Thrēnoikos the house of mourning furnished with directions for the hour of death ... delivered in LIII sermons preached at the funerals of divers faithfull servants of Christ / by Daniel Featly, Martin Day, John Preston, Ri. Houldsworth, Richard Sibbs, Thomas Taylor, doctors in divinity, Thomas Fuller and other reverend divines.

ITER NOVISSIMUM. OR, MAN HIS LAST PROGRESSE. A SERMON

Preached at the Funeral of the Right Wor∣shipful, Sir THOMAS THINNE, Knight.

SERMON XLI.

ECCLES. 12.5.

Man goeth to his long home, and the Mourners go about the Streets.

ALthough I might in the Kings (King Solomon) name com∣mand, yet I will rather in the Preachers (his other stile) humbly entreat your religious attention to the last Scene, and Catastrophe of mans life, consisting of two Acts, and those very short.

1. The dead his pass, he goeth, &c.

2. The Mourners march, they go about, &c.

Where as the whole Scripture is a Volumn of divine Ser∣mons, and the Author of every Book a Preacher, and eve∣ry Chapter a lesson; and every verse, and piece of a verse a Text. Gregory Nysscen reasonably demands, why this Book which treateth through∣out of the vanity of the world, and misery of man, is intituled, The Book of the Preacher? To pass by other answers rendred by him and others, not so pertinent to our present purpose, I conceive this title of the Preacher is in special set over this

Book, to intimate unto us, that (according to the Argument thereof) there is no Doctrine so fit for all Preachers to teach, and all hearers to learn, as the vanity of the creature, and the emptiness of all earthly delights and comforts. And in very deed there is no meditation more serious, then upon the vanity of the world, no con∣sideration more seasonable, then of the brevity and uncertainty of time it self; no knowledge more wholsome then of the diseases of the mind; no contemplation more divine, then of humane misery and frailty. Which though we read in the inscription of every stone, see in the fall of every leaf, hear in the knel of every bell, taste in the garnishing and sauce of every dish, smell in the stench of every dead corpses; feel in the beating of every pulse: yet we are not sensible of it, we will not take knowledge of it, though we cannot be ignorant of it. In which consideration the Wise man, whose words are as goads and nails, vers. 11. pricks us deep with the remembrance hereof, so deep that he draws blood sanguinem anim•…•…e, the blood of the soul; as Saint Austin tearmeth our tears, lachryme sanguis anim•…•…e. For who can read with dry eyes, that those that look out of the windowes shall be darkned. Who can hear with∣out horrour, that the keepers of the house shall tremble, or consider without sorrow, that the daughters of musick shall be brought low; or comment without deep setched sighs upon mans going to his long home, and the mourners going about the streets, to wash them with tears, and sweep them with Rosemary.

Origen, after he had chosen, rather facere periculosè quam perpeti turpitèr, to burn Incense to the Heathen gods, then to suffer his body to be defiled by a Blacka∣more, and the flower of his chastity which he had so long time preserved to be some way blasted, at a Church in Jerusalem, goeth into the Pulpit, openeth the Bible at all adventures, intending to preach upon that Text which he should first light upon, but falling upon that vers. in Psal. 50. But to the wicked, saith God, what hast thou to do, to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenants in thy mouth? (which contained his suspension) shutteth his book, speaketh not a word more, but comments upon it with his tears: some thinks having read this Text, in which I find all our capital dooms written, I cannot do better, then follow that Fathers president, and shut up not only my book, but my mouth also, and seal up my lips, and com∣ment upon the coherence with distraction, the parts with passion, the notes with sighs, the periods with groans, and the words with tears; for alas, as soon as a man cometh into his short booth in this world, which he saluteth with tears, he goeth to his long home, in the next, And the mourners go about the streets.

It is lamentable to hear the poor infant which cannot speak, yet, to boad his own misery, and to prophecy of his future condition, and what are the contents of his Prophecy, but lamentations, mournings and woes? Saint Cyprian accords with Saint Austin in his doleful note, Vit•…•…e mortalis anxietates, & dolores, & procellas mundi quas ingreditur in exordio statim suo ploratu, vel gemitu rudes animae testa∣tur; 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 yeeld so deep springs of tears, and such store of arguments against our aboad in this world, that many reading them in the books of Hegesias the Platonick, presently brake the prison of their body, and leaped out of the world into the grave; others concluded 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.

How-be-it though this might pass for a sage Essay, and a strong line amongst Phi∣losophers, yet we Christians, who know that this present life to all that live godly in Christ Jesus, how full of troubles, cares, and persecutions so ever it be, is but a sad and short Preface to endless Volumnes of joy, an Eves fast on earth to an ever∣lasting feast in Heaven, ought thus to correct the former Apophthegme, Optimum renasci, proximum quam primum mori; That it is best to be new born, and then (if it

so please God) after our new birth to be translated with all speed into the new Hea∣ven.

But soft we cannot take our degrees in Christs school per saltem, we must keep our Terms, and preform our exercises, both of faith, obedience, and patience: we must not look from the Font, to be presently put into the rivers of pleasures, spring∣ing at Gods right hand for evermore. We must take a toylsome journey, and in it often drink of the waters of Marah. We must suffer with Christ, before we reigne with him: We must taste of the bitter cup of his Passion, before we drink new Wine with him in his Kingdome: we must sow in tears here, that we may reap in joy here∣after. Every man goeth, though some set out sooner, some later, and shall arive at his home, but let him look to his way, as the way is he taketh, so shall the home be into which he is received, if he take the way on the right hand, and keep within the paths of Gods commandements, his home shall be the New Jerusalem descending from God, most gloriously shining with streets of gold, gates of pearl, and foundatious of pretious stones, where all tears shall be wiped from his eyes; but if he take the broad way on the left hand and follow it, his home shall be a dungeon or vault in Hell, where he shall be eternally both mourner and Crops.

But to shoot somewhat nearer to the mark: Marriages and Funerals though most different actions, and of a seeming contrary nature, yet are set forth and as it were apparelled with parallel rites, and ceremonies; our rayments are changed in both, because in both our estate is changed; Bels are rung, flowers are strowed, and feasts kept in both, and anciently both were celebrated in the night by Torch-light: He that hath but half an eye, may see in the Rituals, of the Ancients, the blazing and sparkling as well of the funeral, as the unptial lights; and no marvail the shodows meet when the substance concur; the pictures resemble one the other, when the faces match; the accessaries are corresponding, where the principals are sutable as here they are; for in marriage single life dieth, and in death the soul is married to Christ: The couple to be married in ancienter times, first met, and after an enter∣view and liking of each other, and a contract signed between them, presently depart∣ed, the Bride to her Mother, the Bridegroom to his Fathers house till the wedding day, on which the Bridegroom late in the night was brought to his Spouse, and then he took her and inseparably linked himself unto her: Here the couple to be married in man are the body and the soul; at our birth the contract is made, but after a short enterview and small abode together, the parties are parted, and the body the Bride returneth to her Mothers house the earth, but the soul the Bridegroom to his Fa∣thers house, the Father of spirits in Heaven, as both their guests are set forth in this chapter, verse 7. the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit to God that gave it. But in the evening of the World at that dreadful night, after which the Angel swore there should be no more day or time here: the soul is given by God to the body again, and then the marriage is consummated; and both for ever fast coupled and wedded for better, for worse, to run an everlasting fortune, and to participate ei∣ther eternal joyes or torments together. Thus man is brought to his long home; or as the Seventy and Saint Jerome renders the Hebrew, his house of eternity, and the mourners go about the streets: here is a short reckoning of all mankind, like to that of the Psalmist, who alluding to the name of the two Patriarchs faith, Coll, ADAM ABEL, All men are altogether vanity; so here upon the foot of the account in Bonaventures casting, all appear wretched and miserable, describitur miseria mortis in morientibus & compatientibus, all are either dead corpses, or sad mourners; corpses already dead, or mourners for the dead, and their courses, and mo∣tions are two.

1 Straight,

man goeth, &c.

2 Circular,

mourners go about.

The dead go directly to the long home, the living fetch a compass and round about: the termini of which their motions shall be the bounds of my discourse at this pre∣sent. Wherein that you may the better discern my passage from point to point, I will set up six Posts or standings.

• 1 The Scope.
• 2 Coherence.
• 3 Sense.
• 4 Parts.
• 5 Doctrine.
• 6 Ʋse.

The scope will give light to the Coherence, the Coherence to the Sense, the Sense to the Parts, the Parts to the Doctrine, the Doctrine to the Ʋse. Wherefore I humbly entreat the assistance of Gods Spirit, with the intention of yours; whil'st in unfol∣ding this rich peece of Arras, I shall point with the finger to.

• 1 The main Scope.
• 2 The right Coherence,
• 3 The litteral Sense.
• 4 The natural Division.
• 5 The general Doctrine.
• 6 The special application of this parcel of holy Scripture.

First the Scope.

Although all other Canonical books of this old and new Testament were read in the Church; yet as Gregory Nysscen acutely observes, this book alone is intituled Ec∣clesiastes, the Preacher, or Church-man; because this alone in a manner tendeth whol∣ly Ecclesiastical policy, or such a kind of life or conversation as becometh a Preacher, or Church-man. For the prime scope of this book, is to stir up all religious minds to set forth towards Heaven betimes in the morning of our dayes, Chap. 12. verse 1. Remember thy Creatour in the dayes of thy youth; to enter speedily into a strict course of holiness, which will bring us to eternal happiness, to dedicate to God and his ser∣vice, the prime in both senses, that is the first and best part of our time. For as in a glass of distilled water the purest and thinnest first runneth out, and nothing but lees and mouther at the last, so it is in our time and age.

Optima que{que} dies miseris mortalibus avi, prima fluit.

Our best dayes first run, and our worst at the last: And shall we offer that indig∣nity to the Divine Majesty, as to offer him the Devils leavings? storem at at is diabolo consecrare, f•…•…ecem Deo reserv are, to consecrate the top to the Devil, and the bottom to God; feed the flesh with the flower, and the spirit with the bran; serve the world with our strength, and our Creatour with our weakness; give up our lusty and a∣ble members as weapons to sin, and our feeble and weak to righteousness. Will God accept the blind, and the lame; the lean, and the withered for a sacrifice? How can we remember our Creatour in the dayes of our age, when our memory and all other faculties of the soul are decayed; How shall we bear Christs yoak, when the Gras∣hoppers is a burthen unto us? when we are not able to bear our selves, but bow un∣der the sole weight of age? What delight can we take in Gods service, when care, and fear, and sorrow, and pain, and manifold infirmities and diseases wholly possess the heart, and dead all the vital motions and lively affections thereof? Old men are a kind of Antipodes to young men; it is evening with them, when it is morning with these; it is Autumne in their bodies, when it is Spring in these: the Spring of the year to decrepit 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 Cypress; nor think of the Grashopper, but of the worm, because they are far on in their way to their long home, and the mour∣ners are already in the streets, marshalling as it were their troops, and setting all in equipage for their funeral; no dilectable objects affect their dull and dying sences, but are rather grievous unto them, as the Sun and Rain are to old stumps of trees, which make them not spring again, but rot them rather, and dispose them to putri∣faction.

And so I have past the first, and am come to the second Post or standing.

The right Coherence.

When they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fear shall be in the way, and the Almond trce shall flourish, and the Grashopper shall be a burthen, and desire shall fail, because man goeth to his long home. If this Consequence be firth, the Coherence must needs be good; but if this be infirm and lame, that must needs be out of joynt, let us then Consider of the Consequence.

Surely Aristotle seemeth to be of another mind, whose observation it is, old men that have their foot on Deaths threshold, would then draw back then leg if they could, & at the very instant of their dissolution are most desirous of the continuance of their life, and seeing the pleasures of sin like the Apples of Tuntales running away from them, they catch at them the more greedily, for wants is the whestone of desire, and experience offereth us many instances of old men, in whom Saint Pauls old man grows young again; who according to the corruption of nature which Saint Austin bewaileth with tears, malunt libidinem explers quam extingai, they are so far from having no lust or desire of pleasures, as being cloyed therewith, that they are more insatiable in them then in youth; the flesh in them like the Peacocks, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 coct a re∣crudescit, which after it is sod, in time will grow raw again, so in them after morti∣fication by diseases and age, it reviveth. Sophocles the Heathen Poet might pass for a Saint in comparison of them, for he thanked God, that in his old age he was free from his most Imperious Mistris, lust: these men on the contrary, desir 〈◊〉〈◊〉 inthral themselves again in youthly pleasures, and concupiscence in them is kindled even by the defect of fewel; it vexeth them that their sins for sake them; that through the im∣potency of their limbs and faculties, they cannot run into the like excess as in former times: their few dayes before death; are like Shrovetide Before Lent, they take their fill of flesh and fleshly desires, because they suppose that for ever after, they must fast from them. Thus they spur on their jadish flesh now unable to ran her for met Stages, saying; let us crown our selves with Rose-buds, for they will presently wither, let us eat and drink, for to morrow we shall die.

To reconcile the seeming difference between the miracle of humane wisdome, A∣ristotle; and the Oracle of divine, Solomon, two distinctions may be made use of.

Of old Age.

• 1 In the entry, when it is vigorous.
• 2 In the exit, when it is decrepit, et ne ad mala quidem bona.

Of old Men.

• 1 As they ought to be.
• 2 As they are.

When Euripides was taxed as too great a favourer of the semale Sex, because in all his Tragedies he brought in vertuous women, and fitted them with good parts to Act; whereas Sophocles, and other Poets of that Age, brought lewd and immodest women upon the Stage, and put odious parts upon them; he made this Apology for himself: others faith he, in their Poems set forth women as they are, but I, such as they should be: Solomom words are capable of a like construction, desire faileth be∣cause 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 desire to cut a cross caper, and dance the morice? or for him that is neer his eternal Mansion house, to hanker by the way, and feast and revel it in an Inn. Moreover, Solomon here speaketh of a B•…•…rzillai, who hath no taste of his meat, no sence of delight; no use, in a manner, of sense, to whom dainties are no dainties, because he cannot taste them; musick is no musick, because he cannot hear it; sweet odours are no sweet odours; because he cannot small them; precious stones are no precious stones, because he cannot value them; the fairest becaues are no beauties, because he cannot discern them: In a word, he speaketh of an old man in whom all carnal lusts are either quite extinct, or happily exchanged into spiritual, or swallowed

up with sorrow and fear of death, and a horrible apprension of judgment.

And so I come to the third Stage, which is the litteral sence and genuine interpre∣tation of the words.

As in Origen his Hexapla, every word almost had an Asterisk, or star upon it; so there needs a star or some other light to be put upon every word of this Text, for there is a mist of obscurity upon each of them, and a man may well miss his way, if he know not exactly, who is here the man? what's meant by his going, or gate? where is his long home? and whence are these Mourners?

First, whether man be taken Collectivè, for the whole kind, or Species, as the Logici∣ans speak; or Distributivè for every man in particular, we shall seem to be at a loss. Man taken Collectivè, stirs not a foot to his long home; for Philosophy reprieveth uni∣versal natures from death, or dissolution: and true it is, though single men every day die, yet mankind dieth not: If man be taken Distributivè, for all particular men of what rank or quality soever, we shall have much to do to distinguish the men in the former part of the Text, from the mourners in the latter. If all are attended with mourners to their funeral, then mourners themselves must have mour∣ners; and so either the train will be infinite, or the lag will be destitute of mour∣ners.

Secondly, why useth he this phrase of going, if it import death, sith some expect death and move not at all towards it; some run to it, to some it is sent; some leap into it, as Cleombrotus; some ride to it in state, as Antioches Epiphanes; some are tumbled down into it, as S. Purius, Melicus, some are dragged to it, as Seinus? In a word, when death surprizeth most men, and that in all postures of the body; why is dying here called going? man goeth.

Thirdly, where is this long home? in Heaven, or in earth, Purgatory, or Hell? If we speak of Heaven, or Hell, the Epithet long fals short, for they are eternal habi∣tations: of Purgatory, or the grave (suppose there were any Purgatory) yet nei∣ther of them may be properly termed a long home, fith neither the body stayes long in the one, nor the soul in the other.

Fourthly, whence are these mourners? if they are mercenary and bired from home, they are no true mourners; if they are true mourners, they keep their Clo∣sets, they gad not about the streets, they shut themselves long at home for their friends that are gone to their long home.

To dispel all this mist of obscurity, and set a light upon each of the material words of the Text. I answer,

To the first Qnerie, that a man is here to be taken, neither Collectivè, for all man∣kind in a lump, nor Distributivè for ever particular man without exception, but indefinite, or communiter; for man in the ordinary course or tract; for you shall hardly find a man that hath no friend to drop a tear into his Grave. As for the last men that shall stand upon the earth, and shall be alive at Christs coming; they shall indeed pass by death properly, yet they shall die after a sort, by passing from a mor∣tal estate, to an immortal; and if their long home be Heaven, they shall need no mourners; If hell, they shall want none to bear them company; for at Christ second coming, all kindreds of the earth shall mourn before him. I answer,

To the second, that going here is not taken pro motu progressive, in special, as walking, or running, but in general, for passing to another world which way soever, whether we make our way, or it be made for us; whether we go to death, or death come to us; nay whether we stir, or lie still; whether we are found of foot, or lame; never had feet, or have lost them, we go this way of all flesh, as I shall shew hereafter. I answer,

To the third, that by long home, according to the Chaldee Paraphrase, is here meant the grave, or the place where our bodies, or (to speake more properly) our re∣mains are bestowed and abide till the time of the restitution of all things; the Ori∣ginal is Beth gnolemo, which S. Jerome renders domum et ern it at is sue, because from thence (as Lyra noteth) he never returneth to live here; or the house of his hidden time, to wit, where he lyeth hid in his Coffin, and no eye seeth him: whereunto holy Job alluding faith, Chap. 14.10. Man dieth and wasteth away, and giveth up the ghost,

and where is he? or domus mundi sui, (as Caietan will have it) the house of his world, meaning the world of the dead; or domus seculi sui, the house of his generation (as Pagnine, Montanus and Tremelius will express it) the place where all meet who liv∣ed together, the randevouze of all our deceased friends, allies and kindred even as far as Adam: this home may be called a long gome, in comparison of our short homes from which we remove dayly, these houses we change at pleasure, that we can∣not; there our flesh, 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 an∣swer,

To the fourth, that by mourners are here meant all that attend the corpses to the funeral, whether they mourn in truth, or for fashion; and they are said here to go a∣bout the streets, either for the reason alledged by Bonaventure, quia predolore quiesce∣re nequiunt, because they cannot rest for hearts grief and sorrow, or they go about the streets to call campany 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 preficas, to lament over their dead: for the most part among the Jewes this sad task was put upon widdows, or they took it upon themselves, as the words of the Prophet imply, and there were no widdows to make lamentation; and of the Evangelist also, Acts 9.39. and the widdows stood by weeping for Dorcas; and indeed widdows are very pro∣per for this imployment: When a Pot of water is full to the brim, a little motion makes it run over. Widdows, that are widdows indeed, and have lost in their Hus∣bands all the joy and comfort of their life, have their eyes brim full of tears, and there∣fore most easily they overflow, viduae optime deflent viduas, Widdows are the fittest∣to bemoan widdows; and what is the body void of the soul, but a widdow deprived of her loving mate? these widdows went about the streets weeping and howling, to awake the living out of their dead sleep of security and to ring in their ears that les∣son of the Prophet; all flesh is grass, and the glory of it as the flower of the field. As in a great Clock, when the Index pointeth to the hour, the wheels move, the Clock strikes, and there is a great noise, till the plummets or weights touch the earth, so saith Filius Fabri in the same, when the Index pointeth to the last hour of a rich man; the Bell rings, and there is a hideous and fearful noise of singers and mourners, and this continueth till the weight, to wit, the weighty corpses of the dead toucheth the ground, and is put into the earth; after which the tumult ceaseth, and the loud musick is turned into soft and solemn, the Lidian, into Dorrick, and the shallow chan∣nels of tears, which made such a noise, shall run into the depth of silent sorrow, or Mare mortuum. And so I come to the fourth Stage.

The natural division of the Text.

There are but there 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 long home, there is his Death.
• 3. And the Mourners go about the streets, there is his burial, described by pariphra∣sis.

And so I am upon the fifth stage.

The Doctrine,
Mans life is a voyage, his death the term or period of this voyage, his Grave his home, and Mourners his attendance; you may observe a kind of sequence in these ob∣servations in the Concatination of them; the first linck draws the second, the second the third, the the third the fourth; if our life be a pilgrimage, our death must needs be the term and our arival at our Country, if Death be our arival, the Grave must needs be the house for our bodies, if the Grave be our house, what fit attendance

there but mourners? Our life is a pilgrimage, so it is termed by Jacob, Gen. 47.9. the dayes of the years of my pilgrimage are 130. years; And by David. Psal. 119.54. Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage; and we are all pil∣grims and strangers, 1 Pet. 2.11. and our fathers were no better; Psal. 39.10. I am a stranger, and sojourner, as all my fathers were, Vita est via, & omnes Christia∣nus viator. Our life is a way, and every man living in this world a passenger. A direct motion, and that continuate, & uninterrupted from the cradle to the coffin, from the womb to the tomb, is the way of all flesh, away in which children walk, before they can go, and old men crawl, when they cannot now go; Infants who never had the use of their limbs, and impotent old who have lost them, yet run this race, where in though some make a longer line, and others a shorter, yet all finish their course: a strange race, wherein though a man stand still or sleep, yet he advanceth forward, and gaineth ground; and he goeth so much the faster, by how much he is the weaker, for the less vigorous, the more speedily he tends to his long and last home: the hour∣glass is running, whether the preacher proceeds, or marks a pawse; and the ship is sayling whither it is bound, when we sleep in our cabine: 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.

That which Saint Paul spake in a moral, or divine sense, Seneca makes good in a natural; We die daily, for every day, nay every hour, we lose some part of our life; as our years increase, so our time decreaseth; for the more years, months, dayes, or hours that we have lived, the less we have to live: the glass is running, not only when the last sand drops out, but all the while: so 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 runneth still in his natural course, that is, every man, for the word in the original is Adam, in whom we all die, who is so ter∣med from Adama, the earth, not that more solid part of the earth, but the brittlest of all, red earth, sand, or dust, Pulvis es in pulverem ivis, Of dust thou art made, and dust shall be made of thee. Now if there be any living upon earth, who hath none of this earth in him, let him balk the way of all flesh; but if the earth be an ingredi∣ent, nay, a predominant in his composition, then assure himself his resolution shall be into it, for the Dust will return to the earth as it was ver. 7.

Plato conceived the celestial bodies to be made, as it were, of the flower and purest of the elements, but the sublunary, and terrestial of the bran and lees. (Beloved) we are made of dregs, and our mother, is muther, consin-germain to corruption once removed, all men are either young or old; the difference between them is no more, then we find in the translations of my Text; the old man, it, the young man, ibit, the one is now going, the other shall go to his long home; the one may die soon, the other cannot live long; If he die naturally, he keepeth his own pace, and goeth of himself; if he die by violence, he is driven forward, and mending his pace, sooner a∣riveth at his long home.

But as there is a natural body, and a spiritual body; an earthly Adam, and a hea∣venly; so there is a natural course of man, of which I have finished my discourse; and a spiritual, of which I am yet to begin: As the natural life, so the Christian is a progress in which we ought not to stay, but to advance, still proceeding from grace to grace, and vertue to vertue; If we ever look to shine as the Sun in the kingdome of the Father, we must not be like Joshus his Sun that stood still; or Hezekia's that went back ten degrees; but like Davids, which like a gyant runs his course, and ne∣ver ceaseth; I need not direct any man in his natural course from life to death, every man knows it, and whether he knows it or no, he shall accomplish it, the spiritual course is more considerable, which is, it inner arium 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 dissolution by Death, but wholly and fully after his Resurrecti∣on; the way here is Christ; the viaticum, the blessed Sacraments; the light the Scriptures; the guides, the ministers of the Word; the theeves that lye in wait to rob us of our spiritual treasure, the devils; our convoy the Angels; our stages se∣several

vertues and degrees of perfection, the City to which we bend our course, Jerusalem that is above, wherein are many Mansions, or eternal houses.

And thus as before the old man, so now the new man goeth to his long and eternal home, without any resting place between, at which all the ordinary sort of the Ro∣manists must bait, though little for their ease, cooling or refreshing, for it is in a hot-house; nay, a house all on fire; nay all of fire, and that as hot as hell; I mean Purgatory, wherewith if Solomon had been acquainted, he would have changed this motto of mortality, and not have said, man goeth to his eternal home; but to his purg∣ing bath, and the Friers go about the streets singing Masses and Dirges for his soul; assuredly if the souls of those that die under the Gospel need a sacrifice to deliver them from the torment of a temporary hell, or Purgatory fire, the souls of them that died under the Law much more needed it; why then did Moses appoint none for them? why did none of the inspired Prophets pray for the release of their souls? Solomon if there had been such a stop in the mid-way, would have made a pause in his speech, and not said immediately man goeth, In domum eternit at is su•…•…e, into his everlasting home, as the Seventy, and the vulgar Latine, (which no Papist upon pain of a curse, can reject, render the Hebrew Beth gnolomo. Purgatory is no such home; therefore Gregory of Neocesarca, and Cyprian so expound this Text, that they quite leave out this imaginary fire kindled in the paper walls of Purgatory. Grego∣ry faith, the good man marcheth out joyfully towards his eternal house, but the wicked draws back and bedews the threshold with tears, and fills all with lamentati∣ons: and that we may know when a man taketh possession of his eternal home, Saint Cyprian tels us it is upon the expiring of our lease in the poor tenement of our body.

If there be a Purgatory for Souls after this life, why not for bodies also which need as much purging as souls? if such a place be to be found, we are certainly like to hear of it from Philosophy or Divinity, and may discover it either in the map of the World, or in the type of Heaven, the holy Scripture. Nature gives us no notice of any such place; in Scripture we find indeed a Purgatory, but it is either in the laver of our regeneration, or in the blood of our redemption, for so we read, 1 John 1.7. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth, or purgeth us from all sins; if from all sins, then none are left to be burned out with Purgatory fire. The Philosophers indeed des∣cribe a fire in the night, which they call ignis fatuus, or the fools fire, because it leads fools out of their way, whereby they often fall into boggs, or theeves hands; is not this Romish Purgatory, that ignis fatuus, that leads fools in the night of er∣rour out of their right way, whereby they truly fall into theeves hands? I mean the Monks and Friers, Priests, and Jesuits, who though they can purge neither the bo∣dies, nor the souls of the deceased, yet they can the purses of the living, by these fire∣works of their wit. But I list not to dwell any longer in Purgatory, because there is no such real place, either in the world, or out of it. I am now come, though long first, to mans long home, which cannot be described in a short time, and therefore I leap in∣to my last stage, which as you may remember was;

The Application of the Text to this sad occasion. As a contrary order is used in a compositive method, to that which is taken in a resolutive, so 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 lamenitng the deceased; but now I am first to speak of the Mourners, who have already finished their circular motion, and then of the direct motion of the Man, the man of quality, the man of worth, the man of estate and credit, who is already arived at his long Lete, and now entring into his long home.

Touching the Mourners I cannot but take notice of their number and quality; the number is great we see, yet we see not all who yet are the true Mourners, pouring out their souls to God with tears in their private closets.

Illa dolet verè, quae sine teste dolet.

Her portion of sorrow like Benjamins, is five times more than any others, whose loss of a Husband, and such a Husband is invaluable. Secondly, the quality of the

Mourners is not slightly to be passed by, debetur iis religiosa mora; for, not only great store of the Gentry and Commons, but some also of the Nobility, the chief Officers of the Crown, and Peeres of the Realme; not Religion only and learning, but Honour and Justice also hath put on Blacks for him, thereby testifying to all men their joynt-respect to him, and miss of him. And if any prompted by Judas shall object against this Solemnity and prolixe ceremony, ut quid perdetio ista? To what serves this wast? might not the money have been better expended in charitable Alms, to the relief of very many poor. I answer in the words of our Saviour, Hac oportet facere, & illa non omittere; Those works of charity they spake of, ought to be done: and these of decent Rites and ceremonies not to be left undone: the rule of the Apostle, Let all things be done decently and in order, is a warrant as well for the due Exequies of the dead, as Obsequies of the living: if all things must be done de∣cently, and in order, in the State and Common-wealth, much more in the Church, whose emblem is, Acies ordinata, an Army marshalled in excellent order, with Ban∣ners displayed; and if all things in the Church must be so carried, then Funerals as well as Nuptialls, Burials as well as Christnings; and if so, then ought they to be celebrated not after the preposterous manner of some in the night as works of dark∣ness: but in the day as works of Piety, in honour of them who have received the in∣heritance of Saints in light, not penuriously and basely, but nobly and liberally; where the quality of the dead requireth it, and the estate will bear it. Howbeit I confess, that as Magnificence is alwayes a vertue, so prodigallity is a vice; and one of those master-vices which hath gotten a great head in his Kingdome, and a Garland upon it. Yet to do the dead right, though luxury be guilty of the death of many: yet the dead are no way guilty of this superfluity, they neither order it, nor are sen∣sible of it; neither is the prodigallity (under the weighty burden whereof the Land groaneth) so much seen in black cloaths, as in Silks and Velvets, cloth of Gold and Tissue; not in Jet as in Pearl, and precious stones; not in building Marble Sepul∣chers for the dead, as Marble houses for the living; not in armory, as in luxury; not in pendants, as in attendants; not in Funerals, as in Nuptials, Masks and Pageants, Court entertainments, and City feasts, at which if Vitellius or Apicius were bidden, they would condemn themselves for too much frugality. What Seneca spake of time, solus temporis prodigi sumus, cujus unius honest a est avaritia, we arelavish of our time, of which covetousness is only commendable; we may invert, and with truth confess, we are frugal for the most part in those things (I mean the service of the living God, and offices of piety to the dead) wherein not only bounty, but mag∣nificence also is most commendable. If any be otherwayes minded, and repine and grudge at this last honour to the dead, and comfort to the living; I shall use no o∣ther reproof of him at this present, then a like to that of Constantine recorded in Eu∣sebius,

Go to Acesias who art so precise, and holdest none worthy to keep pace with thee, fac scalam, & ascende solus in coelum, Make a ladder, and climb up a∣lone upon it to Heaven.

So let these men make them a Bere like the new-found Chariots in the Low-countreys, that run of themselves without a driver, and let them be carried alone in it to their long home; Let no Mourners follow them, nor eye pit∣ty them, or shed tear for them.

Nec enim lex justior ulla est.

But let them who have lived in credit die in honour; let them who in their life time did many good offices to the dead, after they are dead receive the like offices from the living. Out of which number, envy it self cannot exempt our deceased brother. Of whose natural parts perfected by Art and learning, and his Morral much improved by grace. I shall say nothing by way of amplification but this, that nothing can be said of them by way of amplification. All rhetorical exaggeration will prove a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 diminution of them. in sum, he was a most provident houshoulder, loving husband, indulgent father, kind landlord, and liberal patron. so kind a landlord, that when his tennants were behind with him, he was so far from suing them, or put∣ting them to trouble to extort his due from them; that instead of receiving from

them, he lent great sums unto them; by the good employment whereof they were enabled to recover themselves and pay him. So liberal a Patron he was, that he not only freely bestowed all the Benefices that fell in his gift, but was also at all the charge of institution, induction, composition, first-fruits, and whatsoever burthen fell up∣on the Incumbent: Such patterns of Patrons, we may rather wish then hope for af∣ter him; what shall I need to add more concerning him, whose birth was illustrious, his education liberal, his Patromony great, his Matches sutable, his life exemplary, and his death comfortable? Single vertues we meet with in many, but such combina∣tions as were in him, such affability in such gravity, such humility in such eminency, such patience in such trials, such temperance and moderation in such abundance, as we have just cause to bless God for in him, so we have great cause to pray for in o∣thers of his Rank. In his tender years he was set as a choice Plant in the famous Nursey of good learning and Religion, the University of Oxford, where living as a Commoner in Corpus Christi Colledge, under the care and tuition of Doctor Se∣bastian Wenfield; he very much thrived and grew above his equalls both in grace and in knowledge, gaining to himself as much love, as learning. After he was re∣moved from thence, he fell into very great troubles, as well before as after the death of his Father, but the Lord delivered him out of all: These crosses and afflictions served but as Files to brighten those gifts and graces in him, which shined afterwards most brightly in his more setled estate, and eminent employments, being chosen De∣puty Lievetenant in Wiltshire; Commissioner in three Shires, Four times High∣Sheriff, and often Knight for the Shire in Parliament; in all which places of important negotiations and great trust, he so carried himself, that all men might see in all his actions, he had a special eye to the Motto in his Escouchion, Jeay bonne cause, for with Mary he alwayes chose the good part, and stood up for the truth, which he confirmed with his last breath. You have heard what he was in publick, but what was he in private? we have seen him in the Sun, how demeaned he himself in the shade? True, Religion is like the precious stone Garamantites, which casteth no great lustre outwardly, but semper intus habeat aureas guttus: but we may discern as it were golden drops within. Three of these after I have presented to your view, I will then set free your patience, and give your sorrow full scope to vent it self in tears. The first of these was tenderness of conscience, which is one of the most infal∣lible tokens and marks of the Child of God; so tender was he, that he would under∣take no business before he was fully perswaded of the lawfulness thereof, both by clear texts of Scripture, and the approbation of most learned and conscientious Di∣vines; he made scruple, not only of committing the least known sin, but of imbarking into any action which was questionable among those that love the truth in sincerity. And therefore, although God blessed him with great wealth, and store of coyn, yet he never put it to Usury or Intrest thereby to increase it, for he held the tolleration of the Law in this Kingdome to be no sufficient warrant for any violation of the divine Law, the destinctions lately coyned, of toothless and biting Usury he no way allowed, judging truly, that all Usury according to the Hebrew Etymology, is bi∣ting, and hath not only teeth, but Adders teeth envenomed; for all Usury if it bite not our Brother as per accidens sometimes it may not, yet it biteth the conscience of all such who have any remorse of sin. The second aurea gutta, was Christian com∣passion, whereby he took to heart the afflictious of Joseph, and misery of Lazarus, whose fores he cured with the most precious balsamum he could buy for his money. What Pliny writeth (lib. 32. c. 8. Attalus usus est Thynni recentiores adipe ad ulcera) on the Fish in Latin Thynuus, that it is a soveraign remedy against many diseases, and cureth all kind of ulcers, was truly verified in him; for he furnished himself with the best cordials and the rarest medicinal receipts; and when he heard of any poor, sick, or hurt; he not onely sent them money, but Bezar, and balsamum, thinking nothing could cost him too dear, whereby he might save the life, or recover the health of the poorest member of Christ Jesus. In the years of death and sickness, he sent provision to all the Parishes about him, and thrice a week relieved a hundred at least at his gate: neither did his compassion die with him, for in his Will and Tes∣tament confirmed by him the day before his Death, he bequeathed divers Legacies to

the poor, whereof these following came to my notice. To Saint Margarets in Westminster, 10. pound. To Kempsford, 60. pound. To Cosley, 60. pound. To Froome, and the Woodlands, 100. pound. To Warmester, 100. pound. To Deverill, and Mounten, 100. pound. The last aurea gutta, which I shall present to your view at this time, was his servency of zeal for the truth of the Gospel; in all the Benefices which he bestowed, he took special care to make choice of men sound in the Faith, no way warping either to Popish superstition, or schismatical seperation: as he made greatest accompt of those Ministers of the Gospel, who were servent in spirit, zealous for the truth; so he hated none more then temporizers, and luke-warm Loadiceans: he seldome spake of any Romanist without expressing a great detestation of their idolatry, and superstition: the night before he changed this life for a better, after an humble confession of his sins in general, and a particular profession of the Articles of his belief, in which he had lived, and now was resolved to die, he added, I renounce all Popish superstition, all mans merits, trusting only upon the merits of the Death and passion of my Saviour; and whosoever trusteth on any other, shall find when he is dying, if not before, that he leaneth upon broken reeds. Here after the be∣nediction of his Wife and Children, being required by me to ease his mind; and de∣clare, if any thing lay heavy upon his conscience; he answered, nothing he thanked God; yet like an obedient child of his Mother, the Church of England, both hear∣tily desired, and received her absolution: and now professing that he was most willing to leave the world; he besought all to pray for him; and himself prayed most fer∣vently, that God would enable him patiently to abide his good will and pleasure, and to go through this last and greatest work of faith 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 reacheth out to all his children, who hold out the good fight of Faith to the end, and conquer in the end; Which crown of righteous∣ness, the Lord who hath purchased with his blood, after we have finished likewise our courses, of his infinite bounty bestow upon us all. Cui, &c.

Notes

• 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• Prol, in Eccless.
• Agnescere no∣lumus, quod ig∣norare non pos∣sumus. Cypr, de Mor∣tal.
• Vid. Vit. Orig. pr•…•…efix.operib.
• Infans nondum loquitur, & tamen prophetat. Serm. de bono pas.
• Cic.primo, tusc.
• In Eccles. chap. 12.
• 1 The Scope.
• 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• Cupressin fune∣ria.
• The Cohe∣rence.
• Senes in limine mortis vih•…•… 〈◊〉〈◊〉 avidissiml. Arist〈◊〉〈◊〉 & breu. vita.
• Cic. de se•…•…ctu∣•…•….
• The sense.
• Que. 1.
• Que. 2.
• Que. 3.
• Que. 4.
• Sol. 1.
• Sol. 2.
• Sol. 3.
• Et strepitus iste perduras quous{que}; pondus id est pon∣derosum corpus ad terram perve∣nerit sed corpore in terram pro∣jecto statim ces∣sat tumulius Destructor.
• vit. par 4. c. 2.
• The division.
• The Doctr.
• Quotidiè mori∣mur quotidiè e∣nim demitur a∣liqua pars vita.
• Bern. in serm. Senibus meri & in januit juvenibus in in∣sidiis.
• AE vi tempo∣ralis sine com∣pleto ad eterna velmortis vel immortalitatis hospitia divi∣dimur.
• Scelus aut ex∣uritur igue.
• Application