greatest glory is subject to the stroke of death the Cedar is fallen The magnificence of this world is but an apparition the sweetest Musick but a semibrief Are not my dayes few what should we talk of the pomp and Minstrilsy which the flesh doth afford for thy pomp shall be brought down to the grave and the noyse of thy Viols Death will strip us out of our pompous robes and case up our Viols though thy windows be close shut and thou hast mured up thy self in hewen stone yet Death will come up into the windows and enter into the palaces Jer. 9.21 Let thy veins eyes and heart-strings be never so quick and lively yet thy eyes will be turned into thy head thy veins will be broken and thy heart rent asunder with sorrow Oculi vertentur in capite venae rumpentur cor scindetur dolore Bern. Sit voluâ—tâ—rium quod est necessarium Chys Prima quae vitam dedit hora carpsit Seneca Thou hadst as good yield up thy self cheerfully to death for maugre all thy resistance death will force thee into her back-room her blind room dark room rotten room carcase-hole therefore let that be voluntary which is necessary Thou tookest thy poyson in the womb and it will never leave working till it hath brought thee to the grave the first hour which gave that life took it away for if thou beest in thy young age thou art beginning to dye if thou art in thy middle age thou art half dead if thou beest in thy old age thou art at the point of death and wilt ere long be quite dead These Chimes will soon leave going this Lottery will be soon drawn forth this Comedy will soon be acted out to the last Scene sleep will enter into our eyes the Voyder will be brought upon the table these shop-doors will be shut these buzzing flies will betake themselves to their Winter-rooms these swelling torrents will be dryed up the fair fruit will drop the loftiest Cedar will fall The Cedar is fallen Application 1. First this doth shew that Nature hath her casualty Non est crede mihi sapientis dicere vivam It is not believe me the part of a wise man to say I will live Fools may thus chatter but wise men will use no such Solecisms yet how many of these Lunaticks have we that talk of nothing but of long life let things happen here tanquam in choro as it were in a fit of Musick yet they think the tune will never alter nor the dance be done Naz. We have many a Deaths-head worn upon our fingers but when shall we find this Deaths-head in our ears eyes tongues or hearts We see many a dead corps but we do not think that this flesh of ours shall ever be carcase-strong we behold many a Grave-spade yet we are confident that it will be a long time ere that shall dig for us But O be not Fanaticks beware of illusions Moriendo obliviscatur sui qui vivens oblitus est Dei Caesarius admonit 6. Quid perdidit homo quid invenit Anselâ—r in med thou which wilt not mind death perhaps at last shalt not mind thy soul If thou must part with life it were good beforehand to think of the separation lest thou dost meet with a general damage and a general curse together such a careless wretch doth know to purpose both what he hath lost and what he hath found Simple men ye that cannot hide your selves from death why do ye not endeavour to kill death by many a dying thought before it doth come to kill you O that this whole Congregation should not be full of dying men O that this whole Congregation hath scarce three dying men in it How many of you do that now living that ye would do at last dying how many of you do kill those corruptions now which being here unmortified will kill you in another world what can ye feel nothing till the Pursivant hath arrested you what do ye put off all your souls work to a deaths pillow it is to be thought so for weak men have not misery enough about them to apprehend this learned men have not wit enough to apply this what is the reason can any of you escape death have any of you a writ of privilege to be freed from death no death hath you in her black roll and every one of you shall be called forth in order O therefore have an expectation of death and a preparation for death or else I shall say that there is a great deal of Knowledge but little Vertue a great deal of Profession but little Conscience Tell not me of your skill in the Metaphysicks get skill in the Physicks this same state of Nature be well versed in generation and corruption I shall conclude that ye are some Conjurers and addicted to familiar Spirits and much given to Necromancy if your knowledge of death do not teach you to dye but onely to tell tales or death and to prophesie of accidents in this world they that study the Black Art do thus and I doubt ye do little better Would to God I could draw you with the Magicians to burn your books of curious Arts and to turn this book of the Expiring art the large Treatise of Corruption as small a book as ye do account it I tell you it is more voluminous than the Pandects or than all the Codes To study this book well it will exercise the best wit to the height ye will find more Aenigma's and Postula's in it than in the Mathematicks yea more difficulties in it than in learning all the Eastern Languages A crafty politician for all his Mercurial brain will be Lard put to it to unfold this State-riddle a Doctor of the chair may be posed in this intricate book I tell you it hath so many branches in it and is so copious in Canons and Axioms and Aphorisms that it may be called the book in Folio or the Library of the world or a general History Annal Ephemerides It doth discourse of all things from the Artique to the Antartique Pole from the Creation to the later day of Judgment it doth contain the state of all Mankind Ye must not go to any Stationer for it for it is sold onely in Tomb-street at the sign of the Deaths-head and thou canst not buy it for any money but onely laying down a mortified heart for it Amongst all thy pamphlets or most classical Authors it were good for thee to get this book and to peruse it seriously and to begin to be skilled in it betimes for I tell thee it is a necessary book an hard book and a large book thou canst not read it over in an hour in a year no the Saints are learning it from the first hour of their conversion to the last gasp If thou wilt not get this book of thy self Death at last will thrust it into thy hand it will force thee to read it If
thou wilt not have it in thy Closet it will be laid open before thee upon thy death-bed and wilt thou neglect the getting of it or the getting exact insight into it till it shall be presented to thee at that last hour when thou shalt have a dark eye and a blind heart canst thou with a dead hove upon thine eye-lids be a quick reader O there are many sentences at such a time will trouble thee especially these O Lord I have waited for thy salvation All the dayes of mine appointed time will I wait till my change come Teach us O Lord to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts unto wisdome By our rejoycing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord I dye dayly Let your loyns be girt up and your lamps burning and be ye like men that wait for their master when he will return from the wedding that when he comes and knocks ye may open to him immediately Walk whilst ye have light for the night cometh when no man can walk Afterwards came the other Virgins also saying Lord Lord open unto us but he answered and said Verily I say unto you I know you not Watch therefore for ye know neither the day nor hour when the Son of man will come Afterwards he would have inherited the blessing but he was rejected for he found no place for repentance though he sought the blessing with teares These and a thousand other heart-breaking sayings thou wilt meet with at that time which will be as ill as Hieroglyphicks to thee to understand if thou hast but read a word or two of them in thy life-time it will be confounding to thee to read a whole book of such a perplexing character and such enigmatical precepts at the hour of death O if all families would buy this book and set Conscience to mark the Contents of it what a reformation should we instantly see amongst Lords and Ladies Puffes and Browers giddy heads and crafty souls sherking Merchants and griping Officers young Damne-me blades and old Usurers corrupt Judges and temporizing Clergymen black Libertines and white Hypocrites for ought not all to learn the art of dying yes it had need be their art for it will be their fate whosoever doth stand he must fall The Cedar is fallen 2. Secondly this should serve to take men off from their high dependence that because they are Cedars therefore they shall not fall O how many because they dwell in houses of Ivory cannot find the way to the house of câ—â—y they have so many locks against theeves thaâ— they think death cannot get an entrance to them they have frighted so many inferiours that they think to daunt the King of terrours They full little think that a coffin at last must be their bed-chamber and worms their chamberlains that they shall be so eaten up that no fragments shall be left of them but bones and skulls shew them the dunghill they think that they shall never be swept out to remain in the heap shew them the Sapypot they think they shall never be dissolved into meer gelly hold this glass of mortality to their faces they are confident that this shall never be their grisly complexion they have enjoyed so much liberty that they have no bands in death they have so many conveyances lying by them that they think they have gotten a covenant with death and that they are at an agreement with hell they take make much pleasure in their flatterers and do infinitely depend upon their physicians But O let them put off their false spectacles and stop their ears against Siren-songs and think that Patents and Patrimonies Chimney-pieces and Head-pieces Shields and Spears cannot defend them against the Pursivant of the grave Thunderbolts strike upon the highest mountains There is no difference in death between the bodyes of the rich and the poor God will take away the honourable and the counsellors Feriuatque summâ—s fulmâ—na montes Horat. Nulla dâ—serâ—tio inter cadav ra dâ—vitum pauperum Amb. in hexam 3 Es 3. The Nobles of Judah are slain Job 39.6 The pillars of strength sall to the ground Eze. 36.17 They of high stature shall be cut off Es 10.33 He slew the wealthiest of them Psal 78.31 He will destroy the fat and the strong and feed them with judgment Eze. 34 16. The Nobles shall be called to the Kingdom and there shall be none Es 34.12 Here is a leaf-fall or Nobles or a Charnel-house for Peers noble bloud will congeal in the veins honourable breasts are but the fairer mark for deaths fatal dart God for his own use will beat the sweetest spices in his Mortar put the best herbs into his streyner feed his guests in the dark Ordinary with noble flesh have an handful of noble dust to shew that he is Lord of the Creation What tree shall stand when his axe is lift up no He will consume the glory of the forrest Es 10.18 The Cedars shall fall The Cedar is fallen 3. Thirdly this doth shew that the greatest are but temporary possessors of what they do enjoy for death is an absolute fall the Cedar doth not bow or bend shake or totter onely but the Cedar is fallen and when the Cedar is fallen what doth remain of it but a dead trunk thou enjoyest much whilst thou art living but when thou art in thy grave what of thy revenue doth remain unto thee no thou art fallen and all thy greatness fallen with thee Where are they which were ambitious of the chariot of Authority a Ubi sant qâ—i mb ebant currum potestatis ubi vestes oraamenta peregrina ubi turba servorum Aug. de mt grat Verae devitiae sunt quas porrat conscientia Chrys Where are their gorgeous vestures and outlandish dresses where are their troops of servants is there any thing left to themselves but dust and ashes Where then is the perpetuity of wealth or welfare no a man may say that those are onely a mans true riches which a good conscience do carry away As for these worldly riches we know the date of their continuance all must at last leave their free Deeds behind them give up their Keyes seal away their Estates to new heirs What pleasure hath a man in his house when the number of his moneths are cut off Job 21.21 When his goods are increased he shall take nothing away with him neither shall his pomp descend after him Psal 49.16 17. His substance shall not continue neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon earth Job 15.29 They have slept their sleep and all the men of might have found nothing Psal 76.5 If this night thy sont should be taken from thee whose shall those things be whose name the man thou canst not name thy self no whosoever shall be left rich if thou hast not a secret stock thou shalt dye a very beggar Ye talk much of your riches and your vast means but so soon
souls Though ye cause others to abound yet let not your souls want your devout Forefathers did thus and be ye their religious charitable children yea I beseech you by your progenitors eleemosynary Wills and by their soft bowels by their gracious hearts precious dust by their generous spirits illustrious names by their glorious remains their honoured memories their bright crowns and their ravished souls that ye would prove your selves to be right-born uphold the honour of their families exemplifie the copies which they have set you to write grave your selves to be their true progeny in letters of gold stay behind them to shine in their beams to cast a smell abroad with their odours to shew their charitable hearts stirring quick in your bosoms to follow after them with a cluster of their fruits to carry in your hands a transcript of their compassionate works to settle their good foundations in another world yea to be attended upon with such a glorious train of alms-deeds as ye find waited upon them in bright liveries when they entred into heaven If your old Protestant Ancestors or their old Protestant Faith their glorified souls or your souls which may be glorified by their fruits can stir your heart-strings enlarge your bowels infuse the like communicating sympathizing spirit into you O give their rich portions feed the world with their bread sacrifice their Offering of a fair eye stretch out their distributing hand preserve their records write out your selves worthy by their inscriptions leave behind you their monuments enter heaven by their golden key purchase a crown at their rate If by all this you do find your selves prompted to the work apprehend your opportunity make use of your minutes hear now the clock doth strike see how the glass doth run behold how the shadows go off from the dial consider the naked skin and bare hand which ere long ye will have look into deaths Inventory remember that at last ye will be left nothing worth but coffin-reliques worms-leavings stench gelly sappyness for when we are dead all power and purpose sufficiency and efficiency means and mind fruit and freedom enjoyment and enterprise possession and possibility asfluency and ability will be taken away from you O! death is the old rifler the grave the grand plunderer what shall then be the end of you O ye Cedars where shall your tops then be ye shall be hewen down or blown down to purpose not worth stock or branch root or rind pith or leaf the tree is then at the mercy of the axe a pitiful Cedar when a fallen Cedar all the glory is thrown down to the earth every one then will make spoil of it it is subject to a general waste for the Cedar is fallen Thus much of the Herse the dead corps under it in this word fallen PART III. Now let us come to the Mourner the Firre-tree Why is the Firre-tree called upon to consider the fall of the Cedar to shew that Inferiours ought to bemoan the fall of their Superious From hence observe then that the death of eminent men is to be lamented Shall such be carried out of the world without solemnity no the Mourners ought to go about in the streets Eccles 12.5 The bearers do but carry them out upon their shoulders but these carry them out in their breasts their sad hearts bear the weight of their Coffin Others may make it a vulgar day but these make it a a bitter day Amos 8.10 others may not alter a posture bur these bow down heavily Psal 35.14 others may remain dumb but these cry Alas Alas Amos 5.16 others may have their delicious fare but these have a diet by themselves they eat the bread of Mourners Hos 9.4 yea eat ashes like bread Psal 102.9 others may spruse up themselves in rayment but these have a dresse by themselves they will not so much as put on ornaments Exod. 33.4 nor bind a tire upon their heads or put on shooes Ezech. 24.17 but they sprinkle dust upon their heads Job 2.12 rend their clothes Esther 4.1 yea expresly wear mourning apparell 2 Sam. 14.2 others may have pleasant gradens the frolicks of joyous times but these have postures by themselves they put their mouths in the dust Lam. 3.29 they cover their lips Mich. 3.7 they make their selves bald Ezech. 27.31 they cut their beards Es 15.2 they taber upon their breasts Nah. 2.7 they teach their daughters wailings and every one her neighbour lamentation Jer. 9.20 There is a time for all things and as others have their time for lawfull delights as to plant and gather stones and heale and sew and dance and embrace and speak out and sing out so these have their time according to sad accidents to pluck up that which is planted to cast away stones to wound to rend to mourn to be far from embracing and to keep silence O that there can be a bright corner within that Hemisphere where the Sun is in an Eclipse that there can be a chearfull look to that place where an eminent man doth die wringing hands blubbered cheeks and doleful outcries are as proper for the Funeral of a famous Patriot as scornes and taunts and clapping of hands are for the herse of a tormenter of his Country let the one be buried with the burial of an Asse saying Rot thou bruit beast Let the other be buried with the burial of an Heroe saying O that such precious flesh should ever come to waste under-ground The fall of a cedar should be the anguish of the firre-tree living man look disconsolately the mirrour of the age is departed firre-tree shake thy top to the ground-ward the Cedar is fallen Funeral mourning is a lamentable plaint for the decease of dead men worthy in esteem Luctus est planctus pro mortuis adâ—matis Aq in Ps 34. Luctus est animi aegritudo ex acerbo conceâ—â—u interitus â—jus qui nobis charus fuit Fran. pat de reg l. 5. c. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eurip. yea it is a fever upon the spirit out of a sad apprehension for the death of him that was dear to us They are men of no bowels which can part with deserving friends without teares and troubled bowels for as Quirinus said when can any rather shew themselves to be true men then at such a time and at such an accident It is pity upon such an occasion as Demonax said that there should be three men found that had not water enough to sprinkle upon such a grave they are fit their selves to be buried who stand not true Mourners at the burial of a Country-ornament such a Firre-tree doth not deserve to have had such a Cedar grow by him With how much sorrow and sadnesse were Jacob Moses Samuel Josiah Christ St. Stephen Justin Martyr Ignatius Polycarp and Cyprian Gregory Nazianzen Constantine the Great Justinian the Great Theodosius the Great Artemius Procefius Venanitus Agathon Mascalon Vsthazarus Pontianus Hilarius Florentius Pregentinus