whether you haue so mourned as yee ought in this our last losse Alas where now be our Teares It s a Prodigie that fountains be dried vp in winter Heathēs in their ritual books deliver their order of Lamentation for common men to be 30 daies the Hebrewes lamented Moses and Aaron and Iacob 40 daies the Egyptians went beyond both and mourned for Iacob 70 daies Gen 50 3. and I knowe in this company some will goe farre beyond these Egyptians making their whole liues remembrances of their Masters death and entertaining no guest into their soule but sorrow Yet herein also others haue gone further then any of you intend Amorits by laming their bodies Grecians shaving their heads Tibracians by howling and roaring for the dead so many other Countries by horrid and vnnaturall Geromonies But in all this causes rather then effects are to be lamented Ratio docet trahit affectio Bern. saith Bernard Reason doth informe and affection doth inforce this former manner of lamentation but grace doth commēd and God doth command another mourning mourning for abhominations as it followeth in my Text for the Abhominations When Rahel wept 2. Part God by his prohibition crieth Noliflere weep not Our Saviour in the Gospell beheld none weeping but prohibiteth them Ier 31.16 Luk. 8.15 Tairus wept for his daughter and Christ saith Noliflere weepe not The poore widdow following them that bate her sonne to the buriall is forbidden in the same words Noliflere Our Saviour ready to go to his passion Luk. 7.13 the daughters of Ierusalem wept for him hee for biddeth thē Nolite flere weep yee not Luc. 23.28 Doth God forbid weeping and doth the Prophet promise a reward for weeping yes saith Rabanus non ideo vt nonlugeant temporalia sed ne negligerent suiritualia Nature doth teach vs to weepe for Naturall causes but grace for spirituall such is this mourning to bee rewarded Mourne for the abhominations Common sinnes are to be lamented they be the vnfruitfull thornes that choake the good seed of vertue and grace the corrupters of iudgement the seducers of will the betrayers of vertue the flatterers of vice vnderminers of Courage slaues to weaknes infection of youth madnesse of age the curse of life and the reproach of death the least of our bosome sinnes is fire in the hand and a serpent in the heart a Canker a spider an evill spirit and the fruit hereof is death But the worde wickednesse is a degree that farre exceedeth common sinnes The Hebrewes obserue that the word wickednesse in the originall is transcendent It is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a small fault nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 iniquitie nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 simply evil but it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as importing the all sufficient Tearme for all manner of impetuous impiety nor restrained to any one branch of the breach of the Commandements but outstretching al degrees that whatsoever exceedeth modesty is contrary to reason nature grace or scripture settled into dregges frozen into ice hauing forced captiuated the soul to impious servility with a whorish forehead that cannot be ashamed aspiring crying climing towring filling and defiling the earth poisoning the aire lifting it selfe aboue the stars yet in this exuberancy transcēdēcy Abhominatiō like the whore of Babylon striueth to sit higher Rev. 13.1 shee is the beast that rose out of the sea hauing seauen heads 10 hornes and vpon her hornes ten crownes and on her heads the name of Blasphemy Abhomination is the abstract the Lucifer Rev. 17.5 the Dragon the Babylon the great mother of all whoredomes all witchcrafts and to say no more it is Idolatrie survey the former Chapter you will find it The great abhominations mentioned there be foure first the Idoll of indignation or as others read it the image of ielousie Pint. in loc quatuor abom genera secondly the Auncients or Nobles committing Idolatrie and one especially named among the rest Thirdly women weeping over an Idoll women not of the meanest Lastly betweene the porch and the altar the place of the Priests Villapand and therefore collected hence that these were Priests they are committing Idolatry And after the Prophet had seen every one of them the Lord by a gradatiō leadeth every degree every vision to a higher elevation of their abhomination for when he had seene every one of them he saith but behold greater abhominations The first is that Idoll of indignation or image of iealonsie Luth. Lamb. Villalpand Pint. in Ezek. which what it was is not generally concluded but as the most and best it was the image of Baal which was the first occasion of the heathens and Iewes Idolatrie Every Idoll in scripture is called vanitas mendatium for nicatio abominatio but this especially Villalp this is the abomination of desolation in high places some referre this Idoll to that which Manasses made 2. Chr. 34.4 but Iosias tooke that away for he brake downe the alters of Baalim that were before him Others expoūd this of those made in the time of Zedekias an Idoll it was and the cause of indignatiō The second was greater Ancients cōmitting Idolatry worshipping burning incense to the formes and pictures of creeping things Ezek. 9. v. 16. abominable beasts privatly in their chambers and to all the Idols of the house of Israell These seaventy the Sanidrim the Councell of Israel the elders of Israell Num. 11. as they be called by God at their first institution they that should haue taken care for Gods service they commit abomination But the third abhomination was greater at the doore of the Lords house there sate women weeping and mourning for Tammuz Lascivi daemonis simulachrum saith an interpreter the Idoll of a lascivious Devill whether of Adonis or Osiris or Saturne or whatsoever it was devilish it was R. Moses apud pint in Ezek. Rabbi Moyses the Aegyptian saith this Tammuz was the Idolatrous statue of one so called who was a great worshipper of Idols and he dying desired to be so adored it was an horrid abominatiō But the fourth is greater then al betweene the porch the altar some Priests say all Interpreters turning their backes to the Temple and their faces to the sun worship towardes the East this was the most abhorred of al others Obserue the transcendency and priority of these in their dagrees first the Idoll of Iealousie this was but at the gate at the entry there it might haue stood as a by-word to those that passe by a contemptible thing a Mehushtan a ruin ous Skeleton time eaten weather beaten Monument no it stood there to be adored worshipped publikely Behold saith the Lord the abhominatiō that the house of Israell committeth herein yet beholde greater abhominations the Nobles and Ancients worship not one Idoll only but the formes of creeping things abhominable beastes all the Idols of the house of Israell
Angels devils friends foes disciples strangers al shal beare witnesse that Christ did rise from the dead and is become the first fruits of them that sleepe And he only can by his power wherby he subdueth al things to himselfe raise vs againe from the dead no other power or meanes but his therefore every man may say with David here Can I bring him again which in some copies is read thus I cānot bring him againe and ministreth this observation 2. Obs That though it be not in the power of man to raise any from the dead yet there is a power whereby al shal be raised and revived Our Prophet proveth it before Christ came It is thou O Lord that shall raise me vp at the last This power shal change our vile bodies to be made like his glorious body our weake diseased naked mortal sickly earthly momentary bodies shal bee like his glorious body Iewes did knowe this Gentiles did confesse this The Iewes before Christs cōming had knowledg and made faith of this point how soever S. Chrysostome maketh doubt whether or no this mystery were revealed in the old Testament Chrys Hom. 1. de Lazaro Indeed it was not so generallie or so manifestly delivered till Christ came who was to be Oriens ex imo as Oriens ex alto Aug. the day sprong from an high and the truth budding out of the earth sprong from below But knowne it was and taught it was Esays testimony is this The dead men shall liue Esa 26.19 with my body they shall rise awake and sing yee that dwell in the dust Ezek 37.10 Ezekiel proueth it by the Embleme of the drie bones vnited together Daniel thus They that sleep in the dust shall arise Dan. 12.2 Hos 13.14 Hosea pronounceth this in the person of God I will redeeme them from the power of the graue Hier. in Ep. 61 101. Iob as S. Hierom collecteth hath most absolute proofe for this I know that my redeemer liueth and when wormes haue consumed this body I shal see God in my flesh yea I my selfe shall behold him and mine eies shall see him as if Iob had beene the Prophet of the resurrection Iob. 9.13 or the trumpet sounding to iudgement or the starre to lead to this mystery of Christian beleefe And Gentilisme was not without some notions of this Restauration and reparation of bodies Lor. in Act 24. and they among them that beleeued this were esteemed as worthy men and favourers of the good of the Common-wealth So that it being plaine that Iewes and Gentiles before Christ knewe professed it it is manifest that among the Iewes the sweet singer of Israel David the man after Gods owne heart the Type of Christ the Pen-man of the holy Ghost was not ignorant of the resurrection as not only in the Psalmes especially in the 15. it is plaine and by implication out of these wordes Can I bring him againe inforcing thus much Brought againe from death he may be but in my power it is not Before I land this point I must not omit one place for proofe of the resurrection Exod. 3.6 knowne even to the Israelites in their younger daies in Exodus It is the onely place of all scripture that our Saviour maketh shew of to conuince the Sadduces God is the God of Abraham the God of Isaac Mat. 22 32. the God of Iacob but God is not the God of the dead but of the living Therefore these holy Patriarchs they are not dead but in respect of the resurrection they sleepe in peace and to vse the phrase of David Psal 3. they laid them downe in peace and haue taken their rest but the Lord shall raise them vp at the last But this one question being resolued will make way to some fruitfull vse of that already spoken why could not David bring again the soule of his sonne Elias besides his many miracles in this kind could doe so much and Elisha did more then Elias for the spirit of Elias was doubled vpon Elisha that as hee receaued a mantle from Elias at the first time he saw him 1. King 19.9 and another mantle fell from Elias at the last time that Elisha beheld him when he was caught into heauē 2. King 2.13 So also a double spirit as appeared by his wonders was bestowed vpon Elisha For Elias caused that the oile in the widdowes one vessell 2. King 4.6 wasted not But Elisha caused the Pot of oile of another woman to encrease to the filling of many vessels 1. King 17.27 Elias revived the dying sonne of the woman of Sarepta Elisha by prayer did obtain a child to the barren Shunamite and obtaine life to this child being dead Elias in a great famine obtained raine 1. King 4 18. but Elisha in another famine obtained incredible plentie without raine 1. King 18.41 incredible victory without bloodshed 1. King 17. Elias raised but one from death in his life 2. King 13.20 but Elisha being dead his bones in his graue raised the dead Could Elias Elisha do so much and cannot David doe it Ludoloh No. Non est Davidi donum hoc concessum this gift was not granted to him David may kill the beare the lyon Goliah David may overcome the Philistins the Ammonites but cannot deliver a soule from death cannot bring backe a soule to life David by prayer may bring backe his soule from sorrow Bernard Hezekias by prayer raise himselfe from sickness Elias and Eliseus by prayer raise from death but alteros non seipsos others not themselues as Bernard noteth Only Christ by his power did raise himselfe others Aust Praedixit revixit as Austin noteth he foretold it by rising he performed it Tertul. Mori dignatus ex voluntate sed resurrexit ex potestate He died by his owne will was raised by his own power a gift never given to any of the sonnes of men S. Pauls speech to the Corinthians may serue to this purpose 1. Cor. 3. secundùm gratiam mihi concessam according to the grace given to him every mā may performe what Gods spirit doth enable him hee can go no farther he can do no more Gods spirit sayeth as Gods sonne Math. sine me nihil potestis facere without me ye can do nothing To life we may be revived and when these our bodies shal be laide low in the womb tombe of the earth we shal be raised Phil. 3. but it can only be by that power which is able to subdue all things to himselfe Vse And is it so let vs thē with acknowledgement of our owne weaknesse reioice in the power of our God who shal raise our vile bodies let vs so expresse the vertue power of the first resurrectiō in this life as that we may receiue the honour and ioy of the second resurrection in the life to
come Rev. 20.6 That divine speech of Iohn in his revelation should rap vs vp into heaven with Paule Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrectiō for on such the second death hath no power The Godly only die once but rise twice they die only the death of the body but rise in soule and body the wicked they die twice rise but once they rise in body but die the death of soule and body a part they haue in the second death of the damned but no part in the second resurrection of the iust or if any part such a part as Iudas had in the Sacrament a sop that poisoned his soule or such a parte as Simeon and Levi had in their fathers legacy Beaux in Harm Partē habent nō redemptionis etiamsi resurrectionis a part not of redemption though of resurrection O then who wil cause his eies to be the Pander for his lust if with these eies he hope to behold God who wil cause his body to be the curse of his soule if hee hope in his soule and body to attend God for euer more When that all that haue beene kept fast and fettred in the chaines of death from al the ages of the world shal meete their bodies cursing their souls crying against them that either the soule should please the body that loathsome lumpe or the body should be the snare and prison for the soule either to abuse it or abase it to perdition by subiection What shal then be the comfort of the Godly who shal rise to ioy and immortality and be restored to glory I say to more glory then the bounds of imagination can containe that the Lord shal shew them the pathes of life and in his light they shall see light and shall bee filled with the ioy of his countenance for evermore That they shal rise to the resurrection of the iust to the everlasting length of daies Aquin. to the beholding of Gods glorious face in which blessed vision omnis sit a est beatitudo al blessednesse consisteth as the schooles determine al this ioy Christ hath purchased with his bloud and is gone to possesse in his body Heb. 12.1 Wherefore beloved to vse the exhortation of the Apostle to the Hebrewes lay aside every waight of sin the sinne which hangeth on run with patience the race which is set before you The holy Patriarches haue runne it now be with Christ whom they haue longer expected then yet enioyed the blessed Prophets haue run this race though through a sea of bloud the Apostles Martyrs Saints this race victoriously haue run in the sunnes course with more light then the sunne vp Vp then and the Lord shal be with you 1. Cor. 15. pray fast watch weepe endeavour labour and your labour will not be in vaine in the Lord. You shal laie downe your bodies in grace and peace resume them againe in ioy and glory You must goe this iourney the decree of this Taxe is come our it is as the lawe of the Medes and Persians not to be revoked Everie one of vs may say of our Master as David of his sonne I shal go to him he shall never returne to me which leadeth me to my third and last part the acknowledgement of the inevitable stroake of death I shall goe to him hee shall not returne to me In the 3. of Genesis Pars 3. Gen. 3. you may finde mans Exodus Thou shalt dye it is the first Text of mortality in Scripture al Comments doe concur to the exposition of this The caus of Adams death was the breach of dyet God forbad him fruit of one tree this he hungreth for and taste it he wil though it cost him his life S. Austin bringeth our first parents thus disputing in a dialogue concerning that fruit if this fruit be good Aug why may I not eat of it if it be not good why groweth it in Paradise Domine dedisti hortum negâsti pomum Lord haste thou given vs the garden and denied vs the apple therefore saith Austin God hath given thee the benefit of Paradise because thou maist know his favour and mercy and therefore hath hee denied this one fruit to thee because he may find thy obedience and dutie This duty and obedience neglected by our Grand-sire ever since death the lodge of all mens liues commeth with insensible degrees vpon the children of men no wisdome shall appease no policy prevent no riches correct it The impartial hand of death is ever destroying the insatiable throat of the earth ever devouring death the vsurper of Kingdomes and the intruder into Countries breaketh the studies of the learnedst interrupteth the enterprises of the wisest croppeth of the hopes of the fairest in a calme a tempest overtakes them and sinkes them delay may repriue them but death wil serue the execution of that sentence vpon them It is a statute statutum est omnibus semel mori It is appointed that all men must die David knewe this and therfore his words be I must goe to him he shall not reture to me It is the conceit of some Thalmudists that if ever any had escaped this fatall generall sentence Miscel Thalm. Moyses and Christ had beene freed Moses saw God spake with him asked him answered him beheld him and a kind of cōmunicatiō of some divine lustre was imparted to him his face did shine never face to face did man behold God as Moses did yet Moses must die hee must ascend the Mount and there expire The oracle of Israel Terror of Egypt discoverer of Canaan Prophet Priest Captaine Guider leader of his people must yeeld to death though hee lived to behold the God of life Though Moses died and yeelded to death yet Christ might haue beene freed hee was equal to the father touching his Godhead and concerning his manhood his body was not begot in sinne not conceaued in sinne yet the death of this sonne of God if ever any one was so sealed and ratified as farre as either the iustice of the father or the engins of Tyrannie of men could devise this Virgin sonne of the Virgin mother Lyon of the Tribe of Iuda lambe of God gaue vp the Ghost Every true Hebrewe must celebrate this Passover every man may say for his Master Father neighbour brother friend child as David here I must goe to him hee shall never returne to me They cannot come from that ioy and glory they are in a Cloud of witnesses giue testimony of the blessed state of their abode No returne no comming backe no passage from them as Abraham told Dives in the Parable they bee in refrigerio in that sweet refreshing saith Austin Aust de Sanctis Ambr. Chrys Hom. Greg. they bee in gaudio in ioyfull rest saith Ambrose they bee in atrio Domint saith Chrysostome in the Court of the Lordes house they be in manu Dei in the hand of
these people when they saw this day of their visitation comming vpon them O who shall bring Salvation vnto Israell out of Syon They had heard the feareful denunciation of God in the last verse of the former Chapter Ezek. 8.18 I wil deale in my fury mine eie shall not spare neither will I haue any pitty though they cry in my eares with a lowd voice yet I will not heare them this word was a sword able to devide betweene the bones and the marrow They had heard of fettring scattring consuming banishing that their Virgins Nazorites Priests Prophets and Princely Citizens should be diuoured by the sword and other plagues the bitter blasts of the breath of Gods displeasure they could expect no better yet he Aust who had nomina membra in whose roll were their names and in whose booke were all their members wrtiten sendeth to comfort them he had them in his hand none could take them from him his eies were set vpon them Psal and with his eie-lids he considereth these children of men no evill shall come neere their dwelling though they were deiected in their owne eies despised of their neighbours and their enimies laugh them to scorne to see them go mourning all the day long yet these mourners shall without any perill goe about in the street every one of them might haue said Posui Deum adiutorem meum In God is my helpe in the Lord will I reioice he hath regarded the lowly estate of his servants Luk. 1.41 he hath put down the mighty from their seats and hath remembred the humble and meeke mourners God could not forget to be gratious but wil visit this his vine Habet ille vineas semper lachrymantes suas Magis frugifeferae sunt lachry mantes vincae hee hath vine-trees dropping of Teares in the winter of this world that they may flourish in the summer of a better life Pined 2 de Salom c. 4 num 4. Virga tua baculus tuus ipsa me consolata sunt Thy rod staffe doe comfort me Pineda hath a strange interpretation hereof that hereby the kingly Prophet meaneth his Lictors or the Chelethites and Petethites who were his guard And as this is forced so be there many fained various others wresting this holy speech to ridiculous senses Some interpret this rod to be Moses rod wherby he did miracles Exod 4.2 Zeno veronens ser de Iud. some the Rod of Aaron which only rod flourished among the Roddes of the Tribes Some this Rod to be the roote of Iesse as Iustin Martyr and Eusebius In Triphon But the better opintons doe sentence it of afflictions and humiliations these doe comfort these incourage Ps 23. these do strengthen the godly There by affliction David is strengthned and encouraged here by afflaction these sorrowfull soules are preserved It was with them as with Mordecai one day hee walketh through the middest of the City with rent cloathes Ester 4 1. and put on sackcloath and cryed with a lowd and bitter cry on another day the royall apparell that the king vseth to weare he is apparelled with Ester 6.8 and the horse that the king rideth on fitted for Mordecai and the Crowne Royall which is set vpon the kings head is put vpon Mordecai and one of the noblest Princes do leade him through the same citty where Mordecai mourned No man imagined such an alteration Could any man thinke that God would so remember and provide for these pitiful sorrowful souls whose teares were their meat day and night their heads aking their eies streaming sitting as the Doues in the holes of the Rockes their soules weeping in secret Cant. 2. and their eies dropping downe day and night Lam 2. that in this great destruction when neither the aged haue reverence for their gray haires nor the suckling reliefe for innocencie of his tender age nor the Virgin nor Matrone priviledged for their Modesty nor the Priest or Senator respected for their dignity yet these marked for preservatiō and honoured to posterity brought out of their privat cels out of their darke loathsome fulsome fuliginous dwellings into the light vbi non lux sed luctus luceat where not only their light shall shine before men but even very darknes shal be turned into light Chrys and as Esay speaketh they shal haue beauty for ashes the oile of ioy for mourning Esay 61.3 the garment of gladnes for the spirit of heavines David may fly frō Country to Countrey frō Samuel in Ramah to Abimelech in Nob then to Achish in Gath sometimes be in a Caue sometimes in the fields sometimes in the Rockes sometimes in the Wildernesse but an eye shall behold him whom no eye can perceaue a hand shall lead him that he dash not his foot Ionas the most admirable patterne of misery that ever humane vnderstāding cōceaved the most absolute Model of miserie seeke as a Reverend father of ours worthily saith frō the Cēter to the Circle no Paralel being only mā to Ionas of whom the interpreters deliver miranda ed vix oredēda were we nor bound to the word by the obligatiō of faith Ionas I say cast out of the ship into another vessell the bowels of a whale the very belly of hel being so imbarkt worse thē shipwrackt Ovid. Trist that he might truely haue said Mors mihi munus erit Epis Lond. in I on he is wafted a long the bottome of the sea and promonteries of the earth from sea to sea through the Syriacke sea thence to the Egean thence through the Hellespont where Asia and Europe be devided thence through Propontis from thence to Thracius Bosphorus betwixt Constantinople and Natolia and from thence to the Euxine sea where he was vomited out of the Guts and Garhadge of the fish In all this time the Deepe drowned him not the stomacke of the Whale digested him not al his misery devoured him not al the surges al the waues cannot wash away his marke his character but preservation shal ever follow him and bring him vnto the havē where he would be There is a roote that keepeth life in the winter of misery there is a good Angell that leadeth the Saints through fire and water a guid there is that leadeth them through the chambers of death breaketh the bonds of yron in peeces Psal 1. Cor. The foundation of the Lord is sure saith Paul and hath this seal the Lord knoweth who are his he hath signed and sealed thē with a marke sometimes invisible alwaies indelible never to be expunged never removed You may aske why this priviledge is given to mourners For if the Righteous only be Gods servants and that of S. Austin bee true vbi Iustitia ibi laetitia where there is righteousnes there is gladnesse then what place hath sorrow in the assembly of the Iust againe in Habacuc in the great preservation the
tuum sanâsti eui vitio obstitisti quâ parte meliores and what custome sayth Seneca can be more commendable These beloued shall arise in iudgement with this generation and condemne it their practice was a kind of vailed Christianitie they did shame to doe that priuately which this age doth perpetrate daily and publikely Mourning is to be performed openly solemnitie expects it and antiquitie that constant wise and vnpainted Herauld prescribes it Coram Abner the last act of his obsequies the last tribute of duty Abner yet carrieth his names the earth yet carrieth his body it is not Cadaver nor Inane corpus anima it is Sacrarium vitae not a Carcase Athan. or empty corpse but as Athanasius well obserueth the dead body is the vestry and Chappell of life and haue their Camiteria sleeping places til the Resurrection of the dead They be as Kings houses not to be contemned when their Masters depart out of them because they are to returne againe life shall visit these desolate roomes all the offices in this Princely bodie of Abner shall be supplied the Court is but remoued Heaven is the standing house this body againe shall be the bedde chamber of the soule yet because life is gon out lament for Abner is Abner still let not your last act faile though your eies cannot see him yet let them send our Teares to sorrow for him and Mourne before Abner The sorrowfull presence of a sad stectacle calls sorrow before it commeth and often createth sorrowe where it is not It is no maruaile that Abruham wept when he saw Sara his wife dead or that Bethshebe wept for her husband or Eleazar for Aaron his father or Dauid for Absalon his sonne or Rebecea for Deborah her nurse or Christ for Lazarus his friend or Dauid for Abner his Captaine But that Alexander should so lament when he came to behold the Sepulcher of braue Achilles or those many in histories to deplore and fall out into teares vpon the first sight of spectacles of desolation may seeme strange Yet those spectacles some-times cause passions of diverse effects When our Sauiour beheld Ierusalem he wept ouer it but when the army of a worthy Conquerour aboue 1000. yeares after came to behould the ruines and rubbish of the same City Hist Ture p. 21 the deuout passions of diuers are very diuers somewith their eies and hands cast vnto heauen calling vpon the name of their Sauiour some prostrat vpon their faces kissed the ground as that wherevpon the Redeemer of the world had walked others ioifully saluted those holy places they had heard so much of then first beheld Our Sauiour in a holy as well pittiful as sorrowfull contemplation beheld the presage of their vtter dissolution and desolation by reason of that horrible contemptuous iniquity of theirs Quod nulla posteritas taceat sed nulla probet Sencea therefore vpon a more cause of griefe then these souldiers of ioy lamented the City and yet slept not till he came neere to the City the sight of the City was the seale of his sorrow Propter Ierusalem hath much more in it then this day can giue mee leaue to deliuer S Iohn in his Gospell doth deliuer the story of Christs raising vp of Lazarus and well may Iohn write Lazarus storie they were both almost in one line in Christs loue Iohannes dilectus Domini Lazarus amicus Domini Ioh. 11. Iohn the beloued of Christ Lazarus the friend of Christ The story is worthy obseruation V. 11. Iesus told his Disciples our friend Lazarus sleepeth they vnderstood him not the Text saith V. 13. Iesus vnderstood it of his death then said Iesus Lazarus is dead yet Iesus wept not in knowing or telling them this Our Sauiour then goeth on his tourney towards Lazarus hee discourseth all the way concerning Lazarus yet Iesus wept not hee meeteth by the way with Martha and communeth with her about her deare deceased brother Nondùm fleuit Iesus Iesus wept not yet At the length Mary commeth shee falleth downe and weepeth and cryeth out Master if thou hadst beene here my brother had not died then Iesus seeing her weepe and the Iewes weepe he groaned in spirit and was troubled yet he wept not At length he asked where haue yee laid him and in his passing thither the Text saith Iesus wept comming neere to the graue he could not containe Fleuit Iesus The Doctrinall obseruation of these words before Abner is that it is the duty of Gods seruants to lament ouer their deceased and carefully to prouide for their Christian funerals Honesta sepultura is much remembred among the fathers Aust and one of them hath writ a booke de cura pro mortuis If there were nothing to proue the Lawfulnesse hereof that one parcell of ground that Abraham bought to consecrate to burials may iustifie the antiquity and reuerend vse hereof How honourable were the sepulchers of the Kings of Israell and Iuda it is a grace to them that had this Epitaph he was buried with his fathers the Piles of Pyramides of Egypt be yet in part to bee seene Mat. they were made of that bricke as some record which the Israelites in the house of their bondage were constrained to make and so it might be that God suffred them to be the instrumēts of making Pharohes sepulcher who were the cause of his death In vita Ambr. In the New Testament wee want not examples of these solemne funerals that of Stephē may serue for all holy men carried him to buriall and made lamentation for him S. Ambrose as appeareth in the description of his life in this kind was very carefull those that were honourable in their places or profitable to the Church or Common-wealth or any way to be esteemed good holy men he would bewaild their death and attend their funerals But it may bee some such Scepticall Cynicall creatures may question whether such pompe as is vsed in funerals be lawfull or no for why should not I thinke that Iudas tribe is not vtterly extinct whose cry is ad quid perditio haec To answere all such that part of solemne seruice the last night being a portion of the 50 Chapter of Genesis may satisfie all such curious and querulous Inquisitors Gen. 50 Ioseph commands his Phisitians to embaulme old Israel forty daies the Embalming continued then they provided furniture for his funerall and all the house of Ioseph and his brethren and his fathers house all the servants of Pharaoh the elders of his house and all the elders of the land of Egypt and Chariots and horsemen and a great company and they made great lamentation To this may bee added many examples sacred and prophane as also the Emperous constitutions Constantine that appointed 950. officers about funerals which order Arcadius and Theodosius confirmed and afterwards Anastasius increased to 1100 and a certaine pension allotted vnto them this also established by Leo and Iustinian some