye cu•…•…sed, is my doom. How shall my Soul and Body both 〈◊〉〈◊〉, Then curse the hour they were again united.

How shall the Devils then with fury driven Sieze me for Hell, when, entenc'd out of Heaven; And on me with much insultation rage, As if my torments might their own asswage.

Then with •…•…e bideous howling heard of Hell, I shall be thrown down to that dreadful Cell, Where we in flames, which never fail, shall burn; From whence we never, never shall return.

The Winding-Sheet.

NOw where am I? If I look behind me, I see Death hastning after me, nay, that Death is at my Back: If I look forward, I see Heaven and Hell before me, my selfstanding on the ve∣ry brink of Time, and my next step (for ought I know) may be into Eternity of joy or sorrow, where I did but now by Faith see o∣thers were, there I my self must quickly really be, there I shall rejoyce with them. If I look a little before me, I may see my self cast down upon a Bed of sickness; my Friends weeping, and fearing I shall die; the Physicians are puzled, and at a loss, giving me over for the Grave, and my self gasping for Life, and breathing out my last. If I look but a little before me, I can as it were hear my Friends saying, He is dead, he is dead, he is gone, he is departed, and then (as it were) I might see them haling me out of my Bed, and wrapping me in My Winding Sheet, and nailing me up in my Coffin. I might see my Grave a digging, and men hired to carry me on their shoulders from my house to my Long Home, Relations and Neighbours fol∣lowing after to see me lodged in the Dust, to lye and rot among the Dead.

But before all this can be done to my Body, my Soul hath taken it's flight into Eternity, where it is without change or alteration, for ever to be with God or Devils. Oh that I could then work it on my heart, that I must

quickly be either in Heaven or Hell, that I have a long Race to run by a short breath, (if I en∣ter Heaven,) a great way to go in a few hours.

The Sun who goes so many miles in a minute, the stars of the firmament, which go so very many more, go not so fast, as my body to the Earth. In the same instant that I feel the first attempt of the dis∣ease, I feel the victory; In the twinkling of an eye, I can scarce see; instantly the tast is insipid and fatuous; instantly the appetite is dull and de∣sireless: instantly the knees are sinking and strengthless; and in an instant, sleep, which is the Picture, the copy of Death, is taken away, that the original, Death it self may succeed, and that so I might have death to the life

To return from the dead, is impossible; all my life then I will prepare for death.

They call death Charons boat, I am sure it wafts the Soul from a material to an immateri∣al World.

I have but one step to Eternity: it is from life to death, I will be preparing this body of mine, to win the garland of a blessed Immortality.

O the serious thoughts while I live! How I must die, these do so make me run, that I may obtain a Crown of glory.

The sound of the Passing Bell assures me there is some to day likely to die; it is so nigh Night, it is high time then to work out my Salvation; lest the Night of death put in, and none can work.

I have a task set will take up all my time, viz. to die well; while I live then, I will learn to die; lest being found unprepared, it be said, Thou fool, this night thy Soul shall be required of thee.

Maximilian the Emperor made his Coffin al∣ways to be carried along with him, to this end, that his high Dignity might not make him forget his Mortality.

What was long since decreed in Heaven, God hath sent Warrants to execute on Earth, semel mori, for us once to die.

Kings Xerxes standing on a Mountain, and having many hundred thousand of his Souldiers standing in the plain, fell a weeping, to think upon it, how in a few years, and all those gal∣lant valiant men must die.

Adam, he lived 930 years, and he died.

Enoch, he lived 965 years, and he died.

Methusalem lived 967 years, and he died.

O the longest day hath its night and in the end man must die!

The Princes of the Nations pass sentence of death upon others: Well, it is not long, but their turn will come, Semel mori once to die.

Many of us live where our parents lived, and live of the same lands which they lived of: It is not long, and our Children shall do as much for us; For we must go hence, and be seen no more.

Some ride Post, some Hackney pace, at seri∣us, citius, sooner, later, all arrive at the Com∣mon Inn, the grave, and die.

Some have the Palsie, some the Apoplexy, some a Feaver, some an Ague, some a Con∣sumption, some none of them: yet the sick, the sound, they all meet in the end, at the same Rendezvouz, at the House of Death.

The Scholar thinks to delude Death with hi•…•…s Fallacies. The Lawyer puts in his Demur,

the Prince his plea is State affairs: at •…•…quo pulsat pede, Death knocks at all doors alike; and when he comes, they all go hence, from their houses to their graves.

Joseph the Jew, in his best health made his Stone Coffin be cut out in his Garden, to put him in mind of his Ego abeo, I go hence.

The Persians they buried their dead in their houses, to put the whole houshold in mind of the same lot, Semel mori, once to die.

Simonides, when commanded to give the most wholsom rule to live well, willed the Lacede∣monian Prince ever to bear in mind, Se tempore brevi moriturum: ere long and he must die.

I have read of a sort of people that used dead mens bones for money, and the more they have, they are counted the more rich: Herein consists my richest treasure, to bear that about me will make me all my life remember my end.

Great Sultan Saladan, Lord of many Nations and Languages, commanded upon his death-bed, that one shall carry upon a Spears point through all his Camp, the Flag of Death, and to pro∣claim, for all his wealth, Saladan hath nought left, but this winding-sheet, An ensured Ensign of Death triumphing over all the Sons of Adam.

I uncloath my self every night, I put off all, but what may put me in mind of my winding-sheet.

Anaxagoras having word brought him, his onely son was dead; his answer was, Scio me genuisse mortalem, I know he was born to die.

Philip of Macedon gave a Boy a pension every morning to say to him Philippe, memento te ho∣minem esse, Philip remember thou art a man, and there∣fore must die.

We read of Philostrates, how he lived seven years in his Tomb, that he might be acquainted with it, against the time he came to be put in∣to it: Oh, an Apprentiship of years, is time little enough to make us perfect in the Mystery of Mor∣tality.

Divine Meditations arising from the Contemplation of these sad and serious Sentences.

1. Med. IS it not high time to make fit to die, consi∣dering thy Winding Sheet lies ready for thee, and the Bell tolls thee away. Say with thy self, My want is great, my time is almost run: If I make not market to day, I am not sure to do it to morrow. O the uncertainty of Life shall be the Alarum-Bell to give me now notice, to work out my Salvation with fear and tremb∣ling.

O, I am never so nigh my God, as when I think of my end. FRIEND, let Death be in thy thoughts, and God will be in thy heart.

2. Med. Meditate, since man must die, Lord, what danger in dying unprepared! this is Maxima miseria, A misery of miseries; and St. Augustine gives the reason. For that look how a man goeth to that prison the Grave, so he goeth to the Judgment-hall to be tryed.

But oh Death, thou Common Butcherer of hu∣man Nature! after thy great stroak be struck, I am not dead, but asleep. Blessed be thou my God, who hast made my grave my bed, in which, after I have taken some silent rest, the noise of the Arch∣angel with his Trumpet, shall awake and raise me, from a Death for sin, to a life of glory. Death is the way we must all walk to Life:

Some ancient Fathers, and some late Writers (says the Lord Manchester) have fixed upon the Love of God; Some, upon the Passion of Christ; Some, upon the Joys of Heaven; Some, upon Con∣tempt of the World; several others, upon divers o∣ther subjects: All opening, that some one is to be chosen. For whoso will live to himself, must be at leisure for God. And a wise * 1.1 man saith, Wisdom is to be written in time of leisure: Whoever is lessen'd by work, he cannot tend it.

I being in my accustomed retiredness, disengaged from publick affairs (which was but seldom) found it useful, fruitful and delightful, To bestow my thoughts upon my latter end.

There be four last things, say the Fathers, Heaven, Hell, Death, and Judgment.

All subjects large enough.

But considering I had passed so much Employ∣ment, so many Offices, so long Practice in several professions, I now thought it time to seize on Death, before it seiz'd on me. Lord, teach me to number my days, that I may apply my Heart to Wisdom.

After long meditation, this I found, that when Meditation had begotten Devotion, then it ap∣plyed it self to Contemplation; which required a settlement upon some Divine Object.

And what more heavenly than the thought of Immortality? What so necessary as the thought of Death? Herein therefore I complyed with my own desires, and did so as it were weave my own wind∣ingsheet by making choice of Death for the Subject of my Contemplation.

We should not diffuse our thoughts into variety

of Considerations, but recollect them into one by Contemplation. Herewith a man's soul being once affected, hardly shall be obtain leave of his thoughts to return again to employments.

And lest I, busied about many things, should re∣main unknown unto my self; for the old word is a true one, * 1.2 Neither things read, or understood, profit him at all, who does not both read and know himself. I there applyed my self [Ad meum novissimum, to my last thing,] what man liveth, and shall not see death? And if, after death, The Righteous shall scarcely be saved, we may well be fearful, and had need be careful that we be not taken unprepared.

When I was a young Man, (saith Seneca) my care was to live well, I then practised the art of well living. When age came upon me, I then studied the * 1.3 art of dying well; how to die well.

It is true, The journey of Life appears not to bu∣sie men until the end. Yet when I was most bu∣sie of all, I delighted my self with this comfort, that a time would come, wherein I might live to my self, hoping to have sweet leisure to enjoy my self at last.

And this I am now come to, by disposing, not by changing my self.

Lord let me be found in this posture, when I come to die.

In the courses of my Life I have had inter∣changes: The World it self stands upon vicissi∣tudes: God hath interwoven my life with adversity and prosperity. When I first took me to a Gown, I put on this thought; I desire a Fortune

like my Gown, not long, but fit; fit for my condition; * 1.4 finding by others, that a contented kind of obscurity keeps a Man free from Envy. Although any kind of Superiority be a mark of envy; yet, Not to be so high, as to provoke an ill eye, nor so low as to be trodden on, was the height of my Ambition. But I must confess, I have since had a greater portion of the World's favour, than I looked for: Nevertheless, I never gave trust to fortune, although she seemed to be at peace with me.

To check repining at those above me, I al∣ways looked at those below me; nor did any preferments so delight me, or abuse me, as to make me neglect preparing for my dying day.

And now, I thank God, I can say, O Lord, my heart is ready. This I have considered, that Life flows away by Hours and days, as it were by drops.

Careful Martha was full, busie about many things: but was well advised by Christ, There was only one thing necessary.

One thing have I desired of the Lord, that I may dwell in his House for ever; This was David's u∣num, his one thing, and, God willing, shall be mine.

Amidst these thoughts, I had these things in contemplation.

• 1. What Death was, and the kinds of Death.
• 2. Secondly, What fears or joys death brings.
• 3. Thirdly, When Death is to be prepared for, and How.
• 4. Fourthly, Death approaching, what our last thoughts should be.

Of these things I thus believed.

That Death was but a fall, which came by a Fall. Our first-framed Father Adam falling, in him we all fell. It was not the Man, but mankind.

Body and Soul parting.

BUt, Oh how bitter, at that time will be the parting of Soul and Body! We see old ac∣quaintance cannot part without tears. What shall such intimate familiar friends do, as the Soul and Body are, which have lived together from the Womb with so much delight?

In that hour, every man will make Balaam's suit, O that I might die the death of the Righ∣teous! We all desire to shut up our last scene of Life with, In manus tuas, Domine; Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my Spirit.

At this Hour, What would a man give to secure his Soul? Quid dabis pro animâ tuâ tunc, qui nunc pro nihi•…•…o das illam? What wilt thou give then for thy Soul to save it, who dost so prodigally throw it away now for nothing? This thou canst not leave behind thee, that will tell thee whether thou goest, and what thou shalt look for: Tunc, quasi loquentia, tua Opera dicent; Tu nos egisti: Tua opera sumus; T•…•… non deseremus, sed tecum i•…•…imus ad Judicium: Then shall thy doings, even speaking aloud, say unto thee, Thou hast done us, we are thy works, we will not leave thee, but will go with thee to judgment.

In that day shall come into mens minds (by the Divine Power) in the twinkling of an Eye, all their past good or evil Works.

Memory, the Magazine of the Soul, will then recount all that thou hast done, said, or thought, all thy life long: For there needs no other Art of memory for sin, but misery.

Man is a great flatterer of himself, but Con∣science is always just, and will never chide thee wrongfully; it always takes part with God against a man's self: It is a domestick Magistrate, that will tell what you do at home: It is well term∣ed the pulse of the Soul; therefore if you would know the true state of vour Body or Soul, feel how this beats, that will tell you: Yet take heed you make not an Idol of your Conscience; nei∣ther think, as some do, that it is a crime to make a Conscience of our Actions.

At point of death, if a man will take his aim by the best men that ever lived or died; that of David, Ezekias, yea, and of Christ himself, (as he was man) is able to amaze any man; when as our Saviour Christ, not many hours before he suffered, said, My soul is troubled, and what shall I say; and at the very point of Death, said, Father, if it be thy will, let this Cup pass from me. When David said, Save, Lord, for thy mercies sake: For in Death there is no remembrance of thee. And Ezekias wept sore, when he was bid, Put thy house in order, for thou must die: If the Patriarchs, if the Prophets, if the Apostles, if the Martyrs, if Christ himself was thus troubled at the hour of Death; Wretched man that I am, what shall I do? We were all to seek, but that Christ bids us, Be of good chear, for I have overcome Death.

Caesar Borgias being sick to death, said, When I lived, I provided for every thing but death; now I must die, and am unprovided to die.

Previous preparation becomes a wise man.

But we are all deceived with this Error, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 we think none but old men approa•…•…h to death: neither experience nor age can work upon us; so death, that it may more easily s•…•…rprise us, shrowds it self under the very name of life.

He that s•…•…es the Basilisk before he be seen of it, avoids the poyson: See Death before it comes, you shall not feel it when it comes.

We pray daily; Lord, Give us this day our daily Bread; whilst it is called to day: We should remember, Life is but a day, 'tis b•…•…t a day, not an age. Wherefore, saith Solomon, Talk not of to morrow, for thou knowest not what to mor∣row will bring forth.

A man, saith Luther, lives forty years before he knows himself to be a fool; and by that time he sees his folly, his Life is finished. So men die before they begin to live.

To die well, is too busie a work to be done well on a sudden. Deferring, as well as pre∣suming, makes many men implicite Atheists.

It was a sweet Speech, and might well have become an Elder Body, which a young inno∣cent Child of my own, used in extremity of sickness, Mother, what shall I do? I shall die before I know what death is. I beseech you tell me what is Death, and how I should die.

Now of the way to die well.

HE that would end his days well, must spend them well: 'Tis no great matter to live, all do as much; but few die well.

But Death fa•…•…s sad and heavy upon such, Are little known at home, abroad too much.

Man is ready to die before he lives; but therefore he liveth a time in the world, that he may die betime to the world. His Years come to an end as a Tale that is •…•…old. His days deceive him, for they pass as a shadow, by moon∣shine; then appearing longest, when they draw nearest to an end. Job saith, My days are swister than a Post, they flee away and see no good.

The art of dying well is better learnt by Practice, than by Precept.

Unto dying well, three Things are most re∣quisite:

First, To be often meditating upon Death;

Secondly, To be dying daily.

Thirdly, To die by little and little.

The first step of dying well.

OFten meditation of Death brings a man to die in ease; for it alleviates pains, expels fear, eases cares, cures sins, corrects death it self. The very Thought of Eternity will make easie and pleasant all things we suf∣fer in a miserable Life.

How can we be said not to die, when we live among the dead? We live with so many deaths about us, as we cannot but often think of dy∣ing.

Every Humour in us engenders Diseases e∣nough to kill us, so that our Bodies are but living Graves; and we die not because we are,

sick, but because we live. And when we re∣cover from sickness, we escape not sickness, but the disease: All this life is but a death of an hour.

Familiarity with Death, a soveraign Cordial against Death.

THerefore be acquainted with Death betimes; for through acquaintance, death will lose his horror; like unto an ill Face, though it be as formidable as a monster, yet often viewing will make it familiar, and free it from distaste: walk every day, with Joseph, a turn or two in thy Garden with death, and thou shalt be well acquainted with the face of death; but shalt ne∣ver feel the sting of death: Death is black, but comely. Philostrates lived seven years in his Tomb, that he might be acquainted with it, a∣gainst his bones came to lye in it. Some Phi∣losophers have been so wrapt in this contemplati∣on of Death, and Immortality, that they dis∣course so familiarly and pleasingly of it, as if a fair death were to be preferred before a plea∣sant life.

This is well for Nature's part; and Moralists think this enough for their part to conceive so: But Christians must go farther; and search deep∣er: They must try where the power of death lyes. They shall find that the power of every man's death lyes in his own sin; That death ne∣ver hurts a man but with his own weapons: It always turns upon us, some sin it finds in us. The sting of Death is sin: Pluck out the sting, death cannot hurt us. The way to die well, is to die often. Let a man often and seriously

think of dying, then let him sin if he can, said Picus Mirandula. In Sardis there grew an Herb cal∣led Appium Sardis, that would make a Man lie laugh∣ing when he was deadly sick: Such is the operati∣on of sin. Beware therefore of this [Risus Sardoni∣cus] laughter of Sardis.

We count it a fearful thing for a man to be author of his own death; but a sinful life slays the soul. and so while we live, we kill or lose our better life. The Commandment that says, Thou shalt not kill, es∣pecially forbids the murthering of our own Souls. And herein is our happiness; though we live in sin, yet we die without sin. Therefore to me Death is welcome; not as an end of troubles, but of sin. Into thy hands I commend my Spirit, for thou hast re∣deemed me, O Lord God of Truth.

The Second Step, To be dying daily.

THE second step to dying-well, is, to die daily. Methinks, O my Soul, it is but yesterday since we met, and now we are upon parting; neither shall we, I hope, be unwilling to take our leaves: for, what advantage can it be to us to hold out longer together. Are we not assured that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens? Why therefore, O my Soul, shouldst thou be loth to part upon fair terms? Thou, O my Soul, to the possession of that happy Mansion, which thy dear Saviour hath, from all Eternity, prepared for thee in his Father's house: and thou, O my body, to that quiet re∣pository of the grave; till ye both shall happily meet in the blessed Resurrection of the Just.

I die, that I may not die. I die daily, saith Saint Paul. So many days as thou livest, reckon so many lives; for he that disposeth all his days as one life, can neither wish nor fear to morrow.

The old saying is a good saying; Do that every day, which thou wouldst do the same day that thou diest. 'Tis an excellent thing to make all we can of life, before Death.

To die by little and little, the third step.

THE third step to dying well is, to die by little and little.

Naturally we are every day dying by degrees: the faculties of our minds, the strength of our bodies, our common senses are every day decaying, by little and little: every sin is more than a disease, and a wicked life makes a continual death. Impie vivere est diu mori; To live wickedly, is to be long a dying: Therefore saith the good Man, We are killed all the day long.

He that useth this course every day. To die by little and little, to him (let Death come when it will) it can neither be terrible nor sudden.

If we keep a Courser to run a Race, we lead him daily over the place, to acquaint him by degrees with all things in the way, that when he comes upon his speed, he do not start or turn aside for any thing he sees. So let us inure our souls; and then we shall run with boldness the race that is set be∣fore us, looking to Jesus, the Author and finisher of our salvation.

To die by little and little, is first to mortifie our lesser sins, and not to say with Lot, Is it not a little one?

There be also a sort of little deaths, sickness of body, loss of Friends, and the like: Use these in their kind, and you may make them kindly helps to dying well.

Every change is a certain imitation of Death. Let

a man go out as he came into the World; which was, first by a life of Vegetation, then of Sen•…•…e, afterwards of Reason.

To die daily, is this: daily to attend upon, and exercise that great duty of Mortification, according to our solemn Vow and Covenant made to God at our Baptis•…•…: which Vow and Covenant, we renew, at our first coming to the holy and blessed Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Alas, how few do consider, or understand this great duty of Mortification, and fewer practise it. And yet this, above all others, is the Grace which fit∣teth and prepareth us for Death; this Grace putteth us into the possession of Life Spirit•…•…al; and by perseverance in it, into life Eternal, Rom. 8. 13. But if ye live after the flesh; that is, after the appetites, lusts, affections of the flesh, ye shall die. But I bless God, I have nothing to do with the World, nor the World with me. Rich∣es, Pleasures, honours transport me not, affect me not; nor am I dejected and afflicted with poverty, common pains, sicknesses, disgrace or scorn. Christ liveth in me, and I in him; there∣fore, I humbly thank the power of his grace. I can die as willingly as I can go out of one Room into another.

For the manner of dying.

AMongst Men it is a matter of chief mark, the manner of a man's death. The chief good of Man, is his good departure out of this life.

Before you die, set your house in order: He that hath not a house, yet hath a soul; no soul can want affairs to set in order, for this final dissolution.

The chief grace of the Theatre, is the last

Scene. It is the Evening that Crowns the day; and we think it no good sign of a fair Morrow, when the Sun sets in a Cloud: The end Crowns every Work.

Most men wish a short Death, because death is always accompanied with pain. We die groaning. To lie but an hour under Death is tedious, but to be dying a whole day, we think beyond the strength of humane patience: He that desires to be dissolved, and be with Christ, dies not only pa∣tiently, but delightfully. Happy is he, that after due preparation, dies ere he be aware; so like∣wise is he happy that, by long sickness, sees death afar off; for the one dies like Elias, the other like Elisha: both blessedly.

The best posture to be found in when Death comes, is in the exercise of our calling: Press, saith St. Paul, towards the mark for the prize of the high calling, Phil. 3.

A good Man, by his good will, would die praying, and do as the Pilgrim doth, go on his way singing, and so adds the pains of singing to that of going; Who yet by this surplus of pain, unwearies himself of pain.

But some wretches think God rather curious, than they faulty, if a few sighs, with a [Lord have mercy upon us,] be not enough at the last gasp.

But commonly good Men are best at last, e∣ven when they are dying. It was a Speech worthy the commendation, and frequent re∣membrance of so divine a Bishop as Augustine, which is reported of an aged Father, in his time; who, when his Friends comforted him on his sick bed, and told him, they hoped he should recover; answered, If I shall not die at all, well; but if ever, why not now? Surely it is folly,

what we must do, to do unwillingly. I will ne∣ver think my Soul in a good case, so long as I am loth to think of dying.

There is no Spectacle in the World so profita∣ble, or more terrible, than to behold a dying man; to stand by, and see a man dismanned. Curiously didst thou make me in the lowest part of the Earth, saith David: but to see those Elements which compounded, made the Body: To see them di∣vided, and the man dissolved, is a ruful sight.

Every dying man carries Heaven and Earth wrapped up in his bosom, and at this time each part returns homeward.

Certainly, death hath great dependency on the course of man's life, and life it self is as frail as the Body which it animates. Augustus Caesar accounted that to be the best death which is quick and unexpected, and which beats not at our doors by any painful sickness. So often as he heard of a man that had a quick passage, with little sense of pain, he wished for himself that Eu∣thana•…•…ie: While he lived he used to set himself be∣tween his two friends, Groans and Tears. When he died he called for his Looking-glass command∣ed to have his Hair and Beard kembed, his reviled cheeks smoothed up. Then asking his Friends, if he acted his part well, when they answered, Yes; why then, says he, do you not all clap your hands for me?

Despair in dying, may as well arise from weak∣ness of Nature, as from trouble of Mind: But by neither of these can he be prejudiced, that hath lived well.

Raving, and other strange Passions, are many times rather the effect of the Disease, than coming from the mind. For upon Death's ap∣proaches, choler •…•…uming to the Brain, will cause

distempers in the most patient Soul. In these cases, the fairest and truest judgment to be made is, that sins of sickness occasioned by vio∣lence of Disease in a patient man, are but sins of infirmity▪ and not to be taken as ill signs or presages; A Son of so many Tears cannot but be saved. I will not despair in respect of that man's impatient dying, whom the Worm of Conscience had not devoured living.

Seldom any enter into Glory with ease; yet the Jews say of Moses, His soul was sucked out of his mouth with a kiss.

David in this case, the better to make his way, prayed and cried, Lord, spare me a little. O spare me, that I may recover my strength, before I go hence and be no more.

Indeed to Ezekias some Years of Days were lent: But we are not worthy of that favour; we must not expect that God will bring back the shadow of degrees, •…•…hen 〈◊〉〈◊〉 it is gone down in the Dial of A•…•…az; we must time it as we may, and be content to live and die at uncertainties.

Therefore, as a sick man 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to the Clock, so let us wa•…•…h Death. For sudden com∣ing of Death, finding a weak soul unprepared, makes it desperate, and leaves it miserable.

Death approaching, what our last Thoughts should be.

SEneca saith, the last day judgeth all the prece∣dent. The last is the best; dying words are weightiest, and make deepest imressions. Our last thoughts are readiest to spend themselves upon somewhat that we loved best while we lived.

The soul it self, when it is entring into glory, breaths Divine things.

At this time a good man's tongue is in his breast, not in his mouth; his words are then so pithy and so pectoral, that he cries, O Lord Jesus, take thine own into thy own custody!

Anatomists say, there are strings in a man's tongue, which go to his heart; when these break, Man speaks his heart. Oh that they were wise! (said Moses) and would understand, and fore-see their latter end. When he was dying Christs last words in the Bible 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 no•…•…e of the millions of Souls that have past into the in∣visible World, have come again to tell me how it is.

I.

It must be done (my Soul) but 'tis a strange, A dismal and Mysterious change, Norris. When thou shalt leave this Tenement of Clay; And to an unknown somewhere wing away; When Time shall be Eternity, and thou▪ (not how▪ Shalt be thou know'st not what, and live thou know'st

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 a•…•… behind.

III.

Some courteous Ghost tell this great Secrecy, What 'tis you are, and we must be. You warn us of approaching Death, and why May we not know from you what 'tis 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, so me 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 resig•…•…'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 Nat•…•…re 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. 'Tis certain my Soul will then preserve the faculties that are natural to it, viz. to understand, to will, to remem∣ber, as 'tis 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 sepa∣rated Soul (says a late Writer) but that 'tis 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 ex∣presses 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 facul∣ty goes all go, and the Thoughts are all concentred as in one whole Thought * 1.5 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 〈◊〉〈◊〉 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 me∣thinks 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 can∣not 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 I 〈◊〉〈◊〉 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 Ma∣ry: 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 distur∣bance 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 So∣journer with you: Give me a Possession, and a bury∣ing place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight, Gen. 23. 3, 4. Though he so tender∣ly 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 decen∣cy 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 be∣longeth 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 excel∣lent Soul, which drew mine affection, and com∣manded my desires. Had that Soul and body con∣tinued their Society, I had been freed from my laments: but they have bid farewell till the ge∣neral Resurrection, and hence am I enforced to utter my complaints. I weep for my loss be∣cause

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 layed to sleep in the grave, if I mourn too much, it will be justly suspected that too much I loved the worst of my Husband. His Soul, which was his best, is now in perfection, and may not be lamented: his Body which is the worst and grosser part of him, is now to be committed to the Earth whence it came. Thither it must go, to that place I must commend it; otherwise my former love may be turned into loathing: and that which I esteemed when it was alive, I shall be forced to abhor, if I keep it from the Grave. O it grieveth me each minute that I think of my dearest; it troubleth and perplexeth me with disturbed thoughts, when I consider how frequently I loved him, yet cannot enliven him. But these are only the fond concep∣tions of an erring phantasie; and tell me that I loved him more than I should, or else now I would not grieve so much as I do. If my love to God be so great as I pretend, I shall thankfully acknowledg his Love to the departed. O let it never be said that my Love was Idolatry, in affecting him, too much, who is but dust and ashes.

But why sit I musing in these pensive thoughts when I should rather prepare for the burial of the dead? Have I taken a course for the place of his Rest, where his cold body may be laid to sleep? This is a duty which every age hath been careful to perform. It was a greater argument of Jehoja∣kim's

fury against Uriah the Prophet, that he cast his dead body into the graves of the common People, than that he slew him with the Sword, Jer. 26. 23. It hath also been a testimony of God's revenge, when he suffered not the dead to have a decent interment. If a Man beget an hundred Children (saith the Preach∣er) and live many years, so that the days of his years be many; and his Soul be not filled with good, and al∣so that he have no burial, I say that an untimely birth is better than he, Eccles. 6. 3. When the Man of God had disobeyed his command, the old Pro∣phet told him, saying, Thy Carcass shall not come into the Sepulcher of thy Fathers, 1 King. 13. 22. This Curse was accounted as full of dread, as a∣ny that was sent upon the Sons of Men.

But on the contrary Abijah the Prophet telleth the Wife of Jeroboam concerning her sick son Abijah, saying, Arise, get thee to thine house; and when thy feet enter into the city, the Child shall die: But all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him; for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the Grave, because in him there is found some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam, 1 Kings 14. 12, 13. A∣gain, when Huldah the Prophetess did foretell the destruction of Jerusalem, but a respite thereof in the time of Josiah, she told him, saying, Behold, saith the Lord, I will gather thee to thy Fathers; and thou shalt be gathered into thy Grave in peace, 2 Kings 22. 20. Thus hath it often discovered the wrath of the Almighty, when the carkasses of the dead have been denyed their funerals: and on the con∣trary, it hath sometimes manifested his love, when they have peaceably been brought to their longest home. Burial is the last of duties which we owe unto our friends, to which both religion, and nature, and civility do prompt us forward. When Isaac, being old and full of days, did give up

the Ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people; his two sons Esau and Jacob buried him, Gen. 35. 29. When John the Baptist was beheaded in the prison his disciples came and took up the body, and buried it, Mat. 14. 12. The disciple that was wil∣ling to follow my Redeemer, yet accounted it his duty to attend on the funeral of his deceased Fa∣ther, and therefore desired, saying, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my Father, cap. 8. 21.

Even the glutton in the Gospel had so much fa∣vour as to be brought to his Grave: so saith the text; The rich man also died, and was buried, Lu. 16. 22.

It is then the duty of the living to provide even for the dead, that they may be buried in peace.

But is it a matter of any moment in what place we lay the bodies of our deceased friends? Is it not all one, whether in the fields, or whether in our Golgotha's? No doubtless, for even the laws of our land are so justly severe against Idolaters, that we suffer not the convicted to be buried in our ground which is dedicated to this use. Neither may they be permitted to mix with our dead, who have desperately become the murderers of them∣selves: but they lye in the roads, where a stake is set up, to give notice to passengers that they unnaturally hastened their own departure. Is it a matter of some moment to us who are living, that we lay our deceased friends in a place conve∣nient: for although it extendeth not to their knowledge, yet it redoundeth to their honour.

But is it not all one in what part of the ground I bury my Husband, so I lay his body in a place that is set apart for that purpose? Surely no; al∣though it is equal to him, yet is it not to me. Al∣though at the resurrection we shall meet again, at what distance soever our Graves shall be made;

yet there is some reason we should be buried so near as we may, that as our bodies were injoyned a mutual society in the time of life so they might also sleep together in the silent dust. It is but just that one grave should receive the bodies of us, for whom one bed was designed upon earth; that as in our lives we were made one flesh, so after our deaths we should make one lump. When Barzillai was offered a favour from King David, and wooed to spend his time at the Court, he besought the King, saying, Let thy servant, I pray thee, turn back again, that I may die in mine own city, and be buried by the grave of my Father, and of my Mother, 2 Sam. 19. 37. Friends have ever desired to lye by friends, that those especially who were knit together in blood & affection, might be joyned together in their earth and ashes. In the Cave of Machpelah which Abraham bought of Ephron for four hundred shekels of silver, was buried both himself, and Sarah his wife, Gen. 23. 16. There lay Isaac, and Rebekah his wife, cap. 49. 31. and there lay Leah, and Jacob her husband, chap. 50. 13. Though Saphira died by the judgment of God for the lye she had told: yet when she fell dead at Peter's feet, and yielded up the Ghost, the young men came in, and carried her forth, and buried her by her Husband, Act. 5. 10. It is therefore convenient that I choose a place for burial of my Husband, where (if so it may be) I my self may be layed. Convenient it is, but not absolutely necessary; for the souls shall not enjoy the less felicity for the remoter distance, and separation of the bodies: nei∣ther shall the bodies either be sensible of the disjunction; or shall it retard their meeting at the general day. Although the bones of Jacob were carried into the land of Canaan, and buried in the c•…•…ve of the field of Machpelah which Abraham bought, according as he had made his son Joseph swear to

him before his death, Gen. 50. 13. 5. yet he had for∣merly buried his beloved Rachel in the way to Ephrah, which is Bethlehem, and there Jacob set a pillar up∣on her Grave, which was called the pillar of Rachel's grave, cap. 35. 19, 20.

Thus do I sit and muse about the burial of him whom so dearly I loved. Yet methinks I could most readily preserve him from the dust, if either it were in my power, or might bring me content. But go he must, and I must follow him. This nar∣row room of his coffin must be put in trust with his mouldring earth: and he who in his life time was entertained with variety of spacious chambers, must now securely sleep in the chamber of a Grave. O how it grieveth me to see this effect of sin! Had not Adam fallen, my husband had not died. But oh, he's dead; and since nor tears, nor sigh's, nor groans, nor cries have power to recall him, it is there∣fore my duty, and it shall be my care to ex∣press my love to him in the rites of his fune∣ral. Friends shall carry him; neighbours shall attend on him; and my tears shall embalm him. The preacher shall be instructed in the vertue which adorned him, that so he may commend them to others for their due imitation. The hearers shall greedily attend to the prai∣ses of the dead; and not only acknowledg their truth, but contentedly wish like him to live, and like him to die.

Now, O now another storm approacheth in mine eyes: for the company beginneth to ap∣proach my doors; and my neighbours and my friends are hastening to my house. But when they come let them not think to comfort me, lest they add to my grief while they vain∣ly strive to conquer my Passion. I cannot allow

an intermission or forbearance of Tears, lest I should appear unnatural. If I do not weep, I I did not love. O methinks I could willingly weep my self into a Statue, that I might become his monument. It is the height of injustice to forbid my Tears, since the delight of mine Eyes is now to be carryed to the place of Oblivion. Methinks every thing seemeth to call for a Tear, which is the object of a Sense. Those Bells which so mournfully accord in their Tunes, in∣vite my Neighbours to come to the Funeral; yet not to appear with empty Eyes, unless they come to learn how to weep. These Herbs, these Strew∣ings, which lately were fresh and at ease in their Beds, are willing to lye even under the feet of these that will mourn: And because they have no Eyes themselves to weep us a Tear, they lye to receive what shall drop from the mourners. These Sprigs of Rosemary do call to my remem∣brance with what joy and delight they pleased me at my Nuptials: But (lest I should forget the greater happiness of the marriage with the •…•…amb) even this Herb which served at our Wed∣ding does attend at the Funeral. O methinks these Spriggs have sad Rhetorick sitting on their leaves; for those drops of Water which hang up∣on them, were once the Blood of the fragrant Flowers, and now are the Tears of the drooping Plants. So ready were these Spriggs to come when I desired them, that they slipped from their stems to attend these obsequies. These exotick Perfumes which delight the sense, are willing to be burned, rather than the living shall be offended with the dead. These sable Garments strike Terror into the Eye, and com∣mand the spectator to lend us a Sigh. And what other Lecture is read here, or taught,

but God's decree of Man's Mortality? The chief Speaker and Orator is he who hath now forgot∣ten to speak; for the locking up of his Senses, the silence of his Tongue, and the coldness of his pale and frozen Body, have more force to prove the shortness of our Lives, than the most Eloquent Strains of the best Rhetorician. These Bells assure me, that my Life is but a sound, a noise, an air: These Perfumes tell me, That it is but a Vapour: These Herbs do teach me, that Flesh is as Grass, 1 Pet. 1. 24. And these Tears, these early Tears, which so suddenly arise, when my Heart doth call, teach me Mortality in their hasty falling. And who can choose but weep for the shortness of our Lives? Who can forbear a Tear at the Funeral of a Friend? It was a curse inflicted upou the wicked Jews, that they neither should be buried, nor yet la∣mented. They shall die of grievous deaths (saith the Prophet) they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried: but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth; and their carkasses shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth, Jer. 16. 4.

Grace must, and most willingly shall have the chief predominance; but let Nature have like∣wise its qualifyed Drops, so they grow not immoderate. Though my loss be the greatest to whom he was a Husband, yet others may weep too, to whom he was a Friend: When Joseph went to bury his Father, then all the ser∣vants of Pharaoh went with him, and the Elders of his house, and all the Elders of the Land of Egypt: And all the house of Joseph, and his Bre∣thren, and his Fathers House: And they came to the Threshing-Floor of Arad, and there they mour∣ned with a great and v•…•…y sore lamentation: and

he made a mourning for his Father seven days, Gen. 50. 7, 8, 10. When Lazarus was buried, and the Jews saw Mary rise up hastily, and go out, they little imagined that she went to meet the Lord of Life: but they followed her, saying, She goeth unto the Grave to weep there, Jo. 11. 31. When her Brother Lazarus was dead, she wept, and her sister wept, and her friends the Jews wept: And when Christ did see them all thus weeping, he was so far from blaming them, that he wept himself, ver. 35. When Josiah was slain, his servants took him out of the Chariot wherein he was wounded, and put him in the second Chariot which he had, and they brought him to Jerusalem: And he died, and was buried in one of the Se∣pulchres of his Fathers: and all Judah and Jeru∣salem mourned for Josiah, 2 Chron. 35. 24. When Samuel was dead, all Israel lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, in his own City, 1 Sam. 28. 3. When the old Prophet took up the Car∣kass of the Man of God, who had been slain by a Lion, he laid it upon the Ass, and brought it back; and came to the City to mourn, and to bu∣ry him: And he laid his Carkass in his own grave, and they mourned over him, saying, Alas my Bro∣ther, 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 Jeph∣thah'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 sto∣ned, devo•…•… Men carried hi•…•… 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 pour∣ed 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 Bo∣dy 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 preach∣ed, 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 de∣lightful Colours, when we celebrate the for∣mer: 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: On∣ly 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 pre∣sent 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 es∣pecially take heed that I err not in the cause of these Laments: for if I grieve at the hap∣piness 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 un∣der 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 to∣gether 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 Re∣ligion 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, be∣cause my Brother was subject to Corruption. But is this the adversity for which he was born, ac∣cording 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 Adver∣sity? Had he been a cause of my least distur∣bance

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, be∣cause for his sake they arise who cannot allay them. Had we lived in hatred, his death per∣adventure 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 af∣fection? 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 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 affec∣tion 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 toge∣ther, 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 E∣gyptians

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 uni∣ted both in the Profession and the Love of Chri∣stianity: 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 sur∣vive 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 monu∣ment. 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 friend∣ship 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 si•…•…test 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 al∣ways 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 a∣bove 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 nei∣ther his Counsel, nor his society, nor his fidelity, nor his Religion could preserve him from the sen∣tence 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, Ah 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 mo•…•…rneth 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 sor∣row for the loss of such a Brother? I will grieve, I will lament when I remember the Love, and the co•…•…tesies 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: 'tis this, 'tis this there∣fore that doth heighten and increase my sorrows, even that my tears cannot recover him whom I lament. But cease, sond 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. 'Tis true indeed; 'tis 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 af∣fection, 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 survi∣veth.

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 en∣forced unto it: 'tis the law of nature; 'tis an act of necessity; I cannot avoid it. Yet, though I weep, I will labour for content: and since my God (as I undoubtedly believe) hath been pleased to crown my brother with glory; I will beseech him to comfort me here with his grace. I will not immoderately weep, lest I injure my self: I will not weep without hope, lest I offend my Ma∣ker: but that I may weep as I should, and hope as I ought, and live as I am required, I will humble my self at the feet of him to whom my brother is gone.

Put on Mourning Apparel. Sermon III.

ECCLES. 7. 2.

It is better to go to the House of Mourning, then to the House of feasting: for that is the end of all Men, and the living will lay it to his heart.

IT is evident, that in this Verse that I have now read to you, the Wise man speaks of such a mourning, as is occasioned by the Death of friends. And he saith of that Mourning, that it is better than to be in the House of Feasting.

That he speaks of such a mourning, appears by that which followeth: First, he saith that this is the end of all men, he speaks therefore of such a mourning, as is upon the end of men, up∣on the departure of men out of this World: And Secondly, he saith, the living will lay it to his heart: He speaks of such an end of Men, as is op∣posite to the life of Men.

In a word, By the House of mourning, he mean∣eth a house wherein some one is dead, which gi∣veth occasion to the parties that dwell there, of sorrow and mourning for their departed friend. It is better to go to such a house.

By the House of feasting, he meaneth not only such a house wherein there is feasting, but also all manner of abundance: As commonly Men shew their wealth in Feasting.

By the end of all men, he meaneth such an end

of a man as that he ceaseth to be as he was up∣on earth, and ceaseth to do as he did upon Earth.

By laying to heart, he meaneth such a serious considering, and pondering, and discussing of every thing, as they may bring it to some use, may draw some Fruit, and benefit out of it to themselves.

So that the sum and substance of the words is thus much; It is a better thing for a Man to be conversant about the thoughts of death, and to take hold of all occasions that may bring the se∣rious consideration thereof into his heart, than to de∣light himself in those worldly pleasures, and sensual delights, wherein for the most part men spend their lives.

The words consist of a Proposition; And a proof or confirmation of that Proposition.

The Proposition. It is better to go to the House of Mourning, than to go to the house of Feasting.

The Confirmation or proof of it, is double: First, Because this is the end of all Men: Second∣ly, Because the living will lay it to his heart.

In the former, he calleth the House wherein any one dies, the House of Mourning. It is better to go to the House of Mourning.

Where you see; That the Death of Men with whom we live, is a just occasion of Mourning to some.

The holy Ghost would not have described the House wherein a man dies in this manner, if there were not some equity and justice in mourning upon such an occasion. For he speaks not here (as I conceive) only with reference, and respect to the common Custom of natural and worldly Men; but with respect to the natu∣ral disposition and affection, that is in the heart

of man, and the equity of the thing. There should be visible signs of Mourning, and there is in it a just occasion, when men are taken away by death.

When Sarah died, the text saith, that Abra∣ham came to Mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her, Gen. 23. 2. And Esau, when he speaks of the death of his Father Isaac, he calleth the time of his death, the time of Mourning, the days of Mourn∣ing for my Father are at hand, Gen. 27. 41. So Joseph when his Father was dead, it is said that he mourn∣ed for his Father seven days, Gen. 50. 10. When Samuel was dead, all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, 2 Sam. 25. 1. When Josiah was dead, there was such a great lamen∣tation for him, that it became a pattern of excessive mourning; In that day there shall be a great mourn∣ing in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddon, zach. 12. 10. Our Sa∣viour Christ when he looked upon Lazarus, he wept, because he was dead. And those Ephesians, this was it that broke their hearts, they sorrow∣ed most of all for the words which St. Paul Spake, that they should see his face no more, Acts 20. 38.

We come now to the proof of the point, why going to the House of Mourning, taking these occa∣sions to affect our hearts, is better than to go to the House of Feasting, than to take occasions of de∣lighting our selves in outward things. What's the reason? It is double.

First, This is the end of all men.

What is the end of all men? The House of Mourn∣ing. That which he meaneth by the House of Mourning here, is th•…•… •…•…ch he calleth the end of all men, that which putte•…•…h an end to all men, and to their actions upon earth, and that is Death.

So that the main point, that in this place the wise man intendeth, is but thus much, I will deliver it in the very words of the Text, we need not vary from them at all.

Death is the end of all Men.

But here it will be objected; We find some men that did not die. It is said of Enoch, that he was translated, that he should not see death, Heb. 11. 5. And of Elijah, that he went up by a whirl-wind into heaven in a chariot of fire, 2 King. 2. 11. These men did not die.

To this, I answer briefly, Particular and ex∣traordinary examples, do not frustrate general rules: God may sometimes dispense with some particular men, and yet the rule remain firm. I say it may be so.

But secondly we answer, They had that that was in stead of Death to them, some change, though they did not die after the manner of other men. So at the end of the world, it is said, that those that are alive shall be caught up and changed, in the twinkling of an eye; there shall be a sudden, and almost undiscernable, unperceivable change, which shall be to them in stead of death.

But it will be objected further; There is a promise made in Joh. 11. That those that believe shall never die.

To this I answer with that common distinction; There is a twofold death, which the Scripture cal∣leth, the first and the second death: The first death, is the death of the body, that ariseth from a dis∣junction, and separation of the body from the soul; And there is a second death, that ariseth from the dis-junction, and separation of the soul from God. The first death is no death pro∣perly, the second Death is that which is truly Death: And so they shall not die. A man may have 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 o∣thers.

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 ano∣ther, while we live therefore.

It did sinite 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 them∣selves 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 parting will come; let us make it easie now, by making good use of one another while we live, that when friends are took away, we may have cause to thank God, that we have had com∣munion, and comfort of their fellowship and society, the benefit of their graces, the fruit of their lives: and not sorrow for the want of them by 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 part∣eth a man from his friends, from all his worldly ac∣quaintance, 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 part∣eth the Minister and the people: see it in the case of the people of Israels lamenting the death of Samu∣el; & 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 Jona∣than, that were so knit together in their love, that he bewaileth him, Woe is me for my brother Jona∣than, 2 Sam. 1. 9.

This is necessary consideration for us that live, that we may learn to know how to carry our selves towards our worldly friends, and how to mode∣rate our selves in our enjoyment of these worldly comforts. Look upon every worldly thing as a mortal, as a dying comsort. Look upon Children and friends, as dying comforts. Look upon your

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 possessed 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 hus∣band are at the door, and shall carry thee out also.

Again this Doctrine serves to reprove, that sin∣ful 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 fond∣ness, and with too great excess and distemper of affection, look upon their dead friends, as if God could never repair the loss, nor make a∣mends 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 died for thee. What is all this but to look on friends, rather as Gods than men, as if all sufficiency were included in them only? Men look on their friends, as Micah did upon his Idol, when they had bereaved him of it, they took away all his comfort and quiet; You have taken away my Gods (saith he) and what have I more, Judg. 8. 24.

This now is an ill taking to heart the death of friends, to mourn as men without l•…•…pe.

Secondly, there is taking to heart, and con∣sidering of the death of men, but it is an un∣righteous 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 a∣nother 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 tenta∣tions, 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 To∣wer in Siloe fell, think you that they were sin∣ners 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 man die by an ordinary sickness, having his under∣standing, and memory continued to the end? Doth such a man die in inward peace and comfort, with clear and evident apprehensions 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 livest make of this now? Certainly, let the sweetness of their death, make thee in love with the good∣ness

of their lives. That is the only way to a happy death, to a comfortable end indeed, the leading of a fruitful and profitable life.

The main business that a man hath to do, is to make sure of himself in this life. It was the question that Saint Austin made to those that told him of a violent death that seized up∣on one. But how did he live? (saith he.) He made no matter how he went out, but how he carried himself in the world. And truly this is the great Question, that every man should put to his soul. I must out of the world, how have I lived when I was in the world? had GOD any glory by me? had men any good by me? have I furthered my account a∣gainst the day reckoning, that I may give it up with joy.

But now he is Dead, wherefore should I Fast? Sermon IV.

2 SAM. xii. 23.

But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

HEre you have a large Description of that incomparable Love which our princely Prophet David, that good King of Israel, did bear towards his Son, who was no sooner vi∣sited with sickness, but that his most loving, tender and indulgent Father made earnest sup∣plication and Prayer unto Almighty God, the only Physician both of Soul and Body, to restore him to his wonted Health again; which when he saw how that it could not be gained, like one in a trance presently fell down upon the ground, where he (so long as his inno∣cent Child could move) did lye both night and day; ever fasting, weeping, and crying

out most lamentably, as it is evident, ver. 16. saying, O who, who shall deliver this poor Soul from the cruel jaws of all-devouring Death? Where∣fore, so soon as the Elders did behold him, being moved to pity, they came like good loving Neighbours unto him, with wet-shot Eyes, and desired him by all means possible to rise up from the ground, and not to take it so much to heart: But for all that, they could not prevail, he would not leave his low and la∣mentable Lodging, so long as his poor sick Child was alive: Niobe-like, he wept still, and would not be comforted. He had (as St. Bernard makes mention) a Week of Sorrows: When he saw his sweet Child, that poor Infant, still panting and striving for Death, unto which he was so soon sentenced, he could not refrain from Tears, and leave off sorrowing, as you may see by this his mournful Elegy: But as soon as the Child was dead, when it had paid that debt which we must all, and we know not how soon, being only certain in uncertainty; then he could rise from the ground, change his Cloaths, wash his Hands, and break his long Fast: Where∣upon his Servants, as soon as it did arrive un∣to their knowledge, ver. 21. began to expostu∣late, and say unto him, What thing is this that thou dost? Thou didst fast and weep for the sick Child, so long as it was alive; but now it being dead, thou canst leave off all doleful Lamentations, and rise and eat: 'Tis true, (saith he) I could not do so before, seeing it did strive so for death; but now I can, and this is my reason: For now he is dead.

In these words, as they distribute themselves you have these three following Circumstances, regardable.

First, A serious Consideration; But now he is dead.

Secondly, An acknowledgment of his own Im∣becillity and weakness, Can I bring him back a∣gain? And then,

Thirdly, and lastly, His Confidence; I shall go to him, &c.

But now he is dead, &c.

Now of these in their order severally: And First of that serious Consideration which King David took, when that his sweet Child was dead, which every one ought to do, and that was, Why shall I fast any longer? Why shall I weep, and cry thus mournfully both day and night, seeing he is dead and gone? No, I will not do it; for if I should, it would not bring him again, it would not revive, but still add more grief unto my fable thoughts, which are too grievous and sorrowful for me a forlorn creature to endure.

But now for the better adavancement of your knowledge, and the better managing of my discourse, you may with me consider these four following particulars, which (as it is most requisite and necessary) are to be treated of severally.

First, The person fasting and mourning.

Secondly, The person mourned for.

Thirdly, The manner of his Mourning: And then,

Fourthly and lastly, The Reason which he gives why he doth not continue (after the death of his dear Child) any longer in that doleful condition.

Now the very first in this Tragical Chorus is King David, that sweet Singer of Israel, who was so loving and tender-hearted, that he

could not forbear to sympathize, condole, and to have a natural compassion on all, as his own words give warrant, Psal. 35. 13. For, saith he there, As soon as I perceived that my neighbours grew sick, I could not refrain my self from mourn∣ing, but cloathed my self with Sackcloath, and hum∣bled my soul with fasting; which are the Ensigns of Sorrow, or as some say, the Weapons of Repentance. To mourn for the Sick, is both natural, commendable, and profitable; and therefore, says the Poet.

Est quaedam flere Voluptas:

That there is much pleasure in Mourning: it still disburdens the heart, by opening its sluces, and dischargeth Conchas in canales, Ci∣sterns into Conduit-pipes, which run like Ri∣vers of water, Psal. 119. 136. And therefore, says holy David, Mine eyes gush out with rivers of water: It was an usual custom in this good King, to fast, pray, and mourn continually for all persons under affliction, whether of Mind, Body, or estate: And therefore, think you, was it possible that his merciful eyes should not be eclipsed with tears, when he took his Fare∣well of his sweet Babe, which his eyes could never behold again, until that he himself did pass into the low Chambers of death? Seven days (like Job in his troubles) he turned and tossed himself upon the ground, still crying out most mournfully, as one utterly undone for his Son, expecting always that God al∣mighty would be favourable and gracious unto him, and grant his Son a longer life: but when he saw that he would not be treated to prolong his days upon earth, resolved fully

with himself to leave off his sorrowing, and to say with patient Job, The Lord giveth, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the Name of the Lord, Job 1. 21. The Lord gave me my Child, and now hath he taken him away from me a∣gain, therefore why should I any longer fast and mourn? why should I weep and sigh thus bitterly; yea and why should I, even I feeble Creature (whose Life is but a vapour, a very moment) lay it thus to heart, and take on thus sadly? Can I bring him back again? No, I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. Job I say, in all his cruel troubles, could not be more patient, than this princely Prophet was here. This his serious consideration doth not only bespeak him to be religious, wise and patient; but also to be most holy. Job, although a very patient man, never could nor would do thus; but cursed even the day wherein he was born, Job 3. 3. saying. Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night wherein it was said, There is a Man-child conceived. Yet further, if that you do but look upon this princely Pro∣phet and good King, in his Obsequies for his Son Absolom, you will find him no otherwise affected, than he was for this poor Infant, as it is made manifest, 2 Sam. 18. 33. Oh! Absolom, Absolom (faith he there by way of Epizeuxis when that the sad tidings concerning the death of his well-beloved son had arrived un∣to his kdowledg) I would to God that I had given up the Ghost, and died for thee; yea even for thee, my Son, Absalom, my Son, Absalom; Oh! Absalom, my Son, my Son! As soon as he per∣ceived Cushi to draw near unto him, ver. 32. then, yea even then he had an Earthquake in his Soul, his faculties were all set on fire, and

when that the sad sorrowful news was told him of his dearly beloved Sons death, then in a rage he put all out of the Room where he was, and fell upon his knees with wet-shod Eyes, still wringing his hands, and wishing heartily that God had been pleased to take him instead of his son Absalom, that precious Jewel of his. I say that Abraham the Father of the Faithful, could not have taken it out worse; he could not have been more sorrow∣ful, if that his dear Son Isaac had been of∣fered; nor our old Grandsire Adam, the Father of the Living, for his slain Son Abel, than holy David that good King of Israel did here for these two Sons of his; but especially for Ab∣salom. 'Tis true, so long as the sweet Babe was alive, still striving and strugling in his sight daily and hourly for Death, which (like that Serpent Regulus) by no Charms can be charmed; he took on most grievously: but when he had yielded up the Ghost, when Death, Gods special Bailiff, had arrested him with a Habeas Corpus, then he could leave off sorrowing, and resolve fully with himself to fast no longer. So long as it was alive (saith he in the former Verse) I had hopes that God would hear my Prayer, be gracious unto me, and prolong his days here with me in this habi∣table Orb, but now it hath pleased almighty God to take unto himself my dear Child out of this miserable world, wherefore should I fast? wherefore should I take on thus sadly, being all is in vain? No, I will not do it, I will not be guilty of such a great Offence: for now he is dead, wherefore should, &c. Daniel that holy Prophet was of such a tender disposition, that he wept and mourned full three weeks together,

not suffering himself to eat any pleasant thing, Dan. 10. 2. Esau wept for the loss of his Bles∣sing; and Joash for Elisha being ready to die. Job wept and mourn'd for such as were in sor∣row, trouble or any other adversity, and for his own afflictions; and so did Isaiah, with the good Prophet Jeremiah for the misery of the Israelites to come, Jer. 13. Naomi wept and mourn'd most dolefully departing from her Coun∣try, and so did Nehemiah for Jerusalem's misery. Elisha did mourn and weep bitterly seeing the evil which Hazael should do to the Israelites Children; and so did the Women for their harmless Children slain by Herod, Luk. 23. 28. Insomuch that their cry penetrating the clouds, and knocking at Heavens gate, did enter into the ears of the Lord of Hosts.

And to preceed: Abraham mourned and wept bitterly for his Wife being deceased: Abigail for Uriah her loving husband: David for Saul, Abner and Jonathan; the Egyptians for Jacob seven days; Jacob for Joseph supposing him dead; Joseph for Jacob being dead; Jeremiah for Josiah with great Lementation, and the Israelites for Moses and Aaron thirty days. But holy David here (in my Text) took a better course; who (as soon as his child was departed) left off sorrowing, saying, Now he is dead, where∣fore should I mourn? &c. St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans, bids us weep with them that weep, Rom. 12. 15. And for the dead, 1 Thess. 4. 13. but not as others sorrow, which have no hope. We must not weep and mourn immoderately, lest with Samuel we be reproved, when he lamented overmuch for Saul: but moderately, as St. Paul that blessed Apostle did for Epaphroditus, Phil. 2. 27. They mourn moderately, do nothing

contrary to the Word of God: For Almighty God, by whom Death is inflicted, would have the nature thereof to be such, that it should bring Tears and sorrow, not only unto them which die; but unto those also of whom they that die are beloved. Who (but a man of a sto∣ny heart, in the mourning Troop accompany∣ing his loving Neighbours deceased Son unto his Grave, dying in the Spring of his Youth, even at that Age when he was most able to comfort his dearest Friends, even her that brought him into the World, or in the Winter of her Widowhood, when she did most want him) could refrain from mourning and weep∣ing? Children are walking Images of their tender Parents, even Flesh of their Flesh, and Bone of their Bone, the Wealth of the poor man, and the Honour of the Rich; it must then be one step unto Weeping Cross, when any Parents lose their Children.

St. Ambrose in his book concerning Naboth, ch. 5. makes mention of a Tragical Accident: How that in his time there was a poor man, in extream necessity, constrained to sell one of his Sons in perpetual Bondage, that he might hereby save the rest from a present Famine; who calling all his dear Children unto him, and beholding them as Olive Branches round about his Table, could not resolve which he might best spare; his eldest Son was the strength of his Youth, even he that called him first Fa∣ther, and therefore not willing to part with him; his youngest Boy was the Nest-chick, the dearly beloved of his mother, and therefore not willing to part with him; a third most re∣sembled his Progenitors, having his Fathers Bill, and his mothers eye, therefore not willing by

any means to part with him; one was more loving than the rest, and another more Dili∣gent; so that the good Father in conclusion a∣mong so many, could not afford to part with any. Nay, it is almost Death to some, to part with any of their Children, but for a Year or two, although that they go but a little way, and may return when they will: Therefore could David be thought blame-worthy, to mourn for his Child, whom he could not see till he went to him; but now he is dead, &c.

And this brings me now unto the second thing considerable in my Text, which is the Person whom David that good King, wept and mourned for thus dolefully, and that was for his Son, an innocent Babe, who was no sooner born into this miserable World, but visited with a mortal Disease, and so cut off for the Life of Urias in his Infancy. The Life of his Son Am∣mon 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) num∣bered; yea, and (as our Saviour Christ says) his very last hour is limited: He was made of the mould of the Earth, and therefore thi∣ther shall he return; and as all have one en∣trance into Life, the like going out shall they have to death: Naked came we into this most misera∣ble 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 transgressi∣ons, 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 to∣wards God, Death the lodge of all mens lives, comes with insensible degrees upon the sons of

men; it's impartial hand is always destroying; no Wisdom can appease, no Policy can prevent, nor any earthly Riches redeem us from the Grave; semel aut bis morimur omnes, some once, some twice, we must all die; we have an old Statute for it, that this earthly Tabernacle must suffer corruption, and therefore the Poet sings sweetly;

Post hominem vermis, post vermen foetor, & horror; Sic in non hominem vertitur omnis homo.

As man came from the Earth, so thither shall he return, and become a habitation and food for Worms. If any had been exempted from the fatal and general sentence of Death, then (without all question) our most blessed Savi∣our, 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, al∣though never so near and dear unto us, be de∣parted, 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 com∣monly

wish for Death; they honour all that contemns it, but cannot endure, or heartily love any that is afraid of it; this makes many na∣turally love a Souldier, and honour those tat∣tered, 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 dilem∣ma 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 con∣summation 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 e∣vermore 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 seques∣tered from all Worldly contentment, imprison∣ing his Body from all the pleasures of this mortal Life, ever making his bed to swim, and watering his couch with tears. He mourned as one for his only Son, eating ashes like Bread, and mingling his Drink with weeping; still weeping, wailing, and crying as one that had parted with his dear Mother, Psalm 35. 14. or as a virgin girded with sack-cloath for the husband of her youth, Joel 11. 8. Nature (being we are Members of one Body, thinking the mishap of other men to be our own, through the mutual compassion of Christ's Body) makes us desirous to live together so long as is possible; therefore was it possible for David to refrain from tears, when he took his farewel of one Child, part of his own Body? No, he could not forbear crying, until he began to consider with himself that he was dead, and that the Death of the Saints is precious in the sight of the Lord, and the day thereof better to them, than the day of their birth▪ being then

(and not before, as Saint John Says, Revel. 14. 13.) they rest from their labour; then, yea then, and not before, he could rise, change his cloaths, wash his hands, and break his fast. Now such (I say) if they will mourn, ought to be your manner, that is, so long as your friends are vi∣sited with Sickness, they ought to sympathize, condole, and have a fellow-feeling of their Maladies, ever providing to your power, all good means for their Health, and Recovery, and for good looking to them, in the time of their weakness; yea, you must pray for them, and use all lawful and good means possible for their ease, and succour; so long as it shall please God, to continue them with you in that sorrowful condition; but then, as soon as it shall please Almighty God to call any of your Relations from you (although never so near, and dear unto you; yea, although he be the staff of your Life, and your only Joy, and Comfort) you ought to refrain from tea•…•…s, and immoderate mourning; cheering up your selves, and resolving fully in your mind as holy David did here, lest that you displease the Creator, and Preser∣ver both of our Souls and Bodies, saying, Now he is dead, &c. for there is a time to Mourn, and a time to Rejoice, I took on (saith he) most sadly in the former verse, so long as he was alive, because I thought still that God would restore him to his Health again, and grant him a longer time to stay with me his loving Father, but now, seeing that it cannot be obtained, I'll 〈◊〉〈◊〉 my self no more, for now he is dead, dead, dead; now he is dead and gone, now he is past calling back again, wherefore, or to what end should I fast, can I bring him back again? And thus much concerning

the manner of David's Mourning for his Son; wherefore that which shall have the next place in my discourse, is concerning the reason this Princely Prophet, and good King gave, why he would not continue any longer in his sor∣rowful condition, and that is, Can I bring him back again? can I revive him? can I put life into him? No, it is beyond my Skill, to add one Moment to any mans life, I can neither call him back, nor go to him my self, now he is dead, and gone, all the world cannot save him alive, I must follow him, but he shall not return to me. Here you may see an acknowledgment of his own imbecillity, & weakness in recovering his dead Child, can I bring him back again? It hath been experienced, and found possible for a man, from the ashes of a Plant, to revive the Plant, and from its cinder to recall it to its stalk, and leaves again, but to call those that are ascended up to Heaven, or descended into the world of Damned Souls, is far beyond the power of Man; Abraham being full of faith as it is Evident, Heb. 11. 19. having commanded that his son Isaac should be offered, thought that God would raise him up again from the dead: therefore, why did not David hope the same, the reason, as Peter observes, upon this place in my Text, is diverse. Abraham had the promise concerning his Son Isaac, he knew that God would do whatsoever he desired, rather than his promise should not be fulfilled, therefore he came with a willing mind unto that offering: but David had not such promises concerning this his dearly beloved Son, but rather a threatning, seeing he was ready to die, or just newly dead; wherefore being not encouraged in the least (his own Conscience telling him, how it was Im∣possible,

unless God the efficient cause of our Life, by whom we live, move, and have our being, would restore him to Life again) fully •…•…esolved with himself to leave off sorrowing, and to pre∣pare himself to go to him, seeing he was not to return; But now, &c. and this brings me unto the last thing considered, and that was his confidence how he should follow, &c. Here you may see how that David did not doubt in the least, but that his sweet Babe was ascended up to Heaven, which is far beyond thought, and glorious beyond report, and that he himself should follow quickly after; some are of opinion, and will not stick to maintain their damnable doctrine with devilish Arguments, that Infants dying unbaptiz'd are not capable of salvation; which is as false as God is true, else, what be∣came of those Children of Bethlehem and in the coasts thereof, from two years old, and under, among whom questionless some were uncircum∣sized or not baptized, when Murthered by bloody Herod, who would not suffer the King of Heaven, and Earth, and the whole World, to Reign in Jury, certainly their condition is very good, for al∣though he had power to hurt their innocent Bodies, yet he had not power to hurt their poor harmless Souls, being hid with Christ Jesus, that sinless Babe, in God. Our Saviour seems to have a special love for Children above all other, which made him say in his holy Gos∣pel, suffer the little Children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of Hea∣ven, Matth. 10. 14. Now David knowing no less, might well believe that his Child was received into Heaven. O blessed Babe, which came to the wished Haven without any Tem∣pest; enjoying the comforts of another Life,

before thou knew the cruel miseries of this Life, having thy head crowned with happiness, before thou wert covered with hair; thy dear Father (although a King) could never have pleasur'd thee in this vail of misery, as thou art now in the Kingdom of Heaven, where Like∣wise now the Father is. But now he is dead, so that you may see David's shall go, came at last to is gone. The life, and spirit of all our actions is the Resurrection, and stable ap∣prehension; that our ashes shall enjoy the fruit of our pious Endeavours; without this all Religion is a fallacy: how shall the dead arise? is no question of a true Christians Faith. Job was ever confident that our estranged, and di∣vided Ashes should unite again, that our sepa∣rated dust after so many pilgrimages, and trans∣formations into the parts of Minerals, Plants, Animals, Elements, should at the voice of God return into their Primitive shapes, and joyn a∣gain to make up their primary, and predesti∣nate forms; as it is evident by his own words; for, saith he, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and tho•…•…gh after my skin worms destroy this Body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for my self, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, Job 19, 25, 26, 27. •…•…hat is made to be Immortal, nature cannot, nor will the voice of God •…•…stroy. As at the Creation of the World, all that distinct species that we behold, lay involved in one Mass, till the fruitful voice of God separated this united multitude into its several species? so at the last day, when those corrupted relicks shall be scattered in the wilder∣ness of forms, and seem to have forgot their proper habits, God by a powerful voice, shall

command them back into their proper shapes, and call them out by their single, and indivi∣duals; then shall appear the fertility of Adam, and the Magick of that sperm that hath dilated into so Many millions, seeing our Souls are Immor∣tal, nature cannot, nor will Almighty God de∣stroy; wherefore David that Princely Prophet and good King knowing this, and being fully perswaded, that his Child was gone to Hea∣ven, and that he should follow; left off his Doleful mourning, rised from his law, and lamentable lodging, chang'd his cloaths, washed his hands, went to prayer and brake his long fast, ever cheering up himself, knowing that he should quickly follow, as you may see here by his own words read unto you, But now he is dead wherefore should I fast, can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not re∣turn to me.

The EJACULATION.

GOod Lo•…•…, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉 so 〈◊〉〈◊〉 •…•…re is no returning from 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉? 〈◊〉〈◊〉 assist us by thy divine Grace to improve every 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Time, before we go down 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉〈◊〉, a•…•…d •…•…e seen no more. Is it true tha•…•… our Dear and Pi•…•…s Relations that are dead and go•…•… wi•…•… never return to us again? Then let us prepare to follo•…•… them to an happy Eternity; Good Lord, now seeing all this is rea•…•…y∣true, let us live as men and women th•…•…t have already one foo•…•… in the Grave, Oh let the death of others shew the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of our own Bodies and the many Grey-hairs that are here and there upon

our head put us in mind of our winding-sheet, and of the day of judgment, which is approaching very swiftly towards every one of us: Let the daily instances of our dying Relations take such a living Impression upon our hearts as may deaden them towards all objects on this side Heaven. Good Lord, let us all be all for Heaven, let all our thoughts be Heavenly thoughts, let all our speeches be Heavenly speeches, and let all our Actions be Heavenly Actions, and let all thine ordinances prove Heavenly ordinances to us, ever drawing up our Hearts from Earth to Hea∣ven, seeing we must quickly return to Dust; Good Lord, 'it is a vain Imagination for any Man to think that he can be happy without God, who is the Author of all happiness; or to think that finite and sensual objects can satisfie infinite and spirtual desires? or to think that Temporal uncertainties are more valuable, and more desirable than an interest in Jesus Christ and Eternal Glory. What Joy? what inexpressible Joy will a good Conscience afford us, when we come to be arrested by the cold hands of Death, when we come to make our beds in the si∣lent Grave. We must needs confess it is contrary to Reason, and much more inconsistent with Grace, that we should prefer Earth before Heaven; Yea, there is as little Reason for it, that we should en∣deavour to grasp so much of the Creature into our hand•…•…, when as one Death-Gripe will soon cause us to let go our fastest hold of Created Injoyments. Oh! therefore why should we go about to build a nest for our selves among the Stars, when we have seen so many of our dearest A•…•…quaintance and nearest Relations carried to the Grave before us; and there made a Feast for the Worms to feed upon: Good Lord, therefore do thou make us to know our End, and the measure of our Days, what it is, that so we may be throughly convinced, how frail we are; let us

remember that we have no continuing City here, and therefore it will be necessary for us to seek one that is to come. Let us not spend our flying Daies in meer Impertinences, but let us look after that Eternal In∣heritance which will never fade away. O! let us all improve our Time and Talents for God, that when our Bodies return to the Grave, from whence there is no coming back, our Souls may go to God that gave them.

Bury my Dead out of my sight. SERMON V.

GEN. xxiij. 4.

Give me a possession of a Burying place with you, that I may bury my Dead out of my sight.

THis is the conclusion of all Flesh; they were never so dear before, but they come to be as loathsom and intollera∣ble now. When once the Lines and Picture of Death is drawn over the Fabrick of Man or Woman's Body, (as it is said here of Sarah) all their Glory ceaseth, all their good Respect va∣nisheth away, their best Friends would be fainest rid of them: even Sarah that was so goodly and amiable in Abraham's sight, must now out of his sight, he must bury his dead out of his sight.

But Abraham, as the Father of faithful men, and a Pattern to all loving Husbands in all Ages ensuing, doth not this till such time as the dead Sarah grow∣eth noysom to all that look upon her. As long as he could by his Mourning and Lamentation pro∣secute her without offence to his Eyes, and dan∣ger to his Health, he did it: but now the time is

come, when Earth must be put to Earth, and Dust must return to Dust. There is no place for the fairest Beauty above Ground, when once God hath taken Life and Breath from it; it must go to its own Elements, and to the Rock and Pit from whence it was hewen, thither it must return.

After he had performed this, perhaps he mourn∣ed three or four Days for his Wife; he knew this Mourning must have an end, he knew that he must commit her to the Ground. Therefore when he had thus moderated himself, as first to shew by his Sorrow that he was a loving Husband, and then to shew in the ceasing of his Sorrow that he was a wise man, and a faithful Christian, He cometh to desire a possession of burial.

Give me. What? A possession of burial.

First, A possession. He would have it so conveyed, as no man might make claim of it, but that it should be for him and his for ever. Therefore it was, as it were, a Church-yard that he begged, such a one as was capable, and had sufficient scope and room for his whole Posterity in the time to come▪

Give me a possession, a burying-place.

Here is the end why he would have this Possession. A strange kind of Possession.

Behold Abraham; see how he beginneth to pos∣sess the World, by no Land, Pasture, or carable Lordship: The first thing is a Grave. So every Chri∣stian must make his Resolution. The first Hou∣shold-stuff that ever Seleucus bought in Babylon was a Sepulchre-stone, a Stone to lay upon him when he was dead; that he kept in his Garden.

Give me a Burying Place to Bury my Dead.

Behold, he calleth here Sarah, his Dead, he cal∣leth her not Wife, though it is said after in the Text, that Abraham buried Sarah his Wife; yet that is in repesct of the time of her life, when they lived together, and in respect of the former Society, and Converse they had, but now he speaks to the point, she is no more his Wife, but his Dead.

My Dead.

Yet notwithstanding, though she was not Abra∣ham's Wife, yet she was Abraham's Dead. This must teach a Man after he is freed by remaining for the Dead. A Man is bound to lament and sor∣row for his Dead, as Abraham did here, to love the Memory of the Dead, to speak well of the Dead, when occasion serveth, to commend them for their Vertues, to use the Friends of the Dead (as far as is in their power) with all Courtesie, to be good to the Children of the Dead, to be good to all that come of that Issue for their sakes. Let me bury my Dead.

Lastly, it followeth, why he would bury his Dead Out of my sight.

A strange thing, Out of my sight. The best Friend in the World cannot endure the sight of a dead Body, it is a gastly sight, especially when it com∣eth to that dissolution, that the parts begin to have an evil savour and smell, as all have when they are Dead; then to keep themselves in Life and Health, it is necessary to avoid them, to bury their Dead out of their sight.

And what so sweet a sight once to blessed Abraham, as Sarah? What so sweet a spectacle to the World, as Sarah? The great Kings of the World, set her as a Parragon, and she came no where but her Beauty enamoured them; she was a sweet prospect in all Eyes, every Man gaz'd on her with great content, to see the Beauty of God, as in so many lines marked out in the face of Sarah. Yet now she is odious, every Eye that looked upon her be∣fore, now winks and cannot endure to look upon her, she must be taken out of sight.

Oh bethink your selves of this, you that take pride in this frail Flesh, that prank up your selves, to make you Graceful in every Eye; you that stu∣dy to please the Beholders; you that are the great Minions of the World; you that when Age begin∣neth to purle your Faces, begin to redeem your selves with Paintings; think of this. Mother Sa∣rah the beautifullest Woman in the World, is loath∣some to her Husband, her sweetest Friend, when once she is dead.

The Funeral Procession. SERMON VI.

ECCLES. 12. 5.

Man goeth to his long home, and the Mour∣ners go about the streets.

ALthough I might in the Kings (King So∣lomon's) name command, yet I will ra∣ther in the Preachers (his other style) humbly entreat your religious Attention to the last Scene, and Catastrophe of Man's Life, consisting of two Acts, and those very short.

• 1. The Dead's Pass, he goeth, &c.
• 2. The Mourners March, they go ab•…•…ut, &c.

Little Children newly born, take in their first Breath with a sigh, and come crying into the World, assoon as they open their Eyes they shed Tears, to help fill up the Vale of Tears, into which they were then brought, and shall be after a short time carried out with a stream of them, running from the Eyes of all their Friends. And if the Prologue and Epilogue be no better, what shall we judge of the Scenes and Acts of the Life of Man, they yield so deep springs of Tears, and such store of Arguments against our abode in this World,

that many reading them in the Books of Hegesi•…•…s the Platonick, presently brake the Pri∣son of their Body, and leaped out of * 1.6 the World into the Grave; others con∣cluded with Silenus, Optimum non nasci, proximum quam primum mori, that it was simply best never to be born, the next to it to die out of hand, and give the World our salve▪ and take our vale at once.

The dead go directly to their long home, the li∣ving fetch a compass and round about: the •…•…ermini of which their motions shall be the bounds of my Discourse at this present.

Old Men are a kind of Antipodes to young Men; it is evening with them, when it is morning with these; it is Autumn in their Bodies, when it is Spring in these: The Spring of the year to decre∣pit old men, is as the Fall: Summer is Winter to them, and Winter death; it is no pleasure to them to see the Almond-tree flourish, which is the Prognosticatour▪ of the Spring, or the Grashopper leap and sing, the Preludium of Summer; for they now mind not the Almond-tree, but the Cipress; nor think of the Grashopper, but of the Worm, be∣cause they are far on in their way to their long home, and the mourners are * 1.7 already in the streets, marshalling as it were their Troops, and setting all in equipage for their Funeral, no dilectable ob∣jects affect their dull and dying Senses, but are ra∣ther grievous unto them; desire faileth because Man goeth to his long home, that is, it doth in the best, and should in all; for what a preposterous thing were it, for a Man that hath one foot already in the Grave, and is drawing the other after, to de∣sire to cut a cross C•…•…per, and dance the Mor•…•…ice? or for him that is near his eternal Mansion-house,

to hanker by the way, and feast and revel it in an Inne.

By long home, according to the Chaldee Para∣phrase, is here meant the Grave, or the place where our Bodies, or (to speak more properly our Remains are bestowed and abide till the time of the Resstitution of all things, the place where all meet who lived together, the rendevouze of all our deceased Friends, Allies and Kindred, even as far as Adam: this home may be called a long home, in comparison of our short homes, from which we remove daily, these Houses we change at pleasure, that we cannot: there our Flessi, or our Bones, or at least our Ashes or Dust shall be kept in some place of the Earth or Sea, till the Heavens shall be no more. Job 14. 12. I answer.

By Mourners are here meant all that attend the Corps to the Funeral, whether they mourn in truth, or for fashion: and they are said here to go about the Streets, either for the reason alledged by Bona∣venture, quia predolore quiescere nequiunt, because they cannot rest for Hearts Grief and Sorrow, or they go about the Streets to call company to the Funeral; or because they fetch their compass, that they might make a more solemn Procession to the Church or Sepulchre. Among the Romans, the Friends of the deceased hired certain Women whom they called 〈◊〉〈◊〉, to lament over their dead: for the most part among the Jews this sad task was put upon Widows, for they took it upon themselves, as the words of the Prophet imply, and there were no VVidows to make lamentation, and of the Evangelist also: Acts 9. 39. and the Widows stood by weeping for Dorcas; and indeed Widows are very proper for this imployment: When a Pot of water is full to the Brim, a little motion makes it run over. Widows, that are Widows indeed, and

have lost in their Husbands all the Joy and Com∣fort of their Life, have their Eyes brim full of Tears, and therefore most easily they over∣flow.

There are but Three things appertaining to Man here.

• 1. Life.
• 2. Death.
• 3. Burial.

And see they are all Three in the Text.

• 1. Man goeth, there is his Life.
• 2. To his lo•…•…g home, there is his Death.
• 3. And the Mourners go about the Streets, there is his Burial described by Pariphrasis.

And so I am upon the first Stage.

The Doctrine.

Man's Life is a Voyage, his Death the term o•…•… period of this Voyage, his Grave his home, and Mourners his Attendance. The Hour-Glass is run∣ning, whether the Preacher proceeds, or makes a pawse, and the Ship is sayling whither it is bound, when we sleep in our Cabbine; so whether we wake or sleep, move or rest, be busie or idle, mind it, or mind it not, we walk on toward our long home.

We are expiring and dying, from the running of the first Sand in the Hour-glass of our life, to the last, from the moment we receive Breath, to the moment that we breath out our last gasp.

Thus the Man in my Text goeth, or rather run∣neth still in his natural Course, that is, every▪ Man.

I need not direct any Man in his Natural Course from Life to Death, every Man knows it, and whe∣ther he knowes it or no, he shall accomplish it, the Spiritual Course is more considerable, which is i•…•…i∣nerarium ad Deum, a Journal to Eternity, a Progress from Earth to Heaven; this Progress a Man begins at his Regeneration, and in part endeth in his Dis∣solution by Death, but wholly and fully after his Resurrection; the way here is Christ; the viati∣cum the blessed Sacraments; the light the Scrip∣tures; the guides the Ministers of the Word; the Thieves that lie in wait to rob us of our Spiritual Treasure the Divels; our convoy the Angels; our stages several vertues and degrees of Perfection, the City to which we bend our course, Jerusalem that is above, wherein are many Mansions, or eter∣nal houses,

I am now come, though long first, to Man's long home, which cannot be described in a short time, and therefore I leap into my last stage, which as you may remember was:

The Application of the Text to this sad Occasion.

I must now use in the Application of my Text, a method direct contrary to that which I followed in my Explication; for therein first I shewed you how the natural Man goeth to his long, and the Spiritual to his eternal home; and after how, and why, and what sort of Mourners went about the Streets lamenting the deceased; but now I am to speak of the Mourners, who have already finished their circular motion, and then of the direct mo∣tion of the Man, the man of quality, the man of worth, the Man of estate and credit, who is alrea∣dy arrived at his long Lete, and now entring into his long home.

Touching the Mourners I cannot but take no∣tice of their number and quality; the number is great we see, yet we see not all who yet are the truest Mourners, pouring out their Souls to God with tears in their private Closets.

Illa dolet vere, quae sine teste dolet.

Her portion of sorrow like Benjamins, is five times more than any others, whose loss of a Hus∣band, and such a Husband is invaluable. Secondly the quality of the Mourners is not slightly to be passed by, debeter iis religiosa mora; for, not only great store of •…•…he Gentry and Commons, but some also of the Nobility, the chief Officers of the Crown, and Peers of the Realm; •…•…ot Religion on∣ly and Learning, but Honour and Justice also hath put on Blacks for him, thereby testifying to all men their joint-respect to him, and miss of him.

Let them who have lived in credit die in honour; let them who in their life time did many good Of∣fices to the dead, after they are dead receive the like Offices from the living. Out of which num∣ber, envy it self cannor exempt our deceased Bro∣ther. Of whose natural parts perfected by Art and Learning, and his moral much improved by Grace. I shall say nothing by way of Amplifica∣tion, but this, that nothing can be said of them by way of Amplification. All Rhetorical Exagge∣ration will prove a diminution of them. In sum, he was a most provident Housholder, loving Hus∣band, indulgent Father, kind Landlord, and libe∣ral Patron.

The Night before he changed this Life for a bet∣ter, after an humble Confession of his Sins ingene∣ral, and a particular Profession of the Articles of his Belief, in which he had lived, and now was

〈◊〉〈◊〉 to die, he added, I renounce all Popish 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉 all Man•…•… Merits, trusting only upon 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of my Savi∣our; and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉 any other, shall find when he is •…•…ying, if not before, that he lea•…•…∣eth upon broken Reeds Here after the Benedi∣ction of h•…•…s Wife and Children, being required by me to ease his mind, and declare if any thing lay heavy upon his Conscience; he answered, nothing he thanked God. He besought all to pray for him, and himself prayed most fervently, that God would enable him patiently to abide his good will and pleasure, and to go through this last and greatest work of saith and Patience; and the Pangs of Death soon after coming upon him, he fixed his Eyes on Heaven from whence came his help, and to the last gasp, lifted up his hand, as it were, to lay hold on that Crown of Righteousness, which Christ reach∣eth out to all his Children, who hold out the good sight of Faith to the end.

Earth to Earth, and Dust to Dust. SERMON VII.

GEN. iij. 19.

Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou re∣turn.

THE Remembrance of Death among o∣ther Remembrances, is as Bread amongst other 〈◊〉〈◊〉; howbeit it is more ne∣cessary for the poor thirsty Soul, than Bread for the hungry Body; for a Man may live many Days without Bread, but the Soul cannot do so without the remembrance of Death: which like that Serpent Regulus, by no Charms can be charm∣ed. And it is the general Opinion of the best and most Holy Writers, That the most perfect Life is a codtinual Meditation of Death. When our bles∣sed Saviour said, If any man will follow me, let him deny himself, and take up his Cross daily. Commanded not that we should bear-upon our Backs that heavy burthen of the Wooden-Cross, but that we should always set Death before our Eyes, making that of the ever blessed Apostle St. Paul, to be our Impress, I die daily. In the Second Book of Kings, it is reckoned, that the good King Josias did cleanse the People from their Altars, Groves, and high Pla∣ces, where innumerable Idolatries daily encreased: And to amend this ill, he placed there in their stead, Bones, Skulls and Ashes of dead Men. Whose Judgment herein▪ was very discreet; for from Man's forgetting of his Beginning and his End, arise his Idolatries; and so reviving by those Bones the remembrance of what they were before, and what

they shall be hereafter, he did make them amend that mischief. Very many, nay, numberless are those Men which adore the Nobleness of their Li∣nage; and out of a desire that they have, to make good their Descent and beginning, they multiply Coats one upon another, hang up Esc•…•…cheons, Blazon forth th•…•…ir Arms, tell you very large Hi∣stories of their 〈◊〉〈◊〉 a•…•…d G•…•…nealogies, and ma∣ny times most of •…•…em meer Lyes and Fables. The good Prophe•…•… 〈◊〉〈◊〉 id represent these unto us, in those T•…•… five young Men which were Besotted and Ravished in beholding the labouring Sun, that glorious Creature, and vast Eye of all the World, whose gentle Heat broodeth upon the Waters, and hatched in Six Days all the World; which by way of Exposition, signifieth the ado∣ring of the Glory of their Birth. But leaving these to themselves, as silly Fools who glory in the Gold that glisters, God Almighty comes here unto old Adam with a Memorandum of Death, and teacheth him another Lesson, saying, Dust thou art, a•…•…d unto dust thou shalt return. The end ever hol•…•…s a cor∣respondence with its beginning; Naked came I out of my Mother's Womb, and naked shall I return. The Rivers come from the Sea, and thither again they return, and so doth the labouring Sun from the East, and thither it retires again. That Image of Gold, Silver, Brass and Iron, that had its Feet of Earth, must in the end turn to dust. Barak having asked, Where are the Princes of the Nations? makes an∣swer himself, and saith, The earth hath swallowed them up all? Now to comment upon this same place, we may make the like question, and give the very self-same Answer, Nonne omnia Pulvis nonne Fabula? nonne in paucis ossibus memoria eorum conservatur? The very greatest and famousest of us all, have been, are, and shall be but dust; and there is no Memo∣rial

to be left of us, but a few rotten and stinking Bones. But to proceed, because in Preaching, Plainness is ever counted the best Eloquence. In these words, (as they offer up themselves unto our consideration) you may with me, (as they natu∣rally arise from the express words in m•…•… Text) ob∣serve these two regardable Circum•…•…tances.

First, How these Morral Bodies of ou•…•…s are said to be Dust.

And then secondly, How they shall return to Mother-Earth from whe•…•…ce they came. Now of these two in their due order severally.

And first of the First, and that is, How we are said to be Dust. Now as for the Walls of Flesh, wherein the Soul doth seem to be immur'd before the Restauration, it is nothing but an Elemental Com•…•…osition, and a Fabrick th•…•…t may fall to Ashes: All Flesh is Grass, is not only Metaphorically but Literally true; for all those Creatures we behold, are but the Herbs of the Field, digested into Flesh in them, or more remotely Carnified in our selves. Nay further, we are what we all abhor. Anthropo∣phagi & Cannibales, Devourers, not only of Men, but of our selves, and that not in Allegory, but a positive Truth; for all this huge Mass of Flesh which we behold, came in at our Mouths; yea, this Frame which we look upon, hath been upon our Trenchers: In brief, we have devoured our selves. Man is such a frail, sorry and base Crea∣ture, that the good Prophet Jeremy calls him to his own Face thrice Earth at one Breath, saying, O Earth, Earth, Earth, hear the Word of the Lord, Jer: 22. 29. Man is Earth by Procreation, Sustentation, and by Corruption.

First, He is Earth by Procreation; for the first Man is called Adam, that is, red Earth; Of the dust of the Earth made he Man. Gen. 2. 7. The Patriarch

Abraham, acknowledging the baseness of his begin∣ning, said unto the Lord, I am but dust and ashes, Gen. 18. 27. Now Almighty God (the C•…•…eator of all things) made this Earth (of which he made Man) of nothing, according to the Text, God cre∣ated the Heaven and the Earth. He made not this Heaven and Earth of another Heaven and Earth, but he Created both as having nothing, but nothing whereby and wherewith to build this goodly Frame, and so consequently proud Man in respect of his Ma•…•…rials, is brought unto nothing: And therefore our Princely P•…•…ophet David says, Psalm 144. 4. That Man is like a thing of nought. Yea; and to confirm this the better, St. Paul that ever blessed Apostle in his Epistle to the Galatians, says, If any Man seem to himself that he is something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself in his imagination, Gal. 6. 3. Adam begat Cain and Abel, Gen. 4. Cain signifieth Possession, Abel Mourning or Vanity; to teach us that Possessions are but Vanity and vexa∣tion of Spirit; yea, Vanity of Vanities, all vanity, Eccles. 1. 2. And as Adam begat Sons like to him∣self, so his Sons also Sons like to themselves, of a loathsom Excrement, carried in those Members of the Body which are least honourable, brought forth into the World with intollerable Pain, so vile and so soul, that I shall spare to speak, wanting Epithites whereby to express my self; only give me leave to Cry out with our Princely Prophet David, saying, What is Man (O God) that thou art mindful of him, and the Son of Man that thou visitest him; or with St. Paul, O Man, what art thou who pleadest against God? As if he should have said, (as Cyprian said once to Demetrius) Consider how base thou art in respect of God, even as Clay in the hand of the Potter; and then I think thou wilt not enter into dispute with thy Creator. That any

Man is miserable, let it suffice him that he is a Man, that is, Infelicitatis tabula, nec non Calamitatis fabula, a Map of Miseries, and as it were the Table of Troy: whomsoever thou seest to be miserable, thou maiest without all doubt conclude he is a Man; and there∣fore the first Voice uttered by the new-born Babe, is Crying, hereby Prophecying, that he is come into a World full of Care and Grief, Crying, and taking it grievously to heart because he is a Man, Blushing because he is Naked, Weeping and wail∣ing because he is born into a most wicked and mi∣serable World, and murmuring because indued but with a dull Genius, and made up of so base matter, which every Disease like a Storm is ready to totter down. God Almighty Created Adam of the basest matter, even of very Dirt, but this Dirt being Moulded by God's own Hand, and Inspiring it with so much Wisdom, Counsel and Prudence, it may be called Cura Divini Ingenii, the Curious∣ness of God's Wit: But Man growing proud here∣upon, and hoping to be a God himself, God doom∣ed him to Death, and wrapped him again in h•…•…s dirty Swadling Clouts, with this Inscription, Pu•…•…∣vis es, & in pulverem reverteris, Dust thou art, and unto Dust thou shalt return. Adam did not with∣out some Mystery cloath himself with green Leaves; for he gave therein as it were a sign and token of his vain and foolish hopes. But as the Mother when the Bee hath stung her Childs Finger, runs with all haste to get a little Dirt, and claps it to her little One, which doth asswage the Swelling, and give it ease: So those busie Bees of Hell daily stinging us, and striking into our Breasts the Poyson of their Pride and Arrogancy, Almighty God with a Memorandum of Death, with a Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return, abates this Pride, and tells us of that swelling Arrogancy of ours. In Eze∣kiel,

the King of Tyre said, I am a God, but he was answered, that he was but a man, that is, base, vile and miserable: So holy David said, Let the Na∣tions know that they are but men; that is, base and vile: and St. Paul said, Are ye not men? 1 Cor. 3. When we see a man swallowed up sometimes in the misery of the Body, and sometimes of the Soul, we say in the conclusion, he is a Man. Now if instead of the Gold of the Angels, there was found Rust, and that so fine Cloath as that was not without its Moths, and that incorrupted Wood without its Worm; what will become of those that are but Dust, who dwell in Houses of Clay? Verily they must (as fearful of their own harm) repeat this Lesson, Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return One asking the question, Why God (having Created the Soul for Heaven) did knit it with so straight a Knot to a Body of Earth, so frail, and so lumpish? Whose answer was, That the Angels being overthrown by their Pride, He was willing to repair and to help this Presumption in Man, a Creature in his superiour part as it were Angelical, but having a heavy and miserable Body; which might serve as a Stay unto him, that if the nimbleness of his Understanding should puff him up, yet that Earth which Clogged his Body should humble and keep him down. Those that entred Triumphantly into Rome, had a thousand occasions given them to incite them to Pride, Arrogancy and Vanity: As their great number of Captives, their Troops of Horse, their Chariots drawn with Ele∣phants or Lions, and their Ladies looking upon them from their Windows, and the like: But the Senate considering the great danger of the Tri∣umpher, ordered one to sit by his Side, to whisper this still in his Ear Remember thy self to be a Man. The Princes of the Earth have many Motives to

make them forget themselves, not regarding the Complaints of the Poor and Needy; yet as the Wise Man saith, Wisdom 7. 5. No King had ever any other beginning of Birth, they are as other Men, the Off-spring of the Earth, and the Children of Men, and to them it is also said, Dust thou art, &c. But to proceed,

As Man is Dust and Earth by Procreation, so like∣wise he is Dust and Earth by Sustentation, and that in two respects; In regard of Aliment and Indu∣ment, Meat and Apparel: It is truly said, That of which we consist, we are nourished with; Ele∣ments are Aliments, where we begin, we do re∣ceive; all Meats for our Bodies in Health, and all Medicines for the same, being Sick, are Earth and Earthy, even Dust and Ashes as we our selves are; we feed on the Things of the Earth, and walk and sleep thereon: As for Apparel and Ornaments, we borrow Wooll of the Sheep, Hair of the Camel, Silk of the Worm, Furies of the Beasts, and Fea∣thers of the Fowls of the Air; like unto Aesop's Crow, having some Plume from every Bird, some∣thing from every Creature. Flowers are richly decked, Plants with an infinite variety of coloured Leaves adorned, and other Animals as well Vege∣tative as Sensitive, comely covered; only Man, that unhappy and base Creature, is born to nothing but Beggery and Misery: So that we may justly ex∣claim and cry out with the good Prophet David, saying, What is Man, &c. Nay, what are we? If that the good Prophet Jeremy, who was Sanctifi∣ed in his Mothers Womb, did bewail his Condi∣tion, what may we do who are Born in Sin, and Conceived in Iniquity, being Formed of most base and unclean Matter? God Created Stars and Planets out of Fire, Birds out of Air, Fish out of Water, but Man with other Animals out of the

Slime of the Earth; therefore remember and con∣sider, O Mrn! what thou art, and thou shalt find thy self much worse than any other Creature what∣soever besides, even Dust and Ashes. Now from this Principle I will infer three or four Conclusi∣ons of very great Fruit and Consequence.

The First is this, If thou art Dust and Ashes, wherefore art thou proud, thou Dust and Ashes? Of thy Beginning? No; of thy End? No; Of what then? If thou shouldest see thy self Seated between the Horns of the Moon, think on the baseness of thy beginning, and thou shalt then see clearly that Pride was not born for Man, nor An∣ger and Pettishness appointed for Woman's Con∣dition; Pride cannot sute with Dirt, nor Curst∣ness with Woman's Softness. Lord cleanse me from my secret sins, and spare thy Servant from those that are strangers: By Aliens you may understand those of Pride, for it is a Stranger as it were, and an∣other kind of thing, differing much from Man's base and vile Condition. There is not any Sin more alien and strange to Man's Condition than Pride, or that doth carry with it less excuse. Those Fools that are Painted forth, going about to build a Tower that should overtop the Clouds, and reach to Heaven. Gen. 11. 4. did in their very first word say, Come let us make us Bricks; Bewraying their Foolishness: What? go about upon Earth to rear a Foundation that should emulate Heaven, which is far beyond Thought, and glorious beyond Re∣port! God Almighty said unto Ezekiel, Take thou a Tile, and pourtray upon it the City of Jerusalem, the Walls, the Ditches, the Towers, the Temple, and a great Army of Men, Ezek. 4. 1. Strange, yet true we see it is, that the Strength of Cities, the Power of Armies, is contained in a poor brittle Tile-stone. The good Prophet▪ Isaiah threatned those of Moab

with Whips and Scourges, Isa. 16. because they insulted, and proudly triumphed upon the Walls and Towers of his City: Speak Punishment unto those that rejoyce in Walls that are made of Brick. What, can earthen Walls raise up such Pride in Men? Samuel being to Anoint Saul, God gave him for a Sign that he would have him Prince over his People. That he should find two Men as soon as he was gone from 〈◊〉〈◊〉 near unto Rachels Sepulchre: God migh•…•… have given unto him some other Sign, but he chose 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to give him, to quell the Pride and Haugh•…•…ess of this new Ho∣nour; as if he should admonish and put you in mind, that the Ashes of so fair a Creature as Ra∣chel, should read a Lecture unto you, what you must be. And this is the reason why the Church, though she might use other Metaphors to express the Misery and shortness of Mans Life, as is often made mention of in the Ornament of Grace, as by a Leaf, a Flower, and a Shadow; yet it makes more particular choice of Dust and Ashes, because the other are Metaphorical, these Literal. for no∣thing more properly appertaineth unto Man than Dust, and therefore the Scripture termeth Death, a Mans returning again unto the Earth from whence he came. The Flower, the Leaf and the Fruit, have some good in them, though of short conti∣nuance; as Colour, Odour, Beauty, Vertue and Shade, and albeit not good in themselves, yet they are the Image and Representation of Good; but Dust and Ashes speak no other good. Amongst the Elements, the Earth is the least noble, and the most weak, the Fire, the Water and the Air, have in them Spirit and Actitude; but the base Element Earth, as it were a Prisoner laden with Weightiness. A certain Poet styles the Earth Bruta, not only for that it hath an unpleasant

Countenance, as Deserts, Quick-sands, Dens, and Caves; but also for that it is an Inne of Serpents, Tygers, Panthers, and the like, so that it is good neither to the Taste, to the Smell, to the Feeling, nor to the Hearing, nor yet to the Seeing. Thou being therefore Earth, why art thou Proud, thou Dust and Ashes? And thus far of the First.

Now the Second Thing regardable, is, If thou art Ashes, why •…•…uch a deal of Care in Pampering thy Body, which the hu•…•…gry Worms are to de∣vour to morrow? Consider those rotting and stinking Carkasses of your Relations, that lye here under the Ground, and the very thought thereof will moderate your desire of being over-dainty and curious in cherishing your own. Isaac on the Night of his Nuptials, placed his Wifes Bed in the Chamber where his Mother died. Tobias spent all the Night with his Spouse in Prayer, being mindful of the harm which the Devil had done to her former Husbands; as being advised from Hea∣ven, that he should temper with the remembrance of Death, the Delights and Pleasures of this short Life of ours. The Camomile, the worse you treat it, and the more you tread upon it, the better it thrives; other Plants require Pruning and tend∣ing to make them fruitful; but this Herb hath a quite contrary condition, that with ill usage it grows the better. It is the pamper'd Flesh that brings forth Thistles and Thorns, but the Flesh that is trodden down and humbled, that yields store of Fruit: And this is likewise concerning the Second.

Now the Third thing to be considered, is, If thou art Dust, and to Morrow must become Dust and Ashes, why such a deal of coveting of Honours and Riches, which on a sudden may take them∣selves Wings and flye away. Esau sold his Birth∣right

for a Mess of Pottage, but he excused his so doing, for that he saw his Death was so near at hand: Behold I am ready to die what will this Birth-right profit me? But to be brief, as Man in respect of his beginning and proceeding, is Earth, even so he is Dust and Ashes in r•…•…spect of his end∣ing, which is the last thing now to be handled; for the Lord himself denounced (as it is evident in the words of my Text,) Out of it wast thou taken, for dust thou'art and unto dust thou shalt return. When that Death (mounted upon his pale Horse like a Serieant sent from above, upon Action of Debt, at the Suit of Nature) comes with a Habeas Corpus, to pull down these Clay Walls, wherein our Im∣mortal Souls are kept close Prisoners, within the narrow compass of these mortal Bodies of ours; then shall our Dust return unto the Dust as it was; then, yea even then, we shall be Terra à Terrendo, because then every one shall tread on us. A living Dog is better than a dead Lion; every Thersites will Insult over Hector, and every Scrub run upon Achilles. Every Child is ready to mangle the strong Oak when it is down, and he that durst not look Caesar in the Face, is now bold to pull him by the Beard. Our Bodies are not only Houses of Clay, Job 4. 19. but as they be earthly, so Taber∣nacles, 2 Cor. 5. 1. Set up this Day, and happily taken down the next: And therefore the Years of Man are termed Days in holy Scripture, as the Daies of Noah, the Daies of Lot, and the Daies of E∣lias, because they lived but a few Days; as the Pa∣triarch Abraham, Few and evil have been the Daies of my Pilgrimage, Gen, 47. 9. Although time may be di∣vided into past, prrsent and future, yet there is no time belonging essentially to our Life, but even the very Now, because the time past is certainly gone, and the future time uncertainly to come; and

therefore our blessed Lord and Saviour Christ en∣joyned us to pray, Give us this day our daily bread, Matth. 6. 11. Not this Age, Month or Week, but only this Day, because we may not care for to Mo•…•…row; and therefore says wise Solomon, Boast not thy self of to morrow, Prov. 27. 1. For thou know∣est not what a day may bring forth. All flesh is grass, saith Isaiah; Grass withered or green. Oh Fool! this Night thy poor Soul may be fetched from thee, and so thou shalt have no need of daily Bread to Morrow. Josiah was a vertuous Governour, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Kings •…•…3. and yet he had but his time. In the the daies of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the Son of Ammon, Jer. 1. 2. Noah was a very upright honest Man in his time, Gen. 6. 9. and yet he had but his time. In the days of Noah, 1 Pet 3. 20. Herod was a most mighty Man, and yet he had but his time. In the daies of Herod King of Judah, Luke 1. 5. If we be as strong as Sampson, and as mighty as Alexander, this Tyrant Death in time will take us all away; Moses upon Mount Abarim, Aaron upon Ho•…•…, and Methuselam after 99 years, were all cut down and brought to dust again, as they were. Although the good Prophet Daniel Prophesied of one who should have a time, and a time, and a half time, yet as it appeareth in the Revelation of St. John, all is but a time, and that a short time too. For although Antichrist exalt himself above all that is called God, yet he shall one day perish as a Man; he came from Earth, and (notwithstanding his double Honour, and triple Crown) he must (being Dust) return to the Earth as he was, and see Corruption. Where∣fore I say unto you, as the good Prophet Jeremiah did unto them of old, O Earth! Earth! Earth! hear the Word of the Lord. Remember what thou was, what thou art, and what thou shalt be, when thou leavest this sad World behind thee. Thou

wast in thy beginning a most miserable Wretch, yea a filthy stinking Worm, Conceived and Born in Sin; thou art now a Sackful of Dirt, and here∣after thou shalt be nothing but a Bait and Banquet for Worms. In thy Beginning thou wast nothing, and now nothing worth; and if thou repent not of thy damnable Sins, thou art in danger he•…•…eafter to be worse than nothing; conceived in Original Sin, now full of Actual Sin, and if that thou still continue in thy Wickedness, thou mayest one Day feel the Eternal Smart of Sin: Begot in Un∣cleanness, Living in Unhappiness, and Dying in Anguish and Uncomfortableness. Remember I pray you from whence you came, and Blush; where you are, and Lament; and whither you must in spite of your Teeth, and Tremble. Brag not of any thing in you, or on you; neither what you have been, are, or may be: for in respect of your base, weak and frail Flesh, you are a Clod of Earth, are so still, and in the end shall become no∣thing else but a Coffin of Earth under ground. Thy Grave shall be thy House, and thou shalt make thy Bed in the Dark. Thou shalt say to Corruption, thou art my Father, and to the Worm, thou art my Mother and Sister. Our Flesh dissolveth into Filthiness, Filthiness into Worms, and Worms into dust; so our Flesh which is Dust, thar is nothing, returns into nothing, that is Dust at last.

And thus I have shewed you at large, how we are said to be Dust, and likewise how we shall at last return thither again.

Wherefore now (to be brief) to put a Period to all, Remember what you are, and Meditate Daily and Hourly upon what you shall be, lest that Death (like a Thief) steal upon you, as it doth upon many now-a-days: For Meditation is like Gunpowder, which in a Mans hand is Dust and

Earth, but if you put Fire thereunto, it will over∣throw Towers, Walls, and whole Cities. A light Remembrance, and a short Meditation of what you are, is like that Dust which the wind scattereth away; but a quick lively Memory, and enflamed Considerations of your own wretched Estates, will blow up the Towers of your Pride, cast down the Walls of your Rebellious Nature, and ruine those Cities of Clay wherein you live. As the Phoenix Fannowing a Fire with her Wings, is renewed again by her own Ashes; so shall you become new kind of Creatures, by remembring what you have been, are, and what you shall be; that you are but Dust, and shall return unto Dust again. Moses casting Ashes into the Air, made the I•…•…chanters and their Inchantments to vanish. The Ashes scat∣tered by David, put the King out of doubt, and made it appear unto him, that that was no God which he adored: Job came forth from his Ashes in better Estate than he was before: And as Joseph came out of Prison from his torn and fattered Rags, and had richer Robes put upon him, so you from out of these your Ashes, shall be stript of the Old Man, and put on the New. The forgetfulness of other things may be good sometimes, but of your selves, what you are, and shall be, never. This will require a continual Remembrance, therefore this cannot be to often inculcated, Dust thou art, and unto Dust thou shalt return.

THE EJACULATION.

GOod Lord, we confess that Man is but a Worm of Yesterday, his Production was out of the Dust, and must thither return in his ultimate Resolution: for (as we have heard) Dust we are, and unto Dust we shall re∣turn. Let us therefore alwaies be in a readiness for our last Change, seeing we know not how soon the silent Grave may involve us under its Wings, where we shall lie in Obscurity, till the last Trumpet shall sound, at the Morning Day of the Resurrection, Arise ye Dead, &c. Good Lord, though now we appear 〈◊〉〈◊〉 living Ob∣jects of thy Favou•…•…, yet we know not how soon the Scene may be altered; for this very Day we now breath in, may be the last we shall ever count: and so many waies may the Thread of our frail Lives be snapt asunder, that we cannot promise our selves an Hours time upon Earth; a little Stone from the House-top, as we pass in the Streets, a slip of our Foot, or the slumbling of our Horse, a sudden mischance (among a Million that may befal us) which we know not of, may reduce us to our first Original, and leave us a pale Carkass to be Sacrificed to the gaping Grave. Oh let us often therefore consider where will be our Eternal abode, when the black Attire of our Funeral is over, and all our Weeping Friends gone to their several Houses and Homes. Let us often think how meanly-and poorly Clad we shall enter into our Coffins, with only one poor Shrowd and oth•…•…r Dresses fitted to cover us; and wha•…•…

will become of our rich Attire, our haughty Deckings, our over-curious Trimmings, in the Grave, whither we are all agoing? And when we are Arrested by the cold Hands of Death, how Pale and Wan to all shall we seem? Even ready to nauseate our Spectators: Good Lord, let such Thoughts as these keep us humble, and keep down all proud aspiring Thoughts, that shall at any time arise in our corrupted Hearts: For 'tis true, Dust we are, and unto Dust we shall return.

Job xxiv. 20. The Worms shall feed sweetly on him.

THat is, the Grave shall be no securer to him than to others, there the Worms shall feed upon all men, and they shall feed sweetly on him, or it shall be a kind of sweetness and pleasure to him to have the Worms feeding on him, which is no more then what Job said upon the same Argu∣ment, (Chap. 21. 23.) The Clods of the Valley shall be sweet to him.

In these words you have Job describing the state of a Dead man laid in the Grave, he tells you the Worms shall feed sweetly on him. After Job had but spoke of Man's Conception in the Womb, he next tells you of his Corruption by the Worm, so sud∣dainly doth a man step out of the Cradle into the Coffin, that sometimes there is no space between them both.

The Worms shall feed sweetly on him.

Those that have formerly fed upon their Sweet∣meats, the time hasteneth when the Worm shall feed sweetly on them: As all Wooden Vessels are liable to be Worm-eaten, though they be never so euriously wrought, so will the neatest Body, the finest Face, be shortly a Worm-eaten Face.

The Design of the Expression and of the Con∣text being to convince us of the certainty of our Deaths, and the uncertainty of our Lives: I shall conclude this Subject with telling you,

That no person can seem so brave and youthful at the present, but for •…•…ught any thing he knows he may the next Hour be a Banquet for the Worms to feed upon.

Prepare to follow. SERMON VIII.

ISAIAH 8. 38.

Set thy House in order, for thou shalt dye and not live.

Dearly Beloved,

IAm 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 of hearing any more, and that is Death. It will be but a lit∣tle while before Death will cause both the Speaker to be Dumb, and the Hearer to be Deaf. Oh that I might therefore this day, speak with that serious∣ness unto you, as considering the time draws on a∣pace, when I shall be Silenced by Death, and ne∣ver more have an opportunity to speak one word unto you. And Oh! that you might Hear this day with that diligence and reverence, as consi∣dering that after you are once Nailed down in your Cossins, and Covered with the Dust, you will never hear one Sermon more, or one Exhortation, or one word more, till you hear these words pronounced by the great Judge of the Quick and Dead, Surgite Mortui, & venite ad Judicium; Arise ye Dead, and

come ye unto Judgment. What is said in my Text, as it is likely you have often heard it with your Ears, so now you may see it accomplished, It is appointed unto all Men once to die. Death hath long since come into our Nation, and hath summoned many to make their appearance in another World, yea, you know that Death hath already entred in∣to our Streets, and hath not been afraid to step o∣ver our Threshold, and to seize upon those that have been standing round about us; yea, it hath come into our very Bed-chambers,, and hath suddenly snatched away those that have been lying in our ve∣ry Bosoms: So that we have had warning enough of the near approaches of Death unto our selves, and without doubt some of us have had the Sen∣tence of Death within our selves, (as the Apostle speaketh;) and therefore it is high time for you and I seriously to consider what is said in my Text, Set thy House in order, &c.

Something we shall briefly speak now in order to the explanation of the words, that so you may once more hear (before you feel) the meaning of them; It is appointed or enacted by the Court of Heaven; Statutum est, it is a Statute or Law (more firm and certain than the Laws of the Medes and Persians) which is never to be repealed or abro∣gated. We are not therefore telling you what may, but of what must inevitably come to pass. It is appointed unto Men, that is as much as to say, unto all Men, once to die. It is an indefinite Ex∣pression, and so is to be understood of all the same kind, without some special exception from this general Rule. And indeed such an exception there is to be found in the Scripture; for▪ saith the Apo∣stle, We shall not all Die, but some shall be Changed, in a Moment, in the twinkling of an Eye; there shall be some at the end of the World, who shall not

pass under Death, but yet they must pass under a Change, which is thought will be equivalent unto Death. But for the present time, and according to the common Method and Course of Providence, no Man or Woman hath any ground to expect that they shall escape the stroke of Death; for it is ap∣pointed unto Men, that is, unto all Men, once to Die: Death will no more spare him that wears a Crown upon his Head, than him that carries a Spade in his Hand, as the Poet Elegantly expresses it.

Pallida Mors aequo pulsat pede Pauperum tabernas, Regumque Turres, &c.

And the Scripture speaking of Kings, useth this Expression, I have said ye are Gods, but ye shall die like Men.

But what is the meaning of the Phrase to Die? I can assure you if you know not yet, it will not be long e're you will know the meaning of it: The Philosopher describes Death thus, Est privatio Vitae, ob Animae separ ationem a Corpore: As Spiritual Death is the Separation of God from the Soul, so Tempo∣ral Death is the Separation of the Soul from the Bo∣dy; When those two (the Soul and Body) which have like Twins, dweltlovingly together under the same Roof, must be parted asunder, and enjoy no more sweet and intimate Communion one with a∣nother, till the time of re-unition at the General Resurrection. This is that which must once be done, every one must here take their turn.

And though this happeneth to some at one time, and to others at another time, yet first or last, it will happen to all. The Greek word (Thanatos) which signifies Death, is taken from a word which signifies extendere, and indeed Death stretcheth out it self so far, that no Man can live out of the reach

of it. As surely as thou wast once Born, so surely shalt thou once Die.

Let me but ask you this one plain Question, and your own Conscience shall be the Judge in the Case: Couldest thou still remain a Drunkard or a Swearer, if thou didst but once seriously consider that thou must once Die? Or couldst thou so eagerly set thy Heart upon the empty, lying and dying Vanities of this World, didst thou bu•…•… once seriously consider that thou must once, (and it may be before to Morrow) be taken out of this World? Or couldst thou neglect the means of Grace or Delight in Prophaneness, didst thou but seriously consider that thou must once die, and it may be before ever thou enjoyest another Praying or Preaching oppor∣tunity? To die is much, and as this must be once done, so there is more to be done than this, for af∣ter this cometh Judgment. Whether the particular or general Day of Judgment is here to be understood, needs no debate, seeing both will certainly follow after Death.

As for the certainty of Death, you need not look into your Bibles for a proof of that; I shall only desire you to open your Weeping Eyes, and let them but a little while be fastened upon the Dead Corps that now is before you, and if afterwards you can question this Truth, I shall say no more to you at present, but that it will not be long e're others may say of thee, as the Apostle Peter did to Saphi∣ra, Acts 5. verse 5, 6, 7, compared with the 9 and 10. Verses. And Ananias fell down and gave up the Ghost; and the young Men arose, wound him up, and carried him out and buried him: And his Wife not knowing what was done, came in; and Peter said un∣to her, How is it that ye have agreed to tempt the Spi∣rit of the Lord? Behold the Feet of them which have buried thy Husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out: Then fell she down straightway, and yielded up

the Ghost; and the young Men came in and found her dead, and carrying her forth, buried her by her Hus∣band.

The same Bier, and it may be the same Persons which have carried thy Neighbour, thy Husband, thy Wife, thy Brother or Sister already to the Grave, behold they stand ready to do so much for thee: And let every one consider with himself, that he may be the very next in the Town or Family, for whom the Bier may be fetched to carry him unto his long home. And then as for the certainty of Judgment, though every one hath a sufficient Proof in his own Conscience of the truth of this, yet for as much as some have seared Consciences, and therefore would put off the Evil Day, and say with those, 2 Pet. 3. 3, 4. And there will come in the last days Scoffers, walking after their own Lusts, saying, Where is the Promise of his Coming? since all things continue as they were from the beginning, &c. You may therefore Consult these plain Scripture Proofs, Eccles. 11. 9. compared with Rom. 14. 11, 12. For we shall all stand before the Judgment-Seat of Christ, yet that is not all, but as it follow∣eth, So then every one of us shall give account of him∣self to God. 2 Cor. 5. 10. For we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in the Body, according to that he hath doae, whether it be good or bad.

ISAIAH xxxviii.

Set thy House in Order, for thou shalt Die, and not Live.

MANS Body (before that dismal Conquest we all deplore) as well as the Poor Soul was conditionally Immortal, and so to this very day had ever continued, if it had not been for the dam∣nable Sin of Disobedience committed by Adam and Eve our First Parents; But this was no sooner Gained than Lost, and the time of Mans Life ever since hath been as a Point, the Substance of it ever flowing, the Sense obscure, and the Whole Com∣position of the Body tending to Corruption: If that you should live three hundred years, or as many thousand of years; yet with all remember this, that at the last you shall be compelled by Death, Gods all-resting Bailiff to lay down these rotten, ruinous, and clay-decaying Tabernacles of yours, for Dust you are, and unto Dust you shall return, and peradventure you shall not have a good warn∣ing before hand, as the good King Hezekiah had here, but be thrust out of House and Harbour, in less than an hours warning; For Death, which will put a period to every Mans days, 2 Tim. 4. 7. is like a Sergeant sent from above upon Action of Debt at the Suit of Nature mounted upon his Pale Horse will come on unawares, rap at your Doors, Alight, Arrest you all, and carry you bound Hand and Foot into a Land as dark as Darkness it self, from whence you shall be summoned at the last dreadful Audit to the Bar of Justice in the high Court of Heaven, when your Bill shall be brought in, how that you

have ever Rebelled, and most notoriously trans∣gressed against the Lord of Hosts, both in Thought, Word, and Deed, and have ever spun away our time as tho' that Death which is the end of all flesh would never follow, wherefore to the intent that Hezekiah, that good King might be made more certain of his fatal Destiny, occasioned by our first Parents, and have the less account to make at the great and terrible day of Doom (when Christ Je∣sus the Worlds Saviour shall descend from Heaven, which is the center of all good wishes, with his Heavenly Host of blessed Angels riding in Pomp, and great Majesty upon the Wings of the Wind, with the loud sounding Trumpet of God, and the all tearing Voice of the Arch-Angel to judge both the quick and Dead) God sent unto him the good Prophet Isaiah to incounter with him, and to put him in mind of his mortal Song. The whole verse runs thus, In those days was King Hezekiah sick unto Death, and Isaiah the Prophet, the Son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, thus saith the Lord. Set thy House in order, for thou shalt die and not live. These words, as they distribute themselves, do consist of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Principal and Essential Parts.

First of an Admonition, or earnest Exhortation, Set thy House in Order.

And then secondly of a sound and undeniable Reason, which is threefold Affirmative and Ne∣gative.

First Affirmative, for thou shalt Die, and the Ne∣gative, and not Live. Set thy House, &c. Now of these in their due order severally, and first of the Admonition, or earnest Exhortation, Set thy House in Order, in which you have these three things re∣gardable.

First the Reason warning, which was Almighty •…•…od by the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah, as is made

manifest in express termes in the former part of the Verse: And Isaiah the Prophet, the Son of Amoz, came unto him, and said unto him, thus saith the Lord.

Secondly, the Person warned, or exhorted, which was none other but even good King Heze∣kiah, and by him all other.

And then thirdly and lastly the matter of the Exhortation, and that was to Set thy House in Order. Now of these which shall have the first place in my Discourse shall be of the Person exhorting, and that was God. Adam who had attained unto the state of Perfection in his Life and Conversation, relying wholly upon Natures first intentions never so much as once dream'd of Death, which is a Se∣paration of Soul and Body, or any Alteration, until Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, no se∣crets hid, seeing his corrupt and base nature, came unto him, and told him plainly, and roundly to his face, how that he was but Dust and Ashes, and thi∣ther should return again, Gen. 3. 19. Thus Almigh∣ty God by the mouth of Moses the Faithful was ever warning the Israelites (being ever a most stiff-nec∣ked, and rebellious Generation) of their Morta∣lity. Deut. 32. 21. saving, They have moved me to Jealousie with that which is not God, they have provo∣ked me to Anger with their Vanities; And I will move them to Jealousie with those which are not a People, I will provoke them to Anger with a foolish Nation; for a fire is kindled in my anger, and shall burn unto the lowest Hell, and shall consume the Earth with her en∣crease, and set on fire the Foundation of the Mountains; I will heap mischief upon them, I will spend my Ar∣rows upon them; they shall be burnt with hunger, and devour'd with burning heat; and with bitter Destru∣ction; I will also send the Teeth of Beasts upon them, with the poyson of Serpents of the Dust, and to raise

this Blister the higher, the Sword without, and Ter∣rour within, shall destroy both the Young Man, and the Virgin, the suckling also, with the M•…•…n of Gray Hairs, vers. 25. Thus Almighty God did threaten them, if that they would not set their House in Order, and repent, that he would bring them to the Dust a∣gain, wherefore Moses being a true Mirror of pity, out of his most tender Love, and boundless Affecti∣on towards them all in general, lest that Almighty God, should send forth his sharp piercing Arrows, and give them mortal Wounds in his heavy Wrath, and cruel Anger, cries out most bitterly, by way of Exclamation, saying, O that they were wise, then would they understand this, and consider their latter end. Thus the Father of Spirits, and Lives, ha∣ving out of a Chaos, or nothing, created all, and fashioned Man after his own Image, seeing his cor∣rupt and base Nature too inclinable unto all sorts of Wickedness, by a sudden Metamorphosis, transforms him into what he was again, just like the Cat in the Fable, which when she would not change her manners, having all her members made after the form of a Woman, according to hearts desire, was turned into a Cat again. Thus f•…•… concerning the first particular Circumstance, the Son warning even Almighty God by the mouth of Isaiah the Prophet: wherefore now to breviate my Discourse in fewer Words, lest that I should be too prolix in the pro∣secution, I shall proceed unto the second thing, sub∣servient to this Explication, and that is the person warned, or here to set his House in Order, which was none other, but even Hezekiah that good King of Judah, who brake down the brazen Serpent, 2 Kings 18. 4. Who did receive presents from the King of Babel. 2 Kings 20. 12. Who restored all things that his Predecessors had taken out of the Temple, and established pure Religion among his People. 2. Chron. 29. 2.

And lastly who ordained Priests, and Levites to serve in the Temple, and also who appointed for their maintenance, 2 Chron. 31. 2. This, yea, even then was he unto whom Almighty God (who hath no delight in the Death of a Sinner, but rather that he may turn from his Wickedness, and Live,) sent the good Prophet Isaiah, saying, set thy House in Order, for thou shalt die, and not live. Hereupon I might insist longer, but that I shall demonstrate unto you as occasion is offered, and now proceed unto the third particular Circumstance regardable in my Text, the matter of this Exhortation, and that was to set his House in order, which is the scope of my Sermon, and the main thing. Set thy, &c. Now by this word House, you may understand, even every Humane Body, which although at its first Creation, was a most solid, sound, and incorruptible Sub∣stance; yet, by the entrance in of sin became ca∣pable of all sorts of Maladies; 'tis true, before that we knew what a damnable thing sin was, we had strong Houses, but ever since God Almighty lets us dwell in Paper thatched Cottages, and clay Walls, every Disease like a tempestuous storm totters us, and is ever and anon ready to overwhelm us. Now this ruinous House, and all decaying Taber∣nacle, which by the corruption of sin is become as a Pest-house, fetide, filthy, and unclean, before it can be set in order, must be swept clean and throughly rinced of all sins infective dregs.

First it must be throughly purged from the guilt of blood, which leaves such a stain behind it, that the whole Land could not be cleansed but by the blood of the shedder; for even so did holy David, who although he was a renowned, and glorious King, and holy Prophet of God, a Man justified even of his Enemies, thou a•…•…t more Righteous than I; esteemed of his Subjects, thou art worthy of

ten thousand of us, a Man more learned than his Teachers: Yea, a Man even after Gods own Heart; yet no way respecting the name, or applause of Men, but is content to shame himself for evermore, to record his Sins to his own shame, so that he may procure Gods Glory, and the good of his Church, set thy House in order, and not shroud in his head, nor run into a Bush as Adam did, but writing his fault even in his Brow, and pointing at it even with his finger, casteth his Crown down at the Lambs feet with the 24 Elders; with the poor Pub∣lican falls groveling to the Earth, thumps his breast, strikes upon his thigh, wrings his hands, and ever pours out his poor soul before the Lord of Hosts, and thus humbling himself unto the Dust of Death, at length from the bottom of his heart, with grief, shame, and fear, cries out most bitterly, and be∣takes himself unto a Psalm of mercy, saying, De∣liver me from blood-guiltiress, O God, thou art the God of my health, and my tongue shall sing of thy Righte∣ousness, make my House clean by cleansing me from the guilt of blood, and then shall I set f•…•…rth thy praise. Ever get your Houses throughly purged from that Sin, which is an high offence against Almighty God, who hath given it in command, saying, Thou shalt not kill, and if not another, much less thy self, for thou must love thy Neighbour as thy self, first thy self, and then thy Neighbour as thy self, the near∣er, the dearer. I kill, and give life again, saith the Lord of Hosts; we are not masters of our own lives, but only stewards, and therefore may not spend them, or end them, when, and how we please, but even as God Almighty, who bestowed them, lest that we come, and defile our Bodies, which ought ever to be kept clean, and set in or∣der. As murderers are enemies against God, whose image they deface against their Neighbours, who

are all members with them of one Common-weal, and politick Body, so are the most cruel Enemies against themselves, because by natural instinct eve∣ry Creature labours to preserve it self, the Fire st•…•…i∣veth with the Water, the Water fighteth with the Fire, the most filly Worm doth contend with the most strong Man to preserve it self, and therefore we are not to butcher our Neighbours, or our selves, but to expect Gods pleasure, and leisure to let us depart in peace, seeing that we must all die, and not live. That bloody Tyrant Nero had his hands so stained with the guilt of innocent blood, that when God saw that he would not repent, and set his House in order, caused him to die both a sudden and a shameful Death, and thus God dealt with many more, whom I shall leave to your considera∣tion, wherefore that you may not taste of the same sauce, while it is said, to day, set your House in order, get them throughly cleansed from all guilt, and especially from the guilt of Blood, and then, when you die you shall receive incorruptible Crowns, you shall be like Kings and Princes, all Co-heirs in the Kingdom of Heaven, which for excellency is far beyond thought, and glorious beyond report.

Secondly, As the Body, before it can be set in Order, must be throughly cleansed from the guilt of blood; so must it likewise be purged throughout, and scoured well of all the Pollutions, and Cor∣ruptive Dregs, which Adultery leaves behind it, they are not a few, it is a Quotidian Fever to the Corps, a Canker to the Mind, a Corrosive to the Conscience, and a mortal Bone to all the Body. It is an efficient cause of more cruel Maladies in the Body than any thing beside.

First, it sets the Body on fire, which ever after consumes away by an incurable Consumption.

Secondly, it brings the Body into a Dropsie, which by no skilful Physitian with all his cunning Medicines, and drawing Issues can be once cured; till that Tyrant, and all-devouring Death come with its sharp stinging Arrows, and execute its of∣fice. Concupiscence is like a fire, and our Bodies unto seething pots which cannot be cooled, but either by taking away the fuel, by keeping it in continual motion, by casting in of cold water, or lastly, by taking it altogether from the fire. There∣fore let every man in the fear of God, use these means prescribed for the cooling of intemperate Lust boiling in his flesh.

First, I say, let him take away the fuel, let him refrain himself from eating, and drinking too much, lest at last Lust command like a Tyrant; for saturity is the father of wantonness, and uncleanness, the Daughter of surfeiting, sine Cerere & Libero friget Venus, without Nectar and Ambrosia Concupiscence cannot long continue, for Lady Venus dwells still at the sign of the Ivy-bush: where there is clean∣ness of Teeth, usually there is no filthiness of Body, but if that we stuff our Corps as full as they can hold, making our mouths as Tunnels, our throats as Wine-pipes, and our bellies as barrels, we must expect nothing but Lust ever to Tyranize over us.

Secondly, let every one keep his Body in conti∣nual Action, for Concupiscence is begot of an idle Brain, and hatch'd in a lazy Body.

Quaeritur Aegistus quare sit factus Adulter? In promptu Causa est, desidiosus erat.

Egistus complaining why he should be made an Adulterer, was quickly answered, because he was idle. The Crab-fish being more subtle than many

other Fishes against the coming of the Flood, when that the Oyster never fails to open, flings into her a little Stone, that she cannot shut her self again, and so the Oyster is devoured by the Crab; our Adversary the Devil is like unto the Crab; and we just like the Oyster, if that he find us idle and gaping, he takes his opportunity to confound us. Idleness is the Devils Pillow, saith Origen, and there∣fore like a pestiferous and dangerous Plague is to be shun of all: Cupid shoots still in a slug, and therefore hits none, but such as are sluggish.

Thirdly, Let every Man stir to cool his Body by washing of himself throughly with his Tears, as Da∣vid did, who watered his Couch with his Tears, and whose Eyes became a Fountain of Tears. David and his people lifted up their Voices, and wept so long that they could weep no longer.

Fourthly, As the Pot is cooled by taking it alto∣gether from the Fire; so indeed may the Lust of the Body, by shuning opportunities and occasions of Sin, for Liberty makes Thieves. Daniel, al∣though but a young Man, was so indued with the Continency, that he did not only all he could to suppress Lust in himself, but also reproved the Las∣civious Elders, Joseph a young Man resisted the Temptations of his own Mistress, and likewise St. John the Blessed Evangelist, although very young, almost a Boy, did what as in him lay to bridle his Nature, and to keep his House in order: Now see∣ing that filthy Lust doth not only dishonour, but al∣so pollutes our Vessels, our Clay Bodies, let us take Saint Paul's advice, which is to abstain from its eve∣ry kind, for although it doth seem a Paradise to the Desire, yet it is a Purgatory to the Purse, a Plague to the Body, and a Hell to the Soul; and that which may stir up the Wanton the most, a Sin against his own Body; Dost thou then love thy

Flesh? Abstain from Adultery, for it is rottenness to thy Bones; Dost thou thy Soul? Abstain then from it. Lord, for it is very unhonest; Or dost thou love thy Credit? Be sure then likewise that thou abstain from it, for it is very dishourable. This heat is an Infernal Fire, whose Fuel is Fulness of Bread. and abundance of Idleness; Evil Com∣munications are the Sparks, Infamy the Smoak, Pollution the Ashes; and the End Hell, where∣fore seeing this, get your selves throughly cleansed from this Infectious Disease, and suffer not Sin to raign in your Mortal Bodies, but with all haste, set your House in order, for you shall die. As the Bo∣dy before it can be set in order, must first be purg'd of all Blood-guiltiness, and then of all those Distem∣pers occasioned by Adultery, so must it likewise be Scoured from top to toe of all Pride and Arrogan∣cy which are the other proper Sins of Satan; they that are proud, and vain-glorious, must of necessity be ever Factious; seeing that bravery ever stands upon comparisons; and likewise very violent, ever to make good their own vaunts; they are seldom or never at love with their Neighbours, it's true, one Tradesman will love another, and one Drun∣kard, according to Horace, will take Delight in the Company of another, sitting Hour after Hour, drinking of Soul-sick Healths; but for one proud Man to associate with another, and to love him as himself, is a thing seldom or never seen; just like the Foolish Jea cloath'd with the Peacock's Fea∣thers, he ever thinks himself Chief among all, though according to Natures Ordination a meer Ignoramus; he is ever casting beyond the Moon, till that he bring himself to destruction, which may well be so according to that of Solomon, Pride go∣eth before destruction, and a haughty mind before a fall, Prov. 16. 18. The good Prophet Isaiah had

such an invettered hatred against the Sin of Pride, that he pronounced a woe against Ephrin the very Crown of all Arrogancy; saying, Woe unto the Crown of Pride, Isa. 28. 1. for it shall bring a Man very low, when humility shall raise him full high, as you may see by the words of the ever blessed Vir∣gin Mary, who saith, Luke the 1. 52. that the Lord hath put down the Mighty from their Seat, and hath exalted the Humble and Meek. This Sin corrupts the whole World, therefore that you may get your selves free from all its Infections, fly it as you would the Plague or Pestilence, and with all haste set your House in Order, for you shall die, and not live. 4. The next Malady that you must get your selves Cured of before that your Houses can be set in or∣der, is Envy, Hatred, and Malice, a Sin which hath been of too long standing: It was very com∣mon in Hesiod's time, and not only among the Pot∣ters and Singers; but also among the very Va∣grants, whereupon he took occasion to say, One Potter (saith he) there envies another, one Sin∣ger hates another, and one Beggar pronounceth a woe against another? A Man that hath no Virtue in himself ever is envying Virtue in another, and not in those that are far distant, but even in those that are full near, and dear unto him;—feriunt sum∣mos Fulmina montes; as high Hills are most exposed to Thunder, and as the fairest Flowers are the soonest nipt by the venemous Cantharides; even so the most Eminent Gifts and Graces in Men, are the greatest griefs of the Malicious and Envious Misers, this Sin is a repining grief for other Mens Happiness; it is an evil Eye which wisheth good to no Man, but to it self; although the Squint-Eye, Male content and Envious Wretch doth thus ever Travel with Mischief, and bring forth ungod∣liness, still disquiering of himself like the raging

Sea, and stiring up strife all the day long; yet let him remember that this course of Life must be alter'd, that he must get his Body throughly drench'd from all Envy, Hatred, and Malice (the greatest Antagonist against Love, which ought to be embraced for all) and Get his House set in order, for he shall die and not live.

Fifthly, The Body must first be purged from the Corruptions of Blood-guiltiness. Secondly, from the cruel Maladies occasioned by Adultery. Third∣ly, of all putrifactions brought in by Pride and Ar∣rogancy, and fourthly, the infections procured by Envy, Hatred, and Malice; so likewise it must be ever kept free from all Covetous, and greedy de∣sires, the root of all ill, and the very Metropolis of all Villany. Judas was not sooner made Buyer, but that he shut himself into his Purse, and be∣came a Slave to a few pieces of Silver his own Pri∣soners, so that indeed at last it was more easie for a Camel to enter into the Eye of a Needle, than for him being conjured into the Circle of his Purse to get out again. This Sin is so sweet that it leadeth almost all Men unto Destruction, whom it once possesseth; What was it but only Covetousness that brought Dives to the Pit of Hell, where being ever tormented with its Scorching Flames is still dying, yet never dead, always crying out, O Im∣mortal Death, O deadly Life, what shall I term thee, for if that thou be Life, wherefore dost thou kill? and if Death, how dost thou still endure; for in Life there is some ease and comfort, and in Death an end; but in thee there is neither ease, nor end. O my dear and well beloved Friends, consider this; and get your selves Cured of this Malady, which of it self is able to bring a Man un∣to the Pit of Hell, fly it as a secret Enemy in your •…•…own Bos, myea, and both in Body and Mind to.

As our outward form, so much more our inward form should make us loath and detest this abomina∣ble Sin of Covetousness, which turns topsy turvy all Humane Society, and sets more at odds, than na∣ked truth brings to Unity, Peace, and Concord.

Pronaque cum spectant animalia •…•…caetera terram Os homini sublime dedit, caelumque tueri Jussit, & erectos ad Sydera tollere vultus.

In the first Creation of things, when God made all Creatures Irrational, looking down to the Ground, then made he Man, a Rational Creature after his own Likeness, with a Countenance tending to Hea∣ven, and all to put him in mind, although he was made de terra & ex terra, of the Earth and out of the Earth, never like the Worldling to mind the things of the Earth; but to keep his Body still clean swept, not suffering the least Dust, or filthy Rust to be in his Mortal Corps. But further, as the Body must be made clean, and purged of all those stink∣ing Dregs, which those forementioned crying Sins have left in it; even so it must be ever kept clean from those Distempers which Drunkenness and Glut∣tony procure. This most beastly Sin of Drunken∣ness began presently after the Flood, and hath al∣most drowned the whole World with another De∣luge.

The Tuscans were so much addicted to this, that they were never well; but in drinking, and quaf∣fing of Soul-sick healths, and so were the people of Germany, whereupon was said,

Germani possunt cunctos tolerare labores, O utinam possunt tam bene ferre sitim.

O I wish, saith the Poet, seeing that the People of Germany can endure any thing, that they could but refrain themselves from Drinking too much. Likewise it was said of one Borosus, that he was Born bibere, non vivere, to guzzle their time away and not live; and thus it may be said by too many now-a-days, who unless instead of it apply their Hearts and Minds to Sobriety and Temperance, shall not only procure to themselves loss of Estate, sickness of Body, but also to the poor harmless Soul Everlasting woe, and misery; O consider this, you that rise early in the Morning, and conti∣nue till Night in drinking of strong Healths; yea you that cannot afford your self natural Rest, but like the Hog betake your self to any sad Lodging for a while, and so return to your drunken trade a∣gain, still drinking other Mens Healths till that you drink your own away; never calling to Mind;

Una Salus sanis nullam potare Salutem, Non est in poto vera Salute Salus.

That the Health of the sound is to drink no Health, but to his own. He, that is a common Drunkard, can but of necessity break all the Com∣mandments of God. For first instead of giving that honour due unto Almighty God his Creator, he makes a God of the Creatures loving it with all his Heart and Mind; ever having more Gods than one. Secondly, he is ever ready to Blaspheme, and to back all his words with execrable Oaths. Thirdly, he is ever ready to commit Murder, as Alexander the Greatest did, who when he was Drunk slew his Friend Clitus. Fourthly, the Drunkard is ever ready to break the Seventh Commandment by rea∣son of his large Commons and lewd Companions.

Fifthly, the Drunkard breaketh the Eighth Com∣mandment as well as the rest; for although, like a cunning Fox he may refrain to take up at home, yet if it be to be had abroad, he is sure to have it; but indeed, that which is the worst of all is that he robs God of his due, which is of his poor Soul, which he hath purchased with his most pre∣cious Blood; and so brings both his Body and Soul to utter ruin and destruction. (O thou that spins away thy time, like a Swine in drinking, and eat∣ing;) ever have this in remembrance, and set thy House in order, for thou shalt die and not live. There are many more rusty, and filthy dregs of Sin, which as well as those must be scoured out of the Body before that it can be set in order, as of Lying, Swear∣ing, Cursing, and such like; but those I shall leave to your consideration, hoping that you will not suffer the least of them to have any place in your Mortal Bodies.

And so proceed a little further concerning the very matter of our discourse, the thing that we are all warned unto, which is to set our Houses in order, for we must die, and not live. Set thy House, &c. As it is the Custom among the Nobles and Peers of this Realm, when that they know of the Kings com∣ing to give them a visit, to have all about them in order and decency; so indeed ought every one of us to set our Houses in order, to keep our Bodies, which are the Temples of the Holy Ghost ever clean and decent, and still furnished with all sorts of Heavenly Graces to entertain such a Glorious Prince, who hath writ on his Thigh King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. It will not be long ere he come, for St. James said, In his time behold the Judge standeth before the door, and likewise, it was St. John's the Baptist Text, saying, Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, he may come to day, or

he may come to morrow, therefore make your selves ever ready, and set your House in order, for you shall die, and not live. First, you must furnish your selves with love, which is the complement of the Law, and an earnest desire of interchangeable affection be∣tween Christ and the Soul. Secondly, you must furnish your selves with Charity, which of all Vir∣tues is still Chief, for St. Paul the Bishop of the Gentiles, comparing it with Faith and Hope, tells you that it is the Chief, for it ever Edifieth, still suffereth, never envieth, yea, and still continueth, 1 Cor. 13. 8. Thirdly, you must get your selves fur∣nished with patience, that with all alacrity and chearfulness of Heart, you may endure all things for Christs sake. Fourthly, you must get your selves furnished with Humility, Virtue, which when the Lord of Heaven beholds it in you, which caused him to sink into your Hearts. Fifthly, you must get your selves furnished with Hope of Everlasting Faith and Salvation. And then sixthly and lastly with Faith, which is an evidence of things not seen, thus you must get your selves set in order, &c.

And thus far of the matter of this Admonition, and earnest Exhortation. Now I should come to the Reason, which is twofold, affirmative, and ne∣gative; Affirmative, thou shalt die; and Negative, and not live. Set thy House in order, for thou shalt die, and not live.

Now of these severally, and first of the reason af∣firmative, thou shalt die. Now there are three kinds of Death. First, the Death of the Body, which is a natural Death. Secondly, the Death of the Soul, which is a Spiritual Death. And then thirdly and lastly, the Death both of Body and Soul, which is Eternal Death. But that which good King Hezekiah was warned of, was but only the Death of the Body, which according to the

Statute Law Decreed in that High Court of Parlia∣ment of Heaven, all Men shall once taste of, no Man can escape it, for so saith St. Paul, it is ap∣pointed unto all Men that they shall once die, to all once, to many twsce, for there is a second Death, and that is truly a Death, because it is Mors Vitae, the Death of Life; the other rather a Life, because it is Mors Mortis, the Death of the Death, after which there shall be no more Death. Now as Job saith, Mans time is appointed, his Month determined, and his day numbered, yea; and (as Christ Jesus the Worlds Saviour saith) his very last hour is limited; he was made of the Mould of the Earth, he shall return again to the Earth: And as all have one Entrance into Life, the like going out shall they have to Death: Nothing we brought in, nothing we shall carry out. Naked come I out of my Mothers Womb, and naked shall I return. A Change then shall come which of the wicked is to be feared, of the godly to be desired, and of all people to be daily and hourly expected. Remem∣ber them that have been before you, and that shall come after you, that this is the Judgment of the Lord over all Flesh to taste of Death. All Men shall once die, for as much as all have sinned, and been disobedient unto the Laws of God. This Death of the Body is not a dying, but a departing, a trans∣migration, and Exodus of our Earthly Pilgrimage, unto our Heavenly Home; yea, a passage from the Valley of Death unto the Land of the Living: Al∣though our Souls and Bodies are separated for a while, yet shall they meet again in the receptacle of Blessed Saints and Angels with much joy, and re∣ceive an incorruptible Crown. The Body is a Pri∣son to the Soul, and Death a Goal-delivery, that frees the poor harmless Soul of those Grievances, which formerly it did endure. Length of days is

nothing unto us, but much grief, and Age the du∣ance of long Imprisonment; wherefore if that you would but seriously consider this, you might find Death to be rather a Friend than an Enemy, and by consequence rather to be desited than shun'd as Simeon did, as it is evident, Luke 2. 29. saying, Now, Lord, lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace, according to thy Word, which by some is used thus; Now, Lord, I hope that thou wilt suffer me to de∣part in peace, and keep my poor Immortal Soul no longer within the small circumference of this Mortal Body. The Thief upon the Cross laid down his Life most joyfully, because he saw Christ, and did stedfastly believe, that he should pass from a place of pain and misery, unto a Paradise of Plea∣sure, and so did St. Stephen, Acts 7. 56. The Roy∣al Preacher King Solomon, lest that his Son should be deprived of such Happiness, doth by an Empha∣tical Irony disswade his Son from those youthful Lusts, and sensual Pleasures, whereunto he feared that he should naturally be addicted, and that by the consideration of that dreadful account, he was to give unto God at the great and terrible day of the Lord; desiring him most earnestly not to let his House stand out of order, but ever to remember his Creator in the days of his youth, for old Age will come, saith he, and then thou shalt not be so fit by reason of much weakness and infirmities. Or else, Death may seize upon thee, For Dust shall return unto the Earth as it was, and the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it, Eccles. 12. 7. In a mo∣ment, yea, at the twinkling of an Eye, when once this Tyrant Death comes, it will sweep us all away. It is the Custom among us here to let Leases, one, two, or three Lives, but God lets none for more than one, and this once expired, there is no hopes of getting the Lease renewed, he suffers Man some∣times

to dwell in his Tenement threescore Years, and ten, Psal. 90. 10. Sometimes to fourscore, but secures none far from home, and that for se∣veral Reasons. First, to bridle our curiosity left that we should search after things too high, for quae supranos, nihil ad nos, those things that are a∣bove us, are nothing to us. Secondly, to try out patience whether that we will put our whole trust, and confidence in him, although we know not the time of our departure and dissolution; and then thirdly, to keep us in continual watchfulness, for if that we should know, when Death would come with a Habeas Corpus to remove us, it would make many more careless than they are, though indeed the best of us are careless enough. Here Men do know the date of their Leases, and the expiration of the Years, but Man is meerly a Tenant at will, & is put out of Possession at less than an Hours warn∣ing. Wherefore now, while it is said to day, set your Houses in order, seeing that you must die, and not live. It is not sufficient at the last Hour of Death to say, Lord have mercy on me, or, Lord into thy hands I com∣mend my Soul. But even in all our Life-time, yea, and especially in our youth, we must strive ever to set our Houses in order, for we shall die and not live. Samson was very strong, Solomon very wise, and Methusalem lived many years, yet at last they with many more were brought to Mother Earth. If it seem pleasant unto you at the present to let your rotten and ruinous Houses stand out of order, yet with all remember, what the Prophet saith, The day of Destruction is at hand, and the times of perdi∣tion make haste to come on. Art thou a young Man in the April of thine Age, and hast thou thy Breasts full of Milk, and doth thy Bones run full of Mar∣row, as Job speaks, and thereupon dost promise to thy self length of days, yet thou must know, also,

that a man, even at the highest pitch of health, when he hath that same Fencer-like kind of strength, is nearest danger in the Judgment of the best Physicians, remember with all that observation of Seneca, Young Men (saith he) have Death behind them, Old Men have Death before them, and all men have Death not far from them; we may in a manner complain already that the great God of Battle threatens an utter ruin to all the World, the Earth hath trembled, the Lights of Heaven have been often darkned, Rebellions have been raised, Treasons have not long since been practised, Plagues of late have been dispers∣ed, Winds have blustered, Waters have raged; and what wants there now, but those two Arrows of God, even Sword and Fire from Heaven for us to be consumed. Is it now think you a time to buy, to sell, to eat, to drink, and to live securely in sin, as they did in the days of Noah, and think of nothing else; is it now a time to say unto Almighty God, as the Nigard doth unto his Neighbour, come again to me to morrow, as that drousie Sluggard doth, Prov. 6. 10. Yet a little sleep, a little slum∣ber, a little foulding of the hands to sleep. The fool∣ish Virgins supposed that the Bridegroom would not have come like an Owl or a Batt in the night, there is time enough, said they, what needs all this haste; but poor Fools, they were excluded. Oh! I cannot forbear, my very Heart even bleeds within me to think of it, yea, all the faculties of my Soul and Body are strucken with horrour and amazement, while I declare unto you, how that many Thousands now are doubtless in Hell, who purposed in time to have set their Houses in order, but being prevented by Death, are for ever con∣demned. O here I could heartily wish (with Jeremy) that I had in the Wilderness a Cottage, Yea,

I could (wish with Job) that I were a Brother to the Dragons, and a Companion to the Ostriches, whilst I think of that wish I am now uttering; nay, I could willingly desire (with the Princely Pro∣phet David) that my Heart were full of Water, and that mine Eyes were a Fountain of tears, that I might weep Day and Night, for the too too com∣mon Sins of this our Age in every kind. Now you are in your preparations for Eternity, and therefore had need to be very watchful over your selves, to see that you set your Houses in order, for you shall die, and not live. And this brings me now unto the very last thing observable in my Text, and that is of the reason Negative, and shalt not live, set thy House, &c: Chrysostom prying into the base Nature of Man, and finding him ever out of order, teacheth him a seven-fold consideration of himself.

First, What he is by nature, what he is in him∣self? Dust and Ashes, Gen. 18. 2.

Secondly, What is within him? much sin.

Thirdly, What is before him? a burning Lake, which is spoken of Isai. 30. 33.

Fourthly, What is above him? an offended Ju∣stice, Deut. 32. 16.

Fifthly, What is against him? Satan, and Sin; two notorious, and deadly Enemies.

Sixthly, What is before him? transitory trifle; and worldly vanities.

And then seventhly and lastly, He desires man seriously to consider, what is behind him? infal∣lible Death, for semel aut bis morimur omnes; Some once, some twice, we must all die, and not live, You cannot, like Enoch, Heb. 11. 5. be translated, but must suffer Death as well as other Men, being common to all. Whatsoever thou dost affect, whatsoever thou dost project, so do, and so pro∣ject

all at once, who for any thing thou knowest, may at this very present depart out of this Life. Hy∣pocrates, although he could not cure till Death came upon him. Heraclitus, who writ many natural Tracts concerning the last, and general consolation, of the World, could not find out a Remedy, or a Medicine for his Distemper, but died out of hand. Thus you may see, how that God spares none, but sends one thing or other to bring us to our long home. And thus far concerning the Death of the Body shall suffice, which was the Death good King Hezekiah was forewarned of: Wherefore now I shall but only speak a word or two of the Soul, and likewise of the Death of the Soul, and Body, and so conclude.

First, as there is a Natural Death, viz. the Death of the Body, so likewise there is a Spiritual Death, viz. of the Soul, when it is deprived of those Gra∣ces, which formerly God did bestow upon it; for as the Soul is the light, and life of the Body, even so Almighty God is the light, and life of the Soul. When he takes his holy Spirit from us, then we walk in the shadow of Death, this Death is an ill Fruit of Sin; therefore let us set our Houses in order.

But secondly, As there is a natural Death, and a spiritual Death, so likewise there is an eternal Death, called in the Ornament of Grace the se∣cond Death. This Death, as well as the Death of the poor Soul is lamented by God. Esay 59. 2. As I live (saith the Lord) I desire not the Death of a Sinner, but rather that he may turn from his Wick∣edness and live. I might now likewise add a fourth Death, and that is a civil Death, an undoing of our Credit, and honest Reputation, which many Men die, but this I shall leave to your consideration, and so conclude. O my dearly beloved Friends,

consider what you are all by nature? What is within you? What is above you? What is be∣low you? What is against you? What is before you? What is behind you? and that is, infallible Death; For here is not one here amongst you, be he never so strong, never so healthly, but that within the Revolution of a few years shall be brought in spight of his teeth unto the Grave. Wherefore let your Houses be d•…•…ly perfumed by a Morning and Evening Sacrifice of Prayer. Praise unto Almighty God, both which were ap∣pointed under the Law, Exod. 29. 38. 39. And this shadowed what was to be performed under the Gospel. God renews his Mercies to you eve∣ry Morning, and protects you from manifold dan∣gers every Night, whereunto you are subject; and you be so ungrateful as to banish all his be∣nefits out of your Memories who is every Moment so mindful of you.

As therefore, beloved, you tender the Salvation of your poor Souls, look home, and mourn for your Original sin, steep your Eyes in Tears, write Letters of •…•…scomfort upon the Ground as you go; let the streams of your fighs, and the sweet In∣cense of your Prayers rise up like Mountains be∣fore the Lord of Hosts, and bedewing your Cheeks with tears; make your humble Confession unto God Almighty, not of sin alone, but of all your sins, of what nature. degree, or height soever they be, and by your unfeigned Confession so accuse your selves, that you may not hereafter be accus∣ed of the Devil, and so judge your selves, that you be not judged of the Lord. In a word, that you may escape all those torments, which by rea∣son of sin are incident both to Body and Soul, seeing the night is far s•…•…ent, and the day is at hand, while you have time, set you Houses in order, for you shall die, and not live.

THE EJACULATION.

GOod Lord, let us be always setting our Houses in order, that we may be really willing, and truly fit to die when Death shall seize us: Let us be always a preparing for our last Change, for it is the liv∣ing only who are in a capacity to praise Thee. The Grave, into which we are all going, is a place of si∣lence, where there is no praying to Thee, nor praising of Thee; neither are any that go-down thither capa∣ble of securing their eternal well-fare; in the Grave there is no Preaching, nor hearing; there we shall be altogether insensible of the actings of God, and be al∣together uncapable of acting any thing for God: Oh! that we therefore, who are within a few steps of our long and last home, might seriously consider, what a vain thing it is to dream that we shall ever enjoy our worldly Relatives, or that we shall ever possess our worldly accommodations. What need have we then to be setting our Houses in order; for 'tis certain, we shall once die, and how soon we know not. Oh then! let your Thoughts, Words and Actions, be such as may best become dying persons, seeing all that would dye comfortable must set their Houses in order be∣•…•…re they depart.

Look on every day as your last. SERMON IX.

JAM. 4. 14.

What is your Life? It is even a Vapour that appeareth for a little time, and ufterward vanisheth away.

THere is nothing that doth evidently set before Mens Eyes the Deceits of the World, and the vanity of things pre∣sent, as doth the due consideration of the uncertainty, shortness and frailty of Man's Life; for all humane Pride, and the whole glory and pomp of the World (having Man's Life for a stay and foundation) can certainly no longer endure the same Life abideth; so that Riches, Dignities, Honours, and such like, howbeit, a Man may enjoy them for a small space on Earth, yet do they never continue longer with him, than unto the Grave.

The consideration whereof, together with this present occasion offered, have caused me amongst all other places of Holy Scripture to make choice of these words which I have now read unto you;

in which (as in a most bright shining Glass) we may behold both the frail Constitution of Man's Nature, as also the short continuance of his Life here on Earth, it being but a Vapour, and What is your Life?

This whole Chapter containeth four Dehorta∣tions; the first is from Lust, unto the fifth Verse; the second from Pride, to the Tenth; the third from speaking evil of our Neighbour, to the Thir∣teenth; the last from Presumption of words, to the end of the Chapter; to disswade from which sin, he useth two arguments especially; the first is drawn Ab incertitudine rerum, from the uncertain∣ty of things, and that's contained in the words im∣mediately going before my Text, the second is drawn á Vanitate Vitae, from the vanity of Man's Life, and that's set down in the words of my Text. Which words contain two general parts, a Question and an Answer; What is your Life? There's the Question; the Answer followeth in the next, It is even a Vapour, &c.

First of the Question, What is your Life? Where∣in observe, that Life is twofold; for there is a Created Life, and there is an Increated Life; the la•…•…ter is only to be found in God, the former is a quality in the Creature, whereby it liveth, and moveth, and acteth it self.

Now Created Life is twofold, Spiritual and Na∣tural: Again, Spiritual Life is twofold; sometimes it is taken for the Life of Grace, which God's Chil∣dren only do enjoy in the Spiritual Kingdom of Christ in this World; which by way of excellen∣cy, is called the Life of God; not so much for that it is from God, as also all other kinds of Life are, as because God liveth in them that are his, and approveth this Life in them: And it is called (for the same respect) the Life of Christ, because

Christ liveth in his through a super-natural Faith and Spirit; and they live unto God, and conform their Life unto his Will: And it is called a new Life, a Christian Life, and a renewing of the Mind, Will and Affections. This Life is opposed to Death in Sin, and to the old Man. Sometimes it is ta∣ken for the Life of Glory, whereby the Soul (be∣ing jopned again to her Body) shall lead a Life, which the Apostle calleth Spiritual; not in respect of the Substance, but of the qualities, 1 Cor. 15. 44. whereby the Faithful shall live for ever, and it is laid up in Christ, and the end of the World shall be disclosed, and which is opposed to the se∣cond Death, and it is called Eternal Life. Thus much of the Spiritual Life.

Now the Natural Life also is twofold; for either it may be taken generally for the Life of all Crea∣tures, whereby they live, move, and have their being; or more particularly for the Life of Man, which natural Life in Man is the act and vigour of the Soul, arising from the conjunction of the Body with the Soul; this Life is given by God, continued by Meats and Drinks, and other neces∣sary helps, and ended by Death; this is the Life properly meant in this place.

It is even a Vapour, &c. A Vapour (according to the Philisophers) is a thin fume extracted out of the Earth, by the Sun in the night time, but in the morning (or afore) it is scattered with the Wind, or dispelled with the Sun; or else, if the Sun do not appear in his Brightness, it falleth away of it self to the Earth from whence it came, or was drawn by the heat of the Sun. Such as is the nature of a Vapour, even such is the Life of Man; for he is extracted out of the Earth by the Sun of Righteousness, and he either perisheth before he seeth the Sun, or else in the Morning of his Youth,

or if he escape the mid and noontide of his growth, yet at the last he falleth away by Age to the Earth from whence he was taken. The Text thus ex∣plained, we may observe these Points of Doctrine for our Instruction.

The first is the Frailty of our Constitution, in these words, It is even a Vapour.

Secondly, the Shortness of our continuance, Which appeareth for a little time.

Thirdly, The vanity or nullity of our Life after Death, in these words, And afterward vanisheth a∣way.

First, Of the Frailty of our Constitution; the Apostle doth not compare the Life of Man to Silver or Gold, or Iron, or Brass: which are durable Sub∣stances; or some Body that is Corpus perfecte mix∣tum, that is, perfectly mixed or compounded of the four Elements; but to a Vapour that is Corpus im∣perfecte mixtum, that is, such a Body that is imper∣fectly mixed; and that for two Reasons: First, be∣cause it hath not perfectum Miscibilium numerum, that is, all the Elements in it; then also because it hath not perfectum Mixtionis modum, the true man∣ner of a mixt Body, and therefore it vanisheth a∣way into Air; either per attenuationem, by rare∣faction and attenuation (as the Philosopher speak∣eth) aut per condensationem, when it returneth to the Earth from whence it came▪ And well might this our Apostle compare the Life of Man to such an Imperfect Body as a Vapour is: For first, if we consider our Birth, we are brought forth in the danger of our selves and them that bear us. Our Feet are not our own, neither are they able to car∣ry the bulk and trunk of our Body; our Tongues are not our own, our Hands are not our own; but we lye bound and wrapped for many Months toge∣ther; we Live, and yet we seem not to breathe;

in our Youth we are liable to many Diseases: If it be true that the Physicians say, our Eyes are sub∣ject to an hundred Perils, how much more is the whole Body? Some cry, My Head, My Head, as the Shunamites Child; some are troubled with lame Legs, as Mephibosheth, some with Gouty Feet, as Asa; some are pained in the Belly, as Jeremy. This is that miserable Frailty which the Prophet Isaiah signifieth in these words; Almighty God said unto his Prophet, Cry; and the Prophet answered, What shall I cry? God said unto him, All Flesh is Grass, and all the glory thereof like the Flower of the Field, the Grass withereth, the Flower fadeth away, but the Word of the Lord continueth for ever: Upon these words St. Ambrose saith thus; Truely it is even so, for the glory of Man flourisheth in the Flesh like unto Grass; which although it seem to be great, it is in very deed but little; it buddeth like a Flower, and fadeth like Grass, so that it hath no more but a certain flourishing in appear∣ance, and no firmness and stability in the Fruit. For what firmness can there be in the matter of Flesh? Or what good things (of any long conti∣nuance) are to be found in so weak a Subject? To day thou maist see a young Man, in the flourishing time of his Age, with great Strength, Lusty, and jetting up and down in the Streets in great Bravery, with a jolly lofty Countenance; and if it so fall out, that this very next Night he be taken with some Disease, thou shalt see him the next day with a Face so far altered and changed, that whereas be∣fore he seemed very amiable and beautiful, he shall now seem ill-favoured, miserable and loathsom to behold; nay, Mans Fading away is such, and so sudden oftentimes, that there can be no reason given of his Death; for many have gone to Bed well in the Even, that in the Morning have bee

found dead in their Beds; and many suddenly have dropped down in the Highways and Streets, as they have walked about their Affairs: And this is no wonder, if we consider the Substance of Mans Body, which being a Building compact of green Clay, is easily overthrown with a small puff of Wind. This being then the frailty of our Con∣stitution, the consideration thereof should be used, to put away and abandon our natural Pride, and make us humble our selves under the Hand of God. An Example hereof we have in Abraham, who said, Gen. 18. 27. Behold, I have begun to speak to my Lord, who am but Dust and Ashes. Mark here how the consideration of his frail condition, made him to abase and cast down himself in the sight of God: In like manner, if we could but consider how Frail we are, it would straightway pull down our Peacocks Feathers, and make us with Job, to abhor our selves in Dust and Ashes.

Secondly, The next Point I am to treat of, is the shortness of our continuance, intimated i•…•… these words, Which appeareth for a little time, &c. Man that is Born of a Woman (saith Job) is of sho•…•…t con∣tinuance and full of Miseries; he sh•…•…teth forth as a Flower, and is cut down; he vanisheth also as a Sha∣dow, and continueth not, Job 14. 〈◊〉〈◊〉, 2. In which words, in that Job compared Man to a Shadow and a Flower, he notably setteth forth the short continuance of Mans Life; a Shadow we see, if the Sun be never so little overclouded, it vanisheth away; and a Flower, we know, is a comely and beautiful thing, yet for all that, there is nothing found more fading and vanishing; even so Man du∣•…•…ing the time of his Childhood and flourishing Youth, seemeth to be of a wonderful Comeliness, but his Beauty is of small Price, because it is more brittle than Glass, seeing that Man carrieth always

the Cause of Death in his Veins and Bowels. We see at this day, what a great matter it is for one to live Threescore and Ten, or Fourscore years, and this is commonly the ordinary Race of Mans Life; insomuch as when they live so long, they account themselves not to be evil dealt withal, as the Pro∣phet signifieth when he saith, The days of Man are at the uttermost but Threescore and Ten Years; and if the Strongest do reach to Fourscore, what followeth is but labour and grief. Now if we should deduct those years which Infancy and Child∣hood spendeth, if also we should take away that time which passeth away when we sleep, it would be a small number of Years that would remain; which remnant if we should compare with the Life to come, it would seem but as a drop of Water compared with the whole Sea; so short is his Fa∣ding Life in regard of that which lasteth always. Neither is our Life so short only, but as it is short, so is it uncertain, how long it shall continue; for though there is nothing more certain than Death, yet is there nothing more uncertain than the hour of Death; and therefore a certain Philosopher compared the Lives of Men to Bubbles that are made in Water pits, when it raineth, of the which some do vanish away suddenly, even at their very rising; others do endure a little longer, and out of hand are decayed; others do▪ continue some∣what more, and others less: So that although they do all endure but some little time, yet (in that little) there is great variety. This being then the shortness and uncertainty of our Lives, it should teach us so much the rather to embrace our Savi∣ours Counsel in the Thirteenth of St. Mark's Gos∣pel, Watch, because ye know not the day nor the hour: The which is as much as if he had more plainly said, Because ye know not that Hour, watch every

hour; and because ye know not that day, watch every day; and because ye know not the Month and the Year, watch therefore every Month and Year. And to make this matter more plain by a Similitude: If thou shouldest be invited to a Feast, and being set at the Table, seest before thee many and sundry sorts of Meats, a Friend of thine secret∣ly admonisheth thee, that among so many dainty Dishes, there is one Poysoned; what in this Case wouldst thou do? which of them darest thou touch or taste of? wouldst thou not suspect them all; I think (though thou wert extremely hungry) thou wouldst refrain from all, for fear of that one where the Poyson is. It is made manifest unto thee al∣ready, that in one of thy seventy Years. thy Death lieth hidden from thee, and thou art utterly Igno∣rant which year that shall be, how then can it be, but that thou must suspect them all, and fear them all? O that we understood the shortness of our Life! how great Profit and Commodity should we then re∣ceive by the Meditation thereof!

Thirdly and lastly, the vanity and nullity of our Life after Death, intimated in these words, And afterward vanisheth away: The whole Course of Mans Life is but a flying Shadow, a little spot of time between two Eternities, which will quickly disappear; the same Earth which we now so neg∣ligently tread upon, may suddainly receive us into her cold Imbraces. Well may Life then be said to be vanishing away, Though now we are in perfect Health, yet before to morrow some dear Friend or other may passionately follow our Hearse to the Grave. Our time past is like a Bird fled from the Hand of the owner out of sight, and our present time is vanishing away, and on Earth we have no abiding.

But here consider, if Life be so vanishing and uncertain a thing, then

1. This reproveth those that Squander away their precious time, as if their abode on Earth would be too long to prepare for Eternity, if they did not mispend it half; but it is time for us to cry out, The time past is more than enough to have wrought the Will of the Flesh, 1. Pet. 4. 3. or as it is Rom. 13, 14. 'Tis high time to awake out of Sleep.

2. If Life be thus vanishing. then be not over solicitous as to future Events, but willingly submit to a Divine Providence; be not so much concerned for to Morrow, do not cumber your selves with too much Provision for a short Voyage.

3. If Life be thus short and vanishing, then do much work in a little time; shall we loose any of that time which is so fleeting and so uncertain. And thus I have briefly shown you the frailty of the Life of Man, and the profitable use we might make of this Consideration, That our Life is but a Vapour which appeareth for a little time, and af∣terward Vanisheth away.

4. If Life be so short and uncertain, then look upon every day as your last; so did the Apostle Paul, who said, I die daily; as there is nothing more cer∣tain than Death, so there is nothing more uncer∣tain than the time of Death. We are all Tenants at Will, and therefore the great Landlord of Hea∣ven and Earth may turn us out of our Clay Houses when he pleaseth. It was a worthy Custom of a Roman Emperor that would have his Man come every morning to his Bed-side, and pronounce these Words.

Remember thou art a dying Man; certainly such are justly to be reproved, who look upon Death as at a great distance from them. It is a common say∣ing

of some, that they thought no more of such a thing, than of their dying day; surely it argues a ve∣ry wicked frame of Heart to be so forgetful of Death, when 'tis that we are to expect every minute, and know not but each day that comes may be our last.

THE EJACULATION.

GOOD Lord, what is the Life of Man? is it not like unto a Vapour, which appeareth for a lit∣tle time, and then vanisheth away? Is it not like unto a Bubble, which quickly swelleth to a considerable big∣ness, and as quickly sinketh again? Is it not like unto the Grass which groweth up and flourisheth in the Morn∣ing, but is cut down before the Evening come?

Oh Lord, though Life be sweet, yet common experi∣ence shews that it is short; and as our Life is sho•…•…t in it self, (though we should live to the very outside of the strength of Naeture) so will it seem much shorter, if it be compared with Eternity it self: And yet as short and as uncertain as our Life is, we have a long work to dispatch before we go away from hence, and be seen no more; we have a great way to go by a set∣ting Sun; a great Race to run by a short Breath; and if Life be but as a Vapour, how little reason have we then

to squander away precious time? Yea, how great rea∣son have we to redeem the time that is past, and to improve every •…•…nch of the present time: Let us remem∣ber that we have no continuing City here, and therefore it will be necessary for us to seek one that is to come: Good Lord, therefore do thou make us to know our end, and the measure of our days, what it is, that so we may be throughly convinced how frail we are.

Dying Christian. SERMON X.

Being the last Sermon this Author Preacht at Grafham, in Hunting∣donshire.

Beloved Brethren,

THE Lord hath set it home upon my Heart, ever since I came amongst you, earnestly to desire and to pray for the Salvation of your Souls; it hath been no small Encouragement to me to lay forth my weak endeavours in the Ministry, when I consider that he which converteth a Sinner from the Errour of his way, shall save a Soul from Death, and hide a multitude of Sin, James 5. 20. To save a Soul from Death, is so glorious an Imployment, that herein I cannot chuse but rejoice with the Apostle, when I see the word of the Kingdom working effe∣ctually in any Soul.

I bless God every day without ceasing, that he hath given me a full proof of my Ministry in the Hearts and Consciences of some, even in this place, since I came among you, so that I may say with

Paul, 1 Cor. 9. 2. and they indeed are and shall be unto me, and I unto them a Crown of rejoi∣cing at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and on their behalf I pray, that their Faith may grow exceedingly, and that their Love unto Jesus Christ, and unto all Saints. may every day more and more abound, and I commend them unto God, who is able to keep them from falling, and to present them faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding Joy.

As for others, I am jealous over them with a Godly Jealousie (as the Apostle speaketh) con∣tinually praying, that they may not be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ, but that they may hold fast the mystery of Faith in a pure Con∣science.

Some indeed there are, that cause me secretly to groan in my Spirit and my Heart. I even bleed over them, and I do pity them in the Bowels of Jesus Christ, fearing least they should (like the five foolish Virgins) fall asleep, and hereafter endeavour to enter into Glory when the Door is shut. But now, dearly beloved, being come to Preach my last Ser∣mon amongst you, I request you all both good and bad to attend with double diligence, to what shall be spoken unto you from that sweet portion of Scrip∣ture which you find recorded.

PHILIPIANS I. XXIII.

For I am in a straight between two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ which is far better.

IN these Words are these two Parts, First, a De∣claration of St. Pauls desire, For I am in a streight between two, having a desire to depart; Se∣condly, an Inclination of the ground of it, which was this, because he might be with Christ; the word signifies solvere Anchoram, to loosen the Anchor, or to cut the Cable, that the Ship may sail after. While St. Pauls Spirit was tied up by the Flesh, he desired it should be loosened by Death, that it might Sail after into Glory. Spiritual Desires, they are always quickest and strongest, whensoever they are nearest the perfect enjoyment of their desired Object, Christ. As the motion of every natural Bo∣dy is quickest and strongest, the nearer it comes to the Center; so the nearer fulness of Glory, the more fervent the Soul is in its desires after Christ. Sirs, my Text is usually the dying Expression of a li∣ving Saint; for when a believer draws near to his End, he sings most sweetly, like the Swan, and earnestly cries out, Make haste my beloved, he ha∣ving a desire to depart, to be with Christ, evermore: upon a dying Bed, a Christians Pulse beats strong∣est Heaven-ward. We groan, as being in a great straight, knowing, to depart is far better, much more better; as if he should have said, Oh! there is no comparison between the enjoyment of God in the

State of Grace, and the enjoyment of God in a State of Glory.

And here methinks, I hear the dying Christian joyfully breathing out his earnest and longing de∣sires, for a Dissolution, in the very words of a late Grave and Serious Poet, who in an Heavenly Rap∣ture, and sweet Extasie of Spirit, spake in the fol∣lowing manner, viz.

VVhy lingrest thou bright Lamp of Heaven? why Do thy Steeds tread so slowly on? must I Be forc'd to live when I desire to die?

Lash thou those Lazie Jades, drive with full speed, And end my slow-paced days, that I may feed VVith Joy on Him, for whom my heart doth bleed.

Post blessed Jesus, come Lord flee away. And turn this Night into the brightest Day, By thine approach, come Lord, and do not stay.

Take thou Doves-Wings, or give Doves Wings to me, That I may leave this World, and come to thee, And even in thy glorious presence be.

I like not this vile VVorld, it is meer dross, Thou only art pure Gold, then sure 'tis loss To be without a Throne t' enjoy a Cross.

VVhat, though I must pass through the Gates of Death, It is to come to thee that gav'st me Breath, And thou art better (Lord) than Dung-hill-Earth.

VVhen shall I come? Lord tell me, tell me when? VVhat, must I tarry Threescore years and Ten, My Thirsty Soul cannot hold out 'till then.

Come dearest Saviour, come, unlock this Cage Of sinful Flesh, lovingly stop the Rage Of my Desires, end thou my Pilgrimage.

Give me a Place on High, to Sit and Sing Anthems of Praise to thee mine only King, Whose ratling Sounds may make the Heavens Ring.

But here I know the timerous Soul will object a∣gainst this truth, and say, Oh, how can the Chri∣stian so earnestly-desire to be with Christ in the fulness of Glory? were it indeed but a short step into Glory, or were the way strewed with Roses and Flowers, and with all thè Spices of the Mer∣chant, it might be so, but there is a Lion in the way (as Solomon speaks in another case) there is Death the King of Fears, that stands frowning up∣on the Soul at the last cast when the Soul is upon its very Entrance into Christ, his prepared Mansi∣ons of eternal Glory; and therefore it were more desirable, to dwell safely upon the Earth in a sen∣sible Heaven made up of the greatest worldly pro∣fits, and the most delightful creature Comfort, ra∣ther than to venture over the terrible mountain of Death (the very Epitomy of all Discouragements) into the doubtful possession of those invissible Depths of spiritual Glory, which the Scripture tells us, is only attainable after this Life.

I answer, that by nature of this Objection, you may presently know the name of the Objector. It comes from off a carnal heart, and fully speaks the temper an Epicurean Will, that is, against leaving its carnal interest in the Earth, for uncertain interest in Heaven. But Death, though it be an interve∣ning Cloud, which seems to darken or cast a mist upon the Lustre, and Comfort of a believers spiri∣tual injoyment in God; yet it doth but seem to do so, and indeed it doth not at all extinguish the earnest desires of a serious lively Christian after

Christ in the fulness of Glory, and that especially when the believing Soul looks upon Death under these Considerations.

First, that to die is no worse a thing than to tread in the very steps of Jesus Christ, we might indeed have been afraid to die if Jesus Christ had not first stept into the cold grave before us, but if we will shew our selves true Soldiers unto Christ our Captain, we must not fear to venture, where he hath broken the way before us; Now Christ hath died that he might by his Death procure the Death of Death, and that he might free Believers from the fear of Death, the sting being taken out of it.

Secondly, Death is only ordained to refine, and not to ruine Nature, Death ends our sins and mi∣series, and not our life, as it may be made out un∣to you by this following Illustration, those Trees, which seem dead in the Winter, yet they revive in the Spring, because the Body and the Arms of the Tree, they are joyned to the Root, where the Sap lies all the Winter, and by means of this con∣junction the Root it conveys life unto all the parts of the Tree. And the Bodies of Believers they have the Winter to, when as they are turned into the Dust, but their Life it is hid with Christ, at last they are revived and raised up into Glory.

Now here you may observe the great difference of Tempters, according to the various Complexi∣ons of Mens Spirits; the Atheist he dares not die for fear of being put out of his being, and the profane Person he dares not die for fear of exchanging his present bad being for a worse, but the Believer he earnestly desires to die, that besides this present temporal being he might enjoy a future eternal well-being.

Indeed to a wicked Man, the best had been, not to have been, and this next best, were to live long; it was ill with him, that ever he was born, and wors, that he must die.

A Carnal Mans continual cry is this, Dum Spiro, Spero, I love to live, for my present hope is my only help; for indeed, such an one hath only help in this Life; •…•…but a Christians common Expression is this, Dum Exspiro Spero, Expiration is my Ex∣pectation, for such an one hath hope in the Life to come, when a wicked Man dies, he thinks he shall live worse, but a Christian when he dies he knows he shall live better, he cries with the holy Apostle, for one to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Job. 19. 25. I know that my Redeemer liveth, and he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth, and though after my Skin Worms destroy this Body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.

Thirdly, Death was never intended to be as a pri∣vation of good, but as a priviledge for good to the Believer, and it is attended with these several Pri∣viledges.

First, Corporal and Temporal Death, it serves to set out the Beauty and Excellency of eternal Life. It is Gods usual method to set out one contrary by another, Contraria juxta se posita magis elu•…•…escunt. In War God commends Peace to us. In Adversity, Prosperity, in Sickness, Health, and in Death, he commends eternal Life to us.

As the Limner lays the Foundation of a curious Picture in a Dark Ground-work, so God doth often∣times lay the foundation of our sweetest Mercies in the greatest miseries; and this he doth that his Mercies may appear more lovely in our eyes; and thus he sets off the joys of Heaven by the troubles we meet with on the Earth. It is said of Zeno that he was wont to eat bitter things, that he might the better taste sweet, and he would say, sweet things were nothing worth, if they were not so commend∣ed to us. And so bitter Death, it is but an En∣gine devised by infinite Wisdom, and for to

set out the Unspeakable sweetness of Everlasting Joys.

God could as easily have received all his redee∣med ones into the immediate imbraces of Divine Love and Glory, without letting them know what it was to be tempted, to be afflicted or to die, but only for the better sweetning and endearing fulness of Glory to them.

Secondly, Deaths mortal Wound, it is but pre∣paratory to an immortal weight of Glory. Death it is the midnight of all troubles and sorrows, which is in Travel with a morning of everlasting Joy, and Comfort. Death it is the Saturday or last day of our Weekly labours, which ushers in a Sabbath of eternal rest. Rev. 14. 13. And I heard a Voice from Heaven, saying unto me. Write, Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord, for they rest from their Labours, and their VVorks follow after them.

Here the Believer hath labour without rest, but in Heaven he shall have rest without Labour. Death tends indeed to a Believers perfect everlasting reign and rest.

The Believers Afflictions upon Earth, they are fore-runners of Deliverances; they are as throws to the Birth of future Comforts. The Whale which swallowed up Jonah, God appointed as the means of bringing himself to the Shore. And so the trou∣ble which we often times think may swallow us up, it brings us to our harbour Death, it lands us safely upon Glory. One excellency sets out the state of a dying Christian in these Words. Per Augusta ad Augusta, per Spinas ad rosas, per Procellas ad Por∣tum, per Mortem ad Vitam migramus.

Lastly, Death it is as a Bridge that all Saints must walk over to the everlasting Hill of endless Peace, to the perfection of Grace, to the participation o•…•… Glory, to the full possession of Christ.

1. Death it leads us to the perfection of Grace, the believer would live that he might be more per∣fect, but when he dies he is perfect indeed, a dying life, that is, a dying to sin, it frees us from a living Death, well doing fits us for dying. Holiness frames us for Happiness.

2. Death it leads us to a participation of Glory, the consummation of Grace is the inceation of Glo∣ry, Grace that puts the Soul into a capacity of en∣joying glimps of God as in a Glass darkly, but glory brings the Soul, ad visionem beatificam, into an immediate converse with God face to face, 1 Cor. 13. 12. For now we see through a Glass darkly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know even as I am known.

3. Death it leads us into a full possession of Christ, Luke 23, 43. This day shalt thou be with met in Para∣dise, so saith Paul, Then shall we be ever with the Lord, comfort, comfort ye one another with these words, to be always with Christ will be very com∣fortable indeed. Death that deprives us of com∣merce with men, yet it delivers us up into an im∣mediate communion with God and Christ, and the blessed Angels; Saints in Heaven shall be as the An∣gels, nay, saith John, now are we the Sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Death speaks the sad disjunction of the Soul from the Body, and the sure and sweet Conjunction of the Soul with Christ, and therefore saith Paul, and every Chri∣stian, when he is in a right temper, I have a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is best of all.

And thus I have endeavoured to lay open before you those Soul supporting, and Soul encouraging Arguments, the consideration of which, makes the

believing Soul so willingly, and so boldly, to look Death in the Face, to invade Death in its own Quarters, which is indeed but as a Passage or Bridg, whereby the Soul is carried over unto the Mountains of Mirrh, and unto the Hill of Frankincense, where it shall lie down with Christ on his Green Bed of Love, which is perfumed all over with the fulness of in∣created Glory.

And thus having shewed you many Arguments, the Consideration of which doth much facilitate a Believers passage through Death into Glory. I shall in the next place, for a further Illustration of this truth, present unto you the admirable carriage and department of some famous Christians, since Christ his time, as in Relation to their contempt of Death, and earnest desiring to be with Christ in Glory; and in this Relation, I shall begin with Ignatius, who li∣ved while Christ was upon the Earth, and so pro∣ceed to several other remarkable Instances in suc∣cessive Generations.

Ignatius, when he was sent by Trajan the Empe∣rour to Rome, there to be devoured of Lyons for his free reproving of Idolatry; instead of fearing Death, he thus couragiously expressed himself. I wish, says he, that I could see those wild Beasts that must tear me in pi•…•…ces, I would speak them fair to di∣spatch me quickly, and if that would not do, I would incite them to it.

Hierom of Prague, the renowned Bohemian Mar∣tyr, he uttered these words, with much chearful∣ness, at his very giving up the Ghost, Hanc ani∣mam in flammis affero, Christe, tibi, freely do I burn for the sake of Christ.

Oecolampadius lying upon his Death Bed, and a certain Friend coming to him, Oecolampadius asked him what news, unto whom his Friend answered, I know none, but says he, I can tell you some good

news, nam ego subito cum Christo regnabor, I shall sud∣dainly be with Christ upon his Throne.

Melanchton, a little before his Death, he would often say, capio ex hac vita migrare propter duas cau∣sas; primum, ut frurar desiderato conspectu filii Dei, deinde ut liberer ab immunibus Theologerum odiis; I de∣sire to die to injoy a sight of Jesus Christ, &c.

But what need I tell you of the resolute and un∣daunted Carriage of Christians in former ages, we need look no further than upon the carriage of Chri∣stians in latter Ages.

Casper Obevian, the famous Lawyer, lying upon his Death Bed, he would often say, O Lord let not my journey be long deferred ere I be with thee. I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ, he had rather de∣part this Life, and take but one Feast in Glory, than take many fees and still live in this miserable World.

Strigelius, the learned Suetzer, falling sick, he would often say, Seperare se finem vitae suae ad esse, He hoped this Sinful Life was now at an end, that he might injoy God perfectly.

Grinaus, the learned Helvetian, died with these words in his mouth, O praeclarum illum diem, cum ad illud animarum concilium Caelumque profiscar: Oh fairest day! when I shall make a journey to Heaven? that convocation of Souls; should I but relate the dying Speeches of Mr. Rollock, the learned and de∣vout Scotch-man, they would melt any Heart that shall hear them, he breathed out these words with his Life.

I Bless God, says he, I have all perfect Sences, but my Heart is in Heaven: And Lord Jesus why shouldst thou not have it; it hath been my Care all my Life time to devout it unto thee, I pray thee therefore take it that it may live with thee for ever, Come Lord Jesus put an end to this sinful miserable life, haste Lord, tarry not, come Lord Jesus and give me that life, for which

thou hast redeemed me. Nay further, that I might. Christians, leave your Spirits in this sweet temper of contemning Death, and desiring to be with Christ in Glory, where I should much rejoice and indeed earnestly pray that I might meet you all. I shall yet mind you of some remarkable instances in this kind, even in our own Nation.

Mr. Cooper, that famous Champion for the Truth, when he was brought to be burnt at the Stake in Queen Mary's days, and there having a box set be∣fore him with a pardon in it, as soon as he percei∣ved so much, he cried out, If you love my Soul away with it, if you love my Soul away with it.

Dr. Taylor, when he was brought to Hadly in Suf∣folk to suffer Martyrdom for his Profession of Christ, the History says, he was as merry in his going from London, as though he had been a going to some Ban∣quet or Bridal. And when he was brought unto the place of Execution, he kissed the Stake utter∣ing these Words. Now I am even at home, Lord Je∣sus receive my Soul into thy Hands.

Before Mr. Bradford was Martyr'd, his dear Wife came running into his Chamber, and said Mr. Brad∣ford, I bring you heavy news, for to morrow you must be burned, your Chain it is now a buying, but when Mr. Bradford had heard these Words, he lif∣ted up his Eyes to Heaven, and said. I thank God for it. I have looked for this a long time, this news comes not to me suddainly but as a thing that I waited for every day and hour, the Lord make me worthy of it.

And when he was brought into Smithfield to be burnt, where there was another young Man to suf∣fer with him, he turned himself to the young Man, and said, Be of good Comfort Brother, for we shall have a merry Supper with the Lord Jesus Christ this Night.

Bishop Jewell lying upon his Death-bed, he would often say, Now Lord let thy Servant depart in Peace, break off all delays, Let me this day quickly see the Lord Jesus, And observe further, one stan∣ding by him, and praying with Tears that the Lord would be pleased to restore this Godly Bishop unto his former Health, he over-hearing of him seemed to be very much offended, and replied thus, I have not lived so, that I am ashamed to live any longer, neither do I fear to Die, because I have a merciful Father.

And now truly Friends, out of the tender Affe∣ction which I bear unto all your Souls, I could heartily wish, that this might be the dying Lan∣guage of you all, that you might every one be able to say from a good and clear Conscience, at last, I have not lived not so that I am ashamed to live longer, neither do I fear to die, because I have a mer∣ciful Father.

And further, I do protest in the presence of God, with Saint Paul, in the 4th, to the Phillip. at the first Verse, That it is my greatest joy and richest Crown, if that ever since I came among you, I have spoken any thing leading to mutual Love and Peace. And if all my pains and endeavours among you in much weakness have taken any effect upon any of your Spirits, to win you unto a love of Christ, that so you may be holy here, and happy hereafter, I shall sincerely rejoice.

But I shall say no more at this time, but only con∣clude with the words of Saint Paul, Phill. 4. I pray mark the words, for they will be the last I shall speak among you.

Verse 1. My Brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.

Verse 4. Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I s•…•… Rejoice.

Verse 5. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.

Verse 6. Be careful for nothing: but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.

Verse 7. And the peace of God which passeth all un∣derstanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Verse 8. Finally, Brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoe∣ver things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatso∣ever things are of good report; if there be any Virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Verse 9. Those things which ye have both learned and received, and heard and seen in me, do; so I have received them from Christ; those things do and follow. And the God of Peace, shall be with you.

THE EJACULATION.

GOOD Lord, let our Souls be filled with breathings and pantings after Grace and Glory, Let us be e∣ver willing (with St. Paul) to depart and to be with Christ. Let us dayly look and long to be in Heaven, where we shall sit down in the same Throne with our bles∣sed and glorious Redeemer, where there will be no more sinning nor sighing, nor more weeping for dead and dying Friends. Let us long, long to be there, where time will be no more, but all will be swallowed up in an endless Eternity of joy and delight. Lord, let us often ponder upon the blessed state above, for certainly, one deep and serious consideration of the never fading Glory of the other world is enough to wing our hearts with earnest desires (as we have heard it did thy Holy Saints and Martyrs) to depart and leave this vain world to be with Christ. And good Lord, let us, when we leave a weeping House) and the many instances of our dear∣est Friends going so often to the Grave before us, shew that we must quickly follow) be received into that Celestial Mantion above, which will prove an eter∣nal House of Joy.

The Eye that hath seen him shall see him no more. SERMON XI.

Upon ACTS 20. 38.

Sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, That they should see his Face no more.

IN the latter part of this Chapter you have the Declaration of two things; First, You have de∣clared the Carriage of the Apostle Paul, that was, he Preach'd while he was at the Church of Ephesus. Secondly, You have declared the Character of the Church of Ephesus, when they were parting with this Blessed Preacher, in the words that I have read, and the verse before, or the two last verses, and it was full of Love, and manifested in three things:

1. They fell upon his Neck and kissed him, that's the close of the 37. verse.

2. They accompanied him unto the Ship, when he was to launch into the Ocean: They went with him as far as they could, as some of them it may be will to the very edge of Eternity.

3. They shew'd to him their Love, by their •…•…ping,

and Sorrowing at parting: They cannot part with dry Eyes.

They sorrowed most of all, especially for this, that they should see his Face no more. It was not so much that Paul was to go from them, but that they should see his Face no more.

From this practice of this Church, I would lay down this Doctrine,

That it is the property and practice of the Saints and People of God, to be sorrowful and affected at the final parting with their Pastors and Teachers;

This was that that most of all cut their Hearts, That they should see his Face no more.

That Patriarch Jacob, that wrestled and pre∣vailed when he came to die, as you read in Gen 49. and the last verse, That he pull'd up his Feet into the Bed, and he's goone: Now see what a Mourning there was for him in Gen. 50. 1. Joseph fell upon his Fathers Face and kissed him, and verse 3. And the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days; here was a mourning for Jacob, and verse 10. They came to the Threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they Mourned with a great and very sore Lamentation: And made a Mourning for his Fa∣ther seven daies.

The young Prophet in the 1 Kings 13. who without doubt in the main was Faithful to God, though seduced out of his way, and out of his Life by an old Prophet, whereby a Lion was appointed by God to destroy him, but see now how the old Prophet was affected with it as soon as he hears it, causeth the Ass to be Sadled, and goes and brings the Carcase home to the City to Mourn, and to Bu∣ry him, and laid him in his own Grave, in the 30. vers•…•…, and brings all to Mourn over him, and char∣ges his Sons that when he was dead, that they Bury him in the same Sepulchre where the Man of God

was, and lay his Bones besides his Bones.

I shall now instance in the New Testament, it was so with them of Ephesus when they parted with Paul, They should see his Face no more. He had been such a Preacher that they could not part with him without Tears, or with dry Eyes.

Devout Men also carried Stephen to his Burial, and made great Lamentation over him.

When Christ was carrying to be put to Death, there followed him a great multitude of People, and Women which also bewailed and lamented him, There was great lamentation: Oh they could not part with Jesus Christ without lamenting, That they should see his Face no more. But it will be here ob∣iected in the next verse, that Jesus Christ in Luke 23. 28. turn'd to those Women that wailed and wept, and said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but for your selves. That therefore there ought not to be weeping or lamenting for the de∣parture of any Eminent Saint, seeing he forbids it for himself; it argues indeed we should not weep for them, but for the want of them, which is ours.

Why should those that are Hearers be deeply af∣fected at the final departure of Holy Ministers. I answer, This arises from the love that is between them: There is a mutual Love between a Faithful Preacher and a Sincere Hearer.

Where there is Love, there is Mourning in the absence of it.

It's said that Israel loved Joseph more than all his Children, and therefore when News came to Ja∣cob that Joseph was not: Oh! saith Jacob, ver. 35. I will go down into the Grave unto my Son mourning. So David lamented for Absolon, Ob Absolon my Son, my Son Absolon; and David lamented exceedingly for Jonathan in that 1 Kings. I am distressed for

thee my Brother Jonathan; if you love your Prea∣chers so as its said of them that could pull out their Eyes for them while living, you will even weep out your Eyes for them now dead.

I could tell you of a thing that I have lookt up∣on as a Piece of Prophesie, it was Printed and Writ Ten Years before the Fire of London, and it was this.

London look to it, what Heaven's a doing, Thy Flames are coming when thy Lots are going.

When I consider who is gone, and who are go∣ing, I dread. What became of Prague when Jerom was dead? What became of Germany when Luther was dead? And what will become of England when such as these are dead.

Let me call upon this Congregation this Even∣ing, that we would be in the Ephesians Practice, they Mourned when Paul was going, and they should see his Face no more. Your Preacher is gone, And you shall see his Face no more. I would I could raise you to their height of Mourning.

He begat you in Christ Jesus, though none of his own, but Christs, and you may get one to suc∣ceed him, but not to exceed him, but I desire that Man to tell me where.

The Good Mans Epitaph. SERMON XII.

REV. 14. 13.

And I heard a Voice from Heaven, say∣ing unto me, Write, Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth; so saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their Labours, and their Works do follow them.

THE Scripture will afford us many Texts for Funerals. Methinks there is none more fit, nor more ordinarily Preached on than two: And they are both of them Voices from Heaven.

One was to Isaiah the Prophet. He was com∣manded to cry. The Voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All Flesh is Grass, and all the goodliness thereof, is as the Flower of the Field.

You will say, That is a fit Text indeed; so is this here; A Voice from Heaven too. But St. John is not commanded to cry it, as Isaiah was; he is commanded to write it.

That that is written is for the more assurance. It seemeth good to me (saith St. Luke in his Preface to his Gospel) Most excellent Theophilus, To write to thee of those things in order, that thou mightest know the certainty.

Philosophers (who saw no further than the Clouds of Humane Reason) could say, A wise Mans Life should be a continual Meditation of Death.

Joseph of Arimathea had his Sepulchre in his Gar∣den, and Jesus Christ at the Publicans Feast, falls into a serious discourse of his Passion, and Ascensi∣on, to teach us that in times and places of greatest Pleasure, we should put our selves upon Theams of Mortality. Heathens indeed had their Burying∣places without their Cities, but Christians in and about their Churches, as signifie that in our Devoti∣ons, we should think upon our dissolutions, which was one reason why Alphonsus King of Arragon used to confess, that dead Men were his best Friends; they gave him sound and seasonable Counsel, to re∣member Mortality here, and provide for Eternity hereafter.

To this end, St. John in his Book of the Reve∣lation, is sometimes advising us to make Prepara∣tion for Death.

And sometimes encouraging us against the ap∣proaches of Death, by describing the glorious Re∣ward of the Saints departed, as in this Text, Blessed are the dead, &c.

From whence we may observe that they that die in a state of Grace, live in a state of Glory. This Observation I take to be the Scope and Quintessence of the Text, and therefore shall make it the pro∣per Subject of my present Discourse.

First by way of Explication, to shew what it is to die in the Lord. That implies two things espe∣cially. 1. To die in the Lord is to die for the

Confession of the Faith. 2. To die in the Professi∣on of the Faith of the Lord Jesus Christ.

3. And lastly, To die in the Lord, is to die in the peace of a good Conscience. A Conscientious Man dies Blessedly, howsoever, or whensoever, or wheresoever he dies; therefore when St. Paul had received the Summons of Death, he fled to the Ca∣stle of his good Conscience; there he sat like Noah in his Cabbin, in an Ark pitch'd within and with∣out. I am ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand; and here is my Comfort, I shall go to my Grave with a Conscience as clean as my Winding-sheet; it follows, I have fought a good Fight, finished my Course, kept the Faith, henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness.

This Truth is confirmed by a double Reason, They Rest from their Labours, and their Works follow them. Their Blessedness consists in two things. 1. In a cessation from all Sin and Misery, They Rest, &c. 2. In a possession of all Glory and Felicity, Their Works follow them.

First, They Rest, &c. The Kingdom of Heaven is often in Scripture termed a Rest, a place of Rest.

The World indeed is a troubled Sea, but Hea∣ven is the Haven of Rest; the World is an Egypt, a place of Burden and Bondage, but Heaven is a Canaan, that resembled by the Bosom of Abraham, a place of sweet Refreshment, and Soul-satisfying Rest.

The Saints departed Rest from the Labours of their

• Corruptions.
• Afflictions.
• Temptations.

And lastly, They Rest from the Labour of their particular Calling and Vocation, which is toilsome and troublesome, ever since God past this Doom upon Man for his offence in Paradise, In the Sweat of thy Brows shalt thou eat Bread. Indeed, Man in the state of Innocency; was not excused from La∣bour: Paradise, which was Adams Store-house, was his Work-house too; God put him into the Garden, not to sleep in those sweet Bowers, not to spend his time idly in those pleasant Walks, but to dress and keep it (ut operaretur) that he might work and labour in it, only here is the difference, Labour then was a Recreation to the Mind, and now it is an Affliction to the Body.

The second Reason is laid down in the last words of the Text, Their Works follow them, therefore they are Blessed: Their Happiness is not only privative, consisting in a freedom from Sin and Misery, but positive also, in a possession of all Peace and Glory, in a consummation of Grace, in a perfect Fruition of God, and a Blessed Communion with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Their Works follow them, not their Works in kind, but their Works in Issue and Effect, the Fruits and Reward of their Works, the Blessings of God which lye in the Promises to Works of Piety and Charity, These follow them to Heaven: Indeed Faith leads the way, that must be our Harbinger to take up our Lodging in the New Jerusalem, that like the Star in the East, leads us to Bethlehem, where Christ is, but then good Works follow after, they are our Attendants to the Court and Kingdom of Glory.

The Use, If the Saints departed rest from their Labours, here is then comfort in the general a∣gainst all Crosses and Calamities in the World, and in particular against the fear of our own Death, or the Death of Friends.

Blessed are the Dead, they rest, &c. Death (like Lot's Angels) plucks us out of the Sodom of Sin and Misery, and placeth us in Z•…•…ar, a City of Rest and Tranquility: Like Peter's Angel, it shakes off the Chain of Mortality, and opens the Iron-gate, the Gate of Pearl into the New Jerusalem; like Lazarus his Angel, it conducts the Soul from Earth to Abra∣ham's Bosom, from this Vail of Tears to the King∣dom 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 Righte∣ous is taken away from the Evil to come; and he shall enter into Peace, they shall rest in their Beds. Such a Blessed Rest have the Righteous in Death; as our Saviour wept, because his Friend Lazarus was to be deprived of it; it is both the Observation of an Ancient Father, and the Resolution of an Ancient Council, concerning Christs weeping over Lazarus, John 11. 35. Doluit Lazarum, non dormientem, sed resurgentem. Christ did not weep because Lazarus was dead, and taken out of the World, but because he was to return from the Grave into a Trouble∣some 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 dear∣est 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, with∣out peradventure, if we walk in ways of Obedience to the end▪

It was David's Comfort upon the death of his Child. While the Child was living he fasted and wept, and lay upon the Ground; but when it was dead, he arose and anointed himself, aad eat Bread. His Reason is very strong and convincing.

1. An impossibility of Recovery, He shall not come to me.

2. An assured Hope of meeting again in Heaven, But I shall go to him. He shall not come to me, that would be for his loss, to part with his Rest in Hea∣ven, 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 E∣gypt; meet again in Heaven and never part. Now you know it never troubles us to see the Sun set, because we know it will rise again in the Morning; it never troubles us to part with a Friend when he goes to Bed, because we hope to see him again in the Morning. Beloved, the Death of a Friend is but like the setting of the Sun, or the uncloathing of a Man when he goes to Bed, there will be a glo∣rious appearing in the Morning of the Resurrecti∣on, 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.

'Tis 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 as∣sured 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 Fa∣ther.

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 un∣satisfactory, and therefore look on it and pass a∣way.

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 Flow∣ers, which may please our Sences and our Phan∣tasies, but here is no Corn for Bread, no substan∣tial satisfying Comforts.

As Death should be the Subject of your Medita∣t•…•…on, so Heaven the Center of your Affections. Richar•…•… 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 Hea∣ven, the Royal City, the New Jerusalem.

That so after a troublesome Life, we may have a peaceable Death, and after Death a glorious Re∣ward 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 Lab•…•…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 Neigh∣bour and Friend, to do our last office to her Body, by a•…•…ording it the benefit of a Christian and Comely Burial.

Concerning whom, I might upon very good and warrantable Grounds, enlarge my Discourse in the description of the blessedness, both of her Life and Death, but as the Orator said, Quid▪ opus est ver∣bis? 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 where∣as

many are flattered with hopes of Life, till the very Hour of Death; yet she was upon a medita∣tion of Death from the first beginning of her sick∣ness: Death was not sudden to her, either in re∣spect of Expectation, or Preparation; she had her Wedding-garment on, and her Lamp trimmed with Faith and a good Conscience; she was ready for Death, and ripe for Eternity; behold she is coming to the Grave, and she comes as a shock of Corn from the Field in due Season.

Hopes of a joyful Resurrection. SERMON XIII.

JOB. 19. v. 25, 26, 27.

For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth.

And though after my Skin, Worms de∣stroy shis Body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.

Then I shall see for my self, and mine Eyes shall behold, and not another, though my Reins be consumed in me.

AS if he had thus argued:

He that waites by Faith in the Redeemer of the Re∣surrection of his Body to eternal Life, after Death hath done its worst, is not a wicked man, or an Hypocrite, as you have charged me.

But such is my Faith; I believe in the Redeemer, and I look to rise (after this body is consumed and eaten of Worms) to an eternal happy Life; therefore I am not such as you judge me to be, neither wicked nor hypocrite. You account me as rejected of God, yet I know that God is my Redeemer, I know that he lives for ever, and

that he is mine for ever, and therefore do not think, because I have no hope of this life, that therefore I despair of life: Do not take upon you, that you only know these mysteries, and that I am ignorant of them, as my Friend Bildad con∣cluded in the 18th. Chapter (this is the portion of Man that knows not God,) for even I also know that my Redeemer liveth, and shall stand upon the Earth at the latter day.

In the former Verse we have considered and im∣proved the Confession of Job's Faith in the Re∣deemer.

First, As living or eternal.

Secondly, As rising from the Dead, or raising the Dead to Life.

Thirdly, As judging both the Quick and Dead. He in these two Verses enlargeth the Confession of his Faith concerning his own personal Resurrection. Which,

First, He asserts in the Close of the 26th Verse, In my flesh shall I see God.

Secondly, In the strong actings of his Faith he assureth himself of it, notwithstanding all the diffi∣culties that might obstruct and hinder it in the 26th Verse, and in the Close of the 27th. Though after my Skin Worms destroy this Body; though my Reins be consumed within me, yet I believe I shall see God: These Impediments do not weaken my Faith.

Thirdly, He declares the Benefit or Happiness which shall accrew unto him after the Resurrection of his Body, which he doth.

First, In those words, I shall see God.

Secondly, In those, I shall see him for my self. In both which Expressions, he sets forth the Hap∣piness of the Saints after the raising of their Bodies out of the Grave, and the re-union of Soul and Body.

Fourthly, He maintains the identity of his flesh or body in the Resurrection, or that the same body which falls shall rise. And this is in a twofold notion.

First, An identity specificial, it shall be the same Body in kind.

Secondly, An identity numerical, or individual, shall be the same particular Body he had on Earth, and laid down in the Earth. Both which are evi∣denced and evinced from those passages in the Text: I shall see him in my flesh; Mine eye shall behold, and not another, I, my, mine, and not another, imply no∣thing, if not himself, or no other thing but him∣self.

From all we may collect, how excellent a con∣fession of Faith Job made about that great mystery of the Resurrection, and how firmly his Soul was established in it.

Verse 26. And though after my Skin Worms destroy this Body. As if he had more largely said;

After I am dead, and laid in the Grave, where Worms do not only eat my Skin, and consume this upper Garment, but my whole Body also: yea, and not only the outward Limbs and Members of my Body, but my very Bowels and Entrals. Though my Reins be consumed within me: though Worms devour, and rottenness invade whatsoever I am, or have of a Body, though I am spent from Head to Toe, from Skin to Reins, without and within, yet notwithstanding all this, I believe that I shall rise again, and see God in my flesh.

And mine Eyes shall behold, and not another.

We have in this Text, see, and see, and behold. The word in the original is different from what we had before, I shall behold him. It signifies more than the bare seeing, or the gathering in the Spe∣cies of any object into the eye. It signifies a very

vehement beholding; a critical discerning, view, and sight of the thing. Whom I shall behold, That is, with deep intention, both of Eye and Mind, to find out and rejoyce in all the Excellency, Beau∣ty, Glory, and Worth that is in him. A Man may come into a Room, adorned with goodly Pictures, he sees them in passage, he hath a transient view of them, and he takes some pleasure in this view. Another beholds them, to see the Workmanship, how the lines are drawn, and Features shadowed to the life; he views with Skill and Art, this pleas∣eth much, and gives the accurate Beholder high contentment. So here, Mine eye shall behold him: That is, I shall even set my self to take a view of him, to gather up (as it were) into my self the Idea's of his divine Perfections, and so to receive all those delight and contents which rise from such an excellent object.

Mine Eye shall behold, and not another; that is, the •…•…ight which I shall have of God in my glorified State, shall not be at the second hand, but such I shall have my self: The joy which I shall then receive shall not be of any report or narrative that others shall give me of the Glory of God. I shall see with mine own Eyes, not others, or not by another.

The knowledge we have here, is but like that which the Samaritans had of Christ by the Womans report; but that which we shall have in Heaven shall be like that which they had of Christ when himself came personally among them, and spake immediately. Or we may illustrate it by that of the Queen of the South: The knowledge which we have of God here, and of his Glory and Excellen∣cy, is like that of the Queen of the South in her own Country; there she had a report of Salomon's Person, of his Government, of his Riches and Dig∣nity, and such a report, as did not only affect and

astonish her, but provoke her to undertake that great Journey, that she might see for her self, and her Eyes behold, and not another; and when she came to the Court at Jerusalem, and beheld Solomon in his Person and Attendance, when she observed the service of his Table, and heard his wisdom, there was no more Spirit in h•…•…r, (1 Kings 10. 5.) thas is, she was as one astonished, whose Spirits are sunk and dissipated. Where the natural Spirit doth not act, it is said not to be. When we come to the Court of Heaven, as the Queen of the South to Solomons Court, and there behold how much God is beyond, and above all that we have hitherto heard of him here at home in our own Coun∣try, we shall be rap•…•… up into admiration, and there shall be indeed no more of this low and narrow Spirit in us for ever.

All these conceptions about, and interpretations of the Text, are pious and profitable; but that which I rather take to be the proper meaning of these words (Mine Eye shall behold, and not another) is this; Job (as was touched in giving the analysis of these two Verses) speaks here of the Identity of his flesh in the Resurrection: I shall see him, I shall see him for my self, mine Eyes shall behold him, and not another. That is, I, the Man who stand here be∣fore you, the same who Job now speaketh; I the ve∣ry same numerical Person shall see God in this very •…•…esh, and with these eyes; they shall be indeed new dressed and dyed, trimmed, and made fit to come into the presence of the great and glorious God; yet it shall be even this flesh, and these Eyes, in which I shall come into the Presence of God, and and behold my Redeemer. I shall be altered from what I was, but I shall not be another than I was, I shall be changed into a better condition, but I shall not be changed into another person. My

qualities shall have a perfective alteration, but I shall retain the same matter, and be the same man. A man raised glorious and immotal, is what he was, except his Morality, and hath no more than he had, except his Glory. The Philosopher acknowledgeth there may be a specificial, but not a numerical Re∣stauration of that which is corrupted. But Jo•…•…'s Faith was clearer than Aristotle's reason: He be∣lieved a Personal Resurrection, Mine Eye shall behold▪ and not another; I shall not be changed into another Person, whatever changes I undergo, I shall be Job still, the same Job. Hence observe:

Every Man at the Resurrection shall receive the same Body that now he hath, and be•…•… the same M•…•… which now he is.

One of the Antients hath a large Discourse upon this subject, wherein he discovers some, who tho they granted the Soul immortal, yet denied the Re∣surrection of the same Body: Such were the Mar∣cionites, Basilidians, and Vàlentinians. These, •…•…aith he, went halves with the Sadduces in their opini∣on. The Sadduces denied Spirits. Hence (Acts 23. 6.) Paul perceiving that the Assembly was mixed of Sadduces and Pharisees (and wisely con∣sidering, that if he did but mind them of their differ∣ences between themselves, they would not so strongly agree and combine against him) he made his advan∣tage of it, by professing openly that he was a Pharisee. And the sacred Historian tells us what the peculiar tenents of the Sadduces were, (v. 8.) The Sadduces say there is no Resurrection, neither Angel nor Spirit, (they denied both) but the Pharisees confess both. They held, that there were immortal Spirits or Souls, united to the bodies of Men, that those bodies should arise, and be reunited to the Soul. They also confessed that there were Angels, who are Spirits subsisting properly without Bodies Now, as the Sadduces de∣nied

the Resurrection of the Body, so others deni∣ed the Resurrection of the same Body: These he calleth sharers or halvers in the Sadduces Opinion; though not so grosly as they, yet too too grosly de∣parting from the Faith. And indeed, they who deny the Resurrection of the same body, do (by implication) altogether deny the Resurrection of the body: For if the same numerical Body should not rise, it could not be called a Resurrection; Resur∣rection is the rising of that which fell, and the ta∣king up of that which was before laid down: So that it would be the Creation of a new Body, not the Resurrection of the old, if it were not the same Body. And it conduceth much to the com∣fort of Saints, and may be the terrour of wicked Men, to keep close to the Faith of this Article. The Apostle seems to touch it (2 Cor. 5. 10.) We shall all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things he hath done in his Body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad. That hand which hath been doing for Christ, that very Tongue which hath been speak∣ing for Christ, that whole Body which hath been moved, and acted for Jesus Christ, as an instrument of his Glory, that shall receive the Reward: As also that Hand, that Eye, that Tongue, that Foot which hath moved. and stirred against Christ, that also shall be punished, and receive according to the evil committed in the Body. Judgment would not be exact, unless as there hath been a co∣partnership between Soul and Body in their works, so also they should be co-Partners both in reward and punishment.

If it be objected, how can the same numerical Body rise again, especially in such cases, when thousands of Carcasses are mingled, and their Dust promiscuously heapead together, or scattered abroad?

When the Bodies of Men are devoured by wild Beasts, and digested into the substance of Fowls and Fishes, especially when the Bodies of Men are eaten and concocted into the Bodies of other Men? How can these numerical Bodies rise? I answer, first, if we will not rest in matters of Faith, till we have a clear rational account of them, our Faith may quickly be at a stand. I answer, secondly, that as it is easie to make Objections against Faith, so Faith hath one answer as easie as these Objections. The Apostle gives it, and into that all such doubts must be resolved (Phil. 3. 20.) For having shewed the present condition, or disposition of the Spirit of Saints in the former Verse; Our Conversation is in Heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. He presently shewes what the future condition of the Saints Bodies shall be. Who shall change our vile Bodies, that they may be fa∣shioned like unto his glorious Body. (How is this, Who puts this vile Body into such a Glorioui fashi∣on? Trouble not your selves for that, there is pow∣er enough to do it, it is done,) according to the work∣ing, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself. This is an answer to the hardest Objections, Christ can subdue all things, therefore those which are hardest.

There is no difficulty to Omnipotency.

You ask how the same Body can be restored? I ask how the first body was Created? Tell me how God Created Heaven and Earth out of nothing? So that as the Apostle speaks (Heb 11. 3.) Things which are seen. were not made of things which do ap∣pear: How were these things done? If you argue by reason, you will be pos'd and gravel'd in these as wall as in that other; yea, you will be at a Wall, and notable to answer above that which is or∣dinary, and every day done, and shall continue to be

done in all the Generations of Men (Solomon puts the question Eccles. 11. 5.) Tell me how the Bones grow in the Womb of her that is with Child: Can you tell how the Child is framed? Thou canst not give an account of thy own Production, nor find out the Work of God in forming the Body? Therefore as to the manner how such things are done, we must have recourse only to the Almighty power of God, to the All-powerful God, who is able to subdue all things to himself. Mine Eye shall behold, and not another.

Though my Reigns be consumed within me.

I touch upon the Interpretation of this Clause, before, as it suits with that passage, vers. 26. Though after my Skin, Worms destroy this Body, and though my Reins be consumed within me. Though I be totally consumed, Skin without, and Reins within, yet notwithstanding I believe that I shall rise and see God. Thus it was joined with the first Words of the 26th. Verse, to shew the triumph of Faith over all Difficulties that lie in the way of the Resur∣rection.

The Yearly Mourner. SERMON XIV.

JUDGES 11. ult.

And it was a Custom in Israel that the Daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the Daughter of Jeptha the Gileadite four Days in a Year.

TO a place appointed for their meeting to this end, possibly to the place where she was Sacrificed, to express their sorrow for her loss, according to the manner, or to discourse of (so the Hebrew Lamed is some∣times used) the Daughter of Jepthah, to Celebrate her Praises, who had so willingly yielded up her self for a Sacrifice.

We find our Saviour weeping over Lazarus's Grave, insomuch as the people could infer thence, See how much he loved him, John 11. 35, 36. I know no Divinity that excludes Humanity, but delights always to plant it self in soft Breasts, and either make or finds good Nature. I find in the Cata∣logue and Spawn of highest Crimes (which the

dregs of these last times should bring forth, want of natural Affection reckon'd, 2 Tim. 33.

So then, 'tis not only not unlawful, but a Duty to Mourn with those that Mourn, if you will re∣ceive the Apostles Prescription, Rom. 12. 15. It is in the Scripture noted as an extream Judgment and Curse on the Wicked, Job 17. 15, (Psal. 78. 64.) his Widows shall not weep, as either want∣ing leisure from other Sorrows, or liberty from their Cruel Enemies.

Tears are the first Office we do for our selves, and the last for others.

They may not please themselves, that can with dryest Eyes behold the Sicknesses, the Losses, the Funerals of Friends, as who had attained a greater measure of Religion or Discretion, or the Spirit, or who had subdued their Desires to a perfecter Re∣signation, and submission to Gods Will. Let them question themselves whether this stoutness, pro∣ceeds not from a Spirit void of Sense and Natural Affection, and not from an humble Resignation to the Providence and Pleasure of God; whether this Calm arise not alike to that of the dead Sea, from a Curse?

On the other side, Though Religion forbids not Mourning, yet it forbids us to Mourn as those that have no hopes; though it excludes not all grief, yea it moderates our Grief, and teacheth us to turn our sadness to an holy sorrow.

Weep not, She is not Dead but Sleepeth. SERMON XV.

LUKE 8. 52.

And all wept and bewailed her; But he said, Weep not, she is not dead but sleepeth.

OUR Life is divided into Labour and Rest, which Nature wisely hath contrived in∣to waking and sleeping, in an admira∣ble manner providing the preservation of our being by a seeming dissolution of it. We must intermit it to continue it: Die we must one half of the natural day, that we may live the other. Lye down and sleep (as it were) to die in the night, that we may awake and arise to live on the Morrow; so well acquainted is our Life with Death, that our whole Age appears the Changes and In∣tercourse of both. Nay this kind of Death is that which continueth Life; such is the Frailty of the Creature, that it immediately owes its being to a kind of not being, to a privation, though not sim∣ply of Life, yet—Tali—to something very

well like Death. For tell me, strongest Constitu∣tion! How long canst thou labour without the re∣lief of rest? How long canst thou awake without re∣freshment of sleep?

But would not have you to be ignorant, Brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ve sorrow not, as others that have no hope; For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again; even so them which sleep in Jesus, God will bring with him, as affirms St. Paul. 1 Thess 4. 13. 14. John 11. 12.

Whence it appears, that if she sleep, she shall do well; and shall we take it ill, that our Friends are well? Shall we be troubled upon Earth, because our Friends are at rest under it? Forbid it Religi∣on! Pereat contristatio, ubi tanta est consolatio, Be not ye sad because your Friend is gone to a state of Joy.

If Nature sadned at departure, will let fall a Tear, let Faith gladned with Hopes of meeting a∣gain, wipe away that Tear. Wrestle not with the Decrees of Heaven, nor murmur at the procedures of its Providence; 'twas God that closed her Eyes in sleep, that for bids your Eyes to weep. Weep not (for) she is not dead but sleepeth.

The Division of this Text is made to my hand's by the meeting of this Congregation, three Parties are visible in the presence. Which discover three parts legible in the words.

• 1. The Dead,—She.
• 2. The Mourners,—All wept.
• 3. The Preacher,—he said, Weep not.

Weep not. This (I said) is the Mourners Com∣fort, to improve it into practice, thereby to lessen the number, or to lighten the weight of their Mourn∣ing. I profess my self unfurnished of any other Argument, than the numberless Felicities and weight of Glory, which Crown those that are not Dead but Sleep.

Yet whilst we live in this Valley of Tears, na∣tural Affection will so far prevail upon our Reason, that even the Father of the Faithful, when he was to sow his nearest Relative in the Earth, could not but Water it with a shower from his Eyes. For A∣braham came to Mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her, Gen. 23. 2.

Attend the first words Christ spake to a Woman after his Resurrection, was it not, Why weepest thou? Joh. 20. 15. Indeed before Christ had opened the Gates of Death, Mary, nay the whole World had cause enough to weep. But now Christ the Head was risen, and had made way for all his Members to follow; now Jesus had beaten Death at his own Weapon, and kill'd it by dying, since he hath changed the Grave into a Bed, Death into Sleep, and made the Land of Darkness the ready way to the place where Light dwelleth. Tears are both unreasonable and unseasonable, why weepest thou? is as much as weep not.

Considerable are the Syren and the Swan, whose different Fate is thus: The Syren Sings away 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 glad∣ness.

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, 'twere more of Envy than Love to be wail an Earthly Hap∣piness. I close, as Jesus to the Daughters of Je∣rusalem, Weep not for me, but 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 con∣fess, 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 Fare 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 fashion∣able.

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 in∣structed 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 ex∣cellent Lady Marcella: Nay, St. John hath taken short Notes of a Sermon made by Christ at the Fu∣neral of Lazarus, John 11. 12, 13, &c. wherein are Discourses of Faith, Resurrection and Glory, raised from the Dead, and applyed to the Living. Ineed no other, because I can follow no better prece∣dent, 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 He∣rauldry 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 im∣proved, 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 Hea∣ven, she beautified with so much Piety, and adorn∣ed with so much Religion, as if she had been in∣trusted to preserve both the Lustre and the Vertues of the Celestial Bodies in her Epitome.

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 de∣livered, 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 com∣manded 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 Affecti∣on.

Her Attire neither sordid 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 e∣nough 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 Gate; Instructions for the Ignorant, and Charita∣ble Remedies for the Sick; Christian Applications

for all, feeding the Hungry, cooling the Thirsty, cloathing the Naked, visiting the Sick, and har∣bouring 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, what∣soever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are love∣ly, 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 dis∣paragement, 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 So∣cieties 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 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 fafely trust in her she did do him good and not ill all the days of her life. Longer she is not ob∣liged;—Till death us depart—was their agree∣ment; 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 La∣cedemonians did their Gods, according to the seve∣ral Fashions of each City, so to gain Reputation from Man; but she persevered in the constant sub∣stantials 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, Hea∣ven 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 glo∣ry that hitherto he hath been but telling thee of, and give thee a Possession of all that which hither∣to 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 no∣thing of all this abate thy Fears, silence thy Com∣plaints, and bring thee to a Chearful Submission? Fear not then my Soul, but boldly 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, Relati∣ons, Neighbours, with whom I have a long time lived, and with whom I have familiarly conver∣sed,

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 shiness? 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 com∣munion with him, and yet not know him?

Well, sayst thou, but if I know him, it is but very little, I never saw him in all my Life? And what if thou hast not seen him with thy bodily eyes? yet hast thou not believed in him whom thou hast not seen, and rejoiced with joy unspeak∣able, 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 dwel∣ling, 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 inti∣mately, 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 thi∣ther, 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, there shall ye see him so, as I have told you. What Discourse could be more kind, friendly, and fami∣liar 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 there, and many of those that thou hast had for many years such sweet Eellowship in the Ordinan∣ces of the Gospel. If I shall sit down with Abra∣ham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom; surely, I shall know them to be such.

Besides, their Natures in Heaven are all perfect∣ly gracious and holy, and I shall be like them, and we shall all know each other to be so; and what shiness can there possible be among such, who are satisfied in each others sincere love and affection? Thou mayst be acquainted with a thousand Saints an Angels in an hours time as if thou hadst known them 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.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Vivere sibi. Vacare Deo.
• * 1.2

  Nil prosunt lecta nec intellecta; nisi teip∣sum legas, & intelli∣gas.
• * 1.3

  Artem bene vivendi. Artem bene moriendi.
• * 1.4

  Fortunam ut tegam appeto, non longam, sed Concinnam.
• * 1.5

  Beverley's great Soul of Man. p. 292.
• * 1.6

  Ci•…•…. prim•…•…, tus•…•….
• * 1.7

  Cupressu•…•… funeria.